Races and Parties

Saturday was a big, fun day for us. Tobin ran his first race with me. It was a race for the Denton Health Department and he ran the entire mile, non-stop! I was so very proud of him and he's super proud of himself. He was ready to do another one the next day. His favorite parts were the free granola bar at the end, running past the woods and wondering if there were bears in there, and keeping up with all of the other runners. It was a special memory for both of us! Saturday evening, we had family over to celebrate Heidi's first birthday. She had a great party! Here's some pictures of her day:

The goodies:

Mmmm...my new toys taste great:

Daddy...can you hurry up with the batteries? I'm ready to play:

Forget it. I'll just do it myself:

Is this for ME?

That cake was great...but I'm full:

I made a slideshow/dvd for our families of Heidi's first year. Here's the slideshow:

Heidi's One Year Slideshow from Emily Smith on Vimeo.

Wednesday is Heidi's actual birthday. We have plans to go out for birthday donuts and perhaps we'll picnic/play at the park all day. No matter what we do, what a gift we have in this girl and what a special year to celebrate!!!

A Beautiful Birthday

My mom's birthday was yesterday and we celebrated with a wonderful dinner outside. The weather couldn't have been more perfect. We had some Easter cascarones (Mexican eggs filled with confetti) that we hadn't used last weekend since Tobin was sick and saved them, knowing that Mimi would love them. It was a lovely evening....

Mom with her Almond Bliss German Chocolate Cake:
Then Heidi discovered the yumminess that was right in front of her and decided to dig her fingers into it:
Then we brought out the cascarones:Heidi is clearly unimpressed with the confetti in her hair:
And here's the delicious dinner:


Matt's brother, Sean, had a birthday yesterday, too. Happy Birthday, Sean! We miss you!!

Easter 2010

We hope everyone had a wonderful and special Easter! Ours started out like this:

And an hour later, our plans for church, family, and fun ended in this:
Notice the Lysol and bucket on the floor? Yes, Tobin came down with a stomach bug yesterday. He's feeling much better today and so far, no one else in the house is showing signs of sickness. In fact, this little girl is going about her business of chasing the dogs, playing with cabinet doors, and unloading any basket or dresser drawer she sees available:

Nine months update

Okay, so I'm a little behind on Heidi's nine month update. She had a great check-up right before we left for Boston. She weighed 16.5 pounds (5th percentile) and was 22 inches. After she was measured, both the nurse and the doctor asked how tall I was and how tall Matt was. When I told him about our less than average heights, they both responded with a "Oh, okay" thus understanding the petite nature of our little girl! Our doctor explained that after the six month mark, genetics kick in and the baby's size starts to be determined by genes instead of nutrition. Heidi was slightly anemic and I was told that a vitamin supplement would fix that. Other than that, no problems for this little girl! Here's some wonderful things about Heidi at nine months:

- She just started crawling at nine months. However, she has a fearless personality and now that she's crawling, she's also realized she can pull up and stand on her own. I think it's just a matter of time before she starts to walk without worries about falling or hurting herself.

- When she eats baby food, she will take a bite and immediately suck her thumb. It's almost as if she can't swallow food without sucking it down like a bottle.

- She has a things for pillows and soft things. She will crawl to a pillow and lay down and sigh as she lays her head down. It's one of the cutest things I've ever seen.

Heidi and her pillow from Emily Smith on Vimeo.

-She's a great sleeper. I can lay her down in her crib with her blanket and she giggles with excitement over it. She will rub her face on it and immediately start sucking her thumb.

- She has two bottom teeth and is working on a top one. Here's a picture of the two she has. I had fun playing with her hair this day:
- She still doesn't care much for baby food but if I put pieces of bread, carrots, avocado, peas, cheerios or any other table food on the table, she'll go after it.

- Tobin is still the best one to get giggles and belly laughs out of her. Now that she crawls, she will follow him wherever he goes and loves to play "chase" with him and the dogs. She adores riding on our shoulders as we chase Tobin around the house. I can't get enough of her squeals of delight and laughs!!

Here's some pictures:
Dancing with daddy
Playing in brother's closet

Happy Valentines Day to Us

Matt and I have been blessed with the opportunity to buy a new car. We chose the Honda Insight number 1-because it was in our price range, and number 2-because it gets 40 mpg in the city as a hybrid, and number 3-because it's so darn cute (okay, that's mainly my reason for wanting one). We had a pretty awful experience after buying our used Xterra (it was in an accident that wasn't disclosed to us at the time of purchase and it ended up costing us a lot of money to fix many mistakes) and we were nervous about the whole car-search process. Fortunately, McNatt Honda, here in Denton, was a pleasure to work with and it was actually a fun experience for us! Here's our new car:

Isn't it adorable?!?

Snow Day

We got a record amount of snow yesterday (12.5 inches was reported). What a special treat! Not to mention the fact that Matt got to stay home with us yesterday and again today. No family loves pajama days more than the Smiths so we were all in heaven. Hot chocolate, making bread, great naps, crafts, and lots and lots of playtime...and we get to do it all again today as we watch it melt away!!

Boston Trip

Last week, the kids, my mom and I went to Boston to visit my sister and her family. We had a great and memorable week. I'm not sure we made a good impression in Boston...here are some of our unfortunate highlighs from the week:

- At dinner with one of my sister's friends, I was asked if Tobin was into playing guns (like all typical boys). Not knowing who I was talking to, I candidly replied "Well, my husband's a hunter." I'm not sure I could have sounded more like a hick. The host quickly responded back at me with a sharp "We don't do that sort of thing up here."

- On Tuesday, we went to the Boston Children's Museum. Tobin's eyes were watering all morning and I just chalked it up to allergies and we were on our way. Throughout the day, his eyes progressively became gunked up and green and all around nasty looking. Late that night after no signs of feeling better, we went to the Urgent Care Center at a local hospital. Pink Eye. Yep, we spread highly contagious pink eye germs all over the Boston Children's Museum, of all places. Here's a picture of Tobin from the hospital:

- While taking Tobin's temperature one night when he wasn't feeling well, I dropped my sister's mercury thermometer and broke it in the children's bathroom. Sharp glass and mercury beads on the floor equals a big dangerous oops. Thanks, mom, for cleaning up my mess.

Other than these moments, we made lots of great memories...

- Tobin & Heidi had their first flying experience and they did great. Heidi slept on my mom most of the trip and Tobin thought flying was a great adventure.


- My sister's house has a perfect sledding hill in their backyard. Tobin and his cousins spent the first morning we were there sledding down and enjoying the snow until Sloan and Tobin went down together, crashed, and Tobin got snow in his gloves and on his face. That kind of ruined his fun.

- Tobin had his first skiing lesson and really enjoyed it. I was proud of him for being so brave and open to trying something new. There was a ski mountain just 45 minutes from where my sister lives and it was a fun experience for all of the boys. Heidi wasn't a fan of the snow. She's like her momma...doesn't like to be cold. Each time I would put her in her carseat this week, she would cry and scream because it was too cold for her little body.

- Boston has some amazing museums. We went to the Boston Children's Museum and the Science Museum and had a fantastic time at both. I was also able to see the Harry Potter exhibit at the Science Museum with my nephew Gil (he's 10) and my sister. It was pretty incredible.





- We had lots of time to play and be with one another at my sister's house throughout the week. The boys played (and fought) like brothers, wrestled, put on puppet shows, made valentines, had movie nights, and had an all around wonderful time.




Thank you, Cheryl and Greg, for opening your home to us, for being so gracious and hospitable, and for showing us a wonderful time in Boston. We love you all so very much!