LITTLE WONDERS

Somedays we look at them and wonder

What have we done to be so lucky

These wonderful little ones

Bring so much joy

Their individuality, sometimes frustrating

Ultimately is what makes us love them so dearly

For they are themselves the challenge for us,

Remember to let them be little

To let them be themselves

Show them respect for who they are

Express Joy and Disappointment

Encourage them when they fail

Praise them in their success

Most of all be their friendSo they will trust in us

Allow us to hold them up when they need us most

Like footprints in the sand,

as our Father carries us through times of trouble.

Our responsibility to Little Wonders!

~Matt Smith~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CONNOR!

Today Connor is celebrating his 6th birthday!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DEAR CONNOR!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

We hope you have a great birthday Connor, we will be thinking of you and have a gift here for you that we will bring on our next visit!

Love from Uncle Matt, Aunt Carrie, Jay, Trinity, Kohl and Blake

I MISS DADDY!

DADDY'S BOY!

Even though Matt is only out of town for the day Kohl is having a hard time dealing with the fact that he's not close by. He will be arriving home just after supper tonight. Kohl was just talking about how much he misses him and misses his morning cuddle. This is something they do every morning. When Kohl wakes up he crawls in bed with his daddy. He said " Mommy, I missed my morning cuddle with daddy. He is so warm to cuddle with isn't he?...I am assuming that you do cuddle with him!" That was just too funny but that is Kohl, I wouldn't expect anything different. Kids say the cutest things!

Last Sunday the snow was falling, the wind was blowing and we were enjoying the snow! We couldn't take being in the house any longer so we bundled up and headed to the hill. It was a 15 minute walk but well worth it when we got there. The kids really enjoyed their time and took advantage of the hour and a half of sliding.

1ST GUITAR LESSON

I can play..."Hot Cross Buns"

(don't laugh I'm just starting)

Now it's Jay's turn to be in the spotlight. He had his very first guitar lesson last night. This went really well and he has an instructor that he really connected with. He was so excited and learned so much in just a half hour session. He had a smile from ear to ear when he came out of class and his face just lit up. At first I wasn't sure how interested he really was in learning to play but I think he has found something he loves (along with basketball) and is a natural at it. I think learning the guitar will come easy for him. He can't wait to do a video to show you what he has learned already. I will try to get it on this week. I guess he likes to perform like his sister but in a different way!

Keep up the hard work Jay...it will definitely pay off :0)

TAP EXAM REPORT !

Junior 1 tap exam...

Way to go Trinity! I am so proud of her. She has been working so hard on her dancing and all the hard work paid off. Monday night after her Jazz class she was given her exam report. The assessments were given from pass, pass plus, commended, commended plus, highly commended and highly commended plus. Trinity received HIGHLY COMMENDED! Now she can concentrate on her dance choreography getting ready for competition in May. Next year she will be taking her exam for Jazz 2.

WEEKEND UPDATE...

We woke up this morning as the snow began to fall. We are only expecting to get 5 cm of snow this afternoon then sunny again tomorrow. Not a whole lot going on here today, Matt is working and the kids are all home for the day. Now as for yesterday that is a different story... Matt went to work late yesterday afternoon so that I wouldn't have to take the boys to the Dance School while Trinity took her tap exam, that went very well and she should get her marks back by Thursdays dance class. She was so excited that is all she talked about all day! After that it was a pretty quiet day in the Smith home. We set back and enjoyed a movie "Everyone's Hero". Then it was time to get ready for bed...let me tell you this was the most eventful part of the day. While blow drying miss Trinity's hair, I blew a few upstairs...I forgot I can't run my hair dryer along with the fireplace...ooops! So I ran down to the basement to flick the switch only I didn't know which one it was? OK I figured that one out then ran back upstairs where I saw a puddle of blood on the hallway floor and Blake standing there with his hand over his mouth....(thinking the same thing I was....TEETH?) all teeth were accounted for but he did make a good mess of his lip. Apparently he triped in Kohl's room and hit the box spring mattress on his bed. Ouch.... Got him cleaned up and Trinity's hair dryed and put them all to bed. By this time it's 9:00pm and way past there bed time anyway. Finally the house was quiet and time for a nice hot bath! AHHH how relaxing! NOT....no hot water. I give up LOL So I curled up in bed and watched TV while waiting for Matt to get home. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ!

