Christmas Eve

For Christmas Eve we met my parents, Jesse and Allie and Allie's family for a wonderful church service at People's church.

Here are two of my favorite little people in the whole world...

 After church, we went and visited our friends house who live in Holiday Lane and has snow on their yard.  Aubrey Rose loved it.

 Then, we met for dinner with Blake's family.  I loved how Blake, his dad and Austin all wore argyle sweater.  They looked so cute together.  :)

 Aubrey Rose loves sitting on her Big Papa's lap.  :)

The night before Christmas....

Her daddy LOVES Santa, therefore Aubrey Rose does too.  :)

 They sprinkled Reindeer food on the grass that she got from her preschool.

They left cookies and milk.  This was definitely my first time preparing for Santa, so Daddy showed all of us how to do this.   :) 

 And extra kisses for daddy.

The next morning, on Christmas morning, we had to wake Aubrey Rose up and as she was stretching so big, the first thing she said was, "Did he eat the cookies and milk????"  HA!!  Oh, our little girl was soooo excited!

Cousin time

One of my favorite parties every Christmas is our cousin get together on Blake's side of the family.  I love it.  This year Blake and I hosted.  Between all of us there were about 15 kiddos with the oldest being about 7.  We just let the kids go wild, running all over the house.  I am not sure who had more fun, the little cousins or us big cousins!  It is so fun growing old with people you love.  

Such a sweet gift...

Austin has had quite an eventful couple of weeks.  Two weeks ago he had NO teeth.  Now he is working on FOUR!  Two on top and two on bottom.  Here you can see the bottom a little bit.

But, that is not the only thing Austin has been working on around here!  On Christmas day, he had only taken 1, MAYBE 2 steps.  On the 26th, (which was the day before his 10 month birthday) he took 13 steps!!!  This boy is going to be walking so soon!

This little boy was definitely one of my favorite gifts this Christmas!

Woods Christmas Party

A couple of weekends before Christmas, we were able to join the Woods' Christmas Party.  Wow!  What a wonderful party!  Thank you Mike and Susan for the invite and for doing all you do to make it such a FUN party!  We loved it!

Here is the Woods family...

Here are all the kiddos that got to join in the Santa fun...

 It all started with Grandma Susan reading a story to the kids, when there was a knock on the door...

 SANTA came!!

 Santa read a story to them and then he...

read through his list and handed out presents to each of the kids.

Here is Aubrey Rose receiving her gift...

 She was so happy and has talked about Santa every day since.

 Santa gave her a princess toy.  After she opened it, she told me, "I dreamed about this Mommy!!"

 Austin LOST it anytime he would come near Santa.  WOW!  Not a fan yet!  HA!

 My favorite part of the party is when they reenact the story of baby Jesus.  So cute!  Blake and Blair were in last years performance HERE.

This year, Aubrey Rose was an angel.  She fluttered her wings perfectly.  :)  It was so cute having the little ones in the performance this year!

 We had a wonderful night with friends and...

 sweet family.

Thanks again Woods' Family!

Christmas continues...

Today we are celebrating Christmas with my parents and our Penner extended family.  We hope you are having a wonderful holiday!

Merry Christmas to YOU!

We want to wish you and your family a VERY, MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!  We hope you are able to sit back, relax a little,

spend time with your wonderful family,

and most of all, we pray you are able to focus on the reason for the season. 

Happy Birthday Jesus!

 

We praise the Lord, our God, for giving us His only Son, who died on the cross for our sins, so we may live and have everlasting life with God, our Father.

"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

Praise be to God!!  Merry Christmas!!

Santa Clause is coming...

We are VERY anxious and excited over here!!  We can't believe Christmas is TOMORROW, which means Santa is coming to town!!!  Sooooo exciting!

So sweet

Aubrey Rose got a new doll from some sweet friends.  This was her first Disney princess doll.  She was in heaven the second she saw it.  Then, she learned the doll could sing too.  Oh she almost died.  About an hour after we opened her up, I was on the verge of going insane because I had heard "Look at this stuff, isn't it neat..." a billion too many times.  Thankfully, after a few days, I didn't hear Ariel singing in my dreams anymore, but Ariel has slept every night with Aubrey Rose since.  She insists on taking her all around town.  It makes her so happy, which puts a smile on my face too.

Before Ariel came to live with us, Aubrey Rose didn't know the words to the song at all.  She learned the song in a day.  THAT is how many times we ALL listened to Ariel's sweet voice singing to us.  We took this video the same day she got her. She cracks me up.

Thanks Blake and Christina!

Ugly Christmas Sweater Party

Tis' the Season!!!  Last year, I have NO idea why but we had only ONE Christmas party to go to.  It was kind of nice to be so calm.  This year is back to our normal way of life around our Smittcamp home. :)  I think I counted 11 Christmas parties we have gone to and we are only at Dec. 22!  HA!  It sure feels like the Christmas we know and love around here!

Without further adieu, I give you us in our BEST Christmas attire.  :)

 The adorable hosts, Travis and Jessica.

(Her Christmas tree on her shirt even lit up, complete with a battery pack and all.  HA!!)

 Our small group ladies...Jess, myself, Jen, Brittany and Katie

 The Patricio's and us

You might be interested in where all four of us below found our lovely Christmas attire.  We just called Blake's mom to check out her supply.  She did AWESOME at keeping so much quality stuff!  :)  Thanks Linda!!!  Even Blake was wearing his mom's sweater.  HA!  Love it!

 I have NO idea why everyone voted for Garrett and I for BEST "Ugly Christmas Sweater."  We thought we looked good!

 Thanks Jess and Trav for hosting.  Next time I promise I will not come over in a one piece red outfit with Christmas trees all over it.  :)  Such a fun party!

Austin meet Tree, Tree Austin

It started with just getting a picture of a cute little boy in front of his first Christmas tree.  

Then, he saw the tree and....

 all the fun began!

Oops-sie-Daisy!

Oh dear...okay we are all done.

Hence, the reason ALL of the ornaments have since been raised above Austin's reach.  :)

So it begins...

Austin met his cousin Jedidiah almost 10 months ago.

These boys are 3 months apart.  

We both did not know these were BOYS growing in our tummies until THE DAY they were born.

But, God knew.  He definitely had a plan.

Sometimes it is REALLY hard to trust His plan.

My favorite part of God's plan is when I look back on the years and see how God worked in my life to get me to today.  

Sometimes it is so easy to get wrapped up in the worries today or tomorrow might bring. 

I find much comfort in just breathing a deep breath and thanking the Lord for where He has brought me to today, for His Mercies being new every day and for His hand to hold along the way.

Back to God's plan for these two little boys....

This was the first day Austin and Jed met.

The days of these boys just laying there are LONG gone!

They are officially on the go, ready to conquer the world.

And we are praying they choose to do it together.  :)

So let it all begin.  Teamwork. Togetherness. Bonding.  Love.  Standing up for each other.  Watching out for each other.  Hopefully not too much competitiveness.  :)  And most importantly, learning and teaching others about God and the joy ONLY He can bring.