Mimi's

Part of our moving journey included a stay at Mimi and Poppi's house in Asheville. We played with our cousins, Ella and Logan and had a blast.

Cutie Pie Logan...big sis wasn't in the picture-taking mood.

For Dad

Boy, is this belated. Poor Reed had his 32 birthday right smack in the middle of our move, so no big fuss was made. But the kids made him a huge banner that we hung in the kitchen, we cooked out and had all his favorite foods, and apple pie and ice cream for dessert. Yum!
Happy Belated Birthday, Honey!

Saying Goodbye

It's been awhile since I've been able to upload photos to the ol' blog, but we're all set up now and ready to go. This was taken before our flight to our NEW HOME. Which we love, by the way. We're really HOME.

What's going on with you?

I've been so busy getting my family moved, getting everyone over illnesses and ER visits and packing and then UNpacking, I am completely out of the loop with everyone. I'd love to hear from you, what you're doing! Leave me a blog comment or drop me an email to smithstation@knology.net and tell me what's up.
Also, while our children are a never ending source of entertainment for Reed and I, we realise this isn't always the case for others. I'm still going to be adding pictures as often as possible, because this blog is serving as a digital scrapbook of sorts since I haven't the time or the inclination right now to continue with the paper version, but I'd like to start talking about something else as well.
I might as well start right now and talk about American Idol. It's one of the few shows we missed not seeing while we were moving and without cable, it's just so entertaining. Reed and I always try to critique the singers ourselves and see how close we are, and it's amazing how much we think like Simon. He even uses the same words we do sometimes. Which may explain alot about us, but we won't belabor that point, right?
We have some favorite this season--
Jason Castro--he's just so quirky and HAPPY and talented to boot
Michael Johns--mature and just plain GOOD. we think he'll go far even if he doesn't win
Brooke White--reminds us of Alicia Keyes, sorta, but prettier
Carly Smithson--not sure if we like her just cause we LIKE her, but we rooted for her the first time she tried out (she had to drop because of a green card issue)
David Archuleta--even though he completely goofed the other night forgetting the words, it's obvious he's a prodigy and will one day be amazing

The rest....ehhh....
what do you think?

All Settled in...

We are finally all settled in and loving things. Our new house is wonderful, and very spacious. We got rid of quite a bit of old things before moving, and now we have lots of new space that is just begging for a trip to Pier 1. We'll wait though, and figure out what we really want first...although the waiting is killing me.
Our neighborhood is lovely, and the neighbors have been great in welcoming us. We've spent a few nights already out in the cul de sac, talking by the fire that they make in a portable fire pit and it's really very nice. The boys have some friends to play with as well, and they love that.
The weather was great the first few days we were here, but then turned chilly, so we've only gotten in 2 trips to the beach so far. But the weather is turning gorgeous again, so we're excited to go more often. It's within walking distance although we haven't walked it yet.
I'll have some pictures to load, but a few people have been after me to give an update so I thought I'd do a quick one.
It's almost St. Patricks Day! Get out your green!

Fond Farewell

Carson had to say goodbye today to his classmates and teacher at Rancho Santa Fe. We've really enjoyed this school and Carson has grown up so much in these last few months! He wanted pictures of his friends so he wouldn't forget his first school buddies.

Carson, Leiya

Brianna, Carson, Deoni

Mrs. Smith, Carson

Allison, Ainslee, Carson

Gabby, Carson, Christian

Kayla, Kahleen, Caleb, Carson

Alexis, Carson, Vanessa

Robert, Carson

Fond Farewell

Ridley, Damien, Dallas, Carson, Dominic

Dallas, Carson

New House!

our new master bath...
front of the house (yeah, no order here, sorry)
our new living room--look guys, it's identical to our old one! even the paint!
our neighborhood pool :)

So things have been crazy here lately, and if you're related to us you know all about why. No time for playing--any free time we have is spent laying half comatose on the couch for what we are now calling "quality time", since the last week or so we've had precious little time to have a conversation and when we do we are far too tired to talk. LOL We'll get back to normal shortly, I know it.

