Arick has chosen a name

(until I get a pic of Arick's frog, this one snagged from the Internet will do)

Arick has chosen a name for his frog. He has two frogs now. Fireball is his tomato frog. He also has an Australian Whites Tree Frog (as you can see, it isn't white). This tree frog is his second one, as his first one, Crikey (get the Australian link?) died. It took him a week to figure out his name, cause how can you top Crikey? So drumroll please. His name is . . . Leaf Arickson. Ha!! Leaf cause he matches the leaves and tries to hide in there. Arickson speaks for itself. I love kids with a sense of humor.

One of the little joys in life

One of the little joys in life is when my bracket beats Andrew's bracket for the NCAA basketball tournament. I called Kansas and Memphis as the final two and Andrew predicted UNC and UCLA. I predicted Kansas to win, but honestly I am already thrilled with how far my bracket has come. Considering I don't watch basketball at all, I think I did pretty good.

Andrew would like to add that this is an annual ocurrance. No matter how hard he tries, he can't seem to beat me . . . even the year when I based my picks on team colors. :)

Just had to share!

Well I would have just left this on my photography blog, but I am too excited to share. I was able to photograph these adorable twins and hang out with their mom. You can see more photos of this session on my other blog: amylynnsmithphotography.blogspot.com (link is to the right as well).

Tuesday Ten

Today is Tuesday and I thought I would list ten things that are going on around here.

1.Well you will all be happy to hear that Ty is doing fabulously. The weekend was rough but and the mornings are still bad but he is healing nicely.

2.Ella is speaking in two-three word sentences. So far we understand "Thank you Daddy" and "more cheese".

3. Tonight we were given the wonderful gift of a piano. It is used, but it is beautiful. Now Brianna's teacher can stop asking us to get a real piano. I am sure it will help her play so much better.

4. Taxes are done and by some miracle we are still getting a refund. I had to check it three times.

5. Brianna slept over at Gigi's house on Friday. Craig's granddaughter, Tori, was there as well and the girl's had a splendid time. We took them out for Japanese food and a trip to the Science Center the next day and wore them out.

6. Arick went to the store on Saturday to replace his beloved frog, Crikey. He has yet to name him, but loves him already.

7. Ella has adjusted incredibly well to nursery. This by far has been our easiest child to transition into nursery.

8. I, Amy, am enjoying my new calling at Church. I am the Relief Society 2nd Counselor and am over the Enrichment program. I am busy getting several activity groups started, getting the humanitarian project stuff together, and such.

9. Andrew is busy in his new calling as Ward Mission Leader.

10. New and exciting things are happening in my photography business, look for more details in the next few months.

Ty update

Ty is home and doing great. In fact, after Ty woke up from the surgery, he asked Daddy, "When am I going to get my tonsils out?" I am so glad that he is pretty much unaware of what was done. Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers.

Prayer request

Ty is going in for his tonsillectomy tomorrow and we could sure use prayers for a speedy recovery and a calm mom.

Also, Arick's favorite pet frog died today. He tried so hard to be brave and not cry, but as soon as I hugged him, he couldn't hold back the tears. It just broke my heart. We will get a new frog soon. We had some crickets that died within 24 hours of buying them, and we believe those crickets that the frog ate before we discovered the problem, led to his early demise.

My little model

Brianna was a great sport today and let me take lots of photos of her in Nashville. The session was mostly a bust due to equipment failure, but I did manage to get these shots.

Ty's interpretation

For dinner tonight, I served sushi (my friend Cristina came and taught me a favorite family recipe, it is delish) and fresh pineapple. When Arick asked what we were having, Ty quickly jumped in and said "Porcupine-apple." Can't argue with that one.

You're Invited

Just a little note to let our friends and family know, that you are more than welcome to visit us here. I would love to play hostess to new visitors.

Papa and Grandma

Andrew's parents came for their first visit to our home this last week. We had such a great time together and the kids loved having them here. Some highlights of the week, included:

-Family Home Evening with Papa beating us all at a memory/visualization game (with ease I might add) and eating Andrew's yummy cookies.

-Visiting the Civil War site where much of the Battle of Franklin was fought.

-Having them here while Andrew and I received new callings (I am the new Relief Society second counselor and Andrew is the Ward Mission Leader). Papa was also able to participate in my being set apart, which was a special moment for me.

-Eating tasty fried green tomato BLT sandwiches, yummy fried chicken and fried okra at the famous Loveless Cafe.

