Happy Birthday, Ellie and Caity!

February 28, was Ellie's 5th birthday and the 18th birthday of her cousin, Caity. It's a very special connection for these two. When Ellie was born at 6:52 am, Caity was the first person we called. We caught her just as she was heading off for school and were happy to tell her that we were able to give her just what she had asked for on her 13th birthday! She came to visit in the hospital later that night...


Caity is a very popular cousin, as she is just so fun and playful! We are always happy to have her around at family gatherings, because the kids pester Caity and Matt and I have more time to visit with other adults. Of course, when Caity isn't entertaining kids, the grown-ups also enjoy having someone around whose fun and playful! We send her lots of belated birthday love!

Ellie's birthday party was last weekend and was a very nice time. She had chosen a "pink poodle" theme, which made for some lovely pink and lavender decorations. Her big present was her own two-wheeler, which she is more than ready for. She is anxiously anticipating the first day warm enough to get out and ride! She also got lots of clothes to put on bears and dolls. She's such a sweet little mother!



Ellie took us by surprise five years ago by being the happiest, most content baby I could have imagined! (Actually, after Joe, I would have never thought a baby could be so easy!) I guess the Lord knew we needed one like that as we were in the process of moving and doing our first round of major repairs on our house. She continues to be such a mild-mannered, peaceful child. She's got a wacky side, but she doesn't expect everybody to notice it all the time. She's a great little sister and a great big sister...just delightful. My favorite things about her this year have been reading her stories about "adventurey" girls and singing with her at bedtime until she has the songs memorized and we can sing together. I also love her sense of humor. She often will challenge us to a race after she gets to the finish line. For example, she'll get to the top of the steps, then say, with a smile, "I'll race you to the top!" What a blessing she is to us!

GLOSSY!

The question is... What kind of foolish parents lay their three-year-old down for a nap with a brand new compact of lip gloss right next to her bed?! (She's smiling because she feels so beautiful!)

Happy Birthday, Jeremy!

Today our nephew Jeremy is sixteen years and ten days old, so this is, of course a special day for him. Actually Feb. 15, was probably more special, but we hope he's having a good day today, too. As Jeremy would tell you, there's no one who deserves a better birthday than him, the most humble of all men, and happy to tell you about it! He's great for a laugh, and a talented and kind person to boot. The cross-eyed picture is an old one that we have, and as I have never put it in an album, we come across it in our piles of stuff on the desk periodically. Whenever we do, we just have to laugh, partly because the eye cross is so great and partly because it's this nice, serious family picture where everyone else looks normal and smiley. On this special day, may Jeremy bring everyone a laugh...

Happy Birthday, Erin!

Yesterday was the third birthday of our littlest "Big Girl", Erin Lee. She had a grand day, complete with her choice for supper (pancakes) and her choice for a movie night ("The Heffalump Movie"). Her tricycle is a hit, and she really can almost pedal it. (Either she's bigger than I thought, or it's smaller!)

Of course, for Moms, birthdays are always nostalgic. All day long I was remembering three years ago and how much I was just loving being taken care of in the hospital and focusing on this new little one. And what a privilege to see a personality unfold over the past three years! Erin is our kid who's never met a stranger and is always looking for fun. Just last week, she asked one of the men who was helping in the church nursery if he would, "...please get down on the floor and be a heffalump." He got a kick out of that, but we weren't surprised...it's just so Erin. She's also brought our family new words such as "babypants" for shorts (because they aren't full-grown pants yet) and "hemigana" for sunrise/sunset (long story). And as she's the kid who always wants to be like the big kids, she's delighted to finally be a big three-year-0ld. I sigh as the "terrific two's" slip away, but I'll always be able to look back and smile when I recall one of my favorite memories of Erin, screaming in a fit of passion, "I...DON'T...YIKE...MOMMY...ANYMO'!!"

And just a side note, yesterday was also the birthday of our friend Janice, a fun lady and great role model as a Mom. She visited us last summer, and I told her I'd put this picture on the blog...so I finally did. Happy Birthday, Janice!

Life Goes On...

...whether the blog does or not! I have no excuse for not being more faithful at this lately, other than being very busy with some other projects and feeling sort of dull. I'm sure all my faithful readers (both of them) have given up wondering if I'm every going to post anything again and are long gone. But in the event someone is still interested, here's what's somewhat new with us.

