Jeff's 7th Birthday

Jeff was way excited for his birthday this year. He was especially lucky to have Grandpa Smith here to celebrate with him. This wasn't in the original plans but remodeling things don't always go as planned, so Dave's stay was extended. We just celebrated as a family this year - things were a little crazy for a friends party, but Jeff had a blast. He wanted a sports/soccer cake and ice cream and we went out to eat. The best part for him were the presents! Jeff is VERY into Lego Star Wars so getting some new sets was awesome!!

7 other Jeff Favorites
Favorite colors - Blue and green and red
Favorite school subject - Math
Favorite toy - Lego Star Wars, and his Didj
Favorite sport - Soccer
Favorite thing to do - Play outside with friends
Favorite food - Apples
Favorite movie - All Star Wars movies

GOOOOOAAAALLLL!

So we decided to give soccer a try this fall and signed both the boys up to play. They absolutely LOVED it! They loved everything about it - the uniforms, the practice, the games, the treats at the end of the games, being part of a team. All of it. We have to agree that it was a wonderful experience. Jeff especially had an awesome coach and we could not believe how much he learned in such a short amount of time. It definitely made our weeks and weekends busier but it was so worth it.

Jeff - #18

Nate - #12

Father - Son Campout

Our ward had it's first Father-Son Camp-out the first weekend in November. The boys were so excited they could hardly wait. Craig was a little excited too. He has such great memories of camp outs as a kid, so he flew out his dad so he could be a part of the new generation of memory making! They left me and Emmie in a construction zone (due to all the remodeling), packed up the gear and headed to the mountains....oh wait! This is Houston! I guess they headed to the woods. (camping for me growing up meant mountains - not going to find that here!) They had a great turn out, the weather was beautiful, breakfast was great in the morning and the boys actually slept good during the night! What more could you ask for. Craig loves this ward and the friends that he has made. Such great guys to hang out with and look up to!

Hanging out with the boys
Special time with Grandpa!

The ever "manly" tug of war. I'm sure this will be a tradition for years to come.

Now it's the younger boys turn. This picture of Nate sums it all up for me. Good times!!

My boys can't wait for the next year!!

Changes around the house - Very long post!

We have been making a lot of changes to our house. It's about time considering we have been in our house now for 6-1/2 years! Just kidding of course - it is an ongoing process. We replaced the roof (thank you Hurricane Ike), we finally landscaped the front - nothing big mind you, but there are now actually plants there! We were also lucky enough to have Grandpa Smith come out for a week in November to go on a Father-Son camp-out with the boys and then stay on to help us with some bigger projects like tiling the kitchen, baths and entry and replacing the back door. Craig and I are also repainting our bedroom and bath as we speak. Lots of projects - so little time. A BIG "thank you!" again to Dave for all his help. We never could have done it without his help. It was so fun to have him here and visit - we will need to do it again soon without all the chaos!

Here is a picture of our house when we bought it 6-1/2 years ago
We lost the small tree not long after we bought the house, and then Hurricane Ike took care of the big one. It's weird to not have a yard with trees anymore.

We have made other changes like painting the door and shutters black. We ended up over the years taking out all the original plants, and trees (bushes) in the front of the house and we really scaled back the size of area to be landscaped. We put rock along the front........

...added some beautiful plants and...

..there you have it. The finished product - for now. We still have plans to repaint (the same color) the outside and hopefully get our grass back to life. Our front yard has become the neighborhood playing field, and it shows.

Now for the inside. I unfortunately did not take very many photos during this process but what I have will give you and idea of what we have done. (on the kitchen at least!)

Here is the kitchen before - we were still deciding on tile.

Here is everything ripped up and the back door out. This is when things were somewhat still in order. It didn't take long before the fridge was in my den and the dining table in my living room and anything else that was supposed to be somewhere was somewhere else! Those who know me will know how hard this was for me - haha!

Working on the back door

Emmie loved helping her daddy! And I love the one of her just reading and eating popcorn in the middle of all the chaos! She definitely did not get that trait from her mother.

Ta dah! Here is Emmie showing off the finished product.

And here is a quick one of the entry before we grouted. Sorry - not pictures of the bathrooms yet. I am the worst at documenting things. Maybe someday I will post some!!

Halloween 2009

It was actually a little cold for Halloween this year, so the kids were able to wear their costumes without sweating!! It was great! Of course the boys were Star Wars characters and Emmie was Sleeping Beauty - so fun! We took the kids to a few houses on our street before the boys took off with our neighbors and covered the whole neighborhood. Daddy played with Emmie and Mommy sat on the driveway and handed out candy. That's the way you do it in Houston!

The kids pumpkins!

Emmie all dressed up and ready to go
Trying to get some candy from our neighbor's dog

The boys with their buddy Hunter

Organizing the ton of candy that the boys brought home (too bad Mommy ended up eating most of it)

Emmie's Birthday

Hard to believe Emmie is 2 !!! Her birthday was pretty low-key - we ate cake, opened presents, put up Disney Princess decorations and she loved every minute of it!

Our Little Princess