Happy New Year!

From Sara and some of her favorite kids - the Carters (minus Drake), the Scales' and Avery

Week in Review

I have been off work since last Wed. at noon and just came back this morning - yes I have the internet at home but it seems as though I get my best blogging done at work. So, with that said, I AM BACK!

I can't hardly believe how fast Christmas came and went this year. We spent Christmas Eve at moms, then opened our gifts at home on Christmas morning, then we went to Marys for the day. Mom, Avery and I made a stop at Callaways before heading home.

There are two main events that have occurred since I last blogged that are indirectly related to Christmas.

#1) Avery got her ears piereced (A Christmas gift from Aunt Missy)

#2) The Smith Family now has a Wii (Mary rented one for us on Christmas Day and JoeDel fell in love instantly...thus we had to have one. After a wild goose chase yesterday, I finally found one. I know they say we are in a recession so how can every walmart be out of Wiis????!!!!!)

I'll tell the rest of the story in pictures :)

Christmas Eve...



Christmas Day...





Tulsa...

Guess who is coming to town?!

SANTA CLAUS IS ON HIS WAY!

It looks like he has his sleigh loaded down and is already hard at work in Asia. Check this puppy out

Santa Tracker

This is one of the coolest things I have ever seen! Hard to believe that while I sit at work and think of all the many things I have to do yet before Santa comes to our house, he is already out there delivering toys to Asian boys and girls!

Merry Christmas everyone!!!!

First Family Christmas Event!

The first Family Christmas party of the year has come and gone. We celebrated Christmas on Saturday with JoeDel's Grandma and all of the family on his mom's side. It was a really good day, filled with the usual fun of the Hepler get-to-gether. After eating much too much, Grandma handed out her gifts, the kids did their gift exchange and then Santa came. Avery received a see n' say from one of her cousins and then she received a Little Tykes xylophone from Santa.

Next came the big sit in a circle and do the "adult" gift exchange. JoeDel ended up with a nascar beverage dispenser and myself a fondue set.



We finished off the day with some serious games of Nerts and then our family headed back to our home in Gtown.

Today, Grammy Sara joined us for church. It was Gifts for Jesus today, something I always look forward to every year. We spent the afternoon lounging around and then tonight we took Grammy and Grandma Huffman to Pittsburg to look at Christmas lights. Avery jabbered the whole time. I think everyone had a great time.

Here's to another week! It's a short one though - MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Happy Birthday!

Happy 40th birthday to a very special person! Am I sucking up? OF course b/c this special person is my FAVORITE boss, Hank Smith. (Ok, one of my favorites, I love them all!)

Jeanna and I decorated his office while he was away for lunch. I don't have my camera to take a picture, but basically there were signs like this plastered EVERYWHERE in his office, along w/ some clever "age" sayings and some handicapped tags.



Happy Birthday! Just like the new kids say...."age is just a number, don't you stop having fun! This is your day, your day....happy birthday to you!"

Christmas on speed

I swear that this year Christmas is breaking every speed limit out there. It should take much longer for it to arrive but it seems like time goes faster and faster and faster and it is going to be here before we know it. Am I ready? NOT HARDLY!

Our HMS Employee Dinner was last weekend. It was a really good time. Everyone seemed to have a really good time. I know I am getting old though. I didn't have much to drink at all, and JoeDel and I were home in bed by 11:30. WHAT?!! ON the most fun night of the year for an HMS Employee? Yep, it ran a close comparison to the party 2 years ago where we were home that early - the difference? I was PREGNANT that year and I'm so NOT pregnant this year, just old :)

I won a portable ice maker! Not the best prize of the night, but one I think we will use. I really wanted the Wii.



What else? I got nothing. Things are going fairly well this week w/ the exception of the COLD WEATHER and snow and sleet. blah.

Nite

Avery + 3 = CRAZY

Tonight I have 4 kids. They are the best kids though and I love them.

We are having a ball playing w/ the elf yourself site. Check it out.

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Photos

We took some impromtu photos this morning. They turned out well enough that I don't think I'm even going to try again. I don't want to post them all on here since most of you will be getting them in Christmas cards, but this one is hilarious. If you watched the elf thing (and if you havent, do it)...at the very end Julie-elf points outward. That is Avery's favorite part. She is trying to be Julie-elf here!

