for Smart girls

2009-02-12T16:50:00.000-08:00

I was tagged. You have to go to where you store your pictures and click on the 4th folder and then the 4th picture. This is from Feb. of 06 when we went to Disney World with my family. I tag Dawn, Danielle, and Darby.

2009-02-04T16:15:00.000-08:00

So what have I been doing for the last 3 months? A surprise 60th for Steve and Wendy. It was practically a part time job. But it was worth it. Steve and Wendy were completely surprised, and everyone had a great time. I tried to post a lot of pictures so keep going to see them all. I had a lot of help, and I am so grateful to all of my super talented friends for all your help. I've decided that my talent is I have a lot of talented friends. Carrie made the cake, Jane the invites(and also decorated and helped at the party), Danielle took the picture of Steve and Wendy, Paul made the car and shake cut-outs, and took the party pictures, Darlene made a video, Dawn made Kendra's skirt, and my Mom made all the girls skirts and did there hair.(Hair is not one of my talents.) Pam and Jen helped set up, along with Dawn and Jane. Ryan came on Thursday and helped us with chairs. I would not have made it without all of your hard work. I am so blown away by all my friends. You guys are so amazing and I am blessed by all of your friendships. You can all look forward to April, when we get to do it all again for the Father/Daughter dance!

2009-02-04T16:12:00.000-08:00

Here are more pictures.

2009-02-04T16:07:00.001-08:00

So here are some more pictures.

2008-09-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of my sister Debbie(and Darlene). She is in the red tank-top. The reason I have posted this is because she is a community organizer. At the risk of opening up a political can of worms, I am writing this post in defense of community organizers. The republicans are seriously making me angry. They are belittling people who actually use the political system to give a voice to those who feel voice-less. They talk about not depending on the government to help you change something, but taking the incentive and doing it yourself. Well, that is what a c.o.(communiy organizer) does! I know that a lot of people have never heard of one before, let alone knows what one does, so let me educate you. I will use Debbie as my example. She works with faith-based organizations, mainly churches, to identify a problem in their community that they want to change. Then she helps them make a plan. Who do they need to contact, who do they need to meet with etc. For example, she is working in San Juan Capistrano right now. They have a huge gang problem, so she has helped them meet with the police department, and city council to start addressing the problems, and come up with solutions. Mostly it is about helping the churches understand how to work with the city they are in to address the problem. Sometimes however, city aren't necessarily interested in helping their lower income residents.(Welcome to the O.C. B#%*#) So she will also organize demonstrations, such as a march to the city council, and having the residents address the members with their concerns. Also talking to the press, basically helping churches realise their power, and helping them fight for justice, in a peaceful way. I happen to think it is a great stepping stone, for running for office. It helps remind you of who you are representing, and shows you the political process when it is working for the people. And no Debbie can't see Russia from her house, but I for one would vote for her in a second. Phares 2012!

2008-08-30T11:03:00.000-07:00

August 10-16 Lauren, Gracie and I went to camp with the Flipside. It was a space theme so my name was Starri and we were the Shooting Stars. I only had 4 campers, Lunar Lauren, Grace from Space, Devo Devon, and Reading Star aka Maddie. Jennifer aka Jupiter J had the other 4 third graders, so we did everything togeather. It was a lot of fun and the girls can't wait to go again. That is a picture of our teepee, and yes it doesn't close. We were lucky and didn't have any visitors, but my sister,s teepee woke up the first morning and found a hamster. Yes, that is right a hamster. They named it Mr. Nibbles and it now lives with Devon. It was great and I highly recomend sending your kids!

2008-08-30T10:51:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't know July 18th was our ten year anniversary. We went to New York to renew our vows in Central Park. Kyle and I went to New York a year and a half ago, and we loved it. We invited our family and friends to come with us and make it a big celebration. Paul did the ceremony and it was really sweet. It was a great trip, we got to do things we didn't do the first time. Like go to a Yankee game, and walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. The minute we stepped on it starting pouring, and the minute we stepped off it stopped. The first picture is of all the girls, the next is
Central Park, then the Yankee game. The Angels won! And finally Kyle and I on the Brooklyn Bridge.

2008-08-30T10:42:00.000-07:00

So one of the great things about our campground was it was small and flat. So the girls rode their bikes all day. Merrick taught Lauren how to skid, so they were racing everywhere. Gracie learned how to ride without training wheels. If you look at the picture, you can see she's crying. Even though she didn't fall one time, she is terrified to ride. Isabel on the other hand cannot do it by herself at all, but is constantly asking you to let go. Maybe next summer Izzy.

