Hayley & Brooke

When we left Texas people said to us, "We will come visit you guys in Arizona". I'm sure everyone has good intentions but sometimes plans just don't work out but I knew that when The Little family said this to us...they meant it. Hayley and Brooke became friends in cheerleading and were inseparable after that! So once we moved...I wasn't surprised when I got a phone call from Kim telling me she and Rob were bringing Brooke to AZ to visit Hayley. They arrived the day after Christmas and stayed for 4 days. The girls had a blast! Here's a few photos of these gorgeous models together.

Christmas Highlights

The girls woke us up about 7:30am (I couldn't believe they slept in that late) and I headed down the stairs to get my video camera ready to catch their expressions when they saw what Santa had brought them. It was great...and Santa sure was good to the kids. He brought Hayley a pink electric guitar with a stand, shoulder strap, pink pics and extra strings. How did he know this was exactly what this girl wanted? Hannah got the red Razor scooter she has been begging for along with a microphone with a stand and Sasha (the Bratz doll we searched high and low for in the stores but could never find). I guess Santa really can make miracles happen! Holly got a playhouse that was set up in our backyard along with a babydoll and stroller and building blocks. Santa also gave the girls lot's of great stuff in their stockings like...candy, socks, notepad, booklight, polly pocket doll, silly string, balloons, calendar, hairbrush and mirror. Holly got tons of presents but all she really cared about was the balloons she got in her stocking. Scott got an accoustic guitar and I got the new camera lens I had been wanting. It was a great day for all of us. Thanks Santa!

In case I didn't have your address...

Wishing you Happy Holidays from our family to yours!!!

Christmas Pics

Just wanted to post a few pics of the things I love about this time of year.

My Nutcracker collection.

My favorite girls in front of the Christmas Tree.

Christmas cookies...this year me and the girls made Peanut Butter Blossoms, Reindeer Cookies, Reece's Haystacks, M&M pretzels and Butter Ball Chiffons....so yummy!!!
And last but not least....my all time favorite thing about this time of year is (drumroll please)

Santa pictures!!!!

Animal Cruelty

So Holly and I just got back from Target and one of the things I love most about Target is the dollar bins. I just couldn't resist...I mean...come on...for a $1...why not?? Sammy and Snickers love it too...can't you tell by the looks on their faces??

Naughty Children

Am I a naughty mom or do I just have naughty children? I'm going to go with naughty children! This is how last night's blameless story went down. Scott wasn't home so he is totoally innocent. Hayley and Hannah were taking a bath together (don't tell them I told you or they would be mortified). I was on the computer just feet away. I told the girls to lock the door so Holly wouldn't go in there. We've all learned that if you don't lock the door...Holly throws clothes in the tub...shoes and all! So a little while later I hear the girls are out of the bathroom. I am still on the computer and I realize I don't hear normal sounds of screaming, fighting, running, banging, singing, etc. So I ask Hayley to check on her sister. Moments later I hear laughter coming from the bathroom followed by...OMG! I got up to see what was going on the find this.

Now, Hayley and Hannah each blame the other saying they were the last one out and didn't drain the tub. Oh well, I couldn't help but to laugh too! Holly was having such a good time in there...diaper on and all.

We have the best neighbors

We've gotten quite close to our neighbors across the street. Sean and Nicole have 3 boys and the oldest is in Hannah's grade. Scott and Sean immediately hit it off and talk on a daily basis. Nicole and I have become good friends as well. We like them a lot and have enjoyed our regular weekend (no kids) bon fire in our backyard! We met Jay and Tana the first day we moved in. They brought us homemade cookies to welcome us. And let me tell you...they were so yummy! I still need to get her recipe. They have 2 girls (our girls age) and a son. Along with a couple other kids from the street, there is always a big group of kiddos playing outside. On to the story...Saturday, Sean was having 26 tons of sand and rock delivered to his house for his backyard. Scott thought he was crazy because he didn't have anybody lined up to help him so Scott walked outside when the truck delivered the material to help out. Then Jay came outside and said he would help also. Not only was he going to help out but he started calling others as well. Before we knew it there was a whole bunch of people helping move sand and rock. Sean was shocked that all these strangers would bring their shovels and wheelbarrels to help him. We got to meet and talk to a lot of neighbors that we've only seen passing in cars. It made us realize how lucky we are to have great neighbors around us. We enjoyed talking to everybody and getting to know them and their children. We even are talking and planning on a block party in the spring. Can't wait!

She makes me :)

Whether she's watching Yo Gabba Gabba and singing along, sleeping peacefully, playing quietly in her room, running away from me when I want to take her picture or throwing a huge fit because she didn't get what she wanted....Miss Hollywood makes me smile!


This one actually makes me giggle out loud...tee...hee!

Over the weekend

Well, it must be Murphy's Law because when we woke up Wednesday it was raining. What?? It never rains in Arizona!! It hasn't rained once since we moved here in August and I guess since we were expecting Grandma from TX...it had to rain and not only for 1 day but 2 days. We made the best of it and had a good visit anyway. Thanksgiving dinner was ready about 2pm and we ate and ate and ate and ate...then we had dessert. The rest of the night was spent playing a good ole game of UNO. I'm thankful I didn't sit by Hannah...man she shows no mercy! Poor Hayley...she kept getting Hannah's wrath of Draw two's and Draw Four's. But I am happy to say that I am still the reigning UNO Queen. Friday morning we got up at 5am along with my neighbor and headed to the stores like all the other crazies out there. Got some good stuff though and so it was worth it! Missed you though Angela...hope you got some good deals too. Later that afternoon, Scott took us all to Goldfield where we ate lunch and then to Tortilla Flats because it's such a pretty drive and we wanted to show Grandma. We topped the night off by popping popcorn and watching Elf. The weekend flew by so quickly and we wanted to show Grandma so much more. We had a good visit and are thankful she was able to spend Thanksgiving with us. Hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving too!

