Pile-O-Kids

There's nothing like your siblings, is there? Sometimes they fight. But these rare moments when everyone is getting along are really priceless! I love these babies.

Joe's 1st Grade Music Performance

The first grade classes at Joe's school had a musical performance during last night's PTA meeting.  Since there are so many kids they performed in sets of two classes. Joe had a speaking part between the first and second songs.  He was so excited and he did an awesome job!  He's in the bottom row, six kids from the left.  Notice the theatrical hand movements... we may have a performer on our hands!

Disclaimer: Shaky camera work courtesy of little sisters Abi and Katy.  LOL

Roar!

Abi got her jazz costume this afternoon. They tried the costumes on and had a dress rehearsal.

Life With Three Kids

The length of time that has passed since my last post is probably a good indication of how hectic life with three kids is. In December, we welcomed baby Kathryn into our family. She is such a sweetie pie. We've had a whirlwind of visitors coming by to meet Katy and the past 2 months have flown by.

But now, everyone has gone home and we're adjusting to throwing a newborn into our already jam packed schedule. Now, I'm not complaining AT ALL. I would not have my life be any other way. But I find my days flying by and I often wonder what I did to fill the day. The house is no cleaner than it was the day before, yet all I can do after Joe and Abi go to bed is flop on the couch until Katy is ready for her late feeding and I can drag myself to bed. Today, I think I figured it out:

Today's chores included laundry. I'm really backed up and had every intention of blasting out tons of freshly washed duds. What I did not plan on was doing 3 loads of pee laundry. Only one of those was attributed to my cloth diapered newborn (I planned for that one). Abi and the dog can be thanked for the other 2 loads. And steam cleaning the hallway carpet and mopping the bathroom floor where said accidents occurred. Awesome...  I can't get ahead because they make messes faster than I can clean them up. Grrrr. Oh well. We will just have another day of pulling our not so favorite clothes from the back of the closet.

So that sums up the craziness of life. If you know me, you know that the subpar cleanliness of my house is driving me nuts, but I'll get the hang of it one of these days.

Other than that, everyone and everything is great. Joe is doing really well in school. He's excelling in every subject, especially reading and math. I can't believe 1st grade is almost over! He's also playing soccer again and is really enjoying Cub Scouts. He won a free week at Cub Scout day camp, so he's looking forward to that for the summer.

Abi is also doing really well at school. I can't believe how much she's learning. She's picked up an extra gymnastics class and is also dancing. Her dance class is getting ready for their recital... a constant noise in our house is Abi and Joe dancing to "I just can't wait to be king" from the Lion King.

And baby Katy is such a sweet baby. She was Baptized in January and it was an amazing day filled with family and close friends! The third baby definitely grows the fastest and I keep wishing she would slow down. But I wouldn't trade her smiles for anything. She's such a good baby (except in the car. LOL)!

Dave and I are just trying our best to juggle it all.

The only one not doing well is the dog, Zoe. She's been diabetic since last spring. It has taken the better part of her eyesight and she's often depressed. She has good days and bad days. Unfortunatley, she's had more bad days than good lately. :-(

And that's life today in the Smiths' crazy house!

Halloween 2011

Happy Halloween 2011!  Abi and Joe had such a fun day of parties and trick-or-treating.  Abi dressed as Kiki from The Fresh Beat Band (a kids' show on Nick Jr.) and Joe was Jack from the Magic Treehouse books for Storybook Character Day at school and then Spiderman for trick-or-treating.

Abi and I started the day with her school's Halloween party, which was held at a fellow student's home.  Her teachers did a great job setting up lots of games for the kids to play and prizes to win.  She ran and played with her friends, sang Halloween songs, played games, decorated a cookie (which was eaten before the sprinkles could set), made a foam mummy craft and jumped on the trampoline, of course.  After all, Tiny Tumblers is a gymnastics school!  Haha.

Abi and her school friends singing "5 Little Pumpkins"

"Kiki" Abi making a Halloween scene

Abi's spooky scene

"Kiki" jumping on the trampoline

After a picnic lunch at Abi's party, we headed over to Joe's school.  First we helped with art class, like we always do on Mondays and then went back to his classroom for his Halloween activities.  Technically, they're not supposed to have parties for Halloween, so the teacher and room moms did a great job of setting up some educational activities for the kids.

Joe dressed as "Jack" from the Magic Treehouse book "Vacation Under The Volcano".  He's in a tunic (Daddy's undershirt) since the story takes place in ancient Rome.  "Jack" wears glasses... Joe just chews on them!  Here he is doing flashcards with a classmate's grandma.

Looking pensive with his pencil at the pumpkin decorating station.  He had to write down what he did first, next and last while decorating.