So we have a new house in Panama City Beach, FL and we are VERY excited about it. It's gorgeous and very familiar looking! It looks eerily similar to our old house in Navarre, so we should feel right at home. Even some of the paint colors are the same as what we chose! Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure and then I'm being yelled at to pack the pantry. So off I go!

Carson on MLK, Jr

No school on MLK day last monday, and I wasn't sure Carson was even aware of the reason. But while we were at home, a commercial showing Mr. King came on with some words from his speech. Carson gets on his serious face and says:
"I know why I'm home today, mom. Today is Martin Lufer King day and he was a man who slept alot, so he had lots of dreams, and in his dreams we all had the same kind of skin. You know, like people and animals...we all looked the same, so nobody felt bad because they weren't a person or a boy or a zebra. We were just all..the same."

I said "So, which one were we, if we were all the same?"

Carson: "Huh?"

"If he wanted us all to be the same, which one did he want us to be? Zebras or people or boys or what?"

"I don't think it works that way, mom. I think it was just a dream and he meant good things, okay?"

Sadly, I think he was more right than he realises. I tried to explain that it was really just for people, for people to be equal, and he just nodded. "That's what I said."

I love this kid.

So I guess we can share

the good news! Reed's old boss and favorite "mentor" from Florida has kept in touch with him all these years we've been gone, and has finally decided to get back into business! He's taken all this time off to cruise, lucky duck! So he asked Reed to come back to Florida and be a part of his newest venture. It didn't take much convincing!! So we're headed back east, back to the south that we love and I must say it's not a hardship to live next to those beautiful beaches either! :)

We don't have exact dates yet, except that it will be early this spring, so we'll keep you posted. And of course, if you want to come visit, let us know!! We'd love to have company...especially if you want to come help unpack, heehee.

We've been very blessed this year with lots of good things, and having this great opportunity just feels like a confirmation that we're headed down the right path. I truly think things happen for a reason, even if they don't happen the way or when you want them to!

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Mormon Lake Lodge

On the road! Trevor, Carson and Kimberly

First snow sighting of the year!

And the required snow angel...

So we drove a short way to find a good sledding hill. I think this is the San Francisco Peaks.

Carson was very brave!

Reed doing his sasquatch pose through the woods.

The view from our cabin--or as Trevor called it, the "Cabinet".

Speaking of the Cabinet...here it is.

the kids had a good snowball fight with Daddy.
My boys

the rare shot of me.

Family Pic

at Mormon Lake Lodge in Arizona. Who thinks of snow when they think of Arizona?

Mmmm Snow

Trevor enjoying a good chunk of snow. lol

Boy, am I lazy

We've had some sickies in the house, from plain old colds to strep and ear infections. So we've been taking it easy. Lots of movies and pj's and playing games, which is fine by me because the weather has been less than beautiful the past few weeks. I haven't even been taking pictures! But I did get a few pictures of sweet Savannah sent by her mom, and here they are. I promise to get back into something interesting so this isn't just a rambling bore. LOL

Happy New Year

I know I've been quiet the last few days, just been busy, but I wanted to say Happy New Year to everyone! If you go out, make sure to drive carefully!

A Daddy's Pride

I thought this was a bit embarrassing, but of course his daddy took great pride in this little story:
We were at the store day after Christmas (stupidly, I know, but we needed milk) so of course it was packed. Carson and Trevor mentioned they wanted to go home and watch a movie with popcorn, and started good naturedly arguing about sharing one bag and decided we'd all need our own bag to eat. I told them if we each ate a whole bag ourselves we'd be fat! They thought this was funny and then started competing about who would be the fattest once we were finished.
Carson: "I will be the fattest, because I can eat popcorn faster than you!"
Trevor: (exasperated by the competition at this point, stands up in the cart in front of a store full of people as we approach the VERY long checkout lines)"No! I will be the fattest, AND the tallest, and I will have the BIGGEST PENI!!!!!" (that's as close to grammatically correct as I will let my youngsters go)

He got tons of chuckles and mirthful grins and the cashier gave him a high five. The boy is three, y'all. What am I going to do when he's 15?? And no, we don't have discussions with our children about how having a big "peni" might be a good thing, he's just a boy, and this is possibly genetically inserted along with the amniotic stuff.

