Snow, Snow, Snow

We had about 7 inches of snow fall this weekend in JC. Our neighbor said it is the most snow since 1998! We are no strangers to snow, but learned that southerners freak out when there is snow fall and they do not know how to drive AT ALL in the snow! But, we have had a great time playing in it. We took the kids sledding and EVERYONE loved it! The scenery was beautiful!




The view from the top of the sledding hill!

Alyssa and Isaiah walking back up the hill!

Daddy and his kiddos ready to go down the hill!

Mommy and Ella.

Johnson City Happenings

Alyssa was in the Christmas Parade with the cheerleaders.

Alyssa's first basketball game. Hilarious!

The decorated tree!

Special Delivery!

A native American celebrating Thanksgiving!

A few pics

The trampoline is awesome! They really love it!

With their pumpkins. Notice their attire. We LOVE Tennessee weather.

The boys jamming together.

Beautiful

So, you all know that Alyssa LOVES, LOVES, LOVES makeup and dressing up and being fashionable and cool. I wish I could say that she gets some of the "coolness" from me, but you all know that isn't true:) Tim and I know she loves these things and although we don't share the same passions, we try to encourage her interests. Having said that, we also want to make sure that she isn't buying too much into what our world, mainly our media, promotes as beautiful. It is a hard line to walk with a little girl, and we continue to struggle with the balance of it. Anyhow, this week while I was sick, Tim downloaded a song and a video that he showed to her. He watched the video with her and we both discussed with her what the song and the video meant. She is beautiful just the way she is! She got it!

So, tonight as I was tucking her into bed, I saw a paper on the floor (of course it was on the floor) with some of her handwriting on it. Here is some of what it said:

"Litil grle tteun one the tage that you have dune I wish you see bute is so butfole. BudFole is so Budfole your so budfol the you that you are you dot have to pute on mace-up to mace you budfol. Your budfol just the way you are. "

Below is the words to the song "More Beautiful You" by Johnny Diaz. I hope Alyssa and Ella always know that they are beautiful the way that God made them!

More Beautiful You
Little girl fourteen flipping through a magazine
Says she wants to look that way
But her hair isn’t straight her body isn’t fake
And she’s always felt overweight

Well little girl fourteen I wish that you could see
That beauty is within your heart
And you were made with such care your skin your body and your hair
Are perfect just the way they are

There could never be a more beautiful you
Don’t buy the lies disguises and hoops they make you jump through
You were made to fill a purpose that only you could do
So there could never be a more beautiful you

Little girl twenty-one the things that you’ve already done
Anything to get ahead
And you say you’ve got a man but he’s got another plan
Only wants what you will do instead
Well little girl twenty-one you never thought that this would come
You starve yourself to play the part
But I can promise you there’s a man whose love is true
And he’ll treat you like the jewel you are

So turn around you’re not too far
To back away be who you are
To change your path go another way
It’s not too late you can be saved
If you feel depressed with past regrets
The shameful nights hope to forget
Can disappear they can all be washed away
By the one who’s strong can right your wrongs
Can rid your fears dry all your tears
And change the way you look at this big world
He will take your dark distorted view
And with His light He will show you truth
And again you’ll see through the eyes of a little girl

Halloween and the Zoo

The whole gang. We trick or treated with the neighbors.

Hannah Montana, the witch and Optimus Prime.

Carving our pumpkin.

At the zoo.

In front of the elephants.

A visit from friends and a very bubbly bath

We had a visit this weekend from great friends of ours. They brought 3 or their 4 girls and the kids had a blast. Here are a couple pics. Also, Ella and Isaiah had a crazy bubbly bath the other night and just thought the pictures were funny.


Optimus Prime, Princess Audrey and Princess Clara putting on a show.

The other twins - Alyssa and Emmaline

Bubble girl.

Notice all the bubbles on the floor too from Isaiah getting out and looking at himself in the mirror. Good times.

The Scooby Doo party

Discovering the loot! His favorite gift was a make-your-own birdhouse and some Bakugons.

We tried to do relay races, but they didn't go so well inside.

Blowing out the candles.

Everyone!

Here are some pictures of the very loud, very fun Scooby-Doo party. I think we had 13 kids here including our own. It rained that day, so we had to stay inside, but still had a lot of fun. I think the highlight was the monster hunt (Isaiah's idea)! Overall, a fun party but glad we have another year before we have to do it again.

Potty mouth

Ella ends every sentence with "Tooty-toot-toot."

She also announced in the library that she "tooted, pooted, tooted" after I asked her where her hair barrett was.

She also told me that girls have bottoms and boys have peanuts.

She is on a roll lately!

Hello Again

The day of Isaiah's Scooby-Doo party (more pictures to follow). Check out his outfit that one of his friend's moms made for him.

Can't believe she is 7! She chose birthday ice cream instead of cupcake.

He is a "whole hand"

Pretty Ella girl!

It has been quite a while since I blogged last. There is a variety of reasons for that, but I will spare you the details. Attached is a couple pictures of the kids. Alyssa and Isaiah both had birthdays last week. Alyssa is 7 and Isaiah is 5. Where did the time go?

