We took Emily and Matthew to get some pictures taken, and here are the results. Click on either thumbnail to get to the full album of pictures.

We took Emily and Matthew to the Renaissance Festival on Oct 28. Also here are some pics from Halloween. Finally, EMily and Matthew had a combined birthday party at BounceU.

We packed up Emily, Matthew, 4 suitcases, 4 carry-ons, 2 carseats, and 2 stuffed animals, and schlepped it all to the airport. Matthew couldn’t believe the amount of airplanes that he saw, as he screamed “Dada, AIRPLANE!” at each new one he saw. After being delayed 2 hours, we “blasted off” (according to Emily) and flew 4.5 hours to Seattle. We were told that the kids were VERY well behaved on the flight, but we were still ready to pull our hair out. But we made it, and started our first out-of-state vacation in Washington State.

We then went to Jennifer and Clayton’s beautiful house in Northern Seattle, and visited with them. We went to Pike Place Market, the Seattle Aquarium, and basically all around downtown. We got live crab at the market and Clayton cooked it up for us, and it was DELICIOUS!

As they were still working, getting ready for their wedding, and I’m sure needed a break from having four new people in their house (two of which being under five years old) we took off and drove to Mt. Rainier. This was a great trip, and we stayed overnight on the mountain at the National Park Inn, which we highly recommend.

Once we got back, we did some other shopping around town, getting ready for the wedding. Then we took off and stayed near the castle.
The next day was the wedding, which was a blast! The castle was really nice, the ceremony was really nice, the slideshow Jennifer and Clayton put together was incredible, and the dancing afterward was awesome. We stayed with Jennifer’s parents, Larry and Kathryn, that night, at their beautiful place in the woods.

Overall, it was a great vacation, and all of us had a great time. Emily loved meeting all of Jennifer’s and Clayton’s family, and talks about them a lot. Thanks to everyone for their hospitality! It was so nice meeting all of you.

Click here for more pictures from our vacation.

Click here for more pictures from the wedding.

And last, but not least, here is a video of Emily dancing:

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We (The Smith’s, Eddie, Martha, Jackie and Thomas) went over to Rebecca and Adam’s house Saturday night, and we got some cute pictures I wanted to share.

It was getting late, and we were getting ready to go home, when Madeline comes in and asks if Emily can spend the night. It must have been Madeline’s idea, because Emily has never even thought to ask before. This was freaky for me, because Emily has never spent the night anywhere except her grandparent’s house. She had a great time, and Rebecca said they were fine - once she got them to sleep. Ouch, she’s growing up quick. Click the image for some cute pics….

Matthew did something cute this weekend that got me thinking. He was playing in this big cardboard box in the dining room (insert joke about how you buy your kids lots of toys, but they just play with the box). He had a tiny baseball bat, and a rubber footbal in there with him. He figured out that he could wedge the baseball bat between the two walls of the box, and it would stay there. He immediately started taking the football and throwing it over the baseball bat repeatedly. He thought it was the most fun anyone could have, with a baseball bat, a football, and a cardboard box.

It just got me thinking that it was the first time he has come up with a “game” by himself. Partly because he was by himself, in the dining room. We weren’t hawking over him and Emily was playing in the play room. I guess everyone needs time by themselves sometimes. ANyway, check out the movie on the right…

Here are a couple of new picture albums to view. The first one is from the SalvageSale summer party at the Astros game. We rented the top of Union Station which looks down into the ball park. Emily had a great time. The other album is some pictures of the kids taking a bath. The water came out crystal clear, it almost looks like plastic. Sorry future Matthew, for showing you naked on our website.

We were playing in the back yard on Sunday, and here are some pictures I took of the kids.

Well, I said that as part of my 43things I was going to blog more about the kids, but then I’ve been writing about other things instead. Here is my first update on Matthew.

• Matthew Weighs 29 lbs. and is 32.5″ tall
• He is talking more and more every day.
• The other morning when we came downstairs, he points and lets out this string of gibberish that ends with “light” so I ask him “Do you want me to turn on the light?” and he says “No light” so I ask him “Do you want the TV on?” and he says “No TV” so I ask him “Do you want papa? (food)” and he says “mm hmm” (which means yes).
• Matthew’s favorite books are:
• The Big Book of Pictures and Words
• Winnie the Pooh’s Busy Bees Busy Box
• Matthew eats everything in sight!
• He consistantly eats more than Emily, at every meal.
• We went to Sweet Tomatoes, and he would not stop eating! We were both done, and I had gotten him a big plate of fruit so he could have a choice, and he proceeds to methodically devour it all. At one point he turned around to look at someone, and I took his plate. That didn’t work too well. So he finished the entire plate, and looks up at us and says “Bah!” meaning “Finished!”
• Matthew loves to watch whatever show Emily is watching, which is great! (But won’t last forever, I know!) He also loves
• Go Baby! which is kind of creepy to adults, but apparently makes perfect sense to toddlers.
• The Doodlebops (He calls them “Bops”)
• Matthew’s nicknames are: Matty (We only call him Matthew when he’s in trouble), Fatty Matty, and “The boy”

Click on the pictures for more.

After we got back from Jackie’s baseball game, Stella was laying on the floor minding her own business, when a red-skinned boy decided to maul her! Click image for more…

Matthew had fun playing in the bubbles.  They are the kind that don’t pop easily, and you find them stuck all over the house for days afterward. 

Samantha had her birthday party at Sugar Land, and Matthew went a little crazy with the pasta strainer. Click the images for more…

Some misc pics. Click Images for more…

Here’s what I see when we wake up :)  Click the image for more…

Matthew went absolutely nuts the other night and starting spinning until he fell down.  Here are some videos of it.

Rick, Becky, and Jacob came over to the house, and here are some pictures of the kids playing in the back yard.

Christmas 2005 was great in the Smith/Garza Family.  Here are some pictures.