CARRIGAN TURNS 7

I can't believe that Carrigan is 7 years old! WOW - either I'm feeling really old or she's just growing up - HAHAHA!

Last Saturday was her birthday party . Thanks to Grammy, Kandis, Kristi, Hunter, Grandma, Papa, Kati, Ty, Brooke, Aniston and Bailey A. for coming. Carrigan had a great time!



Top to Bottom:
Hunter, Ty
Bailey A., Alan, Aniston, Brooke
Carrigan

We had a couple of fun things that we did at the party. When the girls got there - they got to make their own lip gloss. Stephanie and Jennifer - my hands are still reddish. Stephanie - how are Aniston's lips? HAHA!!! Next time I will use the clear kool - aid and not the colored. LOL!

Hunter, Ty and Alan got to make tornadoes out of water bottles. They seemed to enjoy it. I think they liked putting the glitter in the bottles the best!

After that they played a game that was played at my baby shower with Alan. Since it was an ice cream theme - I thought it would be alot of fun. First you put cotton balls into one bowl and then set an empty one beside it. You put a blindfold on the child, give them a spoon and ask them to scoop the cotton balls out of one bowl and put into the empty bowl. They have 1 minute. The kids had a great time doing this. They even caught on and counted for the person that was blindfolded how many cotton balls were in their bowl even if there weren't any. It was alot of fun watching them.



Here's a picture of Brooke scooping of the cotton balls!
You can tell the kids had fun by the smiles on their faces!

We saved the best thing for last...Make and Shake Ice Cream. Thanks Laurie for giving me the idea. It was perfect.



This is Carrigan shaking her bag.



The finished product!!! Yummy!

This ice cream tasted just like Chick Fil A ice cream. It was so yummy! Kati came up with a great idea...this would be perfect to do on camping trips! We will definately have to try it!

Thanks again to everyone for helping celebrate Carrigan's birthday. I hope that everyone had a great time and for those who missed it - you were definately missed!!!!

Kim

Let's just say - Too Much Drama

January 23, 2008
2008 Isn't starting off very good for us!

It has been a busy two weeks for the Smith's. On January 9th Alan swallowed a drill bit (scroll down to the next story to read about it if you haven't already). Then this past Sunday I was headed to a party and I got a flat tire. Let's just say that my car was sitting on the rim. Thanks to the guys at the fire department for helping me out. You know who you are! Then look and see what happened earlier today!

This what happens when you try to keep your dog warm!!!

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This use to be where Dixie's dog house was.



This is what is left of the light that we used to keep her warm.



This is a picture of our camper and shed which was untouched by the fire. Also the fire missed the pile of brush in the middle of the yard.




Here is another angle of the back yard. The fire jumped the fence and went behind both sides of our neighbors. Nothing was damaged!!! Thank GOD!




This is a picture of the back yard looking towards the front. The fire jumped the fence towards the street also but didn't get very far!

We are so lucky that nobody was hurt, the dogs weren't hurt and there was no property damage.

I guess Dixie will just have to rely on blanks and cedar chips.

In case anyone is wondering what happened....Dixie dog house caught on fire. Rusty seems to think that the cedar shaving got too hot and caught on fire which caused the dog house to catch on fire. Due to it being kinda windy - the fire spread. I never open my back windows so I did not know this happened until it was too late. Luckily I saw it when I did!


Kim

Drill Bit

THE DRILL BIT IS GONE!
January 22, 2008

For those of you that do not know the story - here it goes!!!

This all started 13 days ago!

On Wednesday, January 9, 2008 I noticed that Alan had something in his mouth. I asked him to get it out out his mouth so he walked into my bedroom. He is really good about spitting things out so I had no reason to be concerned that he wouldn't spit it out. Well - Alan came out of my room crying "Mommy I swallowed daddy's screw"! Of course I was frantic. I asked him to repeat it again and he said the same thing.

I picked up the phone and called Rusty and he asked me alot of questions like - What kind of screw? Where did he get it? Tell him to show you where he got it! Are there any more there in the place that he picked it up from? etc.... Rusty then told me to call Children's Healthcare and get their opinion as what to do. I called them and spoke to a wonderful nurse name Faith. She told me because we did not know what kind of screw he swallowed it would be best to take him to the ER and get an x-ray to make sure that it was not a sharp pointed screw. After talking to them I called Rusty back and he told me that he would meet me at the hospital.

I got to the hospital about 430pm and Rusty got there shortly after. We weren't out in the waiting room long and they called Alan back. Rusty went back there with him since he knew all the doctors and nurses there. About an hour later I got a text message from Rusty that said "Phillips Head Bit". Rusty then called me on the phone and told me that he knew exactly what it was as soon as he saw the x-ray. We were basically told that he should pass right through and make sure that he did not have any discomfort, no fever, vomiting, etc.

The next morning I woke up at 545am to warm chocolate milk being thrown up all down my back. Poor Alan was so sick. I got on the phone with Children's and they told me that they would have a doctor call me back. I got a call back from a doctor and he told me that if Alan throws up again within the next hour that I need to take him back to the ER. At 8:00am I called Alan's doctor and they told me that I would do best by taking him directly to Egleston. I called Rusty and told him and luckily he was already in Decatur so I packed Alan up and off we went. Now this is after throwing up 7 times since 545am. From the time we left our house to the time I got to Decatur - Alan was feeling much better.

Rusty and I made the decision to just watch Alan and see what happens so we decided to go back home and just wait it out since Alan seemed to be doing better.

Alan had no problems going potty. We set up a little basket for him to go in and then it was time to check it. Poop patrol was not fun but it was something that had to be done. Alan was really good about telling us when he went just in case we were not sitting there with him. Carrigan even helped out!