-Brianna and Grandma having a late night party reading all of the joke books that grandma has sent Bri over the years.

-Watching Planet Earth and snuggling with Papa and Grandma.

They left for Utah this morning and we are missing them already. We are so blessed to have such loving family.

Our home part 1

Well, I was able to finish 90% of my spring-cleaning list before my in-laws arrived. I still have some vertical surfaces to clean, some vents to vacuum and some touch ups to do, but I may leave it for a rainy day. Here are the results and I am glad to finally share some photos of our home.


Here is our master bedroom. We do plan on painting the walls a different color soon. I haven't found the wall art or the lamp that I want in my bedroom yet. The glider is being replaced with a black recliner in the next couple of weeks. We are just waiting for it to be delivered. Eventually, I would like to hang sheers on the windows and get a rug. Ella and her crib (I know she is 19 months but I get nervous being away from her) will finally move to the room she shares with Brianna.

On a side note, the bedroom furniture was delivered this last week and it means the end of broken plastic drawers and baskets to hold our clothes. It is so much easier to keep our room tidy now! I love my bedroom so much. I hate leaving it and so does the rest of the family. No matter how many times I tell my kids that the bedroom is for Mom and Dad only, I still find them in there lounging on my bed, reading books, and watching t.v.



This is the living room. Our plans for this room include more seating, a coffee table, and a rug. We will have to move the piano to another part of the house and shift the bookcase to where the piano is for those plans.


This is our dining room that we made into the office/craft space. We do wish there was a door to hide the mess but at least it doesn't get in the way of family life now.


This is our bonus room over the garage. It is the one room that I don't feel the need to keep as clean since we do a lot of playing here. I will share a picture of the other half of this room in the next post so you can see all the things we do in this room.

All in all, our home is coming along nicely. A lot of the plans I mentioned could take years to complete, but that is what makes the process so fun.

P.S. Papa and Grandma arrived safely . . . the kids are beyond excited!

Spring Cleaning

Twice a year I get in my spring cleaning mode. I clean as many nooks and crannies as I can stand, try to get everything put back into its proper place, and sort through clothes, getting rid of those things that are worn out or are too small. It is, at the least, a seven day endeavor and I feel so great when I am done.

Here are some interesting facts about my current spring cleaning (all numbers are estimated as I often give up counting when I get to a certain point):

25+ batteries and I have no clue if they are dead, used or new
Over 40 blankets(many of which were baby blankets and are now being donated)
21+ pairs (and sometimes just one in a pair) of gloves/mittens (which only get used a few times now in TN)
At least 150 pens and pencils in about 15 different places. That would explain why we could never find one when we needed it.
Lots and lots of coins (I will add up the total later and edit this)
Easily over 1000 items that were not in their proper place.
16 times today that I have asked the kids if they are done. 16 times that I have heard "No".
Over 20 socks that were finally reunited with their mates. Woohoo!
4 boxes leftover from moving have been emptied and crushed. I swear these boxes just appear out of thin air.
All Library books have been located, phew!
We are still missing 3 things on my "to find" list and it is driving me nuts!
6 garbage bags full of broken items and various other junk.

And just to make sure that you don't think that I do all of this by myself. Andrew is a big help too. Andrew has been patching up the wall dents and doing touch up painting. He has refinished the top of our kitchen table that looked awful (thanks sweetheart, it looks beautiful!), he has helped organize the medicine cabinet and the garage, and he put in a new garage door opener. Now if only my kids were that helpful! Getting my kids to help has been a huge tug of war but I am winning.

Ty's tonsils

Andrew and I took Ty to the doctor on Monday to discuss his sleep apnea and snoring. Ty's tonsils are definitely a problem so we have scheduled surgery for March 25th. The doctor thinks that his tonsils are partly responsible for his slow growth and the swollen lymph node that has been on his neck for 2 years now. Hopefully this will help alleviate the problems. This will be the first time any of our kids will be under general anesthesia so I am a bit nervous. Ty is four and should handle the recovery well, unlike his Auntie Jamie who just had hers removed and had a rough time. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Just one of those days

I am a very happy person but I still have those days and today is one of them. In the last 24 hours, I have made too many mistakes, I am exhausted and overemotional, and a bit overwhelmed. I just wish I could crawl back in bed and stay there until tomorrow.

