Our New Blog

Our names are Isabella and Kaylee. We just moved back from costa rica 4 1/2 months ago. Our mom gave us this blog. Today we tried out for basketball teams. The try outs were lame. We can't wait for Thanksgiving. We like Thanksgiving for the food and for all the thanks we give. Next week were going to our grandma and grandpa's house while mom and dad go to Cancun. We get to help our grandma make all the food for Thanksgiving. We get to help make the cookies and maybe eat some cookie dough. We are so happy we get to start blogging!

New owners!!

So as you can tell, I've quit the blogging business. I was kind of pressured into starting this thing by my sisters and never really loved it. Anyway, Isabella and Kaylee have asked if they can do the blog, so with me overseeing it, they will be the new authors from now on!

I saw this questionnaire on Facebook and thought I would do it with all of kids and put it here. I asked each of the questions individually.

1. What is something mom always says to you?
Zoey almost 3: Monkey
Isabella 7: Clean your mess up.
Kaylee almost 10: How was your school?
Braden 11: How was your day?
Austin 12: How was school?

2. What makes mom happy?
Z: You are gone in your car.
I: Me doing the dishes.
K: Us kids.
B: When we clean our rooms.
A: The beach.

3. What makes mom sad?
Z: You sad with my teachers.
I: When dad goes on a trip.
K: When she gets sick.
B: When dad goes on a business trip for a long time.
A: When Zoey gets hurt.

4. How does your mom make you laugh?
Z: Like this hahaha.
I: I don't know, do something!
K: When she says funny things.
B: She can't.
A: Stuff you say sometimes.

5. What did your mom like to do as a child?
Z:um what? nothing.
I: I think you like to go outside and play in the river grandpa owned. What? I know he owned a river!
K: Play with her sisters.
B: Shoot guns.
A: Play sports. I'm not sure.

6. How old is your mom?

Z: 1 hey no 2.

I: 33

K: 33

B: 33

A: 33

7. How tall is your mom?

Z: 1
I: 75 inches.
K: 6 foot.
B:Really 5 foot 11, but she says she's 6 foot.
A: 6 feet. Well really 5 foot 11.999.

8. What is her favorite thing to watch on TV?
Z: Movies.
I: Dr. Phil.
K: Dr. Phil.
B: Oprah.
A: The food channel or HGTV.

9. What does your mom do when you're not around?
Z: Play.
I: Shopping...a lot!
K: Read.
B: Go to her friends house.
A:Meet with friends.

10: If your mom became famous, what would it be for?
Z: Zoey is done answering questions.
I: A singer (Austin said "are you crazy Bella?).
K: Acting.
B: Not dancing or singing, I don't know, an actress?
A: Writing a book.

11. What is your mom really good at?
I: Exercising...no, cooking, you're really good.
K: Cooking.
B: Decorating.
A: Reading.

12. What is your mom not very good at?
I: Being a farmer...I know you're good at shopping.
K: Climbing trees.
B: Playing tennis.
A: Singing.

13. What is your mom's favorite food?
I: KFC.
K: Terryaki chicken.
B: Samuri (Japanese).
A: Haystacks.

14. What does your mom do for her job?
I: Take car of 5 kids.
K: Take care of us.
B: You don't have a job.
A: Nothing, stay at home.

15. What makes you proud of your mom?
I: She makes wonderful food and cake.
K: Being my mom.
B: She's smart.
A: She's really smart.

16. If your mom were a cartoon character, who would she be?
I: Cinderella.
K: Minnie Mouse.
B: blue car on Cars.
A: Roadrunner. Beep Beep.

17. What do you and your mom do together?
I: Go to Miami.
K: Go shopping.
B: go to the store.
A: Cook.

18. How are you and your mom the same?
I: We have the same hair color.
K: We have the same color of skin.
B: Both tall.
A: Our genes.

19. How are you and your mom different.
I: You are older, and I am younger.
K: She likes shopping and I don't.
B: She's older.
A: Our gender.