2008-08-30T10:30:00.000-07:00

So what have we been doing all summer? Well we started out slow, first wacky week of fun. Then the girls had 3 weeks of swim lesson. After that our slow summer really took off. At the end of July, we rented a trailer and went camping with the Verlangieri's and the Barragans. We went to King's Canyon and Seqouia National Parks.
The girls had a blast. We went into a cave, saw the biggest living thing on earth, the General Sherman tree. And just relaxed and had fun. Our campsite was right next to a river, that was perfect for the kids to play in. They also had lots of fun with Bryawna, although I think by the end of the week see was glad to get away from all the attention. It was really fun, and we had a great time.

2008-04-07T10:34:00.001-07:00

Here are some of Paul's pictures from Yosemite.

2008-04-06T20:38:00.000-07:00

Yosemite is one of our family's favorite places. We just love it! For christmas this year my parents gave us a trip there. We went during the girls spring break. My whole family went and we had a wonderful time. We have never been during spring and it was amazing. There were waterfalls everywhere. It was beautiful. These are some pictures Darlene took.

2008-04-06T20:24:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, it's been awhile but my camera doesn't work and I like to post pictures. So sat. was the glitter glam party that Jane puts on for the church. It was fabulous as usual and my girls had a wonderful time. Danielle Williams sent me these pictures so I thought I would share them. Thanks Danielle!

2008-03-05T13:42:00.000-08:00

So I have seen a lot of different posts about home births and I just wanted to put in my two cents. When Lauren was born she had breathed in her meconium during the birth, and spent 3 days in the N.I.C.U. If she had been born at home the time it would have taken to get her to the hospital would have probably resulted in brain damage. My sister who works in the N.I. has babies all the time that need attention immediately. Fifteen minutes is the difference between life and death, or brain damage. These are babies who had perfect sonograms, but things happen all the time that are unexpected. If these babies are born in the hospital they can be healthy with no ill effects. My sister after seeing everything she's seen wouldn't deliver in a hospital without an N.I. I know some of you are saying my baby would have been perfectly healthy. But that's not the point. Some babies are not, and you cannot predict meconium or any other complication before hand. The percentage is small by why risk it.
I know that some people will say that women have been having babies for thousands of years. This is true, but childbirth used to be the biggest killer of women. And it was common for mothers to have one or more of their children die due to complications from birth. Just look at Afghanistan today, the percentage of women dying in childbirth is alarming. I agree that c-sections and pitosin are used more than necessary, but take a step back. Women all over the world would love to have that problem. In Africa women walk hundreds of miles to give birth in a hospital. The rise of c-sections is two-fold- One dr.s have to show they took some sort of action if they are sued. And O.B.'s are sued the most. So doctors are going to fault on that side. People expect perfect babies and sue if they don't get one. Second women want c-sections so it can be scheduled, they don't want natural childbirth, and they want to have the baby early to avoid stretch marks.
We are so spoiled in America to complain about c-sections, pitosin, heart monitors. All these things were invented to save lives, and they do. The thing is, it is easy to blame dr.s and not take any responsibility for ourselves. Your heath care is a partnership, you need to be informed and make your choices be know. You don't have to have a c-section, or pitosin, or a heart monitor, or even an I.V. If you don't like your nurse ask for a new one. Who cares if they think your a b****.
Find a dr. or mid-wife who understands your wishes. But even the most trained dr. cannot help your baby if you are not at the hospital. I think that we have a long way to go, to get childbirth were it should be. But it should be a positive dialogues, because we are blessed to give birth in the U.S.
The second thing I want to comment on is that dr.s give women c-section to make more money. Or the only reason you are treated well at the hospital is because you know someone who works there. That is so offensive to me. Most people have no idea what it takes to be a dr. The time and money is staggering. When people express this idea that dr.s are just in it for money, you are questioning my husbands ethics. I know a lot of drs,some are very arrogant, have horrible bed-side manner, but I know of only 2 who are in it for money, and even they wouldn't do anything to hurt someone to make more money. My husband devoted almost his entire adult life to becoming a dr. And when people make these statements they are disregarding everything he has done, and all the sacrifice our family has made
he can serve his patients, and be a wonderful dr. The amount of time and money it takes to be a dr. pretty much weeds out the incompetent(there are still some) and the money hungry. The H.M.O.'s are really the ones making the money. I'm not going to say that Kyle doesn't make good money but we aren't rich.
And finally I want to say that I had wonderful nurses who treated me great because they are professionals and care about their patients. So thank you Barbara and Jen, and all the nurses in the N.I. who took care of Lauren. I know your not perfect but I will defend your integrity and care for your patients.
I know it was long but I had to get it off my chest.

2008-01-03T16:50:00.000-08:00

These are pictures from the Flipside Christmas musical. It was a lot of fun, and both Lauren and Gracie had solos. Gracie took hers very seriously. She told me she couldn't smile when she sang. Isabel was a kitty during the manger scene. The 3 and 4's were supposed to be sheep, but they all decided to be different animals, but with sheep ears. They also sang Jingle Bells and Away in a Manger. Isabel cannot wait till she gets to sing her solo, in about 2 years.