Christmas Miracle of Sorts

As some of you know, Reed's daughter Savannah went "missing" with her mother a year and a half ago. One weekend we saw her, the next...they were gone. To say we were upset is an understatement, but since her mom has full custody, there was really nothing we could do, and we had no forwarding information to contact her all this time.
I've been searching the internet for anything we can use to get in touch with them, and this week I finally found it. I found her mom on the computer, and emailed her. She emailed back right away with their number so I called.
Lo and behold, they are back in North Carolina, and looked for us upon returning only to find that WE were now gone.
I gave Reed her number as an early "Christmas present" and he was ecstatic. He called immediately and talked to her for quite a bit and made plans for a weekly phone call. She is doing well, is very happy, and is in her school chorus--even got to sing a solo at the last concert!
We are truly happy to have reconnected to this wonderful little girl and look forward to many more calls and visits in the near future. I think the moral of the story is, if it's important, keep trying.
Sorry it's been so long since I've updated. We've been a bit under the weather lately and trying to make christmas presents, buy some, get them wrapped and keep up with daily life, and time slips by. Hope you all have a Very Merry Christmas!

Tagged Again by Brandy

Brandy tagged me for a Christmas quiz, so here goes:
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I like wrapping because I prefer to UNWRAP things rather than look in a bag. More fun that way.
2. Real trees or artificial? We have an artificial tree. I am allergic to real ones.~me too!
3. When do you put up your Christmas tree? The weekend after Thanksgiving.
4. When do you take your tree down? I leave it up as long as possible because I LOVE our tree and decorations and the l ights at night.
5. Do you like eggnog? I've never had eggnog, but I don't think it sounds like something I want to try. I'm okay with my hot cider punch.
6. Favorite gift received as a child? hmm..I love gifts, so I'm easy. My brother and I got these awesome bears when we were young, mine was a beautiful ballerina bear and his was a football bear. They were super soft pillow-types, and we kept those around for YEARS. Also, the ones that my parents did a scavenger hunt for--they'd leave clues on the tree that took us around the house to more clues until we finally found our present, like a bike or a basketball goal. I did that last year for Carson with picture clues and I'll try it this year too.
7. Do you have a nativity scene? We used to have a creche, but I think it was lost in one of our many moves.
8. Hardest person to buy for? This year, they were both pretty easy. They asked for very specific things and that was that.
9. Easiest person to buy for? This year I had more fun buying for Trevor, because this is the first year he's asked for anything, and his interests are a bit more diverse than Carsons "Transformers" List
10. Worst Christmas gift you ever got? huh. I don't know that any gifts are bad, except for the ones that are more about getting you a gift than YOU. You can usually tell.
11. Christmas cards or e-mail Christmas Cards? I mail. I love to get them, so do unto others...
12. Favorite Christmas movie? Elf with Will Ferrell
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Hoo boy. This year it was...this week. Usually I'm all done by December.
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? Not that I can think of.
15. Favorite things to eat at Christmas? turkey. I really want turkey this year. sausage and egg casserole is for breakfast--it's tradition. my mawmaw's biscuits.
16. Clear light or colored light? CLEAR! I like them clear.
17. Angel on top or Star? We have a cute red star on top.--us too! from Target
Now who am I going to tag??
Renee, Alisa, and Marie--you can do yours on myspace. :)

Trevor learned a new song this year

I never really notice his lisp unless I've taped him. He reminds me of that little girl from Mrs. Doubtfire, it's all the same letters she lisped.
He loves this song and asks me to sing it every night before bed.
Enjoy!

In a cookie mood

Last year, I went to my pal Kala's treat swap and even though I've never been a huge cookie fan, I had some there that were to die for.

I'm in the holiday mood, so I think the boys and I are going to make some sugar cookies to share with friends and family, but since I can't give YOU cookies, I thought I'd give you some great recipes.

These were a big hit last year, and I'm sorry to say I can't remember who made them. This may not be her recipe, I found it online, but it seems similar enough. YUM.

