Homeschool Movie

I put together a movie of some of our 2008-2009 home school activities. Kathy thinks I left too much stuff out, but there's still a lot here. BTW, if you like it, give it a high rating:
Smith Homeschool Movie

Castles & Coasters

Dereck,Tanner,Christian,Todd,Me
Lauren,Joshua,Hannah
This was at the end of the night & our last log ride which is why some clothes look wet (because they are).

We went to Castles & Coasters on Friday night. Dereck,Lauren,& his 2 nephews met us up there. Ruth went shopping instead. We got there a little before them & had a rocky start with Joshua. He didn't want to go on the go-karts. Then he didn't want to do the viking ship. Then he refused to go on the little roller coaster which he had talked about going on earlier. This coming from a kid who loves Space Mountain. Ugg. Finally he tried stuff. His first ride on the log ride he was scared which also does not make sense because the drop on Splash Mountain is way bigger. After several more turns he enjoyed it. He really liked the bumper boats,bumper cars, & go-karts. Hannah liked almost everything. We had fun and left when they closed at 11pm. Dereck had to go back to Hawaii yesterday but Ruth & Lauren are staying another week. We really want to visit them next. We never got a chance to golf though. Maybe we can do that when Grandma & Grandpa visit in November.

Hannah & Lauren on the log ride. I have no idea how many times we all went on this ride all together.

Todd & Joshua and Lauren on the bumper boats.
Below is the Free Fall ride. Left to right is:
Lauren,Dereck,Christian,Hannah,Todd,& a stranger.

Castles & Coasters Continued

Todd & Hannah on the Sky Diver. It's the opposite of Maliboomer. This one takes you up s-l-o-w-l-y & drops you down.

Look how good I am at bumping Dereck & taking a picture at the same time!

Below is Todd & Hannah on the left,Lauren on the right,& Dereck behind Lauren.

Nothing Exciting

I don't have any terribly exciting things going on this week but just wanted to add one picture of the kids with the sunflowers before they died-the sunflowers of course. The corn died again but now I know that Todd needs to talk to Brooke for tips. We have 3 watermelon growing but they are small.

My mom visits Wednesday to Thursday. Joshua asked me this morning if he could answer the door when she gets here. Today is Monday & he's planning for her visit on Wednesday. Hannah will probably ask that morning & be mad her brother got a 3 day jump on her. Yes, my kids "fight" over letting Grandma in the door. Sigh. They have their last soccer game that day so Grandma gets to see that. Then we'll do our regular movie on Thursday with her. We meet Dereck & Ruth again on Friday at Castles & Coasters. Now, C&C is not my favorite place to be in mid-July but these friends are worth it! After my work schedule last week I am so glad to only be working 2 days this week. Yeah!

It's been too long....

The Jimenez & Smith Families

Pod Racing

Dads against daughters.....

Lauren & Hannah



Yesterday we got to see our friends from Hawaii again. The sad part is we met them here in AZ-not HI. Anyway, we have not seen Dereck & Ruth since I was barely pregnant with Hannah & we were in HI. Ruth had just had Lauren. If you are doing the math that's about 10 years. Yikes-time flies I guess. Dereck was a groomsman at our wedding too.
They are off to CA now but we plan on seeing them later this month at Castles & Coasters when they get back. I really wanted to tag along with them because Lauren is performing Hula dancing at Disneyland this week. So we met them at Arizona Mills Mall & played at Gameworks for awhile. Thanks Dereck! 10 years is too long to not see you guys! By the way, this air hockey game rocks. 4 people can play & sometimes there were as many as 3-4 pucks in play at one time. Why hasn't anyone told me about this before?

4th of July

Not sure what the above looks are for. Extra attitude?

Joshua gets funky-I have more pictures to prove it!

They both enjoyed the DJ. I enjoyed taking pictures of them.

So cute!

I had to get their picture with Snoopy since they were both wearing Snoopy 4th of July shirts. This is outside the BX.


For our anniversary we planned on going to Alta Villa for lunch but they were closed for the 4th. That's the bummer about little family owned pizza places. They are closed on Sundays & we've been disappointed when someone was sick so they closed down. Their pizza is so good that their business does not suffer when they close. Joshua loved the alternate plan of Peter Piper which was sort of a let down after expecting awesome pizza but oh well.
The kids & I went swimming for a little bit since Todd's not allowed to yet. Later we went to the Base store because they were having a great clearance sale. Hannah got some cute tops & stuff for under $3 each-one was $1.62. Then we went to Luke's 4th celebration & fireworks.

Happy 4th of July

Happy Birthday America! God has blessed our country & we are thankful for what our Founding Fathers did to make this a Godly country(back then anyway). Imagine how strong we could be today if people had not turned away from God. It does make me sad that the principles our Nation was founded upon are being trampled on but since I have read the end of the "story" I know it has to go this way. I also know how it ends & I'm glad I'm on the winning team. Thanks to all those who have served or are serving our country. Your dedication to protect me & my family is appreciated. This just seemed like a good day to say that.

I can't let this day pass without saying Happy Anniversary to my Hubby. I'm glad to have been your Wifey for the last 12 years. Thanks for being my better half!

Hannah's haircut

Hannah has been wanting to cut her hair short for a few months. Today was the day. She seems to like it so far. Hopefully I can re-create what the stylist did with her bangs as she wants to grow them out. Her hair was almost to the middle of her back but since she always wore it up it was hard to tell. Joshua told her he didn't want her to get it cut. When asked "why" he said "because it already looks good". How sweet. We went to Target afterward so she could buy the Jonas Brothers DVD.

Soccer was canceled today due to the coaches being sick. Everyone I know seems to be getting it. Yuck. I thought I was doing better over the weekend but I'm not feeling so great today. Todd's knee doesn't look as swollen today.