This is why we L-O-V-E Arizona!!!!!!!!

These pictures were taken in September about a month after we moved here by an amazing photographer Mindy Kidd. Check her out at http://www.mindykiddphotography.com/. This is what we get to look at everyday. Isn't it beautiful and aren't you jealous? :)

Sisters

We had the girls rooms painted last weekend and when I put everything back in it's place in Hayley's room, this is what I found.

Hayley had a sleepover birthday party to go to. Luckily, Hannah had a friend spend the night though. They may argue a lot but when it comes down to it, they're not only sisters but also "best friends".

Learning lessons from Hayley

Since moving to AZ we have found an awesome church that we go to. I even want to go twice a week...that's how much I like it! Anyway, we just started a new series called "40 Days of Love" and we are into our second lesson. In the meantime, Hayley has been talking about a little girl at school that she has befriended for weeks now. Hayley has told me about her and she has been through some really tough stuff in her life. Stuff that Hayley has never been exposed to. Stuff that is just awful! I finally got to meet this little girl one day at school. She was sweet but I couldn't understand what she and Hayley had in common? From the outside, they were nothing alike. Hayley continues to talk about her and wants to invite her over but I always find some excuse not to. I just have felt uneasy about it. I don't want to express this to Hayley because she has such a great heart so I prayed about it asking God to help me make the right decision.Ok, so back to church. For the past two lessons, I have listened to our pastor talk about loving your neighbor. This means getting out of your comfort zone to love them! Love them because they are not like us and because God loves us all the same. I felt like God was answering my prayers the more the pastor spoke to us. Like the answer was right there in front of me the whole time. The right thing to do is to invite her over to spend some time with Hayley. Hayley only sees what's on the inside, not what's on the outside. When no one else would be friends with this little girl, Hayley is her friend. When this little girl cried at school, Hayley got her some tissues. When this little girl didn't have a lunch for the field trip, Hayley packed her one from home. When this little girl was cold at school, Hayley let her borrow her sweater. Even Hayley's teacher said to her, "You sure have been a good friend to ______". I am happy to say that we are inviting her over this week to play after school. I bought pizza dough, pizza sauce, pepperoni and cheese for the girls to make their own pizzas!
Hayley, I am so proud of how pure and sweet your heart is. I am learning a lot about myself through church and our lessons on love but I am learning the most from you! I love you baby girl!

Our Newest Addition

Scott surprised me with this little guy the other day. We all love him already...how could you not? Well, maybe not all of us love him...Sammy isn't so fond of him! Isn't he just the cutest though? We named him Snickers.

For Hope

Busted

All was quiet in the Smith household...a little too quiet (for this house anyway)! I didn't hear a sound which usually means she is up to no good. Most of the time she's in my closet trying on all my shoes or in my bathroom cabinets taking everything out of them. When I went to search for her this is what I found.



Thanks Aunt Shell...as you can see Holly loves her bath crayons!

Ahoy Matey!

The girls got upset when I didn't post this picture of Sampson with their Halloween pics so here it is. Enjoy!

Random pics and playing with color

I'm a Lucky Girl!

My sweet husband bought me a digital SLR camera for my birthday (I guess all the hinting really worked! :) Since then all I can do is eat, sleep, think photography!!! I'm obsessed with it...going online to learn as much as I can. So yesterday I asked the girls to put coordinating outfits on so I could practice on them. With much moaning they gave in and did it. I only got a couple of good shots because we went to the woods and mosquitos were biting and Miss Holly kept running around thinking it was funny to have us all chasing her. So note to self: only bring the 2 older girls next time or just practice with one at a time. I did get 2 that were really good I think. Still much learning and practice to do but I am so thankful to Scott for helping me get started! Love you babe!


Ok, so I am biased but Daddy better watch out!

Totally Awesome Sharpay, A Sock Hop Diva and the Sweetest Ladybug ever!

Halloween

Yesterday was busy! Hayley had a field trip at the zoo so Holly and I went with her. It's a really cool zoo. I was so bummed that I forgot my camera though! We didn't have that long so we didn't get to see it all but it was nice and I know it meant a lot to Hayley that I was there. We will definately go back now that it's cooling off and bring the entire family next time. Scott flew in from Los Angeles around noon and had to rush home to get the fruit tray for Hannah's class party at 1:45. I got back to Hayley's school around 2:00 and went to her class party and then we headed home around 2:30. After dinner, we got the kids dressed in their costumes and met our neighbors outside and walked with them as the kids all went trick-or-treating house to house. We went down a couple of streets (the kids had plenty of candy already) and then ended up pulling chairs in the drive way and passed out candy to the rest of the kids. About 3 other couples and their kids joined us in our driveway talking and letting the kiddos run and have fun. Needless to say around 9:30 I was exhausted! Here's a few pics I took of the kids in their costumes and at the fall festival at church. Hope everyone had a Happy Halloween!

Halloween Treats

Me and the girls have been busy making Halloween treats. We made "Bloody Fingers" first. We broke pretzel rods in half and dipped them in red candy coating. Then we melted some white candy coating and added a few chocolate chips to give it a flesh color. We dipped the pretzels in leaving some of the red showing at the top. We let them dry on wax paper and added a slivered almond to look like the fingernail. Once they were dry, we wrapped them up, made a cute tag and added ribbon. It was so much fun and I think this is our new favorite Halloween tradition!


Next, the girls wanted to make something for their teachers so this is what we came up with. It was a big hit with the teachers!

Birthday Girl

GUESS WHAT????


I turned 2 today!!!!!


Happy Birthday Holly!