2008-01-03T16:40:00.000-08:00

We got to go the Cancun again this year in Nov. It was so much fun. My parents and Kyles parents came and it was great for the girls to share the fun. We learned how to find Sharks teeth, we went to Excaret, we put baby turtles into the ocean, and we went zip-lining in the jungle. It was a great family time, and the girls can't wait to go again! (Me too!)

2008-01-03T16:27:00.000-08:00

So I know it has been a long time, but life is crazy with 4 girls. That's my excuse, and I'm sticking with it. So here is a snap shot of the last little bit of our lives. We moved in to our new house! We are so happy, and love all of the space. Lauren and Gracie each have their own rooms (pink and red), and Izzie and Soph share. It is so beautiful nestled up next to the mountains, and it is actually colder here. We are hoping it will snow here at least once. Now on to soccer. That was almost a full-time job for me. Mon. and Wed. for Lauren, Wed. and Fri. for Grace. The girls had a lot of fun playing. Gracie loved practice and being with her team. Lauren loved the competition and really came into her own. The highlight of the season for Lauren, was scoring goals, for Grace was getting her trophy.

2007-11-20T15:48:00.000-08:00

A NEW PARK!

2007-10-21T16:03:00.000-07:00

We had a very special visitor at Lauren's soccer game this weekend. Great-grandma Margaret came a watched the Wildcats in action! She is 89 years old!

2007-09-07T09:51:00.000-07:00

Hi everybody, I know it's been a long time. Life is just so crazy with 4 girls, and our camera broke. So our big news is this is our new house!. We should be moving in about 2 weeks. So with school and soccer for Gracie and Lauren, now I also have to pack. We our really excited, it is a beautiful area, right up against the foothills. The development actually backs to the National Forrest. Kyle's sister Kendra and her husband Nick, are buying a house 20 houses down that will be done in Dec., and the Reynolds will be moving in above us in Oct. It's going to be a lot of fun. Kyle's partner Rhami and his wife our also looking to buy there. So it will be even more crazy around here for the next couple of weeks. When we are in we will have everyone over for a party.!

2007-07-20T17:17:00.000-07:00

There is this new thing called a meme that is basically a chain letter for blogs. I have to write 8 random facts about myself and then tag 8 more people to write about themselves.

The rules
1. I have to list the rules first.
2. They need to be 8 random facts
3. I need to tag 8 people at the end.
4. Each person I tag needs to blog 8 facts about themselves.
5. Don't forget to let the tagged people know they have been tagged.

So here goes 8 random facts about us.

Fact 1- When Kyle was younger he got in a lot of trouble for playing show and show. My favorite story is when he called all his friends into the bathroom at school. He then put on quite a show for them. He stood behind the stall door and stuck his penis out so that was all you could see. He got called to the principles office on that one. When he was in 5th grade he drew a picture of ninja's fighting, apparently it looked like instead of hands punching the bad ninja's face that he intended, the adults thought that it was the good ninja's penis. So I guess it's good we have all girls.

Fact 2- Kyle is the only person I have ever kissed. When we first started dating I was terrified. Kyle had quite a reputation as a ladies man at our church. In fact my Mom was warned he would break my heart by a couple of people while we were still in Hungary.(That's were we started dating.)

Fact 3- When my sister Dawn was pregnant with her daughter Devon I suggested they name her Sophia. I thought it was a beautiful italian name that would go with their very italian last name, Verlingieri. My brother-in-law said no way. He thought it was an old lady name.

Fact 4- When I was younger I wanted to marry someone who could sing and play guitar, because I thought that was so romantic. The funny thing is, I don't really care for music, I don't like concerts that much at all. Then when I met Kyle he had just learned how to play the guitar and started leading worship. I really thought he was going to be a worship minister and not a doctor. On the subject of music, Kyle and I shared one C.D. in common(I only owned like 4, and he had like 100). I bet you can't even guess. It was They Might be Giants. Our girls now have their abc video they made for kids.

Fact 5- When we got married we thought we would probably have only 2 kids. Then it was just so addicting. We love having kids. If we had unlimited time and money we would have more.

Fact 6- When I had my bridal shower we played a game where I had to match Kyle's answers. I hardly got any of them right. I found out later that Kyle wanted to make it hard for me! So all those people who came where probably thinking "Wow she doesn't know him at all." I felt like such a dork. One of the only questions I got right was what animal would Kyle be. I said dolphin and so did he at first. But after Kevin and Ryan made fun of him he changed it to tiger.

Fact 7 -My biggest pet peeve, when someone asks if we are going to keep trying for a boy. WE WERE TRYING FOR A BABY, AND NO WE ARE NOT GOING TO TRY FOR A BOY. WE ARE THRILLED TO HAVE FOUR BEAUTIFUL DAUGHTERS! Thanks for asking.

