Smith Family February

Never a dull moment!

Let us catch you all up on our most recent fun!Kate, Kate, Kate...never can get enough of Kate!!

Can never get enough FRILLS!!

Hope you all had a romantical Valentine's Day!!

And now,

What you've all been waiting for...

Introducing:

Ethan, the GREEN KNIGHT!!
(I realize that there is no green on the boy, but that is his name non-the-less)

AND...

Luke, the "whatever color Ethan decides for him" KNIGHT

Here's a little background info on this new obsession at our house:

Back in December, a wonderful family from our church took our family "Medieval Times". It's a live show and dinner - yum, by the way. The boys were on the edge of their seats for the whole 2 hours watching these knights joust and fight with swords, and on and on. After the show, this generous family bought the boys swords and shields. They have not put them down since that night. Each day the knights battle. Since then, we have been given 6 more swords and 2 more shields, so we are never lacking for weapons! The costumes evolve each day. Ethan seems to add a layer each day, complete with long sleeved pj's (chainmail), and new, just yesterday...underwear for a helmet. I about died laughing when the boys came around the corner with their little faces looking at me through one of the leg holes. The tunics are pillow cases I got from a thrift store and cut holes for their heads and arms.

Here is a little photo-op from yesterday:

Now, don't you feel caught up?!

G R O W T H

Spurt

I took my sweet little peanut to the dr.'s today for her 15 month

(she is actually 16 months. I waited to take her with Ethan for his 4 year)

and found out she is no longer a little peanut, but rather a baby monster!

Run for your lives...she may eat you!!

A little growth history:

6mo - 50% height

5% weight

9mo - 10% height

0% weight

12mo - 10% height

5% weight

15mo - 70% height

60% weight

Yikes! There's no stopping her now!
She's a monster!!!!

The above picture is Kate sporting her 18 month clothes (which fit her rather nicely). The boys are ALWAYS wearing a size behind, so when she moved into a size ahead, I knew she was growin' growin'!

CELEBRATE WITH US!

IT'S OUR 100th POST!!

In celebration, eat 100 m&ms, give your kids 100 pennies to spend at the $$ store, do 100 jumping jacks (come on now...do it for us!), or come up with some wonderful way to share in our 100th celebration. Let us know what you did and most importantly, don't forget to tell us...

WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE POST????

Splish Slash, She was takin' a bath!

The other day I heard a little whimper coming from the bathroom- the first thing I thought was "why is she in the bathroom?" We try to always Keep the bathroom door shut because our sweet little Kate has been found, more than once, doing a little "splish, splash, splash" in the ol' can. Well, when I turned the corner, this is what I found!

I still can't figure out HOW she exactly got INTO the toilet - feet first??! But, I must say that I am very thankful that her feet WERE first and not her head! I stuck her in the sink and then she turned the cold water on herself...poor girl!

(and here I am snapping pictures!)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ETHAN!!!Birthday ChairBirthday Presents Birthday Dinner


Birthday Cake:
DARTH VADER

Birthday Guests:

Mommy

Daddy

Luke

Baby Kate

Ethan devouring Darth Vader's EYES

Luke enjoying a little BLACK FROSTING

Ripping into the presents The birthday spoils:

DARTH VADER COSTUME

STORM TROOPER ACTION FIGURE

DROID ACTION FIGURES

STAR WARS LEGO VIDEO GAME

TRANSFORMERS STICKERS

TARGET GIFT CARD

AND

$5 CASH!!!

Here is a little birthday action for you grandmas!!

WISHING YOU ALL A

HAPPY NEW YEAR

On the Twelfth day of Christmas, my

children gave to me...

BLESSINGS ABOUNDING

Just when you all thought I was going to leave you all hanging on the 11th day...

I honestly did not have any specific thing planned for the 12th day of our "First Annual Smith Family 12 Days of Christmas" as I did the others. As the days of celebration came and our family enjoyed so many wonderful moments together: nothing to do, nowhere to go, just time to spend as we wished, I was reminded that my family is one of the greatest gifts God has given me. The blessings of Christmas are bountiful, and for each one of them, I am thankful.

11 stickers sticking

10 strings of lights
9 more doors to open

8 Christmas outfits

7 verses memorized

6 snickers santas

5 days of searching

4 overloaded branches

3 men a hunting

2 fibbing salesmen

and

a missing baby Jesus

(12 days of consecutive posts (well, 11 anyway) ... whew... we made it folks!)

