Our Inaugural Blog message

Hello everyone and welcome to Thee First Official Smith Family Blog post!!

First off, we'd like to wish everyone a Happy 2012! I hope this new year brings health and happiness to all our friends and family.

As most of you probably know, we have moved to the edge of the country this past June (Halifax, NS in case you missed the memo). Surprisingly, a two week drive in our Golf crammed with two adults, two kids, two dogs, and too many suitcases was not the idyllic family vacation one might imagine! Some advice for people who may be planning the same? Don't do it. Seriously. Take a plane; or wait until your kids are older. Travelling across this great country with a 2 1/2 year old and a 15 month old was... exhausting, to say the least.

Regardless, we all arrived in one piece and were thankful to sleep in our own beds again. We would at this point like to extend a big Thank You to the friends who loaned us the use of their spare room(s) while we made our trip: The Coggans, The Proctors, and the Harveys

Now to what you all really want to know: how are the girls?

We celebrated Amelia's 3rd Birthday with some of our new friends in September, she is growing up so fast! Our eldest "little lady" is quite loquacious; one of her favourite activities is to find rhyming words and making up nonsense words or phrases. This is a girl who knows what she wants and isn't afraid to scream for it. She likes picking her own outfits which often lead to some very interesting clothing choices!
We have met a lovely little girl across the street from us and we spend a lot of time playing together. It was a relief to find a nice kid to play with, but even more of a relief for me to find another mom that I click with. Finding someone you can get along with and who has a similar parenting style as you is great, finding that someone across the street from you is like pure gold!

Our Miss Ember is growing up quickly too, always trying to keep up with big sister Amelia. Ember will be celebrating her 2nd birthday this March. She is so much more fearless than her sister, Ron is certain she will be the first to break a bone! She is also our little clown, easy to laugh and naturally silly. Both girls love music and singing and they both love reading - so we know we are doing something right. Ember is talking a lot more now, as you might expect. We are amazed at how many words she can say (when she can get a word in over her chatterbox sister), and how she can convey an entire sentence in one word: Happen? Doing?

We have had a few chances to tour some of our new home province this summer, in between rain storms. We can't wait for next summer, when we will look forward to having many visitors from out west (you know who you are!)