Christmas Fun

We are back from our week-long Christmas Extravaganza! Here are some highlights:

First, we started our Christmas Eve Day with a workout and Druber's donuts. Santa was there! So Ollie had his first picture taken with the big guy.
Next, we went to Maryville, Mo where we spent a couple days with Tyler, Erin and Addilyn. Ollie and Addilyn seemed to acknowledge each other a bit better this time--it was so funny to watch them interact with each other!
Courtney bought (then made) them these beautiful rocking horses.

This was the "funny" part of our time with Tyler and Erin. While making Christmas dinner, the garbage disposal broke, which led to a clog in the pipes in their sink. Needless to say, we couldn't use their sink the rest of our time there. Luckily, they have two bathrooms--it made doing dishes interesting!!!Here are some present pictures:

From Missouri, we drove the 80 miles to the KCI airport, expecting to leave around 1:45. 8 hours and 3 cranky Smith's later, we finally departed. Apparently, Skybus has 7 planes, and 2 were down. That pushed us back quite a bit! The good side? We now know every nook and cranny of the Kansas City airport.

We had 3 days with Joel's family in Columbus, Ohio. We stayed with Joel's sister, Sara and husband Kris. We spent most of our time: playing Wii, eating, and playing cards. Below are a few fun pictures:

The boys playing tennis on the Wii.
Drew helping Ollie play.
Us playing cards...okay, just imagine Sara was a few steps earlier in the picture...I tend to take horribly-timed shots!!!

We had a super time and are glad to be safely home.

Merry Christmas!

Hi! We will be leaving tomorrow for Maryville, MO where my brother and his wife live. From there, Wednesday we fly to Columbus, OH to see Joel's side of the family. We hope you enjoy the holiday! We leave you with the link to an EXCELLENT video that appeared on SNL a few years back. Enjoy!

www.youtube.com/watch?v=b7-CzjmfIxI

(You'll probably have to cut and paste that into your browser bar thingy...)

Boys Will Be Boys!

Snow Day! We had 4 inches of snow this morning--and it was so windy, we were in a blizzard warning! I'd never seen such white-out conditions--we couldn't even see across the street at times!!!!

Here are some pictures of our Ollie doing 'boy' things...

Play with "sticks" (or wrapping paper tubes)
This video is of him playing with his truck. He makes this spitting noise alot--but especially while playing with his truck and tractor!

All I want for Christmas...

My Two Front Teeth!!!!! They're almost here--I can't wait. Until they come--I chew on whatever I find, and I fuss a lot more than normal--just to get those extra hugs and kisses.
My newest trick is climbing on whatever I can find. I especially love going through the chairs in our dining room. No easy road for me!!!!!!
Booo!

Tool Man

Two things:
1. Ollie is now into tools. He likes to cruise all over--and finds Joel in the bathroom (the one we're working on) often. He now digs in the tool box for tools--when we're not looking! We try to keep him out of there--but this one was too cute.


2. We had more ice! It was beautiful, and luckily, didn't affect the roads here.

Cookies, Ice and Vomit

Our weekend could be summed up by those words! Because of the threat of yucky weather, Courtney (Kendall's sister) came up Friday night and spent the night so we'd be ready for our baking day! We spent the entire day Saturday baking Christmas goodies: sugar cookies, candy cane cookies, mint and peanut butter cookies, bars and hot chocolate mix. Mmmmm!!! Then, because it got worse that day--Courtney stayed another night! She took lots of funny pictures of Ollie...
Ollie got sick (after Daddy tried to feed him tuna!) and just didn't feel well all weekend. In fact, he stayed home today with Joel. He still is a little whiny (as the pictures and video show). It's so sad when he gets sick!

Finally, we are expecting yet another round of ice tonight! Can we say "snow day"? I'm keeping my fingers crossed!

Deep Thoughts

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that we now have the link to a "Deep Thought of the Day" to the right. They're incredible...try one today!

