Gingerbread Houses 2017

This year we went the homemade route for our Gingerbread Houses. 

It's less precise and definitely more work, but you can't beat the smell.

 Once the pieces were baked, we got to decorating.

 Our icing this year worked like a charm, but some of our pieces weren't measured exact and made it difficult to get them to line up right. 

 Somebody miscalculated the number of pieces they needed and ended up with a house that 

was 30% cardboard;)

The girls were all very creative and I always love seeing what they come up with.

 Emm likes to use as many different candies to decorate as possible. She got right to work and was the first to finish and included Santa in the chimney, a chocolate Snowman and a tree.

 Despite the little snag in the construction process, Kars produced a very creative "hut" complete with a pool

 Bailee had a hard time getting her roof and sides to line up but ended up with a cute traditional cottage with Gingerbread men (missing in the pic)

The girls all agreed that they like making our own gingerbread best. They loved the freedom in design!

Self Portrait

Kars is taking photography this semester. Bailee took the same class as a Sophomore, so it has been interesting to see them complete some of the same assignments with their own style. Recently she had to do a self portrait portfolio. She was in charge of all the details and I just pushed the button on the camera. These are some of our favorites:)

Little Kids Rock

Right before the break, Emmrey had her last day of Little Kids Rock. She has been staying after school every Thursday to be a part of this band. 

The group comprised of about thirty 4th and 5th graders put on a show for parents and guests. 

Many of these kids had never even picked up a guitar and by the end of the semester were playing chord changes for three different songs and branching out to try the keyboard or electric guitar.

They played Cheap Thrills, I've Got a Feeling and Best Day of My Life. 

It was so fun watching and listening to these little rockers!

Spread Love

Puck came back for another season! It looks like he will be reminding us to be nice instead of naughty;)

 These are just some of the things he encouraged us to do.

Christmas Choir

It seems like it's all about Emmrey lately;) She had a choir concert Tuesday the 12th. It was short and sweet. The group of 4th and 5th graders sang eight songs for us and we were done in 40 minutes.

 Emmrey with some of her fellow singers

.... and her Music teacher Mrs. Beese.
She has a lot of enthusiasm which makes choir a place Emmrey likes to be.

Sleepover

We are not really sleepover people here. With the exception of family and a few very close friends, we just don't do them. We decided that up until age 10 the girls just don't go to sleepovers at friends houses {unless we know the family really well}, and ironically once they were that age the appeal had worn off and both Bailee and Karsyn weren't really that excited about them. Emmrey has a group of friends that she is pretty close with and she has been begging for a sleepover with one or more of them. We finally caved in and let her invite Sophie over last weekend. It was all good .... they got along, didn't stay up til all hours of the night, and she isn't one of those kids that is constantly asking for things. Don't know how often it will happen in the future, but she has had one and it has been documented;)

All That Sparkles

Along with the tree lighting, Emmrey had her holiday dance recital the first weekend in December.

All That Sparkles was the name of the show. 

Her Kix group did two dances ... Hand Clap and Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend

 These two girls are the oldest in their group this year. It is strange to see Emm as one of the tallest in her class too.

Emmrey and Dayonna

 There were several girls that she knows from church in the program this year, which was fun.

Emmrey continues to love being a part of dance and is excited to explore some other styles in the future.

Community Tree Lighting

We didn't waste any time kicking off the festivities. Emmrey's school choir was invited to sing at the Wellington Community Tree Lighting on December 1st. 

We picked the wrong side .. she is the last Santa hat you can barely see on the right;)

There she is with a bit of a blurry zoom. They sang "Oh Christmas Tree" while the tree was lit and a handful of songs before Santa arrived!

The Fire Department was on hand serving hot chocolate and cookies

The head librarian had made the kids in the choir all a scarf to wear. A nice touch to the very informal affair.

We love supporting events in our small town.... even with all their flimsiness;)

Laramie Life

A little update on our college girl. She has been killing it with her tough Science courses and having lots of fun in between! She was elected to be the secretary for her dorm Community Senate and is taking advantage of every opportunity she can! She is still pretty faithful about sending me a picture a day, but it kinda depends on the day;) She is doing exactly what she should be right now .. and we are so thrilled for her! She is already tiring of dining at Washakie and mainly lives on the salad bar. I know when they have something that impresses her, because I usually receive a pic of it. She is also super excited when she gets a package from Gpa Wayne & Gma Cheryl and loves hearing from family;)

This & That Sept-Nov

Emmrey experimented with some new hairstyles;) I think this is her version of  "The Trump"

We harvested lots of veggies from our garden. Our berries did pretty good this year too and we even got a few cantaloupe.

We had some spectacular and eerie foggy mornings ...

I found sweet little notes in cupboards and the fridge one morning <3

After nearly four weeks, I snuck over to Laramie for the day to see my baby. 

I can't even explain the relief of knowing she was doing so well! 

We made some of our favorite cookies ... pressing the Kisses down the center {and eating a few in the process} is probably the best part for this girl.

This girl got her Learner's permit ...yikes how do we have almost two teen drivers!!

Emmrey participated in Running Club at school

She gave Stewy lots of TLC and decided he really likes being held like a baby?

Mark made several trips to Laramie for meetings with co-workers and graduate students. One of those trips I tagged along and we stole Bay for lunch at the Library 

(it moved to a downtown location since we lived there)

We sent her off another care package .....

Emmrey and Mark missed the Daddy Daughter night with the Activity Girls due to a late meeting, 

so Emmrey made her own in the basement

She had quite the set-up ... battery operated candles, blankets and a bowl of Trick or Treat candy.

Determined to meet her Reading goal at school, Emmrey was reading everywhere!

I served Pumpkin Pie at the Eyestone Thanksgiving Lunch and got to hang out with these cute girls for a quick break.

I just realized Kars isn't in many of these pics. What was that girl up to ... oh yeah, she was busy playing guitar and collecting swag from colleges;)

Smith Family Christmas Tree 2017

We did our tree trimming a couple of nights after cutting it. 

It's quite a job getting the lights wrapped around that thing.

 The girls (minus 1) did a great job getting all the ornaments on 

and finding just the right spot for each of them.

I am always amused to see which ones they put on first and where they place them. 

It becomes pretty obvious who put them on;)

We added our newest ornament to the tree

 There's nothing quite like the glow from a Christmas tree and the smell is pretty awesome too!