I know it's been a while so this may be (
a little) lengthy!! And we all know that I like to talk...speaking of talking...our sweet almost 4-year-old got a "yellow face" at school last week for..wait for it...TALKING!!!!! Her teacher said she would not hush when asked and then just got louder and louder!! Who in the world does she belong to?!?! It was kinda hard to get on to her when we have been wanting her to come out of her shell...well she has alright!! We have since talked about the importance of listening to adults and I apologized to Ms. Cadessa :)
It has been a whirl wind for the Smiths since the last update, so let me go back to October. October 12th was the National Down syndrome Buddy Walk in Jackson. We supported our "buddy" with Chandler's Champs..if they would have given an award for the most supporters, Chandler would have won hands down!! Oh and one for the cutest shirts that were designed by some of Chandler's biggest fans and my dearest friends/co workers, Sandy, Melanie and Melanie! It fills my heart (and my eyes) to know so many people love and support our sweet girl..she is promoting awareness far better than I am just by being her! Papa J placed in his age group and took his buddy along to receive his prize.
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| way to go!! |
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| the "coach" |
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| whew...worn out!! |
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| the "assistant coach" |
Chandler had to get tubes put into her ears, and let's just say Kris and I are glad that we went through heart surgery first (all EIGHT HOURS of it) because this procedure only lasted about 20 minutes! But don't think that we weren't stressing any less..it's always hard when they take your child back for anything even if it was "minor." Oh and she was mad as a hornet when I finally got to her...it was quite awful; however, after some juice, a long nap and cuddling with Mama, she was good to go and even jumped when Marley barked that afternoon!! Poor baby couldn't hear, but she did pass her hearing at her re-check and we praised God for that!
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| FEED ME!!! |
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| I feel so much better! |
Madeline insisted on being Rapunzel bride for Halloween so Grammy bought it for her with all of us thinking we would never get her to take it off...well, she showed us and wore it for all of five minutes and absolutely REFUSED to wear it again!!! Chandler repeated Madeline's first Halloween costume and was the (second) cutest little smiling cow there ever was!! In the middle of Halloween festivities Madeline came down with hand, foot and mouth disease, so needless to say there are no pictures of the two of them together. Poor little thing looked and felt terrible!!
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| Halloween 2013 |
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| Boo!! |
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| silly girl |
We were honored to do an interview for the Pulse magazine, a free local mag, which may not be a big deal to some, but to us it was! I, of course, was a nervous wreck, but it turned out just perfect and we were so pleased! Big sissy never left little sissy's side..hope that never changes!
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| The Smith girls are already famous! |
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| two hams! |
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| we have lots of love to share.. |
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| great article and pics |
November brought Kris's hunting trip to Illinois that resulted in a big buck to go on the wall (of the man cave). He was super excited and so were we!! He was gone on our 5 year anniversary; however, he had already bought my gift before he left, hid it in his closet and had me get it on the 22nd. Lots of thought and love went into that...just one more reminder that I have a good man! We celebrated Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday) with both families and I even learned how to make Kris's Mamaw Dot's cornbread dressing for about 50 folks!! Can we say an all day affair, complete with peeling the bottom of the cornbread, peeling celery (!?!) and using white pepper..but it is surely made with lots of time, love and memories. :)
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| someone was happy, happy, happy! |
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| Thanksgiving 2013 |
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| the way they look at each other will melt your heart... |
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| little turkey |
Moving on the most wonderful time of the year!! Christmas was especially magical this year seeing it through the eyes of the girls...Chandler enjoyed herself, even if it was playing with the paper and bows! Going to get our tree was always fun; however, it broke Madeline's heart when her Daddy cut it down..not sure where that came from, she is just a little sensitive and a whole lot of female!! But she stayed in awe with anticipation and excitement..asking Santa for a Barbie, Barbie house and Ariel and a book for sissy. Surprisingly, there were no tears or frowns when they went to see Santa! Shimmy and Madeline rode in the Thompson parade with Papa J in his (viper red) El Camino. She was all smiles riding in there, unlike her Mama was when he came to pick her up from school in it with a matching red face to boot! haha You would've thought that Chandler was in the parade smiling and waving to EVERYONE who passed by. Soooo much fun!! Santa did in fact bring Madeline a "barbie" and "barbie house" but they were just smaller and all of the little mermaid characters, which she is OBSESSED with now! She now is aspiring to be a "cash register girl" thanks to Pops and Nana's gift and loves to "vacuum" the whole house thanks to Papa J and Grammy's gift! Chandler got a few books and lots of noise makers. What really warmed our hearts and made us proud was Madeline's interest in baby Jesus and the manger scene..in fact she asked that it stay in her room when we put up the decorations. As always the Smiths and the Dykes families came together at our house for too many gifts and too much food, but more importantly many more wonderful memories were made. A couple of weeks after Christmas, Madeline even had Kris to "call" Santa to thank him for all of her gifts..she is so thoughtful and kind (most of the time)!
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| the perfect tree |
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| Christmas 2013 |
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| Daddy's little helper |
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| "I don't want you to cut the tree down!!!" (DRAMA QUEEN) |
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| big girls!! |
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| the true meaning of Christmas |
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| Santa came!! |
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| Yay for Santa!! |
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| these girls must have been on the nice list! |
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| We even had an elf, Jingles, who had to leave a few "be good" notes!! "Her's not real, Her's not looking" was said a lot and Kris and I were surely glad to see her go back to the North Pole! Maybe Chandler will like her! ha |
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| Hey everybody!! |
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| having fun in the parade |
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| the best presents ever!! |
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| baking cookies for Santa (aka making a big mess for Mama, but precious memories!) |
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| our cookie making boss! |
After a quiet New Year's Eve (my how times have changed!), the girls and I headed to Hattiesburg to see the movie Frozen with Shimmy. This was Madeline's second trip to the movies and Chandler's first. They were exceptionally well behaved..Chandler waved to the people on the screen, blabbered during the serious, quiet times, and Madeline was mesmerized until it ended and then she cried, of course! It was a wonderful movie and Ariel got booted from the #1 princess spot...weeell only for a hot minute, but we enjoyed not hearing Ariel, Eric, and the "eagle sea wee" (evil see witch, Ursula) while it lasted! As always the slumber party at Shimmy's was not very restful but lots of fun!
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| Chandler looks scared to death but I promise she had a blast..we all did!! |
Whew...boy am I tired now! haha But what memories were made that will last a lifetime! Thanks for reading..hope I didn't put you to sleep and my promise is to do better at updating..we shall see!!
until next time,
Megan
