November Little Moments

I have come to enjoy these monthly posts about the little moments that bring me joy and really the every day things that are happening in our lives. They are truly what make life sweet.

Our littlest pianist

For about a month I collected canned goods to create meals-in-a-bag for Vine Maple Place. We have helped them in the past and we decided to put the meals together for our combined Young Women/Relief Society Activity. There was a great need for them. This organization helps single parent families who are homeless and need a restart in life. They teach them life skills and help them in such amazing ways. This is a small part and allows families to grab a bag that has one meal in it that they can cook in their own apartments. It allows them to not have to worry about shopping, but gives them the happiness that comes from cooking your own meal and enjoying it with your family. We put together 60 meals! It is always amazing to see things happen on a ward level and the good things that happen when people come together for a cause. Pretty much all the canned food was donated by our incredible ward members!

These two amazing young women were able to go with me to deliver the meals and got a tour of the Maple Valley location.

Just some cute simple moments with McCall- the cutest little toothy grin, watching hummingbirds from our front window, climbing up the Barbie house, and getting a ride from Baylor.

His hair is getting SO long!!! It's pretty amazing and I so wish I had hair like his.

The weekend of Veteran's day, we had a three day weekend and Aaron and some of his kids came up for a visit. The girls got some cousin fun in! We went out for some dessert at a specialty Mexican dessert shop.

Then while Nate went with Aaron and Nona to the Goodwill Outlet, I took the girls to Issaquah. Paige ended up not feeling well and stayed home and watched a movie. We went and saw the troll, the fish at the hatchery, went to McDonald's for lunch, and then got some donuts at Krispy Kreme. 

I mentioned this in Baylor's birthday post but here are a few more pictures from her ear piercing experience. Her face before was SO sad! But she is sure happy with them now.

We had some fun walking around the mall afterwards.

Nate's gate project

Paige started gymnastics and is loving it. She is constantly doing handstands and walkovers in our living room now. She is learning so much and I can't wait to see how much she progresses.

Her first meet she had decided that she would not compete because she was so nervous and wanted to see what it was all about before doing it. Her team needed her though! Each meet has four different events: the bars, the vault, the beam, and the floor routine. In order to get points for each event, you have to have 4 competitors. Their team only had 3 legible for the beam and Paige was legible and knew the routine so her coach asked her to compete and she said yes. It was incredible to watch her overcome the nerves and she did SO good!

I can't believe we are already to December! It has been a wonderful year and we can't wait for the Christmas season.

6 Years Old

Baylor turned 6 years old this month! It has gone by so fast and I'm so grateful for this little spunk of joy in our lives. With her birthday being the day after Halloween, it can be tricky with planning and timing, but we always make the most of it and make time to celebrate her. This year we had to move things around a bit since she wanted family over. (This year her birthday fell on a Wednesday which is our busiest day of the week in the evening.) So we ended up having a family birthday party the Sunday before her birthday. Nona and Pops came over as well as Anna and Scott's family. We had an Encanto themed party with dinner and Paige decorated the cake inspired by all the different character's powers.

On her actual birthday, we had her favorite dinner and still had some cake leftover. She took some fun party favors to school and got the cutest little headband to celebrate her. She opened up presents from us after dinner before everyone had to go to their various activities. 

On her birthday, she had so much fun at school (and most likely tired from trick or treating the night before), that she took a little nap on the floor when she got home from school. This never happens, but was so sweet and she has the most precious little face. 

Oh Baylor! You give us so much joy, silliness, energy, loudness, questions, and love!

Money jar from Nona and Pops

It took a few weeks to build up the courage, but she also got her ears pierced for her birthday! She was very nervous about it, but she is so glad she did it and loves her earring SO much.

Baylor loves to watch shows and really anything technology much to the dismay of her mother. She loves to be outside,  play games, really do anything as long as it is not by herself. She doesn't like to be alone and in certain settings is very shy, but really loves social things where there are friends to play with. She loves math and figuring out simple math problems and asks me daily how to spell a word and if certain words rhyme. She is not very emotional, but when she is sad it is the saddest little face ever. She hates hugs and kisses which of course leads me to giving her so many of them, but when she does give you a hug or kiss then you know she really means it and it just melts you. She loves to push her older sisters buttons the most (but then loves doing anything crafty or play outside with her) and is the most loving and caring for her little sister and will do anything for her. She is my child that likes to push my patience the most with her questions and asking me to do things for her, but that is more a me problem than a her problem. She says the FUNNIEST things and says words that are way advanced for her age. She is very active and busy. She is loud and will sing at the top of her lungs and dance like no one is watching. Just the other day, she yelled AMEN at the end of the prayer in sacrament meeting and we just had to laugh. She likes anything sparkly and girly. She loves to color and create and often draws on the back on her hands. She has gotten sick quite a bit this year with kindergarten, but hopefully this is the year that her immune system builds up a little more. She loves to have you create forts or things out of cardboard boxes and really get anything out for her to play with and is notorious for playing with it for 5-10 minutes and then is done. She hates to clean up after herself unless there is some incentive along with the clean up. She is honest and will tell you if the dinner you made is yucky even if she hasn't tried it or will claim something is boring before even doing it. (A little dramatic, huh!) :) But then she always make adventures fun because she likes to explore and see things and could play in the water and sand at the beach all day. She loves cousins so much especially her younger girl cousins who she could play with every day, all day if she could. She has the most stunning eyes that have a twinkle and her whole body lights up when she smiles. She has the cutest, little freckles across her face that are so sweet. She makes the funniest faces and has the best cheeser grin and has the eye roll down. We love you so much Baylor Morgan Smith! Thanks for bringing us laughter and fun all these years. I love watching you grow up and that I get to be your mom!

