The Big D. (Derek, not Dallas) turned 39 on Sunday.  One more year until the big 4-0.  Wow! He's set to take this 40th year by storm by running a marathon in February – I'd certainly say that's not someone who is getting "old". We sure love this guy!  He adds color and depth and…

I forgot to include one of my favorite pictures EVER the other day.  When we went to see ICE! they were very clear in their instructions that we should not TOUCH the ice at any time.  I completely missed the instructions trying to clothe every child and myself in the over-sized parkas, but the boys…

I can't believe my baby is 3.  Those three years went by way too fast.   But three is fun.  Three is challenging.  Three brings potty training.  And "why"?  Three brings lots of testing of boundaries, lots of re-directing, lots of forgiving and peace-making and giggles.  Lots of chatter.  Lots of exploring.  Lots of "I do it…

A New Year's baby - it seemed so exciting at the time (and it still is, of course) but I never thought about how tired we would be each New Year's Day from staying up late the night before! :)  Nevertheless we celebrate in full fashion.  We had the "party" the day after his b'day so…

On New Year's Day (and Samuel's b'day) we headed over to the Gaylord Texan for their ICE! exhibit this year featuring Dr. Seuss's the Grinch.  What a cool (no pun intended) display!  Very fun.  And very cold.  I felt like I was in the McDonald's freezer (we went there once on a 3rd grade field trip…

We were thrilled when the Hicken's reinstated their Family Pajama Party on NYE this year – it's been 5 years since the last one (and one attempt by me to host it here) and it was missed. So we headed over, in our pajamas (except for Derek who will never wear pj's in public for…

For months now we've been planning to give Jacob a room of his own.  This high-strung 10-year old needs a space to take deep breaths and read and be by himself.  But Samuel was still in a crib and I just haven't had the gumption to make any drastic changes in that department, because he…

Are you tired of me yet?  You should be. 4 more blog posts tomorrow!  She's on a roll, people! 🙂

While we were there for Thanksgiving, my Dad and Christy expressed a desire to fly the big boys (Jacob and Caleb) down for a visit after Christmas.  Dad was interested in taking Jacob fly fishing!  At first I scoffed at the idea.  No way was I putting my children on an airplane – by themselves,…

So after my Dad and Christy's challenge and $100 gift (see THIS post) we put our heads together and decided we needed to involve the boys as much as possible.  We decided to do what we Smith's do best – which is sell our wares on our street corner on 12/22.  I sent e-mails to…