Chicken bra

I thought this was funny, but Matt said it must have been funnier at the time. You be the judge. Lily found an empty Victoria's secret bag on my bed. She asked me why I had a "present bag" out. I explained that it was just a shopping bag that they gave me when I bought a bra at the store. She paused and asked "chicken bra?" Then I paused for a while and then Lily added "Chicken bra that we put on chicken." She was referring to chicken broth. Whoops.

Baylor vs UT game

When we were in Waco for the Baylor vs UT football game the UT marching band was rehearsing across the street from GG and Boppy's house. I took the girls over to watch. We provided entertainment for the band members as the girls danced to the music and Lily practiced her conducting!

The stadium was quite filled with UT fans. You can see the sea of orange in the Baylor stadium.

Photos with Boppy and GG. GG was sick with a cold and trying not to pass it around.

Lily's 3rd birthday pictures (Nov 7th)

I don't know what I accidently pushed that's making the words show up on the left side of the page.

Here are pictures from Lily's birthday party with family. She is already saying she's "three and a half."

Camille had a homework project to do, and Lily got in on the fun too.

Camille lost her second tooth on Lily's birthday! (She lost her first tooth on Matt's birthday.)

Lily's new dress!

Indian Princess campout

Camille's fun with Matt during her campout with Daddy in October. They had a great time!

Halloween

Church fall carnival

Camille was a butterfly fairy, and Lily was a rainbow fairy.

Lily at her Primrose costume parade

October fun

Camille and Lily's pumpkins

Slingshot to propel rotten fruit to hit the pumpkin target. The kids thought this was fantastic!

Camille and Matt participate in the YMCA Indian Princesses program. They invited families to a costume party and pumpkin decorating contest. Camille and Lily had a great time. The weather was wonderful.

Launching rotten fruit on a trailer-mounted catapult.

Camille's friend Madison had a pumpkin-decorating birthday party. Camille's not the shortest kid there!

Camille and Madison

October Baylor homecoming photos

Camille was home sick with a fever. Lily enjoyed being the only grandchild with Nana and Papa.

Engrossed in the football game or the popcorn?

Bear growel? Lily loves to make "mean" faces.

Lily couldn't hold out any longer, even with all the excitement.

We're still here!

Yes, we're still here. Much has changed in our daily routine. My last day at my job was Nov 9th. I'm into my 3rd week of being a full-time mom and wife. It's great! I've been staying very busy trying to catch up on all of the things that we've put off doing over the last few months. With the holidays here, it's extremely nice to have time to help out with the cooking and not to be juggling weekend work to make up for taking the holiday off. I'm enjoying more time with the kids, and I know they are too. My extended family keeps telling me that I look much happier--(I guess that means I'm not acting like a stressed out grump.) I'm feeling very content at the moment. So, now hopefully I'll catch up on blog postings soon.

Finishing up Camille's birthday party

All the birthday party kids after lots of bouncing.

Cake time!

After bouncing at Camille's birthday party the kids were ready for cupcakes!

Camille's party at "Pump It Up"

Camille had a blast at her birthday party at "Pump It Up." These were the kids ready to start at the beginning. Other kids came a bit late.


Watching a safety video before getting to play. This slide was one of the kids favorite parts, but there were many different inflatable things to play on.

Yes, that's Matt with Camille and Lily coming down the slide a few pictures down.

Camille's birthday pictures

Yes I do know that Camille's birthday was on September 19th. I can't believe she's already 6 years old! She was very excited about this special day. It was nice to have her birthday fall on a Saturday! Camille felt like a birthday princess all day! Grandma and Mommy both bought her birthday ribbons.

Both girls loved helping decorate 48 cupcakes to feed party guests and parents. We had quite a few left over.

For lunch we took Camille to Chili's. She was so excited to have her first time at a restaurant where the waiters sing Happy Birthday to her. She was all smiles (not shy a bit)!

Camille loved the excitement of the dessert, but Lily loved the dessert itself!

Saying goodbye

Camille and Lily had to say goodbye to their neighbor friend Daniel today. His family is moving to Lampasas this weekend. We'll miss them!

Camille's homework

Camille was very enthusiastic to do this (one of many) kindergarten homework projects. In this project she adopted a tree in the yard to watch throughout the year. She studied the tree and drew several different required pictures about the tree, plus doing a leaf rubbing. I moved her table out into the yard so she could face the tree (and not the sun) while doing her art.

