Slacking... I know!

OK - I haven't been on here for a month or so but for good reason. We have been battling illness after illness in our house... ARGHHHHH!!! Enough already! We have had colds and the flu and just recently RSV. I can really truly say I hate winter! Nothing ever good happens in winter - OK, minus the good stuff like Christmas, Valentines, family parties, birthday parties etc... Anyway, I think we may finally be done with all of this and I will get back to regular blogging. I do have lots of cute pictures from Valentines and from Kate's Birthday that I will get posted here in the next couple of days. So - just be patient with me as I work on getting life back to some normalcy - at least until someone else decides to get sick. I know, I must think positive!

"It's the most wonderful time of the year..."

I love this time year... in fact Christmas and New Years are my most favorite time of year. Don't get me wrong, I love presents just as much as the next person, however, I love the family togetherness that comes during this season. Those who are regular readers of this blog know how much my family means to me and it is during this time when stress is low and people allow themselves to relax that we really get a chance to have fun together just being together. I love Christmas... I love it for what it means. For the birth of our savior and the love he shows to me everyday. I also love Christmas because of the traditions that our family has. Our Christmas consists of many family gatherings opening presents, eating food, and just spending time with each other. I also love Christmas because it signals the end of something old and the beginning of something new. This year was a hard year for our family... but sitting there at one of the many parties I was reminded that it didn't really matter what happened during the year, but that we survived the year as a family and we are here together to start a new one. That is a great blessing to me and that is why I love Christmas! So to all you blog readers (hehe) I wish you a very late but very Merry Christmas. I hope your Christmas was filled with fun and laughter and family like mine was. This was definitely the best Christmas we have had in a long time and I owe that to my husband, my children, and my family (extended included in there, Blackburns!). I love you and wish you the very best!

Below are some pictures from the last several days. They are kind of in reverse order but I have not really figured out how to fix that - but it doesn't really matter anyway. Enjoy the pictures!

Ella's first present for Christmas morning. She loved this doll until I took it out of the package and took the tags off and than it wasn't near as fun.

Dad having to do an emergency hair implant on Kate's new doll horse. Some of the hair in the mane had fallen out so our handy Andy came to the rescue to fix it up for our Katiebug.

Make-up... need I say more? She was very excited to see she had gotten exactly what she had wanted.

Cute as ever (ignoring the drool/snotty face) - this kid had a great time watching everyone open presents.

This is the first year that Mattie has really gotten into the whole Christmas thing - she went to town!! I had to stop her several times from opening other people's presents because she truly felt they should all belong to her!

Andrew likes to give Thomas a tool for Christmas to add to his collection... any guesses on what this one is?

Thomas finally got his own radio controlled helicopter and promptly broke it upon ripping it from the package. Handy Andy to the rescue again (toy #2 of the morning).

Kate wanted an American Girl doll for Christmas but I still think she is a bit young so Santa found this pretty look-a-like at Target which was a hit for our Katiebug.

"SUSAN!!" Those who know my Mattie know that this is her most favorite show. You may have thought it was Monster's Vs. Aliens but no! It is properly called Susan.

About an hour into the gift opening extravaganza, Ella had had enough. She wanted her bottle and she wanted to be left alone. Still think she is so stinkin' cute!

Stockings... got to have stockings!

More stocking pictures...

Our beautiful Christmas tree! We put it in a different spot and though it was out of the way, both Andy and I felt we didn't like it much there - so next year we will move it back to its predesignated spot.

This is Christmas Eve at Grandma Bonnie's - Thomas was on the computer watching Santa the whole night. Both my kids were starting to question if Santa is real or not, but when Thomas saw him on the computer he shouts, "Mom - he is real, he is real... look there is a real life picture of him on his sleigh!" Well OK, another year averted from Santa questions.

Aunt Chris quickly became Thom's new best friend because she let him play her IPad

Emily and Chris doing girly stuff.

The newest members of our family. My brother Mike got married to Rebbecca in September and we gained two new nieces and a boyfriend!

Amongst the craziness on Christmas Eve.

Grandma Bonnie and Aunt Rebecca.

Little Ella and Grandma Helen.

Posing for the camera... so cute!

Well, that is our Christmas in a really small nutshell. We had all the grandparents come to our house on Christmas morning after presents and we had breakfast and just hung out for the day. After that, we went to our good friends - the Blackburns, to have a terrific dinner and to just visit. The kids got to do a pinata which they are still talking about today. So much fun!! Thanks to everyone who made this season so great!

With love from the Smart Family.

A Star is Born...

Ok... those of you who know my Katie may not find this surprising, but this kid loves the stage. She loves to dance and sing in front of people. This past week Kate had two dance recitals and she did awesome! She went up there and wasn't even scared, she new all of the dance, and made by far the best pouty faces I have ever seen (lol - ok, so I am a biased mom). She had many people come up to her after and inform her that she "stole the show" which brought on a whole new set of questions I wasn't exactly sure how to answer. Anyway, she had fun and we all had fun supporting our budding artist. She did inform me after this last dance recital that she wants to still take dance but also wants to take singing lessons and violin lessons. Uhm... I don't think so!

Patiently waiting for her turn to go on stage.

Kate and her class danced to "I'm getting nothin' for Christmas."

Best pouty face ever... I rest my case!

