Today on our do nothing day I (Macey Lane) felt like baking! I spent the whole day covered in blue frosting, flour, and sweat! Who new a spatula could be leathal?

When I went to blog this picture I renamed it as "the blur." I think its a perfect simblism of Mckenna!

Mom loves her new painting class! The teacher likes her work. aperintly there shes the only one who doesn't paint cats in turbans!!! She is workin on crazy farm animals in fun colors(this is mid cow).

We are such rebels!!! We skipped todays 1/2 day!!! We are eating orange juleuses and blissfully chillin'!

Our recent trip to the beach! sooo fun! The perfect way to end summer( no really! it was on the last official day of summer!). We got sand, salt, and fun in every place possible!!! We broke 2 buggie boards, built a bridge of sand, Mck made a hot tub(wich wasn't hot. a very large dissapointment to her!) and rode waves till our sinusses were cleared for the next 3 months!!!

On this week of " What to do to the missionarys!?": We had a great pancake pouring! Everty one picked a person to model and with that we turned on the grittle!!! Elder Spratt was given Scooby Doo to sculpt were as Elder McDonald was given the task of Harry Potter! Dad: Abraham Lincoln. Mom: President Obama. Macey: Elvis. Paige: Marilyn Monroe. Mckenna: Santa. Ithink we all did rather well but they tasted better than they looked!!!

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Chicks fightin' the law!!!!

It has been a while since our last post as you have all noticed. This is Bret writing the post for clarification. We are fighting for the rights of our chickens to stay in our yard and lay eggs for our family. Apparently we needed written permission from the HOA to have "livestock" in our yard. We are a little confused because we live on "Mallard Creek Court" and our community area and neighborhood is populated with free range ducks....but I digress. I took Macey and Paige to my "Hearing" before the Home owners association. I wanted them to see how "big time government" works and play on the sympathies of the board. Macey did a good job explaining that we would not be killing the chickens which I believe is helpful. We basically explained that we are not entirely crazy, and we want to have pets that lay eggs for us. As you can see from the picture, the girls have been doing a good job of keeping up the "grass roots effort". We promised to take very good care of no more than six hens and there will be no roosters or free ranging - you know wild chickens roaming the streets and getting tattoos and smoking pot. Anyway, we had our day in court and we will get the results mailed to us in a week. I'm just glad none of this drama has rubbed off on us! We will keep you posted.....

The DIXIE CHICKS!

Meet the new Smith Chicks! Today we picked out 6 new girls to fill the "Chicken Chappel". Their names are Miss Ula, Ruby Lavendar, Melba Jane, Miss Ishie, Miss Maddie and Dove. They are characters from one of our favorite books, Love Ruby Lavendar. We can't wait for them to get bigger so we can hold and play with them more. They should start laying eggs in about 4 months, which will be green, blue and brown!--COOL HUH! Poor Bret, thats all he needs are 6 more girls pecking and squacking at him!

Luckily we were able to talk Bret into a cute chicken coop, thus the chicken chappel was born. There are so many sweet country churches here, that this is our ode to the south (for the Dixie chicks sake). And its kinda funny to start a chicken ranch in the church!

It was only fair to do our share. So the painting ladies coated the Chicken Chappel. By the end, I'm not sure which had more paint on it--the children or the chappel?! Its taken them all week to wear that primer off--the stuff STICKS!




SNOW ANGEL!

Only 5 days before our 70 degree chicken coop day, schools were closed for snow. This is McKenna and her masterpiece!

Snow day with their Sweetheart!

This is Jack Jack. The is president of the Smith Girl fan club and vice versa. Jack just became a big brother a few weeks ago and the girls are decoying him so his Mom can get a rest. He has pet names for the girls: MayMay, PayPay, and MaePae. I have to talk to his parents in code, because if he hears any of the girls names he gets SO excited. Last week McKenna was invited to go to a playdate with a friend. She asked, "would it be OK if I went and played with Jack instead?" Luckily Jack has enough energy to keep all three busy and running ALL the time.

WE LOVE YOU JACK!!

Month worth of Memories!Bret and Macey made a 16 foot table for our Valentines Day Party!!

We love LOVE!! We had 10 couples over for a romantic dinner. It was a night full of good food, great fun and everything you can think of dipped in chocolate!

Paige and her "Love Duck" took first place in the 5th grade valentines decoration contest!...she may have had some help from her Folks.

McKenna showing her stuff at parent observation night at ballet.

Macey's balanc'e in ballet. She loves dance so much--she's a joy to watch.

PUNXSATAWNEY PHIL sits on a throne of LIES!

Paige said on our first 70 degree day. They talked Bret into hanging up the hammock and spent half the day reading there.

Safe and Thankful.

Today was the last day of CAT layoffs. Bret is the only one left on his team of 7. He's been switched to the Cary offices, where he will be in the global purchasing group. The silver lining is that his commute is only 20 minutes.

We are humbled and very grateful to have a job. Our hearts ache for the families who haven't been so lucky.

McKenna's Happy Family

She drew this picture for an upcoming FHE. She tied 5 strings to it, so that we could each hold one to show that it takes team work to hold a family up! How cute is THAT!!? She told me in a coy, side-ways whisper, "your going to LOVE the high shoes I put on you!"

Shopping at SWOOZIES!!
Swoozies, our favorite new girlie store had their big tent sale and we had to go investigate with our good friends, Jennie and Jack Councill. The girls form the Jack-Jack fan club. Jack has pet names for each of them: MaeMae, PaePae and MaePae. They are thrilled and LOVE to babysit!

This is what I need to have engraved on my First Alert bracelet!!

Here is a copy of an e-mail I got from McKennas teacher yesterday:

Hello Ladies,

I wanted to give you a heads up about an event that happened in class.
We were coming back in from recess and the whole line was talking- I said "if you are talking- go in and flip your color...cause we don't talk in the hall (silence) only if you really need something, you are bleeding or if someone is trying to steal one of you" No one moved- I didn't expect anyone to. We walk in and I am doing the normal, calling water groups, etc...kids are great and then I see McKenna crying by the coats.

She tells me, "I don't want to flip my color." It was already on yellow. She had done it. So was Kathleen's. I grab her to hug her and ask- why...and they both told me that they were talking in the hall. I held her and told her how proud of her/them I was that they told the truth even when they could have gotten away with it, because if they were talking in the hall, it was so quiet I didn't hear them, but I was super proud of them for being honest. And that probably half the class should have flipped their color too- but they didn't so that means that Kathleen and McKenna have great intergrity- to do what is right when no one is looking. I told them, if I could love them more I would for being so amazing.

I just wanted to give you a heads up and to love on them so much, because they are so special.

They are both smiling now, Kathleen cried just for a second...and McKenna looks a little sad still.

Thanks!
Any questions let me know.

Krista

Yesterday was the first day she's had to flip her card the whole year. She was still pretty sad about it when she got home, worried we would be mad. She didn't understand that being honest is so much more important than making a small mistake. I felt like jumping, whooping and running down the line high-fiving all the moms at the bus stop (NBA game opener style!). Its not very often we get to see what our kids do when our mom-radar isn't on them. We all squeezed her guts out! (not really--that'd be grose!)