First and foremost, we celebrated Erin's third birthday this weekend. Her actual day is tomorrow, so I'll say more about her then. I like this picture, though. I call it "Sunset of the Terrific Two's".



Matt's been putting together a tricycle tonight in anticipation of the big day tomorrow. It went relatively quickly but looks way too big now that it's together. I was hoping for something our "shortstack" could ride now rather than in two years. We'll see how it goes.


We've been playing in the snow on days that it wasn't too cold (which has actually been most of them lately).



Matt and Joe missed three days of school last week because of snow and cold, which led to other amusements like Family Movie Night. I tried to get a sweet picture of Joe and Ellie being all cozy but discovered that it's impossible to take a picture of my kids while eating popcorn. I have about six shots in a row, all like this one!

Happy Birthday, Carris!

Yesterday our niece Carris turned nine, and we are sending her birthday wishes! Carris lives in Seattle with the part of the family that visits every summer...and we love it! She has a very cool name ("grace" in Greek) and a cool nickname, Chi-Chi (or Cheech)...although I don't think she really likes being called that anymore. My favorite Carris story is that once in school (maybe for Valentine's Day?) the class had to draw a picture of a heart and tell something that they loved (or something like that). For Carris' picture she drew a picture of a real heart with four valves and veins and arteries going in and out of it. I just love that! What an original!

Happy Birthday, Lief and Amy!

Last week Matt's youngest sister and her husband both celebrated their birthdays. They live out in Montana where they went cross-country skiing in Glacier N.P. to celebrate their big days. I've done this with them before and know that it is truly a treat. What a great way to bring in a new age. They even took their three kids with them!

Lief and Amy are the parents of Hans, Mary, and Anna (who hasn't been blogged for her birthday yet). They live in a beautiful house, which they built almost entirely by themselves, while they were living over their garage/"carriage house" for I-don't-know-how-long with three kids. And they all still love each other! They also make great original video productions. Their debut was this Christmas with "Mall Wars", which kept the entire Ohio part of the family riveted on the TV and laughing hysterically. They are just fun to have in the family, and we wish them continued happiness through the year ahead!

Snow Day!

What a surprise! As a weather watcher (especially in the winter), I have never, ever been surprised by a snow day. I can see 'em comin', and I eagerly anticipate. Today just blew me away, though! I had given up hope to the point of not even watching the weather anymore and, lo and behold, we got a few perfectly-timed inches. So...I guess it can happen whether or not I'm watching for it...I'm not as powerful as I thought.

We had been holding onto a Bob Evans gift card for just such an occasion, so we all went out to breakfast, then spent the rest of the day playing (in various ways). It was snowing and blowing for most of the day, so Matt and Joe were the only ones hearty enough to spend any time outside. I think Ellie was probably the happiest in the whole family to have Joe around to play with all day. I love how much they love each other!

All the playing must have distracted Erin because when I went in to get her up from her nap, I found that she hadn't slept at all. I told her I wasn't happy about that, and she promised me that she would sleep tomorrow. When we came downstairs, Matt asked her if she had slept. She folded her hands and calmly said, "I don't think I can tell you that right now." She is just so funny to me!

Happy Birthday, Emily!

And now we move on to the next birthday, our niece, Emily! She turns 21 today, and we hope she made it to wherever she was going. I say this because Emily, as Matt puts it, couldn't drive her way out of a paper bag. She is the one that the whole family loves to tease about getting lost...no matter how close she was to where she was going. For the most part, she takes our teasing pretty well. Hopefully, it's because she knows we love her. The mask picture is one of my favorites of Emily. I took it in the summer of 2002, when she was entertaining some of her younger cousins. Ya gotta love a 16-year-old who will put on a shark mask and chase little kids around a pond. That's one fun cousin!

Happy Birthday, Matt!

