2014

A year for milestones...  I will turn 40 (how did that happen?!), my oldest will turn 10 (seriously, how did that happen?), and my mom will turn 70 (fun!).  It should be a great year!

Trips planned:
1. spring break - Lee and I taking our oldest child to Washington D.C.  Our youngest child will be staying with Nana and Papa.
2. summer - south padre with all my mom's children and grandchildren to celebrate her 70th.
3. fall - Rhode Island for a friend's wedding

Activities for me -
working!
handbells - LOVE!
book clubs!
Girl Scout cookie mom - delivery is January 10!
in charge of donuts with dads at the elementary school this spring
training for the Komen 3-day for the Cure (walking 60 miles in 3 days) with my mom for our 5th time

Activities for the kids -
Basketball, volleyball, soccer, taekwondo, selling 1000 girl scout cookies, piano, jazz, church choir

The goal this spring is to eat more at home. With the working full-time transition and the increase in kid activities around dinnertime, I am hoping to be more organized so we can cook more dinners at home instead of eating out.

And more family bike rides!  We had one tonight and they make my heart so happy.

There will be loss this year, there will be tears and there will be sadness, but I am surrounded by love from God, my family, my friends, and my church family.  I am utterly blessed.  May I wake up every day with a heart filled with joy for the gift of life that I have been given that day!

Transitions

In July I transitioned from officially working part-time to full-time.  I am still not sure what is harder, going to work everyday or being a pastor-in-charge again.  I forgot how stressful it was to be the pastor-in-charge.  I forgot how much other stuff (taking care of a building, finances, communicating with groups who use the church) occurs during a day.  Today the health inspector came for our preschool.  I had not planned for that...  Thankfully I have an amazing group of folks who work at Greenland Hills UMC.  Seriously, amazing people.  

The last time I was pastor-in-charge and worked full-time we had one kid and she was two years old.  This time around it is seven years later and life has changed.  Two kids both in elementary school with lots of activities.  I decided to go to the church everyday because I pick them up at 3 pm and take them to all of their activities: Dallas children's chorus, girl scouts, taekwondo, ballet, piano, soccer, volleyball.  And a lot of evenings I go back to the church for meetings.  Working full-time with kids is crazy busy no matter what your line of work.  I still have not mastered cooking while working full-time but it is good to have goals :)  And I can't remember the last time our carpets were vacuumed... 

It is hard to complain when I have a job that I love at a church with incredible folks who love God.  It is hard to complain when my spouse Lee helps me make kid's lunches every night.  I am still in awe of single parents, and I give thanks for kids who are supportive, a spouse who is my greatest cheerleader, a sister that sends me flowers on my first day at my new church, parents that will drop anything to come help, and friends who will help carpool.  It takes a village and I am so thankful that I have one. 

Children grow up...

Today, for the first time ever, all of the Smiths rode their own bikes on a family bike ride.  Everett still has training wheels but I have not had to push him and help him along as much, so today I said we should try for a family bike ride around the block.  We all got on our own bikes and when we got around the block everyone was doing great, so we kept going!  It was simply awesome.  I brought up the rear and occasionally had to hop down from my bike and give Everett a push, but he did great all by himself.  Madeleine and Lee kept circling back to check on us and they had fun leading the pack.

Everett will start kindergarten in the fall and is becoming more independent every day.  One day last week he didn't want me to tuck him in at night, but I told him he had no say in the matter :)  Children grow up so fast.  And I could not be prouder of my Madeleine and my Everett. 

It seems to me that growing up for a child and letting go for a parent is the process of family life. 

Northpark Santa

The real Santa is at Northpark Mall in Dallas, Texas.  Seriously, he is wonderful.  Here is our yearly photo.  The kids are getting tall!

2012 - Everett at 5 and Madeleine at 8 1/2

You can see how much they have grown, check on the photo from 2011 here and previous years here.  Madeleine asked for a password journal (it is a journal that records your voice and only that person can open it) and Everett asked for a beyblade (though he had been saying he would ask for a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle set). 

Olympic Gymnastic Champions!

I won tickets from Dallas Child to see the Kellogg's Tour of Gymnastics Champions.  It was such fun to see these amazing folks in person (though far away).  Madeleine was so excited, she knew the names of all of the female gymnasts and had watched the London Summer Olympics every night.  Here are some pictures that I took.  

Top L to R: Jordyn Wieber,  Gabby Douglas, Aly Raisman; Bottom L to R: ? and Nastia Liukin

Men's gymnastics team, they were strong!

A good picture of Nastia Liukin

Aly Raisman, Jordyn Wieber,  Gabby Douglas

Everett turns 5!

Everett is such a joy, he loves to laugh, tickle, fight, battle with swords, battle with lightsabers, battle with guns...  For his birthday party Everett wanted to go to Chuck E Cheese.  I told him that we could go with his cousin Austin, but not with his 18 preschool classmates.  Everett was set on Chuck E Cheese, so the night before his birthday we had a great time playing games and running around.

On his birthday Everett had donuts and a kolache (his favorite food of all time) for breakfast and brought Star Wars cupcakes for his classmates. That night Lee made his homemade pizza, we ate more cupcakes and opened presents!

Everett at one day old, October 2007

1st Birthday - October 5, 2008

2nd Birthday - October 5, 2009

3rd Birthday - October 5, 2010

4th Birthday - October 5, 2011

5th Birthday - October 5, 2012

Madeleine and Everett on a ride at Chuck E Cheese

Shooting things with daddy at Chuck E Cheese

#44 Thing to Do in Dallas with Kids

Go to the State Fair of Texas Opening Day Parade!  In this list of 52 Things to Do in Dallas with Kids (in 2010 and 2011 blog posts) I have tried to highlight things that are free (or close). One free thing that is associated with the State Fair is the Opening Day Parade.  It goes through downtown on the first day of the fair (Friday) at noon.  This year I took Everett with me since next year he will be in kindergarten.

It was hot, and he was not too sure about this parade...

Where else can you find a lady dressed like a flower?

The 100th Anniversary of Girl Scouts!

The coolest Elvis (there were many) all on motorcycles

A dragon celebrating the Chinese Lantern Festival