This and That

The kids and I went to visit my grandfather today. The first thing that he asked me was, "What is going on at your house besides smelly towels?" I realized that I hadn't updated my blog in quite a while and decided to come home and get busy writing!

Update on the smelly towel dilemma: I think I may have solved the problem at last! In my research on the Internet I found that MANY MANY people are unhappy with their front loading washing machines. We originally bought our front loader because it was supposed to be more economical. As it turns out, the front loading washer may have been contributing to the smelly problem. Many front loaders are said to be prone to growing mold/mildew and such if they are not handled with kid gloves. We were already following the manufacturer's instructions to clean out our washer with bleach. The washer has a "Clean Washer" cycle. We had already meticulously followed the instructions for the recommended amount of cleanings, along with the instructions to always leave the washer door open after each cycle.

Here is what I am doing differently to make sure that the problem does not reappear. We will just have to wait and see how it goes... I now set the washer to buzz when the clothes are clean and transfer them IMMEDIATELY into the dryer. Before this mildew incident, I might have let them sit for an hour or so on occasion. Also, I wipe out the inside seal after each wash with a paper towel, to make sure that NO water is left standing inside the washer. In addition, I will now ALWAYS wash my towels and whites with bleach. I think that using bleach more often might help with the problem. We also found a product that is made specifically for this type of a problem. We are testing it out as well. If we had known about the complaints from so many people with front loaders, we would have bypassed trying to be earth friendly and would have stuck with a traditional, inexpensive top loader. In the long run, we will be spending much more on bleach, special tablets, paper towels, and time than we would have ever spent on a few extra gallons of water. Hopefully, our stinky towel problem is gone for good and we won't have any more problems with the matter. If we start smelling like sour rags, we will be selling our front loader and getting a model that actually fulfills its purpose of cleaning clothes.

Other than the smelly towel problem, here are some things that we have been up to at the Smith house....

Last weekend, we went up to Temple to my nephew, Jonah's, second birthday party. My sister-in-law, Alisha, has a knack for making fabulous cakes. Check out this cool motorcycle cake that she made for Jonah, at his request. It was entirely edible and was made using her super delicious recipe for fondant. Isn't this an amazing cake?



The party was motorcycle themed. Here are the kids in their do rags...





The kids played on the slip and slide and had fun with their two cousins. By the end of the day, we were all worn out and ready to go home and get to bed!

On Labor Day, my Mom, Dad, and brother Ben came over to the house for the day. My sister, Taylor, and her husband, Scot drove down and spent the day with us too! It was really fun to catch up and talk with everyone.

On Monday night, Josh camped out in the back yard with the kids. He has done this several times. Each time, the kids LOVE it. It is so much cheaper than camping, and, when Major gets hot in the middle of the night and wants to escape to his bed, he can. :) They made hot dogs on the grill, s'mores, and watched movies outside in the tent. Josh asked me if I wanted to join in on the fun. I didn't.











Major just started another season of tee ball. I have a love-hate relationship with sports. I love watching my kids play sports, but think that sports have gotten totally out of control in our country. Let's remember that Major is only 4 years old!!! He has been having two practices a week for the last two weeks. Some of the parents on his tee ball team went to the coach and pointed out that, according to league rules, they were allowed a maximum of three practices a week. WHAT?!? What is the meaning of this? It is insane! We are talking about four year olds here! I can't imagine there being a reason for a four year old (or anyone other than a college athlete or professional) to need to have three practices a week. You have to be kidding me! What about family time? What about church? With three practices a week, when would there be time for other (more important) family pastimes?

I don't remember things being like this when I was a kid. For some reason, sports start earlier and earlier and with greater intensity than ever before. I am thankful that Josh, too, saw that three practices a week was excessive and decided that Major would not be committing his whole life to tee ball this season. Crazy!!! He will continue to play, but will be missing many of the practices. I can only hope that this decision doesn't put him behind on the competition for college scholarships and world fame. That would be a bummer. :)

On this subject of excessive sports involvement in our country, I have to share a conversation with a woman that I had last week. This woman had been a missionary in New Zealand for 12 years and is currently living in the states. She has three grown children. At least two of them are fabulous athletes (like college scholarships and being featured as athlete of the week on the local news station), so I'm not talking about some anti-sports person who has no clue what she is talking about. She told me that her children experienced a major culture shock when they moved to this country. They were in upper middle school/high school when they moved here from New Zealand. In New Zealand, sports were so much different. There, they had only one practice and one game a week. They did not have practices on Sunday nights or Wednesday nights and did not have games on Sundays. On the rare occasion that a game was scheduled, they informed their coaches that they would not be participating in the event. They did not miss church for sports activities....ever. Apparently, their local church greatly supported their decision, praising them and encouraging them for taking a stand for what was most important. This missionary woman told me that the atmosphere at practices and games was relaxed. The moms would come out to practice and drink tea together and talk while their kids practiced their sports events.