Three years ago I proposed to Andrew

It was three years ago today that I proposed to Andrew. Wait, haven't we been married for almost 12 years? Well, yes we have, but in case you haven't noticed, today is Leap day. Back in February of 1996, another Leap year, when Andrew and I were dating, I came across an article that said something similar to this:

"There is a tradition that women may make a proposal of marriage to men only in leap years, further restricted in some cases to only February 29. In 1288 the Scottish parliament under Queen Margaret legislated that any woman could propose in Leap Year; few parliament records of that time exist, and none concern February 29.[1] Another component of this tradition was that if the man rejects the proposal, he should soften the blow by providing a kiss, one pound currency, and a pair of gloves (some later sources say a silk gown). There were similar notions in France and Switzerland." (wikipedia)

Oh that sent my heart and head spinning. What if I didn't have to wait for Andrew to propose to me? We had discussed marriage by this point but he was being so elusive about any kind of time frame. So I finally decided to go ahead and go for it.

The first time I asked him to marry me was in the hallway of my apartment. Andrew was not impressed and pretty much told me it wasn't romantic enough. So that night we drove up to go shopping at Crossroads mall and visit Temple Square. It was incredibly chilly, 9 degrees with awfully cold winds, and we were both quite nervous. After gathering some courage (I always appreciate how hard it is for guys to propose now) I finally did ask him, even on bended knee. He responded with a bit of a lecture, which really confused me. He said something to the effect of, "If we do this, it is for eternity, divorce will never be an option and if you can accept that as well as this, then yes I will marry you." The word this in his answer meant the diamond ring he was holding in his hands. Andrew had been planning to propose the next night and that is why he had the ring with him.

Obviously, I accepted his conditions and he accepted my proposal. Less than four months after that, we were married for eternity in the Laie Hawaii L.D.S. Temple and lived happily (for the most part, hehe) ever after.

Every Leap year since that night we have celebrated our engagement and those celebrations have been some of my favorite moments in our marriage. However, our plans tonight have been canceled due to the strep throat epidemic at our house (all four kids have it). So to mark our special anniversary, I decided to share our story on our blog. I am so grateful for that night three long years ago that two young, naive kids decided to spend the rest of their lives together. It has been an incredible journey ever since.

And to Andrew: I love you sweetheart, thank you for saying yes.

My new photography blog

I will be posting my photography work on my new blog amylynnsmithphotography.blogspot.com. I have included a link at the top of the sidebar as well. I want to keep this blog about our family and the new blog will help showcase my business better.

You may have also noticed that I have decided to go with the name Amy Lynn Smith Photography instead of Amy Lynn Photography. That is due to the fact that there are four other Amy Lynn Photography businesses on the Internet.

Tornado Clean Up

I just wanted to share with you a picture of Andrew helping with some of the Tornado cleanup. They helped by burning wood piles and cleaning debris, as well as moving piles of metal within 20 feet of the road so that FEMA will pick it up. Andrew was in awe of the destruction the tornado caused.

If you click on the picture you should be able to find Andrew. (There is a light dusting of snow.)

Layered Salad Reuben-Style

Layered Salad Reuben-Style

Simple & Delicious

Here’s a fun twist on the traditional seven-layer salad that’s great for large gatherings any time of year. It combines lettuce and tomato with Reuben sandwich fixings. I like to buy pastrami in 1/4-inch slices at the deli counter and chop it up at home, but you can use leftover corned beef instead. --Amy Smith, Avon, Connecticut

SERVINGS: 12

CATEGORY: Salads

METHOD: Baked

TIME: Prep/Total Time: 30 min.
Ingredients:

* 4-1/2 teaspoons butter, melted
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon pepper
* 2 cups cubed rye bread
* 1 package (16 ounces) ready-to-serve salad greens
* 2 cups chopped pastrami
* 1 large tomato, diced
* 1/2 cup sauerkraut, rinsed and well drained
* 1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions
* 1 bottle (8 ounces) Thousand Island salad dressing
* 3/4 cup shredded Swiss cheese

Directions:
In a bowl, combine the butter, salt and pepper. Add bread cubes and toss to coat. Arrange in a single layer in an ungreased 15-in. x 10-in. x 1-in. baking pan. Bake at 400° for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Cool.
In a large salad bowl, layer half of the salad greens, pastrami, tomato, sauerkraut, onions and dressing; repeat layers. Sprinkle with croutons and Swiss cheese. Yield: 12 servings.

Please note: I found the recipe and picture on Taste of Home's website (I am still keeping my cookbook to prove my famous-ness). You can find it here: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Layered-Salad-Reuben-Style

Leave a comment and let me know how you liked it after you have made it.

