2009 Memories

So I know I said that I'd be doing this often and recording all of Bella's 1st, but obviously that didn't happen. I went back to work in March and life has been crazy. The girls all started attending Rainbow Station in Haymarket on a full time basis. Grace is still in preschool but the full day/all day program along with Dakota. Grace is in the purple room (moms favorite color) and Dakota in the green room (dads favorite color). Isabella attends the infant room. Everyone loves their teachers and their teachers love them. They do so well in school and they love going. Well it was tough at first with Dakota as she cried from the moment she woke up until after we dropped her off in the morning. The older girls get to have breakfast together before going into their separate rooms. Now Kodie loves going to see her friends. Bella is evening learning and doing arts and crafts everyday. She also gets to play in the ball pit with her boyfriend Steven and best friend Faith. We had some issues a few months back with a biter in the room, but all has worked out and so far no more incidents (knock on wood). Grace and Dakota continue to take gymnastic classes and I'm hoping next year to get Bella enrolled.

I went back to work and started my new role as an Account Manager for the HR Services team. I am really enjoying my position and learning the other side of the business. I even got to take on my first project. It was fun managing it daily and making sure we'd hit our numbers and in the end I can say that we exceeded our goal. It was quite exciting. This December I finally got what I always wanted, a breast reduction. Nate recently started a new job and wasn't able to take off much to help, but thankfully mom was there for a straight week helping me and watching the girls. Meghan helped out as well. It's taking a while to recover, but I should be good to go in about 2 more months. I couldn't be more happy that I did it, but I'll say the recovery is worse than any of my 3 c-sections. I know this may be too much TMI, but I won't have to wear a bra all the time anymore. YEAH!!!

As I mentioned, Nate started a new job. He is bartending at a local family owned restaurant in Haymarket. We ate there a few times; he'd go in for breakfast after dropping the girls off at school. The needed another bartender and though Nate has no experience they offered him a job. He is loving it, but isn't used to standing all day everyday. The family that runs the restaurant is wonderful, truly sweet caring people.

2009 is full of lots of wonderful memories. Isabella is walking around with assistance (she has taken a few steps on her own), talking more and more, getting into everything, and just loves playing with her sisters. We are back to having our home all back to ourselves after having aupairs live with us for the past 2 years. It was nice having the help and learning the Brazilian culture, but like doesn't seem as stressed as it was at times having an aupair. Plus our experience with the last girl really drew the line and we dropped out of the program. But I'm not getting into that. We are back to having one dog. We gave Bear back to his original owner back in Sept because honestly he was becoming a nightmare. So we gave him back and now it's just Hunter.

Christmas was so exciting this year. It was the first year that the girls really believed and understood Santa. The fact that Grace was so excited make Kodie excited. Dakota even sat on Santa's lap this year and smiled. She didn't even fuss. It was great!! We waited in line to see Santa for about 2 hours (thanks to Santa needing to take a break to feed the reindeer). The night before Christmas Eve I was telling the girls how we'd leave out cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Grace said, "But mom we don't have chocolate chip". I said, "we baked all those cookies last weekend, we are leaving him some of those." "But mom, Santa said his favorite are chocolate chip", she said. Thanks Santa at Fair Oaks Mall, I didn't make chocolate chip. But I made a batch especially for you. Nothing passes Gracelyn. She knows everything.

We celebrated Christmas Eve with Glenn and Betsy (as usual), and Betsy daughter and granddaughter came along this year as well. The girls tore open their presents like no ones business and when all was said and done they asked for more. Christmas morning the girls woke up and couldn't wait to see if Santa arrived and brought them presents. Grace wanted the purple leapster and ballerina barbie and Dakota wanted a ballerina barbie. They got everything they wanted in more. In fact, Dakota said, "this is what I wanted" for every present she opened. She was so cute. After opening presents at our house, we drove to my parents house. Did I mention yet that we had a white Christmas. We all opened gifts at mom and dads with Meghan and then went back home to change and get ready to go celebrate Christmas at Aunt Marcia's house. It was an exhausting but exciting day for everyone.

Now it's time for the year to come to an end. It was a great year and I hope 2010 is even better. We are a very blessed family.

Williamsburg 2009

We just returned from a long weekend in Williamsburg with my parents. It was Claudia's first time and I think she enjoyed it. I know she loved the house. We spent Saturday morning shopping at the outlets while dad watched Isabella. Sunday we went to Colonial Williamsburg. We took a ride on a horse and carriage, which apparently was the same one the Shirley Temple and Queen Elizabeth rode on. We also toured around the Governor's Palace and the Court House. We had a great time and the kids behaved wonderfully. In fact, they got to participate and answer questions while walking the Palace. They also walked around the maze in the yard while I nursed Isabella. We went home hoping the girls would take a nap, but we were wrong. The girls played outside and watched the golfers. Monday we stayed at the house watching movies, playing in the yard, and packing up the car. The weather couldn't have been better. Saturday was in the 60's and Sunday was in the 70's. Monday it went down a little, but still warm. We are already planning our next trip, but hope that Nate can make it this next time around.

Welcome to the Smith Family blog. This is my first attempt at putting something like this together and I'm quite excited about it. I'm hoping this is a place everyone can come to and find out what the Smith's are up to. Please make sure to visit often as I'll be uploading new photos and talking about what's going on in our world. I'll especially be recording all of Isabella's "firsts". So, stay tuned.....