Winter comings and goings

I have no pictures to share, no huge news to tell, and yet the Smiths are busy and happy and moving along with life. It's that funny time of the year after the big holidays are over and the lull of chilly winter rolls in (even though our winter has been rarely mild this year with temps mostly in the 50's and no snow...even a week that went up to the upper 60's, making flowers begin to sprout too early from the ground!). Does that mean we are bored out of our minds? No way, Jose! Here's just an update...

Sophie is continuing with her ballet lessons and recently got a progress report telling of her great enthusaism, desire to learn everything right, some difficulty paying attention :), and also of her amazing ballet feet! She is learning a lot at school and reading better all the time, finding words everywhere to read, even on wrappers and such, daily saying something like, "Hey, there are words here! ...not for resale...what does resale mean?!" Her random questions that role through her head continue..."What does 'declare' mean? How fast does our car go? Why can I be immodest for ballet? Have you gotten a ticket before? How many more kids can we fit in our car? I dont' want to have to teach that many kids, so maybe 3 or 4 kids is enough for our family?" are just a few of the recent thought-provoking questions of late.

Ryan is a talking machine. He loves to express his ideas clearly. He has been into construction trucks VERY much lately. Now, I know where all of the local construction sites are and what all of the machinery names are, what they do, and the prices of the construction truck toys at Target. His very recent trick is that he decided he wanted "McQueen underwear" so he could go potty like a big boy. I was not anticipating this until summer, but he asked, so we went for it! He has been a champ! It has been less than a week, and any accidents that happen are more of MY fault than his (not showing him where a potty is in a different place, going to answer the phone right when its time to help him in the potty, etc.). He even stays dry for nap time and can almost stay dry at night! A far cry from my first potty training experience.

Justin is working hard with his consulting company, recruting people to their team like a mad man! He earned a bonus which is making it possible for us to go on a carribean vacation this spring-just the 2 of us! We figured we'd better do it now before life gets crazier or our family gets too big for us to do it. Justin also just put together a group of guys in our area for a Tough Mudder team. They will completing the grueling 12 mile obstacle course in September. Thus, the workouts have begun! Justin also receives husband of the year for planning a semi-surprise (he can't keep a surprise to save his life!) Valentine's Day/Lauren's 30th birthday weekend trip to New York this upcoming weekend. He has never ever done anything like this before! We are always pretty simple with our gifts and get togethers that we plan, so this is a fun one-time thing for us!

Lauren has begun working every Saturday morning at Inova Physical Therapy, instead of 1-2x/month. It has been good to keep up her skills and give us more opportunity to earn needed extra cash, especially when Saturday Young Women's responsibilities pop up on that one weekend she needed to work. She has also been training to complete the DC Rock n Roll half marathon, coming up March 17th. She recently completed 10 1/2 miles outdoors. She will be happy to finish it with a good pace (10 minute mile non-stop). There is always something going on in Young Women's or something to keep her busy with the kids, so she relishes in any moment she can catch to read a good book. She also loves to watch other moms' kids, to help entertain mister Ryan. :)

Like all fmailies, we have the constant interuptions in life (broken household items, unexpected events, etc.), but we have our goals as well: paying off car bought from a bad year with vehicles, saving for that kitchen Lauren has dreamed about since the day we set eyes on this hosue of ours, and hopefully, preparing for another member of our family once we get things in order and Lauren's body cooperates.

We are sad that we haven't had a chance to use our sled that we finally got after several winters without one, BUT it sure is nice to be able to play outside more often than not!

So, there it is! No frequent blog updates, no fun pictures of big events to mark, but rather marking our current life by those precious moments; like everyone snuggled on Mommy and Daddy's bed watching America's Funniest videos, or listening to a big sister lovingly read a bedtime story to her little brother who adores her, or laughing at the way Ryan can't say his 'L's, or listening to 2 cute kids sing along to "Give Said the Little Stream" in the car, or trying not to laugh but rather teach and dicipline as Sophie tells us she got a "yellow face" at school for being too competitive during the quite game by erasing the other team's point...there are too many to name! It ain't always easy, but life is good.