A lonely cowboy

Ty came up to me today in this getup and told me, "I'm a cowboy and I need someone to play with" Aw, melt my heart.

18 months old

To celebrate 18 months, here are 18 facts about Ella:

1. Ella is a genuine sweetheart. She loves her brothers and sister and gets so excited to see them.
2. Everytime the front door opens she says, "Hi Daddy" as she has associated that sound with Daddy coming home.
3. She loves to shower all of us with hugs and kisses.
4. Her smile and laugh, as well as her dancing, can get anyone out of a bad mood.
5. She can speak so many more words now with some recent additions being Gigi, toy, eyes and ewwwww.
6. She loves her baby doll.
7. She also loves to play with cars, much to Ty's annoyance.
8. She loves shoes. The shoe fascination is funny because she loves to put everyone else's shoes on and hates to take them off, but she loves to take hers off (which is not appreciated in the car or the store).
9. Her demeanor is pretty easy going and happy but you can tell when it is naptime/bedtime as she gets quite persnickety.
10. She is a healthy eater although the scale still doesn't prove it. I am just ridding her closet of all the 6/9 month clothes.
11. She did attend nursery at church for the first time and she adored it. Andrew and I were able to do our callings much more effectively and the quiet was nice. Hopefully the transition will continue to go as smoothly.
12. She is scared of things that roll towards her, especially cars.
13. She loves to scribble and it can keep her busy for hours.
14. She has chewed off almost every eraser on a pencil in the house.
15. Her favorite food is mac and cheese.
16. She still sleeps in our room since I am too scared to have her sleep upstairs.
17. She is often the first to fold her arms for prayer. Of course, as soon as everyone closes their eyes she makes a break for it
18. She has PKS which is "Photographer's Kid Syndrome" which means that anytime she sees me with my camera, she hides. She is also a wee bit scared of the camera.

Stuffed nose, literally

Ella is such a stinker. Her newest fascination is sticking things up her nose!!! Where did this come from? I can't trust her with anything as she has used napkins, toilet paper, wipes and today it was bread!! Besides Arick's famous "bead stuck in his nose" incident, I have never had an issue with this. What gets me though is that she keeps doing it. I can't imagine that it feels pleasant enough to keep doing it. I may just have to go buy her a nose plug, lol.

I'm kind of famous, kind of

I was shopping in Walmart the other day and discovered the book section. Since I am trying to eat healthier, I focused on cookbooks. I picked one up and quickly flipped through the pages when I saw the recipe "Layered Salad Reuben-style" and I thought, "That's odd, I won honorable mention once for my recipe with that title." Then it hit me, that it was my recipe! I looked over the page and sure enough there was my name "Amy Smith Avon, CT" (where I used to live). My recipe can be found in a cookbook in most Walmarts, that is so cool. I did receive $25 for my honorable mention(the contest was in Taste of Home's Simple and Delicious magazine). However, I am starting to feel that my $25 recipe was a bargain for them, especially since I bought the cookbook for $13, I guess I only won $12. Funny thing though, I have made that recipe only once, the night I created it from leftovers, so I actually needed a copy so that I could make it again.

Happy Birthday Marshall!

Just wanted to wish my brother a very happy birthday! I bet this year will be your best yet!

A great blog for clean reads

Brianna loves to read, as do I. I want to make sure that she reads books that are at her reading level but that don't introduce mature content she doesn't know about. Finding books that are quality and clean can be a struggle. On a whim I typed in clean books on google and up popped this great blog: http://cleanreads.blogspot.com/

I love what this blog is about. I have read some of the books on their list and I have found their reviews to be very accurate. So if you are looking for good clean reads for your kids or for yourself, then I highly recommend visiting this blog.

Happy Valentine's Day

We hope you all have a great day!! We made these cards yesterday for the kids to hand out as valentines during their parties at school. (ETA: The cards were a big hit! We will definitely do something like this next year as they were inexpensive and fun.)

Brianna turns 10!

I know this post is a couple of weeks late, but it took me a while to find the photos. For Brianna's 10th birthday, she had a small birthday party at our home. The girls made miniature food and they all had blast. Here are a few pictures to showcase the fun.




I can't believe that my first is 10. Brianna has been such a joy. She loves to read, draw, cook, and be creative. She loves music and can be found listening to Hannah Montana, Elvis, the Beatles, They Might be Giants, and High School Musical. She is doing very well in piano lessons and also loves gymnastics and archery. As a first child, she has spoiled it for the rest of the kids. She is so good natured, helpful, obedient and loving, we love having her as part of our family.

