Life is precious.

I joined the world this week in mourning for the loss of the sweet children at Sandy Hook Elementary school. Besides hanging my RED HEART (did you hang yours too?) on my door and adding my name to a petition to tighten gun control... the only other thing I can think of to do is to appreciate these 3 a little more.   And smother them in as many kisses and hugs I can give. (That is when I am not punishing them for turning our entire family room into a giant fort or tracking mud in from outside all over the carpet.)

I love, love, love these blue boys. 

ps. Cal loved the funny story I told him of when his Dad peed his pants. Can you tell?  May or may not have been true...but it worked!

Go Cheetah's!

Cal and I both had our first experience with team sports!  (Him playing, me coaching.) It went better than I thought it would thanks to all the super parents and my co-coach Loni! All the kids made huge progress in the 3 months.  I learned that Cal is a super fast runner and is quite competitive. :)

 

Such a fun little bunch.
But I'm not going to lie, I'm glad my lazy Saturday morings are back for a bit. 

Thanksgiving

We were so glad Doug's family decided to join us in Houston this year.  He only had Thanksgiving off, so it made it hard to travel.  We had a fabulous feast with a few friends from our Branch.   My friend Tricia even taught me how to make an edible cornucopia. :)    

 It was quite an adventure participating in the craziness of Thursday night's "Black Friday" shopping.  And of course we had great times playing bocce ball, going out to the movie, bowling, eating Texas Barbecue, and more shopping! Thank you, thank you for making the trip! (In the stinky van nonetheless!)  We are so sad that soon our favorite Dallas cousins will be much more than a 5 hour road trip away.  :(

Haunted Happenings

October flew by full of parties and dressing up.  By the end of the month, I was so sick of costumes and my thrown-together Pirate get up. But the kids love it and it is fun to see them so excited and happy. 

 Zoo Boo

Not 1...but 2 trunk-or-treats! 

ps.  We LOVE our new branch! 

Preschool fun!

Halloween day/ night

8 month giggles and grins

"HAPE BRthDA"

 

Grandpa/Mayor Lewis came to town for 1 night and it happened to be his birthday! (And the first Presidential Debate...) 

We love any excuse to make an ice-cream cake!

Minha Familia

All of my siblings were together for a quick weekend.  It was such a rare treat. We had a beautiful morning honoring my Grandma Donna.  It is so fun to see long lost cousins.  We spent the rest of the day making homemade Butterfinger ice cream (Packard tradition) and looking at old scrapbooks. 

I brought my little cherub baby with me.  He was a big hit.  I am so in love with this little guy. 

He is sporting another one of his Daddy's beautiful, hand-made, hand-me-downs. 

brotherly love

Ollie bollie bo mollie

Me mi mo wallie

Ollie!

 

He is almost 7 months old now!  And is seriously the sweetest tempered baby I have ever birthed.

We loooooove him!

 Once Cal gets home from school, the real party of the day starts. 

He keeps his brothers laughing, playing, and yes, fighting until the sun goes down. 

 Looking at these little boys makes me glad I married Doug Lewis, that one boy I had a crush on when I was 15!   :) 

First day of KINDERGARTEN!

We made it home from our travels TWO days before the big first day of school. 
With a little prep, a Father's blessing, and a little partying...we were ready!  

Cal with his best buddies Lincoln and Shep.

He was happy to have Jake with him in his class!

And I had to get a picture of him doing his job after school.  It was so fun to hear him talk all about his own life... one that really didn't know anything about.  I could tell he was loving the independence.  He even had to tell me about all the "cool" snacks other kids brought like Oreo's and juice boxes and how his snack was not that cool. :) 

Hip, hip hooray!!  It was a wonderful next step...one that we have both been really looking forward to!  (No tears all around...well except Rhett who realized that he couldn't stay at school too.)

Arizona

Lunch and Last Chance with the Mamma and my sistas! Life doesn't get much better for me. 

(We are lamenting here over our identical cowlicks.  A gift from our mom!)

We had plenty of time to snuggle and love on all our favorite cousins!

We celebrated Grandpa Rob's 97th birthday!

It was so sweet to get to spend a little time with my Grandma Donna as well.  She passed away less than 2 weeks after these pictures were taken. Oliver and I are headed back to AZ for a quick weekend to celebrate her and her wonderful life!