Smith Family Ho-down!

Enjoy!

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Bransons Big Bust

JoeDel, Avery, Mom & I left bright and early Sat. morning for Branson. We got there around 9:30am, picked up our dixie stampede tix and life was good. We headed to the outlet mall where I got a few deals at Old Navy, Disney and the Childrens Place. By the time we got out of that crazy place, it was time for our lunch show at the Dixie Stampede!!!!

Everything was going great. Mom was impressed, Avery was loving all of the horses and such, and they had just served us our yummy meal. All of the sudden I felt something rather wet, looked down, and my poor sweet girl was throwing up all over me. Oh great. I scooped her up and headed to the bathroom. Luckily she was wearing a tank top under her sweater. I was able to get us both cleaned up and we headed back in. Mom was convinced that she had choked on the food so I tried believing that as well.

We watched the rest of the show and headed out. We got checked into our motel just in time for Avery to throw up again. This time I was sure she had caught the flu that has been going around :(

That evening, mom and I went ahead and went to the Bobby Vinton show and JoeDel stayed at the motel with Avery. The next morning we woke up and got around, ready to head out. Avery seemed to be doing better and even kept down a piece of toast and some pedialite. Maybe our trip home would be ok afterall ... that was until I felt my tummy rumbling. That's right - I had it too.

Our trip home was not so fun as we had to stop about every 30 minutes. We got home around 1 yesterday and I went to bed. Today I seem to be doing better but my tummy is still rumbling and I haven't made it into work yet.

I gotta get over this soon - the HMS Christmas party is this weekend!

Santa is seriously bummed....

I am just writing to tell you all a story. Since I am a bargain hunter and since we are in a recession, Santa and I have been working together to try and save some money. Well, Santa is planning on bringing Miss Avery this...


I have been watching deals for a month now. Finally decided Santa's best bet was ebay - so he got it there and with shipping and everything (even to the NORTH POLE) it was $65 bucks. What a steal. YEAH RIGHT. Today Amazon is selling the blasted thing foR THIRTY BUCKS. $30.00 WITH FREE SHIPPING.

Seriously, this sucks. And, he bought it on ebay so no returning. Poor santa.

If any of you guys have any need for Santa to bring one of these to your house, this is for sure the steal of the day.

Open House

If you are going to be near Girard this Thursday night, be sure to stop in for some free hot chocolate and mama sara cookies!!!

Back to work blues

Tonight is the end of my 4 day weekend. This was a super busy weekend but it was really fun too. We hit the black friday sales as we do every year. Cousin Ryan spent the night Thanksgiving night so that he would already be here Friday morning when he got up since Uncle JoeDel was babysitting. We had a ball with him. He is so fun and cute. He kept saying how much fun he had at the "turkey party" :)

Saturday was all about Marla!!!!! We celebrated her engagement with a shower and night out on the town. It was really fun and I'm so glad she was home but I miss her already. I am so excited for her though...she's waited a long time for this!!!

Today I basically did nothing. I need to finish painting but didn't have the motivation. Maybe tomorrow ;)

Goodnight.

I'm not exactly a biblical scholar...

So the picture below was pretty cute, but it was WRONG. That verse is not found in Psalm 110, rather Psalm 119. Good thing I double checked. Jenny, I'm reworking it for you as I type (i can do two things at once, whooo hooo!)

Simple Reminders

As I was editing Jenny's pictures, God used this one in particular to remind me of one of my favorite Bible verses...

Weekend Review

I have had a request for photos of the new paint job, so I will try and get to that tonight. It's not too crazy (and its for sure not done) but I love it so far!

JoeDel killed a deer on Friday night. They finally found it Saturday morning!!! We had to make a trek out to Uncle Freddy Geier's shop so that Avery could see the deer. She was not too fond of it, but later that night when JoeDel brought the truck and trailer home she sure was anxious to go looking for the deer on the trailer. I think she was bummed when she realized he didn't bring it home with him.



Also yesterday I met up with Jenny and her family. I am still trying to figure out my camera so this was a chance to have some different subjects to photograph (besides just Avery). I haven't really had a chance to work on them yet - here's the only one so far. It was a dreary day and I gotta figure out how to make it look not so dreary.

this is a long story

but I will make it kind of short.

