35 week belly and update

As the months go by I keep getting bigger and bigger. This is the biggest I have been with any of my kids and I still have like almost a month left!!!! I'm doing fine other than the normal end of pregnancy complaints. Nothing has changed with the baby as far as we know. It's still just a waiting game. We keep praying that he will stay in the "oven" until the scheduled C-section on Jan. 12th. We have decided on a name, Liam Swearingen Smith. He is going to be such a cute kid!

Family Pictures......Fianlly

So I have been wanting family pictures for almost three years now. I finally just set up the tripod and took them. I didn't want to pay to have them done since Im like 9 months pregnant!! The kids were actually way into it and had a ton of fun!
The kids are so excited for christmas, as most kids are and Jared and I are excited to have our first Christmas as a family and start some of our own traditions. Jared just finished his pediatric rotation and has the next 2 weeks off. He is doing awesome and I am so proud of him.
Avery is still loving pre-school and playing with friends. She loves making cards and drawing pictures for everyone. At night we rock in the chair and talk about whatever is on her mind. It has been quit interesting some nights.
Lincoln is such a boy. He loves his trains and his cars. He loves to jump all over jared and watch football with him. I can't wait until he is old enough to go to a game with his dad!
I am still pregnant and so thankful that I am. I have been so blessed to have this little boy and the family that I have. I have been making bows and my new love is makeing baby shoes! Jared thinks I am crazy, but I am such a project person and need them to keep my hands busy!
We love and miss you all during this holiday time, but will see you soon. Merry Christmas!

Little Drummer Boy

Lincoln has been wanting to play the drums ever since we started playing rock band with our friends. He finally got to do it and was so serious about it and totally into it!

Lincoln

Lincoln will just play until he passes out where ever he is! He is such a cute kid! He fell asleep under his bed one night playing with his trains, and then at the top of the stairs with his cars, then on the couch watching cartoons. I just love this kid!

Thanksgiving

We had Thanksgiving with some of our med-school friends and it was sooo much fun. I have to say that it will be one of my most memorable Thanksgivings yet! The kids ran around and played and we all ate until we were sick!

Linc's Big Boy Bed

Lincoln got a new big boy bed while my family was here and he LOVES it!!!! We got his train set all set up for him underneath it and he play's under there all the time.

Visitors

So in the middle of November my two crazy aunts and mom came out for a week to help me out. We had so much fun and I was sooooo sad to see them go. They did soooo much for us while they were here. My house was spotless and they got the kids room all ready for the baby. They even got Linc his "big boy bed" which he LOVES and was sooo excited about! While they were here Avery wanted to give us all make-overs. It was so funny to watch her and Linc put make-up on all of us. Linc gave a few of us a sweet unibrow! I miss you three and I can't wait to see you in a few months!

Nana's Big Party

While my mom and aunts were all here we had a birthday party for her. She turned 50 this year and still looks amazing! The kids picked out the decorations on the cake, are they "special" or what!

Smart Cycle

My awesome aunt got this "smart cycle" for the kids for Christmas and I had to give it to them early. I love it, they love it, and I am able to sit and rest without them going crazy. They are on it all the time! It's like a video game but they ride the bike and learn all kinds of things. It's great!

Where Is Dad?

So those of you who have been wondering how Jared gets sleep around here working these crazy hours at the hospital, this is how. Just lay down on the couch and let the kids do whatever they want!!! Yes, Jared is under all that!

Halloween Pictures.....Finally!

Ok so I am way slow on getting these posted but here they are! Lincoln was Mr. Incredible and Avery was Christmas Bell (Beauty and the Beast). We had so much fun at our wards trunk or treat party. Then on Halloween we went with our friends and trick or treated. The kids loved it, of course, and Lincoln would tell everyone who he was. I love these two!

jared giving some tips on the bean bag toss game.

Lincoln was soooo dang cute in his costume!! To bad we lost the mask:(

Exercise Queen!