We celebrated Matt's birthday last weekend (with his favorite red velvet cake), but the official date was on Monday. He says he had a good day. The day began with a two-hour delay, which didn't materialize into a cancellation from school...that's always kind of a bummer. He did get to start his day with a bowl of Cocoa Krispies, his favorite cereal, which he gets once a year. (It may be the key to his youthfulness!) The girls and I made him his favorite cookies (peanut butter chocolate chip) for an after-school snack, then we had one of his favorite suppers (pork roast, mashed potatoes, etc.). So, I guess he did alright in the food department. He had a couple gifts to open...a sweater, a book, and a magazine subscription...nothing too exciting. For all he means to us, it seems like his special day is never quite special enough. As Jane Austen would say, "He is the kindest and the best of men." We are so blessed!

At Last!

We have snow!!!! We got about four inches between 7 am and noon, so we got to go sledding for the first time this winter! The park down the street has some of the best sledding hills I've ever seen, and we hit them hard. It's so fun to see how much more daring the kids get from one winter to the next!

I love how bright and quiet everything is today. Yesterday our white fence was the brightest object around, and today it looks sort of dingy next to the snow.

Happy Birthday, Uncle Del!

Yesterday was the birthday of my Uncle Del (also known on the blog as UD), the husband of my mom's sister, Aunt Beth (AB). He and my aunt are spending the month relaxing in Florida and enjoying the sun, which seems a little brighter there than in their native Minnesota. On his birthday he may have been golfing, reading at the beach, playing bridge, or maybe something even more exciting. Whatever it was, I hope he enjoyed his day.

Uncle Del is a great cook, as is seen in the picture, and he's also the best one in the family to play partners with in Trivial Pursuit. My mom's Trivial Pursuit box actually has recorded the number of "pie's" his team was able to win in one turn. I think it was four...? He enjoys games of all sorts, but, actually, I don't think Trivial Pursuit is one of his favorites. Bonus points for him for playing it with us every summer on vacation...because it's TRADITION! He also crafted one of the most ingenious contraptions in our house, four little boosters for our card table which make it stand as tall as our dining table. We use them all the time and have yet to see any for sale. It could be his claim to fame someday...if he really wants that sort of thing. He's very special to us, and we wish him lots of love for the year ahead!

Fun At Our House

No big snows yet to keep us entertained, but we're doing the best with what we've got!

A couple weeks ago, we discovered a great new game called Sticker Tag. The kids and I each took one sheet of stickers (the cheap, little dot ones) and chased each other around the yard trying to put the stickers on each other. No points, no winners, just lots and lots of running and laughing. It's so cool to see how they move at the different stages they're in right now. God grows such amazing bodies! (I really could barely keep going when I was chasing Erin. Her little run, combined with her squeals of excitement were just too much!) My kids have never been big on regular tag (I could only ever get them to play for five minutes at the most), but this kind of tag we played for an entire hour! I was a little sore the next day, but it was worth it for the fun we had...and for how easily they went to bed that night.


Then on Friday Joe had the day off of school, and he spent it catching up on playtime with his sisters. They raided the dress up clothes, and I found them acting out the clown scene from Dumbo. Erin was Dumbo, of course, as he is one of her passions right now. Joe and Ellie were having fun making her jump off the "burning house".


For me, it's also been great fun to see the sun again today after three days of rain. What a blessing!

Happy Birthday, Julie and Toby!

Do you suppose that with the time difference it's still Sunday in Seattle? If so, then I'd be right on time in wishing a happy birthday to Matt's sister, Julie, and her son, Toby! (I guess I'm late, huh?)

Twelve years ago, Julie gave birth to Toby on her birthday, which, I think, would pretty much set you up forever in the presents department. Toby is a fun and cool twelve-year-old, whom our kids are a little awed by. Among his many talents, he actually takes fencing lessons, which sort of awes me, too! His mom is a fun and cool person who's older than twelve (and older than Matt by one year). We always look forward to them traveling to visit us in Ohio in the summer and are so thankful that they are faithful to that each year. One other great thing about Julie is that she's the fun aunt who makes birthdays and holidays last a little longer. She sends great presents, even up to a month after the event, which makes them that much more exciting to our kids. So, I guess she won't really mind that this birthday post is a couple days late. There's just that much more love attached!

Go Bucks!

I wonder what it's like to live in a state that's not Ohio tonight. At Wal Mart this morning, I think I maybe saw two people (out of many!) who weren't wearing their scarlet and gray, such is the hype about the BCS Championship against U of Florida. Our kids were all decked out in their OSU gear before they headed off to bed tonight. We let them stay up a little later, so they could see some of the game. They watched for about 20 minutes, which was enough to see both teams score one time. We're almost to halftime now and, as the announcer just said, "It's shaping up to be a wild game..." I know I'm an optimist, but this game hasn't really been what I had in mind.

