Dear Aunt Ash,

We don't typically wear headbands. Every time mom tries to put one on us, we take them right out and either brake them or hide them. Because of this, we have a whole drawer full of headbands that never get worn. It's unfortunate, that's the way it is.

When we got the headbands that you made for us, mom was sure that we'd never want to wear those ones either. In fact, she was so sure of it that they went right into the headband drawer (a.k.a. - the headband black hole)...until last week.

Mom was fixing her hair for the gym. She usually wears a snappy top knot to the gym. It's mostly for fashion (oh, wait, it's not one of the cute topknots - mom's gym hair is kinda scary). Well, when I (Sammie) saw the potential there, I immediately asked for a trendy top knot myself. Not to brag, but I was looking pretty fierce.  But there was something missing. I ran to the much neglected headband drawer and brought mom one of your headbands. She put it in for me (although she was sure I'd take it right out). She was wrong though. I wore it all.day.long. Sucka!

Not only did I wear it, I ROCKED it! I wore it at least 3 different ways and loved every second of it.

When I (Josie) saw that my sister got to wear an awesome headband I immediately wanted one too. No reason both Smith girls can't be fierce. I chose a snappy striped one. It's my favorite. Mom tried to put it in my hair, but she kept doing it wrong. I swear, sometimes she has no idea what she's doing. She's kind of embarrassing. I wanted to wear mine like a pirate. Because we all know how fashion forward pirates are. After getting it adjusted correctly, I wore mine proudly all day long too.

I looked awesome (but, let's face it, I look awesome every day - it's just hard to have an off day when you look like this)!

Here's the proof:

Thanks Aunt Ash. We wear headbands now because of you. You're the best!
Love,
Josie and Sammie

For Ashley...

Thanks Aunt Ashley! You've made one little girl's day (ignore the sad baby in the background - she does not like being ignored):

She absolutely adores it and thinks it's so beautiful. She even wanted to take a nap with it (she doesn't want this bag to leave her side).

It's perfect. Cute and sassy - just like Josie! Thanks again, we love you!

Catch-up Time!

Since we moved to Indiana I've become so behind on my blogging. I keep taking pictures thinking, 'I'll definitely do a post about this!'...and then I don't. We've been pretty busy since we moved here but now that Justin has started working I'm hoping that things will settle down and I'll be back in action!
So, in order for me to play catch-up, here are a bunch of things that have happened since we moved to Indiana. Lots of pictures, so I'll be brief on words! (Keep in mind some of these are from months ago and some of these are from yesterday - yes, I'm a slacker to just drop them all in one post, but I'm okay with it!)
When we moved here, one of the first things we got to go to was the "Three Piggy Opera" at Clayton's school. It was basically a kindergarten musical of the Three Little Pigs. Clayton was in the chorus, but it was SOO cute!!




He got really sick the day after this performance, but he refused - even in illness - to take off his piggy ears and nose for DAYS!!
Since we moved here, the boys have started noticing all of our local bug life. They took a special liking to this caterpillar that we named 'Chauncy'.

Noah literally loved poor Chauncy to death (R.I.P), my boys love bugs - it gives me the creeps, but what can I do?? I'm raising the spider killers of tomorrow ladies!!
A month after enrolling Clayton in school out here, he had kindergarten graduation! This happened to occur the day he came back to school after being gone for a week and a half to go to Justin's graduation. He was so excited and proud to be the graduate (especially after seeing his daddy graduate the week before)!
Getting his diploma from Miss Kobb.

Clayton and his teacher, Miss Kobb. I'm still so impressed at how well he has made this transition. He moved smoothly from one school to another and never once complained about it or was negitive. He quickly made new friends and still loves school just as much as he did on his first day of kindergarten. I couldn't be prouder of him!
As you can tell, Noah was super excited to be at graduation!
My big graduate. He told me shortly after we got home from graduation that he wanted his diploma framed and hung next to his daddy's.
Short story. Shortly after moving here, I went out shopping. When I came home Justin and Jared (my brother) told me that they thought they had lost Noah. They had searched everywhere for him - outside and in - and were starting to panic. Finally they found him asleep in one of these little boxes. Asleep. In one of these tiny, cramped boxes. He's so bendy and crazy that this was comfortable to him. We had to take a picture so we would always remember this story.
Aunt Ashley came out recently and we hope she comes back. While she was here we lost power twice. Once for over 2 days and once for about 10 hours. We also had a tornado warning where we all had to camp out in the basement. Fun times. However, weather aside, it's always fun to see her and we can't wait until she comes back!!
This just makes me laugh.
We celebrated the Fourth of July twice this year. Once on the third with some residency friends (sorry, no pics) and once on the fifth with my brother and his family. Apparently in Indiana, there is no such thing as illegal fireworks. Such a change from VT where you couldn't even buy sparklers! The boys (ALL of the boys) were in heaven!
We love living so close to family. The boys love having Landon come over and only wish that he could come over every day.
This picture is hilarious. It looks like all the kids are terrified/sad but really they are all laughing and smiling it was just bad timing. It makes me laugh!
Justin had been at the hospital and came home just in time to fire up the grill and light fireworks. We didn't even let him change!
This was Noah before we started the fireworks...
...Noah after the fireworks were over. Gee, do you think he liked them???
Clayton and Justin making silly faces.

Alright, I'm officially all caught up (I think). Hopefully I won't ever get this behind again!