Three Taller

According to Reese, Landry is "3 Taller.".





I think that's a good thing.
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Star Student

Hailey was honored with the Star Student award today at school!! Her teacher nominated her for her outstanding behavior and character. The whole family went to see her receive her award in front of the school!








To say that we are proud of her is such an understatement. She has a heart of gold and I am so thankful that God gave her to us. Such a blessing. Happy Friday!
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Tumble!!!

Guess who loves gymnastics!?




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Texas Sectionals!

In September, I was asked to play on a tri-level tennis team. Basically, you have a tennis ranking as an adult. In this tournament, there are three different tennis (hence tri) ranks playing in each round. So, the tennis team consists of people of varying levels playing against other teams. You play against your level in each round though. Whoever wins at least two of the three rounds gets to advance. Our first tournament was in January in Dallas. Our team won in a very close match!

We advanced to Sectionals, which was last weekend in Kingwood, Houston. There were 10 teams from the state of Texas. Two pools of five teams each. We played a round robin with our pool to see who would advance to the finals to play the winner of the other pool. We lost our first round....barely. There was rain and lots of it. Lots of hurry-up-and-wait going on. Finally, on Sunday we got to really play out our matches (after being there since Thursday night). We won all the rest of our matches and narrowly won our pool (I mean, squeaked by.....one more set lost, not match...but set, and we might not have won). So, we went to the finals against Ft. Worth. One line won immediately, another lost....it came down to a close match on our third team....and WE WON!!!

What does this mean? Well, we are Tri-Level Sectional Champions. And, we advance to Nationals!!! We will be playing at the BNP Paribas Tri-Level Open Championship at Indian Wells. We will be representing Texas and our team will combine with the men's tri-level team and we will compete as one section. We will be playing at the same time the pros are. And, we get tickets to go and watch the top ranked players in the world when we aren't on the court!

Needless to say, I'm so excited to go and compete at Nationals. I am even MORE thankful that Trey gets just as pumped for me and insists that I go (I have a very bad case of Mom guilt when I leave for tennis). My girls had such a fun weekend with just him. He is so encouraging of my talents and insists on me taking time off. I've almost quit tennis a couple of times this year. Not because I don't love tennis, I do, but running a household with three little girls is a full time job. Planning to leave is stressful. Being away is tough. But once I'm on a tennis court and playing some very competitive matches, I must say, there's a part of my soul that is filled with joy and feels like I'm doing something I was born to do. Obviously, I'm so glad he never let me quit :).

You know who would have liked this too? My mom. She sat at countless matches watching me learn and grow as a tennis player. It wasn't just me who invested my time as a youth to a game that I love, but my mom was right there too. I'm so thankful for her and her devotion and support of me. May I help my kids find and nurture their talents and gifts like she did.

Mmmmm

Why do I seem to take lots of pictures of my children when they're eating?

Lots Of Love

I woke up to this! Yay for pretty flowers!


And then I saw this... A rose and card for each girl from their daddy. He sure loves his little ladies....precious.


The reaction has been overwhelmingly positive.


And THEN, Trey and I got a coupon book from Hailey!!! I get a free walk on my back (massage).


And, she will even decorate the house for me (among others)!!!


What a great start to the morning!!!
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Where's Landry?

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Valentine's!

The table has been set for the morning! Donuts, chocolates and a movie for a present for the girlies. I think this means they will be on a sugar high by 7:15am!




Happy Valentine's Day from all of us!!
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Buried In Boxes

We've been busy. We added a fourth cart before we left.


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My Baby Is Three!!

Our Landry LuLu turned three on Sunday! And, if that fact slipped our minds, she made sure to announce every 15 minutes, "I'M THE BIRTHDAY GIRL TODAY!!!!" And, we made sure to celebrate!

We went to the mall and started off with a cookie for a snack.

And then went to one of her favorite places, Build-A-Bear Workshop! When I asked her a few weeks ago who she wanted at her party, she said, "my sisters and Blaire and KK and Maggie and Ms. Alison." Well, that wasn't hard because her sisters were up for a party and the others mentioned are all sisters from close family friends of ours! And so, our families gathered together and partied for Landry and the Superbowl!

Reese signing the Happy Birthday Bear for Landry.

The finished products!

The princess cake Landry picked out all by herself!

And...even thought there's a little nudity here (she does actually have a dress up costume on....it just needs some altering....), she was so excited to have everyone sing to her and blow out her candles. In fact, we sang twice because a certain 7 year old sister got overly excited and blew out her candles for her the first time!

She doesn't think she's three. She thinks she's Hailey's age. She totally knows how to make people laugh. Makes the BEST facial expressions. Is incredibly verbal....so much so that sometimes we can't think straight with all her chattering. She's always been a Mama's girl and even though she will share her toys, she doesn't allow me to hold many others without protest. She's social. Kind. She's a hoot. What a joy and blessing she is to me and this family.

We love you LuLu! Happy birthday baby.

Tortilla Face

Crazy Saturday

Insanity! Busy, crazy, insanity I tell you! Trey and I basically woke up, high fived each other and divided and conquered this day! I had a tennis practice (my team is going to Houston in a few weeks to try to qualify for the Indian Wells tournament....if that sounded like a foreign language, basically, we won our division in Dallas and are off to see if we can go to one of those tournaments where the reallllllly good tennis people go too.....and no, I would not be playing against any of them. Even though, while watching Nadal in the Australian Finals together, Hailey asked me if I could beat him.....sweet girl.....sweet, sweet girl). Trey ran errands. We collided and switched children. Discovered children had face painted themselves while I played tennis. Excellent.

Trey was off to an ice skating birthday party with Hailey. They skated together for two hours and he said it was such a fun time together! I was off with the little two to a princess birthday party for a friend of theirs!

There were two Belle Smiths.

And there was a limo ride involved. The excited screaming was at an all time high.

Then there was Daddy-Daughter date night at our local Chick-fil-A. The restaurant hosted a special night where you had to have reservations for Dad's and daughters only. Pretty cool. Sit down dinner, flowers, the cow came to visit, all kinds of fun stuff.

This gave me time to escape to gather things for our soon-to-be three year old tomorrow.

I received this text from Trey while he was dining. It said, "Loudest table in Chick-fil-A? The Smiths. 2nd place.....the Sextons." I still laugh when I read that. Apparently, most families had only one daughter and Trey said they were all having peaceful meals one-on-one. Us? Not so much....we have lots of girls here. And, what's even funnier....the second loudest table belonged to our kids' closest friends....who also have three girls....the same age as ours. Oh, and the cow....Landry is PETRIFIED of it. I mean, eye-balls bulging, ear ringing screams, all while Landry climbs on top of your head to escape the bovine.

And since they've been home, there have been major emergencies. For example, Hailey's tongue hurts when she moves it certain ways. Landry cannot bear to sleep without Hailey tonight. Reese cannot sleep (really, she's a bigger night owl than me) and keeps asking me questions from all over the board.

However, we've survived. We made it. I cannot wait to sleep. And wake up tomorrow and celebrate Landry's birthday.

Happy weekend everyone!

Setting Up

Forget football tomorrow.

We've got a birthday to celebrate. And this almost three year old has been talking about this day since Halloween!

The stage has been set for the wake-up portion of the fiesta....

It's Time...

Lookie at the book Hailey chose from the library this week. I think the girls are sending us a message....


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