Santa was at her last dance recital. She had quite the list she needed to share but was so worried because she didn't have it with her. I told her not to worry - we could mail the list as a reminder to Santa.

Mattie sitting with Santa. Yeah, this one was not scared one bit of the big guy. She sat on his lap and had a full on conversation with Santa about his reindeer and Mrs. Clause.

Finally got Thomas in a picture (he would not sit on Santa's lap mind you). Dad got him good with the whipped cream from our Sunday dessert.

Thomas made a family of snowman at Grandma Helen's house. They were all very cute and thought they definitely deserved a place on the blog!

All the cute children...

We had a very busy week this week at the Smart household for all the kiddos. As a family we started a new program called Accountable Kids - the kids have different chores or items they have to complete during the day in order to earn free time/play time/ whatever time they need. I decided that I needed something to help in the mornings because things were getting a little hectic trying to get everyone ready and out the door before 8:00. Our friends told us about this program and it has been great. The kids know exactly what is expected of them in the morning as well as when we get home from school and work. Homework is getting done, the house is staying cleaner, and mom is so much less stressed... it is awesome. It has also been a great help with Thomas and his ADHD. He stays so much more calm in the morning with a schedule and a list of things to accomplish... it is amazing the difference it has made for him.

Next, Thomas passed off all his stuff to get his Bobcat in Cubscouts. He was so excited to get his first badge for his shirt. Unfortunately he would not let me take his picture, so I will have to work at that next time he is in his shirt.

My big girl Mattie is almost Potty Trained. She has worked so hard this week at letting her babysitter and her grandma and mom know when she has to go potty. We have only had a few accidents and I would bet that by the end of next week we will be there. I asked her what she wanted for a prize for going potty and all she wanted was Skittles... the "poopy"kind. Not knowing really what that meant and after some more prodding, I learned that she really wanted the Skittles in the purple package.... hmmm, I think I can accommodate that!

Yes, no need to adjust your screen... what you see is my newly toothless Kate. She came running upstairs last Sunday with her face all flushed. She looks at me and says, "Mom, you better get a paper towel, I am about to lose a tooth!" LOL - she was so excited. I got the paper towel and we let dad do the final honors. She was so pleased that she couldn't stop talking about it for 2 days. She was even more thrilled with the nice little gift the tooth fairy left!

I thought this was sooo funny!! Mattie runs into the kitchen today to tell me that she thinks tickling her self is fun! She proceeds to show me and starts laughing her head off. Silly kid!

Ok - this one is just cute and I couldn't do a post about the other kids without adding this one. She loves the camera and I think she actually poses - though I can't prove it. Anyway, for all those Ella followers out there - she turns 6 months on November 24th and is about ready to crawl... crazy how time flies.

A day of rest...

I love Sundays... I havent always loved Sundays, but over the past several months I have come to appreciate the calm and UNbusyness Sunday's bring. I have to admit, getting 4 kids up and ready in the morning for 9:00am church doesn't always work but once we are there, it is a chance to leave the world behind for a bit and learn more about my Savior and his Gospel. I also enjoy the family time Sunday's allow for. With our busy schedules, we don't get much family time and Sunday's are our day for everyone to be with each other... I love that! I love having my family around, even if it is just watching TV together, at least we are all here spending time with each other. To me, that is what counts in life...the time spent with my family. I want my kids to remember the time we took for them, for them to understand that they are the most important thing in their parents life. We are so busy all the time that I think I often forget about the importance of just being together. Don't get me wrong, I do enjoy my weekly date nights because everyone needs a break from everyday life- but even that boils down to spending time. I am spending time growing my relationship with my husband -that is so important as well. Anyway, as it seems, Sunday's are also very good for contemplating and deep thinking. LOL - that is all I have for today.

Sadly the time has come...

Hello my friends and family

After monitoring my blog for the last several months, I have decided that it is time to go private. I was trying to avoid doing this but I have had some interesting and shall I say bothersome hits over the last little while that I think maybe it would be for the best to go ahead and just make the blog private. So for all you readers out there (LOL - like there is really that many!!), if you would like to continue to read about Smart Happenings, please comment and leave me your email OR - email me at jennifer.smart@live.com and I will get you added. I plan to do this by January - so let me know!

Tis the season...

Ok - I think it is a given every year - we hit November and we ALL get sick... yes I said ALL!! This has been one of those weekends where every last one of us is fighting some kind of nasty bug - even poor little Ella. Sick little babies are definitely a sad sight, but I must say she is a happy sick baby - between her coughing and runny nose all we get are smiles from this little angel. Anyway, last year at this time we all had H1N1 and this year we all have regular flu, colds, and other various viruses. Maybe next year, I will have learned my lesson and when November hits, I will sequester everyone into the house to wait out the rest of the winter... hmmm, I am not ok with that - can you imagine locking yourself in your house with 4 active children for days on end - uhm, heck no!! Oh well, we will survive this minor set back - it just takes time. Andrew got the worst of everyone officially being diagnosed with walking Pneumonia so he is the only one who is taking any medicine. I am finally back at work today - not very happily mind you because I still don't feel so good myself. But the kids are seeming to all feel better and except for a few coughs and some more runny noses, we had a fairly decent morning getting everyone ready for the day. It does seem that we are at least on the mend so hopefully in the next few days Andrew and I will feel as good as the kids... there is hope!!!