Blue Nosed Girl

Poor Hailey....she decided to play "jump on the couch and bellyflop into the pillows face first." Unfortunately, missing the pillows and, instead, going nose dive into the frame of the couch doesn't work so well.



She's got a swollen nose with a bruise that is slowly spreading towards her eyes. Good thing she's one tough cookie. I, on the other hand, am much better at taking on injuries myself than watching my girls get hurt.
-- Post From My iPhone

Dinner Time Is Changing

We're almost done with baby food and bottles! Here's Hailey helping Landry with her sippy cup.



And then I tried to take one of Landry eating, but that was difficult because she took her plate and threw it backwards. Jake was very happy with her. Hailey started hiccupping because she was laughing so hard. So, here's the happy, plate flinging, little girl after dinner.



-- Post From My iPhone

Out Cold

And also sleeping comfortably next to her:



Raggedy Ann, Andy and the princess duckie. I love that she still carries Raggedy Ann and Andy around because my mom gave them to her when she was one.
-- Post From My iPhone

Can Someone Please Explain

Why I can't get my children to hang up their coats in the closet OR put their shoes in the proper place, yet they manage to neatly hang up and save ratty napkins that need to be chunked? {Sigh}

In other Smith girl news today:

1. I caught Hailey putting her feet into Landry's mouth....and Landry thought it was great.

2. Landry decided to fool me by making me believe she was eating bites of turkey until I saw Jake walking around with turkey that had been thrown on his back (he lays under her highchair to "support" her during meals).

3. Landry is now saying "whaaasdat?" (aka "what's that"). I am still patiently waiting for the simple two syllable word of "mama." {sigh....again}

4. Hailey has decided that when she's an adult, she's going to move downstairs and sleep in my and Trey's room....with us....because our room is not scary like hers.

5. And Reese has mastered the princess dance (aka putting on her Snow White costume and holding out the skirt with her fingers while dancing around on her tiptoes). Now if we could get her to fix her hair like a princess, rather than the day-to-day do. This consists of me putting her hair up in a band with a clip, her waiting until we're in the car and I'm driving (distracted), her pulling out the band and her hair standing straight up with kinks in it that cannot be fixed until we're back home again.

6. Landry thinks Hailey and Reese are absolutely hysterical right now. Listening to that girl belly laugh....priceless!

-- Post From My iPhone

She Plays Hard

And crashes hard



And I can't believe she's almost one!
-- Post From My iPhone

Hello Nice Weather

It's about 70 degrees here today. We have been playing outside!

Now...this picture is a bit scary.

Hanging out together.

He loves his frisbee. And I love him :).

And what would a picture session be without a pose from Hailey!

Home Wrecker

Disguised as a cute 11 month old baby. No decorative book is safe from her cover ripping, page flinging powers. She even smiles the entire time she does it.







Also, Hailey stole my phone and took pictures of herself


And Reese


Somebody's losing control of this scene. Her name is Mommy!
-- Post From My iPhone

Baby Fever

And no, it definitely isn't me suffering from this. Poor girl has been crabby and clingy, so I took her temp to discover she has a fever of 103. Answer me this...WHY do my children get sick only at night or on the weekends or when my hubby is out of town? I guess there's never a true convienant time to be sick, but if my kids could get on "normal business hours" with their illnesses, I'd greatly appreciate it. Poor Landry girl!!
She did let me hold her and rock her tonight though which was a treat for me. Lately, she's been too busy pulling up on every ledge possible that she hasn't had time for me. She has two sisters which she's determined to catch up to quickly!


-- Post From My iPhone

Quack, Quank and Mars

At dinner, Hailey and I had an interesting conversation. It went like this:

Hailey starts clearing her throat while eating.

Me: Hailey, you ok?

Hailey: Yep, I just had a duck in my throat.

Me: YOU DID? Well, I think they might call it a "frog in your throat."

Pause for some time.

Hailey: Mom, I didn't have a frog in my throat. I had a duck. I know it was a duck because it made a "quank" sound.

Me: Well....I thought ducks said, "quack, not quank." (Trying not to laugh)

Again, silence.

Hailey: Wellllll....some ducks say "quack" and some say "quank." And nobody told me about things in my throat (referring to the frog comment), I just knew about it being a duck all by myself.

Take notes people. I learn new things every day.

On another side note, Hailey and I have spent some good quality time together this past week. She has a project due about Mars tomorrow. Our first science project. To quote my brilliant mother, "Katie, there are only two things that I didn't like about you and your brother's childhoods.....slumber parties and science fairs." I could not agree more with her wise words of wisdom.

I actually had thought the project was due two days after it came home, so Hailey and I put a quick little project together one night......it was returned to me by the teacher. She let me know that we had a week more to work on it and was sure that I'd probably want to expand what we'd done. Yep, this former teacher had a 5 year old's science project returned and rejected. UGH.

