Christmas Time

We had such a wonderful time during the Christmas season. We had lots of fun at home, with Pops and Nanny, and in West Memphis with Granny and Grand Don and Mee Mee and Poppie.

Here is Christmas at home

Here is Christmas with Pops and Nanny

Here is Christmas in West Memphis

We ended out trip to West Memphis with a family trip to the movies (we took up the entire back row of the movie theater with Lilly and Annalee in laps). Lots of popcorn and chocolate - so much fun!

Advent Consipiracy

Someone Ronnie knows told him about this site. You should check it out.

Here is the video from the front page of the site if you don't have time to explore it right now.





And to lighten things up a little after that serious video, some funny words from the kids.

Lilly: Daddy, your ears are funny.
Ronnie: They are?
Lilly: Yes, just look at yourself.


Chloe: Nanny, can you blow hot air?


Chloe: There are 2 ways to get babies.
Allie: Really, what are the two ways?
Chloe: One is from someone's belly and one is from the adoption center. But I still don't know where the adoption center is. (after further discussion, we realized that Chloe views the adoption center as a sort of baby making factory.)

Lilly's Playschool Christmas Program

Lilly was so excited to sing in the Christmas program at her playschool. She has been walking around singing the songs all week long. She even talked Nanny into a new red dress for the event.

A Union Christmas

Tonight the girls (parker and chloe) sang with the Union Children's Chorus in A Union Christmas. They did a great job - no one picked their nose or did anything else embarrassing on stage. The choir sounded really sweet. And the program seemed a little shorter than last year....
Here is a video clip of one of the songs. I was in the back and couldn't zoom very well, but you can at least hear the song :)





And aparently they made the Jackson Sun :)

Piano Recital

Saturday was the girl's piano recital. This was Chloe's first one and Parker's third. They really like playing the piano and practicing - really, we have to tell them to quit playing. Miss Courtney is their teacher and they love her. I'm glad they enjoy it. They each got to play one song and then they had a duet. Here are the videos.

Fun in West Memphis

Here are some pics from our Thanksgiving in West Memphis. I didn't get pictures of them all, but between all the cousins there were about 15 kids eight years old and under - fun times!

So much to blog

Well, since I've been swamped with work at LDL, I have failed to update my blog. Lots has happened. First of all, Chloe lost her first tooth. This was very exciting for her. You can't really tell though because the tooth behind it was already in when she lost it. I did take a picture, but it is hard to see.

Also, lots of friends gathered to celebrate Marcie and Jamie's upcoming adoption of baby Kaplan. It was an amazing time of thanksgiving and prayer. We gave her a quilt in which each person summed up the whole process in one word and with a scripture. And it was a great surprise to Marcie, especially the out of towners that were included (Hannah and Lori).

We also celebrated Thanksgiving with the Parker's in Jackson and with Ronnie's family in West Memphis. The food was great and so was just hanging out and enjoying family.

Here are a couple of pictures of Thanksgiving in Jackson, pictures from West Memphis coming soon.

Gladys Aylward - Missionary to China

The girls and I just finished reading the most amazing book about Gladys Aylward. I had actually never even heard of her before, but wow, what a story. I would highly recommend this book to any adult. I read it out loud to the girls, but there were a few parts I had to skip over or reword - a few violent war scenes and beheadings. The story of how God miraculously provided for Gladys so that his name could be proclaimed in very remote parts of China is very foreign to modern people who are so self reliant. Her obedience to stay in the midst of danger because of her love for God and the people sounds foolish to modern day Americans. This is an amazing story of God's sovereignty and Gladys' willingness to suffer harm for the sake of making the name of Jesus known among the people of China.

I won't give the story away, I hope you'll read it yourself. There are several books about her. We read Gladys Aylward The Adventure of a Lifetime by Janet and Geoff Benge. I have a copy if anyone wants to borrow it. You can also google search her and get little short paragraphs about her life.

This is what I came home to on Friday night

Friday night the girls spent the night with Nanny and Pops. I had been working at Loop De Lou and I was going to drive home and pick up Ronnie, so we could do some shopping. I was running late and Ronnie was waiting for me on the porch swing. I was going to just stay in the car, but he went in the house to turn off the lights and didn't come back for a few minutes, so I thought I would go in and grab an extra jacket. When I walked in the house I was so surprised - candlelight, a beautifully set table and music. Ronnie walked me to the table and made me sit down while he served me the most wonderful dinner (and he did eventually eat with me after everything was brought to the table). We had salad, rolls and chicken and rice soup from Dumplins, finished off with a piece of pumpkin cheesecake. It was great! The best part was just the surprise and to know that he planned something special for me. He is the best. I keep telling him, he should write a book.

What a Fun Weekend!

