We are at the library. My girls love it here. So much so, that Reese kissed and told each of her library books goodbye before sending them down the return chute!


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Big Booster Seat!

We have one pumped up Landry here. She always wants to be like her sisters. Her sisters ride in booster seats in the car. She is still three and needs a 5 point harness (aka a bigger one!). However she knows the countdown is on until she turns four in February and she moves up to a big seat too. Today while she and I were grocery shopping, we passed the carseat/baby isle. She spotted this booster seat and fell in love. I....became a sucker and bought it for her a bit early (no, she can't use until she's 4).

She hasn't stopped talking about it all day. I was so bummed I didn't video the conversation she had with Reese about it on the way home from preschool. There is nothing cuter than watching her be serious and talk about peace signs with the slightest lisp. So hard to believe that when she was born we had three girls in very large carseats. Now, we are on our way out of them!

She said it right though today, "Hey Momma....when I'm four I'm gonna be a big girl, but I'm still gonna be your baby, right?"

She will always be my baby. No doubt.


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Homemade Chicken And Dumplings

Today was the first really cold day here. I forgot how much I love comfort food made in a crockpot. I also forgot how I waddle after consuming it, but soooo worth it!


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Nutcracker

Reese got an adorable nutcracker figurine from Granni. She was so excited that she said, "soooo do I put a nut or a cracker in it?"


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Zzzzzz....

Hey Tucker, did that run make you tired today?


He even saw ducks at the pond. Had a chance to pounce on them and pretended he didn't know what those things were and ignored them. Some kinda hunting dog he is..... However, when Trey walks in the door at night, if Tuck is laying down, you can hear the loud and fast thumping of his happy tail the moment he realizes his daddy is home. It's so sweet. Me love him.
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Advent Presents

Granni has a tradition of sending gifts for the girls to open during advent. We read an advent story each night, move our star on our calendar to count down the days til Christmas, and then the girls rotate each night on who gets to open the gift! Tonight, the girls opened cool bandaids!


And we also put together our craft the girls opened last night! Reese made a reindeer necklace, Hailey had a Christmas tree bracelet and Landry made a star necklace!


Opening these gifts has also saved us money. Hailey, the queen of hour long showers, has knocked them down to 10 minutes due to the anticipation of the evening activity!
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Buds

Whoa. They are officially growing up quick.





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Company

This guy kept me company when I was sick. Seriously, he's my buddy that follows me wherever I go. Love him.



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I'm ALIVE!

I haven't made a post on the trip Trey and I went on to Guatemala yet. It was fantastic, heartbreaking, eye opening, exhausting, so good for the soul, and an experience where you can feel the presence of God. I always feel all-over-the-board. Truth be told, I would go back tomorrow if I could. I'll post pictures soon.

What I would not like to go back to, is the something-or-other illness that I am quite certain I brought home with me. Holy moly. After basically 4 days in bed, I am praising God for my health. At one point I tried to tell Trey to "Old Yeller" me (ya know....take me out back and put me out of my misery), he did a good job of ignoring me (and he was super sweet....from quite a distance for fear of getting whatever I had).

Check out the adorable note I got from Hailes. Good news....I'm pretty much back now!
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Superheroes Unite!

I love the fact that these three girls play so well together and are full of the happy bug. Hailey got the capes and they are on a backyard mission to save the world!


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Breakfast With The Clauses

We ate yummy pancakes and the girls got to see Santa and the Mrs. this morning! Hailey asked for a Barbie, Landry wanted a unicorn and Reese mentioned an underwater camera for swimming! The girls are loving this holiday season!


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Nap time!

Reese and Landry told me not to worry about coming upstairs to check on them for nap time. When I did, they tried to tell me they were super close to being asleep and were very comfy....

Needless to say, I broke up the party :).



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Halt!!

Yesterday I asked Reese to put on a -tshirt. She obviously doesn't know halter tops and late November don't mix too well!




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Thankful

We celebrated Thanksgiving at our friends' parents' farm this year. The kids (and adults) had a blast and it was a beautiful Texas day. We have so much to be thankful for in our family and we don't take our blessings from God for granted.

Unfortunately I didn't feel 100% on Thursday and by early Friday I had a full blown stomach virus that knocked me down! However, I did get sweet notes from the kids!


And I'm beyond thankful to have a hubby who steps right in and cares for the kids without any complaining (and even did laundry!).

Hope you all had a great holiday weekend too!
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School Is Out!!

Movie Monday with Wreck It Ralph.


Terrific Tuesday at the zoo with friends.





Check out that cheetah! Hailey said his big teeth looked dirty if you were wondering!


And now....it's Tired Tuesdsy for Mama!
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News To Me

After church, we went to lunch.  Here's what I learned:
1.  Reese wants to marry a boy named Underwear.
2.  Hailey wants to name her first kid Martin Luther King Jr.  And her second kid will be Martin Luther King Jr. Jr.
3.  Hailey thought Trey's full name was Richard Kathleen.
4.  Hailey only wants two children when she grows up because "you can't have just one so you need a playmate for the first kid, but that's it.  If I have more then I'll probably go crazy like Mom does sometimes because our house is so NUTS!"  Trey's response, "What's so wrong with a nutty house?"
5.  Landry is going to have all girls some day and she's going to name them after her mommy.....oh how I love this three year old.

All this information to take in.  I'm going to need a nap.

