Happy Everything

So I've been bad and missed Christmas, New Years, and swim meets.  Such is life with two busy girls.  So I will do a speedy version through Christmas and save New Years and swim updates for another blog entry.

Since Dad and Patty have moved to Alpena, they drove down to stay at our house the days leading up to Christmas.  Uncle Jere, who comes every year for Thanksgiving, but was unable to since he was sick this year, we convinced to also join us on Christmas Eve for dinner.

CHRISTMAS EVE

 getting ready for church

Don't ask me what Olivia put on her lips.  She says it was chapstick, but they were so bright even after washing it off.

Sisters getting along (a rare moment, that we had to capture on film)

Mia and our good friend Alice were black sheep, while Olivia and Maggie were the white sheep in the flock for the church's children's pageant this year.

Olivia helping Alice take her gift up for baby Jesus.

All the children were asked to come forward and hold hands for a prayer at the end.  Here you can see Callahan Lamb up with the girls.

Mia getting some time in with Papa at the end of the service.

As usual, the children's service was extra special seeing all the children in their true glory, unscripted and acting as themselves, not as a part for a big production.  Don't get me wrong, no production is quite as big as Jesus' birth, but I believe the true spirit of Christmas lies not in a flawless rehearsed performance of what we as Americans perceive to be the birth of Jesus, but in the children being true children of God, exhalting his birth.  It gives me goosebumps each year.

On the drive home from church I happened to drive down S. Clay St. and lo and behold caught a glimpse of this adorable house all decked out for the holidays.  This home is where I spent my first 11 Christmases and holds many cherished memories for me.  

After church with both sets of grandparents and Aunt Jen and Robert, we headed home for dinner with Jere and dad and Patty.  A delicious meal was in store, but we were all worn out with anticipation.  Soon after dinner the annual Christmas Eve gifts were opened (always pajamas) and the girls also opened their ornaments from Grandma and Grandpa.  

The girls went to sleep excited to see what Santa may bring them as presents to celebrate Jesus' birth.  Neither girl had specifically asked for any one thing this year, so the surprise was suspenseful to say the least.

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Christmas morning brought the girls and I both up way too early.  I think it was just after 5:00 a.m.  Thank goodness for a Christmas Story marathon to keep us entertained for awhile.  I was amazed with the patience the girls showed in not rushing to see what might be under the tree.  Once Andy was awake, those patience were shot, and we had to wake up Grandma and Grandpa to go see what Santa brought and tear into some gifts.

anxiously awaiting to go out to see the gifts under the tree

Checking out Mia's gift from Santa

Some of Santa's top elves made Mia this awesome kitchen set.  Both girls have been having a blast with it ever since, constantly cooking up various foods and playing restaurant with us.

Olivia opening her Little House on the Prairie book set.  She was thrilled that Santa brought them to her.

Olivia was more excited to give gifts this year than receive.  That filled my heart to see how excited she was for Mia to open her Elsa from Frozen towel that she picked out for her with her own money.  She even mentioned she didn't care if she got anything, she just wanted to see Mia, open her gift.

Mia loves it, and gave Olivia a big hug to prove it.

Mia was excited to pick out a few gifts for some recipients this year as well.  She hasn't quite grasped the concept of 'tis better to give than receive, yet.  She picked out things she liked, but I had to try and intervene. while still allowing her the liberty for her to choose.  Here she is giving Andy and dinosaur egg that you soak in water and a dinosaur hatches out.  She told Andy that he could give her the dinosaur once it hatched.  That so was me as a child.

Waiting for the cousins to come, the tree is filled with gifts and stockings from Grandma and Grandpa.

Mia playing in her kitchen while we waited.

The Smith clan tearing into their stockings.

More Smith members.

George Titus on Christmas morning.

Mia with her new Elsa doll from Grandpa and Grandma.  Andy loves that it she sings Let it Go.  Ha ha.

A sleepy Naomi, who's favorite gift of the day seemed to be Goldfish crackers.

After the all too many gifts were opened, our annual Christmas breakfast casserole, with cinnamon rolls, and wassail was devoured.  The Smith family headed home to have their own family Christmas, dad and Patty headed back to Alpena, and we headed to Nana and Papa's house for Christmas day.  We truly are blessed that we can see spend such a blessed holiday with so much family.

A Lot to be Thankful for

Another laid back Thanksgiving was had in our house this year.  Sadly, Uncle Jere was under the weather and couldn't make it this year, but the Randall family (minus Jer and Melvin, the dog) came up from South Carolina.  The girls were ecstatic to have their dear friends with them again, and I was thrilled to see them all again too.  

Kylee, Emma, and Olivia being the silly girls that they are.

One of the tables set and ready for our Thanksgiving feast, which of course consisted of a venison roast and turkey.  