I forgot to mention the reason why I was drying Trinity's hair last night. I promised her that after she did her dance exam that I would trim her hair and put in her hair color that she got for Christmas. A promise is a promise! I did this while we were watching the movie. She loves her hair, both the cut and the color. It will soon be time to get her in for her Birthday Pictures at Walmart. It's hard to beleive that she is going to be 8 years old :0)

A FEW DAYS WITHOUT SNOW...

It has been snowing on and off for quite a few days but with no real amount of accumulation on the ground. Just snowy, wet and messy. This is a picture of our backyard just a couple of days ago...

This is the picture after playing around with the new photo editing... I love it!

IT'S BEEN A WHILE...

Oh my where do I start?...I am totally exhausted! But to start things off I will tell you about our search for a little lost puppy named "Bel". This is one of Blake's best puppy friends and she went missing sometime over the weekend and after completely searching the house from top to bottom come this afternoon, still no puppy and none to be found in stores. Blake was starting to get upset over this and it was showing in his behavior and constantly asking for Bel. The good news is that when Matt came home from work this evening he came across Bel upstairs in our bedroom around the basket of laundry...Ok...I looked there this afternoon right after lunch and Bel wasn't there???Hmmm another mystery to wonder about! So Blake and Bel were reunited and to see the look on Blakies face was priceless. He is one happy little boy :0)

So since we got back from visiting over the Christmas break it seems that I have done nothing but clean this house. Not just the day to day cleaning but reorganizing anything that will move. I should be finished by the weekend! Yeah.... Jay has been spending quite a bit of time at his friend Matthews and will probably be going back again Friday night. Basketball practices are on Thursdays right after school and Matthews mom drives Jay home. Hopefully guitar lesson will start soon! Trinity has been busy dancing and she will be doing her tap exam on Saturday. She is very excited and I just had to spend $20 on a pair of dance tights just to wear for the exam and once again for competition. Tomorrow before dance classes, Trinity will be going to her friend Allysa's birthday party at the skating rink but I will have to pick her up early. Kohl is settling in better at school, his teacher moved their desks so that they weren't in groups anymore and she says that they are all listening better. Kohl is getting his work done faster and is getting lots of rewards for the good reports back from his teacher.

And what have we been doing you might be wondering...WORK, WORK, WORK... did I mention WORK?! Both Matt and I have been SUPER busy working online. We are getting as many job opportunities that we can handle and the money is coming in this month. We have been on a good stretch but expect it to slow down any day. To see what we have been up to check out our work blogs at Rantings of a Woman, Jabber Jaws and The Males Perspective. These blogs not only have work related post on them but lots of stories on our day to day living. That sums things up for now. Matt flies to Halifax on the 24th for the day for meetings and will fly back later on that night. He's not looking forward to the long day.

I have to get some more work done....take care!

GARAGE / FAMILY ROOM TRANSFORMATION....

We thought we would do what we could to the family room until we get money in the budget to get the walls done...the extra paint in the basement came in handy to get the job done without spending money...it will have to do for now!

NEW YEARS EVE IN MONCTON!

We had a great night a mom and dad's for new years eve with having the most fun with the Nintendo Wii machine! Almost everyone had a great time with the Dance Revolution game then dad took over and coached on a bowling league LOL and Isaac had his guitar hero hooked up as well for more entertainment.

Trinity and Jay went over to LeeAnn's for the night and had a party of their own, so no pics of them unfortunately :0( and Kohl and Blake stayed with us and had a little movie and snack night party of their own before heading off to bed. Before bed Kohl found his way down stairs for a few games of Dance....then it was off to bed for the boys!

THE BOYS MOVIE PARTY...

Wii DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION...

Wii BOWLING...

PLAYSTATION GUITAR HERO...

JUST SITTING AROUND...

SNOW IN MONCTON!

Well we got to experience one of Moncton's wintor snow storms! The kids had a great time playing outside and slidding down Papa's driveway. We got to help with cleaning out the driveway and Papa got to play with his snow blower! Cape Breton got some snow and thanks to our kind neighbors we had a clean driveway when we got back home...it snowed again the next morning and by the time I got the kids dressed to go out to do the driveway our neighbor John had the drive way done again...

WINTER FUN IN MONCTON!

WINTER FUN IN CAPE BRETON!

Photography by Trinity Smith...