New House

Finally! We are all moved in our new house! We are sooooo glad the move is over with and the boxes are put away. We LOVE our new neighborhood. All the neighbors are so friendly. Everyone is always outside in the evening walking their dogs and all the kids are out. So Payton and Preston are loving it too. They love to go outside and catch frogs (which there seems to be plenty) and then Payton, and his attachement disorder....dosent ever want to part with the little frog. Everynight we have to explain the whole story about how the frog needs to be outside with his mommy and daddy to stay alive and needs to be able to catch bugs. So after much persuading, he finally realeases it. Anyways, we are going out of town for the 4th of July and I have a thing about cleaning before we go somewhere. I like to come home to a pristine house after being gone. So, I decided to take some pictures while it was atleast presentable. I forgot to take some of the outside....Ill post some later. Enjoy mom and dad Smart....Im holding true to my promise of taking more pictures!! HA!

Two monkeys one cage

So this is how I found my boys last night when I checked on them. Both of them in Paytons crib. Now I know what your thinking, Payton is still in a crib??? And...what the heck is on the crib. The answer is yes, Payton is still sleeping in his crib. Let's just say Payton has what we call and "attachement" disorder. He gets VERY attached to certain things and likes things a certain way alll the time and dosent like change. So, he still loves his crib, his pillow, and unfortunatly a bottle. He's been attached to the bottle since he was a baby and still likes it for comfort at night. I know its way past time to kick that habbit, but I think I have the same "disorder" as payton, so I feel guilty taking it away. He is our baby and its the last "baby" thing he has to let go of, so I have to let go of my attachement issue to keep him a baby! HA! What a mess. Anyways, when he was younger, he learned early on how to get out of his crib. So I bought a crib tent and it worked wonders. I dont tie it shut or anything and he can get out anytime, but he likes it closed still...(refer back to attachment disorder :) So last night I guess both boys wanted to sleep together, which never happens, so I HAD to document it with a picture. Preston is so big he takes up the whole side of the crib and he feel asleep with his arm stuck between the bars. I moved him into his bed so the didnt whack eachother upside the head during the night.

PS. thanks to grandma and grampa smart for the penguin that preston sleeps with everynight, and to "namma" for the pillow payton cant sleep without.......ever.....

Pictures

I know its been sooo long since I last posted. Im really going to try to start updating more for family and friends. This is unfortunately the only way that family that is far away gets to see pictures of us. Im a bad picture sender....so Ill try to post more pictures on the blog. So that is just what Im going to do in this blog b/c it will take to long right now to write everything we have been up to. We are having a great summer so far though and have a lot more in store in the coming weeks. I will write more later.

RIP Blue

We had a really sad weekend and are so so so sorry to say we lost our little dog blue "moo moo" as we called him...dont ask why. It was definitely a tramatic experience for everyone. We were at my moms house in San Antonio and all the boys were getting ready to go golfing and to go see Iron Man. They were just waiting around for everyone to be ready and went out in the back yard to practice their putting skills. I was inside and all the sudden heard this shreiking, crying sound that is alarmingly recognizable and I knew one of the dogs were in trouble. I looked out the window to see my brother running in to get us and I looked down and saw little blue laying upside-down crying on the ground. They said he ran right in front of the golf ball right after it was putted and it hit him on the head. The poor little thing was is so much pain we were all panicing and in tears. We rushed him to the ER (for pets) and they took him in. He spent the next 8 hours there and then we brought him home. We though he was going to pass away and they said we could take him home to be by us. He was seizuring all night and wouldnt eat or drink and couldnt stand up. His whole right side was paralized and the doctor said he had brain trama. The golf ball was probably the size of his little head...so that is not good! After a long night of seeing him like that, we made the decision to take him back to the doctor to just be put out of his misery. I now know that it dosent matter if its "only a dog" to you or someone else. When you lose someone that is part of your family it feels like such a tragic loss when they arent around anymore. We loved our little dog and he was such a fun part of our lives and he will be missed! He was technically Preston's dog so Preston is really having a hard time with it. Its so hard as a parent to see your child have to feel the pain of loss already and not be able to make it all better as we so often do for other things. We cant take his sorrow away, its a part of life. I guess time heals everything. We love you Blue!

Update!