Camille's first day riding the bus to school

Camille getting on the bus. I had to yell at her to turn around so I could get a picture, though as you can see not the best one. Then she bounded on the bus. She didn't even wave at me from the bus. She feels so big!!

Here she is driving away on the bus.

This picture is the girls waiting for the bus to arrive at the bus stop on the 2nd morning of Kindergarten. In the mornings I put Lily in the stroller and we walk Camille to the bus stop.

Camille's first day of Kindergarten

Camille started Kindergarten last Monday. She was very excited, not nervous at all. She goes to Kimberlin Academy, a gifted and talented magnet school in the Garland ISD. It's not in the most affluent part of town. Matt and I drove Camille to school on the first day. She wanted to ride the bus to school on the first day, so after lots of talking we compromised on letting her ride home from school on the bus on the first day. The school assigned her a 5th grade bus buddy who picked her up at her classroom, took her to the bus, and sat with her on the bus. That was comforting for both her and me!

On the afternoon of her first day of school I drove over from work to the end of our street and parked to wait for the bus. When her bus arrived arrived, Camille asked me why I didn't just let her walk home by herself. She actually refused to get in the car, skipping down the sidewalk to our house while I followed in the car. Since then she's been agreeable to get in the car.

Camille was excited to get into her classroom and put her supplies into her new pink supply box. She hardly looked back at us as we left her classroom.

"I stink"

I wouldn't have guessed it, but Camille and Lily's favorite book to listen to on Bookflix is called "I stink." The whole story is told by a garbage truck. They love to squeal about how gross it is!

Lily put her pink blankie on her head. She said "I'm Mary and this is God." How cute!

Cats and pigs and fish, oh my!

Since we adopted Hot Fudge, I've felt like I'm living in a pet shop with the cat, the guinea pig and the fish to think about. Well, recently I've felt more like a veterinarian. Kady cat got sick with a respiratory infection of some kind. She goes around the house sneezing and snorting, and I have to hold her down for medication twice a day. Yesterday the guinea pig got sick with an upset stomach. The bad thing about guinea pigs is that if they get sick, they can die pretty quickly. Last night I pretty much thought he was a goner and I made sure to have the girls hold him and say goodbyes. Well, the pig made it through last night but wasn't looking good at all. I've been giving him water and dissolved food by syringes multiple times today. While he doesn't look normal, I have to say that he's now fighting the feedings more (which seems to be a sign of strength). I also got him some medicine to slow down his system. Today I bought him some Timothy Hay, which several people on the internet recommended. He was interested in sniffing but not eating. I'm hoping the pig will be able to recover.

Kady cat, on the other hand, was very interested in the hay! In fact, while I was trying to syringe feed the pig, Kady decided to get all the way in Fudge's cage to get his hay. When I got Camille to come over and hold the pig for me, Kady wanted no part of coming out of the cage. She grumbled and stiffened up when I tried to pull her out so that I couldn't have gotten her out of that little opening. She did pretty soon come out after some heavy scolding! Kady doesn't seem to have any instinct that the pig would be food, but I certainly wouldn't leave her alone with him.

Here is a picture from last week when Fudge decided it was okay to eat food that Lily was holding. Lily thought this was just the best!

(From last week)
We have a little fence that we set up on the tile, and we made him a little house which he loves to hide in.

Summer fun

Lily and Camille love to paint! They were very excited to paint bird houses. We even used stencils, but the finished products are not so impressive because the girls painted over the stencil work. Oh well.

Camille wanted her picture taken here. Doesn't she look grown up here?

Lily got her first set of stitches last week after an encounter with the coffee table at Nana and Papa's house. It's something of a miracle that my active (wild) children haven't needed stitches before now! Lily has done well with them. Hopefully the tape will fall off soon so we can go back to the pool!

Our newest adoption!

Meet our newest adopted furry friend. His name is Hot Fudge. He is the sweetest baby guinea pig! Camille and Lily adore him (especially Camille). We decared adoption day to be his birthday, and we had a hot fudge sundae party to celebrate!

dance class

Camille has taken her first dance class this summer, just for 6 weeks. They did ballet, tap and tumbling. I think Camille likes getting dressed up the best. She doesn't want to wear the tights because they make her too hot. We got to sit in on the last class, but it was difficult to take pictures. I mostly videotaped for Matt, who was out of town. She's thin and looks like a dancer all dressed up, but like anything else it would take a lot of work to get good at it.

