Beautiful Weather Lately...

Smith Family Playhouse in the Spring

(distracted by a plane)

...and just for posterity's sake, another picture of Papi with his girls:

Birthday

My surprise b-day party:

-fun to have the cousins over

-can't go wrong with ice cream cake!

-a distraught Qiana being calmed by Tio Kurt
-don't count the candles....

It is such a beautiful day that although I have to catch up on this past week's happenings, I now choose to go outside.

So there, blog!

Final Week of "Project Green"

So, I never did a follow-up post on our PROJECT: GREEN. This week was a "Clean the World" week. (That sounds so cheesy!)

The task was simple: to clean up all the garbage that blew into our yard over the winter and also at a nearby park.

Give me a moment to vent...

I can't believe how disrespectful some people are when it comes to the environment. We found huge soda cups, magazines, paper products, and even empty juice cartons at the playground. Seriously people?! There was a trash can about 20 feet away. Besides the fact that it's a huge eyesore, most of the junk does not just bio-degrade itself away, it takes manual removal. It was a little disheartening to see that at such a nice park, there could be so much trash lying around.

It only took me about 3 minutes to get all the garbage collected from the little playground. Not long at all, right? Well, if I've learned one thing from this experience, it's that it does not require a huge sacrifice of time or resources to act responsibly. It just takes a conscious effort.

If you followed us throughout "Green Month", you may now feel up to this simple challenge:

1. Conserve- eliminate wasteful energy usage
   
2. Recycle- get creative by using the same thing in a variety of ways
   
3. Preserve- keep the earth looking beautiful by lending a hand

It really has been so rewarding as we have made a conscious effort to do this. If anyone decides to give it a try, keep us posted on your progress via blog, Facebook, or even with blog comments. Good Luck!!

Second Day on the Eating Job

I can't believe she's already this old. We fed her rice cereal about a week ago, but she refused it. So we tried again last night and this morning. She likes it... well, the "eating" part, not the "taste" part.

I was trying to record it on my phone at the same time as feeding her, and well, it wasn't a perfect recording job OR feeding job. She kept rocking back and forth (she likes to do that, and sometimes she even gets violent,) so it was difficult to land the spoon in her mouth.

*Qiana, if you see this when you are older, I hope you see what a funny little baby you were.

Beautiful Week in Review:

We were lucky that this last week brought the most perfect Spring weather because our family came to town. My cousin Nicole, her husband and son were able to come visit Jamie and us. Little Russell and Siena became immediate friends, and by the end of the week, Siena was bossing him around like an older sister. (She keeps asking for them every morning and night still.)

The itinerary:

1. Cheesesteaks at Tony Luke's and gelato and Capogiro
2. Historic Philadelphia (Independence Hall and all the surrounding historical sites, i.e. Liberty Bell, Betsy Ross House, Ben Franklin's grave, Old Quaker Meetinghouse, Elfreth's Alley)
3. Toured the U.S. Mint (*yawn)
4. Chinatown and Reading Terminal Market
5. Took the subway, which is quite an experience for most newcomers to Philly. You really get the 'spirit' of our part of town when you ride the subway. ;^)
6. Lancaster County Amish Mud Sale
7. Shady Maple Smorgasbord (they let you eat free on your b-day!)
8. Rita's Water Ice... a must on the first day of Spring!
   
9. Stake Conference, Museum of Art ('Rocky') stairs and Waterworks
10. Dinner at the B----'s with Jamie. She's their nanny.

It was a fun-filled week and I'm sure they are exhausted. Thanks for coming out guys!

Qiana van Beethoven

(I've decided to use my phone to take little videos like this, because it is a MUCH faster upload onto Blogger.)

Watch for the part when she gets her "stroke of genius!"

We Made It!

I really don't know how we made it through the entire week without the TV, but somehow it was done. I really thought I would have had accomplished a lot more during the times we normally would watch a show or two, but the time somehow slipped away. Oh well, the point was that we gave up a source of energy usage for a spell, so I feel better about the whole thing. (Incidentally, Juan has been watching a special report on Savants for the last hour or so. It's really interesting, but I personally think he's just trying to show the TV a little attention so its feelings don't get hurt.)

This week is a week of RECYCLING! We are strictly using the plethora of *reusable shopping bags we've collected for any purchases requiring a bag; we are also bringing the entire collection of plastic grocery bags that, quite frankly, we will never use again (minus the few that will continue to serve as trash can liners throughout the house,) back to the grocery store to be recycled. I love that they offer to take your old bags back!


*I've blogged about this before, but I will re-state my love for the BAGGU bags. They're fantastic and so versatile/handy! I throw mine in the diaper bag or purse every time we go out and it nearly always comes to my aid. Our other grocery bags aren't as cool--one even says "Colgate".

She "Stands" At 5 months!

(Okay, she "stands" with a little help.)