Chocolate Cherry Cookies
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 egg
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
48 maraschino cherries (about one 10-ounce jar), undrained
1 cup semisweet chocolate pieces
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a bowl combine flour and cocoa powder. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl beat butter with electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Beat in sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Beat in egg and vanilla. Gradually beat in flour mixture.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place balls about 2 inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Press down center of each ball with your thumb. Drain cherries, reserving juice. Halve any large cherries. Place a cherry or cherry half in the center of each cookie.
For frosting, in a small saucepan combine chocolate pieces and the sweetened condensed milk. Heat until chocolate melts. Stir in 4 teaspoons of the reserved cherry juice.
Spoon about 1 teaspoon frosting over each cherry, spreading to cover cherry. (If necessary, thin frosting with additional cherry juice). Bake in preheated oven about 10 minutes or until edges are firm. Cool on cookie sheet for 1 minutes. Transfer to wire racks, cool. Makes 48.
To store: Place in layers separated by waxed paper in an airtight container, cover. Store at room temperature for up to 3 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

I'll post some pics of our creations a bit later. Till then, Enjoy the countdown! 17 more days till Christmas!

Two Years Ago Today

I started this little blog because my friend Brandy had one and I thought it looked like a great way to 1. share your pictures and life's tidbits with family and friends and 2. talk without being interrupted.
I was right on both counts, and I've come to really love this little blog o'mine, whether I have 1 reader or 100. I know many people go on to blogebrity with their writing, and I'm not sure how that happens. Perhaps their lives are a bit more interesting than mine, perhaps they talk about more than just their own two kids. Maybe they're just better writers, period, or pay people to read. LOL But regardless of who reads this, it's a fun little journal for me to go back and look at my babies through this span and see what we were doing, how they looked and it's a heck of a lot easier than keeping a journal or doing the time-consuming scrapbooks (which I swear I will get back to someday). My boys have grown up immensely in this time, as have Reed and I, and it's nice to see where we came from and how far we've come.

I hope any visitor to this blog feels free to leave me their link so I can check out the stories they choose to share, and thanks to all of you for clicking here and checking out ours.

What the big people do

I know this is a single-minded mommy blog, but sometimes the adults in the house want a place to brag, too. So I may expand just a bit, and if that gets approval I'll keep going. Thanks for the compliments and emails you're sending, by the way. Even though I may act like I don't need praise, I secretly crave as much as I can get. Not so secret now, huh? Or was that just a semi-veiled plea for more comments? I'll never tell.
Anyway, What We're Digging en la casa de Smith:
Man vs. Wild Have you SEEN Bear Grylls? The man is like Rambo, Chuck Norris and a CIA dude rolled into one. And maybe Grizzly Adams. He would, like, totally win the million on Survivor.
And speaking of that, Survivor: China I know Survivor is no new discovery, but we're die hard fans. We were sad to see James get das boot, but it sure made for an interesting show last week.
To prove we don't just watch tv, Wii Tennis has become a bedtime ritual in our house lately. Reed and I were sitting on the back porch at night after the kids went to bed, talking and playing Aggravation, but we started to feel old so we broke out the old Wii and got busy. We both have perpetual shoulder and arm pains, because the force of your swing on tv does correlate somewhat to the force of your swing in real life. I'm much more dramatic of a player than Reed is, but I'm also much worse, so it evens out. I'm sweating by the end of the night, every night, and I can only occasionally get him to sweat. But I dance and twirl as I hit backhands and supersonic serves and it's great entertainment...if you were ever allowed to watch, which you never will be, by the way. Unless I get to watch you playing it in person first.

My Brthr

Carson had to do this assignment in class about what he is thankful for. We were pleasantly surprised to see him bring this paper home. He also was quite proud to tell us that he sounded out "brother" on his own. There is constantly toothpaste smeared on the bathroom sink, walking the floors of his room is a mine field since you never know when you will step on an Extra! Tiny! Toy! (Sharp Edition) tm, and he never brings his drinking cups back to the kitchen sink when he's finished. But loving pieces like this make all that worth it, and then some.

I especially love Trevor's neck and string hair. That must be some serious gel this stick figure uses...