20. How do you know your mom loves you?
I: I think because she had me and she loves me very much.
K: Because she takes care of me.
B: Because she treats me good.
A: Cause she's my mom.

21. What does your mom like most about your dad?
I: He's cute or he's hot.
K: That he is handsome.
B: He's hot.
A: He's sexy.

22. Where is your mom's favorite place to go?
I: Walmart.
K: Shopping, to the mall.
B: Hawaii.
A: New York.

NOT Pottytraining!

We have been trying for a while to convince Zoey it's time to be a big girl and start wearing panties and get rid of the pacifier. She hasn't been to hip on the idea and claims she wants to be a baby. She always tells me "no potty train". We bought Dora panties at Christmas, but she wanted nothing to do with them.

Well Monday afterschool Isabella brought Zoey in to me and said "Look, I got Zoey to wear her panties." Well, although she was indeed wearing her panties, she had her diaper on underneath! Later I took the diaper off and she had a fit for a while but resigned herself to wearing panties. She wore them for about an hour, the whole time saying "I no pottytrain?!" For some reason she has an aversion to "pottytraining" so I told her we were "just practicing".

We have now "practiced" a little every day and this morning she was actually willing to sit on her little potty. I put the potty in front of the tv and she sat there for 2 1/2 hours! Everytime I asked if she wanted to put her panties back on she said "no, pee pee not ready". I even gave her 2 juice boxes to help the process along! Finally she went and was sooo proud, and excited to get a pee pee treat! Of course she also had quite the ring around her butt. I'm thinking maybe she will pottytrain before she turns 3!!

PS. As I was writting this she managed to pee her panties! Maybe the juice was not such a good idea?!

HiS and HeRs

This is just like 25 things about me,except there are pre-decided questions and it's about you AND your spouse!! And of course,tag people!!!

1. What are your middle names? John & Dawn
2. How long have you been together? Married for almost 14 years, but knew each other for almost a year before getting married
3. How long did you know each other before you started dating? 3 months, we were really good friends.
4. Who asked who out? Dustin asked me out on a "Hot Date" but I thought he was joking. Turns out he was serious!
5. How old are each of you? I'm 33, he will be 36 next month.
6. Whose siblings do you see the most? Mine. He only has 1 and she lives in Germany.
7. Do you have any children together? Yes, 5, 2 boys and 3 girls
8. What about pets? Zero, much to our daughter Kaylee's dismay.
9. Which situation is the hardest on you as a couple? Dealing with 5 children.
10. Did you go to the same school? No.
11. Are you from the same town? No.
12. Who is the smartest? How do answer that? He's smarter at some things and I'm smarter at others.
13. Who is the most sensitive? Dustin, however I've become more sensitive over the years.
14. Where do you eat out most as a couple? Samurai baby! It's a Japanese place we LOVE!
15. Where is the farthest you have traveled as a couple? That would be where we now live, Costa Rica. Although we have also been to Hawaii.
16. Who has the craziest exes? neither of us
17. Who has the worst temper? Me, most definately
18. Who does the cooking? I do. I'm not sure what everyone would eat if something ever happened to me?
19. Who is more social? I guess I am, but less so as I get older.
20. Who is the neat freak? Unfortunately no one. Of course that doesn't mean we are slobs, just not neat FREAKS.
21. Who is more stubborn? All the way, Angie. I can drive Dustin a little crazy with this one.
22. Who hogs the bed? Used to be Dustin, but we seem to sleep on our own sides for the most part. Gotta love a King!
23. Who wakes up earlier? Dustin, I hate mornings!
24. Where was your first date? TGIFriday's and then we walked the trails at Big Cedar Lodge.
25. Who has the bigger family? I do, 3 sisters to 1.
26. Do you get flowers often? No. Dustin forgot the advice his father gave him before getting married!
27. How do you spend the holidays? Usually with Angie's family, but we also see Dustin's parents too.
28. Who is more jealous? Neither one of us.
29. How long did it take to get serious? A couple months.
30. Who eats more? We are probably equal on this one.
31. Who does the laundry? Until 2 weeks ago, the maid, but I fired her. Now it's all me.
32. Who is better with the computer? Dustin wins this one hands down. I'm very computer illiterate
33. Who drives when you are together? Probably 60% Dustin, 40% Angie.

