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!

Fall Family Photos

FALL FAMILY PHOTOS

Yes it has been two more years since the family photo above the fire place has been changed, and it was time! We always go with the best photographer around- Patrick Douglas of Douglas Photography of course! He always makes us look great!
The Girls
The Boys
Family #1
Family #2
Family #3
Family #4
Family #5
Mia's close-up
Cayden's happy face
And GQ Brenner

Vote for your favorite!
Although we may end up just going with the kids photo at the top this year in the big frame and leaving the old geasers out of the photo altogether! =)

To check out Patrick's other work follow the following link:
www.douglasphoto.net

Halloween Fun!

Happy Halloween!

Halloween seemed to go on and on this year as it fell on Sunday and I think all desired to make up for it on another day. We had the kids school Trunk-r-Treat on Thursday night and Nikki and Mimi went to the school with the kids to decorate the trunk and hand out lots of candy. Then on to the Monroe Ward Halloween party on Friday night with a chili and cornbread cook-off and another Trunk-r-Treat, again, Nikki won best trunk! Saturday, after Brenner's last soccer game (finishing off an undefeated season), we had the Tara Halloween pizza party and Sunday was spent with family, more great chili, bubbly root beer and the end of the Halloween Fun.

As Nikki saw this as her last year for a theme of some kind, the only thing that most could agree on was "Ghost Busters", as you can imagine, Mia was the hold out and not interested in being a ghost! She wanted to be a princess! She did get her wish at the school party, and she did wear her "ghost" costume with pink bows for short periods of time, but never liked it!

The Smith family as Ghosts and Ghost Busters 2010

Spooky Mummy Dogs, orange Cheetos and bubbly root beer.

Granddaddy borrowed the Chase Bank mascot and surprised all the kids as a big blue dog. A hit with the bigger kids, the smaller kids wanted nothing to do with such a large stuffed animal! Mia is not in the picture, as she was sulking in the house because we tried to get her in her ghost costume one more time.

And what would Halloween be with out the last of the dry-ice pushed into a 2-liter bottle with some water and a tight fitting lid? Not a complete one for sure!

BOOM!!!

The boy's and the remains of the Dry-Ice bomb!

Hurray for Bean and Bacon!

This post may seem strange to many, but most friends and family know of the one extremely picky eater in our family.

Yes, Brenner!

It seems we never all eat the same thing for dinner unless of course it is Pizza Night- And that, we all can agree on! Brenner has been very picky from almost day one and we are always making a second meal of some kind (carbohydrates) for him to eat. Why? Who knows? Maybe this is revenge from above for what I put my parents through growing up (extremely choosy too!) Well we found another thing that we all enjoy together- Bean and Bacon Soup and Saltine Crackers! As this is a staple to all the Smiths (we were brought up on it), it may seem strange that we just seemed to stumble upon it again, but boy are we glad we did!
Dinner is served again, and out of one pot!!!

And dang, for a $2.50 family size can and a sleeve of saltines, it satisfies the budget at the same time!