Pure Joy

She is pure joy.


-- Post From My iPhone

We Partied Like It Was 99 Degrees (or hotter)

This is one happy girl. She had a great birthday.

When I planned a backyard birthday barbecue for Reese a few weeks back, it seemed like a great idea. I mean, the temps in the afternoon were in the 80's at that point, so I assumed it would be similar when her party rolled around....WRONG! It has been ridiculously hot here the past week. We rented a bouncehouse for her party with the idea that the kids could run around and just jump to their hearts content outside. So, before the party, we added a few water items to the party and told everyone to bring a swimsuit. That way, they could run between the water and the bouncehouse. It was H-O-T, but the kids had a blast!
Lucy...catching some rays while rehydrating herself. That is multitasking.
Adelyn...hanging out in the pool with her sister.
Reagan and Hailey getting their bounce on.
Singing "Happy Birthday" and watching my girl blow out that candle!
Daddy in the bouncehouse with some of the girls. Guess what daddy threw up after getting out of the bouncehouse because he bounced so hard and got a little dizzy? We are officially old.

Reese opening gifts. Hailey looks miserable in this pic, but actually she did great and had no problem watching Reese open gifts and was really happy for her!

And where was Landry during the party? Well....she was hanging out with her Granny inside! Granny did a wonderful job of helping me with the party. We got to socialize and play with the kids outside and she was so nice to watch Landry and do a lot of the behind the scenes work. Thank you Granny and Dan!

Thanks to all who came and helped us celebrate!

Temp

Who wants to move to Texas? I took this at 7:35pm.


-- Post From My iPhone

Happy 2nd Birthday Reese!

She's FEARLESS, wild, crazy and very sweet. She loves to make us laugh and is hilarious (just ask her to make her "silly face."). She loves being picked up and held by boys way more than girls. She is a daddy's girl. Always has been and I'm willing to bet, always will be. When she was 5 weeks old she first smiled for Trey. She only laughed for him for the first few months after that. Every morning, the first words out of her mouth are, "good morning, Hailey." It brings a smile to my face everytime I hear it. In this family, we call her Roo Bear. She earned the name after Reese morfed into Reesie, then Reesie Roo, then Roo, and then Roo Bear. It may sound funny, but it fits her perfectly. We adore her. Happy Birthday my sweet girl!

This Is Not Posed

Hailey and Reese REALLY want to share a bedroom. Problem is, Hailey's a nightowl, Reese is not. Reese is a light sleeper, Hailey likes to sleep in most mornings. So, it just isn't going to work for now. Plus, Reese thinks that when Hailey is in bed with her, it is playtime. However, the other night, they crawled into Reese's bed together and after we finished reading books, Hailey begged me to try it out. So, I did. I told them they had to stay in bed together, they could not fight and they had to go to sleep. This is what they did....no lie. They layed down next to each other and read books (I took off to get the camera because it was too cute)....

and after 5 minutes....they started fighting and had to be separated :).

Branson Vacation

We're BACK! We had a great time in Branson and on Tablerock Lake. We spent an afternoon tubing and pontooning around Tablerock Lake, a day at Silver Dollar City, a morning checking Branson out and lots of time at the pools at our resort. We even got to play a game one evening while the kids ran and ran and ran together. I can't imagine why we had a noise complaint made against us with 5 pairs of feet running in a condo, and all of the adults trying to control my dad during a game of Spite and Malice (let the record show that my 62 year old father took a watergun in the midst of a card game and shot me between the eyes. I've said it before and I'll say it again....he will never grow up!).
Keely and Reese in the pool.

Abby and Hailes.

PaPa at The Landing in Branson with Hailey and Reese.

WAIT! Is this PaPa sharing ice cream? He must really love Hailey!

My sweet Landry. She spent lots of time in her stroller and was a trooper!

This is what happens when she runs and runs and runs...

Playing in a water bucket at SDC.

Ok, how many people do you see in the above picture? We rode the American Plunge. If you guessed 4 you are correct! It's me, Hailey, Abby and Chris (Keely and Dad were behind Chris). I'm using an arm to hold onto Hailey and she's grasping me for dear life. She made it through the ride, but she might have said how much she hated it for about 30 minutes after we finished :).

Great vacation, great family and fun times!!!

Ok, This Is Getting Old

Trey called from work yesterday. Two minutes into the conversation, I said a phrase that I've said way too often in the past few weeks. I said, "Trey wait. It's way too quiet here. Where's Reese? REESE!!! NOOOOOOO....where did you find that? WHY have you written all over yourself AGAIN?" I've hidden the washable markers. Maybe I should have planned ahead and tried to do the same with the permanent ones. She even tried to color her toe nails.