Joe's decorated pumpkin

Some of the other pumpkins from classmates

Skeleton cupcakes!  My contribution to the party.  Little did I know that the food station would include a worksheet where the kids had to write down healthy foods vs. unhealthy foods.  Of course I got assigned the unhealthy food.  Haha.  Oh well, they were yummy!

After Joe's non-party, we came home and got ready to go trick-or-treating.  Our neighbors got together for a potluck and we set up a few chairs on our driveway so everyone could hand out candy together.  We had a great time talking to neighbors and letting the kids play.  The daddies all took the kiddos trick-or-treating while the mommies passed out candy.  Lots of trick-or-treaters as always, but I think I overestimated how many we would have and have gobs of candy left over.  By the way, the baby likes the candy I bought... it needs to leave my house before I eat it all!

Our "Angry Birds" pumpkin

Bats!   Ahhhhhhhhh!

"Kiki" and "Spiderman"

Ready to trick-or-treat.  There's so much candy in our house now!

Then we all crashed from an overdose of sugar and sheer exhaustion!

Fall Fun

We've had such a busy fall with lots of weekend events keeping us hopping.  I realized that I haven't updated the blog since the first few weeks of school/activities.  Here's some photos to catch up...

Joe used Play Doh to practice his spelling words and then took some much needed playtime.

Sissy's turn!

Abi making a fall craft with our Pray & Play friends

Cowgirl/Rocker/Pink Saints Fan/Chick

Playing cars together on a Saturday morning

Baking cupcakes for Dave's birthday

Happy Birthday Dave/Daddy!

Abi at "Pinkalicious The Musical" with her girlfriends, Victoria and Amelia

Abi with "Pinkalicious" after the show (which was very fun and PINK!)

Joe and our friend, Amelia at the St. Tammany Parish Fair.  Note: Abi does not do rides, thank you.  Haha.

Abi, Joe and Amelia petting a bunny at the Fair

Joe wanted to check out his elementary school's art booth

Joe and his fellow Tiger Cubs at a junior high football game (a fun place to have their Den meeting!)

Saluting the flag before the football game

Joe and Dave went to Joe's first campout, Cuboree.

Sitting around the Cuboree campfire.  Moments later, they went into the tent to go to bed and Joe lost his first tooth!

While the boys were at Cuboree, Abi and Mommy had a Princess Makeover... BEFORE

Curling hair (camera's on the tripod... no strange folks in the house while the boys were away.  LOL)

The Princess Makeover... AFTER

Abi brought her friend, Victoria to dance on "Bring A Friend" day

Daddy and Joe making his Cub Scout Raingutter Regatta boat

Starting the camouflage paint-job 

Tossing around the football while waiting for the paint to dry

Future Drew Brees

At the Raingutter Regatta with the completed boat.  Ready to race!

Blowing his boat down the raingutter.  The races are done in  single elimination bracket format.  Race #1... Joe WINS!

... by a mile!

Winning another race

Joe won four rounds before being eliminated by a Webelo Scout (4th grader)

Whew!  All that in mid-September to the end of October.  Not to mention school, work, soccer games, etc., etc., etc.  These kiddos are busy, but we're having lots of fun!

And let's not forget about Baby.  I'm currently 32 weeks along and doing well.  My last ultrasound went well (although the 3D ultrasound produced no good photos... shy baby!).  I have another check-up this week.  Besides being worn out from chasing the kids around town and growing a baby at the same time, all is good.

Abi's First Dance Class

Abi has been begging, I mean absolutely BEGGING, to take ballet all summer.  If we read a book about ballerinas, she would act it out and talk about her imaginary ballet class.  Then she'd ask in her sweetest little girl voice if she could take ballet.  What could we say?  I told her to ask her Daddy and of course, like all Daddies who are wrapped around their daughter's fingers, he melted.  

Abi started her combination ballet and tap class yesterday afternoon.  She has been so excited.  A few weeks ago, we picked out her pink leotard, pink tights, ballet slippers and tap shoes.  I didn't have to tell her twice to get dressed yesterday and she insisted that her hair needed to be in a "ball" (a bun).  She sat perfectly still while I put her hair in a ponytail, twisted it into a bun and pushed 4 bobby pins into her tiny bun.  She was very careful in her carseat not to mess her hair!  

Abi's class is 2 and 3 year olds and her teacher is Miss Heidi.  It seems like a very relaxed setting with the kids in a circle and Abi followed EVERY direction.  She had such a great time and is already asking when she can go again.  Princess Ballerina Abigail has arrived!

By the way, sorry for the poor photo and video quality.  The viewing area is outside of a one-way window, so there's quite a bit of glare and reflections of the other parents.  Anyway, I think we still captured the cuteness factor of our tiny dancer.

Waiting patiently for class to begin

Abi's class

Tip toe, tip toe

Ballet - The Hello Song

Tap - Practicing and The Hokey Pokey