Merry Christmas!

Well....It sure has been a while since my last update. Things are busy with two boys 3 year and 1 year old :)

I am soo looking forward to Christmas this year! Eli is SO EXCITED and runs to the window every morning and asks if it's Christmas yet :) What a FUN age!! 

Today is Brandon's last day of work till the new year :) We are looking forward to family time together :) 

2011 sure has been a GREAT year full of Blessings :) But I am really looking forward to 2012. This will probably be the last Christmas in our Brettonwoods home. We bought this little starter home 7 years ago and and plans are to list it for sale here in a couple months :) They say Spring is the best time to list a house for sale. I guess we shall see :) (we will be listing $70,000 LESS than what we paid :p

I hope you all will have a Wonderful Christmas and Happy New Year!! Remember Jesus Reason for the Season!

Love, Amanda

Spring Fun

Well, I'm thinking it's about time I update my blog... Let me just say the past month for me has been about dieting. Have I mentioned that I Hate Diets lol.. But I am SO Happy with the results I have got so far. I have FINALLY lost my baby weight (after 11 months) In 27 days I have lost 13.6 lbs. Only 10 more lbs so go till I reach my goal. I must say it's been kinda hard cause I LOVE food!!

My Birthday and  Mothers Day was 1 day apart this year :) and it was a lovely weekend :) I have turned 27 years old and it so sooo weird to think of myself in my late 20's...so weird!! I remember my Mom at this age and expecting my little brother :)

A couple weeks ago me and Brandon got us some new wheels.. I did Love my totally loaded 2008 town and country mini van we bought when Eli was just a couple months old. But I am loving the 2007 Jeep Commander too!!
I can honestly say less chaos since we no longer have a DVD player in the car lol. My bestie was right!! The more you give kids the more drama. No longer is Eli constantly asking to watch veggie tales :) Now I can really enjoy my Sirius Radio!! :) lol

Brandon got a 2005 Chrysler 300c Hemi!! Yeah it's gotta Hemi!! lol.. He is loving it very much and I'm so excited for him :)

I have been Super excited planning Ethan's 1st Birthday Party :) My BABY will be 1!!! There is a theme I found on a party site called 1st Birthday Boy and it's got cupcakes. So his theme is cupcakes :) I'm ordering cupcakes from the most wonderful Christine's Bakery :) And yes there will be bumpy cake cupcakes there :)

 I made cupcake towers this week and the next day I moved them from the table and they feel apart :( guess I'm gonna have to try that again lol.

It's going to be a wonderful time of celebrating this precious baby's 1 year of life :) and I am so happy and thankful we have a place to hold all the people we love. Our new church addition has really been a blessing and we are so thankful for it!!

Well, I guess I will close for today... I hope you all had a wonderful Easter in celebrating the resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ!! It is so great to know he is Alive and living within me :) and hopefully you too!! Love to all!! xoxo

Come on SPRING!!

Well,  these past couple of months sure have been busy... In January Elijah started taking a Music Class at Bethany Christian School.. It's called Kindermusic and the class he's enrolled in is for kids ages 18 month to 3 years old. We go once a week and it's something that me and him do together just the two of us.. It seems to be going very good =) I'm happy he gets to be around some kids his own age and I'm happy he gets that one on one w/ me. It seems like he is just starting to get jealous of Baby Ethan after 9 months lol. He's been asking me to hold him a lot lately so I'm happy we get this special time =)

Ethan's personality has really been emerging and I'm just Loving it!! He is such a happy calm baby!! His new thing is gargling..It's so stinkin Cute!! And I'm the only one who can do it with him....My mom says I used to do the same thing when I was his age. It drives Brandon nuts cause he can't gargle LOL.

