Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

Family Tradition

This is the 4th year that we have attended Brian's company kid's holiday party. It is so much fun and there is so much to do with the kids. They have face painting, cookie decorating, crafts, music, balloon animals, and of course Santa! Everything was a huge success minus the Santa part. Cole wanted nothing to do with the jolly old man and didn't make it more than 2 seconds sitting on his lap. I guess I should consider a picture with at least one of them and him a win...

Change of Heart

I mentioned earlier this week that I've been anti Christmas this year. Little by little we've been decorating, baking, caroling, and slowly but surely adding some sparkle to our home. Besides the beauty that comes with this time of year, there is nothing more I love than experiencing it with our sweet little boys. The twinkle in their eyes, the excitement in their voices, and the happiness they get from the magic of this season. I'm beginning to think the closer we get to Christmas there could be a definite change around here, and just like that Grinch, my heart too will grow 3 sizes in one day!

Bah Humbug

Seriously call me The Grinch. I've been really trying hard to get into the Christmas spirit this year but haven't had much luck! Working full time, growing this baby, feeling sick all day/night, and taking care of the boys has left me drained physically and mentally. Brian has been so helpful and I really am so fortunate to have such a wonderful husband. He put up all the lights outside, set up the tree and put most of the decorations on it, and went out shopping and bought the kids their presents. I am really hoping some of my energy and excitement comes back soon because this USUALLY is my favorite time of the year! Till then...bah humbug!

Mother's Intuition

So I was really excited about Thanksgiving this year...like grinning ear to ear, ready to burst excited. Not only will it be our 1st year ever hosting and cooking but we were also going to share the news of our new little addition with our family. I had it envisioned in my head. All of us sitting around the dinner table waiting to say prayers. Everyone with their I am thankful for card in hand ready to open up all at the same time. Everyone was going to read the little note from Baby S #3 saying how thankful he/she was to be joining our family in July. It was going to perfect. Well it was perfect up until yesterday.
I decided to stop by my parents on the way home from the mall. I just wanted to say hi and see what everyone was up to. Of course the Eagles game was on and dad was making a pot of soup. So I grabbed some food and sat down when my mom asked if I wanted a beer. I said no and went back to eating. She then asked again with a little more of a suspicious tone and I looked up at her and said no again. Then out of the blue she asked me if I had something I wanted to tell her. Right then and there I knew, she already knew. So I responded with "well, do you want me to tell you now or do you want to be surprised on Thanksgiving with everyone else"? She was so happy and of course told me that she knew I was pregnant. Not sure how but she had been suspicious for a few weeks. Call it mother's intuition I guess. All that time I thought I was doing a great job at keeping our little secret! Nothing stays secret for long so as soon as my mom asked, my sister who was sitting right there also found out. Then my other sister and her boyfriend walked in and found out, and then she ran and told my dad. 
I am happy they know and they I don't have to keep this secret anymore, though I am thoroughly bummed that my big reveal didn't get to happen. We still have Brian's family to tell and I am trying to come up with a last minute idea for a creative way to tell them. Most likely I am going to get both the boys big brother shirts to wear. I'll let ya know how it goes! 

Trick or Treat

Halloween was a wash out this year thanks to Hurricane Sandy so the township decided to move the festivities from Wednesday to Saturday to keep all the ghosts and goblins safe. Good thing because we didn't have power until late Friday evening. The boys dressed up and we took them out trick or treating. Braeden was Spiderman and Cole was the cutest little devil I have ever seen. They had so much fun and it was so cute to see Braeden go up to the houses by himself(while we stood back and watched), knock on the door, and get his goodies. He made sure to get extra for his little brother who waited patiently in the wagon. It wasn't the typical Halloween but kids had fun and made out with a bucket full of treats!

Easter

Easter was beautiful. It was filled with egg hunts, family, delicious food, fresh flowers, a sunny sky, and lots of candy. The kids managed to take part in the festivities and loved every minute of it. I'm pretty sure between them both we ended up with over 100 eggs. Hope your Easter brought you as much to smile about as ours did.

Hoppy Friday

It's Friday...yay! I would be a lot more excited if I were at home with my 3 guys. Easter is this Sunday and Brian has off work today. I on the other hand do not. I wish I were at home, hanging out, enjoying this cool but sunny April day with my 3 favorite's. I'm sure they are having a lot of fun boy time without me. 

We have a busy weekend ahead. Braeden has his first ever T-Ball practice tomorrow. I am so excited to see him all geared up in his little cleats and baseball hat. After that we are headed off to a friends house for a 4th birthday party and egg hunt. Sunday we are having my family over for breakfast and then heading to Brian's mom's for dinner. Hopefully we can relax a little and I am ever so glad the we won't be spending the weekend doing home improvement projects. 

Hope you all have a great weekend and Happy Easter!

Hard to believe this was our little bunny almost a year ago! Isn't he the cutest!

The list

I've complied a list of my top 10 favorite Christmas songs...in no particular order.  Grab a cup of hot chocolate, turn on some tunes, and enjoy!

1. Stevie Wonder-What Christmas Means to Me

2. NSYNC-Merry Christmas, Happy Holiday's

3. Dean Martin & Martina McBride-Baby It's Cold Outside

4. Jon Bon Jovi-Please Come Home for Christmas
5. Frank Sinatra-Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas
6. WHAM-Last Christmas
7. Josh Groban-O Holy Night
8. Johnny Mathis-It's The Most Wonderful Time of the Year
9. Carpenters-I'll Be Home For Christmas
10. John Lennon-Happy Christmas


What are your favorite song's of the holiday season?

All things Christmas

My Christmas to-do list is almost completely checked off. The past few weeks have been nothing but all things Christmas...and I love it!
We've hung the lights, put up the tree, set up decorations, baked cookies, went shopping, mailed our wish list to the North Pole, wrapped presents, opened presents, saw Santa, went to a party, took pictures, found Happy, sang songs, and a partridge in a pear tree. Well not that last part but all the rest. In the midst of all the holiday hustle our sweet little Cole turned 8 months, got 2 teeth, started to crawl, and can pull him self up. 
5 days to go...

 

The stockings were hung

By the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there. We were able to put up our stockings this week. Cole's had finally arrived and I was beyond excited when we opened the package! Our beautiful stocking are hand made with love by Gram. We couldn't be more thankful to have such special things and special people in our lives! And now that we finally have a fireplace in our home, hanging them will become another special Smith Family Christmas tradition.

A Jill of all trades

I consider myself crafty...moderately good at art projects, painting, and such. I've done my fair share of DIY's and actually like doing them. 
Going into our new house I had about 1001 projects in mind thanks to Pinterest. So many things that I wanted to do to make our home beautiful. From paintings to crafts to decorating the ideas were endless. 
It didn't help that from the day we made settlement Christmas was only 39 days away, adding another 500 things to that same list. Between work, home, and the kids there isn't much time to complete these little extras but somehow over the past few weeks I've managed to start and finish a few. 

Before

After

Some new hardeware

Handpained bottles with holly and evergreens

Still needs some greens