Abe and Mia vegging out watching TV before dinner.

Goofy faces

Time for twister

It got pretty comical, especially because Abe and Mia really had no idea how to play.  If one would fall the other followed suit, just because, and they would laugh uncontrollably.  I'm so glad these two little friends from birth, could spend some time together again.

Tina (sorry I had to post it) getting dressed up by the kids.  It's actually an ugly fake beard atop her head, with not one, but three pairs of glasses on her smiling face.

 We of course had a stop in visit from Nana and Papa, later Aunt Jen and Robert, and even Aunt Elizabeth, Uncle Jared, and some of their children.  The two nieces were the biggest hit donning their t-shirts that got quite a reaction from us.

Yes, you read that correctly.  They will be big sisters towards the end of May.  For those of you keeping a head count, that will be baby number 7 for the Smith family.  I'm usually very competitive, but will gladly concede and let my sister win this challenge.

Abe and Mia getting their last hugs in before the Randalls headed out on Saturday morning.  They were headed to see their Papa Dave (and Nana Sharon) who is currently living in Ann Arbor and receiving treatment at U of M hospital for cancer and awaiting a bone marrow transplant.  We pray for him and the family daily.  They may not be family by blood, but having grown up with the family, they are in every sense of the word.

Searching for the perfect Christmas tree.

Sunday, after Thanksgiving we headed to Bronson, to go to Frost-Works Evergreen for our annual Christmas tree.  They are so friendly out there and the girls love to go pick their own tree and help cut it down.  I use the word help, very loosely.

And the winner is...

We attempted to tie the camera to another tree to snap a few family pics.  This is what you get.  Ha ha.

We realized the camera was angled away, so we tried our best to sneak in at the last second.  It was a fun relaxing day together, followed by lunch at the In-Between.

Time to decorate.

Mia shares my passion for the Christmas season always willing to help decorate and listen to music.

Olivia helped out for some, but doesn't get too into all the decorating and what not.  She even succeeded in getting Andy to hang a few ornaments.  That's quite an accomplishment, since we refer to him as a Scrooge during the holidays.

Regardless of where we were, or what we ate this Thanksgiving we had time to reflect and realize all we genuinely have to be thankful for.  We are all healthy, we have jobs, a home, food in our cupboards, family and friends that love us, and our faith.  What more could anyone ask for?  Hopefully you found something to be thankful for this year as well.

Partners In Art

We are blessed to live in a community that cherishes the fine arts and instills those values in our children.  We have a terrific civic auditorium, the Sturges-Young Auditorium in town, that hosts the Sturgis Council of the Arts.  They bring in many fine musicians, plays, comedians, and shows to our small community.  One of the many great programs funded by the Council of the Arts is "Partners in Art."  This year, I am also president of a local non-profit group, the Sturgis Junior Women's League that fundraise and volunteer in our community.  Last year, one of our recipients from our money raised was the Partners in Art program.  Little did I know at that time that my own Olivia would be blessed by this program.
                                                 
For Partners in Art, 40 school age children, grades K-12, each have one piece of artwork selected and have each of them professionally matted and framed including a small plaque with the artist's name.  There was a beautiful reception where all the works of art were on display at the auditorium and friends and family were invited to come see all the talent our school age students have in this town.  I loved that we got to choose who we wanted to have invited and they sent out invitations to our guests of our choice.  Of course we invited all the family living in the area, but I thought it would be special for Olivia to invite Jackie and Ms. Roberts.  Neither disappointed us, and they showed up for the guest of honor.  Each piece of artwork is leased by area businesses and put on display for one year.  Wouldn't you know, Olivia's piece was leased by Warren English and will hang at Nana's work for her to enjoy everyday.  Well. everyday she works that is, since she is now semi-retired.

The proud artist standing by her masterpiece.

                                                   

Jackie was one of the special invited guests and she gladly came.  Olivia was thrilled she came, as was Mia.

The Smith family of course came out to support their cousin, Olivia as well.

Olivia and her 2nd grade teacher.  She was in Ms. Roberts' room when she created her sun painting.

It was a terrific event and so fun to see all the other amazing works of art created by all ages in our schools.  I'm proud to call this community my home when I see great programs like these continue.

Soccer Stars

I have become a "Soccer Mom," and truth be told, I've loved every minute of it.  Both the girls have played our local spring soccer season in Sturgis for 2 years now.  It's at a very instructional and fun level.  We only play other teams from Sturgis and focus on the fundamentals of soccer.  It's a one month time commitment and my girls have enjoyed that.  At the end of the spring season we were given a note about tryouts for the travel soccer team, which I immediately dropped in our recycle bin.  I knew we were not ready for that level, nor did I want to commit to traveling every weekend.  A month or so later, I was contacted by Olivia's spring soccer coach asking me if I would let her tryout.  He really wanted her on the team.  We talked about it as a family.  It was a big commitment for time, financially, and much more competitive.  Of course Olivia was thrilled at the idea and we proceeded.  She made the team, but truth be known, we barely had enough girls to field a travel team.  This is the first year Sturgis has ever had a girls travel team this young.  In addition our team was very young and inexperienced compared to the teams we would be facing from Kalamazoo, Portage, and Galesburg.  Those towns did have tryouts and many cuts to make the team.

