Traditions...

Disclaimer: This post is another one of those "family history" posts. It's mainly for me and my family, but if you make it through the whole post, I commend you!

This year, we spent Christmas in SL. We had lots of fun and enjoyed all of our Christmas traditions. Here are just a few:

We had our yearly cookie decorating which the kids all enjoy. Tyler's mainly just into the sprinkles right now.

Another family tradition that I see forming is to celebrate Tyler's Birthday fairly close to Christmas. This kid got presents for pretty much a week straight. Every time someone brought a present to him, he got so excited, sometimes even danced around. I wish I had that on tape!These are pictures of Tyler after my Mom brought his Christmas gifts in to him. He was extremely thrilled to get his race track. I think all the boys in the room were secretly excited for Tyler too.

Another tradition is to have dinner together as a big family on Christmas Eve. It seems like we normally order in Chinese, but this year we had food from various missions that people went on. It was a pretty random cuisine: Bratwurst and Spaetzle (Germany), Deep Dish Pizza (Chicago), Pavlova(Australia), Ribs and cornbread (St. Louis), Fried Plantains and cream (Honduras), Borsch (Russia). It actually all tasted quite good. The kids even did pretty well. I don't think we'll make it an every year tradition, but it was pretty fun.

We have a little nativity at Christmas time and the kids get to take turns playing Joseph and Mary and usually the youngest grandbaby plays the baby Jesus. This year Whitney was an angel and Tyler was a lamb. Very fitting:)

The whole cast:

We also had a talent show of sorts. Whitney was very excited to sing "Christmas Bells". I love how eager she is to perform. I wish I had that desire to draw attention to myself! All the kids were happy to share their piano and singing talents.While we had all the kids together, we got a few pictures. It's pretty rare to get EVERY grandchild in a picture.There are 18 grandkids right now and two on the way.

The girls

The boys

Grandpa read Luke 2, just like every year. It just wouldn't be Christmas Eve without that.Another tradition is to make Beignets, or French Doughnuts. They are pretty awesome and we've been doing that since as long as I can remember. It brings back good memories for me.Before the night is over, Grandma gives us all an ornament. Every grandkid has a different ornament that reminds grandma of them. Whitney's ornaments always look like her since she pretty much is a Precious Moments figure look-a-like and that's the kind of ornaments grandma always buys for the girls.

Here are a few pictures of Christmas morning:

For church on Sunday Whitney wore a dress that great grandma made for her.
Great grandma made me the same dress when I was her age. She had some extra fabric and made Whitney the same one. Kind of fun to have the same dress:)

Whitney had a lot of fun just playing with her cousins. They totally adore her and she adores them. We love to play with cousins!Happy New Year to Everyone! We wish everyone well in 2010.

Tyler's 2nd Birthday

Tyler's big day was pretty fun for him, I think. It's like he knew it was his day to get away with anything. He walks into the kitchen to check on his cake sporting only his birthday suit and a cape. Ya gotta love this kid. Then Daddy came home early and took the kids sledding around the house. These kids could stay outside all day long. The cold doesn't seem to bug them. After dinner Tyler opened presents. Snakes from Whitney. This morning I found soggy Cocoa Puffs in each snakes mouth. What a caring little boy to feed his snakes....Then we had a little cake and ice cream. I can't believe our little guy is 2! He's such a sweet little man and we love every day with him.

The latest haps....

Whitney had her Valley Voices concert and she loved it. I think she'll be quite the performer as she gets older. She was the star of the show. I can say that, because she's the only one I watched... you know how it is.

We also went to see Santa. Whitney was very serious as usual for this. She took her turn, then Tyler took his turn, then she jumped right back on his lap. Didn't say anything, just was content to sit there.

Later that night, we had a Rock Band party. We finally let the kids play and they did pretty good.
Tonight we will celebrate Tyler's 2nd birthday. It's been quite the fun weekend. I love December!

My handwritting...

My sister in law just made my handwriting into a font.

How cool is that? If you want yours made into a font go here , You can make it exclusive or non-exclusive. You can read what that means when you click on the link. Eventually, you'll be able to buy mine in her ScrapMatters Store if you want to since it's non-exclusive. Thanks Jeni!

^

*It has come to my attention, that you may not be able to see that I wrote this post in my new handwriting font. If you want to see how the font turned out, you can go to the above links and check it out on friday!

Thanksgiving 2009

This year we went to Salt Lake and enjoyed Thanksgiving with my parents and my cousins at the Little America Hotel. It could not have been more convenient. We had our own room to corral the kids in and the buffet was amazing. Turkey, prime rib and crab legs on the same plate- how awesome is that!? Don't even get me started on the desserts. Tyler and Whitney loved the fondue chocolate fountain. Obviously... Oddly enough, Tyler wasn't too crazy about eating, but found entertainment in playing with the silverware. All in all it was awesome and not having to clean up afterward or cook made it even better. Thanks to everyone who made this such a fun weekend. We have so much to be thankful for.

In honor of Thanksgiving...

I'm thankful for a cozy home

with endless supplies of food.
I'm thankful for the ample space
to rock and roll in the nude.

I'm thankful for my arms that move
for legs that kick and play.
For a heart that's beating really fast.
and the option to sleep all day!

I'm thankful for a mom that's healthy
even though she looks real sick.
Hopefully it will all wear off
and things will all just click. :)

I know I'll grow and things will get tight-
there won't be room for me.
When that happens, I'll come out,
and the third baby Smith I'll be!

Even though I am not born yet,
I'm thankful just the same.
For loving parents that I get
and two siblings who'll be glad I came.
--Baby Smith III

Halloween 2009

The cutest giraffe you'll ever see... Whitney took awhile to decide on what she was going to be... A cow??
A mouse??
She ended up being a bride for one event and a "mermaid princess" for another.Good times were had by all.

Carving Pumpkins...