So close!

Ella is almost 18 months old and will then be allowed to go to Nursery in church. Then we can stop trying to keep her quiet during class or chasing her down the halls. Yippee! Isn't she a cutie?

Tornado Warning

Last nights severe storms here in TN were amazing and, unfortunately, deadly. At times there was 40-60 lightning strikes a minute creating an incredible light show. It is amazing how beautiful danger can seem.

Luckily we were not affected by the storm seriously. The only thing lost was sleep as we couldn't go to bed until the Tornado warning had expired. We use our big coat closet for a shelter and we put the three oldest kids in there to sleep. Andrew, Ella and I hung out in our bedroom and watched the weather updates to see if we needed to take shelter as well. The closet fits all of us nicely and has a 72 hour kit just in case.

I should ease your worries though, since our town has never been hit by a tornado. We live near lakes that are believed to affect the path that a Tornado would take. I don't know if that is true, but it is what we have been told. I just hope that it works as long as we are here.

G.N.O

For a 10th birthday gift, my mom treated Brianna and I to a girls night out (G.N.O). She purchased 3 tickets to the Hannah Montana 3D movie before it sold out. So last night all three of us enjoyed dinner at a sushi restaurant (Bri's fave), some window shopping at the mall, and a great movie/concert of Bri's fave pop star. I will admit that the 3D movie format is the best way to attend a concert ever. You get great views of the star, the 3D images were fantastic, and the girls in the theatre were much more calm and quiet (no ringing in my ears after). Plus it is cheaper. Hopefully more concerts will do this (already looking forward to U2).

Chicago part 2

On Thursday, the kids and I went to the Children's Museum at Navy pier while Andrew worked. I was a little nervous going it alone, but this was the perfect museum to do so. The kids could touch and climb everything and even Ella had lots to do. Ty loved meeting Curious George, Ella loved splashing in the 'river' and catching 'fish', and Arick and Brianna loved building a house.

On Friday, we spent the day swimming at the hotel. Brianna and Arick practiced swimming and Ty was all over the pool with his floaties. Ella was scared at first, but after I put her in a baby float she was having a blast. In fact, she was so calm that I thought she would fall asleep.

Saturday we left for home but not before stopping at Trader Joe's for some of our favorites. The ride home was very long, but that was because I was coming down with the flu.

Chicago was so much fun and hopefully we get to visit again in warmer weather. Andrew and I miss the Chicago-style hot dogs (all beef hot dog, with onions, "nuclear-green" relish, mustard, diced tomatoes, chopped onions, a dill pickle spear, and celery salt) and Chicago-style pizza again (deep dish and stuffed), oh it was sooooo good.

*Just in case you are wondering why we visited so many museums, we did so because we had free admission (parking was another story).

Chicago part 1

We started our vacation on Monday and planned to spend the day driving the long way to Chicago. We stopped to see Louisville and visit the factory (below) but it was closed so we will have to visit another time.


Louisville Slugger Museum is Louisville Kentucky. The bat is much bigger than this.


On Tuesday, we spent the day at The Museum of Science and Industry, which is one of my favorite hands-on museums of all time. Ty LOVED getting to ride the tractors and the huge model train exhibit. I loved the Fairy Castle dollhouse which was amazing.


Andrew couldn't resist!


More hands-on fun for the boys, it was very hard to pull them away or have them share with other kids.


On Wednesday, we visited the Natural History Museum. This is Sue the famous T Rex, the most complete skeleton ever found.

Back to our regularly scheduled blogging

I know that this month was a slow month for me and I apologize, but now I am healthy and ready to spend more time on the computer. Please start visiting regularly again. A summary of our vacation to Chicago will be posted shortly.

The greatest show on Earth

When we took the kids to the circus, we kept it a surprise. Brianna figured out where we were going when she saw the trailers that said "The Greatest Show on Earth". Arick was stumped, so we asked him what he thought was the greatest show on Earth. He pondered for a moment and said, "Star Wars!" Ha! Gotta love that Star Wars addict of mine.

Happy Birthday Ty!!

Happy Birthday to Ty who turned four today. He has grown up so much, figuratively anyway, since he just hit 30 pounds at 4 years old. He is obsessed with Disney's Cars, he prefers not to be alone, he mumbles when he talks, (which can be very frustrating), he would eat cold cereal for every meal if he could, he misses Arick and Brianna while they are at school, he loves to help me clean, and he smiles at everyone which just endears him to everyone. He adds lots of joy to our home and we are so grateful to have him in our family.

