Site Title

Top Ten Reasons Why Meredith Has Stopped Blogging:

10.  She has laundry coming out of her ears (winter laundry – yikes!).

9.  She is busy teaching Samuel his ABC's – his favorite?  Q

8.  She spends half of her life in the gym or on a run – still training for the Half Marathon that is in 2 weeks (aaaggghhh!).

7.  She is enjoying the back-to-basics of motherhood which include cooking dinner, chores, and parenting (go figure!).

6.  She has been busy reading – she's on her 5th book since New Year's.  

5.  She is busy helping Samuel ride a bike with NO training wheels.

4.  She is busy cheering for Caleb's "shark attack" car at the pinewood derby.

3.  She is busy teaching Jacob all of her finest basketball moves and cheering his "Cougars" on to victory every Saturday.

2.  Did she mention laundry?

And the number 1 reason why Meredith has quit blogging IS…

her silly computer is BROKEN and will not upload pictures or upload anything for that matter.  I can't really blame the poor machine – I've worked it into the ground.  But is there anything more frustrating than a computer that won't do what you tell it to do!  The good news is she has a brand NEW Dell laptop in a truck somewhere headed straight for her house and she hopes to be up and running again (with pictures!) real soon. 

Playtime in the sun and a picnic – a cure for anything that ails ya!

Do you ever walk through a room and all of the sudden stop and wonder how you got there?  Not there, like that spot in the room, but there – the place of your life that you brought you there.  How on earth did I get here?  And then I remember all the wonderful little nuances of my life that brought me to that place and they are ever so happy, and yet in that moment I feel lost – like a foreign being in a strange country.  It's not a new experience – I remember having it as a little girl. Feeling my spirit express displeasure in this mortal tabernacle of life.  It's like I don't belong.  And it causes a sigh of momentary displeasure and contempt for this world.   

Do you ever slough down into a cushiony place at 9:00 at night and sigh?  Feeling the weight of the day finally release its hold but then you realize you'll have to get up and do it all over again.  And then you reflect on the events of the day and wonder was it really worthy of a re-do again tomorrow?  And yet you're not real sure how to spice up the sequel?  Or make it more attractive than the day before or the day before that?  But you can hope it will be.  But then you realize you are working with children – which is like working with dogs.  And you recognize that its useless.  But you know better.  Never useless.  

Do you ever feel like you're moving through sludge or thick water?  And you want to do things, but you prefer to escape into a book or a show or anything that allows you not to think about what you really need to do, or think about.

Do I ever.

I am Meredith and forgive me as I move slowly, poetically (admittedly badly poetic) through my post-holiday blues.  It happens every year.  It gets better, I promise.

The Hicken's were once again gracious and invited us over for NYE this year.  Some of our favorite NYE memories will be of their pajama parties.  It was us, the Hicken's (and Nick's friend Aubrey), the Crawford's, the Tanner's (Shelley and Austin only) and the Dalebout's (boys only - girls were at the NYE dance).  As always, there was food.  The big hit of the night was playing on their new Kinect for Xbox.  I was, perhaps, a little overzealous and insisted on challenging every person under the age of 18 in some kind of sport or dance-off.  I look at these pictures and think WHY oh WHY did someone not say "woman in purple, please stop making a fool of yourself"!!!  Well, we can all laugh at me and I don't mind, really.  It's my kind of crowd, clearly – the kind where I can let loose and dance and jump and be silly.  That's good right?  RIGHT?!

 
HONESTLY?!  Meredith, get a grip. :)  And choose a better outfit next time (perhaps one that matches and doesn't involve pink skull-and-crossbone socks)! 

 

Looking forward to 2011!!

This is my view as I train for the upcoming half marathon that is now just one month a way. My trusty feet that need to go further and faster, but who require patience. And my waterboy! He rode his bike today while I ran. Jacob did the same for me for 5 miles the other day – on his ripstick! I love having the help, the company, and the motivation.

We headed down to Austin for a few days the week after Christmas so we could check on Dad and exchange gifts with he and Christy.  It was fun, as always.  We took walks to the park and went to the movies.  We also roasted s'mores – and Austin tradition.  Samuel got a pillow pet – which he has used as his pillow every night since.  And the boys got bike helmets and fushigi balls (which ended up being duds! – a good lesson that everything on tv commercials is not as it seems.)  It was good to see Dad up and about and doing well post-surgery.

 

 

My friend Anne and her friend Danielle started a photography business a year ago and are now super successful.  Anne was able to squeeze me in to their busy holiday schedule for some pictures of my boys.  And boy are there some great ones!  Too many for me to post here…!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And the Christmas Card winner…
 

I know I'm partial as their mom, but are they handsome or what?!?

Jacob and Caleb both continue to take piano lessons from the amazing, Ms Mae Morton.  Jacob has always loved to play by ear.  This year I think he's learned more about how to put pieces together and how they tell a story.  He has always loved "Carol of the Bells" but has never seen actual sheet music for it.  He decided to fiddle with it and put together his own arranged version of the Christmas hit.  And then he invited Caleb (with instruction) to join him.  I love this heartfelt effort that the two of them gave and presented to us on Christmas Eve.  I especially love to see them work together.

 

Carol of the Bells from Meredith Smith on Vimeo.

Christmas morning was low-key and lovely!  The big boys got a basketball goal and basketball from Santa.  Samuel got some GeoTrax.  Both gifts were BIG hits.  That plus some books and stocking stuffers made up the bulk of our Christmas this year.  Light and lovely!  Derek got a Blendtec blender and I got a Monster cable to listen to my Iphone music in the car (plus some stocking stuffers).  Orange rolls and jello salad for breakfast made the boys happy.

 

Around 1 pm we headed over to Mom's for the rest of the day's festivities with extended family.  The highlight of the afternoon was getting to hear the grandmother's (Dorothy and Kay) talk about Christmases past and their experiences growing up.  Mom made an amazing meal and we had a good time opening gifts from each other.  I love our family traditions!

 

But my favorite picture of the day is one that I snapped with my Iphone – after the excitement of the morning had settled and everyone was busy looking at their new things, I looked down from the top of the stairs and loved seeing all my guys quietly enjoying the calm amidst the chaos.  This is Christmas and I love it…

 

This is the other (and more important) part of Christmas that I also love…

 

We were sad that Mark and Anne couldn't join us because of a bad case of food poisoning for Mark (terrible way to spend C. Eve!).  But we were glad to be able to host Mom, Steve, Grandma Haymond (from San Antonio) and Audra for a lovely meal (tamales and chicken enchilada casserole) and a nativity play.  Relaxed and enjoyable – a great way to spend Christmas Eve.  I was so relaxed I didn't even take any pictures!  Thankfully Steve snapped a few.

 

 

The traditional pajama picture…