Superbowl Sunday

Yesterday the boys decided we should have a "Superbowl Party". I have to say, I have never watched the Superbowl, and quite frankly I've never had the desire to. But we decided to have a family party, with the party food and all. All of the kids helped make the snacks. Austin made chicken salad sandwiches, Braden made a cheese dip, Kaylee made BBQ meatballs, Isabella made Reese's peanut butter bars, and even Zoey made a salad. Zoey actual tore all of the lettuce herself and did a great job! They were all very proud of their food.

We all started out watching the game, but it didn't last long. The girls ended up playing on the computer and with each other, and I ended up doing dishes. I did watch a bit of the game and was rooting for the underdog, The Cardinals. Unfortunately, it looks like they lost it in the end, but that was the most football I've ever watched on TV!

At one point Zoey thought we should all sing a song and of course she would lead!
This is how Kaylee enjoyed the Superbowl
Austin had to call Grandpa Smith so they could watch and discuss the game together.

We're still here!

It's been a while, but we wanted to let you know we are still here!

We went back to Arkansas/Missouri for almost 3 weeks at Christmas and in spite of the cold, had a great time. We were able to see my parents, Dustins parents and all of my sisters and their families. We also got to see alot of our friends, but unfotunately not all of them. We also were able to get our fill of "The good old USA".

The day after returning to Costa Rica we had a small earth quake in the afternoon, and I thought "welcome back!". It turned out that was nothing! The next day we had a BIG eathquake! It was a 6.2, centered less that 20 miles from us. We live on the 4th and 5th floors and let me tell you, we were movin'! Luckily all of the kids except Zoey were down in the pool, or I'm sure they would have been alot more traumatized. I grabbed Zoey and ran for a doorway. It lasted for 40 loooong seconds. Although we had alot of things fall off of shelves and walls, we were lucky in that we only had 2 minor things break.

The tragedy is that this is a 3rd world country and alot of people live in substandard housing and concequently there are alot of people closer to the epicenter who are without housing now. It's fortunate that it wasn't a highly populated area and I think the death toll was only around 43.

After the quake there were a few thousand aftershocks in the first 2 days, most so small you can't feel them, but we felt at least 20. We are still experiencing aftershocks, but have somehow gotten used to them.

Austin stayed an extra week with my parents and missed all of the excitement! It was his first experience flying alone and he did great! He even got through customs in spanish by himself!

Here are some pictures from our holidays- Enjoy!

All of the Smith Grandkids Christmas Eve

Braden with his new CameraIsabella Christmas MorningKaylee with her new shades
Austin after a Christmas nap
Kaylee
Kaylee, Isabella & Zoey at Grandma Lowe'sZoey checking out her stocking
Zoey and Trista finding trouble!Isabella & Braden trying out the Wii while Dallin watches

What we've been up to

As I've said before, I'm not too great at updating this, so I am again behind in my blog.

In October the kids had a few days off of school and we decided to hit the road and head for the Caribbean side of the country. There are far less visitors and hotels on the Caribbean side, probably because it rains alot more there. Although October and November are the rainiest months for most of the country, it's the best time to visit the Caribbean. After a 4 1/2 hour ride we enjoyed 3 days at a quiet hotel right on the beach with a few other families we know. We all had a great time, and enjoyed seeing a new area of the country. We passed many, many acres of banana fields and pineapple fields, many of which are sent to the US.