Like Father, Like Son #2058

Here are two shirts of Joel's that Ollie has worn this week. They're so cute! The first is a basketball shirt and it says "Willie Dribble". Cute, huh? The second is a little football shirt. They're actually a bit tight, but that's the style these days, right?

Bathrooms and Birthdays Dos

Well, here we are--8 months since Ollie's Birth Day. He is getting more fun than ever--talking non-stop, playing, doing the army crawl, laughing at himself in the mirror, waving, eating EVERYTHING, and playing with us. So much fun.

And, no blog would be complete without progress on our bathroom--tonight we (meaning Joel) installed the sink, last night we finished the tile. Here are some new pictures...

Thanksgiving Festivities

We spent our Thanksgiving Day in El Dorado at my parent's house. Tyler and Erin and Addilyn were at Erin's parents' house, so it was just Courtney, mom and dad, and us. Small but fun. We ate lots of food, drank lots of coffee and enjoyed being entertained by Ollie. My how things change...



















Mom and dad worked to make our delicious meal: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing (Stove Top of course), rolls, corn, cranberries, pumpkin pie, banana cream pie...mmmmmmm....

Ollie enjoyed his first Thanksgiving, too. He ate: mashed potatoes, stuffing, cranberries, rolls, applesauce, and corn. Seriously--that kid can eat!




















Ollie also spent the day playing in a diaper and boots. And of course, he rarely left the arms of Aunt Courtney...except when she slept and took (again) random pictures on my camera...

No holiday trip to El Dorado would be complete without Dad's racetrack...here is his picture.
And finally, this morning, we bought and put up our tree. It sure feels like a wintry day today! Snow in the forecast, 30 degrees...mmmm...I love the holidays!

Birthdays and Bathrooms

Yes, today I am...ahem...24...and for my birthday (my 24th, remember?) Joel and Oliver surprised me with some end tables that I've been wanting! Here they are!

And.....we finished the trim and crown molding today. What do you think?

My Incredibly Talented Husband

Yes, he can beatbox, play "Chopsticks" and "Heart and Soul", and make a mean cheesecake. But today, I'm writing because he is finishing our bathroom with lightning speed! Check out our newest pics! (Tonight he's cutting the white trim to go between the two colors--we'll post a new picture when that's done!) Still to do this week: nail the trim and crown molding up, tile the floor, paint the doors and other old trim, nail the new baseboard, hang the mirror and light, put the toilet, tub and sink back in, and cover the light switches and outlets. Ahhh....a week off.

Christmas Time!!!!!

It's his newest trick. He'll wave "bye-bye" to anyone or anything at anytime--not necessarily just when you're leaving. We have a video but we'll post it later.


Twinkies: Daddy and Ollie dressed like twins for church today!
And as for gifts for Christmas for Ollie? Well, he's still deciding between the miter saw and a new drill...

Well, He Found the...

Video cabinet! He's been fascinated with the knobs for a couple weeks now, and he recently learned how to open the door. Now he knows that inside are videos! Apparently, he has a similar taste in entertainment as his dad...
His newest trick is waving...but he won't do it for a camera. I'll try to capture that one on video soon!

Our Weekend

We had such a fun weekend. Joel, Oliver and I drove out to El Dorado to spend the day with my wonderful family. We took pictures that actually turned out well! We ate, were entertained by the babies, and celebrated my birthday. (24th, of course!) Here are a few pictures to capture it all. We're keeping the good shots hidden for the big Christmas unveil! :-)

A close-up of Ollie with Aunt Courtney...

A far-away shot of Ollie and Aunt Courtney...

My weird sister...

My odd brother and sister...by the way--I didn't take these...they were playing with my camera.

My niece Addilyn in her cute monkey costume...

Addilyn and Ollie with Uncle Tyler. His shirt (in case you would like to know) says "Country + Rap = Crap". Isn't that funny?