And so the Nuttiness Begins...

It was a beautiful, yet chilly, day at the Fountains in Roseville where several pieces from The Nutcracker were performed on the community stage. This public appearance was to promote the upcoming Placer Theatre Ballet production. The audience gave the dancers a warm reception, so the goose bumps were somewhat reduced by the applause!

All Smiles

It took a total of four years to get this smile (Phase 1, headgear, retainer, Phase 2...), but it was worth the l-o-n-g wait.

Moments before the tin grin was eliminated...

Dr. Otto & his staff rejoiced with their patient.

Everyone is pleased with the results -- especially the 15-year-old.

To celebrate being brace-free, the first thing that Liesey ate was a big, crunchy, juicy apple. YUM!

More signs...

We are amazed that our home sold in less than a week. We'll attribute the speedy sale to our amazing Realtor. :-) The deal will be done by the end of the year, and we'll be off to Texas. What a roller coaster ride we are on!

Having a Ball

The Masquerade Ball this weekend was a HUGE success! Analiese found the perfect little black dress & mask for the evening. Her daddy presented her with a single red rose wrist corsage & drove her to the ballroom dance studio, which is only 1.5 miles from our house. This event was almost in our backyard -- high school students from Roseville, Rocklin, Sacramento, and Yuba City came to the ball. :-) Thankfully, it was not a ballroom blitz!

The photos tell all.

Adding the finishing touches...

Daughter & Daddy

Masquerade!
Paper faces on parade.

Masquerade!

Hide your face, so the world will never find you!
Masquerade!
Every face a different shade.
Masquerade!
Look around -
there's another
mask behind you!

What a beautiful/handsome group of kids!

'Tis the Season for Apple Butter

Even though we have been busy with getting the house "show" ready, we managed to whip up a batch or two of apple butter in our spare time. This year, Miss Millie was my helper. The results are tasty -- perhaps a little heavy on the cloves, but still quite yummy. We have determined, through careful & repeated taste tests, that this year's product is tastiest on toasted sourdough bread. Actually, it tastes good on just about anything! ;-)

Millie got to use her great grandmother's sieve to separate the cooked peel from the rest of the apple goo. This is the one time each year that this kitchen utensil gets put to use. I am sure it is an antique, but it still works great.

A Sign of the Times?

There may be smiles for the photo, but there were a few tears when that sign got planted in the lawn today. Raleigh Court just isn't happy about this new development.

It's a BOO-tiful Night in this Neighborhood...

...A beautiful "night" for a neighbor.
Would you be mine?
Could you be mine?...

Are you singing along? I am! I can almost hear Mister Rogers singing this modified version of his well-known opening theme song. ;-)

Now, where was I? Oh, I remember. Neighbor!

Our Raleigh Court neighbors gathered 'round the firepit to enjoy one another's company. Liesey & I were late to the unofficial All Saint's Eve neighborhood bash, due to a Ballet Rejoice engagement. Her Christian dance company got to "perform" at a Fall Carnival at a local church along with Paradosi, a professional ballet company. There was a lot going on this evening!

We had a great time hanging out in our 'hood. We love our neighbors! There is a lot of laughter when this group assembles. :-) Naturally, we had to perform (repeated?) quality control tests on the treats that were being handed out to Trick or Treaters. We also watched the first "Pirates" movie at the Raleigh Ct. Garage Door Theater. The entire court contingent was out late, since we were promised an extra hour of sleep. (It would be nice to add an extra hour of sleep every weekend!)

See the pictures, complete with descriptions:

Sydney, Alyssa, and Millie awarded prizes to the most creatively carved gourds on the court. The first place ribbons are certainly creative, too!

Janet & Katie?!

Larry & Bobbie

Mitchell & his scary looking friends made an appearance.

Charles & Janet

Referees Jeff & Paula and their lil' football

The gentlemen of Raleigh Court

The Girly-girls

We will certainly miss the genuine camaraderie of the Raleigh Court residents, but we are hopeful that we will find good neighbors in Texas.

Ah... there is news from the Lone Star State that I should share. In the afternoon, we received a call from our Texas Realtor, Al. He shared with us that our counter offer on a brand-spankin' new home in Keller was accepted. No tricks -- just treats!

We are amazed at how the details all came together -- further evidence that God is in control. The earnest $ has been sent, and the builder (Drees) will be sending blueprints for review & other paperwork for us to sift through. A lot of the preliminary "stuff" will have to be accomplished long-distance. We hope to make a trip to TX within the next month to begin the process of selecting cabinets, flooring, paint colors, lighting, & other options. The house will not be completed until July 2010. All of our furniture will be stored until we move in the new house. While we wait for the house to be completed, will be living at a good friend's home in Keller -- yet another amazing blessing! (We will have plenty o' room for visitors in the new house. Hint. Hint. Start making plans for a Texas trek.)

The REALLY hard part comes next -- planting a "For Sale" sign in our yard will make for a difficult/emotional day. :-( We hope to get our CA house on the market within the next week, or two. There are sooo many little details to attend to, but we are checking things off of the list one by one.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Decisions, Decisions...

Who is making a decision?
What decision?
When? Where? Why?
What does this decision mean?

Main Entry: ¹de·ci·sion
Pronunciation: \di-ˈsi-zhən\

Function: noun

Etymology: Middle English decisioun, from Middle French, from Latin decision-, decisio, from decidere to decide

Date: 15th century

1 a : the act or process of deciding b : a determination arrived at after consideration : conclusion
2 : a report of a conclusion

This past week we engaged in the "act or process of deciding," and we now have "a determination arrived at after MUCH consideration."

I am now giving you a "report of a conclusion." There -- I think we covered pretty much all of the possible definitions of the word decision!

