Reconnaissance...complete?

Sorry the posts have been few and far between. A lot of it has to do with the fact that for some reason, I feel the need to post a picture every time. So, this post will be sans photo. The last week and a half have been spent driving around Texas again. You would think we'd be used to it by now--we haven't exactly been the most stationary couple over the past 8+ years. At least the kids are older (and easily entertained with new hotel rooms every couple of days and pit stops at Grandpa and Grandmas house). The car DVD player is definitely paying for itself!

So, what's the verdict? Let's just say the older I get, the more indecisive I am. It takes me weeks of internet research to decide which shaving cream to try next--how can I be expected to bear the weight of where our family will spend the next 20+ years living happily (I hope)? Time is against us at this point--we really do need to make a decision within the next couple of weeks.

Who's in the running--initially Athens was the only real option. Port Lavaca was thrown into the mix (mainly 'cuz if we're gonna stay in Texas I wanted to at least consider the coast). Some last minute research from Kari pulled Decatur into the viewing. And after a phone call from a rep has us searching for Mt Pleasant we noticed we had overlooked Sulphur Springs. So, those are probably the Final Four (although the phone still rings frequently with other offers). Now it's just distilling all the myriad of variables to see which town will be the most compatible with our family.

Any suggestions?

1,2...3

Rachel had her big day on Saturday. It only took us 3 days of prepping her (both before and after the actual day) to help her realize that she was "2" and now she's "3". It was nice that her birthday fell on a Saturday. We could do the family thing as well as have a party with her friends all on the same day. Rachel had her friends over in the morning for her "My Littly Pony Party" (not trademarked--please don't sue me Hasbro). It was a nice enough day that the majority of the party was spent just playing with odds and ends (read: junk) in the back yard. The only game played was "Pin the Tail on the Donkey (I mean pony)" and it was a real hit. It looked like some pony came into the house and puked pink everywhere--pink cake, pink lemonade, pink ice cream--Rachel's heaven (and my hell).

The evening was spent rubbing elbows with Waco urbanites at Peter Piper's Pizza. I think the kids are developing a bit of a gambling habit. I had to pull Jacob away from those ticket games like ten times. Remind me not to take the kids to Vegas--I think they'd hawk their dad if it meant sticking a quarter in a machine for a single ticket!

All in all it was a good day. Thanks for the presents and calls. It has been like a big long "Pony Christmas" for Rachel--now, where to put them all!

Christmas Craziness!

Well, the blur that was Christmas has come and gone yet again! Every year the getting and giving of presents gets less exciting for us--but it definitely gets more exciting to watch the kids.

We also enjoy the contact with familiar faces. We got our card off and were glad to hear from so many of our old friends. Where does the time go?

Well, Christmas (in a nutshell) was spent up in Dallas again this year. We split the time with the McClanahans and the Smiths. It was good to see all the siblings (minus Kurt and his family stuck out in Cincinnati). Christy brought the new boyfriend down to meet the family. At first we thought the guy was crazy for dedicating so much of Christmas break to be crammed into a tiny apartment with all of our family. But, he seems like an okay kid--so we didn't hold it against him.

The girls got clothes and dolls. The boys got video games and Red Rider BB guns (and "no", they haven't shot their eyes out yet!).

Here's wishing you all a Happy New Year early! Keep in touch during 2008!

Dancing with the Star!

Hannah made her big dancing debut this week! Kari's dance gene must have double penetrance because goodness knows I have no interest in this sort of thing. Basically it was a weekend workshop and a dress rehearsal followed by 15 minutes of dance spread out over an exhausting hour. Hannah's group danced about 90 seconds of that entire time. Despite the look of terror in our daughter's eyes (and the stuffed chihuahua's for that matter), I think Hannah's stage fright is getting better. Santa made his debut at the end of the performance and Kari got to explain to the other thee kids why Santa only had a candy cane for Hannah's happy feet and nothing for the kids in the audience that had to endure the grueling performance. No permanent harm done--I'm sure it'll make the truth about the faults of Santa easier to swallow down the road.

Christmas...again

Yes, it's that time of year again. The time we spend hours moving junk around the garage only to get more junk out of the attic. Then we haul down boxes upon boxes of decorations. Then there's the time spent setting everything up (only to find the top 1/3 and every other branch along the bottom of your pre-lit Christmas tree won't light anymore). By the time it's all over the only thing I can think about is how much of a pain it will be to shove all that junk (and, of course, the stuff that's accumulated this year) back into their boxes and back into the attic! Don't even get me started on stringing Christmas lights around the roof outside (only to find out there's a short fuse somewhere in the line--twice)!

But, it is fun to see how excited the kids get. In fact, they had the tree decorated in under 5 minutes. Now if I could only teach them to write the yearly Christmas card!

the tooth, and nothing but...

...the tooth. Another typical week at the Smith household. Take a good look and Jonathan tooth #8 (that right upper central incisor). Due to a good game of chase the loose ball at the gym, Jonathan (with some aid from Jacob) ate the hard wood. The wreckage entailed some bleeding and wiggling and--after a trip to the dentist--a death sentence for old #8. So, the less-than white tooth of Johnny's will be headed for greyer waters. Took one last pic for posterity. Luckily, God gave us permanent teeth to follow. However, if Smith genetics prevail, Jonathan will be able to show off "Ol' Grey" for a number of years yet.

Otherwise, not a whole lot else going on. We'll be working on Christmas cards this week. Maybe we will have them out before Christmas this time around!

First Entry

Well, it's official... the Smith Family has entered the 21st century. Dad kinda started the weekly letter thing. I thought this might be a venue for us "Waco Smiths" to do that as well as sharing photos to a broader community. Also, it would let those interested browse when they want to (and in turn ignore when they want to). It just seems like the family is getting more distant and the kids are growing up fast, so this might be a way to keep everyone up to speed. I am not making any promises has to how timely or often this might be updated, but it's a start.

So what's the latest news?... Well, we ventured back to the Dallas area for Thanksgiving. We celebrated Milo's 2nd birthday on Wednesday night (actual birthday was Friday). Got to check out Brad and Kari's new Prius. Like the car... wish we like the color! Thanksgiving wouldn't be Thanksgiving if it wasn't at the Pierings. We did the double dinner, splitting half the time with Mom and Dad and the other half with the McClanahan's (and 20+ guests). It always ends up the same... us in some tryptophan-induced haze that ends with a great deal of sleeping.

I gave myself my early Christmas present--a digital Pentax SLR. It's an attempt to get better pics of the kids. The sad thing is we have taken only about 50+ pics since Rachel was born. Mom is doubtful (so am I for that matter), but we'll give it a shot.

This month, I am back on service (translates into taking call and having 2 weekends off this month). Needless to say, we're looking forward to seeing everyone again at Christmas.

Well, that's enough for a first entry... We'll see what follows...