Bear Hug

We made a stop at Bass Pro Shops on our way to Branson and we met up with PaPa!


-- Post From My iPhone

We Are On Vacation!

Want to know why Reese is exhausted? I think it has to do with the fact that my one year old (only for one more week though!) decided to put some crayons in the washer and dryer today when her mother wasn't watching because she was packing the family for vacation. Want to know what crayons in the washer and dryer do to clothes? Well, I'll tell you...they ruin them! Now, I have a load full of clothes that have giant paint looking stains on them AND I have a purple stained dryer. Good thing I'm on vacation and don't have to think about it for a while!


-- Post From My iPhone

4 Months Old

She's full of smiles, has the most precious belly laugh (that she does for Mommy...my reward for all the late nights), is on the verge of rolling that chubby little body from her back to tummy, spits up just as much as Reese did (as one intelligent 11 year old told me, "Katie, that isn't spit up, that's vomit."), thinks Hailey and Reese are so funny and still has her thumb as her best friend....she's our LANDRY!!!!

Am I, No...I Am Losing My Mind

It's midnight. WHAT am I doing awake? I'll tell you what, I can't sleep because things are just nutty here. I think I always say that things are crazy, so maybe things are "normal" here again today. The children are fast asleep and once they go down, I tend to sometimes "wake-up." Why is that? Is it because no little being is yelling and needing my constant attention? Is it that I don't wind down quickly after a long day? Who knows, but here I am with my eyes wide open.

Last week, I was tired. I was so tired that when I actually had a kid-free meal and I got to go to lunch with my wonderful friend, Lynne, I ordered my usual turkey sandwich and when the lady behind the counter said, "would you like that on country bread?" I replied, "ahhh no thank you. I'd like to have it on country bread." Needless to say, I've just given Lynne material to make fun of me for quite some time. And I was also so tired that when I went to get my haircut, my hair guy Tim said that I looked so exhausted that he thought once he put me under the drier I was going to be one of those people who has tin foil in their hair and sleeps sitting-up in the salon. I didn't fall asleep though....I fought it hard because I REALLY didn't want to be that person. So after a week like that, the smart thing would have been for me to just relax with the family this weekend, but noooooooo...(new paragraph)

I had the bright idea of getting our house painted this week/weekend. I am VERY excited about it and I've been looking over paint colors for waaaay too long. In fact, I like painting. I painted 90% of our last house myself. I planned on doing some painting in this house, until Trey put his foot down. APPARENTLY, he didn't want what I like to call "a few specks" of paint on the ceiling (not my fault, always the brush's doing) and he also claims that he'd like me to find time to actually paint (good point....although I might not have told him that). And, since our last house, I've had a few more children. Have you met Reese? If she sees me and an open can of paint, there will be trouble. So, we found someone to do it for us.

They started with the girls' rooms and now they're doing the rest of the downstairs this weekend. This was the perfect opportunity to make the big change in our house. THIS is why I'm losing it. Here's what we've done with our "weekend off." We moved furniture upstairs, I switched Landry's clothing from one dresser to another (after sorting through clothes she's outgrown and adding clothes she's grown int0), I sorted through all the clothes that Reese has outgrown and replaced them with a larger size she can wear all summer, I switched dressers for Reese, I officially switched Landry out of our room into her new room (Reese's), I officially switched Reese from her old room (Landry's now) into her new room (old guest room), redecorated Landry's room (ok...so I didn't do a good job of decorating it when we first moved in for Reese), I got started on decorating Reese's new room, and I rehung all of the stuff the painters took down today to paint the walls....along with redecorating some stuff I didn't like. And poor Hailey....she just wants to know when we're (I say "we" because she wants to help choose where to hang things...so cute....and so Hailey) going to get to her new pink room. No one ever told me the depth of organizing it takes to have three small girls. You know, it isn't the "girl" part that's difficult, it's the "children grow quickly and need new sizes of clothing and shoes all the time" part that can be challenging. HOLY MOLY. But, I must say, in some weird way, I love it. I love getting organized and knowing that everything has it's own place and that the girls now have their own cute rooms (or should I say very bright rooms for Reese and Hailey). OH, and lastly, I decided to put Landry's fingerprints and footprints in a frame on her walls. Great idea....except that when I did it, I forgot to have something handy to wipe the ink off of her foot and hand. Have I mentioned that Landry sucks her thumb and fingers constantly? Have I mentioned that she loves to grab onto me and put her feet all over me when possible? Good thing the ink said "non-toxic" and I did it right before bathtime. Here are a few pics of some of the new colors going up in the Smith house!

