Family Time!

Brian's family came into town for New Year's and we had a great time! My sister-in-law, Kate, has done a great job capturing the moments on her blog. So, in an effort to be efficient, I'll save myself the work and let you link on over to her blog to see what our fun-filled week was all about. Make sure to check out her posts called Minnesota Holiday and Happy New Years.

T-Wolves Game


Brian's brother John


Skating on New Year's Eve...we practically had the rink to ourselves!


Matt did great


Skating Mamas



Cousin Meg


Ben never used the pusher!


Kate and her daughter Ava


Celebrating at "midnight"


Polar Dash: January 1, 2009


We ran on behalf of the NF team

Uh-Oh!

I just found out that the site I was planning on using to turn my blog into a book is no longer compatible with Blogger. If anyone knows of a way to do this, please let me know!

These Are A Few of Our Favorite Things

The big kids got some new sleds and so on Christmas afternoon we headed out to the nearby hill and tried them out!







Thanks to Oprah and Snapfish, I was able to create a scrapbook for Brian of our summer trips to the Black Hills and Colorado. It was fun to completely surprise him, and he's already asking that this become a yearly tradition!



I found out about a local gal who makes customized jewelry, and I ordered myself a necklace with 3 charms of the boys' names! I love wearing this necklace with the boys' names close to my heart!

Christmas 2008

Christmas came and went much too quickly this year, as it often does. I'm one of those people (please tell me that I'm not the only one) who often feels very sad when Christmas is over. It has nothing to do with the gifts. The music, the decorations, the traditions, the food, the coziness, the family time all are important to me and I want so badly to create the same fond memories of Christmas that I have from my childhood for our boys. I tried my best to soak in the season, even taking a little time on a couple of late evenings to sit on the couch by myself, Christmas music on, tree lit, just sitting, reflecting and being thankful for the many ways in which I have been blessed.

Memorable Moments
*There were just a few gifts under the tree a week or so before Christmas, and Matt looked at them wide-eyed, smiled and said, "Boy, are we ready for Christmas or what?!" Honestly, there were about 4 under there, none of which were for him!

*Ben & Matt wide-eyed when they saw the tree on Christmas morning with the gifts. We keep it relatively simple, but compared to the 4 gifts that had been there previously, this seemed like a lot. Matt: "The tree is overflowing!"

*The boys were so excited Christmas morning and couldn't wait for us to get out of bed. Matt suggested that he and Ben go get their presents from under the tree and bring them into our room to open. We opted not to, but the thought is a tempting one!

*As I was stuffing stockings on Christmas Eve night, I realized that I didn't have anything for Adam's stocking. I wanted him to be able to open something, so I found a couple of matchbox cars and a book that he hadn't played with in a while and wrapped them. He was as excited as could be when he opened them on Christmas morning!

A Few Traditions
*Cutting the tree down the day after Thanksgiving

*Hidden ornament only our family knows about on the tree

*Christmas books around the base of the tree until Christmas morning. (I just started this last year and love it. It reminds the boys, and adults, about the true meaning of Christmas and encourages all of us to slow down and read the Christmas story.)

*Church with extended family on Christmas Eve


Adam opening his recycled stocking stuffer


Matt & his remote control truck


Ben's new race track


Christmas Brunch


The Traveling Sweater (white elephant gift given each year)

Cookie Exchange

I hosted a cookie exchange for some neighbor gals the other night and we had a great time! 14 of us were there, but we decided to not make 14 dozen cookies! Instead, we made 7 and each took home 1/2 dozen of each type of cookie. There were truffles, biscotti, toffee cruch cookies and pretzel hugs to name a few. It's great to have a variety of treats without having to do all the work.

To add a little humor to the party, I asked everyone to wear their tackiest holiday sweater, accessories, t-shirt...whatever they could find! Fortunately, I had some extras for those who came without anything.

We had a fun night and I would definitely host again next year!

My Baker in Training



A Sampling of the Sweaters!

