That was "snow" much fun!

This past weekend, we took the kids up to Lake Arrowhead to play in the snow. Jessie, Andrew and Rylee had lots of fun sledding down the hills. Devynn wasn't too sure about the hills, but she enjoyed touching and eating the snow. It was a great day for all! :)

Happy Devynn

Jess and Bubba getting ready to launch!

Ryan and I

Andrew on his way back up the hill

Taking a break with my RyRy

Rylee making her way back up

My Guys with the snowman

Rylee and Andrew with the snowman

Aren't we cute?!

My Monkeys! :)

Here is a video of Jess sledding down one of the hills...

And now it's Andrew's turn...

It was a fabulous family-fun day in my world! :)

Andrew: Future Author?

Yesterday Andrew brought home some work that he did in school. On one of the papers, his assignment was to write about who he loves and why. This is what he wrote...complete with his spelling.

"I love my mom. I love her because she is nice to me. I also love her because she let's me by stuff at Target."



On other papers, his assignments were to write narrative stories. Here is his work...again, complete with his spelling.


1. "One day in China me, dad, Rylee, and Jessie were in China. First, we were walking. Next, we drove to our hotel. Finally, we got to our hotel and walked to the big black door and got ready to open the big black door. Me, Rylee, dad, and Jessie felt very happy and glad to be at our hotel that was in China."


2. "One day me, dad, Rylee, and Jessie were at Hawaii. We were staying there for twenty days. We did not know what Hawaii was like. First, we were walking to swim. Next, we were swiming in the warm water. Finally, we all got dryed off with striped tals. The stripes were white. We all felt very happy and so exited when we got dryed off and changed into normal dry clothes. The end."



(Apparently Devynn and I have to stay home while they all get to go on vacations!?)

My Poor Pookie!!!

My sweet little Devynn is not feeling well! :( She was throwing up yesterday-fun!- and was up all night fussing-more fun! She keeps saying "tummy hurts". So sad! :( (She does look incredibly adorable though when she says "hurts" because she sticks out her pouty little lips!) It's always so sad to see my monkeys when they're not feeling good, and knowing that there really isn't anything I can do to fix it except love them, rock them, cuddle them. (Which I spent all day yesterday doing-the proof is my messy house!) Knock on wood, she hasn't thrown up today. Hopefully this bug will be short lived and won't get passed on to any of my other monkeys...Lysol is my best friend right now! :) I can't wait for Devynn to be back to her usual jumping constantly, eating-all-the-time self!

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In other sad news, my RyRy Belle is growing up! She doesn't want to sleep with her favorite snuggly pillows or animals anymore, and she only says "Love you. Sweet dreams. See you in the morning" when I tuck her in. And she only says it once. :( I'm so sad. I'm going to miss her little "Rylee-isms"!

Tid Bits

I just wanted to post a quick update and let everyone know that little baby Norah got to go home a few days ago. YAY! Her sister Audrey is still in the NICU (hopefully not for too much longer) so please keep the prayers coming for her. She's doing well...just needs to work on her suck, swallow, breathe pattern while feeding. And Michelle didn't end up having her gall bladder out, and her liver problem is self-correcting, so no surgery! YAY! Thanks for all the prayers, keep them coming! :)

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In other news, Cupcake (aka Devynn) can ride her tricycle all by herself! She looks so cute pedaling like a big girl! :) Aww, my little pookie is growing up! Now, if we could just break her habit of crying! ;)

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Can you believe that, as of yesterday afternoon, Jessie already had 6,926 texts for the month!? I think that is unbelievable considering she is in school for 6 1/2 hours a day, with her phone shut off! And Papa Dave thought that 250 texts would be plenty! Silly man doesn't know pre-teens very well, does he!? :)

In other Jessie news, her and her boyfriend Jesse are no longer together. :(

:)

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My brother Brandon and his wife Cindy are expecting a GIRL!! :) I am so excited! Brandon really wanted a little boy, but I'm convinced that God gives you what you need!! Andrew was bummed when he found out that there will be yet another girl added to our family, since he was really hoping for a boy cousin that he is older than (I have no idea why it bugs him that his only 2 boy cousins are older than him!). He seemed to be ok with it though, once I told him that he can buy her a pink baseball glove when she's born! :)

UH-OH!!

We are in serious trouble now...Devynn learned how to unlock the front door! Yikes! Thankfully it is raining or else I'm sure that she would've taken off running down the street! (Yet another reason why I love the rain! :) ) Just one more way that Devynn keeps me on my toes!

Introducing....

This is Rocco, our new Sulcata Tortoise. Right now he is about 14" from one end of his shell to the other, and weighs about 25 lbs. When he is fully grown, he will be between 80-110 lbs.!

A friend of ours was moving, and unfortunately couldn't take him with her due to the lack of yard at her new place. So we are now his proud owners. It's cool to see him cruising around our yard. We have made him a new home in an igloo dog house with heat lamps for the chilly nights. He seems quite content here.

Welcome to the family, Rocco! It's a crazy world that you are now part of! :)

Happy 2nd Birthday Devynn!!

So yesterday my littlest monkey turned 2!

She wasn't too sure about her cake being lit with candles.

Apparently it was all too much for her to handle! It was her party and she could cry if she wanted! So she did! :)

We aren't sure if Devynn is going to like having birthdays. She cried yesterday morning when Grandma Janet called to wish her a happy birthday. And you can see from the picture above how much she enjoyed us singing "happy birthday" to her! Maybe it's just because she has officially entered the 2's!

It's so hard to believe that my baby girl is two already! Seems like just yesterday that we were at Costco when I was suddenly having contractions every 5 minutes, so we were rushing to get home and drop off the perishables, then rushing to drop the kids off with my Dad, then rushing to the hospital, and then, 2 short hours later, we had our sweet little 6 lbs. 13 oz. Devynn Grace Nakatani Smith! So hard to believe that was two years ago!! Isn't it crazy how fast time flies as you get older? :)

Even though she had a rough time with it, I still hope all of Devynn's birthday wishes come true in our world! Happy Birthday, my little Pookie!!