Finally, I apologize for the long post. I try to keep them somewhat short. Vacation is coming up next week and I am so ready to have a change of scenery, spend great quality time with family, and relax and maybe even SLEEP! :)

Isn't He Cute?

This is one example of why I think I found a multitude of pictures of his smoker and manly meats on his camera phone. He's officially losing touch with just being a dude. He was actually wearing this headband around the house the other night and had completely forgotten it was on his head.....put there by Hailey of course as they were eating dinner together. But Trey-Trey, you coordinate so well.

Actually, I think this is a good alternative to what I put my father through. When I was little, I would climb in his lap while he sat in his recliner watching football on TV and I would "fix" his hair with my brush and elastic ponytail holders. I would put as many "sprouts" into his hair as possible. He was always a good sport, but did tend to have a sore scalp the next morning. So Trey, I say sport the headbands with pride.

Tent

And I quote, "Mommy, you are so good at making up stuff like tents." Folks, it's a complex and difficult job and thank goodness I have a college degree to be able to complete these extreme tasks like making tents.

Then again, Hailey also told me the other day, "Mom, you know what....if Daddy didn't go to work, then you would have to go to work. And YOU CAN'T WORK! You're a mommy!" To which I told her that I use to go to work everyday as a teacher before she was born. Her response, "YOU WERE A TEACHER?" (face crinkled as if I've said the most insane thing to her ever). Apparently, according to Hailey my calling was not to be a teacher. However, thankfully I'm gifted at making tents and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches cut into the most amazing shapes :).

It Started with a Thud

I haven't posted in a few days because I'm exhausted. In fact, I don't know how I'm awake right now typing this, but I think it has to do with the fact that there is no noise in the house and that is so rare that my body is enjoying the silence.

SO, last Friday afternoon, I put Reese down in her crib for her usual nap. Then, I got Landry to fall asleep and even Hailey to drift off next to me in the bedroom, so I momentarily thought I was actually going to get to lay down and take a snooze. Then, my eyes popped open because from upstairs I heard a big thud. I thought to myself, "no way is that Reese." Eyes closed again and I started going to dreamy land until I heard footsteps on the stairs followed by, "Hi Mommy!!!" Yep, it was Reese and yep, she jumped out of her crib. I mean, she's still ONE (not for long I realize). So I put her back up in her crib and then watched through a crack in the door and I'll be darned if she didn't start climbing it again. The next morning, bright and early at 6:30am, Trey and I awoke to a sweet, excited voice saying, "Hi Mommy! Hi Da Da! Wet's Eat!" She jumped AGAIN. So now, she's in a bed. I guess it's a good thing because Landry needed to move into the crib upstairs and Reese was going to have to move anyways. This means though that the last few nights Trey and I have had to police the upstairs at bedtime because my 1 year old has realized that there are no bars holding her in anymore and the playroom is right outside her door. Don't worry though, Hailey likes to report on Reese. Hailey has an easy time reporting because they keep meeting up in the playroom when they're both sneaking out of their beds after we put them down :).

And finally, she's starting to like it when I put a "sprout" in her hair. It has taken almost two years, but I'm thinking by the end of the summer, maybe a clip will stay in?

She Strikes Again

No one, and I mean no person or object is going to escape the wrath of Reese during her marker phase. The latest victim....her favorite dolly.

Dance Recital

I'm late on posting some pics from Hailey's dance recital. She did AWESOME and even remembered to smile through both of her dances. She was so proud of herself and she earned her first official trophy!!! Granny and Dan even came in town to watch her perform. We celebrated by letting her choose where to eat dinner and she also got to decide what she wanted to eat. The decision, we went to Chili's and she had cheese pizza with a chocolate milkshake...mmmmm (can someone explain to me how she weighs under 30 lbs still?).

Busted

He's got issues. I found the file on our computer tonight of all the pictures my husband has taken with his camera phone. Wouldn't you think he would take pictures of his bride to look at while working? Nope, nada one of me. There are a few of the kids. However, the majority of pictures on his phone are of this....

HIS SMOKER AND THE FOOD HE COOKS ON IT. He is all boy....I guess this is what happens when you have all girls in a house. You take manly pictures of meat to keep your sanity.

Sanitary?

Who wants a homemade PB and J from the Smith house?

For the record, I did not abet this behavior. Her sister announced to me that Reese was eating out of the peanut butter jar and the rest is in the picture.