The awesome gymnast, Berklee!

I have been bad about posting. Sorry, things have been crazy! Berklee did very well at State Meet a couple of weekends ago. She took Third place in the All Around, Second on Floor, Fifth on Vault, and Fifth on bars. She fell on beam and still did that well in the All Around. She is awesome. I can't imagine what her standing would have been without the fall. She was really excited! We are soooo proud of her. She had a great meet season and did very well at all her meets. She is moving to the next level which is level 7. She is excited about this because she gets her own choreographed routines. This is a big step. So that means more time and money. Oh well, she is gaining a lot of good from this sport.

We got our first snow storm yesterday. Brevin didn't come inside at all last night until I made him. He was busy making a snow fort. Which required the use of all the snow from the ENTIRE yard since it wasn't a very big snow storm. But he didn't care. He was so excited. This morning he jumped out bed and get ready for school in record time because he wanted to spend as much time outside playing in the snow before his ride came. He is soooo funny!

Brightyn's birthday is tomorrow. She is soooo excited. We have been counting down the days. She is going to be five. I can't believe that my baby will be five years old. She wants to go ice skating and to McDonald's for dinner. Jason and I are hoping that we can talk her into a better place for dinner. hehe. She was excited about the snow as well and spent a couple of hours today playing in it and making Frosty the snow man!!


Thanksgiving was wonderful. We had great food and time to relax. It was soooo nice. We are officially in the mix of the crazy Holiday Season. Which is my favorite time of the year. I just hope I can get everything done. I am limited on my time with out kids around and I can't take Brightyn because she will tell all. She can't keep a secret at all!!

hard work = great students

We have the best kids. Both Berklee and Brevin came home with fabulous report cards. The other night Jason and I had the opportunity to meet with both of their teachers. Berklee and Brevin's teacher had nothing but wonderful things to say about them both.

Berklee's teacher told us that she is a wonderful student that gives her personal best all of the time and is a complete joy to have in class. She is respectful to others and is kind to everyone. She is excelling in fourth grade. Berklee is very happy and content!

Brevin's teacher said that he is a joy to have in class. He is a leader and a helper! She said that Brevin's class mates follow him. He is a great reader. His is reading at a 2nd grade level. He loves math and does very well at it. She said that he is wonderful in class. She did say that he has a tendancy to talk and be distracted at times. Brevin loves to socialize and the girls love him. I went in to volunteer in his class today and one of the other 1st grade teachers told me that most of the girls in her class had a crush on Brevin. He is such a cutie!!!

This is the payment as a parent. To actually hear and see how well your children do in school and in society. When they are successful I feel successful!!! I am a very proud parent tonight!!!

Brevin the chick magnet!

Since First grade began Brevin has started to notice the "girls". He comes home every day with a note from a different girl that has hearts all over it. He tells me that so and so has a crush on him. The name changes every other day. He is pretty proud of it. On Saturday he was invited to a class mate's birthday party. Brevin had been out all morning long riding his bike. He came home with some mud on his back legs from riding through a puddle. He told me that he needed to take a shower. I told him to just wash his legs with a wash cloth because he was just going to get stinky and dirty at the party. He ignored me and came in the house and hopped in the shower. After the shower he used Dad's body spray to smell really good. Then he proceeded to do his hair(styling it) and put on fresh new clothes. I thought that is was funny that he would go to all this effort for a birthday party. So I asked him if there was going to be girls at this party. He shook his head and replied, "Yes Mom, the entire class was invited including the girls!" So he was worried about looking and smelling good. Jason and I had a good laugh. I think he is starting way too young! Of course Dad said, "It is hard being a Smith guy! This is what you have to deal with when all of the Ladies want you!" Whatever!!

Brightyn Busy Hands!!!

Today Brightyn and I ran some errands. One of those errands was to develop some pictures. While I was using the kiosk she went over to where they had fun Disney character plates and other picture gift ideas on display. I heard a loud crash and then she was crying and running toward me. The entire display of picture plates came crashing to the ground. The store clerks gave me a dirty look. The good news was that the one and only glass plate was barely hanging on when I got over to the mess. So nothing broke except Brightyn's pride. She kept saying, "Everyone is looking at me!" Every store we went to after that she kept touching everything in sight. I kept saying the same thing over and over again. "Please don't touch!" It was like she was possessed and couldn't stop touching things! Shopping with a four year old is always an adventure.

Brevin came home from school and put on his football pants and long black socks and went outside to play football. He is addicted to football. One of the things he is asking Santa for is an athletic supporter(cup). He has been begging for one since football started. I signed him up for Jr Jazz basketball today. It starts in January. He hasn't had much interest in basketball so maybe this will get him excited about it. I know Dad really wants him to like it!

Berklee is excelling at school. She is so conscientious and responsible. Gymnastics just makes her even more dedicated and disciplined! She is an amazing young lady. I am really proud of her. She takes great pride in all she does. She is 100% tweener. She wants clothes, make up,(which she can't wear) and hair stuff for Christmas.