I'm concerned about over-involving her next year when she starts kindergarten. Camille told me that she wants to do Gymnastics, church choir, ballet and piano. I think we'll just stick with the first two and then see how the year goes. If she did all those things, she would unfortunately be eating a lot of quick dinners like PB&J and scrambled eggs. I'm not sure the rest of us would like that meal situation!

Daddy's birthday cake. He's the big 33.

Camille lost her first tooth on Daddy's birthday. She was so brave about it. I guess we can't deny that she's growing up!

Popsicles outdoors. Always a good excuse not to wear clothes:)

Lily's been feeding the cat again!

C and L love to paint. Here they're working on painting wooden hooks that we are making to hang PJs on in their rooms. They later stenciled flowers on (though that's not in the picture). Unfortunately we've been so busy that we haven't gotten around to finishing the project yet.

Photo catch-up

Camille and Lily enjoying the slip-n-slide in the backyard.

Our new patio cover.

I taught Camille to needlepoint this summer. She likes to do it while watching TV and while riding in the car.

Ready for a bike ride? (I don't know what's with the jump rope around Camille's waist. Maybe it's a leash.)

Lily loves to be free of clothes in the back yard. Both girls love to play with the hose and in our little back yard inflatable pool. This is what we found the other day.

Matt and Jamey's side-trip

While Matt and Jamey drove back to Texas from Colorado (the girls flew home) they took a side trip way up high. They actually saw some snow. This visitor center is only open a few months each year because most of the year it's under snow.

They saw elk grazing!

This tree line is interesting, above which no trees grow. Above the tree line there is only tundra, which Matt reports takes many years to grow.

This was a whole bunch of steps up to the top of a rock!!

Steamboat vacation

This whole building is two units of a duplex. It was impressive inside and out. Camille and Lily called it "Our Colorado House." The next pictures show the view from the driveway looking out.

After rain, the clouds were actually at our level.

The bike trails were great. We took a family adventure on the bikes. The first day we tried, Matt ended up getting a flat tire, and we had to abort. The next day we went, we spent time at the aborteum on the trail and then ended up riding back in pouring down rain. It was an impressively wet and cold ride back.

We called him a Baylor bear.

There were signs around the arboretum with "secret trails" and Camille thought these were an exciting adventure.

Alpine Slide--Steamboat

Camille, Matt and Papa rode up the chairlift and then rode down a big slide down the side of the mountain. Camille had a blast and did it several times, braver each time. Matt said by the end she was telling him to go faster.

Waterfall in Steamboat

We hiked to an impressive waterfall. The photos don't really capture the scale of it. Lily insisted on walking with her hands in her pockets.

Steamboat

After riding up the gondola we ate lunch and hiked a bit. Lily was hard to take along because all she wanted to do was play in the gravel. She did it over and over, and wouldn't keep walking. We aborted the hike. Beautiful scenery!!

Steamboat

While on vacation in Steamboat, we rode the Gondola up and ate lunch at the top. Camille and Lily loved riding, and did so four times up and down with Nana and Papa. Matt and I took our bikes up and rode down the mountain bike trails twice. It was lots of fun! The hard core mountain biker were riding UP the mountain!! No thankyou!!!! On another day we found a place that you can drive to, not quite half way up the mountain. Jamey dropped us off with our bikes again to ride down. We decided to take another trail, but we didn't realize it was going to be quite a bit of riding up hill before going down. It was rough but we made it!

Hiking at the top.

Portrait Innovations

Children's museum

On the first week of my summer off of work, Matt worked really hard to get a day off to be with the family. We planned to go to the zoo, but instead it poored down rain all day and night. In fact, when we arrived at the children's museum we found that much of it was closed due to flooding overnight. The girls had a great time anyway with what was open.

Digging for dinosaur bones.

Not the most flattering view of Bessie, here.

Mirrored illusions.

"Why the big kid blooded in our car?"

Last week we awoke to excitement because someone broke into Matt's car overnight. The car was in our driveway off the alley because our new fan was spread out in the garage overnight awaiting the installation of our new patio cover. I heard the car alarm going off but I assumed it was our neighbors again. Ultimately, the alarm must have been what scared them off when they reached through and unlocked the door. A neighbor a few doors down had her stereo stollen. The person was apparently cut significantly because of lots of blood in the car. I went to pick up the car this afternoon, and they hadn't gotten the blood out completely. Hopefully tomorrow since we're now dealing with my car's airconditioner that's gone out for the 3rd time in 6 weeks. I'm telling you, it's hot in Dallas this week!