Wow, We're Finally Ready

Ready for GREEN Month! This week, as I mentioned before, we are keeping the TV off! We are also going to start recycling again (we stopped when someone stole our recycling bin, but that was no excuse.) As to our water usage, we are not going to shower next week..... okay, not really. We will turn off the heat to our house whenever we go out, which will be to our advantage anyway ($). We have changed all of our lightbulbs to energy-saving bulbs and have tried to only run full loads of laundry. These may all seem like small things, but we needed to start somewhere and March was so fitting to the cause.

Gave Her A Marker And Paper...

...and this is what happened:

Such a GIRL!

Recent Pics

Siena's Crazy Face

Yes, this is what it looks like; and here I thought I was a little more discreet when I fed Qiana. (Oh, that's probably why she "covered up" with the blanket.) Luckily, Siena doesn't quite get the concept- she thought she could feed her baby through her belly button. By some stroke of luck, I happened to have the camera when she did it.

This was all Siena's doing as well. She grabbed the flowers and tablecloth from her play kitchen, and this is what she did with them. For a while, she called herself Maria whenever she had something on her head (she got that from this Christmas when we taught her about Joseph and Mary), so to steer her away from innocent sacrilege, we turned it into "India Maria". Juan tells me it's the name of a girl from an old Mexican show who moved from a small village to the big city (the Beverly Hillbillies concept.) This time, I think she was going for the bridal version of India Maria.

So Much For Our Green Month Kickoff...

Besides being a little homesick to see our family, all of us girls are home, sick. We were supposed to start off March as a "Green" month in which we would do things to eliminate frivolous energy usage. Now this is not going to turn us into these hippies who don't shower, we were just going to TRY to put a little dent into getting rid of some of our more wasteful habits.

Week One (this week,) was supposed to be our designated "NO TV" week. Well, I asked Juan if we could postpone the "protest" until next week because I knew I would go crazy being stuck in bed with a toddler and a nursing baby without TV. Needless to say, he was more than willing to go along with that proposal; he was extremely hesitant with the whole goal in the first place. Sadly, we have watched TV all morning: Clifford The Big Red Dog, Sesame Street, Ask Aida/Leave It To Beaver (I love when the commercial breaks don't overlap,) Emeril Live/Leave It To Beaver, and Easy Entertaining/Leave It To Beaver. (If it isn't apparent, I love Leave It To Beaver. Jerry Mathers is so adorable, and although the humor is only chuckle-worthy, the show makes life back in the 1950's look like "good, clean fun.") Anyway, that's how the morning has been, and since I had to cancel piano lessons for today, it looks like it's heading in the same direction for the evening. I hope we can feel better soon because the unkempt house is getting on my nerves.

Sooo Worth Lugging Two Toddlers Out to the Gym

I've been going to a few exercise classes, specifically, in the pool. Yikes! (I know, that was my first reaction, too.) Well, there's a first for everything, right?

So, what is the first thing you picture when someone says "water aerobics"? For me, it was older women with hairnets. Turns out, I was right; the stereotype for H2O fitness attendees is definitely in-tact. The other day, I attended a Deep H20 Aerobics class and the cd we were listening to was Hank Williams... not your typical out-of-water exercise music, but it seemed to work fine for those of us in the water. Interesting.

Most women in my classes out-age me by about 45 years, but I love going. Usually, I keep to myself because I don't have any surgery stories and can't talk about my grandkids, but I still go because the ladies are a riot! Also, the water is a hot 83 degrees because someone keeps complaining of the cold. It's like taking a bath.

The first night, they all talked about their TV shows they follow. Then health care, Tiger Woods, Dick Clark, John Edwards, and back to their shows. Yesterday's conversation is what inspired this blog post. The instructor's 81 year-old mother comes with her (most of these women are in WAY better shape than me,) and she's always griping about something. Her daughter just gets so vexed (like that word) and doesn't even try to hide her frustration/annoyance. Well, yesterday, her mom wasn't there. Everyone was asking, "Where's Jeanine? Is she okay?" The instructor goes on to tell us that her mom is on a date. In Florida. All sorts of questions come up and here's what it came down to, in a nutshell:

He's the father of her friend
He lives in Florida permanently
He asked Jeanine on a date over the phone
(by the way, they are just acquaintances)
She's staying there all week

...and she made him soup yesterday.

This is what caught me off-guard- everyone then started cracking jokes left and right.

Instructor: "I hope she has the time of her life down there. (pause) That way, maybe she'll stay there."
"Knowing Jeanine, he might put her on a plane back to Philadelphia before next Tuesday."

"I asked Jeanine before she left for Florida, 'Did you pack your birth control?'"

"She's probably making soup for him because she doesn't want to be seen in public with a 90 year-old man."


...Then someone made a joke about a little blue pill and things got really racy. Like, to-the-point-that-I-can't-even-quote-them-on-my-blog racy.

