Roar!!!

Super Lion to the rescue! Roar!!!

Little man still loves to use this lion towel we had when he was first born.


Wasn't he so tiny and cute back then? Can't believe it!


In order to get Andrew out of the bathtub, I usually put the lion towel on my head... he loves it and then gets out enthusiastically because he wants to run around the house in his lion towel.


Lately this activity includes bouncing on my leather chair and saying "roarrrr!"



This is a great way to get out all his energy before bed :)

Messy Boy!

If it can make a mess... Andrew loves it!


Blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries are perfect for painting this little boy's hair, face, arms, high chair... and of course, my floor!

Is the food I cook really that bad?

Andrew's newest fascination is dirt. We are working hard to discourage this interest.


Every time he has gone outside the past two days he has gone directly to the dirt mound outside and tries to eat a handful of dirt. Hopefully this interest is short-lived... the last thing we want is a little boy with an intestinal parasite or some other sort of problem.

Now I remember...

why I haven't had a library card in a long time...


Because of situations like these:

Dear Kristina Buskirk,
The DVD case, Wee Sing in Sillyville was returned to the Santa Clara City Library recently missing the disc. Please return it to the front desk of the library and have your library card with you. The item will be held for 30 days before a bill is sent. If the missing item is returned after 30 days, you will be charged a $6 late fee. If you have any questions, please contact Circulation Services at (408) 615-2970.

Please have your library card number ready.
Thank you,
Circulation Services. Santa Clara City Library


And then when I went today to drop off our newest overdue books/movies, I couldn't find the case for the movie (but I had the disc).


I think I am losing my mind!

This reminds me of how I was on the blacklist with librarians in our school district. One librarian even sent this email when my school's librarian tried to borrow books for me. It made me laugh.

I will send the one that I have, but I would really feel better about this loan if she didn't have three LOST books on her record!
(I especially love the ALL CAPS emphasis)

Maybe I'm destined to forever just buy books. Why is it that the books I buy only multiply and never get lost... and the ones I borrow disappear into a black hole?

If anyone finds an Elmo DVD case at their house or a copy of "Wee Sing in Sillyville," minus the case... let me know. :)

Unbelievable!

It is amazing to see how much our little man has changed in the past 18 months!

We can't believe he was ever this little!



Such a little cutie!


We feel so blessed to have our little cheeseman in our family. He definitely makes sure that there is never a dull moment.


Happy 18 months Andrew! (only a little belated)


We are so lucky to have such an easy going, happy, energetic, talkative, and curious little boy!

Afternoon with the girls

While we were in Utah we had the rare opportunity to hang out with my favorite college roommate from BYU, Miranda. I love my friendship with Miranda because when we get together and chat, it feels like old times... except now we talk about naps, gardening, and playground equipment instead of cute guys and where the next party is.

Miranda and I only lived together at Chatsworth for a little over a year, but it was probably one of the most memorable and fun years I had at college.


We have stayed in touch since then and I consider her to be one of my best friends. She and her husband Regan even flew to NYC for my frigid cold February wedding so that she could be one of my bridesmaids.

Now she has three beautiful little girls who I absolutely love. Her oldest daughter and I will be friends for life because I think she likes sweets as much as I do. Elise and I enjoyed a great afternoon with Miranda and the girls the other day.

They loved showing Andrew around their house and taught him how to bounce on the trampoline.


Baylee and Andrew played on the teeter totter together. You can tell that Andrew is obviously not used to the Utah heat! His face was SO red after just a short time outside... and he also ran around a lot.


London loved getting to hold Baby Madeline. What gorgeous girls!


It was a lot of fun to get to know Baylee now that she is older and moving around. The last time we saw her was at her baby blessing several months ago. She and Andrew are about 7 or 8 months apart and it was cute to watch them try and "share" toys. Baylee is so smiley too! It was just darling to watch!


Andrew thought that he had died and gone to heaven when Kennedy and London took him into the basement and let him ride around on their car. The girls showed him how to move his feet to get the car to go and they were so excited when he was able to do it. I wish he had big sisters as great as both of them!


We were sad when our visit had to come to an end. Hopefully we won't have to wait too many more months until we can hang out again.

Andrew crashed when we got into the car. He was so tuckered out from all the Guth house fun.


Thanks Miranda and girls for such a fun afternoon!

Provo Adventures

I love visiting Provo when BYU is starting up again. We had fun going to a few familiar places that bring back good memories of times at BYU.

Hogi Yogi... Andrew loved running around while we ate a few fro yo snacks. My cookie ice cream sandwich brought back good memories of the time when I worked at Hogi Yogi and got to make the cookies every morning :) I always liked it when they got broken so that I could eat the pieces.


BYU's Monte L. Bean Museum... maybe Andrew will grow up and be a zoologist? I spent many many many hours in the basement of the Bean Museum checking out the dead birds. It was one of the exciting requirements for my elem ed zoology class. I always brought treats with me to help make the boring hours go quicker.