Ice Sculptures Dec. 2011

I blogged about this before, but now I have the picture to prove it! It was COOL! Literally AND Figuratively! (around 9 deg. F, I think)

Sophie's Nutcracker performance December 2011

Here are many pictures from Sophie's Nutcracker performance just ebfore the holidays. her class were the ragdoll puppets. She is quite the good dancer! What we loved most were the faces she gave us. She before her performance she told us that she fine with performing, but she doesn't like ti when people smile at her. So, we tried our best, but it was too fun to see our little girl dancing! She kept giving us funny faces and getting mad at us for smiling! So fun! I think I told about that before, but here are all the photos we finally got back.

Christmas!!!!

We had a wonderful Christmas this year! The kids were so excited and into every little part of it. The night before, they left out reindeer food on the lawn and then cookies and milk for Santa (made the previous day with Daddy). The next morning, they found a Thank You note from Santa (for the cookies & for being so good) and a few surprises under the tree. We loved seeing their happy, excited expressions with each gift, and we loved how excited they were for others and the gifts they gave to them. We couldn't believe that Charlie dog remembered Christmas so well, for he trotted excitedly to his stocking while we were looking at ours. He was so happy to get peanut treats! After breakfast, we went to church for sacrament meeting where we heard a good message from our dear Bishop. We just enjoyed each other the rest of the day and Daddy made his "Christmas Pizza." The next morning, rather than the kids running into our room no later than 7am, we got to stay in bed another 1/2 hour-hour. The kids woke up and played with their new Christmas toys and things together! As we listened to our sweet children playing, Justin humorously said, "I love Christmas!" :)

A few of the photos are not in order, but you get the idea! Above, is Ryan sporting his new Packers jersey with Daddy in his, while below is Ryan sporting is Cars McQueen jammies and slippers (which he still will not take off unless he has to get in the bath or change into ourdoor shoes). Sophie LOVES her Hello Kitty walkie talkies and her new CD player with the Tangled soundtrack. Now, we are just enjoying being together as a family. I love the holidays!

Christmas Eve fun

Christmas Eve, we like to get together with friends to share a Christmas dinner, act out the nativity with our children, and sing Christmas songs. The kids were so darn cute this year! Ryan and Sophie were Joseph and Mary (photo above I like to call "the snot picture" as Ryan's nose is running and Sophie is picking at hers...lovely, I know). I wish I could figure out how to post the video, because it really was awesome. The dinner was pleasant, and we all had fun. Afterwards, we all retired to our homes to open a couple Christmas Eve gifts (traditional PJ's and sibling gifts to each other). Our family PJ photo is below, complete with the dog.

Handel's "Messiah" Sing-A-Long

At the last minute, a friend of mine asked if I wanted to go with her to the Handel's "Messiah" Sing-A-Long at the Kennedy Center (on Thursday, Dec. 23rd). I had never heard of this, but I had no plans, I like to sing, and I like the music, so I tagged along. To my surprise, 3000 musical people fill this beautiful concert hall every year to sing-a-long to to Handel's "Messiah." We listened to the beautiful orchestra and soloists, and we all stood and, with musical score in hand, sang when it was the choir's turn. I have sung a few selections in choirs past, so I could easily sing along with some and had fun sight-reading the rest with my fellow alto friend. It was quite an amazing thing to be a part of, and what a wonderful, fun, and spiritual way to kick off the Christmas weekend!


It literally was the last minute, so I look...well...OK. :)

Ice Sculptures

A couple Saturdays ago, a work buddy of Justin's gave us the present of coming to see the ice show at the Gaylord National on the Potomac River. It was Madagascar themed, and we saw tons and tons of ice formed beautifully into all sorts of characters and ways. We even slid down a slide entirely made of ice. We had to wear special parkas inside the place that was kept at about 10 degrees! Sooooo cold! If there aren't pictures with this, its because I am not so computer savvy and could not figure out how to change the emailed photos correctly to post them here. Oh well! :)