Recently I have realized how stressful it is dealing with the various issues that accompany having an oldest and a youngest child. For starters, last night was 8th grade Open House at La Cueva. It was held to prepare 8th graders for high school registration next week. HIGH SCHOOL, people! My baby is within spitting distance of being a freshman. As I looked out over the gynormous gym, was introduced to the rather large security staff (who just hours earlier had had their hands full with a school wide lockdown owing to a report of an armed hoodlum in the area) and was instructed in the various credits that will need to be completed and excelled at in order to be elligible to attend a decent college, I thought, "How did this happen? Didn't Chad just barely graduate from preschool?" After the initial meeting was over, Sam and I walked around the halls with Chad (well, for about 30 seconds, that is, until Chad took off with his posse and started flirting with some cute ROTC girl who was trying to recruit him) hoping to figure out how many and which electives he can squeeze into two semesters. At various times he has wanted to take jazz band, marching band, seminary and the interscholastic sports class for students who want to try out for athletic teams. Obviously these will not all fit into one schedule if he wants to squeeze in any academics at all. Sadly, it looks like marching band will be the casualty much as Chad is dreading breaking the news to his current band teachers who have hinted on more than one occasion that perhaps he should tone down the sports in order to devote more time to his true calling. :)

Now, as to our baby. Just today Amber's preschool teacher informed me that she has been going around saying, "What the...?" and then another child in her class finishes Amber's exclamation with a word that begins with an "F". Great teamwork, huh? And I thought it was bad that she goes around saying "What the heck?" at home. Not only that, but Amber has also taken to entertaining her classmates with her version of "We Will Rock You" complete with the optional lyrics of "sock you, flush you down the toilet, hope you will enjoy it." Of course she learned these verbal and musical gems from her older siblings and she has no filter to know when it is and is not appropriate to use them. I'd almost rather she sang the actual lyrics to "We Will Rock You" and in fact I think I will have Chad teach them to her after school. Oh what's the point? I can hear her singing "Lookin' like a Fool with Your Pants on the Ground" in the other room. It's hopeless.

Today was the official registration day for baseball season 2010- one of the the two traditional spring/summer sports in which the Smith children participate. And here is what it looked like outside our house this morning. Doesn't this scene just make you want to sit outside on a set of bleachers for two hours sipping slushies? :) I thought so. I always laugh because every year it snows on baseball registration day. It's hard to imagine that by the end of the season we will all be wearing sunscreen and going to swimming parties. Granted we have one more month before practices start but I can assure you that the first half of the season is just simply not pleasant without a pile of blankets, a mug of cocoa and some serious underarmour for the players. When we first moved here from Washington, all our friends thought that the New Mexico climate would be similar to the climate of Arizona. I had to educate them about the fact that we are actually a mile high and that we do indeed get cold weather in the Land of Enchantment.

Lately, Bethany and Miranda have been really into the whole idea of brides and weddings. They begged me to let them attend a bridal shower for Diane Hanks in November and they actually had a great time. They played the games, loved the food and even won a prize. They were very excited for Diane to actually get married and were quite upset when I wouldn't let them go to her reception. So, last night we had another reception and this time I decided to let them go as long as they promised to be on their best behavior. Here they are posing "with" the bride and groom after signing the guest book.
Dropping the gift off. Bethany wrapped it herself!

Good news everyone! The day that the girls have looked forward to for two long months has finally arrived. Yes, my friends, this weekend was opening weekend at Upward basketball and cheerleading. The girls have been practicing hard and they finally got the chance to strut their stuff. Miranda had a game this Saturday morning at 9:00 and she came into our bedroom at 7:00 saying that she had tried and tried but was just too excited to sleep anymore. I asked her, "So, is it just like Christmas morning?" to which she replied, "Mom, I'm not this excited on Christmas morning, Silly." Alrighty then!


What a doll! Now we just need to work on loosening up her hips and ironing out those synchronization issues. :)

Sam convinced me to go on a hot date tonight with him and several other math teachers to the planetarium to watch a fractal show. For those of you who don't know what a fractal is, it is a repeating pattern that has something to do with algebraic equations. Well, let me just say that this show would have been quite cool if I were still a spring chicken. At this point in my life, though, It just made me feel slightly nauseous. (I should have known. I feel woozy after even your average planetarium astronomy show these days so I had no hope of getting through this with my stomach contents intact). The patterns zoom in and out on a huge spherical screen for an hour. Yikes! Not only that. I also felt really stupid because I could not quite figure out how Z2 +X2=C translates into a psychedelic tye dye design dancing around on a screen. Help!!! Why do I hang out with geniuses? Actually, why did I marry a genius? If anyone can explain to me how a fractal works (in very simple terms, that is), call me.

How do little girls celebrate the coming of the new year? With a tea party of course. We are incredibly dainty and refined. We sip hot cocoa and nibble on cookies. How feminine!

A southwestern Christmas Eve with lights, candy canes, and luminarias!