The police suspect that this was the work of kids on summer break. Lily and Camille have spent time trying to put into words their questions and what might have happened. They're not scared, just curious.

reading with great grandparents

Camille and Lily adore having their great grandparents around, especially for a captive audience! The girls were both "reading" to them.

Camille's last uniform day

I think Camille looks cute in her uniform and she adored the plaid! No more uniform next year--public school here we come!

Camille and the naked chef

When we were baking a cake for my mom's birthday the girls loved to help. I had to laugh at the attire!

Licking the beaters while in the pool!

Camille and Lily loved playing in the backyard pool for the first time this summer, even if the water was icy! They were excited to try out their goggles and love them because water doesn't splash in their eyes (not because they have any idea to hold their breath under water).

I was making a cake for my friend's birthday. The girls helped me bake the cake earlier in the day, and then Matt watched the girls outside while I iced the cake. Outside in the pool was a perfect place to lick the beaters! Even Matt decided to join in the action with a spoon of the cream cheese icing.

Camille stared for long periods at the decorated cake. She was very impressed and declared that she wants her birthday cake "exactly like it with all kinds of fruit except blueberries." Then she said that I could put blueberries on one half of it for Lily:) Camille is always thinking and I chuckle all the time.

Lily and Camille are such cuties

I couldn't resist taking these photos before church. Camille was more cooperative than Lily.

In this photo the girls were crouched down looking at a worm or something.

Several years ago we planted a seedling red oak tree from an acorn off our backyard tree. The tree has had a rough start to life, including being totally wacked off by a weedwhip from our lawn people a year ago. This year it's doubled in size. Maybe it will actually grow into a tree.

Camille's preschool graduation

Camille's preschool had a graduation ceremony for the kids. Since Camille has been in the private Kindergarten class this year, she was up with them (which included 2 other pre-kindergarteners). Camille was very lucky to have this class with such a small number of kids. The 2 pre-K classes at Primrose were full with, I'm guessing, 20 kids each.

They sang some songs with props. Camille was very into the singing, and was quite a goof up there on stage. She couldn't keep her graduation had on and became obsessed with it. Finally she just left it off.

Here's Camille with her friends Jaden, Gabe and Annie.

Here's Camille with her friend Madison, who will be going to the same school as Camille next year.

Camille's first solo at church

I'm sorry it's been a long time since I've posted on the blog. I'll try to catch up.

Camille's children's choir at church sang on a Sunday evening back in May. Camille and another girl each sang a short solo. It was very cute and Camille sang out strong and followed the director.


It was hard to get good pictures without the flash.

In this photo the 2 soloists are standing in front as the microphones are adjusted before the song. This photo captures Camille laughing after she just said "hola" into the microphone. She insists that it was the other kid, but our video tape suggests otherwise.

Kid funnies

I thought this was funny from a while back. We were talking about why we cannot spend money on everything that we would like because we need to save money for Camille and Lily to go to Baylor if they want to. Camille said "If you don't have enough money in the bank for Baylor, I have a lot of money in my piggybank. Open it up and get as much money as you need."

In a separate story, also from a while back, we were at the car wash where you go inside and watch your car as it goes through the wash. There was a man also waiting for his car. When he opened his bottle of Coke, it fizzed over and spilled on the floor. Lily went right over to him and told him "You have to be careful!"

For several months Lily had been saying "libidit" for little bit and "baininin" for vitamin. It's so cute!

In the song Row Row Row Your Boat, Lily says "Mer-Lily, Mer-Lily, Mer-Lily, Mer-Lily, Life i but a DREAM."

Sunset

2009 Bluebonnets pictures

Lily was not enthusiastic about the wind and the sun!

Wade's birthday party

Lily and Camille had a great time on Saturday at our friend Wade's birthday part at The Little Gym. When Wade started to blow out his candles it didn't work on the first try, and Lily started to get up and help him. Fortunately he blew them out in time! I think in this picture Lily is singing Happy Birthday.

Lily did not want me to hold her hands.


Lily and Camille both loved rolling along this wheel.

This shows Lily falling off the bar--she never lost her smile.

This isn't the most flattering picture, but Camille loves to swing like a monkey!