Fact 8- I sing to my girls all the time. I just make up songs. Funny because I don't like people to sing to me.

Now I'm going to tag:
Darlene- you have a blog use it
Dawn- this is a great way to start
Debbie- I can't leave you out
Jen R-I figure if I tag you too then you have to do it.
Darby- this is a great way to start too.
Evan- I know you read this
Pikes- can't wait to see what you have to say
Armstrongs- see Darlene

2007-06-01T21:22:00.000-07:00

Lauren is almost through with 1st grade. She is my star. She is super competative like her parents. She reads everything, (Junie B. is her favorite) we can't spell anything out loud any more. She loves Hannah Montana, Zack and Cody, and High School Musical. She loves to draw and color. She loves the outdoors, swimming and monkey bars. She is always leading her sisters on new adventures. She is very sensative and a perfectionist. She has nicer hand-writing then I do. She loves fashion and clothes. She will try anything once, any kind of food or anything her Dad can think up. She loves Disneyland, mostly the rides only she is tall enough for. Her favorite places are Cancun and Yosemite. She is still BFF's with Devon, Kenna, and Lizzie. She can ride her bike without training wheels, and is a little dare-devil.(She scares Kyle and I all the time.) She is getting so big, it seems like only yesterday that we found our we were having a girl. She will be 7 in August, time just goes by so fast. We love her and our so thankful for her.(Hopefully I will post pictures from her last day of school soon.)

2007-06-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

These are pictures from Isabels last day of her 2's class. She is getting so big. She is my ball of fire. She answers everything with "I know it", no matter what you just told her. She finishes singing the abc's with "next time you will sing with me" It makes me laugh everytime I hear it, because that is how she thinks. She lives to chase the boys, and play in the dirt. But she also loves make-up and dresses. She thinks she's as big as her sisters and sings Hannah Tanna(Hannah Montana) songs at the top of her lungs. We love her and she always keeps us on our toes.

2007-06-01T20:45:00.000-07:00

It was Gracie's last day of pre-school this week. They had a waterballon fight with 4,000 waterballons. One Mom spent 6 hrs. filling 2500. It was pretty crazy. Gracie loved it, but Isabel just wanted to watch. The pictures are of Gracie's teachers Miss Cari and Miss Heather. They were great, they are also Isabels teachers this year and next year. I can't believe my little Gracie is going to start real school next year. She is my little sunshine. She loves to take care of Sophia and always has a smile and hug for everyone. Her favorite word is "actually". She is a free spirit who just does her own thing. She loves to wear bright colors and boots. She will just lose herself in the moment. She laughs easily and often. She loves fast rides at disneyland, and only eats chicken. We adore her and are so glad she is a part of our family. That's just a little bit about her.

2007-05-16T14:10:00.000-07:00

Sophia turned 1. We had her party on her actual birthday. We rented the bouncer-slide again, and it was a big hit with all the kids. I can't believe she is one already. The year has just flown by. I'm trying to cherish all the baby moments because I know it would last very much longer. She is standing up by herself but will not take a step. When she does stand up she expects everyone to clap for her. She has become quite the little diva. She has her three different crawls that she uses to get around, and she seems happy with that. She says "Mama, Dada, Uh-oh(her favorite), Thank you(dah- do), and what. We are working on bye-bye. She loves to give hi-fives, and raspberries. She is such a blessing to our family. We are so thankful for all our beautiful girls.

2007-05-16T14:04:00.000-07:00

For the girls birthday we took them to Libby-Lu's as a present from us. Gracie was a rock star, Isabel was a dancing queen, and Lauren was Hannah Montana. Too cute! Soph already looks like a little princess so no makeover was needed. Gracie also got choosen to do some Jedi training. Which she took very seriously, and carried her certificate everywhere for about 3 weeks. It was a lot of fun and we topped it off with dinner at the Blue Bayou. It was a great family celebration!

2007-05-16T13:55:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a long time, but we have been busy! It was birthday season for the Smarts, 3 in 3 weeks. First up was Gracie's, she turned 5. She had a dog party, and we rented a bouncer-slide combo. As you can see from the pictures the kids had a blast. Isabel turned 3 two days later and she had her party at the Sawdust Factory. She got to put her hand print on the wall. It is so special to know it will be there for a long time. All the kids got to make a dog house or barn and choose an animal to go in it. As you can see all the creations turned out so cute. The best part no clean-up. More birthday posts next.

2007-03-31T13:54:00.000-07:00

Here are the Easter pictures. Paul took them for me this week. I can't decide which one of Sophia I like better. So if anyone still reads this blog, help me out and vote for your favorite.

