A fun valentine's day

This year Valentine's Day fell on a day off from school - it was really fun because we all got up and didn't have to rush off.  We could just enjoy breakfast together and relax!

First we started with pink pancakes and candy.  Lots of candy.  Oh, and valentines. :)

 Everyone's in a lovey mood when gifts are being handed out to each other. :)

  

In the morning we went to a friend's house to have a Valentine's party with a bunch of friends.

 

 

First the kids decorated their Valentine bags.

 

Some kids were more interested in playing!  :)  

 

There was also a craft that involved shaving cream and food coloring.  I think Audrey's hands were purple for the next day or two despite repeated washings!

More crafty fun.....

Perhaps this is why Audrey's hands were stained?

The kids also played games, exchanged valentines, made their own pizzas for lunch and decorated heart cookies. 

My friend Katie -who hosted the party -  has a lot more patience for chaos than I do!
Later, back at home, we had lasagna, salad, & bread for dinner by candlelight. :)  It was a really fun day!

Oh, January....

I guess I shouldn't have made a resolution to blog more often in JANUARY.

Because a big-fat-nothing exciting happens in January.  I checked my camera and I have taken about 5 photos all month long.

I'm sorry.  My anniversary is in January!  That being said, note to any engaged girls out there:  Do not get married in January.  Your anniversary is always overshadowed by post-Christmas exhaustion and poverty!  And it is always cold and you want to dress up and wear heels to go out for a fancy dinner, but then you don't want to freeze to death.... ;) 

Anyhow, this year my parents sent us out to a restaurant they really liked (ie, PAID and babysat).  Don't laugh at me but I tried scallops for the first time.  See?  I AM learning to be more courageous.  :)  But I did get it WITH the filet so at least I had that on my plate in case I thought the scallops were ew.  But I actually loved them!  (patting myself on the back for stepping out of the box....)

Other than that....it has been COLD here.  (If you live here of course this is no news flash to you....)  The kids have been stuck inside for long periods of time which makes for a lot of wrestling and chasing and craziness in our 1700 square feet.  Yesterday out of desperation I stuck in a CD the kids liked and told them to dance.  Chloe, my party girl, threw on a princess dress (with about 6 dress changes along the way) and went to town.  I think she danced hard for about 30 minutes.  I was taping her and she was hamming it up....and it was so worth it because last night as I was reading her a story, she said and I quote: "I want to go to bed now."  She has NEVER told me she wants to go to bed.  Partying a little too hard, were we??

Speaking of the cold, I have a new unfavorite pastime called "trying-to-get-Carter-to-wear-a-winter-coat".  He claims he does not like his winter coat because "he wants a coat with 2 colors on it."  I refrained from giving him a speech about how some kids would be glad to just have ANY coat.  (But I sure wanted to.)  He has a fuzzy fall jacket that he has been able to get away with wearing for most of the winter, but now that the wind chill is in the single digits, I have put my foot down about the winter coat.  But wowie, wow, wow.  Who knew how big a deal this could be - how many tears he would shed over it....or how many times I would have to count to ten to keep from blowing my stack?  (Which, admittedly, I have done a few times unfortunately....)  The semi-compromise he and I have come to is that he can wear his lighter jacket to run errands (since we aren't outside for long) but he HAS to wear his winter coat to school, since it involves standing outside at the bus stop and waiting. After a week of struggling, I think we have overcome the hurdle.

Keep reading, it just gets more exciting!  Or not....

In other interesting Smith news, our couch is officially trashed and we are looking for a new one!  Yay for furniture shopping!  Well, last weekend we went to a furniture store to look at a few sofas....with the kids in tow.  I bet you can guess how well that went.  And we still don't have a new sofa.  But we're working on  it.  I even had a friend come over to give me decorating advice because I just feel stuck and she is the bomb at decorating and organizing.  So she says "Once you get your new couch, I'll come back and we'll just start moving stuff around."  I looked at her with my mouth agape.  She said - "What, does that scare you?"  And I said, "You are freaking me out here!"  We just started cracking up because she is someone who rearranges her furniture seasonally or daily, dependent on her mood, and I am someone who rearranges my furniture....never.  I find a way I think it works and I stick with it.  But I am going to be have COURAGE and just do it.  It's only moving it around, right?  We can always move it back if we want to....oh my.  I need help.

Next week is Carter's birthday, so I guess January isn't all bad.  He is very excited to be turning six!  Just writing that makes my head spin - SIX??  Already? 

We are going to celebrate by getting donuts & munchkins in the morning to share with his little friends at Bible study.  Then he has to go to school, which in kindergarten is still a fun thing to do. :) Then we are going to take him out for dinner and to go bowling, which he loves.  On the weekend we will celebrate with our local extended family.  No kid party this year.  I kind of didn't want to plan one, and he didn't ask for one, and he seemed very happy to have family coming over for a party.  So it's win-win. 

January can be kind of a blah month.  But in all seriousness, I have to add that I am so thankful that I have been able to spend a lot of time with friends this month.  I have a few friends that I usually meet up with on Mondays and we take our kids to Dunkin Donuts and to the library.  I have had the chance to spend time just hanging out at home with a friend of mine who has a 6 month old sweet little boy.  It is so fun to see him grow up and to enjoy a little one (yet not have to get up in the middle of the night to feed him....)  I have started exercising more regularly so I have been meeting a few people at the Y for a class and to just work out on the machines.  There is also Bible study on Wednesdays which I love.  I even had a long visit from an old lifelong friend that I haven't seen in a few years!  It has all served to help me keep my sanity in a month that can often be filled with lonely days stuck in the house.  I am so grateful for the community of people God has placed in my life! 