Primrose Spring Parade

New lawn chairs

Here are Lily and Camille eating supper outside on the porch on their new lawn chairs that Nana bought them while visiting on Spring Break. They are so cute, and the girls love them, though too short for our adult patio table:)

The other day I was fixing dinner while the girls were outside playing. I thought it was so cute that they both took their chairs over to the corner of the patio looking at the planter (in which they planted seeds with Nana). They just look so grown up sitting there together!

Camille and Lily were so excited once Nana finally arrived!

Camille and Lily love to cuddle with Daddy on the couch.

Trip to Robby's ranch

Camille got a shiner while goofing around and hitting the corner of a table near her eye. She was lucky she didn't hit directly on her eye! The bruise was actually more impressive in person than captured in this picture but it's healing up nicely.

My goofy girls love to play in my bed!

Camille and Lily were both very excited to prepare their valentines for a parties at school. On Valentine morning we gave the girls new stuffed animals. I'll have to get a picture of them later. Camille first named her red bear "Rose," but as the day progressed the name morphed into Rosalinda Bear. I have no idea where she came up with that! Lily got a valentine animal is a puppy and she calls it Rosalinda Puppy, as much as Camille has tried to encourage Lily to call it something else! Lily wants to be just like Camille.

Fishing at Uncle Robby's ranch. Lily caught her first fish!

Picture from the ice day that we had two weeks ago. Camille's hat cracks me up in the pictures. The walk was covered with ice! Unfortunately after this picture I put the camera inside and then I was worrying so much about telling them to stand still and wait that I ended up falling myself on the ice. I've had a lot of back pain since then. I finally went to the doctor last weekend and he gave me medicine that has worked to reduce the inflamation which was apparently pinching a nerve in my lower spine. I feel much, much better.

Las Vegas pictures

Matt and I had a great long weekend getaway to Las Vegas. Matt had been there on business once, but this was my first trip there. It was pretty cool to see the mountains all around with Las Vegas plunked right in the middle with homes running right up to the baren mountains in many places. I've never seen an airport view like this! I liked seeing the Grand Canyon from the airplane. I'd like to see it in person sometime.

That is a hotel on the Vegas strip, right by the airport and with the mountains in the background.

These pictures at night are from an open air nightclub at the top of the Rio hotel. It was an amazing view, though we couldn't hold the camera still enough to get a clear picture. We were glad to have the heater fans blowing on us, and I borrowed Matt's coat.

The hotels were so bright at night and very impressive in size. We spent lots of time walking around and looking in the different hotels. It was difficult to get perspective of distance when outside because the hotels are so large and so close. It would always seem like a hotel was much closer than it really was.

The hotels were all extravagently decorated for the Chinese New Year. Our favorite hotel was the Bellagio.

Lobby in the Bellagio

Those flowers are made from glass.

Amazing fountains in front of the Bellagio run every 15 minutes to music and choreography. It was so impressive. I could have stood there all day! It's a beautiful hotel inside and outside.

This is kind of a funny picture because the camera is tilted upwards. Look at the view out the window of our hotel room on the 36th floor.

Hotel room pictures.

This picture is deceiving. The left wall is mirrors. To the right is a wall made of window.

The casino in our hotel. It was nice being in a new hotel because it didn't smell so strong of smoke.

Lobby of our hotel. The picture doesn't capture the beauty and drama of it. It was very bright red with Aisan influence and the staff was impeccably put together.

View out the window of our hotel. We were on the 36th floor, about half way up.

We faced away from the Vegas strip.

Our hotel was the back one, Encore. They are so big when you get up close to them!

This is a hotel called New York New York. Yes, that's a rollercoaster on top.

This is the inside of a mall, I believe in the Paris hotel! Look at that ceiling! The Venitian hotel has the same type of ceiling, but arched and even more impressive.

Both sets of grandparents split time taking care of Camille and Lily while we were gone.

Here's Lily and Camille with Nana.

Lily and Camille with Papa.

Kady's birthday

When 2009 started I let Camille buy a new calendar for herself. She wanted to mark important dates on the calendar. She asked when Kady the cat's birthday is. I told her I didn't know and so she designated Jan 22nd as Kady's birthday. Camille has been counting down the days. Camille was very excited about Kady's birthday finally arriving. The night before Kady's birthday the girls made string and bead toys for Kady. Camille decided that Kady would like her gifts in a Clifford bag (which is amusing to me because Kady would hate nothing more than a dog!). They were so excited on Kady's birthday they had to give her the birthday presents in the morning. Kady does like the toys, especially the one with the beads. (In fact, Kady's playing with it right now tied to a door handle.)

