Leah is SIX!

Our sweet little Leah had a birthday on March 21!  She is officially SIX years old!  The past six years with this little gal have been so so great...she is such a light in our lives and we love her to pieces!

We started Leah's special day off by opening some gifts!  

She got a hula hoop, swim goggles, and some legos.  She was pretty excited!

She, not surprisingly, requested waffles and eggs for breakfast.  It's definitely her favorite!

As soon as they were done with breakfast, it was time to put her legos together.  Noah was more than happy to help.  It was pretty cute watching Noah show her how to do everything.

All done!

The one thing that Leah requested for her birthday this year was to have a party with her friends and cousins.  We invited 15 kids over...and it was so much fun!  I was a little worried that it would be chaotic, but it worked out great.  Leah requested a painting party, so we painted wood initials, which was a hit.  I failed to take pictures of them painting...it was a busy time.  Then it was time to open presents and Leah was so thrilled and appreciative for what she was given.  

Then it was time to eat cupcakes!  Yum!!

We ended the party by having a piñata.  Doug wrapped up a box like a present, which was very very durable and all the kids were able to take a whack at it!  

I love the expression on all the kids faces once it finally broke!  So fun!

My mom came to help with the party, but spent most of her time with Kate.  I was so thankful she was there to calm her down and entertain her :).  Leah was thrilled opening her last gifts from Grandma and Grandma Great :).

We ended Leah's special day by having a "sleepover" upstairs and watching Frozen.  It was a wonderful day for our wonderful girl.

We love you baby...to the moon and back!!!

Hermana Garces

I always want to remember today!  We have waited for five {long} months for Elizabeth to leave on her mission. We have been able to spend some quality time with her over the past few months, and although we are going to miss her like crazy, we are so excited for her and this great adventure in her life.

Sister Garces was set apart tonight as a missionary, and it was such a wonderful experience to be there and feel the spirit. She has such a strong testimony and the people of Chile are so SO lucky to have her. I know these next 18 months will seem like forever, but I can not wait to hear all of the wonderful stories that she creates during that time!  

We love you SO much Sister Garces, and we will be thinking and praying for you every day that you are gone. 

Kissy Face

Our little Kate is FULL of personality.  She is seriously so so funny and will do about anything to make us laugh.  I just love this about her.  Her new thing is to pull this little face {the kissy face} just to make us laugh.  It works every time...love that face!

Together

It's a rare occurrence around here that all four kids are sitting together voluntarily...and quietly!  This was one of those precious moments that I want to cherish.  Love these kiddos to the moon.  

Party of 7!

Doug and I are expecting baby #5...due July 15, 2014!  We were super sneaky and kept this a secret until I was 18 weeks along. We figured if we wanted one more, we should have it soon and keep the 2 year pattern going ;). We are also keeping the gender pattern...we found out yesterday that we're having a BOY!  

We are all very excited for this new addition to our family :). Noah and Leah understand that there's a baby in my tummy, since I'm starting to show now, but Isaac and Kate don't get it. Isaac was so funny yesterday when I showed him the pictures of the baby and asked "I want to see the baby."  I told him that it was in my tummy...he just looked and me and then started pulling up my shirt to see my tummy!  I told him he couldn't see the baby until he was born in July...he looked at me and said "Are you kidding me??!?!l"...all with a big smile on his face. It was pretty hilarious and Doug and I had a good laugh. 

Needless to say, we are very excited for this summer and to meet this precious new addition!  Only 4 months left!

Bookworm

Kate absolutely LOVES to read.  She is constantly in her or Isaac's room sitting on the ground looking through the piles of books that we have.  She especially loves all of the animal books and is so fascinated by all of the pictures.  I love it when she comes to me with a few books and plops herself on my lap to have me read to her.  So precious!  I hope that her love for reading never ends!

Valentine's Day ~ 2014

Happy Valentine's Day!!

My kids have been looking forward to this holiday for quite some time...they new that candy and treats were involved, so, of course, they were excited!  We started the day off with some yummy HEART pancakes.  I swear they thought they tasted better just because of the shape ;).  

I'm all about making homemade Valentines, plus the kids really enjoy making them.  Yes, it was a lot of work, but so worth it!  Leah made a butterfly Valentine, and Isaac was so excited about his Superhero treat that he helped make for his class :).

Noah is all about Minecraft lately, so we made a TNT Valentine Box, which turned out great, as well as a Minecraft Valentine for his class...there was a sucker on the inside of the message.

Isaac has SO much fun at school celebrating and was "heart-attacked" by his teacher.  Such a cute little love-bug!!

And Leah was as thrilled as can be about her party.  I, of course, had to do a Valentine inspired hair-do on my little gal.  It turned out really cute :).  

I was able to go and help in Noah and Leah's classes this year for their parties, although I failed to get a picture.  They both came home as happy as can be about all of their yummy treats! 

Since Valentine's Day fell on a Friday this year, we were fortunate enough to take the kids to the sitter and Doug and I were able to go out for the night!  We went to a movie and then to dinner with Doug's sister {we had both unknowingly planned on going to the same movie...so we just went to dinner together afterwards...it worked out great!}.  It was definitely a fun filled day full of lots and lots of LOVE!!  

