December so far.....

Last weekend we got about 6 inches of snow. The kids were a little bummed because it was not good snowman snow, however it did provide some good sledding and some really great snow angel snow! As of today the rain has melted away the majority of the snow. I've been trying to get some Christmas baking done and in the mean time the girls and I did a gingerbread house. The kids loved it but it turned out pretty pathetic looking if you ask me. Oh well...we'll try again next year!










The first weekend of December I took the kids to the "Santa Train". Montana Rail link brings a couple passenger cars and you get to tour through them and see Santa. The kids love it! They even give out hats and mittens to all the kids.

Santa 2009

Yep we've already been to see Santa. The kids are already excited about Christmas. That could be partly my fault because I love the Christmas season. When I told them we were going to see Santa Kalei asked me if she could take the toy catalog with her to "show" Santa the picture of what she wants for Christmas. It was so innocent and cute how could I say no to that? If you notice in the picture the Kalei has her Santa hat on and Hannah has her Rudolf antlers on and Jackson wouldn't take his coat of...because as you can see he wanted nothing to do with the guy in the red suit. Of course I had to pay for a picture.....$15 dollars later and ONE 4x6 we were headed home. I am surprised the kids even wanted to sit in his lap because Santa's breath STUNK of cigarette smoke! (if you click on the picture you can make it bigger)

Ok...I don't usually buy "character themed" clothing but the kids and I were shopping tonight and Jackson saw this hat and was yelling "ELMO...ELMO". I put it on him and it was just so cute I had to buy it. He needed a new hat anyway. :)


(The white stuff on the mouth is his milk)

TROUBLE

Yes that is the top of our dining room table and YES those are scissors.



And this is Jackson in trouble for climbing the dining room table.


Now you all know what I go through in a day. :)

The many faces of the crazy Smith kids.

Fall and Halloween

I thought I would sit down and leave a post....we'll see how long it lasts...as Jackson is currently entertained by a cup of seashells. When I hear them cracking and breaking on the floor I'll have to stop.

It's been a fun month for the Smith's. We've visited the pumpkin patch on a trip to Spokane and have been trick or treating. Last year we went to a pumpkin patch farm in Spokane...mostly because there isn't really anywhere fun like that to get pumpkins in Missoula. So this year we decided to go again. We made a weekend of it and went to Spokane on Friday night and came home Sunday. The original plan was to leave early afternoon on Friday.....well our plan was detoured by the 4.5 hour wait in line to get our kids vaccinated for the H1N1(swine flu) virus. Yeah, we didn't really have to stand in line but I've been so worried and freaked out about the stupid flu that we bit the bullet and did it. I was trying to keep the kids in a bubble...we didn't go anywhere, and if we did I would wipe everything down with a lysol wipe(which I still do) the kids are pros at rubbing hand sanitizer into their hands. I think I was going nuts. It's better now but we still do the wipes and the hand santizer....at least the kids are allowed out of the house now! ha ha

Anyway...during all that we enjoyed the time at the pumpkin patch and picking apples. The kids got to visit the local Build a Bear store and I had a much needed break from home!

Last night was Halloween and we took our Witch, Bunny and Pumpkin trick or treating. Apparently our neighborhood is "the" place to trick or treat here in Lolo. It gets crazy...like probably every kid in school stopped by our house. We run out of candy and have to turn the lights out! The kids had fun and every year they get better(and faster) about going from house to house! Jackson caught on pretty quick but was so much slower that he and Dan went home early. He still had a nice little bucket of candy!

I better get to posting some pictures...Jackson has moved on to something else and is eerily quiet right now. Enjoy the pics.

Family picture in the apple orchard.

Jackson and his loot. When you tell him to say cheese or smiley he makes this goofy face.

Witch, Bunny and Pumpkin

Jackson and his hair.

I caught him doing this one day while waiting for me to clean him up....weirdo!

Already October....

I can't believe it is already October 10th! Where did the last month go? I haven't posted anything in a while so I thought I should check in.

We really haven't been up to much other than school, gymnastics and football. I have been trying to keep everyone home in order to keep everyone heathly. So we try not to go to many places and when we do I've turned into one of those crazy women who wipe everything down with Lysol wipes. The kids have also gotten used to a splash of sanitizer anytime we exit a store or a building. Even Jackson know's how to rub it into his hands!

Missoula has it's own version of the Women's Fitness Celebration, they call it Diva for a Day. Mom came over and her and the girls and I participated in it. It was really cold but was fun. The girls got out of the stroller and ran through the finish line. Kalei even got her name announced over the loud speaker. Hannah got her name in the paper for being the 1st place finisher in her age group! Woohoo!

Dan and I have season tickets so we've been going to the University of Montana football games which pretty much takes up an entire Saturday on game days.

Here are some pictures from the last month or so.

Mom and the girls and I at the Diva for a Day run.

Bundled up because it was 35degrees that morning.

Swimming at Three Rivers.

We hiked the M with the kids. Both girls walked all the way up! Such troopers!

Jackson bundled up.

This was the first game of the season. It was warm on that game.

This was the most recent game. COLD DAY!

Life....

What a crazy past few weeks this has been. The beginning of August my Uncle Frank passed away from a heart attack. He was taken much to early from us. I will certainly miss him and so will my kids! We did make the trip to Oregon to say goodbye.
Kalei started Kindergarten.
Gymnastics began again.
One of the mothers of a 3 year old I watch passed away during child birth.
Hannah started preschool.

Life is so short. Remember to tell your loved ones that you love them every day! Cherish all the moments you have with the little ones. Take a short weekend trip....even if you can't afford it! That's what we did this weekend. Dan and I decided that after this awful week we needed to do something fun with the kids. Something that was just us and the kids. So we decided on Silver Rapids at Silver Mountain resort. The kids love that place! And it really is a lot of fun. They even serve beer and drinks! We even went early Saturday so that I could go shopping at Kohls! What a trooper that husband of mine is! Yeah...it probably put us in the poor house for a couple months but it is so worth it!



This is from July, we were in charge of an "aid" booth at the Missoula Marathon and the kids even got to help hand out water! They thought it was so much fun!


Dan and I at the first Griz game of the season.



Dan and a pile of kids at the waterpark.


Jackson....he kept looking at me like "seriously, Mom...get me out of this thing"

Kalei went to Kindergarten today and Mom made it out with only the tears welling up in my eyes! She was so excited and was ready 30 minutes early! She has a couple friends from her preschool in her class and one from our neighborhood so I think she will have lots of fun! I think she will have a great day and will see her at 3:16 this afternoon!

Here they are killing time outside before heading to school.


At the school.


Sitting at her desk.


Putting her things away.

Kalei and her friend Rowan before heading in the classrooms.

Back to school.....

Kindergarten starts on Tuesday and the kids all got back to school haircuts! We are getting prepared to be busy again...no more lazy summer days with school starting and we are signed back up for gymnastics our life should begin to get hectic! All the kids got hair cuts to start the year off right. Kalei starts Kindergarten on Tuesday and Hannah starts preschool after Labor Day.



Before


After

Before

After