Just a little trip down memory lane to celebrate our big 6 year old!

Fall Walk

We have been enjoying the beautiful fall weather and colors! One weekend, the fall colors were so vibrant at the park so we did a little family walk with Nona to take it all in.

This series of photos that Paige took of McCall shoving leaves on her face and ending up with stuff all over her face had us all laughing. 

Then we stopped at the playground for a little fun and enjoying the ducks.

Dropping leave down the grate to see them float in the water below.

A fun little family adventure. It really is the little things that make life sweet!

Kindergarten

Baylor started kindergarten this year! So it was big changes and transitions in our household with one starting elementary school and one starting middle school. Baylor was pretty much all excitement and ready to go. She was so excited to start school. The first day there were a little bit of nerves, but she has watched Paige do this for years and a lot of the teachers already knew her. Parents were able to walk to the back of the school and stand in line until it was time to walk to the school. She clung to my hand, but when it was time to go, she was ready to go with no looking back. She LOVES school!!! She has missed more days than I thought she would due to sickness, but hopefully her immune system will get stronger as time goes on. Every morning she never even looks back. The first few weeks were so fun because every day she would just spill over with all the details from the day and was SO talkative after school no one else would get a word in. :) She always would say she made a new friend and just loves the social aspect of school. She is also a great little learner and her teacher loves her.

Here's all about Baylor as a Kindergartener:

Favorite Color: Rainbow and Sparkle

Favorite Food: Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup in Bread Bowls

Favorite Treat: Chocolate Ice Cream

Favorite Thing We Did This Summer: Going to Idaho and Playing with Cousins &

 Going to the Beach

Favorite Thing: McCall

What I Want To Be When I Grow Up: Piano Player  

She is such a cute and fun little girl! She always has a little teasing, tinkle in her eye and her smile just lights up her whole body and everyone around her.

The cutest little cheeser ever!

First day of school.

We kept the decorations up from Paige's first day and I adjusted a few things just for Baylor. We had one of her favorite dinners and celebrated this big milestone in Baylor's life!

You got this school year Baylor! I know you are going to rock kindergarten. Paige prepared you so much that I know you will be just a great example to your classmates and friends and a big helper for your teacher. You are so loved. I hope the world eventually gets to see your silly and fun side. I know you will grow and learn so much this year and this is the start of some really great times for you. Elementary school is fun and I'm excited to see friendships start to form and to see how much you learn this year. You have so many people that love and adore you and are your biggest cheerleaders! Have a great school year!

6th Grade- Middle School!!!

I know this is really late this year, but I had to get in my annual post of going back to school. I finally got around to taking pictures of back to school clothes. I guess life has just been busy or there has been sickness in the house (having a kindergarten is no joke with how much sickness has come into our house this year!) and this hasn't been on the top of my to do list, but I wanted to get it done before the weather turned to winter.

Paige started middle school this year!!! It was a big transition and the few weeks leading up to the first day of school were HARD! They had a back to school event a little bit before the first day of school and she came home in tears and I was frustrated and really didn't know how to help. I tried to focus on the positive and the tender mercies that we saw. A few days later, she found out that she had the first half of her classes with her best friend and her lunch with her which helped the most in easing some of her fears. We said a lot of prayers and tried to prep her mentally as much as we could as her parents. I had some fear going into middle school and this transition of 6th graders being there since this was the first year they were doing this. My biggest worry was the mornings. Paige is not a morning person and the last couple years of elementary school were hard. There were lots of tears for weeks especially at the end of the school years and middle school started an hour earlier than elementary school, but it is amazing how she has adjusted. It is night and day compared to what we had experienced in elementary school. The first day of school was hard and there were tears, but she has been really good in the mornings. She loves changing classes and has made new friends while strengthening her relationship with her best friend. She likes having lots of different teachers, some she likes better than others, which we told her is completely normal. She is very organized and is doing amazing is school. She has done track and now is doing gymnastics. There have been a only a few mornings where there have been tears and is is usually when something is out of the ordinary or something happens that is unexpected. She is getting so much better at talking about what is going on when anxious feelings pop up. I was worried about middle school, but so far it has been a really good experience for her.

Here's all about Paige as a 6th grader:

Favorite Color: Pale Yellow and Lavender

Favorite Food: Fettucine Alfredo and Homemade Chicken Noodle Soup

Favorite Treat: Brownies

Favorite Things We Did This Summer: Going to Idaho and the Peterson Family Reunion especially Lava Hot Springs and Time with Cousins & Going to Ocean Shores

Things I Love: Blankies, Family, & Friends

What I Want To Be When I Grow Up: A Kindergarten Teacher

Paige is looking so grown up these days and turning into an incredible young women! She is so gorgeous on the inside and out. I love being her mom and watching her grow!

Nate's sweet note for her on the first day of school.

First day of school pictures! Picture on the right is how she really felt about it. :)

Baylor and I had fun decorating to surprise her when she got home. We had one of her favorite dinners and celebrated this big milestone. I always love an excuse to decorate and have a little party and to show my girls how much I love and adore them.

You got this school year Paige! Your first year of middle school will be a learning experience, but you will learn and grow so much and I'm grateful that I get a front row seat. Continue being yourself, be kind, be an example and a helper and you will do just fine. There will be hard times, but also some really good and fun times. Life has so many ups and downs, but rely on prayer and your relationship with Jesus Christ and rely on your big support system of all the people that love you!