We are all doing very well. Alyssa is doing great in 1st grade and Isaiah's preschool is great. The biggest adjustment has been getting him there five mornings a week. Makes for a lot of rushing around. We are thankful for carpooling with friends/neighbors. Ella is doing just great. She is doing a little kinder-gym class, which she really loves and hanging with mom. I am enjoying our time together. She is still the most reserved of our 3 kids and is currently in a phase where she is scared of MANY things. I think Halloween might be rough on her. She is already saying "I no want to go trick-or-treating." Wish us luck! Enjoy the pics.

Isaiah

For those of you who spend any time with Isaiah, you know that he is rarely quiet. He just has a lot to say. Whatever is going on inside his little head just has to be verbalized. A couple stories lately that just give you a little glimpse into his quirky little brain:

He recently went to Colts training camp with all the Smith/Marcum/Neal boys. During the trip, everywhere he stayed, there was a Wii. We don't have a Wii yet and have told the kids to ask Santa for a Wii this Christmas. So, Isaiah has been thinking and talking about Christmas lately. We have an elf that comes to our house after thanksgiving and hangs around until Christmas time. His name is Jamie the elf. Isaiah was asking Tim if he thought Jamie would come back this year and Tim said, "Yes, after Thanksgiving. Or, do you think he will come eat Thanksgiving dinner with us?" Isaiah replies, "NO DAD, elfs don't have teeth and he is too little for all the chairs. He would have to use a REALLY big booster seat." As if those are completely obvious reasons that an elf won't be joining us for turkey day!

We were picking Alyssa up from school yesterday and sitting in the herendous car line (hooray for the bus today) and he started asking "God" questions. For instance, "Mommy, how old is God?" "How big are God's hands?" "What is a soul?" So, I tried to answer as best I could, which is not easy for someone who doesn't think well on her feet. We proceeded to then have a conversation about how we show love to people to communicate God's love for them and after about five minutes of conversation, he decided (on his own accord) that he needed to pray for all the people who didn't have houses, enough food or tables and chairs in their house.

The boy can crack you up and melt your heart all at the same time!

First Grade!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Today was Alyssa's first day of first grade! She was really excited and has a FANTASTIC teacher! I am so excited for her and just can't wait for the year. She has quite a few friends in her class, but also some new faces too!

One of the funniest moments regarding first grade was last night. I was being goofy after dinner and singing and dancing around the living room. Alyssa said "Mom, you need to calm down." I said "But I'm just excited for first grade." and Ella replied "You going to?" So cute!

Hooray for first grade!

Recent happenings

Alyssa's drawing/cutout of herself. It was almost life-size.

When I took Alyssa school shopping, she saw these shoes and insisted on me letting her try them on. She did pretty good walking in them (much better than I would have) and got a lot of laughter and encouragement from people shopping around us. She said "When I am 7, can you bring me back to buy these shoes?" Maybe not 7!

Pair #2!

Superman and the princess!

Not sure what she was doing in this picture, but it cracked me up!

July

I haven't blogged much in July, but it consisted of a trip to Indiana, much swimming and lots of summer fun. It is hard to believe that Alyssa starts school a week from tomorrow. I don't think any of us is ready for it yet! We have had a great summer! Here are some pics from our month.


Papaw Smith helping Ella with her marshmallow at a campfire while the kids were visiting.

Great pic.

Look at Isaiah's face!

I believe this is the most handsome boy in the world!

We had a "fancy dinner" last night. We all got dressed up, set the table and ate a not-so-fancy dinner. We made up fake names for ourselves and drank with our pinkies out. It was goofy, but fun! All Alyssa's idea. When we asked Ella what her name was she said "watermelon"(do you see a pattern here) and Isaiah responded with "That's a super hero name." HA HA.

Alyssa dressed Ella in her pajamas.

New friends of ours are staying at a cabin on a local mountain for the summer. This awesome creek was literally right out their front door. The big kids floated down the waer in tubes and found some rock slides to use as a waterslide. Ella was happy playing along the side. It was beautiful.

Hiking out in the creek.

The boys relaxing in the sun room.

Alyssa with her bike.

Isaiah riding his 2-wheeler! He is becoming a pro and loving it.

Trying to figure it out.

Ella and Corinne in Fort Wayne at the zoo.

Ella and Grandma at Grandma's house!

On the way to Indiana!

Alyssa and Isaiah playing their favorite thing to play at Gran's house - Beauty Shop. Ginny is such a good sport!

Feeding the geese goldfish at the park in Erwin.

View from the Beauty Spot. On top of a local mountain on the TN/NC border where you have a clear view of the Appalachian mountains. It was beautiful - the picture does not do it justice. It is a stop on the Appalachian Trail and we saw some weary hikers when we were there. Tim and I visited this while the kids were still up north with grandparents. Good stuff.

Tim and I spent a couple days in Byrdstown at my Aunt Bev and Uncle Duane's cabin (thanks guys)! We rented a pontoon for the day and went out on Dale Hollow Lake. I am really not sure there is a prettier lake anywhere! Good for the soul.

The Captain!

Alyssa, Isaiah and our friends Graham and Jake at the Fort Wayne zoo.

Alyssa and Graham.

Isaiah playing the drums at the zoo.

Wading in the creek at the Erwin park.

Even Ella got in.