Post season celebration.  Pile on the coaches.

A team photo after the last game.  The girls were being superstitious and wouldn't let me take a photo prior, because it would jinx their chances of winning.

A pregame photo from their first game of the season in Galesburg.  

They grew a lot as  team since this photo was taken.  Most of the players went in to the season with not much experience, although we do have a few that are standouts.  Under the coaching staff of Matt Sutter, Ramon Lugo, and Geoff Smith, these girls learned teamwork, how to be aggressive, and work together as a team.  They learned sportsmanship, how to lose gracefully, and looked phenomenally better by their last game. Thank you coaches for your commitment to our girls.  The season consisted of 8 games.  We played 4 teams each twice, once at their home field, and once at our home field. They ended the season with one tie and no wins, but got better with every game.  The first game against every team usually resulted in a wallop of a loss.  By the second time we played each team, it truly was a competition and the girls held their own well.  They seemed to come alive by the second half of every game, often giving up no goals at all in the second half and showing much more aggression and running plays like the pros.

Olivia saving a goal.

Early in the season, they tried Olivia out as a goalie.  After two games I think everyone realized that wasn't Olivia's strong suit.

Number 3 running the ball down field.  

Olivia and Brooke working together.

Olivia getting ready to pass the ball to Brooke.  Olivia had no goals herself for the season, but this play resulted in an assist while Brooke scored a goal.

This picture shows the size of players our girls were often up against.  My number 3 and Kalamazoo's number 3 are a little mismatched in size.

I loved this picture here.  It's hard to see, but that's Olivia behind her good friend Quinn.  I thought it was neat how they were running in synchronized form down the field together.  

Traveling to away games meant eating out a lot, which is always fun, and we also met up with Csaba, Kristian and their kids after one game.  (My zoom lens was on, so I didn't manage any photos because they were too close up).  I think we were ready for soccer season to come to an end, but look forward to it resuming again in the spring.  Travel soccer was a year commitment so the same group of girls will play again in the spring.  Hopefully they can add some wins to their record at that time.  For now, swim season has be resurrected.  Olivia definitely keeps active, and we are thrilled she has found some activities that she is passionate about.

All About Olivia

October 20th of this year, my sweet, opinionated, attention loving daughter, Olivia Jane turned 9.  I found myself writing her age down on something the other day and had to stop and think if that was truly her age.  I'm mean, really, 9!  How can she be in her last year of single digits already?  That's half way to an adult!  Everyone tells you how quickly they grow up, but it hasn't quite sunk in with me yet.  I haven't been blogging much the last few months because life has been soooooo busy, and quite a lot of that has been because of our active daughter, Olivia.  Since it was so chaotic we didn't even know how to squeeze in her birthday party.  We celebrated her birthday with family on Monday night, her actual birthday.  She is blessed to have family close by and that shows up for her whenever she needs them.

The day she turned 9!

Olivia with her Nana

Mia hugging her big sister with the new fox pillow Mia picked out for her (courtesy of Aunt Jen), while Jane looks on.

Papa squeezing in some snuggle time with Mia.

One of her new dresses.  She has quite a fashionable wardrobe.  I wish it was my size.

Mia being Mia with Aunt Jen.

Olivia and her new Under Armour sweatshirt and cute Naomi in the front.  Under Armour is all the rage with many kids these days.  I don't quite get it when I see the price tags on things, but it flashes me back to my obsession with Umbros when they were popular in my youth.

Dressing up in whatever crazy outfits they could find and dancing around the house.

I've never been one for big over the top parties with lots of friends, but as she gets older, I also understand her wanting to have some friends over for social gatherings.  So we decided on a slumber party the Friday night before her birthday.  We didn't advertise it was her birthday, just a sleepover.  The girls I believe had a lot of fun.  Andy, on the other hand, not so much.

From left to right Citori, Brook, Quinn, Averie, and Olivia

My camera had some changes on it that I couldn't quite figure out so a few pictures are out of focus.  Sorry.

The girls all got to make their own pizzas for dinner for the evening.

Being silly

Lounging out

Hoisting up Olivia

Pretending their sleeping all curled up on the sofa together.

Olivia also made a travel soccer team and these girls are all on her team.  I will get caught up soon and have lots of pictures from the fall soccer season.