JoeDel went out deer tracking tonight and I felt the need to do something different - I went to Ace Hardware and bought PAINT and came home and started painting my house. Am I weird or what? It looks awesome though, if I must say so myself. No more white walls here! Watch out world, I am getting a little crazy.

Wordless Wednesday

Congrats my friend!

Last Wed. was the CMA awards which, for the first time in ages, I MISSED! ARGHHHHHH! I was on the road that night and missed the show.

I have been waiting to post this blog until I could find the clip on youtube, and I finally found it. My mom was the one to tell me that Kenny won Entertainer of the Year (again) but this time thanked his long time personal assisant, Cheryl. For those of you who don't know, Cheryl Bevis is one of the sweetest and most "real" people in the music industry. She has not only been with Kenny since he was a nobody, but she has been my friend for awhile too. In fact, she's the main reason that I moved to Nashville. I had a far-fetched dream of doing my college internship in the music industry but had no where in the world to start. She pointed me in the right direction, gave me tons and tons of tips, and even hung out with me from time to time when I lived in Nashville. She helped me find babysitting jobs to pay the bills and we still keep in touch from time to time today. I didn't know since she was a national celebrity now if she would respond to me when I wrote to congratulate her, but sure enough she did - right away.

Here's the clip...


Congrats again Cheryl! I truly believe Kenny wouldn't be where he is today without the support and HARD WORK of such a wonderful lady.

Here's a picture of them from that night :)



And here's a link to another article that gives her some special recognition...http://www.theboot.com/2008/11/13/kenny-chesneys-assistant-gets-special-shout-out/

A better person today...

That is kind of what I feel like after yesterday. I feel like I have the ability to be a better person today than i was yesterday.

I went with my boss and another coworker to the "Get Motivated" seminar in KC. I felt like I was totally doped into going to this and was really not that excited at all. I thought it would be totally boring and we would be in the nosebleed seats. Afterall, we paid $19 for 6 tickets (only 3 were used of course, since on one else would go)...

Anyway, it was actually a great day. The MC was Tamara Lowe and she is actually an amazing person. Here we were, all 20,000 of us, packed into the Spring Center at a BUSINESS Motivational Conference and she is giving her testimony and sharing with everyone how to accept Jesus Christ into their hearts. I thought it was cool. She has a book coming out "Get Motivated") and I think everyone should pre-order it. With a pre-order you get 2 free tickets to an upcoming seminar anywhere in the country. Totally worth it.

My favorite speakers were General Colin Powell and Rudy Giuliani. They weren't the most "motivating" of all speakers, but what they shared was REAL. These were both huge people in our recent history and to be hearing their first hand experiences out of their mouths while they were around 100 feet from me was quite awesome. Bill Self, head coach of the Jayhawks, was actually a pretty bad speaker but he also was great to hear and he was pretty funny.

I'm glad I went. It was a great experience for me and I would encourage anyone to go when this seminar is in your area.

Christmas Bows

Now through Friday only...buy 2, get 1 half off!

Adorable Christmas bows here...or view the rest of the line at www.bellalinaonline.com

Happy Birthday TEENAGER!

Today is a big day. Drake Carter is a TEENAGER. Seriously, how can this be?! What has happened to my chubby cheek sweetheart? He's grown up right before our eyes folks.


Happy Birthday, buddy! I am so thankful for your sweet spirit and your willingness to give this fat old "mom" a hug even around your buddies. You are very special to me and to my mom and to my little girl. I know as you continue to grow up, things will change and your "coolness" will outweigh...but just don't ever forget how very special you are to all of us. You are the original "Carter" and even though I don't see you or your sisters often enough, you are always so very special to us!

When I think about how crazy it is that Drake was born 13 years ago today, i think of how crazy it is that my dad died 12 years ago today. 12 years. It is unreal to think that Drake has grown up overnight, yet the last 12 years without my dad have drug on and on and on. It truly feels like forever since I heard his voice or saw his smile. I miss him a lot, and I regret not having the change to REALLY get to know him as a person instead of just "my dad" that I saw several times a year. It is especially hard this year as I think that my Grandpa is gone too. sigh.

It's Friday! WHOOOO HOOO!!!!

