Merry Christmas and yea for me!

Christmas was so different this year, since my dad has been at the care center we had our family party there at it was a blast. The grandkids put on a little program and the highlight of the night was when my brother's (aka seminary teacher) son told a dirty joke (obviously not aware it was dirty!) we were laughing hysterically. Curt and I were in charge of the Smith Family Christmas party this year and really glad we don't have to do that again for several years! The cousins had a great time going sledding and playing games. Since Cami is the daredevil of our family she was the one to fall off her sled and skid her face on the snow, no major injuries, just a red mark across her cheek. Our kids loved their presents this year. Of all the stuff they got I think their pj's were the favorite. I have such easy to please children, what a blessing! Kemp made an extra point to tell me how much he LOVES his BYU pj's because I made them for him! I heard him tell a friend that his mom ACTUALLY made his pajamas!

I have wanted to learn how to sew for about 10 years. My sister-in-law Sara is an amazing seamstress and she has sacrificed so much time to help me accomplish my dream, so huge thanks to her! She helped me sew Kemp and Cami's Harry Potter costumes for Halloween and I mentioned that it would be fun to sew my girls' Christmas dresses. Sara is a very ambitious person and has never ending energy, so she says to me- Let's do it! I spent like 3 separate days working on them with her. One night was spent till 4 in the morning, with oldies Christmas music on the satellite, and watching O, Brother Where Art Thou? (why in the world did George Clooney do that movie?) I had such a great time even though some moments in the learning process were hairy. Sara taught me a ton about sewing and I decided to sew some fleece BYU pj's all by myself for Kemp and he loved them. I even made the headbands to match Cami and Kerstyn's dresses. This has been such an achievement for me because I am usually scared to try new things if I think I might fail. So yea for me, I got over a fear of failure and succeeded pretty well! Curt reminded me that now I can sew all of Kemp's badges on his scout shirt, so not looking forward to that.

Kemp's 11th b-day!

K is for keen (very sharp, intelligent)
E is for eager
M is for magnanimous (generous, not selfish)
P is for protector

S is for smile
M is for mommy's pal
I is for immersed in books
T is for tender-hearted
H is for humble

Happy 11th birthday! Kemp had an indoor soccer game on his b-day and then we took him and some of his cousins to Toad's fun zone to play laser tag and arcades. They had a ton of fun! Kemp has been such a best friend to me. I can count on him to help me with anything (sometimes I ask 4 or 5 times) and he rarely complains. The last 2 years Curtis has traveled quite a bit for work and Kemp has had more responsibility placed on him to help around the home. He is such a wonderful young man, yep in one more year he will officially be a Young Man-aahh! Now I understand when my parents say that they wish they could raise their children all over again. Thru experience and trial and error we learn how to be the kind of parents we want to be and unfortunately for our first children they get all the luck of being guinea pigs! I hope Kemp knows how truly loved he is and (despite my weaknesses as a mom) can see what is in my heart. Kemp has a way of accepting everyone around him and having so much love for others. He cares so much about doing what's right. I think he is too hard on himself when he messes up, but I love him all the more for it. Kemp you are so very important to us, don't ever forget it!

Christian and Kertsyn's b-days. 1 is so much fun, 6 is such a kick!

Their personalized cakes


Bubby is really into cars

He dove right into his cake, and loved every bit of it!

Kerstyn was such a good sport about sharing her b-day!

Of course she asked for clothes, she wanted sparkly jeans!

Chrisitan got an interactive puppy and some books and cars

I am way behind in my posts, so I am doing a little catching up! We are absolutely overjoyed to have little Christian in our family. He makes things so complete and he is a total blast, just the most content and happy boy! The age of 1 is so fascinating to me because it is like a little curtain gets lifted from your baby's eyes and they have all these new discoveries to enjoy. We decided to throw a double party for Chris and Kerst since their b-days are 5 days apart. Kerstyn is growing up into such a little lady. She is so into anything that has to do with fashion, beauty, pampering, dress-up, barbies, etc. I am pretty sure she has asked about 500 times how old she has to be to get her ears pierced!!! At the same time she can be a rough, tough girl and has a very STRONG will. Sometimes we ask ourselves how we are going to survive teenage years with her, but at the same time I wouldn't miss it for the world! We love you sweetie-pie!

Here are some of Chris' new discoveries and loves:

• walking- he looks like E.T. when he walks
• airplanes- he hears them outside and has to look up and find them in the sky as soon as he can, he says "aahh" when he spots one.
• singing- no lie he sings, maybe I can get it on video sometime, really funny!
• bathtub- do I really need to elaborate?
• food- anything!
• hamster- the other day he pushed a little chair all the way across the kitchen to get up to the cage-oh great!
• tantrums- yes it may seem a little early for this, but remember he has the power of example in his favor! He gets mad and either sprawls out on his tummy or throws his head back which always results in more tears.
• Brother and sisters- he giggles whenever we pick them up from school, so precious!

A Typical SAHM's morning!

Curtis' traveling starts to kick up this time of year and he is gone almost every week, Mon-Fri. Sometimes I want to pull my hair out w/out Curt home and other times I like having my own time, I get to stay up and watch WHATEVER I WANT on T.V. My mornings have been crazy lately and the other day my kids were moving at turtle speed even though I am telling them every 5 seconds we need to hurry because I had a Dr. appt. to go to right after they go to school, so Cami walks into the kitchen with an unsure smile on her face and says that Christian is in the bathtub. I thought for a split second that maybe he was hurt if he tried to climb in, AND THEN it dawned on me that I did not drain the water, so this is what I found-

Curt is such a spoiler!

My husband is famous for spoiling our children. I am always saying no, no, no when they ask for anything and everything. Then daddy comes home and you can bet he has something in his arms for the kids. Sometimes it is for all of them and other times it is just for one (which causes tantrums). Kemp got a new set of golf clubs and Curtis and him took them out a few times. Curtis took the girls with them once, but never again, because Kerstyn fell out of the golf cart. Kind of hard to drive a cart and make sure a wild 5 year old is staying seated! I think I might want to try golfing someday, but when I went with my family to hit a bucket of balls I was basically the entertainment. Maybe lessons would help?

Kemp's school picture

Kemp's school picture makes me smile. Is that one happy kid or what? I just had to put it on my header!

Kemp-The Scout Guru

I know nothing about scouting, so I am very grateful that my hubby absolutely loves scouting and the great outdoors! Kemp has been just spitting out the requirements for his badges. He recently earned his Arrow of Light from cub scouts, the scout leader mentioned that Kemp earned every award possible. That happens when your dad is an over-achiever. I feel somedays like 10 years has been rolled up into 10 days. He will be an aaronic priesthood holder next year and that doesn't even seem real. Kemp said, "Mom, guess what? when Chris is doing this stuff I will be on a mission!" Don't even go there son! I love when he talks about his mission in the future, it is always as if there is no doubt whether or not he is going. Here is a recent conversation we had:

Mom: Kemp, I think it would be smart to start learning how to cook some easy meals that you could fix on your own-like when you go on your mission.

Kemp: Why? Missionaries go to people's houses to eat.

Mom: Not for every meal.

Kemp: It's fine mom, I know how to make Top Ramen, cold cereal and pb&j sandwiches.

Mom: After 2 years you might get sick of the same thing.

Kemp: I highly doubt that mom!

Mom: Yeah, you are right!