HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

yard

i really wish i had an original picture of our front yard so you all could appreciate how it looks now, but here is an in progress before picture.




















and here is an after picture. there is still more work to do but the grass is growing (it's patchy, but it's growing), and it's not looking half bad!

we live on a dirt road and it FINALLY got scraped! the boys sat outside for a long time watching the tractor, and the driver even stopped in front of our house and let carter get inside. living on a dirt road has it's perks :)

this and that

max loves to dumpster dive. he is constantly pulling things out of the trash can. somethings are worse than others... empty wipes bag = ok, vegetable peelings and raw chicken packaging = NOT ok!

aren't these the cutest smiles you have ever seen?

we have an unfinished basement and it is GREAT for ridable toys!

we found this guy in our garage a month or so ago. they are pretty scary, ty and i both may have screamed a little :)

consistent parenting

yesterday was one of those days. the kind where carter tested my patience to the N'th degree, and i could clearly see my mother-of-the-year award, slipping further and futher out of my reach. he screamed all through safeway, refused to obey almost everything asked of him, and later in the day cried about EVERYTHING! he was in and out of time-out all day, had a spanking or two, and even more threats hissed at him through clenched teeth.

as i went to bed last night, after i had expressed my frustrations to tyrell, i lied there wondering why i can't be a better mother? i lose my temper, i raise my voice, and sometimes...on the worst days, i consider my child's imminent demise :) i mean, where is the loving, calm, and wise, mother who will be praised by her adult children as a great teacher and disciple of Christ from the pulpit of the conference center? :)

it is at these low points, where one needs a little support and validation that not everything you do as a parent is in need of revision. and who better to buoy you up in your time of need, than the man who loves you no matter what. so in an attempt to fish out a compliment, i posed a question to tyrell:

"does it make you so sad that i am not a great mother?"

to which he so lovingly replied:

"no. it just makes me feel better about not being a great dad."

well folks, there you have it... at least here in the smith home we are all on the same page, providing consistently bad parenting :)