It has been awhile....

The kids keep getting taller and older, it just isn't right! Here are some recent pics of the boys.

Friends of ours from Kansas City came through town and all our boys met and bonded, was so fun!

The boys LOVE to "wash" the car, note the quotation marks....:)

Cleaning and organizing the garage last summer.

Christmas!

The beautiful Christmas tree and .....Avery

Prepping for his role in "A Night at the Theater" 

Ok, here are some random pics from last year. We are still searching for more photos (for instance, the Xmas pics aren't posted, as of yet, since they are still on my ipad). but for your viewing pleasure, here are some pics of the kids, starting with Tobias at his 5th grade graduation ceremony. Enjoy! (doesn't he look happy?)

Ok, that's enough of that. His excitement is too much to contain on this blog, so on to other things. Here's the two twirps together. You will notice Avery's ability to "nostril flex" and Tobias's ability to stand still and stone faced like an old Victorian painting.

Ok, here we finally catch a smile.

And the summer begins....

Summer vacation has begun and we are adjusting to the change of schedule and routines.

We are playing a lot more board games as a family

The kids are working with legos - I'm thinking it is a "boy" thing to make torture chambers with your legos - I never made "torture chambers" for my Barbies when I was a kid (ha)

We are having some "fun" sibling interactions (this series of pics cracks me up, if you can think of them as a "flip" book, you can see the interaction....)

Still left on our summer vacation agenda are:

• camping
• day at the coast
• sleepovers with friends
• choir camp (Avery)
• potentially a sleepover camp (Tobias) 

6 months later....

Can it really have been 6 months since our last update from the Smith clan?!?! Seems crazy that the time has flow by so quickly. I need to check in with this blog more frequently and keep it updated - yikes!

In the past 6 months, here are some highlights (in no particular order):

• we have gone to "Middle School Orientation" (ARGHHH!!!)
• Tobias attended a 3 day/2 night Outdoor School 
• Avery decided he didn't want to play the cello any more this year (I'm hopeful he will return to it next year).
• We have dealt with some of the ups & downs of parenting tweens and learning plenty along the way
• Watched several movies - in our theater mainly, now that we are spoiled its hard to justify the expense and hassle of GOING to a movie theater (sad, I know)
• Began playing various strategy board games - Heroscape, Summoner's Wars, Carcassonne, Talisman, etc. 
• Enjoyed our park across the street with nerf gun wars and soon to be watergun fights, I'm sure.
• Mike and I have both sustained back injuries of various degrees of severity
• We now have an 11 year old in the house....so odd! And soon to be 10 year to take us fully into double-digit children (so wrong, but seems I don't get a vote)
• attended multiple choir concerts to support Avery's interest in singing - including the Iris Fest here in Keizer and other events around town.
• Tobias has been working on various scooter/skateboard moves - perfecting them with only the slightest of bumps and bruises.
• Hanging out with grandparents and keeping in touch with family farther away via skype (from time to time, this is a new venture that we are working on )
• Here are some recent snapshots - not related to the highlights above, but just to prove the kids are alive and well :)

So - that is all that is coming off the top of my head at this moment. I know there has been more. I'm hopeful to keep up a little more with this a summer starts. Kids are out in a week and a half!

Wrapping up of Christmas Break....

 Our Christmas break is winding down with just a Sunday between the holidays and reality of 2011. The kids have been enjoying their new toys and some old traditions. They are loving these "drinking glasses" still and woke up to do colored water drinking a few times since Christmas - the glasses really crack me up!

 We have been making a Christmas Cookie Tree for the past several years and continued the tradition this year.  It is a fun and delicious tradition - WE LOVE SUGAR COOKIES (and FROSTING)!!!

By the end though, we had a leaning tower of cookies, oops!

  Avery gives them 2 thumbs-up

The boys have also been enjoying other of the unique gifts they received - one of the gooeyist gifts was a gummy noodle and eye ball kit - with candy sauce - uck!!! (Thanks Uncle Derek & Aunt Holly).

 Mike and I took some time out with friends from church and went bowling. Here is Mike showing us how its done!!

 This is what most mornings have looked like over the Christmas break starting somewhere between 9 and 11am.....eating Captain Crunch Christmas cereal and watching "The Real Ghostbusters."

 Alas....it is time to be done with Christmas - here we are packing all the Christmas decorations away.

 Here we are playing with another of our gifts, the game "Pictureka." It is an interesting and multi-facted card game for kids (and adults alike). Thanks Uncle Derek & Aunt Holly).

 I (Amanda) have been enjoying my many mug gifts that I received this year. An elephant mug from Tobias & Mike. And an elegant black/white mug from the Leonidoff's. Thanks for feeding my mug/tea habit!!