Hanging With My Girl

Tonight, Hailey and I filled eggs for her Easter party at school tomorrow. We got Reese's ready too. I remember when I only had Hailey to take care of (WHAT A JOKE THAT WAS! Sorry...had to add that) and I use to think about her getting older and how I couldn't wait to hang out with her rather than care for her every need. And....I've gotten there. And....I love it. She's past the stubborn two's where I thought she and I would butt heads forever over me trying to get her to eat, while she refused, and over constant "debates" on what she was going to wear (aka. whatever I wanted, she refused). Don't get me wrong, I loved just having her (AGAIN, WHAT A JOKE THAT WAS!) and she and I had way more fun moments than bad, but now she's reached a new stage.

We get to talk back and forth. She has the greatest sense of humor. She's sensitive and so creative. Her sisters adore her and she knows it and she sets a good example for them most of the time.

So tonight, I took this picture because I want to make sure I always note the little things in our family.....like hanging out together on the floor and putting eggs together for Easter.

And then, I pulled out the video camera because we had music playing in the background and she started dancing and I wanted to capture the pure, innocent, Hailey that loves to go crazy and dance. I miss her being little, but I love that she's growing into such a happy child. And I really love that she loves to hang out with me because I know this phase will not last forever. You know what she's excited about for tomorrow? We're going shopping for her Easter dress. She let me know that she wants to pick it out this year because she just loves shopping....that's my Hailes!

Just Another Wednesday

Hailey loves (and I mean LOVES) gymnastics. I caught her doing a backroll here.


She goes every Weds. And while she's doing her thing, I get to watch and hang with the other girlies. Here's how they fill the hour:
Reese acts like Reese (and drinks from the water fountain most of the time)...

And Landry likes to catch up on some computer time while eating a healthy snack...


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Extra Jelly Beans?

Hailey is having a big 100 days of school party tomorrow. She had to count out 100 jelly beans (to use as toppings for their ice cream party). And since there were leftovers, she.....



Made a castle with the rest....DUH! Too bad I missed the part where she even had grass. I love this girl and her love of princesses. She's got such a creative mind....unlike her unartistic mother. Maybe she can give me tips.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A True Princess

Never leaves cake batter behind.


Never has time to stop for pictures.


And never finds a clean face to be that important.



- Posted using BlogPress from
my iPhone

Springtime Is HERE!!!

My favorite season here is spring. I love the weather (minus the violent storms that occur at times). Well, on the first day of spring this year, we got 6 inches of snow. Snow is supposed to be for Christmas time. NOT March. HOWEVER, 24 hours later, it was 65-70 degrees and back to my ideal weather today. So, today we popped open the windows. I made a nice springtime dinner that included fresh strawberries, raspberries, spinach salad, broccoli and tuna casserole.

Let's talk dinner for a moment. We've developed a new routine around here. If it were up to Reese and Hailey, they would eat strawberries and bananas every meal and skip the casserole or main course. Well, they'd skip the main course and try to go right to the brownies that is. So, in order to get them to eat, we've developed a "thing." Whichever kid takes a big bite of either veggies or the main course gets to have the rest of the table start chanting their name while pounding the table over and over....moving faster and faster until you can't say their name anymore. It works. Even Landry has joined in. Side note: we do it for Landry just to make sure she isn't left out. She had NO problem helping herself to three servings of tuna casserole tonight....I....LOVE....HER. So, needless to say, our dinners now consist of lots of table pounding, over and over again, but the girls think it is so funny AND they eat. Mission accomplished.

Since the girls did so well at dinner tonight and the weather was beautiful, Trey told Hailey and Reese he'd take them fishing. They were pumped. And this is the picture I received from him about 5 minutes after they started fishing:



A four pound fish. Not too shabby. WELCOME SPRING!

Smith Girls' First Road Trip!

Well, a few weeks ago, the girls and I loaded up for 5 days full of fun, family and driving. We went on our first road trip together. Trey had training in Omaha and since it's our last year to not have a child in full time school, we decided to ditch preschool and hit the road to see family. We stayed a night with my dad in Ark City, then went onto Topeka for two nights, where we stayed with my Aunt Rhonda and Uncle David, however we went back and forth to Lawrence those days also to see Aunt Tracey, Uncle Chris and the cousins. Then, back to Ark City for a night before making the long haul back to Texas. All in all, that was 1,165 miles in five days. It was a lot of time in the car, but really....we adjusted to it. The girls were awesome and seeing family always is worth it once we make it there. It makes me miss not having them close. I just love my family....all of my family.

However, on the last night....before the big haul back to Texas, Reese and I got either some sort of bug or food poisoning. What it was made no matter, point being we were both sick and drove back home where Trey was so graciously waiting for me to arrive and to take over so I could crash and sleep off the illness. It was the longest drive I've ever made to Texas. I even tried to pull over to a McD's for lunch and smelled the fries and quickly realized the girls were going to have to live on cheerios and car snacks until we got home (I know I'm sick when I don't want FRIES....). It was so good to be home. But, we'll do it again because watching those cousins play together is priceless.

Hailey and Keely

Making crazy faces while eating pizza.

Landry and Libby. I want to take pictures of them together through the years since they're only 7 months apart. We shall call the first one, "The shoeless, drooling, leaning girls." I can't wait to see how they grow and change through the years. And....Libby told me that she already knows she wants to room with Landry at Texas A&M someday. I sure do love Libby.

