Emma, our star!

Yesterday Emma's Pre K class performed in their annual Christmas program!

 Everyone did a GREAT job and we were so proud of our STAR!

Emma's group was the oldest and last to perform.  They stole the show with a remix of 'Humpty Dumpty', a hilarious song called 'Tony Chestnut', beautiful 'Away in a Manger' and, of course, 'Santa Claus is Coming to Town'. 

Emma had looked forward to this performance for weeks and was very secretive, wanting it to be a surprise!  She is very animated and seemed to know every word and dance move!  She sure doesn't mind attention :)

 Little brother couldn't miss the show!  I was equipped with a new bag of gummy bears :)

 Can you find Emma's name?  (Yellow light bulb on the right hand side!)

Ms. Glory, Emma's teacher, has been such a blessing!

I can't believe she is half way through Pre K!  Drop off was rather bittersweet yesterday, knowing that we are getting closer and closer to Kindergarten.  Emma absolutely loves school days.  She enjoys keeping busy, interacting with friends and more than anything, being the line leader!  She is really looking forward to staying longer in the afternoons next semester.  Until then, we are excited about spending lots of extra time with our girl over the next couple of weeks during her break :) 

Tangled up in fun!

This weekend we celebrated Emma's fifth birthday with a royal party, Tangled style!!  If you haven't seen the Disney movie yet, I highly recommend you do so.  It is hilarious and heart warming....for all ages :)

Here was the invitation:

Decor galore (main colors pink, purple & yellow): 

Royal favors (Rapunzel loved to pain in her tower.  Each kiddo left with their very own paint set!):

Here were some of the kiddos in attendance.  Behind them you can see that they played "pin the frying pan on Flynn Rider".  If you have seen the movie you know that Rapunzel used a frying pan as her trusted weapon of choice :)

Blowing out the candles and making her 5-yr-old wish:

"Rapunzel, Rapunzel, let down your hair!!"   We had a long braid on the front door.  Thanks to Lita for making this last minute detail happen :) 

Can't believe our favorite princess is FIVE!  She said that she had "the best day ever", which is exactly what Rapunzel says in the movie :)  That is the finest compliment I could have heard after a day full of party stress prepping!!



A Pre K Happy Birthday

This morning Emma's Pre K class celebrated her upcoming 5th birthday!!  I made and sent a dozen cupcakes with purple frosting (upon the birthday girl's request!)

She was SO excited to blow out all FIVE candles!

She got to pick a toy from the prize bucket....

and now she has a new snazzy pair of sunglasses!!

She has lots of fun friends in her Pre K class!  The girl in the boots even told me my cupcakes were the best  she had ever eaten :)

Mary's Birthday Bash

We think she is pretty NIFTY and this week she turns FIFTY!  On Sunday we celebrated Aunt Mary with a birthday bash, Mickey Mouse style of course! 

Despite the rainy and cold forecast, lots of friends and family members stopped by to extend their happiest wishes!  Aunt Mary has been such a JOY to many.  Here she is with one of her high school friends:

No party would be complete without cupcakes and matching polka dot balloons :)

Minnie Mouse and cousin Anaiah had a fun time!

Mary with her three older sisters, great nieces and nephews

Cousins

Advent activity day #2: Kool Aid Playdough

While little brother napped today Emma and I finally fulfilled our advent activity from day 2.  We made Kool Aid Playdough!  You can find a list of ingredients and directions here.  The perfect plan for a rainy day :)

Things sure got messy, but it was totally worth it :)

This playdough smells yummy and will be very useful in the upcoming cold Winter months.

Emma did a great job and was lots of help.  She chose to make purple dough first because it's her favorite color :)

Proud to be a Bear!

Those Aggies may like to saw Texas' horns off.....but so do the BEARS!!  We have certainly worn our fair share of maroon this season but on Saturday the whole family dressed in green and gold and headed for Floyd Casey stadium.  We watched the last two big exciting victories (against the Sooners & Raiders) on TV but really wanted to watch their last home game of the season in person. 

Our kids may be from a house divided when it comes to the battle of the brazos, but Emma sure knows how to do this :)

This little guy did exceptionally well....especially skipping his usual naptime :)  He cheered for the football team, band performance and the mascot.  I'm proud to say that he even stuck his little bear cub paw up in the air anytime he saw someone else doing it!

We were thankful for the rain....but got pretty wet at times!  It started sprinkling heavily right at kick off.  Owen and I hustled to the gift shop for a set of rain panchos.  It puts a whole new meaning to the phrase "fair weather fan" :)

What a game and what a season! 

RGIII definitely has my Heisman vote!!

Simply Homemade Advent Calendar

It's finally December, the most wonderful time of the year!!  Our tree is up and decorated, the lights are up outside and I am just about done shopping for and wrapping gifts.  Here is our simply homemade advent calendar.  What a fun way to count down until the big day! 

The kids were excited about their first couple of treats.  On day #1 they enjoyed chocolate covered marshmallow reindeer treats. 

Today they opened a note that said we are making kool aid playdough!  (We might also make gingerbread playdough). 

The reminaing 22 days of advent contain some fun for the Smith kids.  They are sure to discover lots of exciting treats and activities!  I will be sure to post about our favorites as they come along :)