belated slideshow from ian's birthday

at scioto trails...

my adorable goofballs

on the first day of school...

reds game

$1 hot dogs and a 1st inning brawl for ian's 10th birthday! it doesn't get any better than that!!!

holden beach 2010

this never gets old

ian playing ball yesterday.

is there anything better than watching your child enjoy himself so completely?

the best thing about spring

(thanks, danielle, for the photos!)

ian in 85 years

ian had eggs and turkey bacon tonight for dinner. i think i've mentioned this before...but the kid LOVES turkey bacon.  as in, there is NO other alternative for breakfast (or the occasional brinner).  so anyways, him begging for eggs and turkey bacon this evening reminded me of this terrifically funny video clip from "grumpier old men."  this is ian, 85 years from now...still eating his bacon, but hopefully NOT drinking his dinner.

(this video always makes me laugh out loud.  i hope it makes you giggle, too.)

twice in one week

i took kate, ian, ben, and chloe sledding again today at my aunt vickie and uncle jake's house.  vickie and jake are such troopers for letting us invade their home for the afternoon!  the kids had a blast, of course. 

(and yes, jake, they will alway remember coming to your house as children and spending this wonderful time with you and vickie.  thank you for loving us the way that you both do.)

first snow day of the decade

one day back at school.  then a snow day.  arggghhhhh! 

the girls and i at work were rejoicing yesterday at being back in our classrooms.  no kidding!  we were all happy to resume a routine.  and, we all admitted, we understood the lyrics of a certain christmas carol which states, " and mom and dad can hardly wait for school to start again."  our own children were driving us crazy!  sounds weird, eh?  but man, when i saw my junior high boogers yesterday, I hugged them and told them how much i missed them.  of course, they'll drive me a little bonkers eventually, but that's okay.  i just love my job so stinkin' much.

so anyways...snow day.  jill and i attempted to take the kids sledding this afternoon at vickie and jake's.  there wasn't a ton of snow, but it was still slick.  the wind chill was horrible, however!  i don't think we lasted thirty minutes.  of course the kids didn't mind the cold temperatures at all.

below is a video of my nephew ben (who looks like a masked auburn bandit) tangled up in the ropes of his sled while his giggly mother attempts to free him.  if you would like to see more snow-day/sledding videos, click here.

stay warm, y'all.


Ben and Jill from Jodi Gillen on Vimeo.

let your heart be light

have yourself a merry little christmas.
love,
jodi, leo, kate, and ian

christmas cookies - 2009 edition

snakes and snails and puppy dog tails . . .

that's what grayson is made of. 

grayson is my adopted nephew and adorably ornery son of my beautiful friend peggy.  today, the kids and i went to grayson's birthday party at petland.  hilarity ensued.  and yes, kate and ian left wanting a puppy...a $1500 yorkie, to be exact.  (uh, that ain't happenin'.)

oh, and i want to officially wish peg good luck in getting that green icing off grayson's face.  (some icing fell on the floor at petland and actually left a stain!)

uh . . . this has me worried

one of my children. . .

 ...helping my child.  a thing of beauty.

his mother's son

after bringing home a disappointing science grade yesterday, ian looked at me, tears streaming down his face, and lamented with a panicked cry:

"what if i'm STUPID and there's NOTHING we can do about it?"

bathroom etiquette for the football player

i'm not sure which is funnier ~ the fact that he took his helmet off in the bathroom to pee, or how he could've possibly forgotten it on the floor when he turned to leave. surely he wasn't straddling that thing the whole time...

"today, you have 100 percent of your life left.” - tom landry

typical brayden and ian. a little waverly tiger and notre dame figting irishman, beating the snot out of each other on a football saturday. for them, life doesn't get any better than this...

saturday in september

a young fighting irish player giving advice to an osu buckeye on how to beat navy:

birthday boys

(above: wyatt, landon, and ian)

tracey lamerson graciously allowed me to combine ian's birthday celebration with wyatt's last night ~ resulting in nine boys playing, fighting, wrestling, hitting, roasting hotdogs & marshmallows, telling ghost stories, watching movies, and finally sleeping (around 3:00 a.m.). aunt juj and taylor even crashed the party (aunt juj had both ted and tracey as students in high school!). the kids had a blast, and ted and tracey were so incredibly hospitable. we really love them alot.

why we're jets fans

our cousin, eric smith, plays for the new york jets. last year he started at safety (many of you will remember the vicious collision between he and anquan boldin). there was a massive debate about the helmet-to-helmet contact between eric and boldin, but i honestly believe that kerry rhodes' involvement in the play didn't help matters, and eric found himself in an incredibly dangerous situation. (eric was knocked unconscious as well.)

at any rate, we got to hang out with eric at our family reunion a few weeks ago. he is delightful in person. quiet and reserved. great with the kids. kate and ian were on cloud nine the entire afternoon. (my grandfather and eric's grandfather are brothers, and for those of you who don't know, yes, my maiden name is smith).

at one point in the afternoon, many of the relatives were talking about what fantastic athletes the smiths have produced...and it's true. my grandfather was recruited by the st. louis cardinals prior to WWII. my cousin rob was a tremendous basketball player and now coaches at urbana university. eric's sister stacy is being recruited out of groveport to play college volleyball. all of the other cousins have shown an enormous propensity toward athleticism. it's pretty cool.

so anyways, here are my kids with one of their heroes. they have many, but i'm pretty sure eric ranks right up there at the top.