And Arizona summers, wouldn't be 'Arizona Summers' with out some fantastic rain storms and monsoons!  

Utah

We celebrated many fun events in Utah.
I think it is safe to say we celebrated "Adam" in St. George. :)
Then headed north for my new SIL Taryn's bridal shower, SIL Paige's baby shower, and then Doug's brother CJ's wedding. 
It was a non stop Lewis family party! 
We are so, so excited to add Taryn to it!

Georgia

I was getting a little desperate for adult conversation, so we left Doug at home (or should I say at work) and I took the boys on a road trip to visit my brother and his wonderful family. Driving through Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and finally Georgia did feel a bit long!  But as always, the company was so worth it!  

Top right: FDR's home (where he died with his mistress by his side.)

our top 10 exciting celebrations

10. My birthday: I turned another year wiser... 29, yikes!

9. Preschool Graduation: I love these 9 little monkeys and it was so neat to get to see my own little Cal grow so much this year.  Each of the kids got an award.  I gave Cal the award for being a super reader.    

8. Cal's birthday:  He's 5!  Some mom's throw big elaborate parties.  I guess that is not me.  His actual birthday was several days later on the cruise, but we wanted to open his presents the day before we left. I texted 2 friends at 9pm and invited them to a casual low key breakfast party... He seemed to have fun regardless.  (That is when he wasn't in time out or pouting about the tee ball game.)  

7. Father's Day:  these 3 boys sure are lucky to have such a great dad. 

  6. 1st day of work:  Dr. Doug started residency... boo for long hours and single parenting.  But he does look like such a cute Doctor.

 5.  Ollie bear is 4 months!  Doug's Aunt Mary stitched him this darling sleeper.  (4 months later and I still sometimes find myself in shock... I can't believe he was born in the CAR.)

  
4.  Brothers:  I had no idea 3 boys was going to be so much fun! I hit the neighborhood pool with these little swimmers almost every day.  I love my boys!

 
3.  Rhett is potty trained!!! (Mostly... he still needs lots of reminders.)

 

2. We had an awesome 4th filled with a very hot neighborhood parade, pot luck breakfast w/ face painting, a barbecue with old and new friends and perfect seats to watch the firework show.    

1.  I got me some new wheels! Wahoo! Who knew the swagger wagon could be SO exciting!

Cruise to Caribbean

We love spending time with Doug's extended Smoot family.  It is always SUCH a party!

44 of us set sail out of Tampa, Florida aboard the Carnival Legend ship.

 We had some very fun sea days on board the ship!

High's: all you can eat ice cream, Karaoke, fine dining, strip tease fashion shows, Mafia, the towel animals and daily Chocolates on our pillows.

Low's: Having to go back to the room and pump milk every 3 hours... but we sure did miss baby Ollie and Rhett who were safe at home with Grammy and Aunt Lindy!

 

 1st stop Cozumel, Mexico

High: We visited the awesome Mayan ruins at Tulum.

Low: We never got to swim at that beautiful beach.  And... World War III almost occurred due to mine and Doug's alarm clock dying during the night...

2nd stop Belize City, Belize

High:  More Mayan ruins and Cave tubing with head lamps! Soo cool!  

Low:  Doug's new water proof camera died before he could try it out on his scuba diving adventure with 4 others.  He described the crystal clear water and awesome life below the ocean though in much detail.  :)

3rd stop Roatan, Honduras

High: Intense family volleyball game, swimming, relaxing, and window shopping.

Low: Not getting out of tourist town and seeing much of the real life out in the country. 

 4th stop Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands

High:  Seriously BEAUTIFUL ocean water... And no, we are not in a pool.

Low:  Cal screaming bloody murder about getting in the water and missed out on snorkeling and feeding/petting/kissing the giant string ray's.

We had a rocky day discovering the boat/airlines would not let me fly home early from Grand Cayman as planned  (Passport cards are NOT passports!)... but it miraculously all worked out in the end!  

 Cal was lucky enough to celebrate his 5th birthday on board the boat!  Dad made it a special day (I had already flown home.)  Despite the several melt downs, fits, and broken china in the Dining Room, we are so glad we got to have this one on one time with him.  He is such a creative boy who talks of getting his own pet from sun up to sun down.  

We owe a BIGGGGG thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Smoot for a wonderful week!!