Last week we went on our very 1st Family Vacation!! It was absolutely AMAZING!! Me and the little ones flew for the very first time!! It was great! Just a little over 2 hour flight.The whole way there Eli sat next to Brandon and watched Toy Story 3 on the laptop and Ethan sat in my lap and chewed on his teether's.. Speaking of teething I still cannot believe that baby hasn't broke a tooth yet.  I keep saying it will be any day now lol.. But anyways...back to vacation. I reserved a beautiful vacation home near Orlando in Florida. We spent a wonderful day at Disney World's Magic Kingdom.. And had the most Amazing Day at Clearwater Beach in Clearwater, Florida

The sand was white like sugar. The boys seemed to love everything about our vacation. And Eli was pretty much sick since the day he woke up to leave till the time we came home and he just seemed like the happiest kid in the world :) One day we visited my Great Uncle Ron who lives about an hour and a half from where we  were staying. I was happy to visit with him while we were down there. If you could remember please pray for him he is suffering from Cancer. I was happy to see him doing good :)  The rest of the time we were down there was spent swimming in the pool that came w/ the house and shopping =) The flight home both boys slept the entire time. We just had a great vacation experience and I'm so thankful we were blessed with this vacation.

We just celebrated Brandon's 28th Birthday =) And next week we'll be celebrating Elijah's 3rd Birthday. I really can't believe 3 years ago next week I became a Mommy. My boys have brought so much Joy in my life and I don't deserve all these blessings But Thank You GOD for these precious darlings.

I'm looking forward to the warmer months coming up so we can take our boys outside. And go to Aaron's college baseball games. I'm really getting tired being couped up inside so COME ON SPRING!! And GO CARDINALS!!

Wow, I really can't believe I am going to start a blog. I mean who really cares about reading what's going on in the Life of Amanda anyway?! Well, I have been keeping up with a couple friends blogs and I'm really enjoying reading them so I thought I would give it a try :)


Where should I start? My life has been so amazingly blessed. And I'm so thankful for all the blessings I have received. I have the BEST Family in the World! Let's start with my Parents... I can't even begin to write how incredible they are. My Dad set the Bar very high for finding a mate. I was blessed to have him as an example for what a husband and father should be. And my Mom....Wow, if I could be half the woman she is...She has defiantly taught me that I can do anything... They taught me that I should always stay in the center of God's will. And that is my prayer everyday. I just want to be in his will whatever that might be.

I am also blessed with 2 amazing Brothers!! They are both so talented I really don't know how I am part of this family. Andy has been blessed to play almost every musical instrument ever made. He has been traveling with w/my all time favorite band "lonesome river band" for the past 4 years. All while going to college.. And Aaron's just as talented on the instruments and is almost as good as Andy lol. He has been privileged to play college baseball at the University he is attending. I am so proud of both my brothers and love them dearly. I was blessed to have had almost 22 years to live with my family before I was married.

April 16,2005 almost 6 years ago I married the LOVE of my life and best friend Brandon Smith. We have learned so much about each other over these 6 years and I have never been more in love with him like I am today. The first 3 years of marriage Brandon was full time Student at MCC and Walsh College. He was also a full time employee at a Law Firm. The accounting classes were very brutal so that was a stressful time that I don't like to look back on too much lol. As you can imagine his life was in the books. And I kept busy working for Dr. Palmer orthodontist. And being involved in our Church. I remember one Christmas Party at Church my Mamaw Ball was my date :)  We also bought a house Jan 2005 and fixed it up in time for us to live in after the wedding. Brandon graduated in March of 2008  which was an awesome feeling for us both and 1 month later April 4, 2008 we welcomed our first born Elijah Cole Smith into our lives he was 5lbs 15oz

What a Miracle!! Life has never been the same since that day. We are so thankful. There is nothing like welcoming your baby into the world. I took 3 months off work and then went back to work 2 days a week. That about killed me. I hated leaving my baby. After a year of that I was able to leave my job and be a stay at home mommy. I must say that it has been a huge blessing and I'm enjoying every minute of it. 2 year and 2 months after Eli was born we welcomed our second born Ethan Colt Smith into out lives he was 6lbs 4oz.

Elijah is a very proud big bother and is always asking where Ethan is whenever he's not in eye sight. I love that he looks out for him. I have a feeling they will be best friends someday. I am so in love with my boys and can't imagine life without them. God is SO GOOD!! Brandon's started a new job Mid May of last year. It has really been a God Send.  It is a international company that is based in Germany and he has seen his responsibilities increase drastically here at the U.S. location. God has also been dealing with Brandon this past year. He has really had a burden for teaching theology. Right now he is teaching the adult SS class at church. And I'm excited to see what else is in store for him in the near future. Well, I guess I will close my very first blog here. Thank You God for my wonderful life!!!