2007-03-30T16:28:00.000-07:00

On saturday we had the Glitter Glam at Flipside. Lauren was a rock star, Gracie was a movie star and Isabel was a princess. They had so much fun. 107 girls came, only 30 had signed up, it was crazy. Lauren and Gracie are both with their friends named Madeline. After they got all made up, all the girls got to walk the runway. The picture of Lauren is her rock star pose. It was a great night, the girls loved it, and I loved watching them have so much fun.

2007-03-30T16:19:00.000-07:00

I know it has been a long time, 4 girls keep you really busy. This is a picture from CBC's winter camp. Kyle was the speaker. Sophia, Isabel and I only lasted a night. Sophia decided see really didn't feel like sleeping in the cabin. She wasn't cranky, she just wouldn't sleep. Normally we would just let her cry, but we were all in one room so we had to keep her quiet or it would have been 4 girls not sleeping. Kyle, Gracie and Lauren stayed up at Camp Care while we came home. They had a great time playing capture the flag and all the other fun camp games. Kyle also helped with the music, so it was a busy weekend for him.

2007-02-18T23:23:00.000-08:00

Happy Valentine's Day. Kyle worked till almost 10 on Valentine's day so we didn't do anything. I can't really complain because he gave me a beautiful mother's ring right before we went to New York, and we spent the whole weekend togeather. I did get to help the girls make their Valentines, and give them each a little something. We celebrated by getting McDonalds, which I think they liked much more then some romantic dinner. The pictures are from Gracie's pre-school party, which Isabel and I had a fun time visiting. It was a nice day, and I was very grateful to spend it with my girls.

2007-02-18T23:09:00.000-08:00

We went to New York last weekend with our friends Bill and Carrie. Kyle suprised me for my birthday last month.
We had so much fun, I loved New York. I can understand why people love living there. There is so much to do in such a small area. I loved all the old buildings, they have so much character. We did so much, and only scratched the surface of what there is. We stayed at Times Square, right by all the shows. We saw Chicago and Spam-a-lot, went to the Empire State Building, Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, the Met, Tiffanys, Chinatown, Little Italy, rode the Subway, took a bus tour of Manhatten and Harlem, and we could have stayed a week more and not seen everything. I can see how New York is part of the people who live there, like a family member. We can't wait to go back and take the girls when they get older.

2007-01-25T17:38:00.000-08:00

Our good friends Darby and Barnard brought home this sweet baby girl on tues. They named her Bryawna, and we are so excited for them. Kyle and Barnard met as freshman in high school, and have done almost everything togeather. They went to college (first Texas then UCR) togeather, were in Medical school at the same time(on different sides of the country). Barnard was our Best man, and Kyle was his, they did their Internship year togeather at arrowhead. Barnard is now a surgeon and Kyle is F.P. And now they are both Fathers of beautiful daughters. Sophia is excited to have a new friend, and we are blessed to see such a miracle happen to our friends.

2007-01-25T17:17:00.000-08:00

Christmas was a lot of fun this year, the girls are at such great ages. We spent 3 days opening presents this year. We started on the 23rd with my extended family, the 24th was my parents and sisters, then the 25th was Kyle's family. On the 26th Gracie asked where we were going to open our presents today. I had to explain that Christmas was over, she was pretty disappointed that it only lasted 3 days! We had a great time being with our families. Some of our favorite gifts were, passes to the zoo, Lauren's doll clothes(for Molly), Gracie's camera(which she sticks in Soph's face and blinds her), Isabel doll that talks, and Sophia's play camera. Here are some of my favorite pictures from Christmas morning.

2007-01-25T17:06:00.000-08:00

Before school got out for winter break, the first grade at Caryn put on their annual christmas play, The Littlest Christmas Tree. Basically it is about a tree who is made fun of by all the other trees for being too small, but she is the only tree that knows the true meaning of Christmas, so Santa chooses her to be his tree. Lauren played the littlest tree, and sang a solo. She actually brought some of the parents there to tears with her song.(Not her own parents, but some really sensitive ones.) It was very cute, and Gracie got very upset that the other trees were teasing Lauren. We had to explain that Lauren was just pretending to be sad. We were very proud of our tree!