Ok so the other night Avery had my excersize ball and asked if she could do one of my work out videos. She has never asked to do this before so I thought sure, why not, I'm obviously not using them. She got out my hand weights and cleared the rug in front of the T.V. She was so into it!!! The camera is shaking because I was laughing so dang hard!!!!!! My life would be so borring without these two monkeys!! Make sure you turn off our music at the right so you can hear the videos:)

Fun With Grandma Julie!

Jared's mom came out for a week last month and it was so nice to have her! She was such a great help with the kids and I got to have some down time. She came with tons of fun Halloween decorations and crafts for the kids. We went to cox farms one day where they have all these fun giant slides, a hay ride, baby goats, and the giant pumpkin! Lincoln LOVED the goats!!! I told him to hold out his hand and let them smell it. He was all over it and doing it to every goat he came upon. He was so cute, he said they were all his friends! We had a great time and it took Avery about a week to stop crying for her grandma after she left. Thank you so much Julie and we will see you in January!

Yet Another New Thing

As you can see I am trying to get caught up on our last Disney World trip. So I just learned how to make images "pop" out of frames and add drop shadows to things. I am still amazed at all we can do on the computer and I guess I have been stuck in the late 90's when we were just learning about the internet and stuff and paint shop was about as good as it got for us.

Linquine With Chicken & Sauteed Vegetables!!! LOVE IT!!!

So this recipe is sooo easy and yummy. Jared likes it better than most resteraunts we have been too!
1/2 c. vegetable oil, 1 c. chopped cauliflower
10 cloves of garlic, 2 TBS. diced green onions
1(12 oz) pkg. uncooked linguine, 1 lb. chicken tenders cut into bite size pieces
salt to taste, 3 1/2 TBS. soy sauce
1 c. chopped Broccoli, salt and pepper to taste
1 c. shredded carrots, 1 c. shredded parm. cheese

1. Heat oil in skillet over medium heat. Mix in garlic. Cook and stir until golden. Remove from heat and allow to cool.

2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place linguine in pot and cook 8 to 10 minutes until al dente. Drain and transfer to a large bowl. Set aside 1 TBS. grlic oiand toss remainder with pasta to coat. Season pasta with salt.

3. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Immerse broccoli, carrots, cauliflower and green onion in water for about 30 seconds. Drain and set aside.

4. Heat reserved garlic oil in skillet over medium heat. Mix in chicken and 2 TBS. soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper. Toss with linguine, and grnish with the parm. cheese. Enjoy!!!

Note: If you choose to use a whole 16oz pkg. of noodles add a little more vegetables and soy sauce and about a half pound more chicken:)

Digi Stuff

Ok so I am having way too much fun in the digital world of scrapbooking. My newest thing is blending pictures with backgrounds and stamps and stuff. I honestly had no idea you could do all this with one little program. Here are the two pages that I have done with the new stuff. My next thing is to learn how to blend the edges of pictures together so there isn't that line. If anyone knows how to do this drop me a line:)

Baby Update

Since the last update not much has changed. I did have the follow up with the cardiologist and his heart is still perfect!!! We did get to meet with the surgeon to go over the "game plan" so to speak so that was nice too. I am going to have a
c-section on Jan. 12th unless I go into labor on my own before then. My Ob, the surgeon, a Urologist, and the Cardiologist will all be there to asses the baby as soon as he is born. I am going to have him at fairfax hospital so that will be nice since its only about a 10 min. drive from our house and Jared will be doing his medicine rotation there so he can hang out with him when he has some down time. We are all excited to see the baby and scared of the unknown but hope and faith are here. Thanks you again for all the support and prayers as they are still needed:)

A Sunday With Dad!

Jared is finally home after working just over 90 hours last week. The kids have been waiting for him so they could carve their pumpkins! We started out by making some caramel apples and then dove right into the pumpkins. Avery loved to scoop out all the insides and help with every part of the process. Lincoln picked leaves, did some side walk chalk, threw some rocks, then decided he would come over and help for about 2 min. We had a great day and I think our pumpkins turned out pretty cool too!

Cousins!!!!

Last weekend my cousin Amanda and her daughter Abby flew in from Florida to spend the weekend us. Kathy and Richard also drove up the next day. We had a ton of fun spending time together. We took the kids to the pumpkin patch and they picked out some pumpkins.