The Break Is OVER!

I was on a break!!!  (if you watched Friends, you know this line...except it had a "we")

Over the past 5 months or so, here's what happened:

1.  Blogspot has changed some stuff up.  It wasn't as user friendly for me (meaning...I'm really impatient with learning new ways and quit).  I'm sure the new way is great....but my brain was on overload.

2.  In addition, I wanted to start writing some things which I wasn't so sure about posting on my blog.  Honestly, I didn't want to start discussions.  I love the comments people leave, don't get me wrong.  I wanted to write stuff to record for my family.  I print this blog off into books to use as our family scrapbook.  Many blogs these days are about sparking debate.  I realize when you post online, you open yourself up debate and sometimes I have more controversial things to say.  So, I found a private journal to take the place of the blog.  Turns out, it was even less user friendly than blogspot and doesn't print as well.  So, I'm back to the blog!  Maybe I'll make it private at some point to have more control over the outside world that reads it...maybe I won't.  Who knows.  But, I want to make sure to keep recording the stuff in our lives because my memory is SHOT!  Plus, it's a good way for others to keep up with us.  And, right now, I have stuff on the blog, in a family journal (non user friendly), on facebook, on twitter....I'm all over the place!  Trying to make sure I want the saved stuff to go to one main place.

3.  If this already exists in a user friendly way and I just haven't found it yet, I'm gonna be so mad at myself.

4.  So, I'm back!  And so this post shall do a poor job of showing a few of the multitude of pics I should be using, but I'll hit our highlights!  You know when people sing songs and put tons of words into them and say them really quickly, taking as few breaths as possible?  That's this post....we're going to move quickly through a lot of Smith family living.

Here we go:

Trey and I had the opportunity to take Hailey to a Taylor Swift concert.  We loved.

We traveled....Florida, Kansas, Arkansas, and Texas....

These two are still two peas in a pod.

I cherish this pic from Disney.  They did this all by themselves.

We still love dessert.

And the characters at Disney.

And Hailey is still a big goof.

And I've gotten more organized.  I LOOOVE me some Erin Condren.  The last straw was when I missed three birthday parties in May.  THREE!  Went back to the good ole (with a modern twist) paper planner.  Haven't missed one since!

We love the Dallas Aquarium.

We tattooed it up this summer.

Reese turned SIX!!!!  Every birthday fills me with happiness and sadness.  It's a weird feeling.  There were no mixed emotions for the Roo though.  Happy, happy, happy.

She loved her My Little Pony cake.

And some friends joined us at the movie theatre to see Monsters' University.  Parties these days are all about coordinating...there's themes, a matching clothes, with cakes, plates, napkins and forks to give it that "pulled together" look.  Well, Trey was out of town on his "man sabbatical," so Reese wanted to see Monsters University...with a My Little Pony cake....with a butterfly pinata....with funky plates and napkins that did not resemble MU, My Little Pony nor a butterfly.  But, at the end of the day, she told me it was one of her FAVORITE days ever.  Lesson learned for this mom.  Appearances of party stuff can easily turn into making parties about parents....not kids.  May I focus on keeping birthdays about the birthday child.

We had lemonade/cookie/craft stands with friends.

We slip n slided.

Hailey discovered her love of hibachi restaurants (or as Landry says, "Hoooo bachi").   We took Granni out to one to celebrate her birthday!

Hailey and I went to Camp Ozark again.  We even painted her trunk!  She picked the designs and colors and Mama went to work.  

She lived it up at camp.....again.

I even got to get away from camp for a few hours.  Arkansas is beautful!

This is at "The Cross" at camp.  One of my all time favorite places.  It's gorgeous, peaceful, and filled with memories....it's where Trey proposed to me.

Meanwhile, the Hailes got her sports on.

Reese and one of her besties swam it up.

We still dress up randomly.  I still don't care when they do.  In fact, I kinda dread the day they quit doing it.

Hailey's still artistic.  Found this balloon she had decorated.

We've been introduced to guns.  We are from Texas.

We experienced friends moving away.  But, we learned to celebrate and cherish the time we have with them.

Still....two peas in a pod.  "Daddy, should we go hunting, to a Rangers game or fishing together today?"  To all those people that told Trey he was missing out on having a boy....wrong-o.

Landry started soccer.  She was more excited to have people watching her on the field (FINALLY....after all those years of her sisters getting to do it!) than actually playing.

Hailey turned NINE!  I tried to punish her for it.  Didn't work.  She still moved up a number anyways.  Goodness gracious time is flying.  She had a painting party with her close gal pals and sisters!

Please notice Reese's painting.  If that doesn't explain her personality....  We still have all three on display.  And....Hailey WANTED ME TO MAKE HER CAKE!  Whaaaaa?  Yep, she loves "poke cake" so we made it, spray painted it pink (I'm sure THAT's healthy) and she was super happy.

Hailey entered 3rd grade and Reesie went to kinder.  Stop it. Just...stop....growing....children!

Reese met one of her goals.  She officially has a "window" in her mouth.  Four front teeth...gonzo.

Hailey has her same teacher as last year.  Total blessing.  I've been praying that would happen since I heard she was moving up last summer.

This chick and I get to hang together for one more year on Mondays and Fridays, when she isn't in school.  She's over me and is DYING to go to kinder.  I'm determined to make as many memories with her as possible.

Reese and Hailey learned to hunt.  Reese went first.  She is passionate about it.  Loves to kill birds with her daddy and will even clean them and could not wait to cook 'em up.  I'll say it again....we are not in Kansas anymore.  We are raising Texans.

I took my monkeys to the Dallas Aquarium for even more visits.

Hunting Hailey.

Soccer chicas.

Goggles on children= PRECIOUS.

Even I had a birthday.  Let's be honest, I don't have mixed emotions on my birthday.  I don't hold countdowns for my big day, nor do I look forward to adding the "half" marker to the number like my girls do.  However, celebrating with dear friends makes the day memorable.  And really, I'm thankful to be here, so hey....maybe I do like my birthday after all!

Trey has been so blessed to have a group of guys from elementary school that are all still close.  Therefore, I made them all like me when Trey and I started dating.  This is John.  We played together in a golf tournament, for one of Trey's other lifelong friends.  John counted how many golfballs he could collect in the woods on one hole.  My stomach hurt by the end of the day....he's that funny.

John and Annie have a dog named, "Minnie."  She's held at celebrity status in our house.  The girls love this picture.  Reese has FOUR pictures of Minnie by her bed.  No lie.

Trey holding one of John and Annie's sweet boys.  God is good.  Bet those boys never dreamed of getting to hang and hold each other's kids someday....

Boosterthon school fundraiser!!!  Reese and Hailey go all out for this.  Grandparents are so kind to donate money.  Here's Reese running in her first one!

Check out my Hailes!

Ok, so there's more in there.  Lots more living.  But, those were the highlights on the computer.  Hopefully I'll be back to short and sweet posts soon and not backed up!