Happy Birthday, Ben!

December 15th, 2000. My due date for our first baby. We were SO excited, and yet so completely naive as to what parenthood would be like. I had taught my 6th grade class on December 14th, and had taken Friday the 15th off for a doctor's appointment. I had decided I would use sick days for any future days until the baby came. I was mentally and physically done with school, and ready to have this baby.

Around 5:30 am the morning of the 15th, I felt some strange twinges and wondered if these were contractions. They were quite irregular at first, but I convinced Brian to take the day off and stay home with me. It was a cold, snowy day, but we still took a short walk around our block. I remember lying on the couch watching "Sweet Home Alabama" with a watch and notepad of paper, and the phone nearby.

At 1:00 we went in for my 40 week appointment at which time the dr. said, "This baby could come in the next 24 hours, or in the next week. It's just too hard to tell." I wish I could be that vague in my job sometimes! We drove the 25 minutes home and within a half-hour of being home, the contractions hit like a ton of bricks and I was dropping to the floor. We called the hospital and they told us to come in.

Things seemed to be progressing as you would expect, so the nurses began getting an IV ready to start a line to eventually feed an epidural through. Unfortunately when they returned, I had dilated much quicker than they anticipated and was now told that I would not get an epidural. I was pretty freaked out, but figured that there was nothing I could do about it. After being stuck at an 8 for 2 hours, without the epidural, things finally got moving again and at 10:47 pm Benjamin Howard made his entrance into the world. He has taught us how to be parents and he's made it pretty easy on us!

It's amazing to look at pictures and think back to our little baby Ben. He's now 8, in 2nd grade, independent, opinionated, smart, funny, athletic, sweet, articstic, musical, kind, and gentle. We love him very much!

Happy Birthday, Benny Bop!

The Early Days


With Buddies for a Sledding Party




DQ Ice-Cream Cake


He's Getting Too Big!

Busy Weekend

We've had a very busy weekend around here. (No, it hasn't all been FaceBook, but that has been part of it!)

Friday was gingerbread house decorating with kindergarteners, and I wouldn't have missed it! Papa was able to join us and we had a great time eating, um I mean decorating, the gingerbread house.





Saturday morning I ran in the Reindeer Run 5k with my sister and a friend. It was cold, 0 degree windchill, but once we got moving, we warmed up. It was a beautiful sunny day and the creative costumes are always fun to see.




Saturday afternoon and evening Ben had two different functions with the church choir he sings in. They sang at an old-fashioned frontier type church and then tonight was the first of 2 formal evening concerts where the kids sing a few songs in the middle of the adult program. It was fantastic!





Throw in a couple of inches of snow for shoveling and sledding, a birthday party to attend, and basketball refereeing for Brian, and I'd say we had a full weekend!

Traitor!

I caved in. I signed up on Face Book and am embarrassed to admit that I just spent over 2 hours on it tonight. I'll agree, it is fun to catch up with old friends that you haven't heard from in ages, and really, it is faster than email. (I'm trying to justify it to myself here!)

I have no intentions of wrapping up my blog, but I think I will have to figure out how to spend my time a bit more wisely!

Happy Sickgiving!

All of the Smiths were in town for Thanksgiving. There are now 10 adults and 10 children, ages 10 to 8 months in our little clan. So, when I knew all 20 of us would be at my house for supper starting Monday night and for various meals throughout the week, including Thanksgiving, I decided this would be a good week to come down with a horrible case of strep, requiring 2 visits to the ER. Needless to say, we did a little improvising, moved people around so no one was staying at our house for a few days, and everyone pitched in in various ways, and we still had a great week together! Our family is very blessed and we have much to be thankful for.

In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I was very thankful for the barf bag!


Papa and I took some of the kids on a night walk to the park!


LATE night walk with Papa and Katy


One of my favorite parts of having everyone together, is watching the 10 cousins!


Nana & Papa cutting their Christmas tree with their grandkids (Charlie was napping)


Sweet note Torrey left behind