I love this quote...don't know who it is though...

"When you come to the edge of all the light you know and are about to step into the darkness of the unknown, faith is knowing that one of two things will happen. There will be solid ground to stand on or you will be taught to fly."

Festival of Trees (December 2009)

I LOVE the Festival of Trees! It's sensory overload, very festive, and super yummy (the SCONES!). This year was special though, because our angel baby, Bridger, had a tree and wreath donated in his name. We searched the entire South Towne Expo Center from North to South and finally spied both his tree and wreath. And with 100% of the proceeds going straight to Primary Children's Hospital, it was well worth the traffic!

Thanksgiving 2009

Thanksgiving dinner was held at our house this year! Here are the stats:

• 9 original (crazy) Smith's
• 7 Smith significant others
• 13 Smith offspring and 1 angel baby
• 29 chairs, hand-made turkey nut cups and place settings
  
• 2 turkeys
• 96 rolls
• 17 pounds of leftovers
• 1 party fowl
• 10,000 laughs
  
• and a Partridge in a Pear Tree!

Belle's 1st Grade Thanksgiving Play

Click here for video

and here

Apple Green

I had a urge to paint my walls Apple Green and since we've had spackle white for about 18 months now I thought it was a good idea. I saw an Apple Green kitchen somewhere and it stuck. I thought the color was so refreshing and happy-making that I wanted to re-create that feeling in my own house. So Jeremy being who he is started the project and finished in less than 2 days. I bought the paint and chose the color and helped where I could. He didn't care what color it was just as long as we finally covered those ugly dry wall mud patches. It's a little bolder than I was expecting, but as you know with paint it dries darker and makes a HUGE impact on the room. I love it! Enjoy the pics. Hope they do it justice.

Funny things that were said during the process:

Belle: This looks like spring!
Tre: This is the BEST Saturday EVER!
Belle: I just love watching people paint, I love the smell.
Tre: I like this color green
Jer: Its really green...
Leisa: In that light it looks florecent! I feel like I'm living in a fun house! It makes me happy!
Belle: I just love watching people paint, I love the smell. (we heard this comment a few times)
Jer: Hope you don't get sick of this color ANY time soon, cause I'm not doing that again for a long, long time.
Jer: Mmmm...anyone want an apple?

The Process:

The Finished Product:

Oh, and I also picked up a 'mis-tint' from Lowes for $20 off the original price. Not a color I would have EVER picked out on my own, but I needed a color for just one wall of our front room. This seemed to fit the bill and though I didn't love it when we were painting in on, I fell in love after it dried. It matches the trim on our huge painting perfectly and looks FANTASTIC!! I'm calling it 'Berry'.

Anabelle

I love to tell everyone I meet about my little girl who is six and a major reader. She loves books. I don't know where she gets this from. Granted, I love to read and can often be found sitting on my "reading chair" devouring a new romance or mystery, but Tre didn't pick it up quite like Belle has. She reads all of Tre's chapter books and more. She amazes me daily with her ability to read unfamiliar words without a pause. She can race through a 50 page chapter book like it's the Sunday Funnies. My favorite thing to do is watch her eyes and head while she reads. It's like the cartoon character that eats corn on the cob, head going side to side quickly. She is a speed reader and has read every book in the house. Her teacher says she can't keep up with her reading level testing because she just gets better and better every day. She reads as well as an average adult. I think I'll start her on Dan Brown next. I am SO proud of you Belly!

Halloween 2009

Tre is a 'Dead Skater'

Belle the Feisty Cheetah

Luigi

Sassy Pink Witch

80's Chick

Halloween is always a fun time at the Smith house. We've got the Smith Family party complete with homemade chicken noodle soup, bread bowls, and games. The kids dress up and we all stuff ourselves silly and have a good time. Then on Halloween night we eat broccoli cheese soup in bread bowls (again), sugar cookies, and candy.

But, this year Belle got really sick. We think it was the Swine Flu, but didn't really have her checked. All her symptoms pointed to that so we treated it as such. She did make it out trick or treating with the aid of Tamiflu (which cost us $90) and Advil but didn't make it long. The party at school was tainted too. She really wanted to go, but was so sick she couldn't make it through the party. I had already signed up to help with a game at one of the stations so I took her anyway. Her fever was raging by the time we got home and she ended up sleeping most of the afternoon. But we survived and are now on the mend. We'll hope for better luck next year.

I did like my costumes I wore to work for "costume week" though. Fun stuff!

Sad, sick little kitty