We wish you a Merry Christmas!

It's almost time for Christmas, and the Smiths have been a busy bunch! Noah is getting in to everything and attempting to stand on his own. We've had more than our share of bumps and bruises, but he's starting to get the hang of it. I'm very proud to tell you all that I haven't been the paranoid Mom that most of you thought I would be; I calmly tell him he's ok, brush him off and scoot him on his way! :)

Justin's been busy at work but really loves it. I have to say again that it's such a blessing to see him start to do what he was born to do; he's just blooming and it's great. He has Christmas off so we're going to visit Kansas to see my family and I'm just so excited. We'll be there from next Thursday to Sunday, and Justin is really excited to be able to go for the second year in a row since we've been married!

As for me, it's been sort of a rough semester. I guess the honest truth is that I didn't know how much I would love being Noah's mom. I've also REALLY missed being in the classroom and on a campus, so my bosses have generously let me offer to try to do my current job part-time for a semester and see if that works out better for me. I'm really excited but I'm nervous and hopeful that this will be better than the fall semester. I'd covet your prayers as I try to work this out. The people in Abilene ISD have been more than generous to allow me to even keep working, and I'm so incredibly thankful and want to do the best job I possibly can.

Our house is coming along really well. For Christmas Justin and I got each other floors! We had already carpeted, but we wanted new entry tile and hard wood in two rooms, and that's almost done. I'll put up pictures when we get it all done. They look GREAT and I can't wait to get it all done and all the rooms arranged just how I want them.

So, back to Christmas...this year Justin said that we could get a real tree. He was allergic as a kid, so we were hopeful that he and Noah would both be ok. We went to a farm about an hour away from here that happens to grow Christmas trees (though we can't wait for our friends here to start their Christmas tree farm) and cut down a tree. Well, let me be honest...I cut down the tree while Noah and Justin watched. I really thought that I would just start it and Justin would finish up but when I got started I just couldn't stop. Here's a pic of Noah watching...

Here's Mom and Noah after a successful tree-cutting venture...

And, with that, we'll let you go. Have a very Merry Christmas. It's our prayer that you're all on Santa's nice list, but that you don't forget the true meaning of the season. Happy Birthday Jesus, and goodbye!

We've got so much to be thankful for!

Things around here have been busy but great. We've started going to a Life Group with my old church from college and work has been really busy for us both. Justin and I are both definitely looking forward to some time off to celebrate all the new things we've got to be thankful for over the last year. Speaking of new things we've got to be thankful for, here's our #1 thanks to God for the year. Brand new Noah videos!

Funny Daddy!

And, we'd like to announce...WE HAVE A CRAWLER!

And, for all my math friends, his new favorite thing to do is crawl over to a poster and play with it. It just so happens that the poster is one I had in my room when I taught, and it goes over the steps for solving a word problem. His nerdy parents couldn't be more proud!!!

First Pumpkin Patch...as a Giraffe!

What fun! Last Saturday I drove Noah to my parents' house and then on to Frisco for a convention. We made a little pit stop at a pumpkin patch with the cutest giraffe you've EVER seen! He was precious and it was a great place to take pictures and to see Noah explore. Here are some pictures.