2006-12-18T18:51:00.000-08:00

On saturday the 16th Lauren and I went to Mexico with the Flipside. We got up at 5:00 a.m. to leave by 6. We were actually on time even though Sophia and Gracie woke up multiple times and I got less than 4 hours of sleep. We drove down with Dai, Bekah, Lizzie, my sister Debbie, and Devon. Now I'm not a drive a long way just to drive back the same day kind of girl. Claremont is a long way for me. Kyle and I have always talked about exposing the girls to poverty and mission work, and Kyle couldn't take Lauren, so I had step up and put my money where my mouth is. I like my trips to be well organized, with a list of things that are going to happen, but due to unforseen events, I had to let that go.(and it was very hard.) It took 3 tries to get insurance at the border, but we finally got it and went across. When we got to the town, we found the Pastor's house only to find out he was not there. So we decided to head to the church, after a few circles we finally figured out the church had been destroyed. Apparently in June the ground under the church had erroded and the building fell down. So we were looking for something that wasn't there. By accident we ran into the Pastor's wife, and she had us go to the community center. We found out that the Pastor had left his family and gone to the States, we didn't get all the details, just that it was bad. Aaron had talked to him via e-mail, and he had indicated he would be there so we didn't know exactly when he took off. He never mentioned anything about the church either. So it seemed he didn't want to tell us what was really going on. They weren't able to open the community center, so we gave out the presents and did the whole barbeque outside. It was very cold and we had to use a toilet that was a step up from outhouse, (it was one of the nicest in the town) but it was a good chance for Lauren to see how other people live. The girls handed out juice(jugo) at the barbeque, and Lauren and I got to see two of our boxes be opened. We meet the new pastor and made some good contacts. We left at four and spent about 2 and a half to 3 hours at the border. At one point we thought we would be stuck because no one would let us merge. They would literally rather hit the car in front of them then let us in. But Dai manged to get in, I would have been there a lot longer if I had been driving. The girls did great the whole day, I was very proud of them. We finally made it back to the church at 10, six hours later. Next year Dai and I decided Kyle and Mark get to go.

2006-12-15T13:47:00.000-08:00

Here are the christmas pictures. Paul took them, and I am so happy with how they turned out. There were a lot of great ones, so it was hard to choose one for each of the girls. It was the nicest picture session I've ever had. Paul came right to the house, set everything up, and we were ready to go. It was so nice not having to deal with some unknown photographer, who would miss all the good smiles.

2006-12-06T20:27:00.000-08:00

Rub-a-dub-dub, four girls in a tub.

2006-12-06T20:11:00.000-08:00

Sunday was the Christmas musical at church. Lauren played the angel and Gracie told everybody what to do. Needless to say both girls are quite at home on the stage. Lauren said all her lines perfect, and Gracie had an impromtu solo in the microphone and kept all the little ones in line. It was a lot of fun to watch all the kids. I really appreciate Rayna giving all the kids a part to shine. Next year Isabel will be up there, and she might not let anyone near the microphone. I can't wait!

2006-12-06T19:28:00.000-08:00

Every year my Mom has all the grandkids over to make a gingerbread house. It's a lot of fun, and the kids love to eat the decorations. They are getting a lot better at actually making it look good. Lauren wants it to look exactly like the box, but that is pretty much not going to happen with her sisters helping. There is so much going on during Christmas time that sometimes I just want to scream, but I know that giving them these traditions will mean more to them then any gift they will ever get.

2006-11-26T16:54:00.000-08:00

Christmas time is here! I love christmas decorations, we always decorate right after thanksgiving. Kyle tries to put off getting a tree as long as he can, because I would get one today. This year was a lot of fun, the three older girls were so excited. As I was opening all the boxes Gracie said, "It just keeps getting better and better!" These are the pictures of us along with Devon and Merrick, decorating our advent tree. It's really neat, all the ornaments our part of the nativity. As they put up an ornament we read about it. It's a nice way to get focused on the real meaning of Christmas. So have a blessed christmas season. The Smarts

2006-11-26T16:28:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving was truly a day to be thankful. As I look back on our family's year we have a lot to be grateful for. First of course is Sophia, her birth and now that she is healthy. Second for the health of all our girls, watching them grow-up is such a gift. Seeing the blossoming of their faith is amazing. There are of course many more, but after those two the rest aren't nearly as important.
We started the day at my parents house with my family. With everyone there we have 11 kids 7 and under, so needless to say it is a little crazy. But we love crazy at our house. Next it was on to Kyle's parents, where it was just the grandparents(4 greats, 2 grands) and us. A little different atmosphere. But still a lot of fun. Wendy was worried about two turkey dinners, but I told her even though it's the same basic ingrediants the meals couldn't be more different, just like our familys. I hope everyone elses day was full of love too.

2006-11-26T16:18:00.000-08:00

When we were in Cancun all of Kyle's family came with us. There were five generations from the Greats all the way to baby Sophia. Our girls have a total of 10 grandparents. It just amazes me how close they are with all of their Grandparents. What a blessing in our lives to live so close with our family.

2006-11-23T10:41:00.000-08:00

Lauren was amazing in cancun, she has no fear and is a really strong swimmer. She jumped waves with Grandpa Steve, dived under waves with Grandma Wendy, and boogie boarded with Kyle. She could swim the whole length of the giant pool. She has great technique, and is really strong. She is probably a better swimmer then me, and I've been swimming a lot longer. Gracie also started to really swim much better. When we first went snorkling she was afraid of the fish, but by the end she was right in there with them. It is so wonderful to be able to give our girls these amazing expirences(thanks Steve and Wendy).

