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!!

Sampson

Yesterday we had to say good-bye to our dog Sampson. Although his bark was loud, and we heard it much too often, he was a great dog. I've never seen a dog that guarded children as well as Sampson guarded mine. He was very gentle and very protective. He did his job well. Our house won't be the same without him.

We will miss you Sampson!

Second Update

Just wanted to post a quick update about Michelle and her twin girls, Audrey Elise and Norah Isabella (both Elise and Isabella mean "pledged to God"). The girls weighed in at 4 lbs. 1 oz. and 4 lbs. 2 oz. and were born at 33 weeks. They are both doing well and aren't needing any help with breathing. They are absolutely precious (since they're in Texas, I've only seen pics and video). Michelle had developed "cholestasis", and her gall bladder and liver weren't functioning. The doctors were hoping that once the babies were delivered that everything would return to normal...that hasn't happened yet. Michelle has to meet with more doctor's for some more tests (just what every new mom with twin girls in the NICU and a 4 year old little boy at home wants to do, right?!). If things don't return to normal functions, they may have to remove Michelle's gall bladder. (Again, just what every new mom wants to do is have surgery!!) We are keeping our fingers crossed that it doesn't come down to that.

Thanks for your prayers. We are so glad that everything went smoothly and that both girls are strong, healthy and doing well. Can't wait to meet them! :)

Updates and Chores :)

OK, so yesterday I informed you all about Jessie and the boys who were after her (see previous post titled "So Darn Pretty"). As soon as she got in the car after school yesterday, she told me that she now has a "boyfriend".



Me: "Who?"

Jess: "Guess."

Me: "Scroggins?" (He is the boy that she has had a crush on, but wasn't one of the ones planning on asking her out.) (We always refer to him by his last name since Jess doesn't want Ryan to know his first name because he will tease her about him.)

Jess: "Nope."

Me: "Sam?" (He is the persistent boy who went and got permission from Jessie's friend.)

Jess: "Nope."

Me: "The sixth grader?"

Jess: "Nope."


Now I was completely stumped.


Me: "Who is it then?"

Jess: "Jesse!"


Prior to that moment, I had never heard any mention of any boy named Jesse, but apparently she has had a crush on him at the same time as liking Scroggins. It was news to me.


Me: "But what about Scroggins?"

Jess: "Well I still like him but he isn't going to ask me out."

Me: "Of course he's not going to now because you have a boyfriend."

This new "boyfriend" of hers asked her out through her friend and is as shy as Jessie. They don't have any classes together. They have separate lunch times. And he doesn't have a cell phone to text. So I'm sure this will be a very long, meaningful relationship. :)

Jessie + Jesse...awww, how cute.

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Yesterday I also informed you about Ryan's cousin's wife Michelle and her twin girls (see previous entry titled "Prayer Request"). Well she gave birth to her twin girls yesterday. I think they are about 7 weeks premature, but are both doing OK. They both weighed in around 4 pounds. As of yesterday afternoon, they were having to help Baby A breathe a little bit, but the doctor's didn't seem too concerned about it. Chris and Michelle are still undecided on names...they thought they had a bit more time to decide! Michelle seems to be doing good. The doctors are hopeful that her liver will be fine now that she's given birth. And she was able to deliver naturally, so she doesn't have the added pain of healing from a c-section. So hopefully everything will continue to go smoothly for them. I'm sure that the girls will have to stay in the hospital for a little while. And while I'm sure that will be hard for Michelle to leave the hospital empty handed, at least she will be able to get a good night's sleep in the beginning and be able to recover a bit quicker. She's going to need all the strength she can get once the babies get to come home! :) I'll keep you posted.

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As I sit here typing out this post, Rylee and Devynn are "cleaning" the blinds and dusting for me. Rylee is trying to earn money to pay for frozen yogurt for all of us (What a sweet girl!), so I am giving her chores to do. And Devynn just has to do everything that Rylee does. It's so cute to watch them with the duster and cleaning wipes in their hands. Adorable!! And yesterday Rylee vacuumed the entire upstairs for me! Thanks Ry Ry! :)

So Darn Pretty and Prayer Request

So the other night, Jessie and I were sitting on the couch watching TV. She was, of course, texting multiple friends at the same time, when she suddenly stopped and looked at me and said

"Why do I have to be so pretty?"

And while I completely agree that she is absolutely beautiful, it was rather funny hearing those words come out of her mouth. Turns out that she had just found out that there were 2 boys at school that were both planning on asking her out the next day. One is only a 6th grader, and to a big, bad 7th grader like herself, that is completely unacceptable (plus, he's shorter than her...poor boy!). The second boy is actually a boy that she used to have a crush on, but one of her close friends likes him now so that puts him off limits. (Good girl! Choosing a friend over a silly boy!) But apparently this second boy isn't going to give up very easily. He went to Jessie's friend that likes him and asked her if it would be OK if he asked Jess out. She gave it the thumbs up, so he may be asking Jess out today. Persistent little fella', isn't he?! :)

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On a more serious note, Ryan's cousin's wife Michelle has been admitted to the hospital. She is pregnant with twin girls and not due until March. It has been a long and painful road for her to have more children, and she has been deliriously happy to be blessed with twins. Unfortunately, her kidney or liver (I'm not sure which because the news came via my mother-in-law!) isn't functioning properly and she has been living off her twins. It's a rare condition caused by the pregnancy. In order to save Michelle, they are going to have to deliver her girls. They are trying to hold out until next week so they admitted her to watch her. So I am asking for you all to keep Michelle and her tiny girls in your prayers, along with her husband Chris and their 4 year old son Ethan. We pray that they are able to hold off on delivery for as long as possible. We pray for Michelle's health. We pray that when the time comes, those precious little baby girls are born safely and healthy. Thank you, and I will keep you posted as soon as I get any new news.