I went onto VRBO.com, a great web site to find vacation rentals, and found a wonderful house with a private pool and awesome views. Again we were able to spend time with some of our friends who were also visiting the area. The highlight of our visit was a night walk on the beach where we were able to see a Ridley sea turtle laying her eggs. The turtles are endangered, and are very well protected here so we had to go with a guard to see the turtle. It was a really need experience for us all.

This week we are getting ready to head home for the holiday's. In fact, Dustin and Zoey are already on their way to Arkansas, while the rest of us will fly Thursday. We will be in Missouri and Arkansas for a little over 2 weeks and we are looking forward to seeing all of our family and friends.

I think Dustin has all of the pictures with him, so maybe I can add them later.

Temple Trip

Yesterday we were able to go with Austin to the Temple for his first time. It was a wonderful experience for him and for Dustin and I as parents.

Dustin serves in the Young Men's program and we were both able to go with the YM/YW. Dustin did about 150 baptisms and 80% of them in Spanish, I was quite impressed!

Austin at the Temple
This is a picture of our ward youth group and the leaders.

This is our entire youth group except for 2.

Tag, I'm it!

My sister Vicky tagged me yesterday so here it is.

Here are the rules:
"MY UNSPECTACULAR QUIRKS"
1.Link to the person who tagged you
2.Mention the rules on your blog
3.Tell 6 unspectacular quirks about you
4.Tag 6 bloggers by linking to them
5.Leave a comment on each of the tagged blogger's blogs letting them know they've been tagged.
First of all don't expect the links, because I am not that computer literate!

When I first got this I thought, I can't think of any strange quirks that I have. But after brainstorming with the help of my hubby I have come up with a list to share with you all. (I'm pretty sure Dustin came up with most of these. Thanks honey!)

1. I am not an e-mailer. I much prefer a conversation on the phone or in person. When I want to discuss something I don't want it to take a few days, or even hours to make a decision or to hear back from someone. Along with this I'm not a huge fan of e-vites. To me they are very impersonal and how do save that it a scrapbook if you wanted to? No offense to anyone who loves e-vite, that's just me.

2. I love to read! The only problem is that when I am reading a good book I am lost to the world, just ask my family! My husband can't understand how I can be surrounded by 5 noisy kids and not hear a thing when I'm in the middle of a good book. It absolutely drives Dustin crazy!

3. When I am deep in thought or concentrating on something I bite my tongue. Not only that, but when I used to feed my babies I would open my mouth as I fed the baby (unknowingly). It took Dustin a long time to figure out why Austin wouldn't eat for him, he watched me feed him one day and pointed this out to me.

4. I don't know why, but I pass medial tasks, that I could do, to Dustin. It is something I just recently realized, but if, for example, we have a problem with the internet, I will ask Dustin to call them. I don't know why I do this, because I'm sure I have more time and I'm totally capable, I just do. I'm going to have to work on correcting this problem.

5. When I fold laundry everything has to be folded just so (a.k.a. my way). If Dustin volunteers to help I usually turn him down or I let him fold only his own clothes. Now the really strange part of this is that living in Costa Rica I have a maid who does almost all of the laundry and I don't care at all how she fold it (sometimes things are still inside out), I'm just glad I don't have to do it or watch how she fold it!

6. I'm always right! O.K. maybe not always, but at least 99.5% of the time! I can honestly say that I truly believe this when I am discussing something with my husband. In fact one time we were discussing the fact that I think I'm always right and I said "ok, maybe I'm not always right... but really I almost always am!" It made Dustin so mad!

So now I am tagging:
Christine, Kim, Tamara, Crystal, Wendy & Desaray
Have fun!

New York City

A few weeks ago Dustin and I were lucky enough to get away for 6 days with out the kids. I've always wanted to go to New York City and I finally got the chance. We absolutely loved the city! We saw all of the tourist sights and a couple Broadway shows. We absolutely loved Wicked, but weren't crazy about In the Heights. The weather was gorgeous and we walked miles and miles every day. We enjoyed eating American food, walking in Central Park, and of course being together!