That evening we had a little party for Kady. I found a single steak on discount at Walmart and we 3 girls shared it, sharing a little bit with Kady. (Matt was out of town so he didn't get any steak.) I also bought a slice of cake for us to split. I let the girls individually sing happy birthday to Kady and blow out her own candle. They loved it so much they did it multiple times. Lily was excited to dig into the cake. Camille was also very enthusiastic!

random pics

Sisters!

Lily wearing her her beloved "pink blankie" (Gigi's hand towel) as a "scarf."

Excuse the disaster zone, once known as my living room. The girls were both playing with their leap frog units (actually each other's units because anything that belongs to someone else is certainly better than your own.)

This picture just cracks me up because it looks like the pig is picking his nose.

Stephanie's short haircut

Lily got to wear her cute new outfit from Aunt Kristine because today's weather was more like spring than winter.

Tonight we went to Pump It Up for a birthday a party for Camille's school friend Jaidan. Camille and Lily both had a blast on the inflatable slides, etc. Matt got a workout as well carrying Lily up the slides over and over.

Cereal

When Lily refers to the cereal Honey Bunches of Oats she consistently calls it "Hunchey Boats." I think it's so cute! This has been going on for a few weeks and it has thrown me off many times.

Grandma's e-mail

This is a cute story from when my mom had both girls in the car with her on Christmas Eve. My mom wrote me in an e-mail:

On the drive over here this afternoon Lily said "MY Grandma!" Camille responded "She's my grandma too!" "No," Lily replied [large pause], "Get your own." Not exactly the spirit of the season, but funny nonetheless.

Girls and dolls

Camille and Lily love having new PJs that match each other and their dolls. Thanks Nana! Santa brought Lily a new doll which didn't interest her on Christmas morning, but Lily has since bonded with Suzanna (named by her great grandfather, Boppy). With Lily in the crib tonight are 5 animals, Suzanna, and 3 blankies. Time to upgrade to the king size crib!

Camille and Lily enjoyed decorating sugar cookies on Christmas morning. We all enjoyed eating them! (I don't know how this started underlining, and now I can't get rid of it!)

Elf video

Check out the Smith family Elf video. Yes, that's Bruiser the Baylor bear as our 5th person. I couldn't find any picture of Kady the cat handy. You'll have to copy and paste this address because it doesn't work as a link off the blog. Stephanie

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/9Bb5b7nxeMoj52m7

Decorating the gingerbread house

Grandma and Grandpa got Camille and Lily a gingerbread house kit. Grandma came over on Saturday morning and we decorated in a cooperative effort. It was fun and actually turned out like the box intended! The girls had fun applying candies to the house, but Lily ended up more interested in eating the candies. Lily is obviously still interested in it because whenever she sees it she says "I made dat wit Granma."

Lily and Camille each decorated one side and one end. On the ends we put an L and a C on the doors. They liked that idea. Camille was meticulous about applying the candy. Camille worked on the back of the house because the roof ended up hanging out further, making it more difficult to put the candy on.

Advent calendars

Camille and Lily love opening the doors and getting the little chocolates out of their Advent calendars every night.

Camille's church choir

Pictures from the Primrose Christmas program

Lily with her teacher. Lily's class is too young for a performance, but she was very excited to see her teacher there and to watch the show.

Camille with her friend Zara. Zara's class did a rockstar theme program.

Camille with her friend Annie and her teacher.

Camille's kindergarten class was so cute doing their Little Drummer Boy song and then shaking maracas to Feliz Navidad (sp?).

Smith girls

This photo was taken before Camille's school Christmas program last week. I'll get more pictures up soon. Look, no braces!

Phillips/Alston/Smith family picture

It was great to have us together for Thanksgiving!

Exposed!

These were taken while Lily was air-drying her diaper rash and wanted to wear the Dora backpack. She was also wearing Camille's shoes around.

Sink baths

These were pictures from sink baths last weekend when Lily had a stomach virus with a diaper rash. This was the first time I've used Epsom salt for diaper rash and it worked amazingly! Moms, it worked overnight--you should give it a try.

Garbage disposal repair team

When Matt had to replace our garbage disposal recently he had a crew of little girls to help him. Camille actually was a big help even wearing a dress.

The inside of the disposal was gross, and very interesting to Camille and Lily.