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PS- As I finished typing the above posts, Andrew came in and told me that Devynn had gotten into something and had made a mess. I went out into the kitchen to find that she had put a bunch of pretzels into the "trunk" of her tricycle and had then opened a packet of hot cocoa mix. She had dumped some of the cocoa in her trunk with the pretzels, and had dumped the rest all over herself and the floor. She didn't seem to mind the mess she had created because she was too busy dipping the pretzels in the cocoa mix and eating them! It was the funniest thing to see her sitting on the kitchen floor dipping her food in her trunk! Of course, today was the one day that Ryan needed the camera and had taken it with him this morning! Would've been a GREAT picture! :)

Devynn is always sooo busy, which keeps me sooo busy!!! That's my girl, though! And she can only be found in my world! :)

Anniversary and Inauguration

So this weekend, Ryan and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary (we've been together for 15 years, though!). My Mom picked all 4 of my monkeys up Saturday morning and kept them until Sunday afternoon so that Ryan and I could have alone time. It was so nice! Thanks Mom! :) We went to lunch, the movies (Gran Torino...great movie!), and dinner. It was so strange to walk into a restaurant and say "2" instead of "6"! :)

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Today is Inauguration Day for our 44th president, Barack Obama. I didn't vote for Obama, but I will give the guy a chance before I say "I told you so". My only question is: If color truly doesn't matter, why is that all we keep hearing about?

Poor RyRy :(

So my poor little RyRy Belle has been under the weather. It started on Sunday afternoon when she came downstairs and said her stomach hurt. She seemed fine and had been playing all day, so we didn't really believe her. Instead, we decided to go eat chinese food for dinner. Luckily, it was a nice evening and we chose to eat outside because RyRy decided to prove to us that her stomach really was bothering her! Poor baby! She continued to get sick for the rest of the night, but was doing much better Monday. We thought she was all done. Tuesday morning when it was time to leave to take Jessie to school, Rylee decided she wasn't all done! Poor girl! She seemed miserable laying on the couch. After her nap that afternoon, she seemed much better. She even started fighting with Devynn again! We thought for sure that she was all better this time. But on Wednesday morning, she woke up with that lovely barking-like-a-seal cough and a scratchy voice. She is still coughing today, but it has lost it's barking quality. Her voice is still not quite right, though. At least she's up and playing full force again. (I could do without the fighting with Devynn, though...but it's usually Devynn that starts it! Little booger!)





The new oath in my world: I promise to believe my kids from now on when they tell me they're not feeling well!

New Boyfriend?

So the other day my mother-in-law took Jessie and my niece Taylor to get their nails done and to have lunch at Souplantation. While standing in line for lunch, a man who was apparently about 75 years old came up to Jess:


Old man: "How old are you?"

Jess: "12."

Old man: "I was just wondering how long it took you to get that pretty."



I wish I had been there to see the expression on Jessie's face! I'm sure it was priceless!!



Little old men use pick-up lines to try to hit on my 12-year old daughter in my world!!

Christmas pics!

Andrew with his new fully automatic nerf gun...Thanks Uncle Steve!

Rylee showing off the Princess Gingerbread Castle that we made!

Devynn with her new baby cheetah! So cute!





Jessie showing off her cool new gift cards...every 12 year old girl's favorite!!





How happy does she look?! :)




Our precious family

Jessie and Taylor

The Smith kids!

Devynn enjoying some frosting...yummy!

My 4 little monkeys!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas...a little late! We had a great Christmas! The kids had a blast opening presents with Uncle Steve and Auntie Kimmie a week early, then seeing their cousins on Christmas Eve, and then being overloaded on Christmas Day! They were all excited, and got want they wanted from Santa...Jess got a flat iron for her straight hair (don't ask!), Andrew got a scooter and Iron Man DVD, Rylee got a new play kitchen, and Devynn got a pink and purple trike! So fun! But one of the best parts of Christmas day came when Jessie got to open the very last gift under the tree. It was a big box and she knew it was for her so she kept asking "what is it?" So, of course, we kept telling her all kinds of different things were in there. When the time finally came to open it, she was pretty nervous.


What could it be? Is something going to jump out and scare me? What is in here?

AAAAHHHHH!!!! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! AAAAAAAHHHHHHH! AAAAHHHHHH! AAAAA HHHHHH!!!!! :):):):):):):):):)

OMG! It's a cell phone...complete with unlimited texting!! I don't think any of us had ever seen Jess that excited before! It was awesome seeing her face light up out of happiness! It brought tears to mine and Ryan's eyes! Seeing our baby girl's eyes sparkle with pure joy=the best part of being a parent! :)

It was a great day!! :)

Oh, and Happy New Year...a little late! :) We are glad to see 2008 go, and are looking forward to a much brighter 2009! And wish the same for you!! :)