Pine Wood Derby

Pine Wood Derby

The boys and their cars.

Out of 17 boys, they drew numbers that were competitors for the first race, what luck for the Daddy who built (helped!?!) the cars. To Daddy's surprise, Brenner's car barely squeaked out the win and sent Cayden to the losers bracket, but not for long as his car was still very fast!

Brenner took lining his car up on the track very seriously. This is the second to last race, and the red car ended up with 1st place.

Cayden cheering his car on to victory in his third race. In the end, Brenner ended up with 3rd and Cayden with 5th place. Not to bad for a 17 car heat... but there is always next year!

Cayden's Birthday and Baptism

Cayden turns Eight

His request for a turtle cookie cake was realized and as you can see, it made him very excited.

Turning eight is all about baptism and he was very excited. The day was very special, and I hope he remembers it forever.

Mimi and Grandaddy and the rest of the family came and all had a feast at the house after, but no one seemed to pick up the camera for it!

What a special day!

Brenners Science Fair and Soccer

Science Fair

Brenner did his science fair topic on the solar system and did a great job! Now if we could only convince him that Pluto is not a real planet, everything would be great!

Soccer

Soccer is in full swing, or kick or whatever. He truly loves it and we get a kick out of watching him play. Two games so far this season and they are undefeated, keep your fingers crossed for another great year!

Bonsai

BONSAI

Daddy's newest hobby is finding small bushes that he digs up, forms into very small trees and puts into pots. These are three specimens in his bonsai collection, he has become quite the little bonsai artist!

Family Ski Trip to North CarolinaWe went to Maggie Valley for a little skiing and had a great time. I guess kids pick up everything quicker than adults, because after a quick 2 hour lesson, all three were skiing!
Mia and Daddy.

The Speed Demon Brenner.
And the ever cautious Cayden.

All three kids on the bunny slope.
Mia and Daddy on the BIG LIFT! She went straight down the hill without any care, and was fine as long as the there was someone to catch her at the end. Brenner went down with allot of right turns (could not get the left down for some reason). And Cayden, was fine for the first little bit, fussed and cried the next (with daddy screaming and yelling and saying he was not going to walk down, one of those moments that your thoughts go back to you and your dad at the same age.) and He walked down the rest of the big hill back to the bunny slope where he was just fine for the rest of the day.
Every one had a great time, and Brenner even wanted to go back the next day.

The next day we went to the Builtmore and walked through. It is very amazing that people used to (and still do I guess) live like that! The house was amazing, and being the largest house in the country, I guess it should be. Amazing is all I have to say!

Kids in a candy store.

Valentines morning back at the cabin.

A cute shot of the kids at a gift shop overlooking Tallulah Gorge. We harassed Brenner about being the boy from Where the Red Fern Grows as he just read the book in school.

Every one on the deck of the cabin.

And the last night we stopped in at Harra's Casino in Cherokee to eat at Paula Dean's new restaurant there for Mimi. It was very good, especially the ewy gewy vanilla brownie.

Basket Ball

Basket Ball Cayden

We signed Cayden up for Basket Ball this winter to see if it would be his sport, and the verdict is still out. He likes it ok, but needs alot more practice this summer on things like dribbling and passing. He has a good shot, but there is so much more to the real game than we prictice during a game of HORSE.
The plan is to do alot of practicing this summer and see what becomes of it.

Go Cayden!

Mexican Train!

Mexican Train..... Choo Choo!!!

Although not a new game in the Smith arsenal, Grams and Pa gave Brenner a new set for Christmas, complete with the train items and we have done nothing but play the entire month of January. It seems every weekend we are playing with someone.
Choo Choo!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Mia started it all off with dancing as an angel in the nutcracker. She did a great job and we think it was worth all the money for costume, recital fees and the extra ticket (as it only came with one) in the end! She truly danced like an angel!

Mommy and her little angel.
As soon as the recital was over we hopped in the packed car and headed south to Florida, stopping at Calaway Gardens to see the lights. As we had skipped last year, this was alot of fun, but cold!
At the beach! Mommy and Mia and their sand castle.
Daddy and the boys sand castle.
Cayden found a turtle at the new mall area. We spent time walking the stores, eating of course, had some ice cream and found a Christmas ornament for our tree! The last night we went to the Olive Garden and Mommy and Brenner went to see Harry Potter while Daddy stayed back at the house with Cayden and Mia and watched a red box.

Their was a lunar eclipse one night that Brenner and I got up at 1:30 to see. It was pretty cool!

One night the kids made gingerbread houses.

The last day at the beach!

The Boys feeding the birds.

Three kids in the heated pool. We had alot of fun, even more relaxation and most of all a great time as a family!

Back at home and the cousin gift swap. We also all opened jamies and had a pajama parade.

Christmas morning and Cayden found the pickle hid in the tree, letting him open the first gift.
Santa Came!
Brenner and his bow and arrow.
Cayden and his Legos.
And Mia and her littlest pet shop.
There was breakfast pizza and home made orange juice and a nap for Mommy and Daddy.
Christmas evening we got what we thought would never come, a White Christmas! Grorgia has not seen snow on Christmas day since 1882, thats right, 128 years ago. The kids played in it for a bit and came in for some hot chocolate!

We had a great Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL AND A GREAT NEW YEARS!

Christmas under the tree!

Christmas under the tree!

Here is the picture of the kids sleeping under the Christmas Tree!
Christmas is in full swing!

Thank you to all who have been so very supportive over the last month. Your prayers, fasting and thoughts have all helped more than you will ever know!

A special thanks goes out to the Douglas and Smith families for their support, Family is truly the greatest!

Over a month late, but here is Brenner on his 10th birthday!

He had a red velvet cake and got what elts ........ Books of course! We went to Chillis, His favorite, and had a relaxing dinner with just the family. 10 year olds are great!On Sunday He shared the cake with his cousin Abby as is becoming a tradition. It is so much fun with the two of them so close in age! They opened cards and collected money! Again, 10 is great! Although He is going to save most of it, He did spend some on a new soccer game for his Wii.

This is a picture of Him and His trophy for His undefeated season this year! As you can tell, we can't brag enough about our Brenner!