Stephanie's post-surgery progression

Happy Thanksgiving! I am actually at home with Camille because she came down sick with a fever this morning. I'm working on the computer while watching The Goofy Movie (this can't capture my full attention). You'll have to wait for the current picture without my braces. I'll have to get Matt to take one.

I thought it would be interesting to see a compilation of pictures following my progression during 15 month process of braces, jaw surgery and recovery.

Look at these pictures from the bottom up.

I did get my braces off recently and now I'm adjusting to having impaired speech again because of the retainers I have to wear all the time for 3-6 months. After that I can wear them at night only. I'm happy to no longer have rough brackets making sores in my cheeks.

The first picture was taken 11/8/08 before my braces came off. My face is still slightly strange in sensation, but my surgeon says it should all recover within a year. If not, it's certainly bearable.

5/15/08-- When this picture was taken I was feeling much better but I was still quite numb in the face and learning to smile was a real process. Matt took a bazillion pictures as I looked in the mirror and tried to make a natural-looking smile.






5/3/08--In this pictures my muscles still wouldn't work for much of a smile, so I didn't try. The nose splint was removed but I had to keep the tape on my nose dry because it was keeping my nose in place. That makes for a dirty face under the tape! I fought acne for months after the surgery which the doctor said was also my body's reaction to the surgery. I also had to avoid me or any children from bumping my nose.

This was when I was getting ready to leave the hospital the night of 4/25/08 after surgery all day on 4/22/08. Hindsight, we should have just stayed in the hospital Friday night because it took several hours to get discharge paperwork and then wheelchair transportation down to the car. After driving all the way back to Rowlett we had to find an 24-hour pharmacy to fill my prescriptions. After that night of setting Matt's cell phone alarm clock for every 3 hours so Matt could get up to refresh my ice packs and crush up my pain medications in syringes with chasers of Boost, we had to go back downtown on Saturday morning for a followup in the doctor's office. All that riding in the car wasn't fun either. We wondered what the people in Walgreens thought when they saw me all swollen up with ice packs wrapped around my head. Matt thinks they probably just thought I had cosmetic plastic surgery, since it's so common these days.

This was taken in April 2008 before my surgery. The orthodontic work before surgery actually made my bite worse while they prepared me for surgery. That was my real bite.

We took this picture 8/30/07 right before I got my braces on.

Lily's presents

Lily had a great time opening birthday presents. She loves this cute mug and calls it her "coffee cup." Lily has never seen Peter Pan, but she had a wave of excitement when she opened the Tinker Bell pajamas. Infact, she immediately started trying to pull down her pants in the middle of the party to put them on.

Lily wanted this toy put together right away, but even this came "assembly required."
Knowing Lily obsession with shoes (hers and everyone else's) it's no wonder these slippers have been a hit.

She had a fun time, and then she had to hurry to get down for a nap before she turned into a pumpkin (or a 2 year old temper tantrum).

More of Lily's birthday pictures

Here are more pictures from Lily's birthday party. I tried to prepare all the food myself but when I went to thaw 2 containers of previously cooked and frozen meat sauce for my pasta casseroles, I discovered that one of them was chili (not bolognase meat sauce)! My mom saved the day bringing over a supplemental main dish. We ended up with lots of extra food and the arrangement was pretty.

Lily was very excited about her cake and especially the balloon plates that she carried around Walmart. She calls them her "Happy Plates." I didn't have any theme to the party, just a meal suitable for all ages. Lily changed her mind from a blue cake to pink at the last minute (thank goodness).

You can see Lily started eating with a fork and soon decided the full hand was a more efficient icing delivery method.

Little bit

It's so cute when kids say things incorrectly. I often think I'd never forget how they say it, and then it's gone. Lily consistently says "Libidit" for "Little bit." I think it's so cute!

Lily's 2nd birthday

Lily had a nice birthday with 10 people over for a family lunch celebration. Lily had fun opening presents but she wasn't much for picture-taking, always turning her back to the camera. Surely we have some more pictures somewhere of her cake and blowing out her candle, but Matt will have to get them for me when he gets back in town this weekend.

This is Lily dancing with her new musical birthday card. Thanks Gigi and Boppy!

It was cold this morning so I let the girls have their new hats and gloves. They looked like they were going out into a blizzard!

Pretty smiles!

Look at those curls!

Lily has had lots of potty success recently (except for this weekend with a stomach virus).