2006-11-23T10:26:00.000-08:00

The sand in Cancun is really soft and clean. The girls had a lot of fun building sand castle's and burying Kyle in the sand. Especially Isabel, she would just lay on the sand, and she let us bury her too. She would spend hours just picking up sand nd throwing it into the ocean again. She would chase Grandpa Steve around trying to throw sand on him. I'm sure you can image how much sand she would bring back with her in her bathing suit and diaper. Isabel was also the one most into collecting shells. There are a ton on the beach so she had a lot to choose from. Gracie was into getting the sand dollar pieces, and Lauren was too busy playing in the ocean. Needless to say we came home with nice tans(for my white family), and no sun burns.

2006-11-23T10:17:00.000-08:00

We went to Cancun last week with Kyle's whole family. It was a lot of fun. The girls love it. They are such good little travelers. Lauren and Gracie actually went snorkeling with giant sea turtles and a school of fish with at least 5,000. So here are some pictures from our adventure.

2006-11-23T10:10:00.000-08:00

The NG tube is gone! Sophia is officially on the bottle and is almost 14 lbs. As you can see by her cute little booty she is doing great.

2006-11-01T22:24:00.000-08:00

Halloween was a lot of fun this year. Lauren was a fairy, Gracie was Lucy (from the Chronicles of Narnia), Isabel was Cinderella, and Sophia was a bunny. Grace and Isabel had parties at school, but lauren didn't even get to dress up. My Grandparents come and see all there greats every Halloween, and they keep multipling. After we visited with them we went and saw Kyle's Grandparents. Then we went up to LBF(my parents church), to their carnival. It was a lot of fun. We meet my parents, the Lassiters, Lanes, and Verlangieri's up there. The Girls got their faces painted, ballon flowers, played games, not to mention all the candy they got. They also had a petting zoo, the pig was in love with my boots, and a reptile house. Lauren held a snake, she wasn't scared at all. Isabel touched the snake too but only the tip of his tail. Gracie liked all the snakes too, but she doesn't like to touch. Then we headed up to Steve and Wendy's. By the time it was over, between all the grandparents, it was liked Christmas they got so much stuff, candy and toys. It definitly was a happy Halloween. Mors special because all our girls are healthy!

2006-11-01T21:32:00.000-08:00

So as many of you know, we spent almost a week in the hospital with Soph. She had not gained any weight in over two months. I was pretty scared, we had run all sorts of tests and draw lots of blood, but everything had come back normal. So after having some strings pulled by our Dr., we got in to see a G.I. peds specialist at Loma Linda. He recommended that we admit Sophia to run some tests. Kyle and I both just wanted to find out what was going on, so we were fine to do that. We got there Thursday afternoon and they took us to our room with 7 other people. I couldn't believe that was where they wanted us to stay for what we thought was going to be 3 days. There was 1 public restroom for the whole floor. All the parents had to use was 1 toilet, which was so disgusting, sticky, smelly, and dirty. It took all I had to not cry, but I knew we had to suck it up for Soph, and I sure was not going to leave her there alone. That first night was hell. Sophia and I were next to the door, so it was not dark at all. There was no privacy, especially because the lady next to me kept opening our curtain, and letting her little boy run around like a maniac. Thankfully Kyle asked about a room, and when one opened up, they moved us. We had a roomate the first night, but he was discharged the next day. But the hardest part was Friday when soph just crashed. She wouldn't take a bottle and they wanted to monitor her intake, so I wasn't supposed to breastfeed. And just that little bit sent her over the edge. She became so dehydrated that it took two I.V. bags befors she peed. They finally put in the N.G. tube to feed her that morning. We had asked them to do it the night before, but the resident wouldn't do it because the attending hadn't put it in the orders. Once they got her hydrated and feed she started doing a lot better. Sat. morning was when we finally got a answer. The attending was talking to Kyle and saw Sophia do her thing were she turns to her left and arches her back and cries. We always thought it was just something she did, but it turns out it is a spasm caused by severe pain due to acid reflux. It is called Sandifer(?) syndrome, and is something only a G.I. peds specialist knows. So thankfully he happened to be there when it happened. They put her on medication and it helped right away. She would sometimes cry, and we could never figure out what was wrong, she would sometimes only sleep in her swing, she would only feed for a short time, and of course she would do the spasm. So all those things were because she was in so much pain. So now we had our answer, and our sweet Sophia has returned to us. We finally got to leave on tues. 6 days later. I was so glad to get away from that place, even though we were grateful for an answer, I could not handle another med. student waking us up at 6:30 to take Soph's vitals, which the nurse had just taken an hour before. Then the intern would come and do the same thing, followed by a resident and the attending. Needless to say I was pretty frustrated by the lack of communication between all the doctors and us. But we do have our happy ending, thank you for all your prayers, they were heard. Sophia has already gained a pound, and her sisters are so glad to have her back home!

