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I love to see Jacob's brain in action.  It works in mysterious and amazing ways.

Tonight for Family Home Evening (family lesson and activity) we talked about the scripture in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17,  "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God…"  We talked about the gifts that our bodies are, and the importance of taking care of them.  At one point we were talking about our need for water, and I mentioned that are bodies are made up largely of water (as babies we are about 75-80% water, with that decreasing to 55-60% at adult maturity…quite a bit!) and I saw the wheels turning for Jacob as he replied,

"Mom – I think Heavenly Father gave us the earth as a representation of our bodies.  There are many things about the earth that are very similar to our bodies – including the fact that the earth is also made mostly of water (about 72%).  And just like our bodies, we need to take care of the earth…keep it clean, healthy and nourished."

I loved that analogy!  He is on a big recycling kick lately, and I think he has a good point about the important parallels of God's creations.

Then later this evening he and I were working on his UIL spelling words.  He is on his school's UIL Spelling team where they will compete with other schools in February.  He has 600 spelling words to learn and memorize in the coming weeks.  Tonight we were working on the 'b' words.  He had not seen these words yet, we just did a first-run quiz, and out of 30 he only missed 9.  Then we went over each word on the white board and quizzed again, and he got all of them correct.  These are not easy words either – business, breach, barricade, bilingual, etc.  I am so impressed with his brain – he can learn so quickly and absorb so much at a time.  In fact, I told him how impressed I was with how things stuck in his brain once he learned them, and he said,

"Yep – it's just like bubble gum on the bottom of a bus seat."

There you have it!

Edited to Add:  More cuteness came from him this morning as Derek was walking them to school.  Jacob stuck out his tongue, breathed in heavily and said, "I smell ICE."  To which Derek replied, "I smell LATENESS, so get going!".  Then Jacob said, "If you look up snow-lover in the dictionary, you'll find my name."  (Or so he thinks, since he's never actually had to live with snow for longer than 2-3 days at a time, and even then only once a year!).  But, cute, nonetheless.

Gourmet Club on Sat night was…well, heavenly.  Not only was that the theme of the evening, but also the perfect description.  It was wonderful!  We were asked by our hosts, Emily and Anne, to come dressed in all white.  The table was spectacular.   The food was scrumptious (the divine drink, cheese souffle, lamb, and kiwi/pomegranate "pie" were some of my favorites).  And at the end they gave each guest a different Willow Tree angel figurine with an explanation of why that one was chosen for them.  So thoughtful!  It was one of my favorite GC's so far!  Way to go, girls!

 

 

Gourmet Club is a family-affair…here are their good husbands hard at work in the kitchen:

 

 

 

Sidenote:  I've done some really good eatin' this weekend.  On Friday night, Derek and I went to III Forks (my favorite) with my mom, Steve, Michael and Olivia to celebrate Mike's b'day.  That was fun!  Sat night was Gourmet Club.  And last night, my mom made tacos, salad and nachos for us at her house.  Mmmm!  I better get on the treadmill!

ADULTS ONLY PLEASE

With all of the teeth being lost around here (by Caleb), the tooth fairy is making frequent stops.  Today in the car Caleb was asking where the tooth fairy lives (in fairyland, of course!) and Jacob quietly chimed in…

"I don't think the tooth fairy is real.  I think it's Mom and Dad leaving money under your pillow."

*Sigh*

So late tonight, after the little boys were in bed, we pulled Jacob in for a chat and let him in on the secret.  And as much as I had dreaded it, or been sad to pass this milestone, it was a happy and delightful conversation.  He had a big grin on his face the entire time…pleased with himself for figuring it out and tickled to now own a secret.  And we now let him help us keep the magic and joy alive for the little guys (hopefully).  Luckily for us he confidently said…"I know all of those magic characters aren't real…except for Santa, I know he's real."  I think that his letter from Santa helped with that.  We may have another year or so before that talk.

But as is always hard for me…my kids are growing up.  I need to learn to embrace, enjoy and love those changes for what they are. 

So last week wasn't great in the domesticity department around here.  Although I did do a whole lot of laundry, cooking meals for my family went out the window for some unknown reason.  Thus resulting in the now-infamous Taco Bell visit, coupled with a trip to Subway the following evening.  I finally got myself in gear and this was the result this week:

Sun: French Dip sandwiches with Au Jus and roasted zucchini spears

Mon: German Apple Pancakes for breakfast (to die for, really)

Tues: Taco Skillet Pie (new recipe that was good) with green beans

Wed: Fettucine alla Carbonara with Grilled Chicken and Peas (I keep my veggies real simple for the kids sake)

Thurs: Pork Tenderloin with Maple Glaze (my friend Emily's recipe and it is SO good!) with Baked Sweet Potato Strips and Asparagus

Plus, I made two loaves of banana bread.

Ahhh…that feels better.

After feeding all the animals we headed to Turner Falls – a beautiful camping spot in the Arbuckle Mountains (hills).  We walked by the stream and found the waterfall-fed pool.  Then Derek and the boys did some hiking and found a cave and an overlook of the falls.  We were only there for an hour and a half, but fell in love with this quiet, pretty spot.  We hope to go back and go camping sometime.