On the Eleventh day of Christmas, my

children gave to me...

11 STICKERS STICKING

Ethan found these sticker gift tags the other day. I quickly told him, "those are not stickers that you play with so please go back to my room and stick them on my bed." ... and that is just what he did! 10 strings of lights

9 more doors to open
8 Christmas outfits
7 verses memorized
6 snickers santas
5 days of searching
4 overloaded branches
3 men a hunting
2 fibbing salesmen
and
a missing baby Jesus

On the Tenth day of Christmas, my

children gave to me...

10 STRINGS OF LIGHTS!

3 strings on the house, 3 mini trees,

and 4 candles in the windows

(the basement has no outlets

boo hoo! Maybe next year)

Thank you Ben for your Christmas spirit!

Nothing says "WELCOME" like a trip wire!

We're still working on this!

Gotta love the Dollar Tree!!

9 more doors to open

8 Christmas outfits

7 verses memorized

6 snickers santas

5 days of searching

4 overloaded branches

3 men a hunting

2 fibbing salesmen

and

a missing baby Jesus

On the Ninth day of Christmas, my

children gave to me...

9 MORE DOORS TO OPEN

My mom always got me a chocolate advent calendar to count down the days until Christmas when I was a little girl and I loved it! I wanted my kids to love the suspense of the season as well, but we wanted to teach them, along with the fun, what exactly they are so impatiently waiting for . I found this little box last year after Christmas, at the local grocery store of all places, for a few $$ and grabbed it. I "tweaked" it a little as you can see. Where the "J" is now, there was another star that said "let it" and then the letters "S N O W" went in the other spots. Very cute, but again, we wanted to take the opportunity everyday to talk about how we are waiting for Jesus to be born. I got these letters at Michael's, painted and glittered them, and glued them into place. The boys love it! Every night after dinner, they take turns opening a door and getting out a piece of chocolate. I also found these sweet little nativity ornaments that we are hanging on a tiny little separate tree. These little ornaments show up every few days in a door. 8 Christmas outfits

7 verses memorized

6 snickers santas

5 days of searching

4 overloaded branches

3 men a hunting

2 fibbing salesmen

and

a missing baby Jesus

On the Eighth day of Christmas, my

children gave to me...

8 CHRISTMAS OUTFITS

I was given a big bag of little girl clothes for Kate and part of the lot were these adorable Christmas outfits! I had to start dressing her in them as soon as we ate our Thanksgiving turkey to make sure I got them all in. A few of them are a little...snug, but I'm stuffing her in - hey, she only has to wear it once, right?

1st up: BIG collars

This one is so sweet! Embroidered wreaths (sleeves a little short - hee hee)

The classic velvet and plaid

One of Santa's little elves!

I wish I had this dress! So comfy! (This was a trial run for a family "torture" photo shoot that nothing came of, but I got a cute fb profile pic out of it I guess!!)

Candy Cane Sweater!!

And it just wouldn't be Christmas without...

an ANGEL, complete with her wings and halo of course!!7 verses memorized

6 snickers santas

5 days of searching

4 overloaded branches

3 men a hunting

2 fibbing salesmen

and

a missing baby Jesus

On the Seventh day of Christmas, my

children gave to me...

7 VERSES MEMORIZED

This is indeed a gift to me!

Luke 2:8-14

6 snickers santas

5 days of searching

4 overloaded branches

3 men a hunting

2 fibbing salesmen

and

a missing baby Jesus

On the Sixth day of Christmas, my

children gave to me...

6 SNICKERS SANTAS This post does nothing but highlight my chocolate weakness,

lack of self control, and pure gluttonous behavior:

My mom sent our Christmas box, full of presents and OTHER wonderful Christmas delights! I was arranging all the pretty wrapped presents under our tree when I caught a glimpse of chocolate. At the bottom of the box was this package of Snickers Santas. I took the Snickers, along with the other 10 lbs of candy my mother sent, back to our bedroom to put with the other stocking stuffers. In the hallway on my way back I had this thought: "Holiday chocolate is soo yummy because it is so fresh! I think I will try one of those little Santas. I'll open the pack and then I'll put the other 5 Santas in Ben's stocking. Well, I had to break the news to Ben that he would never get to try one of those wonderful, fresh Snickers Santas because

I ATE THEM ALL!!

5 days of searching

4 overloaded branches

3 men a hunting

2 fibbing salesmen

and

a missing baby Jesus