Family Picture November 2011

Matt, Marci, Austin (12), Kiersten (10),

Brandon (7) and Reagan (3)

Merry Christmas 2011

Merry Christmas from the Smith Family to yours.  We’ve enjoyed another great year and hope you have too!  We look forward to catching up with everyone this time of year and delight in receiving your many cards and pictures. 

Matt and Marci stayed busy with work and church callings, and chasing around our kids!

Austin is 12 going on 16, playing sports, participating in Scouts and growing.  He is now taller than Marci and looking to pass Matt in the coming year.

Kiersten is 10 and continues to try about every activity imaginable.  Basketball, volleyball, piano, violin, art, and seems like a hundred other things. 

Brandon, our family comedian, is 7.  We can always count on him for a good laugh and funny insight into our everyday situations.  He also stays busy with sports and friends.

Reagan turned a corner this year at 3 from being the baby of the family to staking out her position as a member of the family.  She is feisty and fun, and we always know when she is awake!

We hope you have a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Orchestra Concert for Hawthorne

Kiersten and her friends before the concert.

She has only been playing for a few months but seems to do really well with it.  She enjoys playing and even practices without me asking her to.  They did a great job at the performance.

supportive siblings!

Painting Kiersten's room

We thought everyone had a tradition of home improvements for the Thanksgiving weekend, so we dove in and painted Kiersten's room.  Turns out it was just us, weird...

Kiersten has been waiting since her birthday in August to have her room painted.  Her room is large, with vaulted ceilings, so I knew I would need a long weekend to accomplish the task.  All went well, and she now has an electric green and chocolate room.

it is a little hard to see, but the colors match well and the room looks really good.  I was pleasantly surprised at the outcome - and Kiersten was very excited to have her room decorated to her tastes.  A job well worth doing!

Thanksgiving Dinner

Thanksgiving was a quiet affair this year, with just our immediate family.  We spent the morning at the park, freezing and playing football in the Turkey bowl, then the rest of the day, cooking and eating.

Smiles all around as we prepared to eat.  Because we did not have any timeline or schedule to meet, we enjoyed our meal in shifts this year.  The turkey and half the trimmings were done early, so we ate them, then had rolls and the other half later, and then even later, had dessert.

We did however keep some tradition and did not enjoy our meal on paper plates with plastic wear.  Austin became our photographer for the day, so I can't explain the shots well...

A smile and a smirk - Austin did not catch my best look...although maybe my normal look?

Everyone with full mouths and plates.  I believe Austin's mischevious grin was due to my reaction at trying brussel sprouts.  Marci had heard they were tasty and bought some to try for Thanksgiving.  We covered them in butter and salt and pepper, but the taste still came through.  Austin could not even stand the smell, let alone the taste.  We will not be having those again for a long, long time.

Austin loves to eat and wanted to document his food to compare with his buddies and cousins.  He can put away a ton of food, and we have noticed our grocery bills ticking up more and more. It is like feeding a small army.

We had plenty of free time to play games and enjoy one another's company.  The kids dug up games we have not played for a long time - and we had a great day.

The day before Thanksgiving, we went to an arcade to kill some time.  The kids had a good time and we played lots of games.  I introduced them to pinball and of course we played skee ball.  Where is Reagan?

Reagan was mad at some perceived slight and would not join in the picture.  It was so funny to see her covering her eyes, as if she would not be in the picture if she did not see it being taken.  We all had a good laugh as she stomped around covering her eyes to protest being in the picture.

She is a cutey, but fiercely independent and a very strong will.

Grandma and Grandpa (with friends) come to visit!

We are the proud new owners of new bird house, and an exclusive one at that.  Directly from the workshop of Bob Smith!!  Dad built this for us and shipped it to Chicago.

It is a little hard to tell, but the bird house is very big and makes a nice yard ornament.  I love the uniqueness and we are interested to see if it actually becomes inhabited.

Steve and Kris Bideaux joined Bob and Jody on their latest trip to visit us. The first 4 days they would get up and I would drop them off at the train station and they would spend the entire day playing in the city at the museums, eating and shopping.  Wednesday, I actually drove them to the city and we got to go to the Chicago Board of Trade with a family connection of the Bideaux's.  We took Kris to see where she lived when she was 10 and then drove home and met the kids at the pizza place for dinner.

The Chicago friends took us on a quick walking tour of some buildings around the Chicago Board of Trade.  The Rookery Building was designed on the interior by Frank Lloyd Wright.  It was beautiful.

There is gold leafing all over the building.

On Friday, the Bideauxs were flying out in the afternoon, so we discovered a new little place out in Geneva called The Little Traveler.  Cute old mansion that is converted into tons of shopping.  In fact, the entire street is full of fun little shops.  It was a beautiful warm day and a great place to find some perfect Christmas presents!

Reagan was a good sport and was rewarded with her very own $3.00 cupcake!

Bob and Jody were here from 10 days all together.  We always enjoy their time with us!  I don't have a lot of pictures.  I guess we were too busy making candy, playing games and watching basketball to remember to take pictures.  Come again soon!