Landry, Abby and Kee. Another side note....Abby wrote in her journal that she wanted to move to Texas and live with me and Uncle Trey. Since Chris and Tracey won't listen to me to move here, I'm now going after their children for support. I know they appreciate this, almost as much as when Trey and I gave Abby her first harmonica that she loved to play so loudly, indoors :).

Hailey and Connor. Perfect playmates.

And one more picture. We drove through lots of rain, but on the positive side, the girls got to see their first rainbow. And it was a full double rainbow. They thought that was so special.

Cabinet Digger

And she thinks this destructive behavior is funny!


How can you get upset when looking at a face like this?
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Sprouts

Spring has sprung, in so many ways.


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Where Are We?

Why, we are hanging out at the tire store fixing a leak. Have I ever mentioned how I love doing these things with all three girls? I didn't think so. However, they are behaving very well!



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Reesie

Sometimes she's clean (her daddy picked out this outfit by the way! So cute)


Most of the time, she's "The Roo"



Those are the delicious combo of Cheetos and Oreos.

Can't blame her though, she seems to be following in her sister's footsteps. Or is it the other way around?



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

A Good Day

When I picked up the girls from preschool today, I brought a surprise with me.


He loves people watching from the car. Then we went and got a special treat.



Shakes! However one thing still stayed the same.



Landry's constant smile everytime I turned to look at her.

Landry's Baptism Video

Here's Landry being baptized. A few things to note in the video. I realized during a question that Trey wasn't answering with me. He later told me it was because Reese was trying to kiss him. The audience laughter is because Landry decided she liked going into the congregation and started smiling and they caught it on the big screen (which you'll see). Just before they baptized her, Hailey started laughing because Landry decided to drool a bit, which made everyone laugh too. And at the end, watch Hailey....she was so excited, that she started jumping up and down and clapping.

The baptism was yet another reminder of how blessed we are to have Landry. And also how wonderful it is to have the chaotic life that comes with having three little girls.

Landry's Baptism

Today, we FINALLY got our Landry Grace baptized at church. We've been putting it off because we wanted to find a Sunday when we'd have family in town and this was the weekend that worked out perfectly!

Landry and I took a picture before we went into the sanctuary.

Here's a picture of her pretty dress. I must admit, I loved picking this one out!

Before the service, she wanted to check out the floor.

Then Hailey realized she'd lost a shoe, so she lovingly helped her get it back on.

Once the service started and we were singing we realized that Hailey and Reese were holding hands and looking so cute, so our great friend Bonney snapped a picture.

Then Miss Landry was up! She LOVED the attention from being paraded in front of the congregation and smiled for all.

Afterwards, we had to celebrate....by EATING! So we all went out for brunch and asked Bonney and Greg to come too to celebrate! PaPa and Hailey posed.

Landry chowed down on waffles.

And it was such a nice day that we took some pictures outside afterwards. Here's our family pic.

And here are the girls with PaPa and Dianne. We had a great weekend getting to see them and the girls loved it too!

Let It Snow

I cannot believe the winter we've had here. It has felt like a Kansas winter from my childhood! We got a huge amount of snow in a storm a few weeks ago....I heard 9 inches and even 12 inches. The best part about the snow though, was that it wasn't windy and it just kept coming down all day long. Therefore, the girls and Trey had a great time playing in it! The one problem we had was.....we don't really have "snow gear." The girls shoes aren't so waterproof either. So, I put plastic bags over their socks and the bottom parts of their jeans to help with wetness issue. Hailey, Reese and Trey played outside for a LOOOONG time and even built a snowman. You know who loved the snow the most though? My Jakey. He thought he was in golden retriever heaven.

Working hard:

Hardly working:

Loving life:

The finished product:

A note about Mr. Snowman. I didn't have a lot of items on hand to make his face, so we used M&M's. Mr. Snowman's face did not make it to midnight of this day. Apparently, golden retrievers don't care if M&M's are meant to be eyes, they just want to eat anything they can. So when I let Jakey out for his last nightly duty call, I heard a small thud. Yep, he ran, he jumped, and he successfully knocked the head off....and ate chocolate (which isn't great for him anyways....he did not care).

Oh, and Hailey tried snow and liked it. However, if you ask her about it, she will tell you that she made sure NOT to eat....yellow snow.

Visit To Houston

Okay, okay....I'm behind. How hard is it to download pictures from my camera? Answer: not hard at all when the children play independently, quietly and wash and fold their own laundry. Therefore....new answer: apparently, very difficult for me. Moving on to the point of this post...

Trey and I had a wedding to attend in Houston a few weeks ago. So we loaded up the family and went and stayed with Edu and Marcia. Edu= the non-biological son that my parents WISHED were a biological son because he's so fabulous. He lived with us only a few short months (when I was in the 8th grade) and that was all it took for us to make a life long connection with him. He and Marcia have a daughter, Marina, whom my daughters think is just the greatest. The girls played and played and played. In fact, they played so much, that we got to relax with Edu and Marcia and I did a bad job of taking many pictures. Edu and Marcia also have a son, Lucca, who is the cutest little six month old. He was born at 28 weeks and is just perfect. We loved getting to finally meet him.

The weather was beautiful, the company was even better, and....Edu and Marcia offerred to babysit four girls and Lucca while Trey and I were gone (we're hoping they still want to hang out with us!) at the wedding. As always, we look forward to seeing them again!

Here's Lucca!

Hailey and Marina being silly.