The kids stayed in Costa Rica with the maid during the week (I felt a little guilty because she only speaks spanish), and then they went to a couple of my friends houses for the weekend. A Huge THANKS to my friends Jenny and Angela, we couldn't have gone without you both!

Company?

A few weeks ago I walked into our dining area and sitting on our window casing was a parakeet!

The parakeets are always around, sitting right outside our bathroom windows and making all kinds of racket starting at about 5 am.

I hurried to get a picture before he flew away, but apparently he had no plans for leaving. The girls went over to the window to visit and he pecked on the glass while they tapped from the inside. Zoey meanwhile was scared to death of it. We played with it (through the glass) for about 15 minutes, but then had to leave, and he was still there.

I guess it was just one of the amazing things you come across living in Costa Rica!

Independence Day

Some of you may remember our Christmas card last year featuring our "Tico" children (a Costa Rican is refered to as a Tico). Well, Independence Day for Central America is this coming Monday, September 15th, so today they celebrated at school. All of the children come dressed in their typical Costa Rican clothing. The girls get to wear beautiful skirts and blouses, which of course they love!! And the boys dress as caballeros (cowboys) with white shirts, hats and bandannas. Then they all parade around the school grounds carrying lanterns, sing the national anthem, dance and celebrate their independence from Spain. It's fun to see our children dressed up and enjoying this cultural experience.

Braden

ZoeyKayleeIsabellaAustin

All of our little Ticos

Blessings in Costa Rica

I just wanted to share some great news with everyone that we are really excited about.

You may not know it, but Braden has struggled with school pretty much from the beginning. When he was in 1st grade the school did some testing with him and said he had a learning/reading disorder. When I asked what the difference was between that and Dyslexia, they said "we don't like to put a label on the kids". So, he has gone to a reading specialist for about an hour a day during language arts since 1st grade.

When we were deciding to move to Costa Rica we were really concerned as to whether or not he could get the help he needed here. Well, we found a school that we thought would work and we moved here.

Last year the reading specialists worked with Braden, but they weren't having much success. They tried everything they knew to help him, but weren't very successful. They talked to us about getting him further testing to figure out the best way to help him learn. The problem has never been his willingness to learn because his teacher always say he is very attentive and eager to learn. So in May we started testing him and we finally received an actual diagnosis for Dyslexia.

I never knew you could be excited to have your child diagnosed with Dyslexia, but we are very excited. We have found a tutor who specializes in Dyslexia and will be using the Barton System with him. We are so excited about this program and everything it can do for Braden.

We really feel as though this has been the biggest blessing we could ever receive from moving here. I think that if we hadn't come here we never would have gotten a real diagnosis and Braden could have floundered for years.

So I guess...Thank-you Wal-Mart for sending us to Costa Rica!

Beach Boy Braden

Austin and his Prodigy

Last year Austin started band and has been learning to play the drums. Well, lately he has been trying to get Zoey to play too. He thinks she has a lot of potential since she can drum pretty fast. I think she had the potential to be a spoiled rock star, since she throws the sticks when she's done!

Here's a few pictures of Austin and Zoey "practicing". They have to use pillows since we live in an apartment and there's no room for real drums.

Concentrating very hard!

That's a wrap!

No Longer My Baby

Well, I can hardly believe it, but Zoey started preschool yesterday. People here seem to start sending their kids to school when they are only 1. Last year everyone kept asking me when I was going to send Zoey. I didn't really think I would send her, but the problem became that all of her sibling are in school, and so are all of the other kids her age. So in order for her to have any socialization we decided to put her in preschool 2 mornings a week. She was very excited to go and didn't care at all when I left her. When I picked her up they said she was very happy all morning and had a great time. I kind of wondered how she would do, since it is all in spanish, but so far, so good! So I guess she is now a "big girl", and not my baby!

Here she is with her Dora backpack, ready for school.

The Best Day of the Year???

