Winter Band Concert

Tonight I completely enjoyed watching the strings & band performances at Audrey's school.

Audrey has been playing the clarinet for the past year and it is so fun to see her growing and advancing.

One of her best friends (and our neighbor) Emma also had a solo in the orchestra so we got to hear her as well!

I'm probably biased....but I think the 5th grade band is actually quite good for a bunch of kids that are only a year into this instrument-playing business.

 

AFTER the performance.

She was excited to get flowers after the performance too. :)

My favorite memory of this whole night though was after we came home.

We ended up sitting on the couch and eating pretzels and watching some of Survivor.

All with her snuggled up to me with her arm around me.  :)

September Snapshots: Sweetness

I will never tire of finding these sweet notes on my bedside table & under my pillow....

And then she was 11.

This year instead of a "birthday party", Audrey decided on inviting a few friends to spend the day at the beach with us for her birthday.  So bright & early, I packed up my van with these 4 awesome girls and we were off for a super fun day in Ocean City!

 The girls spent a LOT of time in the water riding waves.

 Worked on a few sand castles....

 Played some paddle ball....

 I actually got to do some of this....my favorite beach activity is actually reading fashion magazines.

I think the last time I did this was about 1998.

I'm only slightly exaggerating....

 One of the girls got buried in the sand....

 Then we got cleaned up and were off to cruise the boardwalk. :)

The funniest thing about this picture is that I used to cruise the boardwalk....IN THOSE EXACT SAME STYLE SUNGLASSES.

It all comes back into style, folks.

 We had dinner at "Big Slice".  I bet you can guess what we ate for dinner. :)

And by the way - they didn't wear those sunglasses through dinner.

I just thought they looked so cute in them so I made the girls put them back on!

 On the prowl....for hermit crabs.

And about 2 zillion trips to the bathroom. :)

 3 out of 4 girls LOVED this ride.  And one definitely did not.

I'm afraid we traumatized her. :(

But the other girls were able to cheer her right back up.

The girls were all so sweet, and they all got along so well together.

I hear about "mean girls" but thankfully Audrey has yet to experience that.

All 5 of us!

We had quite the adventurous trip home including weaving drivers, traffic jams at 10pm, giggling girls, and bathroom emergencies!

We made it home late but I bet everyone slept well.

As for me, I have spent the "day after" feeling like I got hit by a truck.

But it was so worth it....I think it was a day to remember. :)

Summer Snapshots, Day 47: Proud Mama

This past week Audrey & one of her best friends have been participating in a performing arts camp, where they have worked on singing, dancing, & acting. 

Tonight these two rocked it in their roles in Cinderella & Peter Pan!

Plus they did some awesome singing and dancing in the Disney musical revue.

I am a proud mama because 'being up in front of people' doesn't come naturally to my Audrey.

(Nor does going off to camp for that matter....just getting her to try it was a little bit of an ordeal.)

But she was actually excited about performing tonight.

Now she wants to do the 10 week performing arts workshop!

I am so happy for her.  I think she has found something she really enjoys!

Great job, girls!!

Summer Snapshot, Day 45....without the snapshot.

It is getting busy, busy, busy around here.

Today Audrey started a performing arts camp that runs for the week.  Audrey has a small acting part in Peter Pan, and there is also singing and dancing to a Disney medley of songs.  On Friday night, we get to see their performance!  I can't wait.  And I am so pumped because this is one of the few times I have gotten Audrey to agree to go to camp, and she is really enjoying it!

I would take a snapshot for the blog but she is getting too old and cool for Mom's pictures.  She gleefully told me that we wouldn't be allowed to take photos or video at the final performance. :) 

On Saturday we leave for a week of vacation, we come back the following Saturday, and a day later I send all 3 of my kids on the bus to school.  I can hardly believe it!

Summer Snapshots, Day 43: Jackpot

Today this came in the mail for Audrey:

2 free tickets to Dorney Park!!

She has a knack for winning stuff.  Two years ago she won free tickets to Hershey Park in the same summer reading sweepstakes.   (I wonder if maybe only 5 people enter???)  Then while we were at Hershey Park using the free tickets, the library called and said she won a jewelry making set in the summer reading raffle!

If I played the lottery, I would totally have her pick our numbers!

Summer Snapshots, Day 32

We have had a busy day today - we spent most of the day at the pool with friends.

When we came home, Audrey said she would make dinner.

Thank heavens because I was wiped.

She got a new kids' cookbook at the library yesterday and decided to make the cinnamon bear pancakes.

I was proud of her, she really went to town in the kitchen on her own, I only helped a little bit!

I could get used to this..... :)

Summer Snapshots, Day 23

So yesterday was about Chloe's achievements.

Today is about Audrey & Carter's new skills....

We went swimming with Chloe's friend Fiona & her mom & younger brother.

Fiona is Chloe's school bestie!

They are too cute together.

They swam around singing "Let It Go" at the top of their lungs.  :)

 

Audrey had fun shooting some hoops in the water.

So did Carter.

 Then Audrey & Carter decided to try diving.