Happy Birthday to Doug!

Happy Birthday to DOUG!  We all love Doug so so much!  He really is the best husband and daddy, and we are so thankful each and every day that he is all ours :).

We celebrated his special day by having The Pie, eating cake, and just having fun.  It was a relaxing day, but we had a great time!  

A week later, we got together with Doug's family to celebrate his and Sydney's birthday.  Alli made a fabulous chocolate cake for the occasion, which was so so good!  Good times!

Cuties

I hardly pull out my nice camera lately...I really need to more often!  I snapped these pics of the littles the other day...they are so dang cute!  I can't get enough!  Love them to pieces :).

Lately...

The kids take over my bed *every* morning!

Kate is sneaky-sneaky...

Kate LOVES ice cream, just like the rest of us ;).

Leah had her first dance performance in December...she looked SO adorable in her costume, and even more adorable in her performance.   She is quite the little performer :).

Kate LOVES to look out the window at  all the snow.  

The little gal LOVES bags...she almost always has a bag on her arm.  Cracks me up.

The days are *finally* getting longer, which I am so happy about!  We even went for a little walk this week...it was so nice to get out!

10 Years!

I honestly never thought that ten years could go by so fast!  I feel like just yesterday we were getting married!  I remember every detail of that day...to think that 10 years has passed is unbelievable to me!  But, then I think of all the great things that we have accomplished during our marriage thus far...new jobs for me, new jobs for Doug, Doug graduated with 2 bachelor degrees, we built our townhouse, Doug graduated with his MBA, we moved to our current house, and how can I forget the most wonderful thing of all...OUR FOUR FABULOUS CHILDREN!  My life has been SO enriched because of my marriage to Doug, and our children are definitely the best thing that has ever happened to us!  And I wouldn't want to experience all of these great things without Doug...he is definitely the best thing that has ever happened to me!  He does so much for our family and I am grateful for him each and every day!  He is simply the BEST!  I definitely married up when I married that man!

Now, Doug and I hardly ever spend weekends away, but we decided that we had to go and do something special for our 10 year anniversary!  My mom was kind enough to come and spend the night with the kids while we went away for Friday and Saturday.  We really had so much fun just being together and having a conversation without kids interrupting us!  Plus we went shopping and to a movie!  It was a great time away...I kind of wished that it was longer.  

Happy New Year!

We had a fun night celebrating the New Year by having some of our family over to celebrate.  We ate, a lot, played games, and just hung out :).  Around 10:00, we had some sparkling cider, then we all went outside and lit sparklers to celebrate.  The kids had a great time, and that's what counts!  After everyone went home, the kids grabbed their sleeping bags and we had a sleepover upstairs and watched a movie. To Doug and my surprise, all the kids, except for Kate, stayed up until midnight, which they were so proud of!  They were pretty exhausted, and crashed as soon as they had accomplished their goal of staying up.  It was definitely a fun night celebrating the New Year :).

Christmas ~ 2013

Christmas morning *finally* came, and can I just say how excited we all were!  The kiddos even slept in a little bit, which was nice for Doug and I :).  

After much anticipation, we finally dove in and started unwrapping our goodies.  

Our elf, Elfie, decided to spend Christmas day with us, and he even let us love on him all day long.  Well, Kate was thrilled about this and pretty much took Elfie wherever she went.  She sure does love that little elf!

Noah had such a wonderful day and was so happy to get everything on his list :).  He got a Back to the Future lego set...

...a snow cone maker...

...AND a long board!  He was SO happy to have his very own longboard :).

Leah was overly excited about every little thing!  She requested some smelly markers (takes me back to my childhood!)...

...a Digital Makeover thingy, which is seriously the coolest little thing ever!  It looks like your putting on makeup, but your really not.  So cool, and non-messy!

...a jewelry box!

...and...

...and art kit!  She was beyond thrilled for this gift.  She is definitely by budding artist :).

Leah was also good at wearing everything she got and claimed the family game that we got as her own.    This gal LOVES to play games!

All Isaac wanted for Christmas was dress ups!  And he got what he wanted with a football uniform...

...and a Batman costume!  That was all Isaac really wanted, and he was so happy and wore it majority of the day.  He also got a Ninja costume and guitar, which he loves!

Kate had more fun watching everyone open their gifts than her own...go figure.  Although, she was happy with her new little flip phone.

And she took her precious little time opening every gift...this drove us all nutty ;).  

Santa brought her a new baby stroller, since our old one was broken.

And she also got a Build a Bear from Noah, which she loves...almost as much as Elfie ;).

Oh boy...these two were overjoyed all day long :).

They were even happy with their new toothbrushes :).

Christmas is such a magical time, especially when we get to spend it with these precious kiddos!!!!  They seem to make it all that much better!

And the kids had a blast playing with their goodies the remainder of the day!  So fun!

It was definitely a wonderful Christmas in the Smith household.  I think we're already looking forward to next year.