The football game wasn't exactly what Erin had in mind, either. When she put on her sweatshirt today, and I told her she could wear it for the OSU ball game, she got all excited about going to the ball at OSU. Her visions of twirling to the music may have been dashed, but I think she was OK with it, when she got to practice tackling while we were waiting for the game to start.

God's Resolution (for any year)

(I received this poem in an e-newsletter and thought it was worth sharing.)

New.
New Year.
New toys.
New gadgets to play with.
New things to do.
New things to tantalize.
But what happens to the old?
Thrown away, trashed, burned.
"But it's broken, worn out, used up; it's...it's old!"

And into this world that prizes new things,
which has junk heaps for mountains,
come the words from the One who sits on the throne:
"Behold, I am making all things new." And that's what He does, doesn't he? He takes old things - like you and me, things that are broken with sin, things that are used in the ways of selfishness, things that are tired because of vain pursuits... And instead of holding us at arm's length with disdain - over the trash can - saying:
"It's ...it's old!" He says, "Behold, I am making all things new."

And then He does it.
He takes on body to experience getting older.
He endures the older-than-time taunts of the one
who delights in destroying, in tearing apart.
He knows the age-old temptations to sin.
He hangs on old wood.
Why this throne-leaving to intimately know "old"?
So He can take old hearts and transform them.
So He can make old, sad hearts dance with new joy.
So He can make guilty hearts
know newness of starting over again.
So He can make all of us old sinners
(well practiced in old paths of sin)
know new life.
So He can make all things new.

Kelly Knowlden

New Year, New Look

This is Joe's new look now that he lost his first top tooth this week. It was SOOOOO loose, and he just could not pull it. Then, of all things, it fell out in the night while he was sleeping! He woke up, and it was lying there on his sheet! That's one aggressive tooth fairy!


Erin also has a new look. She has worn this "beautiful tutu" out of the dress up box for the past three days.



Ellie finally has bangs that are long enough to pull back without little clips. (Although, when Matt sees her hair like this, he calls her "Genie".) She had a nice story time with her bears yesterday.

My Verse for the Year

Happy New Year, everybody!

With the dawn of 2007, I have finally decided on the passage of Scripture I will be focusing on for my 35th year of life (as first mentioned here).

My focus this year will be on contentment and the verse I've chosen is Psalm 23:1, "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want." Simple, huh? Not really, for me, but I know He will be faithful to teach me. The word picture of a shepherd guiding and providing for his flock is very powerful, I think. Some other passages I looked up as I was thinking about this topic are:

"But godliness with contentment is great gain." I Timothy 6:6

"Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." Hebrews 11:1

"And my God will supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:19

Happy Birthday, Martha!

Yesterday was the birthday of my beautiful sister, Martha, who celebrated in her home in Uganda with her husband, Eric. We would've loved to have her here to enjoy our spring-like day with us, but I guess she was OK with being near the equator. We did get to sing her to her over the phone, which I'm sure was SUCH a treat! She and Eric were out to dinner when we called. It's good to know she got a little of that on her day.

As my younger sister, Martha has contributed significantly to my development over the years. Just the other day, someone commented to me that I didn't seem like an oldest child. My response was that this is probably because my younger sister never let me boss her around. So, as traumatic as that is for an older sister, I guess I can thank her now. (I wish I could scan in a picture we have of her as a four-year-old, in total control of her Sunday School class.) She's definitely one who likes to think for herself.

It was sort of strange to pass all of Dec. 30th without doing any of the birthday stuff, as we have every other year. With Martha's birthday falling between Christmas and New Year's, we were always all home to celebrate it (something Mart has always relished!).

The internet connection hasn't been very reliable for Team Smith recently, but hopefully Mart will be able to read our birthday wishes soon and catch some of our love across the miles!

Images of Christmas

I thought I'd do this really cool photo essay, but as I look at these pictures, there are so many parts of Christmas that I didn't capture. So, I guess this should be called "Images of Some of Christmas".

We had a wonderful holiday and have been reminded, again, of how VERY blessed we are.