This weekend was so much fun. Here is how it went down. Thursday was Lilly's playschool halloween party. Even though she had a brand new tinkerbell dress (with all the accessories), she wanted to be Alice in Wonderland (which is what she was last year). So, I let her dress up like Alice and we saved Tinkerbell for halloween. She was adorable and had so much fun at her party. Friday Parker lost her fourth tooth (when Chloe punched her in the mouth). It was hanging by a thread and needed to come out anyway. Then we all got dressed up and went over to the Pflasterers for fun snacks and trick-or-treating. I wish I had taken a picture of the snacks because they were awesome - punch with a floating ice hand, monster mash and lots of other fun goodies. The kids loved dressing up and being with their friends - and the candy! We also trick-or-treated Nanny and Pops who loaded us up for the next year on chocolate. Then Saturday the girls got to spend the evening with their sweet friends Braden and Ella Catherine, which was a special treat for Parker and Chloe because they haven't seen Braden in quite a while. They really enjoyed it. I can't think of a better way to spend a weekend. Here are some pictures from all the fun.

The Drastic Difference between Girls and Boys

Since we have three sweet girls, our lives are tied up in ballet, tap, gymnastics and things that are sparkly and princess-like. If you would like to see some rough and tough football, soccer and baseball, then this is not the place for you. Please visit my sister's blog. Her boys are amazingly cute and rough and tough.

This week was parents watch week at Chloe's dance classes, so I took a few video clips. She did a realy good job and is becoming quite a dancer. Here is a clip from Chloe's tap class.

Family of Pumkins

This is the easiest carving we've ever done! And it was lots of fun.

Pumpkin Patch

We had a great trip to the pumpkin patch tonight. Everyone got to pick out their own pumpkin - even me and Ronnie. We had lots of fun and took lots of cute pictures.

and here is a little blast from the past - this was our trip to the pumpkin patch last year with our sweet friends the Bustrums.

School Pictures for the Girls

Ok, since we homeschool I thought I should take some pictures to consider school pictures for this year. So I had my own little photo shoot and this is what I came up with. I think they turned out pretty good, since I am by no means a photographer.

City Fellowship Update

Today is a very exciting day. We have spent most of the day getting our new rental space ready to have church tomorrow. We will be meeting as a small core group of about 30 people including kids and adults until maybe Easter (while we figure lots of things out). I feel so blessed to be a part of such an amazing work of God. Today just makes everything seem very real. What we have been thinking about for months is becoming a reality. So we all cleaned with great joy today despite the spiders and unknown sticky substances on the floors and walls. Our building is on the corner of Royal and Main street downtown. A church in Missouri has donated a lot of furniture that will come next week (kids tables, book shelves, couch, desks, stove, refridgerator, folding chairs, etc.). And someone has even been generous enough to pay for the UHaul to get the stuff here. How very amazing and exciting!

New Haircuts

The smith women were in much need of new haircuts. We were very shaggy and had many split ends. So we (me, Parker and Chloe) all headed over to South of New York and Anna gave us great cuts. Here is a picture of Parker and Chloe. Their cuts are adorable, and I really like mine too.

Future Ballet Star

Chloe has started taking ballet and tap lessons. Here is a cute picture of her in her outfit with the shoes. She loves it and is a great dancer.

Lilly's first day back to playschool

Lilly has been waiting for this day. She has been talking about it for a few weeks. She had lots of fun today with her four teachers, her lunchbox and her backpack. She is so very big . . . and so very sweet!

In other news. . . Parker is losing teeth left and right. Finally, though, she has lost one in which the grown up tooth hasn't already grown in. She also looks very big with a missing front tooth.

The rest of the story - Vacation Part II

We ended up cutting our vacation a day short because of tropical storm Fay. But we really can't complain - at all. We had 6 beautifully sunny days to enjoy the beach before the clouds came. We had the most relaxing vacation that I can ever remember -no hurry to do anything. It was lovely.

However, now we are back in the thick of things. We started school yesterday. Wow, there is a lot to learn in the 3rd grade. I really am probably learning more than the girls. It is so much fun, and even Lilly thinks she is in school. She has her own folders and things. We really couldn't do school any other way - she would not have it. Lilly is getting ready to start back to playschool next week. She informed me this morning that she would be learning Spanish (that's what Parker and Chloe told her). I realized that I somehow forgot to take her to the doctor for her 3 year check-up (in April). Since I have to have a special form from them saying she's had all her shots, I decided to make the appointment. They were able to get us in this morning. I bribed Lilly with the thought of picking out a special toy if she would not fuss - and it worked. She was so good, even laughing and waving bye to Dr. David and Nurse Samantha. She even talked to the lady who was pricking her finger for a blood sample and never cried. We went directly to Wal-Mart and picked out a Dora Bath Castle for $14.95, a very small price to pay for a happy visit to the Doctor.

The Middle of a Great Vacation

We are having a great time in Panama City. However, there is only wireless internet in the lobby of our hotel, so I will probably not be able to check email and update again until after we are home next week. Here are some highlights of the trip so far

We have had great weather. Parker loves the beach and boogie boarding (She is very good at it). She never wants to come to the pool. Chloe and Lilly love the pool and the hot tub the best. We still have two days left for lots of fun.

Here is a clip of Parker boogie boarding