To celebrate his special day, we went to the circus. Gigi and Grandpa Craig came along too to make it even better. It was a surprise for the kids and they were delighted when they realized what our plan was. Ty was pretty mesmerized, we all were actually. We saw the Bellobration tour and highly recommend this version by Ringling Bros and Barnum & Bailey (they have another tour as well). Bello the clown is the only clown that has made me laugh. All in all, a great place to celebrate being 4.

Food poisoning, need I say more?

I don't know what I have done to deserve this but I have been bedridden yet again, this time with food poisoning. I am not happy. The likely culprit . . . vegetables. I try to do something right, in this case eat healthy, and it hurts me.

New years resolutions

I love new beginnings, especially the start of new year. While in bed for 10 days, I had a lot of time to think about the new year and what my goals would be. I always try to come up with a physical goal, a mental health goal, and a spiritual goal. For obvious reasons, I thought a lot about my health. Since December 1st, I have spent almost 3/4 of that time sick or suffering from pain. During that time I had cut back on sleep, ran myself ragged getting things done, and indulged my taste buds way too much. Basically, I neglected myself. So my physical resolution for this year is to establish healthier habits so that I can reduce pain and get sick less.

For my mental health goal, I plan to keep studying photography and to apply for and be accepted into a special photography group. This group requires an application with about 30 photos, and it would be a nice milestone marker in my photography when I do get in.

For my spiritual goal, I plan on attending the Temple here in Nashville more and to give more service to others.

I am still working on exactly how I am going to reach these goals, but I have started to make some changes and I am even beginning to see some success.

Hello, again

So the last remnants of the flu are finally leaving our home. Finally. I still fatigue really easily and we all have a bit of a cough still. This was my first time experiencing the real flu and I never ever want to feel that way again. I will get my yearly flu shot without fail. I know that lots of people are wary about the flu shot, but when you watch your husband(who was the only smart one to get the flu sho) stay healthy while the rest of the family suffers from the flu, you 'get' that the shot works. He never even got a sniffle.

Are we still alive?

Barely. The flu (confirmed by lab tests) has taken over our house. The total body count is 4 of us, hopefully Bri and Andrew stay healthy. Oh my gosh it is sooooooooooo awful. Arick and I have it the worst. Keep us in your prayers. Arick has been crying off and on about how horrible it is.

Auntie Shelley goes home

Auntie Shelley left for Buffalo this morning. It was so much fun having her here. We laughed a lot, cried a little, and just really enjoyed being together. Her Auntie skills were put into good use and she totally captured the hearts of all of my kids, especially Ella. We sure will miss her.

The last 24 hours in pictures

The last 24 hours have been bliss, well except for the sleep deprivation and this cold that has taken my voice. It has been one of my most favorite Christmas' by far. Visits with family and friends have been perfect, the food delicious, the Spirit abundant, and the smiles plentiful. As an added bonus I got incredibly spoiled by my wonderful husband, children and my Mom and Craig. In fact, it was the first time in years that I have been completely surprised by my gifts. What fun it is to be surprised! Yet as much fun as it was to receive the joyful reactions from my children, Andrew, Craig and my Mom were even better. Today was a fabulous day. You can see all of the fun that we had in the many pictures in th slideshow.

I do hope that the rest of you had a Merry Christmas as well and that this new year is full of happiness.

Ella at 16 months old

The above is a picture of Ella taken a few days ago. The photo captured the face we have seen a lot around here. She has developed this habit of sticking her tongue out like that and it is so cute. She comes by this trait honestly from her father and grandfather who are known to do the same thing.

It is hard to believe this tiny (18 pounds 11 ounces at her check-up) troublemaker is 16 months old. I wish this time would stop flying by so fast. She has such personality and she is beginning to understand and say so much. She can say the names of all of us, as well as the words: baby, hi, baba, no, three, and amen. She also babbles a lot and gets frustrated when we can understand her. She adores all baby dolls, climbing the stairs, and being chased. She is a wonderful sleeper and still takes two naps a day. Our favorite thing about Ella is her laugh, which can put even the grinch in a good mood. She finds so many things funny so we hear her laugh often. Her best laugh happens when you try to surprise her, what a hoot that is.