**Edited with a picture of the sweet baby girl!!!!**

Today is Friday and I am SO EXCITED.

Every morning I have been waking up thinking "surely its the weekend" and every morning when my brain kicks in I realize that I still have to go to work. blah.

Anyway, I am excited about this day mostly because there is a NEW BABY IN MY LIFE! Congrats to my BFF Audrey on the birth of Miss Madeline Audrey Graham today at 12:45 pm. Madeline was 6 lbs 15 ounces and 19 1/4 in long. I cannot WAIT to see her tomorrow morning.
*Update* Audrey's sister sent some pictures. Here's one of the beautiful baby girl checking out her mama.


Tomorrow night is "Girls Night In" in KC w/ the women in JoeDels family. Should be a blast! JoeDels cousin Amanda is hosting the shindig filled w/ mexican filled fiesta food and margaritas! There should be some pretty mean card playing going on. WHOOO HOOO!!!

Avery and her cousin Ryan are both spending the night with Grammy Sara. I think she'll have a ball with both of them. Hopefully anyway. :)

So the Bellalina Christmas line just got emailed to me. I will be posting soon, we've some adorable goods!

I had a dream!

Yes, I did have a dream last night - that my dog was out of her pen and I was chasing her all around the yard and a girl I know was getting married and wanted me to do the cake so she brought it all over and everything was "disney princess"

Great dream, huh?

We all know I can't run, not even to chase my dog, I dont make cakes and apparently "princess" is on the brain.

So Obama won the election. I am sad, but I know that my God is still in control. This was His plan all along and this isnt the first thing that He's done that I dont understand. Yes the economy is in trouble and I hope Obama can fix it but I am a little more concerned with the morals of this country. Are we forgetting what our nation was built upon and the truths told to us in the Bible? Apparently. God has punished people in the past for falling away from Him, maybe He's doing it again?

I was reading a friends blog this morning and laughed out loud when I read this line. She is so brutally honest and I love it! Jeanna, I think you are right when you say...

"For those of you who voted for him, I hope your morals are worth it, and I think you might want to start going to church."

Wake up America! We are all going to need God in our lives now more than ever. He is the Hope that gets us through each day, and in the end HE WINS....which means His followers win too....and that is ME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm going to make it a point to pray for this nation every single day. I will probably fail at that, but I'm gonna try.

Election Day!

Avery and I went and voted before work. I wasn't sure how she would handle going in the little booth...but since this day will go down in the history books for sure, I wanted her to be a part of it (and I wanted to just get it over with bright and early!)

She did great and we were on our way in not long at all.

This was the best picture I could get of my little voter.

We've come a long way, baby girl!

I can't believe my little girl is growing up so fast.

We have some big news at our house - Avery is learning to go potty! She has been doing so good. We just started in the last week or so and already she is telling us when she has to go. She hated it at first, though...can you tell?



She does much better now. She sits her little butt down and starts reading books and will yell out "pooped!!!!" whether she actually has "pooped" or just peed. She's so fun to watch though. I am thankful that she's learning but somewhat sad that this stage means she is for sure growing up.

Same goes with her new bed! I bought her a toddler bed at an auction last weekend.


She's been sleeping in it all last week in our room...and then I finally got the motivation yesterday to take down the crib. Now THAT was sad for mama. But, we got her bed in her room and everything rearranged and she slept in there all night last night like such a big girl. When I went into her room this morning, i turned on the light and said "Avery, you wanna get up" and she screamed "NO!" so I said "Avery, you wanna come lay with mama" again..."NO!" I guess she likes being a grownup...I'm just not so sure that I do.

Happy Halloween from Miss Smith

Hope for tomorrow...

I just finished reading a great book and I would recommend it to anyone!



For us believers, it gives us a glimpse into what we are working towards. Is it 100% sure what Heaven is going to be like - of course not...but you would never convince this guy otherwise. If Heaven is anything close to what he describes, I can't wait. It is hard for me to think that in Heaven we will not "miss" those we left behind...but as he said there is no concept of time...to know our loved ones will be joining us is all we need b/c although years may pass by until they are there, it just doesn't seem like it in Heaven.

I'm awful at describing things like this, so I just say head to your local library and give this one a read. Heaven is real and we have the assurance from Christ Jesus that we will be there if we have put our trust in Him and given our hearts to Him.