I guess I keep going to the class because I never know what to expect, (besides the fact that it IS a good workout.)

Siena's Songs of 2010

So, here are a few Primary songs Siena likes to sing. We hear them from time to time... okay, we hear them 24/7 because the girl likes to sing. Had to hit the "record" button on my phone before she gets sick and tired of singing them (which should be any day by now. I think we've heard the first song about 200 times now.) It's still cute. Can you recognize any? In order, they are: Mary's Lullaby, Follow The Prophet, and I'm A Child of God.

What is it?

For fun, I was just wondering if anyone would be able to guess what this is?

Hint: One of my favorite memories of 2005.

The most correct answer gets a DAY OF FAME on the ol' blog.

Yep, it was a crêpe, seeping with Nutella. This is taken from my trip journal:

April 14, 2005

"...We just walked home after that and went by the Eiffel Tower again. The banana and Nutella crêpe was a big deal--Whoa! Those are sooooooo good! That's going to be one of the first things I do when I get home--make a Nutella-banana crêpe for everyone. It was a great day in Paris again!"

Make and Take a Sidebar Button

I've been looking for a while to find easy instructions for sidebar buttons. I've never been able to get mine the right size. Anyway, I found GREAT instructions at MommyBits.net.

Hopefully it helps anyone who has been wanting to add a button for their readers!

Blizzardy Goodness

The last two days have been nothing but lazy bliss. Juan didn't have to go to school and we all got to sleep in. The snow has been fun, but not without it's danger; thousands of people in our area are without power. Luckily, we have not felt any of the negative side effects, other than being houseridden. Today, as Juan was digging our car out of the mountain of snow, we made snow angels while poor little Qiana slept all morning. She's trying to recuperate from an eye infection and we're hoping we don't have to take her to the doc, especially because they haven't plowed our roads yet.

How many cars can you count?

The man in action

Yesterday, Siena and I shoveled the walks (to no avail) and made a snowman.

Stephen's Mint Truffle Cocoa was the perfect ending to our snow play.

Top Ten News Nuggets of the Week

1. SNOW! We're in a huge, record-breaking snowstorm right now. Remember back in December when our flights were canceled? Well, this is worse. Luckily, we learned from last time and stocked up on food yesterday before the snow started falling. The only thing we forgot was milk, which isn't life-threatening. Again, it happened on a weekend, so Juan didn't miss any school and church is canceled... Lucky or Unlucky? You decide.
   
2. Qiana has mastered the art of rolling. She is now a miniature steam roller when we put her down.
3. Siena is only one size up in diapers than her 4 month-old sister. Hopefully she will be out of them soon.
4. We got a pass to the YMCA and have been exercising like responsible adults again. I have been going to an Exerswim class where I am the youngest person by about 20 years. It's such a fun class! However, P90X still works itself into our week here and there. Today's workout was AB RIPPER X. "I hate it!... but I love it!"
   
5. Siena and Qiana have minor colds, nothing super special, but nonetheless out of the ordinary. Usually they have great health.
6. I took on two more students, so now my piano guild numbers to 7! Watch out world!
7. Juan got a part-time dental assisting job in Northeast Philly. It's just what he was looking for until he graduates.
8. Siena has given up her afternoon naps, it seems. I do not know how I will ever survive.
9. Juan brought home some wax for a crown wax-up he was doing for a patient; he asked me if I wanted to try making my own for fun, and I just couldn't turn down his offer. By the time I was done, my molar "wax-up" looked like a Lego.
   
   
   
   
10. We're almost done making our Valentines. If Siena would just stop getting into the inkpads and fancy-edged scissors, we'd be finished (hmph!)... but I love having her "help", just as I love having her "help" while making dinner. Last night, she helped Juan by scrubbing dishes while he made meatballs. As usual, it was a glorious wet mess! Even though the rose-colored glasses of raising a cute little toddler were tossed to the curb many, many months ago, I am still constantly reminded of how much I LOVE it!

Wait! There are more random pictures from the week:

This morning we all stayed in our pajamas until... well... we're still in our pajamas.

Siena had to make a very important call. Good thing whoever was on the other end couldn't see her bedhead; she looks like a hobo.

Piling into the "casita"

Having friends over!

Siena's First Ski Trip

While in Utah, Siena got to go skiing with her papi, uncle, and cousin Ava. She hated it. Then she liked it. Here's the video to prove we actually took her:

After a while she got tired and just wanted to make snow angels. (There's a video, but it's too long to upload. Just imagine cuteness.)

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

I may not ever do a giveaway again because it's hard to make a random drawing and stick with awarding just ONE person when everyone who enters is your friend. I wanted to give the earrings to everyone, but I had to stick with the first random pick.

So the winner of the Lucky Dangles is.......drum roll please........ NYCOLE

Thanks to all who entered and congrats Nycole!