My top 25 movies

I was tagged to list my top 25 movies so here is my list. I thought it would be much harder to come up with 25 but I definitely had to whittle it down. The ones that I chose either had to have to be ones that I can watch over and over and still enjoy it, or they were movies that made me think about them for weeks after I watched them. I did not put any movies, although I was tempted to with ones like Shawshank Redemption and The Matrix, that were originally rated R (I don't watch unedited rated R movies) that can be seen edited on TV, because you can't rent them edited. So here is my list:

Mary Poppins
Spitfire Grill
Gattaca
You've Got Mail
Annie (the original)
Sound of Music
Castaway
October Sky
Ocean's Eleven
The Pelican Brief
Pride and Prejudice (A&E version)
Pursuit of Happyness
Sliding Doors
Hitch
Men in Black
Elf
The Santa Clause
Big
Contact
Disney Pixar's Cars
Anne of Green Gables
Catch Me if You Can
The Bourne Trilogy (cause you can't watch just one)
The Fugitive
National Treasure
The Italian Job (oh I know, that is #26, but I just remembered it and it deserves a spot)

You may have noticed that none of the Harry Potter movies are on there. As much as I love the books and the audio recordings, the Harry Potter movies are just too short for me to truly love. Now if A&E would like to do a long miniseries as good as Pride and Prejudice, well I will revise my list.

Now I tag Jamie, Logan, and Monique, and anyone else who wants to do so.

Brianna's homework assignment

Brianna wanted me to share with you her latest homework assignment that she worked really hard on. She is so pleased with her work. This was done with very little parent help and we didn't let her use spellcheck. Andrew helped her format and insert the picture, and she typed 90% of it. He also would read it and tell her what sentences she needed to write in a different way but not how. She is one smart cookie.

You know you live in Tennessee when . . .

Santa Claus is a drive through experience! Drive-thrus are crazy popular here in TN. I just didn't know how popular. Here's the story.

This last Monday night, Andrew was in charge of Family Home Evening. He planned a little car trip to go see a Christmas lights display. You know the kind that you stay in your car and drive through after paying an entrance fee? Well this one was very fun and at the end was a barn that you drive through to get to the exit. Much to our surprise and the kids delight, in the barn was Jolly Old St. Nick (he was watching Monday Night Football in between visits from the children, ha!) Santa came right up to our car and asked all the kids what they wanted for Christmas. We had know clue that Santa would be there so the kids weren't sure exactly what they wanted yet, however, Santa reassured them that they could change their minds. We topped off our night with some Frosty the Snowman Cocoa (a.k.a. chocolate Frosty's from Wendy's) and headed home very happy.

As silly as a drive-thru Santa sounds, it was definitely our best Santa experience ever. Seriously, no crying children, you wait in your comfortable warm car, no trying to keep your kids from running away, no long lines, and no overpriced pictures, how can you top that? We will definitely do that again next year. A new tradition, love that.

(sorry no pics because the evening was a surprise and I didn't know to bring my camera)

GeoBee

Yesterday, Brianna took a school-wide test (4th grade and 5th grade I believe) for the National Geographic Bee. Brianna came in 9th. That allowed her to participate in the 100 question test today. Brianna was very excited about coming in 9th yesterday, so today she comes home and says to me with perfect drama,"Mom, remember that practice geography bee thing yesterday and how I came in 9th? Well, yeah, I just won it for the whole school." Then she whips out her medal. A real medal from the National Geographic Bee which has engraved on it "2008 School Bee Champion" She is so stinkin' pleased with herself. Apparently, she is now famous at school and will have her picture in the paper. A kid at school even asked if she could hug Brianna because maybe some of her smartness will rub off. Yeah, that's my kid.


And for a little dose of humility, Brianna only got 24 out of the 100 questions right to come in first. The next closest was 18. Apparently, geography isn't very advanced in 4th grade.

A photoshoot of three stylish sisters

I had another great session today and it was really fun. I am still struggling with group shots, so I think I will focus on learning more that this week. The three beautiful girls are daughters of my good friend, Sandy. Enjoy and let me know what you think.

I created a poll, please vote!

I am trying to pick a website address for me as part of my effort to start a photography business. I would wait but I have learned that waiting means risking having some of the web addresses taken by someone else. So I have created this poll to see what potential customers would like best. Please vote so that I can purchase my domain soon. Thanks!

Happy Birthday Ben!

Ben is married to my sister-in-law, Paula. He is a great dad, husband and uncle we want to wish him a happy birthday from all of us here in Tennessee.