Guilty Conscience

Landry has strep.  Poor girl went from feeling tired Friday morning to a full blown fever, body aches, sore throat, headache, nausea and full on attachment to Mommy by 5:00pm.  After a trip to the doctor and confirmation of strep, they gave her good meds which helped turn her around quickly.

We told the girls to make sure they didn't share toothbrushes, drinks or anything with Landry.  They understood.  Then, I caught Reese telling Landry she wanted to kiss her.  Put the squash on that.  Had a family movie night of Toy Story 2 and off to bed they all went.

Fast Forward to 1:30AM.  Reese walks into our bedroom crying.

Reese:  Mom?  Dad?  *sniffle sniffle*
Me:  What Roo?
Reese:  I couldn't help it.
Me:  Huh?  Are you sick?
Reese:  No.  I couldn't stop myself.  It wasn't my fault.
Me:  What the heck?  Are you asleep?  (as if that's going to produce a good answer)
Reese:  No.  But....ummmm.....I KISSED LANDRY DURING THE MOVIE!!  I COULDN'T HELP IT!!  I JUST HAD TO!!!  I AM SO SORRY!!!
Me:  uhhhhh....ok.  Go to bed.
Trey:  Huh?  What's going on?

End scene.

Goodness gracious, I love the girl.  She may have a delayed conscience....but it's in there!!!!

Reason #892...

I love 8 year olds. They write the funniest and cutest notes and send 5 year old sisters to deliver them!


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Life With LuLu

This is what it's like talking to Landry. She's a chatter box, is very animated, thinks she's 8 like Hailey, but is still figuring out the details of life. For example, over the past few weeks, she kept asking me what a holiday was. I would define it, she would tell me I was wrong, then she'd ask again. She also couldn't decide if Halloween was a month, a season, or a party. And she interchanges the words Halloween and holiday since they start with the same letter.

She's a mess....a cute, spunky, mess!

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Halloween

Vampire, pink power ranger and Izzy from Jake and the Neverland Pirates! Ready to go!!


Trey kept saying, "look at LuLu...she is so cute!"


This one loved curling her hair and wearing make up!


It's hard to get a non blurry pic of Roo because the girl sprinted from house to house to collect candy!


Love these two.


We had friends over, chowed on pizza and topped it off with candy. Great night!

I may have had two Snickers and multiple brownies for breakfast today....whoops!
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Kitty Cat

Field trip to the pumpkin patch=one happy Roo. She must've told me 10 times that she just loved hanging out with me. She may be our ball of energy, but she is also our most affectionate sweetie. And....she's still obsessed with animals. I can see her working on a farm and being so happy....


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Built-In Caretakers

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Ewwww

A virus can knock these girls down, but it can't take away their smiles!  That being said, I'm so glad it's gone!

Texas State Fair

It's been a stressful month here.  Yuck.  The most recent bummer was a stomach virus, which is all over the place apparently, that Ms. Landry got early last Tuesday morning (as in 1AM).  Throughout the week, it took down the entire family, minus Moi.  Luckily though, Hailey didn't have as bad a version as her sisters.  She went down for the count on Thursday evening.  I knew she felt horrible when she yelled for me, I came a runnin' and she said, "I just want you to cuddle with me."  WHOA.  She's become quite independent lately, so I knew she had officially caught it.  

Anyways, on Friday, her fever had already broke and she was up and moving, but she couldn't go to school.  Trey was off for his golf weekend and we girls had been cooped up ALL WEEK LONG.  What to do, what to do???  

Well, Mr. Trey had happened to win free State Fair of Texas tickets at a golf tournament and I had no desire to go on the weekends (especially because it was Texas vs. OU this weekend here....no thank you!), so we hit it up on Friday.  

We absolutely had a ball!!!  It will definitely be a family tradition from now on and Trey's going to love going next year!  We went slow and just tried to enjoy the day so as not to push the recovering kiddos.  I even had the famous Fletchers corndog.  I texted my friend, Alicia, about how great it was and how it was my first time to try it.  She replied by informing me that she has a picture of us eating one when we went to the fair like 10 years ago.  Seriously.....someone locate my brain.  Anyways, it was even BETTER the second time :).

We went to a kids farm, where the girls got to learn about how farms operate.  Started off with a little photo op. 

Then my farmers got dressed, found their baskets and picked some peaches.

Reese even learned how a cow's milked (too bad she's the lactose intolerant one in the fam!)

The girls planted seeds.

Picked some veggies.

Got on tractors and put some feed out for the piggies.

Ride that tractor, Hailes!

If you know anything about Reese, you know she la-la-la loves animals.  Petting zoo=major hit.

Hello camel.

And cute ba-ba-black sheep.

We saw a dog show where the dogs did all kinds of tricks.  Six thumbs up from the Smithettes.

And then we rode a few rides.  Only three.  Mama did not trust stomachs.  Ride #1 kid roller coaster.  Huge grins the entire time.

Ride #2 bumper cars.  There was one incident of a major head on collision with each other, which resulted in.....belly laughs.

And finally....a ride that went around super fast where they all squished Hailey.  It was voted Most Favorite by all of them.  

Perfect start to an all girl weekend!

Reese and Her Bike

Reese and I worked on getting her off those training wheels.  Truth be told, she rides totally fine without them.  However when she notices that I'm running beside her and not hanging on, she freaks out.  This chickie is super close to getting it!  And yes, that's a large purple flower hair clip on my head because that's how I "hold" items for children without losing them.