2006-11-01T21:18:00.000-08:00

About two weeks ago, we went to Heritage Park in La Verne. They have a pumpkin Patch every year, and so we went with Gracie's class. We went with Lauren two years ago and it was a lot of fun. We went on a tractor ride through the orange grove. Then we got to hold baby chicks, which was so fun, they are so cute. Then we got to pet a pig and two goats. Of course the highlight was the tour of the outhouse which was a double wide, so you could potty with a friend. To finish it off the girls made a craft and got to pick a pumpkin. It is always nice to be outside and get to do things we normally don't get to do.

2006-10-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, I'm blogging to you from lovely Las Vegas'NV. It was a beautiful day, it rained all last night, so the air was all clean and crisp. On the drive up we hit some rain, but we got to see two giant rainbows on the other side. Soph and I had a nice relaxing day shopping, but last night was a different story. Apparently someone told her that Vegas is open 24 hours, and she wanted to see it. The Hotel room was not her idea of a fun time.
i felt so bad for Kyle, because he had to take a test the next day. But He did fine and we had fun so it all worked out. See you when we get back. Please excuse any mis-spellings, the internet on the tv is hard to see.

2006-10-08T14:08:00.000-07:00

Well the 06 models are all in now. As you can see the Phares family got one of each this year. Sophia wasn't so sure about having her big sister hold another baby, but in the end she couldn't resist Chase's sweet charms, especially all his hair. It so fun to have such a great extended family that we are close friends with. To be able for our kids to share their lives as well, is such an amazing blessing. My girls have 7 cousins(almost 8), who have their backs for life. What a gift my family has given them. Having all those kids at family gatherings can be a little crazy, but I for one love it. We can't wait to meet the 07 model. One more blessing for our family.

2006-10-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

Lauren had an in-service day on wed., so we went to Disneyland with my mom. It was a lot of fun and we meet my sister Debbie for lunch at the Rainforest cafe. The girls got makeovers at Libby-Lu's. Lauren and Isabel were tween idols, and Gracie was a rock star. We went again with Kyle and the Lassiters on fri. Gracie wanted to stay with Merrick and I actually had to say "You have to go to Disneyland!". My girls are certainly growing up a lot different than I did. We got to go to Disneyland once a year, and we rarely got to go out to dinner.(Vince's or Bob's Big Boy) Anyway I decided to name this blog, Three princesses and a Sweet Pea.

2006-10-08T13:38:00.000-07:00

Gracie and Isabel's classes had a hoedown a couple weeks ago. Now that Jane showed me how to do this I can post these pictures. Gracie's class played games, and had a lunch, but the cutest thing was the square dance. Merrick and Gracie were partners, and it was so cute.(I'm going to be using cute 100 more times, because it was so cute!) I don't know of a lot of things that are cuter than four year olds square dancing. Isabel's class mainly just got dessert for their special day. But aeven that was cute, watching two years eat their goodies. It was so much fun. It makes me feel so blessed that my girls get to do such fun things, and even more blessed that I get to be there with them. I'm so thankful that my husband has made me staying home a priority, and values it so much. I know that we are lucky to be finacially able to do this. I try not to take it for granted, so I wanted to say thanks to Kyle for working so hard for us.

2006-10-05T21:15:00.000-07:00

yeah survivor

2006-10-01T22:18:00.000-07:00

We went to Laughlin this weekend with the Greats (Dode and Lloyd). We haven't been in a while, and you forget about the smoke. The casinos in Vegas have huge vaulted ceilings so you don't notice all the smoke. In Laughlin however you can hardly see your feet through it. The girls have never been asked "smoking or non-smoking?" Their little lungs are pink and heathlthy, or they were. Laughlin's the type of place where people smoke with their oxygen tank, or their one yellow tooth. We did have a fun time swimming, wave-running(?), and playing kid games. We were like celebrities. "Four girls! how fun. They are so beautiful." Of course Isabel already thinks she is a celebrity so she had no prooblem putting on shows in the elevators, and talking to the drunks. We ended up leaving on sat. night, so the girls would sleep. But I wouldn't let Kyle leave until all the girls had their hair washed and their clothes changed. I'm so thankful to live in CA, even the smog is better then the smoke.

When we got home we got some happy news, a new cousin for the girls. (Yeah Lanes!) I'm personally voting for Jasmine, but in order to balance our family we need more y's. (especially if it's Brooklyn.) Kyle already knew of course, darn that Dr. patient privilage. So that was my first blog, no pictures yet. I have no idea how to do that.