Is it bad that I'm a former teacher? Is it bad that I dislike studying the planets at 32 like I did at 12? B-O-R-I-N-G. I don't even do sci-fi movies or books if it has planet or extraterrestrial stuff. Is it wrong of me to want to let Hailey do these projects rather than me doing it for her? I have no intention of doing three sets of homework each night in the upcoming years. Have I mentioned how much I AM DREADING KINDERGARTEN?

In the end, we finished it up today in time for tomorrow. It did give us a chance to sit and talk and learn together. Just us together, so that's good. And....ask Hailey the name of the volcano on Mars, or the name of the largest canyon, or why Mars is the red planet.....she's an expert.

It May Be Cold Outside

But Hailey is full colorful clothes


Reese looks cute....even if she's telling me her two year old famous phrase, "no, I don't WANT to take a picture...I DON'T WANT IT!"



And Landry decided to add "oohhh" to her vocabulary today (it joins deee and daaadaaa...we are working on MaMa, but it isn't sticking!)



-- Post From My iPhone

Big Day

Big changes around this house today!!! First off, Trey and I will actually be using a babysitter mid-week (WHAAAAT? The kids will be confused no doubt) because we're off to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary! And, we're off to celebrate Trey's first day at his NEW job!

Nine years? How can it be? It's gone by so fast. So very, very, very fast. I loved that boy from soon after meeting him and the spark has never faded. We've made it through the joys and trials of life.....together. We've both grown and grown up along the way...and are continuing to do so. But three little girls later....I knew when we got married that it was the best decision....I didn't know what a gift it was though....to be able to parent these wonderful little ones together. Even on the toughest of days, I know that it will end and there will be a few minutes of peace and quiet....together. And so, our journey continues and I look forward to going through all of it....together.

And also on this day, Trey started a new job! He was presented with an opportunity that he felt he couldn't pass up. Leaving his old job was tough because he thoroughly enjoyed the people he worked with, but he has an opportunity with a new company that's right up his alley. Plus, there are some added bonuses....like instead of driving 36 miles and having a monster commute in ridiculous traffic everyday, the new job is MUCH closer to home. No more calling at 5:00 that he's out the door and arriving at 6:15. No more 12 hour work days due to the drive. No more outrageous gas bills and tollway use. I could go on, but the cutting out the commute is so good, that I will stop there! Congrats Trey!

It's Hard To Blog

When you're making a blog book!! Yep, I'm in the midst of turning our blog entries from the last year and a half into a book for our family. Since I stink at scrapbooking, I'm hoping to use the blog as our annual family memory-maker. I'll tell you how it turns out soon.


P.S. The empty pint of ice cream may or may not have been polished off by me. Talk about busted. Why does ice cream make everything better?
-- Post From My iPhone

She's Going To Kill Me Someday....

But I couldn't resist. I'll probably remove it soon. I'll make this as quick as possible since no one really wants to talk potty training. However, I am proud to announce that Reese is officially out of diapers and a functioning restroom user now. There is one slight difference in the way Reese goes #2 though. I didn't know this until today because she won't tell us when she does go #2. She sneaks off and does her own thing when we aren't watching. I caught her today though. And then I ran and got Trey. We were cracking up so much that we did it. We took a picture.



I say, whatever floats your boat Reese. Go with it. I am wondering how I will explain this "position" to her preschool teachers though when break ends....
-- Post From My iPhone

Las Vegas

Trey and I are back from a quick little vacation to Las Vegas. It was fab-u-lous. The highlights of the trip were watching Jerry Seinfeld do stand-up, eating dessert at Serendipity 3, shopping, eating at Emeril's, having time to READ, RELAX, and SLEEP.....ahhhh. Of course I forgot to take more than three pictures, so here's one of our dessert at S3 and another.. Yes, we ate it all. And since it was vacation I felt zero guilt for the gazillion calories we consumed.






-- Posted from my iphone

The Day Started Off Great

Trey and I awoke today to the most genuine, enthusiastic five year old (at 8:15....God bless my children for being good sleepers, even on Christmas morning). Hailey came in our room and said, "DADDY! GUESS WHAT? HE CAME! HE CAME AND ATE ALL OF OUR COOKIES AND LEFT SOME CRUMBS BEHIND!!! COME LOOK!!!" (Another side note: When Trey isn't working, the girls totally go to him and wake him up first because he sleeps closest to the door. Ok, really, he's the most responsive one). And so began the day.....it was joyous.

We don't really have pictures to post because we took lots of videos, but we took our time opening presents. We put together presents (Trey and I assembled the Barbie Power Wheels in just over an hour....if you know of our assembling skills....this was a Christmas miracle in itself), the girls played outside in the SNOW (first White Christmas here since 1926), Trey smoked a turkey and I made rolls, stuffing, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes and gravy....it was deeeee-lishous. It was a day where we didn't rush anything, we enjoyed being at home together and we relaxed. We are so thankful today.... Hope you all had a wonderful day today too!!