Bargain Shopping - is it worth it?

The reason I ask is because I think maybe it is possible to go TOOOO far for a bargain.

You know I am the QUEEN of bargain shopping. I watch grocery ads and clip coupons just like a SAHM. If something we use is on sale, I stock up. I get this from my mom, you see. Remember when we stocked up on like 100s of bags of chocolate chips when they were on sale? We didn't have to buy chocolate chips for like a year - it was great. Most recently, Dillons had their healthy choice meals for a BUCK. We bought a lot of them....filled both the freezers on our fridges AND the stand alone freezer we have. We're still eating on them, although we are running low and need to start finding sales again....

Anyway, I love it when stores run hamburger helper for $1.00. We don't eat a lot of it, but it sure is a handy meal in a pinch....and many times I have coupons too which makes them super cheap.

So, last week, Woods in Ft Scott had the $1 heplers. This week, Dillons ran the same special. I wasn't going to make a special trip for them since we were already stocked up....but I had to take the Sugar to the doctor on Monday morning and then went to Dillons to get a perscription for her. While waiting for the medicine, I decided since I was there I would gather some grocerys...including the 10 for $10 Helper meals. I realize just b/c it is 10 for $10 you dont REALLY have to get 10 but I did anyway.

The problem lies when I got home...all of our cabinets were already full of hamburger helper. I seriously could not find anywhere to store the ones I'd just purchased. I need a pantry folks! So, what did I do.....stuck them in the one place I had some extra room - my bedroom closet. As I did that, I realized that maybe, just maybe, those helper meals were a bargain I could have passed on this time around.

Positive Thoughts

As I sit here this morning folding laundry, I really wanted to be in a bad mood. JoeDel went off to sit in a deer stand and he must have hid the remote control from me so I couldn't watch lifetime b/c I can't find it anywhere.

I really wanted to be grumpy but I have decided to look at the positive. Folding socks and underwear and pjs only means that I have been blessed with a husband that loves me and a precious little girl. Him running off to the deer stand only means that I get some much needed "me" time (well sort of since Avery is still here with me). Hobbies such as hunting mean that he has his own identity and enjoys life.

Oh,and I did find the remote so lifetime is back on and all is well in the world.

As soon as I get the laundry folded, I will be getting myself and Avery ready to head to church! It is going to be a good day afterall!

Thank God for Digital Photography!

I can't believe that Audrey has kept this shirt all these years! I bought this for Auston when I was a Freshman at SBU. The little pudger wore it long before his first bday and it is a 2T!!!!!! She wore it today, along with her first pony tail.

Oh, and you wouldn't even know Auston these days. He still looks as adorable as in these photos...but he is so tall and skinny. He is the sweetest 10 year old boy I have ever known though and I love him just as much now as I did back then. I just can't believe how time flies. 

Enjoy!

Wordless Wednesday

I saved this one for today. I love it.

Home Again

Our weekend was super busy but was also very fun.

We left bright and early on Friday morning....after a quick stop at the bank, JoeDel realized he had forgotten his sunglasses so we had to stop back by our house on the way through town. We pulled back into the driveway and Ryan pipes up from the very back of the van "Uncle JoeDel....you forgot to go to St. Louis!" It was really cute and a great start to our trip.

We went to a fun pumpkin patch in St. Louis. Avery loved, loved, loved it. After that, we went to eat at Hooters (JoeDel's idea)...we had the hooter girls bring over birthday ballons for Ryan but he freaked out. Oh well, I guess give him a few years.

After that, we checked into our room and hung out for awhile...then we went to the Nascar speedzone place where JoeDel, Missy and Ryan raced gokarts. We played laser tag too, which I love. After we left there, we went for some WHITE CASTLE!

Saturday, JoeDel and I went to my Grandpas funeral. We got to see Lynne and all of my dads family so that was really nice. It was sad, but it was a really nice ceremony.

That afternoon we went to Grant's Farm and then just rode around downtown. Missy had several Obama sightings (or so she thought). Obama was in town for a big rally Saturday (which we did not even try to attend, no thank you)...

Sunday we went to the Meramac Caverns on our way home. It was a big weekend for our family, for sure.

Here are some photos...