We(family of 5-two parents & three teens) are planning a visit to DC for about 3 days this summer. Any thing we need to know about advance tickets, reservations, etc. about the following places? Any suggestions on how we would organize the following itinerary?

White House
National WW II memorial
Lincoln Memorial
Washington Monument
Smithsonian
Spy Museum
Arlington Cemetry
Ford's Theatre

You need to start by getting a good map of the downtown DC area and reading past threads about visiting DC. Of the places you've named, only the White House and Washington Monument require advance preparation. Also, go to the Smithsonian's web site to choose which parts are of interest: www.si.edu

Contact your Congressman for advance reservations for White House tours.

Other tours can be booked ahead of time online if you check all the websites. You need reservations for Ford's and the US Capitol tour but you can do those yourself online.

Many people contact their Congressmen for the Capitol tour, but you are much better off just reserving a regular tour to be assured a regular Capitol guide who really knows the building. Congressional offices often use interns for this service and many of the interns make up the facts as they go because they don't know.

Yes - there are several Smithsonian museums. Each one is a full museum in its own right, so you need to decide which ones you're interested in.

That said, most of the Smithsonians and all the monuments you listed are along the National Mall, so you can easily group a museum or two and walking by the momuments in one day.

1. White House--tickets must be requested well in advance of visit through a Member of Congress/Senator
2. National WWII Memorial--open air, walk through
3. Lincoln Memorial--open air, walk in
4. Washington Monument--tickets required to ride elevator to the top. Some tickets are available on a first come/first serve basis early each morning, but if you have your heart set on going to the top, reserve your tickets online well in advance of your visit. Tickets are free, but there is a "convenience charge".
5. Smithsonian Musuems--all are free, no tickets required
6. International Spy Museum--you can just walk up and buy tickets, but the lines to buy tickets can be quite long and then the lines to get in are equally long. Tickets are timed and limited in number, so they can sell out for a particular time/day. Since you will only be here 3 days, it would probably be better to order your tickets online (and if you plan to do "Operation Spy", you definitely need to get advance tickets.) The museum does get very crowded during the day, so you might want to get tickets for early in the morning or late in the afternoon. We found it took just about 2 hours to see it all.
7. Arlington Cemetery--free admission, no tickets. If you want to take a bus tour instead of walking through the cemetery, Tourmobile offers a tour just of the cemetery. Note that the cemetery is hilly in case any of you have mobility problems.
8. Ford's Theatre--same response as for the Washington Monument.