The woman said that when their family relocated to the States, the kids' practices increased tremendously, AND games/practices were now scheduled for Sundays and Wednesdays. When the kids tried what had worked in New Zealand, politely telling the coaches that church came first, they were ridiculed and made to feel terrible for letting the team down. This missionary woman told me that they were even persecuted by their local church members, who couldn't believe that they would let down the team. In addition, she said that practices were no longer a tea drinking affair, but a screaming frenzy of intense parents who seemed to feel as if their child's very life depended on the outcome of that practice. This is something that I simply cannot understand. I just thought it was interesting to hear how our obsession with sports is so much a part of our culture. I love so many things about our country, but this is one part of our culture that I will never embrace.

On to another subject....

We have been really busy with school this week. Mary Alice has had a mental block about memorizing her addition facts. She is really good at memorizing things that she wants to memorize, but, for some reason, just hasn't wanted to memorize math facts. We went over her flashcards for HOURS this summer. It hasn't been such smooth sailing, but we're making progress. I really want her to be able to move on with the Math concepts that she is going to be learning. I don't think she can do that without first memorizing those facts! We are already starting to see the benefits from our hard work. She has been taking these daily timed tests and enjoys shaving seconds off of her time each day. We're working on it...

Mary Alice just started using Rosetta Stone for Spanish. I think it may be a bit above her head. It seems to work best if I sit with her and explain things to her as she goes along. I'm just hoping that this gives her a good foundation in Spanish. She seems to be enjoying herself. We have been talking in Spanish a little bit around the dinner table. Even Major joins in on the fun. He is learning a little bit of Spanish as well.

Major is such a little jokester right now. I wish I could remember half of the jokes he tells us. He keeps us laughing, though. He is always such a silly boy.

Sometimes kids amaze me with their insight and observations about life. The other day, Mary Alice and Major told me something that I thought was funny. We were talking and Mary Alice said, "Mom, Sometimes, after I watch a movie, It is hard to concentrate on school or the Bible, or other things that I'm supposed to be thinking about. It's like the movie gets into my brain, and I can't think about anything else. I'll be sitting there, trying to think about my schoolwork, and all that I can think about are the things in the movie. They are even in my brain when I try to go to sleep at night."

Then Major said, "Yeah. It is like my brain is all twisted up with movie stuff....and then, when I am supposed to be listening to a Bible story, my brain can only think about movie stuff. There is only so much room in my brain, after that, it is all used up!"

HA! Isn't that the truth??? If we fill our mind up with the things of the world, it sure can make it hard to think about more important matters, can't it?

The other day I took Mary Alice out for breakfast. We talked about how Aunt Hannah was about her age when Josh and I got married and how Hannah just went away to college. I told her that it wouldn't be too long until she was old enough to go to college. I asked her if she had any idea where she wanted to go to college one day. She replied with, "Well, mom, I don't mean to distress you, but I think I might go to Harding. If I go there, I won't be able to live by you for a while, so you'll probably just have to move out there by me for a few years. Then I'll move back to your neighborhood. Does that sound okay?"

Silly girl! I think I might have to have to remind her of these living arrangements one day!

The kids love playing together. Today, Major decided that he would be nice and play Mary Alice's games. (Usually it is the other way around.) They just came down the stairs and announced, "We're country folk." Whatever that means? Here they are in their costumes.

In case you were wondering.... The orange bucket is their "bucket of treasures", which included a treasure map, a broken trophy, some fabric scraps, two swords, some Spiderman figurines, and a harmonica. They have some active imaginations and can play together for hours. I love that about them.

Last night, I experimented with rolling Mary Alice's hair with old fashioned rag rollers. I found instructions on how to make them on the web. I cut up an old sheet and used the strips to roll up her hair Laura Ingalls' style. Mary Alice loves all things prairie, so she loved her new rag roller do. As a bonus, I thought that her curls were much prettier than the ones that you get with sponge rollers.... AND she said that sleeping on the tied up rags was much more comfy than sleeping on sponge rollers. We may be rag rolling it again tonight. She looks so cute with those little knots of fabric all over her head, don't you think?



Well, I guess that's it for now! Have a great week!