Chris' birthday....35!

Wow, 35 sounds really old. I feel like we are still 25, or maybe even 30, but 35? Ouch. We got 2 grown-up nights out to celebrate Chris' birthday. The first was at Central Market. We had dinner on the patio and listened to music by Brad Thompson (who played for our 30th birthday party).

Our second fun night out with friends was at Axiom sushi in Montgomery Plaza. Super-fun evening! We are so blessed with great family and great friends. (Pictures are reversed from the order of the descriptions.)

Nash Farm

Seems like we had a lot of animal-centered activities this summer. Nash Farm is a "working farm" in Grapevine. It was open to the public on certain days this summer so we took advantage. We'd pack a lunch and head over. There were cows, a "hay ride", a corn field, scarecrows, a little garden, chickens, some old tractors...all sorts of stuff. But by far the most exciting time we went was when there was a petting zoo, complete with goats, and PRICE GOT TO MILK ONE!! It was so cool. Charis wanted no part of that, but she cheered her brother on! It was a really neat experience for him.

Family Vacation 2010

The first weekend in June we headed back out to the Hideaway Ranch in Granbury, Tx, just about 1.5 hours away. The kids were so excited to go on "vacation". Our cabin had a loft, which of course, Chris and I slept in, and the kids shared a double bed on the main floor. The first night the Smarts made steak for everyone. We provided breakfast tacos both mornings. On Saturday we took the kids to Fossil Rim. We skipped this last year because the kids were too young. But this year it was perfect. They just loved it!!

The kids just squealed with delight as the animals came and ate from our car. This is a picture of a giraffe who had his whole head in our sunroof eating from the bag of food. It was so wild!!

That night we did a hay ride, which the kids loved as well! There was a cow that just kept following us around. The kids giggled and giggled. There are llamas which roam free as well as dogs and cats. This was a really super weekend for us!

our first ever "last day of school"

June 3, 2010 - this day was bittersweet for me for some reason. I was just moved by how they'd grown and matured in just a few short months. Going from crying every day to being excited to go to school "to learn to speak Spanish, like Dora" - it all just seemed to be happening so fast! And I guess it does. They know their numbers and colors in both English and Spanish. Often if I ask them a question in Spanish, they will answer in English. Charis sings songs in Spanish quite a bit; I don't even know what she is saying lots of times!

House Update

By the end of May, we were really starting to see things coming together. There was paint on the walls and much of the tile work etc was done. What an exciting time. Chris would go by the house every day - morning and night. It was scary but wonderful. (Our shower on the left, kids shower on the right)

End of year school show

May 27, 2010 - the kids had their end of the year school show. What an event! They are in the Spanish immersion school so all of the little routines were in Spanish. It was really well done and oh-so-cute!! Well, with us and all the grandparents in attendance, we were ready to watch our little shining stars. They were in the most adorable outfits but within about 30 seconds of being in front of the crowd, both children were crying "momma, momma" the whole time. Cute all the same, but maybe we will have better luck at the Christmas show next year!

just bein' a kid (late May, 2010)

The time at my mom's (8 weeks in all) was a pretty interesting experience. The kids adjusted pretty well to being there, thankfully. One of the fun things, though, was our neighbor and new friend, Joanna. She's about 5 and the kids thought she was the coolest thing ever. She rides her bike like a pro and she can climb trees. This was the kids' first time to ever climb a tree and I thought it was just so cute!!

Here are a couple pics of the house progress too - this was probably about mid way through everything. I felt like we were

constantly making decisions on the fly. Since we are neither one very picky nor did we have really any preconceived notions about what we wanted, I felt sometimes overwhelmed by the big decisions we were making: which granite? what type of wood? what color stain? which tile? what color paint? what about the baseboards?