So, as you can see, I havent updated my blog in a while. Ive been busy, and Im so bad at this...Im going to try to do better though. I cant even being to go back and recap everything that has gone on...but Ill do a mini re-cap of events since October..that is the last time I wrote. Gosh....thats crazy how the time just flew by. November: I turned the BIG 3-0...sad for me...really. But, Im going to try to make my 30's the best ever and look the best I have ever looked in my life! :) -Craig also had a birthday and turned 32. -We spent Thanksgiving with my family and sister Trisha and her family. We havent done that for years...it was fun to have them here! December: Of course had the best Christmas. Again, It came and went so fast and here we are, already almost April. WOWWWZZZAAAA!!!! January: Preston went back to school after a nice long christmas break and started the whole routine again. -Valentines day Craig took me to Mckormicks and Shmicks. Soooooo good. I wish I would have taken pictures. He surprized me that afternoon and came home for lunch with my fav. chocolate bar (symphony) flowers and a sweet card. Way to go honey! Febuary: Preston turned 7 years old. I cant believe I have a 7 year old. He's starting to make me feel old now...well, maybe I am. He had his best friends over and we had a little party. He wanted a really big party with lots of kiddo's but said he would rather have a Wii instead and then just have a small party. So he got a Wii and loooovvveeesss it! March: Had spring break this month and that was fun. We went up to Dallas to visit Craigs parent who flew in from Oregon. It was fun b/c Craig rarely has any time off and got to take a few days off. It was fun actually getting to spend some time together! We stayed with my awesome cousin Wendy...love ya girl. We had lots of fun! Now we are heading into April and are nearing the end of the school year. I cant believe it is almost summer time again. It just blows my mind how fast this school year flew by. We have a lot in store this summer. We are going to be moving in June, going on vacation in July and swimming a lot in August.HA....thats all you can do in a Texas summer in August! Well, I will just try to post some pictures of whats been going on the past few months.

Halloween Pictures

The boys went trick-or-treating tonight and had sooo much fun! Preston was so tired afterwards that he fell asleep in the car on the way to go get some dinner. Payton was really the perfect age this year. He was able to keep up with his "bro" and go up to the doors by themselves. We had a lot of fun. Every year the kids get older, they really do get more fun! Here are a few pictures. As always, Payton dosent ever want to cooperate in photo's.

Busy, Busy, Busy

We have been super duper busy this last month. I actually had an opportunity to start a business here in Austin and have had only a limited time (less than 2 months) to get it up and running or it was a no go! I actually did it and was very proud of myself :) It was a gift card business and the time frame was so short b/c I had to get restaurants involved and signed up before the holidays because these gift cards are actually going to be soled in Costco for the holidays. They should be in the stores in the next couple weeks. YEAH!!! Im very excited for this new venture.
So, I have been getting that up and going while doing the whole school thing, picking up 2 girls along with Preston after school and watching them for an hour all the while trying to get in some "work time." Now I see that just because I can say I "worked from home" people automatically think WOW thats easy...you get to work at home and still be with your kids.....wellllll...I learned the hard way the two dont go hand in hand. Its hard to work from home and have the KIDS at home at the same time. O-well, its been fun.
Halloween is tomorrow. Preston wanted to be a skeleton and Payton is Luke Skywalker. They are so cute. They cant wait to go trick-or-treating. I woke up Preston for school this morning and the first thing he said before he even opened his eyes was, "One more day until Halloween."
My sister and her family have been here for the past couple weeks visiting and its been fun to see them and get to know her family. They have lived in Washington and we never got to see them before. We go down to my moms in San Antonio where they are staying and visit. We are going this weekend for my birthday. Im not to happy about this birthday, but I know there is nothing I can do to stop it. Im turning the big 30 and leaving my 20's forever! There is a bit of sadness ill have to admit. I think its just the thought of mine that youth and opportunity seem to be coorilated with your 20's and Ill be able to go back. Its just being able to let go of that idea and transition it to my 30's. I know 30 is still young and I have soooo much I want to accomplish. I think at this point in my life I have started to realize you actually do get older and its up to you to make things happen for yourself. Life happens wether you want it to or not. Craig and I have big goals and aspirations for our 30's, so I am excited.

The one and only thing Preston wants for Christmas
Preston and Payton


Preston at a Halloween party being silly