Well, the day has finally come. Just when I thought I might tear my hair out, school started!!! The last week the kids have really been at each other, and I really think everyone needed a break from each other. While I love the fact that I can sleep in a little in the summer and we have no real schedule, I think everyone at our house needs to get back on a schedule.

As is our tradition, we always take pictures of the kids on the first day of school, so without further ado-

Isabella- 1st Grade

Kaylee- 4th Grade

Joe Cool, I mean Braden- 5th Grade

Austin- 7th Grade

Can you believe we have a 7th grader???

1 Year!

I'll keep this short, but I just thought I'd let everyone know that we have officially been "Costa Rican" for 1 year. It's hard to believe, the time has gone so fast. We are kind of feeling the pressure now to make sure we see everything here. I guess this means we will be vacationing a lot this year!!

I also wanted to post this picture. It is a beautiful tree that is right outside my dining room window. I have no idea what kind of tree it is, but I thought I would share it with everyone.

Summer Fun

Well, I guess it's about time I update this blogg! My sister Vicky has been on me for about a month asking when I'm going to make a new post. Well here it is.

We have had a very full summer. The first week of June my cousin Megan came for a 2 week visit. We went zip lining and to the beach and had lots of fun. She was also kind enough to watch the kids over night for our anniversary and we went to the most awesome place ever. It was called Peace Lodge, and that is the perfect name for it. If you ever come to Costa Rica you have to stay there for atleast one night. It's not a family place and is a very romantic place for couples.

Me on the balcony of our room at Peace Lodge

The week after school got out Megan and I took the kids to a beach resort for 4 days. Our friends the Belnaps and Andersons were also there for their last beach trip before moving back to the US. Everyone had a great time and we will miss our friends so much!

Braden in front of a big tree at the resort

The same day Megan left, our whole family flew back to Arkansas. Dustin was able to stay there with us for 2 weeks, unfortunately working most of that time, and the rest of us stayed for 6 weeks. We were able to see lots of friends and family. The kids had a lot of fun with my sister Vicky's kids. It was especially fun to see Zoey and Trista play (and fight) together. They are only 5 weeks apart so they are fun to watch.

Zoey and Trista in matching nightgowns

Austin and Kaylee also got to spend a few days with their best friends, Josh and Katherine Walker, before they moved to Hong Kong.

Isabella, Katherine and Kaylee

Austin and Josh

After Dustin went back to Costa Rica, Vicky and I loaded up the kids (all 9 of them) in our cars and headed to Kentucky to see our sister Rebecca and her family. It was a little crazy with 4 adult and 10 kids in a 3 bedroom house for 4 days, but we had fun. We all went to a water park together and had a blast. My kids and I also stopped by Churchill Downs for a picture and went to the Louisville Slugger Museum, where we got to see them make the bats and all got our own miniature bat to take home.

Zoey listening to the TV in the car

We made a quick stop at the Temple in St. Louis

Trista, Zoey and Jacob at the water park

The Louisville Slugger Museum and Factory

Isabella, Austin, Zoey, Braden and Kaylee in front of the big museum bat

On our way back the kids and I stopped at the St. Louis Arch for a photo op and then continued on to Grandma and Grandpa Lowe's for a visit. We spent a couple days with them and then returned to Arkansas.

Braden, Isabella, Kaylee, Zoey and Austin at the Arch

The St. Louis Arch

We went to Missouri to see my parents the next weekend and Austin and Braden got to go to a Springfield Cadinals game (the minor league). They had a great time with grandpa and Braden caught a hat they threw into the audience and Ausin caught a T-shirt. On Monday we sent Austin to Boy Scout camp for the week. It sounds like he had fun, although he came home with poison ivy and a million bug bites!

Zoey helping with brownies at Grandma's

(she had it all the way to her feet)

Braden and Austin at the game

Last Friday the kids and I flew back home to Dustin and Costa Rica. I am glad to no longer be living out of a suitcase and of course to be sleeping in my own bed. Now I am just counting down the days until school starts! (11 days, yeah!)