At the Primrose school costume parade Lily was happy until she saw me and didn't want to sit with her class on the curb. Her teacher told her what to do, and she sat down screaming but obeying. The little rabbit next to her was patting her and saying "Dat okay Lily." It was so cute!

At the church fall carnival Camille had a blast on this big inflatable slide. She went down many times with her Cinderella dress up over her head. She didn't want to take it off.
This was a lighted pumpkin coach, but it was hard to photograph.

Lily liked playing games and doing things her own way.

Pumpkin carving

Here is the Smith family pumpkin. I thought it would be fun to try carving a pattern this year. It ended up with me carving the pumpkin for much of the morning while the kids watched TV. It was a near catastrophy because so little of the cat is left connected to the remaining pumpkin. Matt reinforced it later with toothpicks. We carved it yesterday, and it's already shriveled quite a bit since the photo was taken.

Lily wasn't sure about putting her hand in the pumpkin at first but quickly became an enthusiastic participant, as you can see by the motion I couldn't avoid in the 4th picture. Don't worry--the knife Lily has in the last photo is a safety knife.

Potty fun

Last Wednesday I got out the kids potty seat for Lily to start playing around with. She thought it was wonderful and even peed in it twice. After the first small time, she was so excited to get an M&M reward that she quickly cranked out some more. Unfortunately that was all she's managed so far. She's not really interested in sitting now, and that makes it hard. She wants the candy, but hasn't figured it out yet. She can hold it a long time. So this weekend she would go whenever I had to put a diaper on her (highchair, naptime...). Camille is very enthusiastic because I told her that she could have an M&M whenever Lily gets one for using the potty. Camille is Lily's cheering section and constant encourager. It's funny. The bottom picture doesn't capture the excitement of the two of them dancing what Camille calls the "Tee Tee dance."

"Fuzzy"

Fuzzy is a rabbit who has adopted our grass beside the driveway as his bed. He only likes to stay there when the crabgrass weed gets high. Sometimes when we get home late we'll see him already there for the evening, and then he'll still be there when we leave for school/work in the morning. Both girls, especially Lily, are thrilled by this. I don't let them go on the grass toward him, but they can get a pretty close look and he doesn't run off. He's hard to see in the second picture, but he's between their heads. Camille named him Fuzzy after I discouraged naming him after kids in her class.

Another Camille funny: Last week the preschool kids had a mock presidental election and the results were posted on the classroom door. When I asked Camille about McCain and Obama, she said "Both of these men really want to be pregnant!" (She means president.)

Baylor football!

It's even fun for the grown-ups to go to the Baylor football games when they win! Camille and Lily had a great time, as usual, though Lily was fussy from taking a very abbreviated nap. I was surprised that Lily was interested in sitting in Bruiser's lap. They watched him coming with excitement, and he was really good with the kids (waving from a distance and flirting with them).

Lily and Camille had fun playing dress-up at Gigi's house and then admiring themselves in her full-length mirror.

From Camille's birthday

Look at those brown eyes!
Here are 2 more pictures from Camille's brithday celebration with the Alstons/Phillips, also celebrating her great grandparent's anniversary.

Lettuce prayer

Matt is out of town tonight. As usual at supper the girls and I said our "God is Great..." prayer. At the end Camille asked why "lettuce" is in our prayer:)

Camille's 5th birthday!

Camille really felt like a princess at her 5th birthday party. She held her hands high in the air while everyone sang Happy Birthday. Excitement was practically squirting out her ears! That wild face in the third picture was really how she looked. Everyone thought it was too funny!

Camille's birthday

Camille's 5th birthday was Sept 19th. She had a party with many of her school friends at The Little Gym, and everyone had a blast! It couldn't have gone better.

Baylor football

Camille thinks that the reason to attend a Baylor football game is to dress in her cheerleader dress and eat popcorn. Lily tried popcorn and decided it was delicious. We may need an extra box next time.

Yes, we're still here!

It's been so long since I've posted pictures that I'm ashamed to say these pictures are from August.

My girls love olives and they love to put them on their fingers. Strange that kids who are such picky eaters love spinach and olives!

Papa bought this trailer to go behind the bike. They love to ride over to the park!
Camille and Lily have become sweet playmates. They do some imaginative play, including building beds and putting each other to sleep. Lily loves her tall chair to sit at the kitchen table but we can still only bring it out on a limited basis because she nearly tips it over if I'm not watching.