When I came home from my marathon in New York I had my medal around my neck. Brightyn's face lite up and she replied, "OH Mommy, you won!" I said, "No, I just took 2nd place!" While I winked at Berklee and Brevin. Well, Brevin went to school the next day and told his teacher that I had taken second place in the New York City marathon. Brightyn still believes that I won it! I just laughed. Kids are the greatest! No matter what, they think you are fabulous! I am always a winner with my kids.

What to wear???

In our house in the morning you would think that this would be a question that my girls have. Instead it is Brevin that has the hardest time picking out clothes to wear to school. Brevin is 100% boy except for when it comes to clothes. I do more laundry for him because he is constantly changing clothes and he can never decide what to wear. This morning he headed out to school in a black under armour shirt with black shorts and red wrist bands that he had carefully placed right below his knees! Yes, I said knees. His wardrobe consists primarily of sports jerseys and athletic wear. He is soooooo cute and funny!!!


Brightyn is sooooo excited about her up coming birthday. We are counting down the days. She tells me that she wants to go shopping, swimming, eating, and to Chuckee Cheeses!! She also wants every girly thing she sees on TV. Today she showed me the doll she wants from The American Girl doll catalog. It is the doll that looks like her. She is sooo cute!!

Berklee has started to question Santa because all of her class mates keep saying that he isn't real. She believes with her whole heart and we told her the magic of Christmas is real and to never stop believing. It is hard to watch your sweet innocent child be frustrated by other kids that try to take her innocence away.

The kids sense that the Holidays are around the corner. You can feel it in the air. We are already talking about writing our letters to Santa. Life is soooo beautiful through the eyes of a child. They certainly keep you young at heart!!

Mom and Dad are back!!

We are back from New York City. What an amazing experience. Mom got the opportunity of running the NYC marathon with 39,000 other people. The largest marathon on record. It was incredible. An experience of a lifetime. SHE LOVED IT!!!!

I am not sure our kids are excited about having us home. Grammy was in charge and she is 100% fun with no rules. We appreciate having Grammy around to help us out so that we can experience once in a lifetime opportunities!

Berklee, Brevin, and Brightyn had a good weekend as well. They ate lots of fast food and spent a lot of Grammy's money at the Dollar Store.

Berklee had fun sitting up late in bed one night with Grammy just talking about life!! In fact when Grammy left Berklee began crying because she missed her. Brevin made mom the cutest "go for it" note for her marathon, with pictures and all. Brevin got mad one night at Grammy and slammed his bedroom door. A few minutes later he had made a sorry note for Grammy. Brevin is big into notes for his family. He writes at least 5 a night! Brightyn keeps calling me Grammy. It takes her a while to transition back to calling me mom! Brightyn kept Grammy on her toes. Her social schedule is hard to keep track of. She has lots of friends in the neighborhood and is constantly finding new ones to play with. She goes house to house playing the day away!!


Everyone has caught a cold, including poor Grammy. Jason and I are hoping that we can dodge the cold bug this time around.

We are off to a good start with the new school week. We didn't have school on Monday so it is a short week for the kids. Which everyone is excited about. We are busy with homework so I will try to post again tomorrow! Until then don't forget to laugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Hauntings!!

Well another Halloween has successfully come and gone. The kids looked amazing this year. They all had great costume ideas and mom found great props to complete their look!

Berklee was a mad scientist. So awesome. She wore a balding crazy hair wig, funny glasses, and matching mustache and gotee! She wasn't recognizable at all. It was all her idea. I just had fun putting it together.

Brevin was an amazing Gargoyle. Boy, was that a tough costume to put together. I made the mistake of pulling up a website that showed fun Halloween costumes and Brevin saw the Gargoyle and didn't want to be anything else but that. I tried and tried to change his mind. He was set on being a Gargoyle. His costume ended up being amazing. The make up process took some time and wasn't very comfortable. We had to use glue to adhere parts of his mask. The hardest part was getting the glue off. We spent more time in the tub scrubbing glue off his face than actually putting his face on. As he was crying in the tub he was saying that he was not going to be anything next year that required something that would go on his face. I warned him in advance and he still wanted to be a Gargoyle. He couldn't wait to take off his nose at the end of the night!!


Brightyn was a MEAN queen. Not just a queen, a mean one. It was all her idea. She loves to read Snow White and came up with the idea by herself. She looked sooooo awesome! She wore a purple and gold velvet long dress, a black long hair wig, and a gold crown. I made up her face to look mean. She did not look at all like herself with the black hair. At her pre school Halloween program her teacher didn't recognize her. It was sooo great. So many people kept telling her that she wasn't recognizable that by the evening she would say, "Hi, I am Brightyn. I am not "anizable"!! Because she couldn't say recognizable. It was soooo funny. She would say this to people that we knew in our neighborhood.


The kids made out like bandits with candy. We have pounds and pounds of it. It didn't help that we didn't have as many trick or treaters this year so we have the candy that I purchased left over as well. UGH!!! Everyone had a great time. Even Dad who was the lucky one that got to take everyone around. Our whole neighborhood goes together, which is like 22 kids. It is a blast for our kids. The weather was perfect. So the the three b's stayed warm and dry.

Jason and I are headed out of town tomorrow morning for the big NYC marathon. So I will update this when we return.