There is an old Dutch proverb that says,
"He who has a choice has trouble."

It has also been said that the more alternatives,
the harder the choice.

The Golden State vs. The Lone Star State?!

We definitely had trouble making this decision, but thankfully the alternatives were limited. The process was made even more difficult since Mr. Smith was on the road all of last week. All of our family discussions/negotiations had to be done via phone conversations. After much discussion & prayer, we reached the decision to move to Ft. Worth, Texas. Well, actually, we will be living in Keller (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keller,_Texas) & Mr. Smith will work in downtown Ft. Worth.

(No, the flag is not pinpointing the location of Ft. Worth.
It's marking Texas, in general!)

It still has not sunk in. There is sooo much to plan & do in the coming weeks with preparing to get the house on the market, sorting stuff, house hunting, etc... (And we still have school, rehearsals for Nutcracker, & the normal daily details to deal with.) It's kind of overwhelming -- I think we are still in the denial stage of the process. One thing is certain -- the Lord is in the details. Although this is not something that we would have ever seen coming, it is clear to see that this is where the God is leading us. There have been too many signs pointing the way to the Lone Star State.

It will be very difficult to say good bye to our CA neighbors & friends after investing in these relationships for the past ten years. Thankfully, we will not have to lose contact with our loved ones here, and we are confident that we will be blessed in our new state.

Texas will likely be dubbed the LONELY Star State for a while.

#17

Today is officially the first day of autumn, but with temps over 100 degrees it certainly felt like summer. Despite the heat, we still managed to have FUN as we celebrated M's 17th b-day. It was a MUCH cooler day in Spokane on the day he was born -- there definitely was a hint of fall in the air. Today it felt more like the 4th of July, minus the fireworks.

Morgan at three months -- what a cutie!

The birthday boy slept in until nearly 10 o'clock this morning, so he didn't get much school work accomplished today. It was a self-proclaimed holiday, I guess. (Ah, the beauty of home schooling!)

We made a conscious effort to only include family for the kids' birthdays this year. We love including friends, but there is something special about "just family." There was less stress involved, that's for sure!

M. had a few of his favorite foods for dinner: tri-tip, garlic mashed potatoes, Caesar salad, green beans, and sparkling cider. In lieu of cake, he opted for homemade pumpkin pie. (I made several trips to different grocery stores in search of canned pumpkin. Apparently there is a shortage of canned pumpkin. Seriously! I finally found Libby's pumpkin pie filling, which worked out okay; however, the final product just is not as tasty as the plain ol' canned pumpkin recipe. Oh, well! I was ready to make the pie from scratch, but I couldn't find any whole pumpkins either. Next year, I will plan ahead & stockpile several cans of pumpkin! Okay, so there was a little stress...)

Miss Millie designed a treasure hunt for her big brother. It took some time searching inside & out, but he finally located his gifts inside the car. (He was a good sport & played along with the game.)

The final clue led M. to "Beatrice" (the nickname for our Audi's Navigation system). Bea had a message for the b-day boy that was written in the same monotone voice that she speaks in. How can the written word "sound" flat with no inflections? I am not sure how she did it, but she did. ;-)

The American Girl box was a joke.

He wasn't fooled for a second.

We got M. a Garmin Nuvi GPS & accessories. If only he would have had it to help him navigate the twists & turns of his treasure hunt. ;-) Now if only he had a car to go with that GPS... As long as he gets to borrow his dad's car, he's happy.

There are only seven candles on the pie --
the "teen" part is implied.

So, we are now into an "odd year" with all three Smithlings at odd ages -- 11, 15, and 17. The fun of the birthday month is over. :-( Millie was quick to point out that Bartholomew & Jemima will have their 1/2 birthday on the 27th of September, but I won't be baking any cakes or pies for those two. A can of Fancy Feast will have to be enough of a celebration. No candles either.

#11

The bagel tree produced a bountiful crop this year just in time for Miss Millie's eleventh birthday. What a fun tradition! (We have promised our youngest that this is a Smithling custom that we will keep going for as long as she's under our roof. I'm certain that our neighbors think that we are NUTS! They might be right.)

Everyone in the fam. enjoyed a tree-ripened bagel, we shared some of the carb-laden goodness with the neighbors, and then we stocked our freezer with leftover "fruit." We should be set with breakfast fare for a while...
There were numerous phone calls from well wishers, e-mails, and LOTS of greeting cards to help add to the festive mood. Millie helped decorate her cake, which was supposed to resemble Jemima.

Multitasking Millie was able to decorate a cake & talk to her grandparents at the same time. :-)

That cat looks good enough to eat.

Some folks say that Millie looks like her mommy...
Must be the whiskers.
What do you think?!

We went bowling in the afternoon. Gutter balls were the order of the day, and they were plentiful indeed. We all are LOUSY bowlers. The important thing is that we had FUN. Right? Next stop: Cool River Pizza. (Bowling combined with raucous laughter works up an appetite.)

Finally it was time to open presents & eat cake, but the b-day girl insisted that we all wear face makeup so we, too, looked like cats. Cats rule. Since it was a party, and our little girl won't always be little, we all agreed to her whisker request, no matter how silly we may have looked.

The b-day girl had fun drawing whiskers on AJ.
Now that's a patient & kind auntie.

Meow!

A litter o' Smiths?
(Father Smith wanted curly whiskers, so curly whiskers he was given. Interesting.)

AJ & the B-day girl


PRESENTS!!!!!!

The candles were successfully extinguished in one breath. Hooray! The "Jemima" cake was tasty, the birthday girl couldn't have been happier, and confetti, wrapping paper, & ribbons were everywhere. Those are all clear signs that it was a great party. "Eleven" is off to a great start!

One more September b-day to go...