 

 

 

(A cave)

Then we headed back south to Gainesville in hope's of eating dinner at a recommended restaurant (Sarah's on the Square) and doing some antique shopping.  As it turns out, Monday is not a good day for antiquing because EVERYTHING is closed, including the restaurant.  But I did find what is now my favorite jewelry store EVER!  It's called Barron's on the square in Gainesville, and it has the most original, unique jewelry – in every style and stone imaginable.  I bought myself a pink corral/silver ring, and some torquoise earrings.  So I was satisfied.  And then we ate at the only restaurant that was open, and headed home.  Another successful Smith adventure!

With a four-day weekend we knew we needed to do something adventurous.  Our friend's, the Tolbert's, had recently gone on an adventure to Oklahoma, so we copied them step by step because that's what we do best – imitation at its finest. 

So we set aside Monday as our adventure day.  First we drove the two hours to Arbuckle Wilderness, just north of Ardmore, Oklahoma.  Luckily we were one of only 3 cars in the whole park and enjoyed the animals affection the whole time.  I still have camel spit and giraffe licks on my Suburban because of it.

       

We had a fascinating and exciting nature lesson too!  We went over a small ravine and the boys spotted a baby!  So we reversed and were astonished to see a momma yak (or cow – it was hard to tell)who had JUST (and I really mean JUST) had a baby.  We sat and watched for about 10 minutes.  The calf was wobbly on its feet and covered with fluid and blood.  Momma still had the umbilical cord hanging out (I told you JUST had the baby).  Momma was licking the baby clean.  It was so NEAT!  And we got to be the ones to let the staff know about it (they didn't know!).  Nature at its most primitive…very cool.

   

And our favorite thing was feeding the giraffes…all six of them.

   

 

And our least favorite part was those crazy emus and ostriches with their scary eyes, zero manners, and powerful peck.  Everytime they came around I rolled up the windows – they freak me out!

   

Fun place!

I, like most of the world today, watched the coverage of the Inauguration of Barack Obama (or as Caleb calls him innocently O'Rock Obama), our 44th president.  I taped all 7 hours of ABC's coverage, but have sinced watched all of it.  And I'm watching again tonight.  I've seen it all (at least everything that was public)…I've seen:

– the outfits (for Mrs. Obama the gold glittery, tasteful number with green gloves and green pumps)

– the new Obama vehicles with titanium doors

– the "First" daughters with their adorable coats

– the transfer of power

– the prayer meeting

– the coffee meeting at the White House with ingoing and outgoing presidents alike

– the Inauguration itself with all 1.4 million people on the National Mall

– the Inaugural speech

– the departure of Pres and Mrs. Bush by helicopter

– the respectful and kind gestures by both sides

– the luncheon and the gifts (painting of Yosemite and crystal bowls)

– the parade walk/drive by the First Couple

– the parade itself

– and now the balls – her with a gorgeous white flowy gown and him in white tie

– their first dance, while lacking any real "moves" was very endearing and you can tell that they do love and respect one another

And while I disagree with them politically.  While I am skeptical of anything that has the complete backing and support of Hollywood.  While I do not necessarily feel the optimism, the "rising up of our nation", or the hope that is talked about.  And while I worry about the "hero worship" that seems to be prevalent among so many.

I do feel that this is a man who loves his family.  I do see that this is a man that has the potential to influence for good.  And I do feel that this is a historic day for all of us – electing our first African American President.

I hope that he will be successful.  I hope that he will be smart.  I hope that he will look at all angles and truly use bipartisanship as he has prescribed.  I will be watching.  We all will be watching and praying and hoping…not always for the same things at first.  But eventually for the same outcome…for peace around the world.  For safety here at home. For prosperity.  But if not prosperity, for wisdom.  For opportunity.  For continued freedoms.  For preservation of those things which are most sacred and dear to us…family, children, home, religion, education and the rights of all people to know that they are a child of the Most High and to be treated as such. 

 

When Derek went to wake up the boys this morning for church…

BTW, let it be stated that Sunday is the ONLY day my kids sleep in and then they complain thru church about how we woke them up too early.  Every other day of the week they're up at 7 and make sure we know it.  Now back to my story…

Derek was rubbing Caleb's head and Sam was patting Caleb's head to wake him up and he groggily replied,

"Try Jacob – I'm not available."

"Not available, huh?" Derek said.

"Yeah, leave a message!"

He cracks me up.

I had the brilliant idea to take the family to Taco Bell tonight to avoid having to cook.  Remind me to NEVER do that again.  It might have been the most disgusting meal of my entire life.  I have become my mother.  She used to call McDonald's "McDoo-Doo's" (sorry, mom, you know it's true).  Cooking a nutritious meal is worth the time, hassle and clean-up.  Lesson learned.

Sidenote:  When I asked Jacob where we should go for dinner, he replied, "Anything that's not Chinese, Asian, or Italian is fine with me.  I only like food from Mexico and America."  Note to self: Teach Jacob that China is part of Asia.

Derek likes to do projects with the kids and I love him for it.  He and Caleb looked up some plans on the Internet to make a birdhouse and they did it.  They worked side-by-side and Caleb got to pick the colors.  And now it hangs on the fence by our birdbath, and by the looks of it, some birds are eating out of it already.