Andrew loved running around the museum and looking at the different animals and playing with the displays.




He also loved running around and climbing everywhere.


We made sure to deck the little man out in his BYU gear for his trip to campus.



After our trip to the museum, we headed to my absolute favorite place at BYU, the BYU bookstore. We got some treats and braved the check out lines full of new students and their parents.

We were pleasantly surprised to run into a few friends... including one of my Young Women who just graduated from high school and is starting at BYU this fall.


I am so excited for the fun year she has ahead of her!!

Lastly, we visited Andrew's favorite restaurant... Fuddruckers. He LOVES using the steering wheel at this little arcade game... and we don't even have to put any money into it. We both also love the cheese fries... mmm!


What a fun day!

This is Your Life Bishop

This week Andrew & I flew out to Utah to surprise my dad. The youth in his ward surprised him by creating a evening activity all about him. One of the YW created a video called "This is your life Bishop Smith." It was beautifully done. Several members of our family were able to be there.


My dad was very surprised when his two favorite grandchildren walked into the room. He thought he was there to host a game night for the YM/YW.

We saw lots of old pictures in the video and heard some great stories about my dad... several which we had never heard about before. My favorite was the litter club that he and a few friends created in high school. They only allowed girls to be members. At the first club meeting there were almost 40 girls and the 4 guys that organized the club. The YM in my dad's ward thought he was a genius.

The YW responsible for the night also sent about a hundred letters out to my dad's friends from all over. She gave him an enormous box full of letters from high school friends, college roommates, old Bishops, friends from NJ, and primary kids and families from his current ward. We shed a lot of tears last night as he read through the letters.

I have always known that my dad was phenomenal, so it was fun to see that the youth in his ward love him almost as much as I do!

Little man had fun playing at the church after the program. He especially loved running around the gym with his grandpa and playing the piano.


Andrew was so excited to see his Grandpa... he calls him "pappa" with a little tiny g-sound at the beginning. He ran around trying to find his grandpa and sit with him all night.



It was such a special experience to spend the evening with my dad!

Caffee House

When you visit the Caffee house... you must wear sunglasses like Uncle Dan and Aunt Elise.


Andrew had fun trying to fit in. Elise shared her cheap sunglasses with the crazy little dude.


We had a brief overnight stay with The Caffee family this week. The little man had fun reading stories with Aunt Elise and Maddie.


Eating some of Elise's 100 Calorie pack cookies...


Hanging out in Maddie's bumbo chair (little man's legs actually fit now... they didn't when he was shorter and chunkier... but his little bum still gets stuck every time)


Andrew also loved hanging out with Baby Maddie and rocking her in her swing, pushing her in her bouncy chair, and gently touching her head. He had fun playing peek-a-boo with her too and trying to make her smile. She is beautiful!

I loved chatting with Maddie, changing a few diapers, and playing with her. We are sad our trip was so short!


Hopefully we'll be back out to see the cutie again soon!

Pow!

Andrew worships his Uncle Dan. Tonight the boys had fun playing a little baseball before bed. Dan worked with him to hit the ball off the tee. Andrew was so proud of himself and loved having a room full of people all paying attention to him while he tried to hit the ball. He'd say "pow!" when he'd hit the ball and then giggle. His little giggle is my favorite new thing that he does.



I think he was definitely sad when his tee ball time and evening with Uncle Dan ended!

Family Dance Party

Andrew loves hanging out with his crazy Aunt Jessie. Tonight they did a little dancing before bed.

Crazy!

No, I am not going crazy... but my little guy is absolutely crazy. In fact, "Crazy" is my favorite nickname for him. When he walks up to me... I always say, "Hey Crazy." He cracks me up. He is in such a goofy phase right now.

The Cheesman

Clapping for himself when he finished his puzzle

Doing acrobatics and making himself fall off his truck

Eating his "oval"- one of the random words he knows

Playing catch with dad

Biting and playing with his "top"- another favorite word and thing to play with

Talking on the phone- Now he says "hi," talks for a bit,
laughs a lot as he walks around the room, and then says "bye." I love it.

More Cheeseman smiles

Giving his blankey some lovin

Rocking Baby Maddie

Uh Oh!

Forgive my scary voice... but this is Andrew's absolute favorite game to play. I say, "I'm going to get you" and we run around the house and I try to catch him and tickle him (please forgive our messy home). He laughs hysterically and usually falls over and I love it... The sound of laughter is the best sound ever! This game is also a great way to tire out the crazy boy at the end of the day.

Our budding musician... we've learned that everything can make a cool sound. Kev said that today in nursery, Andrew got four of his little buddies to drum on the table with him while they were waiting for their snacks... our kid is such a bad influence :)

I love my CRAZY boy!