Neither has ever dove in a pool before.

Jump in? Yes.

Cannonball?  Yes.

Somersault off the diving board?  Yes.

But diving?  No.

By the end, they were doing this:

Way to go, kids!!!

Summer Snapshots, Day 20

Breakfast at Panera this morning with my big girl while the 2 younger ones went to VBS.

SHHH!  Don't tell Carter & Chloe!

 She seems so grown up lately.

 Well, until she starts acting like this. :)

Audrey made us dinner tonight - pizza!

As we ate our dinner, a storm came and the power went out.

So we went out for froyo, and when we came back, we went for a walk.

We came across a bunch of neighbors setting off fireworks so we hung out watching & chatting, then headed home when it started raining again.

The rest of our evening was spent by candlelight.

The majority of my night was spent responding to scared kids in the dark. :(

Power finally came on at 6 am.....

Halloween 2013

It has been a fun Halloween season.  

Last weekend we started the fun by carving our pumpkins!

Aren't they such sweet looking children?

 Yup, this is what they are NORMALLY like...a bunch of crazy nuts! ;)

Today was a crazy busy day but I was so happy to be able to be involved in the kids' fun activities.

 

 First up was Chloe's preschool parade/party/trunk or treat. 

I sure am going to miss preschool next year. :(

And by the way - doesn't Chloe look so old and grown up in this picture??

 Chloe parading with her classmates.

 Chloe's awesome preschool class - great teachers, great friends, great parents of these friends!

 Later I had the chance to go to Audrey's class party.  They got to wrap each other up like mummies! :)

 And of course, next up was trick or treating!

{We now interrupt this blog for a trip down memory lane....}

 Halloween 2012 - Trick or Treating with our friends who were without power (remember that Hurricane Sandy????)

 Halloween 2011

 Halloween 2010

AND.....Halloween 2009

Boy have these little people changed!

 Here is our whole gang of neighbor kids getting ready to trick or treat!

 Pumpkins all lit up.

 Our little friend Owen came to visit us.....he is just the cutest.

 Candy!!!!

(Enough to last us til next year....ugh.)

Carter sorting his candy....can you tell what his favorites are???? 

I think he has a whole bag of fun size kit-kats right there.

Now I will blink my eyes....and it will be Thanksgiving.

No, I take that back - it will be CHRISTMAS!

Can't wait!  It's the most wonderful time of the year! :)

Girls sleepover!

Last weekend the girls and I went to my parents house for a girls sleepover!

(We let my Dad be involved for part of the fun.....)

First we all went out for dinner at Friendly's, then came home and put on our PJ's and watched an American Girl movie with popcorn.

Then we girls piled in my parents' room, banished Pop-Pop to the couch downstairs, and had a big ol' sleepover!  (luckily everyone went to sleep pretty quickly....)

The next morning Pop-Pop went out to get donuts for breakfast......Audrey's "favorite food"!

Then the girls piled in the car and went to Color Me Mine to paint pottery together. 

Chloe picked this ice cream cone piggy bank to paint.  She especially enjoyed putting all the sprinkles on top!

 Audrey picked this mustache mug (?) and also personalized this dessert plate.

 I painted this snowman plate.....can't wait to pile a bunch of Christmas cookies on top!

 My mom picked this cute gingerbread tray.  I am guessing it might get piled with Christmas cookies too! ;)

It was such a fun day.....and we all enjoy doing artsy things so it was a real hit.

I think Chloe especially enjoyed being one of the "big girls".

Hope we can have more sleepovers in the future!

Thanks Mom-Mom (and Pop-Pop too!)

Thank you, elementary school

This year, the kids' elementary school has this new behavior system that my kids call the "clip chart". 

Basically, you start with your clip in the middle of a rainbow chart at "ready to learn", and you might "clip up" or "clip down" based on your behavior at the moment.  Clipping up comes with positive reinforcement/rewards, and clipping down comes with potential consequences.  At the top is "outstanding", then down to "great job", then "good day", then "ready to learn", then "think about it", then "teacher's choice (of consequences)", and finally - the dreaded "parent contact". 

So.  Tonight at dinner the kids got the idea of having a family clip chart.  In fact, they got ALL excited about it....and the more we talked about it, the more I got excited about it too.  There have been some struggles of late with listening and obeying promptly, as well as some sour attitudes....so here's hoping that this can help with those issues!

I even decided I would give out "gotchas" for really nice acts of kindness.  (Gotchas are also given at the elementary school when a teacher recognizes someone's outstanding behavior.) 

So after dinner, the kids ran off to create their clip chart.  They worked together nicely to make this baby!

I could tell they all REALLY wanted the chance to clip up, so I said, "How about everyone go get ready for bed?"  And lickety split, everyone was jammied up.  Audrey even brushed her teeth without being reminded!  So, I told them all to clip up, and they were very excited to do so!

After we put them to bed, Chad said - "I wonder how long the great behavior will last?"

And I said - "Who cares? as long as it creates some positive motivation to behave well around here!"

Here's hoping this begins a new, positive chapter at the Smith house. :)