So to Ben :
"Happy Birthday! We hope you had a great day!"

Our fears

We all have our fears. Andrew's fear is losing one of the kids in a crowd, my fear is a house fire, Brianna's fear is getting bad grades, Arick's fear is getting lost, Ty's fear is showers, and Ella's fear, well hers is balls. Yep, you read that correctly. Our little punkin is scared of balls. Beach balls, basketballs, soccer balls, etc. If you roll one towards her, she runs away in a panic with sobbing soon to follow. Absolutely hysterical to watch, not so much fun for her, but fun for us parents. Maybe Bounce-a-Rounce 2007 was just too much for her to handle.

Don't be fooled by that sweet face!

Don't be fooled by that sweet face. In that little brain of his, he has dreamed up plenty of mischief. Unfortunately for me today, the stars aligned (a.k.a. mommy was busy making lunch when he discovered a perfectly sharpened pencil and lots of empty wall space) and his dreams became reality. 100 ft of scribbled wall art later, he came to me so proud to show me his accomplishment. Oh how his excitement/giddyness was quickly erased (both literally and figuratively) in the ensuing freak out by me. Ugh, two broken hearts today. It is so hard to punish sometimes. Thank goodness for Mr. Clean Magic Eraser.

Brianna at a glance

It has been a while since I have posted about Brianna, so here is a current picture and a few facts about what is going on in her life right now.

* She is attending a gifted and talented program at her school that she totally loves.
* She is currently reading Harry Potter 5 and can't wait to finish it.
* She is doing very well in piano and is currently practicing the song "The 12 Days of Christmas."
* Her current challenge in life is to keep her room clean much to my frustration. Ella will have lots of access to her stuff and she doesn't realize the importance of keeping everything out of reach just yet.
* She is an incredible helper. She will change Ella's diapers, help me make dinner, watch her siblings, without much complaint and usually with a smile.
* Her current sport is archery and has earned 3 awards so far.

The winner is . . .

Susie. At first I didn't know which Susie, but after a quick phone call I solved the puzzle. She didn't believe me when I told her, so I have to put this on the blog to make it official and all. Thank you all for taking the time to read my blog and leave a comment.

Some statistics

One of the reasons I am doing the blog birthday prize (which includes a gift certificate to Target by the way, just in case you needed more incentive to leave a comment and be entered to win the prize) is to see who is reading the blog. According to my idcounter, I have had:


Total hits: 6068
Total visitors: 2961
Average visitors per day: 12
Total for last 30 days : 481

I am very surprised that I have had that many hits and it totally makes me curious to find out who. Even more interesting is where you all are clicking from. If you go to the bottom of this blog and click on the map, you can also see a very general area of where the visitors are from. Quite interesting.

By the way if you have a blog of your own, the idcounter and clustrmap are free, just go to their website and sign up. I bet you will be surprised at how many visit your blog too.

Happy Blog Birthday

So I just discovered that I have been blogging for 1 year, and I would love to mark this occasion with a contest. Leave your name in the comments section and I will draw a name and mail a special surprise to the winner. It would be a lot of fun for me to see who is even reading this blog. You have until Sunday night to leave your name. I will draw the winning name on Monday morning. Good luck!

A family of four photo session

Yesterday I did a family photo shoot. Photographing families and toddlers are the hardest to photograph and I knew that this would be a challenge. The family was so gracious to let me do my thing without pressure and they were very patient. I did make mistakes and I learned a lot, so it was totally worth it.

I just love this photo:

Poor Arick!

This cute kid is very sick, so sick that he had to miss trick or treating, and that just really stinks.

"Attitude determines your altitude"

If you asked me a year ago how I was doing, I might have responded that I was doing fine or okay. Today, I might respond with the words wonderful,great or fabulous. Why the change in answers? Well,I have changed my attitude. I started counting my blessings and focusing on what I have, not what I am missing. And you know what? My life is pretty great. Everything isn't perfect and I still have my quirks and struggles, yet that isn't what I dwell on anymore. I love living with this attitude! I have never been happier. One of new my favorite sayings is, "Attitude determines your altitude." That is so true. I don't know why it took me so long to figure out how much my attitude can affect my life, but I am so grateful I finally did.

Disclaimer: Please don't confuse my new attitude as perky. Perky does not exist in my life, especially in the early hours of the morning.

(This picture of me was taken yesterday by a friend. I very much prefer being behind the camera but I figure one picture every few years won't hurt.)