The Tale of the Brain Bucket

May your coffee be strong and all your animals be put in the oven.

That has summed up our morning so far. The coffee in front of me is strong, and Kaelyn is happily putting all of her plastic animals in her play oven. That way, she can put them away and see them (might I remind you that they're in the oven?!)

She has issues.

Now she's doing leg exercises with her mom. Nothing like a morning of leg exercises and baking animals...

So last Saturday we had a big adventure here in the Smith clan. Kaelyn spent the day at the Blackman's house, helping clean it all up, and Michelle and I went up to Marmot together! She had a really strong day, linking her turns, not hitting random trees, and she looked pretty solid out there. And this is where the tale of the brain bucket comes in. By late morning, Michelle went ripping around a corner and ended up catching her heel edge on Old Road. So the next few days turned out to be an experience of whiplash and perhaps a bit of a concussion. Not too serious though. By mid-afternoon, Michelle was boarding with Erin, and I went up to mid-mountain where there's some great tree runs. My brand new helmet is super comf and has tasted its share of tree branches. I seemed to be a little sluggish on the mountain by the afternoon and took a branch through the venting of my helmet. Nothing too serious, but it shook me a bit. So all in all though, a pretty great day. The powder is amazing on Marmot this year, and I'm really enjoying the new control I have as a result of doing tree runs. I've spent a good amount of time digging myself out too when there are no paths. Hm...

Michelle and I have both been at work a lot the last two weeks. Michelle has begun tutoring, and I've spent a lot of time away. I've got a youth pastor's retreat coming up next week (Tues-Thurs) and then it's back for a busy February. So it's work! Work! Work! But at least we're enjoying it, and for the most part, still getting in time together.

Just a curiousity that I have - has anyone had the new Lay's Curry Chips? They're disgusting. I went out and bought a big bag, and by the first chip, I knew they were terrible. They taste like the inside of a city taxi. So a friend and I ate the whole bag, just to see if we could - in fact, whoever lost the race in Mario Kart had to eat a handful. Pretty gross. Even worse the next day, but for everyone else. So at least that part was enjoyable.

Well, that's pretty much a wrap on our last few weeks. Kaelyn has a command of a pile of words now, and she's very very busy. As I type, I hear her little clompers on the floor above. She's running back and forth and just having fun with her mommy. They're both laughing pretty loud right now - Michelle just yelled down that Kaelyn is trying to lick her face and thinks it's hilarious. I love this age! She's so playful, ticklish, smiley and talky. Some of my favorite times are when she yells "Daaaaaaaaddy." I'll yell back, "Baaaaaaaaaby." And then she yells out Daddy again. Very fun times.

So, on a last note, I think as much as we used to post, we'll probably scale back to once or twice a week. We haven't been home enough in the past two weeks to spend any time in front of the computer, and I think it'd be more realistic to post a little less. So keep checking in, and just know we'll do our best to keep you updated with photos!