Team Smith

I am finding the students at Elmhurst College to be very intelligent, passionate, caring individuals who work hard and really take to heart the values and missions of the college. Here are 14 of them who work the Information Desk I supervise. For a small school, they do big things and these students have such intense schedules that our staff meetings are at 10pm! They inspire me daily... Top Row: Chris, Wayne, Romison, Jake,Ashley, Jimmy, Monica Middle Row: Byron, Felicia, Lauren, Emma, Matt Bottom Row: Me, Annice, Scottie Not Pictured: Jen and Ben- who both had very good reasons for not being at staff meeting that night!

What do you do when you have a free weekend? Fill it with stuff to do! With great weather and friends we could not resist taking advantage of a perfect fall weekend a week ago. It was literally in the 80s while we romped through fall leaves and played in the surf of Lake Michigan. Our day started with driving three hours to St Joseph, Michigan. Ever heard of it? Or the Silver Beach Amusement Park? Neither had we. But my clever mother-in-law used her google search prowess to locate this charming town that was equidistant from us and them. So we drove and they drove and we all landed together in a surprising town full of stuff to do. The beach was less than a 5 minute walk from the doorstep of our hotel. The main street was even closer. Restaurants and shops galore greeted us with delicious aromas and eye catching windows. The town had bright pink garbage bins at every corner- a shout out to October and cancer awareness- along with pink ribbons and bows adorned atop of the...

Hi All! It's been a while since I posted (mea culpa!) - the picture above captures just how excited we all are about Cass' potty training success! We're not 100% yet, but she's doing incredibly well after less than a week on the job. She's having a blast at school (part-time, 3 days a week), and the shot above is from the park across the street from us in Elmhurst. Job wise, I'm hoping for some success myself - I am working part-time as the Music Director at our church (Episcopal Church of Our Saviour in Elmhurst) and we've seen some progress with the choir in the two weeks since I officially started. I'm also on pins and needles as we wait to hear back about my last on-campus interview at a large, public university in the area (which is surprisingly similar to Nevada in a lot of ways). I have a phone interview at a community college nearby next week, so there are promising leads out there. Jeannette has been working 'flex time' since the summer ...

We've been slacking. Cassidy has shown interest in the potty for almost a year now. She asks to use it. She likes hanging out in the bathroom. She goes at school. And she goes once or twice a day at home. She is ready. Matt and I are not! It is so convenient for us to put a diaper on her and go. Cassidy, we apologize for being lazy. The bad parenting ends today :-) This weekend we are going to take the plunge! Thanks to some helpful tips from Terri and Raquel we bought a ton of undies and plan on being inside all day.... If you have any inside advice on reaching a diaper free lifestyle please send me an email or text! (Jeannette.smith2008@gmail.com, 775.762.2482) Thanks Friends.

I'm going to attempt to answer a few questions Mr. Smith and I get. "Why are y'all so annoyingly happy all the time?" "How did you know it was right?" "Do you ever fight?" "What makes it work?" Of the many reasons I'm about to explain, one of them is because we keep it private! Writing about the dynamics of our relationship is contradictory to that, but sometimes we share our story in hopes of helping someone. Whether it's getting to know us better or sharing tools that work for us that could work for others, nothing I write is new information. Out of everything that makes a relationship work, I think people can find a combination of things to suit them. What works for one couple may not work for another. And that's ok! Today's entry is not about persuading people to follow the "Smith Guideline to a Happy Healthy Union". This is not TLC people. In no particular order, other than what randomly pops in my mind as ...

Hampton versus Alabama A&M was a game we were not going to miss; particularly since we won’t be attending Hampton’s Homecoming this year. Matt may have been the first person to purchase tickets once they opened online! Saturday of the game may have been gloomy and overcast, but our spirits were high as we made our way via train to Soldier Field in downtown Chi-town. No trip with even the most cheerful of toddlers would be complete without a mishap and ours appeared in the way of a horrid diaper rash and potty incident on the train! By the time our poor baby was crying in pain, huge fat tears rolling down her soft cheeks, she had charmed our fellow passengers around us and there was nary an irritated person among us. One long stop in the restroom and all was right again. Here is what I appreciate about attending a Black college football game: people come from all over whether they attended the schools or not because they understand the deeper significance o...