And hopefully I will have a more interesting post next time....haha!

Christmas Fun this week

Phew!  We have had a ton of fun this week!

Last Monday evening we took the kids to Koziar's Christmas Village.  Christmas Village is a cute place about an hour from here that is just .... well, a zillion Christmas lights and displays.  We tried to go last year with my parents but we made the mistake of going on a Saturday evening a few weeks before Christmas.  We got about 4 miles away and there was bumper to bumper cars waiting to get in (and crawling along at a snail's pace).  So we ended up just turning around and coming home .... my mom calls it "The Christmas Village Disaster of 2010" :)

Well, we did not make the same mistake this year.  We went on a week night .... 3 weeks before Christmas ... and got there right after it opened.  It was a great night to go.

 They had a bunch of displays and little decorated windows to look in. 

This is the nativity scene.

But the kids proclaimed that some of the displays were "creepy".

I kind of have to agree ... there were some oversized Raggedy Anns and some scary looking Santas in some of the windows!

 Had to stop for some hot chocolate.  Although Audrey burned her tongue and then wouldn't look at the camera.

 Carter could have spent the whole entire night watching the trains going around.

Definitely his favorite display. 

We kept the kids out a little too late on a school night but it was worth it!

Then on Saturday Audrey, my mom and I went up to NYC to visit American Girl Place!

Boy, was Audrey excited (and honestly....so was I.) :)

 We took a tour bus up there so all we had to do was sit back and enjoy the ride!

We walked right by Rockefeller Center.

 It was busy at 10 am... but let me tell you - at 5 pm (when we left) this place was an absolute zoo.  You could hardly walk.  It was like a sea of people.  Anyhow...

 The first thing we did was take Rebecca to the doll salon.

 I know, totally obnoxious.

 But it was WAY fun ...

 And I have to say that by the end of the hair styling, her semi-nappy hair was looking MUCH better.

 See?

 After the salon we did  a lot of browsing, and then had lunch in the cafe.

Even Rebecca had her own seat.

Audrey with my Mom.

It was a great girl bonding day.

Audrey had saved her birthday money and after completely studying the store (and catalog) top to bottom, she finally bought herself a few goodies.

And Santa just might be bringing a few more goodies too!

Christmas Eve 2010. Yeah, I know it's late.

It has become tradition for Chad to take the kids on a Christmas Eve morning hike. Which I love because I can get some last minute stuff done! And the kids of course think it is great fun.

Before any big excursion like this, however, you need a good hearty breakfast to start you off. So Daddy makes his specialty -- Pancakes! And on Christmas Eve they include sprinkles and chocolate chips. :)

And now, with bellies full of pancakes ... they are off!
Walking sticks and all.
Chloe was too little to go along this year ... but maybe next year she will be up for a hike!

In the evening, we head to our church's Christmas Eve service.
Then it's back to the house for goodies and getting ready for Santa to arrive.

Here are the kids after church.
And what is up with Chloe's face?
Who knows.
I think she just likes to ham it up for the camera these days....

Hope floats

REALITY: Winter is here.


HOPE: Spring will come!


Not that I'm counting the days or anything ....

Snowiest Day. Ever.

Well, unless you've been hiding under a rock, you know there is a blizzard going on here on the East Coast. I just heard Diane Sawyer call it "Snowzilla"... Seems we are going to break a record here in Philly for amount of snow in a season.

Chad went out and shoveled off the driveway about 3 times. And guess what? Tomorrow morning ... he's gonna have to shovel again.

So what do you do on a snowy day like today?

If you're a cat, you take a nap. I think I might like a cat's life. ;)

Audrey invited me to a tea party in her room.
When I came to her "door" she had a special note for me. I quickly discovered that she also had an "agenda" for the party. First, we did Tinkerbell tattoos (sorry, no picture! haha)

Next, we had tea and snacks.

Chloe woke up and joined the party. The next agenda item was doing hair and makeup. If you look closely, you can see that Chloe is wearing a hairbow and has glitter on her head. (This is what happens when I leave the room...)

And this is why I left the room.
Yup, Carter is learning to use the potty.
I figure being stuck inside during a blizzard is as good a time as any to start potty training!

While the 2 little kids took naps, I made some cookie dough, and Audrey & I made heart cookies for Valentine's Day.

A back view of our snowman as the day draws to a close. It is still snowing and blowing out there, and school is canceled for tomorrow.

Audrey also has off Friday, Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday. I think by then .... the pictures will be of a more frazzled nature. :)

Snowy Day

Yesterday morning we woke up to a winter wonderland! Over the course of the day we ended up with about 2 feet of snow.

A view of our deck

This little bird is managing to get some bird seed out of our feeder. Guess he wasn't going to find any on the ground today.

Carter out with Daddy while Daddy shovels, and shovels, and shovels some more

Audrey was out sitting on a snow castle eating snow. I chose to stay inside where it was warm and cozy. So did Chloe.

The snow messed with Carter's rescheduled-from-last-weekend friends birthday party.
So I got the idea to ask the 2 kids we had invited from the neighborhood over for cupcakes anyway ... along with their whole families. We ended up making homemade pizza and having cupcakes, and the kids had a great time playing together while the grown-ups talked. And Carter got to open his presents and have a "party".
Here are the kids "eating" (not a lot of eating took place, but they sure had fun giggling at the table!)
It made for a fun end of our snowy day. :)

I heard that we may get more snow on Wednesday. This is one of the snowiest winters on record in the Philadelphia area! I guess we're making up for the lack of snow over the past few winters!