On Rusty's last shift at work one of the doctors in the ER asked Rusty about Alan and Rusty told him that he had not passed it as of yet. He suggested that since it had been more than a week that we might want to get him checked out again just to make sure that we had not missed something.

I made an appointment for Alan this morning so off we went. Alan was such a trouper. Poor little guy wasn't feeling too well by the time we got to the doctor. His tummy hurt and he felt sick. I thought for sure that the thing had gotten lodged. (That's what we thought happened the morning that he was so sick). Our doctor sent us off to x-ray! I got to go back there with him and got to look at the x-ray from the hospital and the new x-rays. There was definitely no mistaking what he had swallowed and the good news was that it was gone!

I guess somehow we had missed it or it just slipped through one of the holes in the basket and went straight down the pipe. Whatever happened to it does not matter anymore! The good news is - IT IS GONE NOW!!! YEAH!!!!

If you ask Alan if he will do that again - he is very quick to tell you no. No more daddy's tools or anything else in his mouth again!

13 days was a long time!!!

Here is a picture of the "foreign object" that he swallowed. Of course - this is not the actual one since I did not know when he passed it. I just hope that the one he swallowed was not as rusty as this one I found out in the tool box - LOL!!!

Kim

January 19, 2008

IT SNOWED AT OUR HOUSE!!!!!
JANUARY 19, 2008

What a fun day for the kids! We started our morning off headed into town to run a couple of errands. When we left home it was raining and there was a little bit of slush coming down. When we got to our destination after about 30 minutes - it started to sleet. On our 2nd to last stop - it had started snowing a little bit. Once we got home the ground was starting to turn white. Of course the kids wanted to get out and play in it.

Here are some of the pictures from our fun day:

One of our stops this morning was Carrigan getting her hair cut.
Do you notice anything else? She lost her first top tooth!



Alan also got a hair cut but you can't see it - obviously!
He was very proud of himself making this snowball!



Let the snowball fights begin. Mike from across the street had a ball
playing with the kids. Carrigan said that Mike was a "cool dad" but not as
cool as her own! LOL!

Here is a picture of our house kinda early on.



Carrigan, Alan and Rusty made this snowman! Alan calls him Frosty!



As you can see in this picture - the snow was really coming down.



But...not as much as in this picture. This is a view from my front
porch looking across the street.

In case anyone is wondering about Dixie and Princess ~ Princess stayed
in the house most of the day. She really didn't like the snow. Rusty
bought Dixie a light for her dog house and he put a burlap door on the entrance.
As of last night - she was sleeping in it and keeping herself warm.

I'm going to try to post more pictures in the next couple of days and a video. Stay tuned....

I hope that everyone had a fun and safe day!

Kim

Skating Experience

THEIR FIRST SKATING EXPERIENCE
SATURDAY - JANUARY 5, 2008

Carrigan was invited to one of her classmates (Bryce) skating parties last Saturday. This was the very first time that she had ever been to a skating rink. Grammy had purchased her in-line skates for her birthday last year but she always skated in the driveway or around the house in them. She even had a pair of those skates that strap to your own shoes. Alot different from the real thing! Let's just say that Carrigan had a great time and she was very sore the next day. She complained that her hand hurt, her bottom hurt, her back hurt, she can't bend over because it hurt, etc..... But, she is ready to go back and try it again. The more she did it - the better she got.

Alan wasn't very impressed with skating in the beginning. He tried it for about the first 10 minutes and then he was ready to put his regular shoes back on. Towards the end of the night he was ready to try again and he wanted to skate with his sister. That didn't last very long and then the party was over. We'll try again hopefully really soon.

Here are some pictures from the party - hope you enjoy!




He did pretty well in the beginning until he fell down.
Of course he was skating on carpet. He wasn't ready to try to skating floor - yet!



He was ready for me to get the skates off of his feet!
Not having very much fun :-(



Carrigan could not wait to get out there. Notice she is smiling!
Once she got on the floor her face turned to pure concentration!



There she goes!



Carrigan and one of her classmates - Kaitlyn



They were helping each other along :-)




This picture was taken towards the end of the party. Alan
tried to brave it and get out on the floor but
he didn't get too far!

The kids ended up asking to go back soon. Carrigan wanted to go back the
next night until she remembered how sore she was. Alan on the other hand said
that he wants to go back when he's 4 - LOL! We will see!

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I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that got me gift certificates to Kirklands for my birthday and for Christmas. Here are some of the things that I have purchased so far! Keep Kirklands coming - I love that store!!!!!!




In the first picture I purchased the new sofa lamps!

In the second picture I purchased the new lamp and the mirrors.
These are in my master bathroom!

In the third picture I purchased the thing over my headboard.
It matches another piece I have in our master bedroom!

Hope everyone's 2008 has started out great - ours has!!!

Kim

January 1, 2008

January 1, 2008
HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year Everyone!
We hope that everyone had a safe and fun night. We had fun. Thanks Tim, Barb, Mike, Dana, Rachel and Stephen for coming over and helping us bring in 2008! Thanks Tim and Barb for bringing the good champagne - next year I will look closer at what I am buying - HAHA! Thanks Dana for making all of the pigs in a blanket. Yum - yum!

Here are some of the pictures that I took of our evening:




Tim & Barb watching some football



Dana and Mike



These were shot across the street at Mike and Denise's house






There was a serious game of Farkel going on!



The kids waiting patiently for fireworks. Alan was already
in the bed sleeping. He didn't really like the fireworks
earlier in the night!



Kids can be so creative!



Mike and Dana were nice and brought some fireworks - thank you!






The blow torch and bottles that we used :-) I took these pictures after it
was all done. I love my new camera!



Rusty and Mike



We hope that everyone has a wonderful 2008!

Love,
The Smith's