2011 Christmas Letter

(Written from Tawnya’s Perspective)

Hello Family and Friends,

Let us begin with an update followed by an overview of our year.

An Update of the Year

If I were to sum up our year of activities in a few words I would say: birthdays, weddings, road trips.  If I were sum up the year another way, I would say: challenges and growth, enjoying family, time flies.  🙂

I have felt so blessed this year with the guidance of the Lord; support of my family, friends, and Pastor; the beautiful smiles, silly memories, and fun times with my girls; the special times out just me and Trevor; time with extended family; and the many exciting adventures of the year.

My most treasured memory of the year was Amabella giving her life to Christ.  Two of the more bittersweet memories were the passing of my Great Aunt Dolores and Trevor’s Great Grandma Fay.  We have such special memories to carry from each of those wonderful women, but we miss them.

Trevor continues to work as a letter carrier for the post office in Santa Rosa and remains optimistic about his job situation, never complaining about his work.  He enjoys the time alone walking and listening to various podcasts.  A few days each week, he is able to come home on breaks and spend time with us.  I still work 2 days/week as a homeschool teacher/tutor of a young woman with Autism – Samantha turned 19 this year!  I love spending time with her and observing her growth over the many years I have known her.  Most recently, I have particularly loved going to culinary class with her at her local high school.

The year was a challenging one for me: one requiring me to seek guidance, trust the Lord more, make some changes, and let go of the control I seem to think I have in life.  As always, I am a work in progress, and I am so blessed to know that God cares enough for me and my family that He would choose to show me how he wants to keep molding me into the woman he created me to be.  I read two great books throughout the year: The Blessing by John Trent and Gary Smalley as well as Boundaries: When to Say Yes, How to Say no, to Take Control of Your Life by Henry Cloud and John Townsend.

Some of my favorite time with my girls was spent reading on the couch, watching home movies while laying on the floor and eating popcorn, making homemade treats together, and watching them grow and change so much over the year.

Amabella will be 4 in January, and I am blown away.  She writes her name all the time now: the capital letters are all over her paper and there are usually a few extra As and the extra lines on her Es don’t show up very often anymore.  She colors carefully in the lines and is still a thoughtful, helpful, and opinionated girl.  Ama is enthralled by princesses, the Bible (and specifically Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus), and watching cooking videos.  She loves to reenact the cooking videos she watches while playing with her playdoh.  You might hear her say, “preheat the oven to 350” …

Adeliza is often confused for being Amabella’s twin or older than her.  I often have to remind myself that she is still only 2.  She is fast approaching 3, however, with her birthday coming in February.  She writes words and her name in zig zags across the page very carefully.  She constructs elaborate 3D creations with playdoh, which I love to admire.  She is always moving, smiling, and silly.  It is not suprising that she got her first set of stitches the Monday before Christmas: 3 on her chin.  I love to squeeze and cuddle with her until she says, “stop ‘quishing me mommy” or “that’s enough now.”  She cracks me up.

Avalina is a bundle of energy.  She is always right with her sisters.  She stands up for herself readily, tries to carry on full conversations with us with inflections and raised eyebrows, but there are just a few words we really get, like: Daddy! (her favorite word), Adi!, and Mama!  (Yes, all are exclamations.)  She also says, “all done” very clearly when she is finished eating as she hands her plate to you, but you’d better hear it the first time or the plate is tossed on the floor.  She smiles all the time and loves to give tight squeeze hugs and kisses.  She loves to climb into bed with her sisters too.  Ama is more of a mother to Avalina and Adi like a pal.

The girls love each other while bugging each other too.  They all love to play with their baby dolls.  Avalina loves to hold them, feed them little bottles or with a spoon, and hug them with her tight squeezes.  They all love to wrap them in blankets.  Ama and Adi are fascinated with being pregnant, often with twins these days.  Ama and Adi also love to wear veils/shawls over their head like they’re “getting married” or like they’re “Mary.”

The girls and I had lots of fun baking and cooking this year.  We made pizzas, bread, pretzels, and various desserts, including ice cream, cookies, and cupcakes.  We also enjoyed making and playing with homemade playdoh too.

There is never a dull moment at home.  Sometimes it is exhausting, but when I have a moment to pause, I am reminded of the fullness of my life and the blessings God has given me in each of these little moments.

A Year in the Life of the Smith Family

Our year began as we celebrated Amabella’s 3rd birthday with a Princess Party.  It was a day full of fun, complete with adults and children dressed up as well as a pink and purple castle cake I had the privilege of making for her.  Thankfully, we also bought a Costco cake because, as adorable as the cake turned out, I didn’t think it tasted very good.  🙂

In February, Adeliza turned 2 and we had a soccer party.  I made a pink and white soccer ball cake sitting atop a green field of grass (coconut flakes dyed green) cake, which was an exciting adventure in itself.  We had soccer goals, balls, and cones set up in the back yard for the kids (or adults) to play.  As always, it was great to celebrate with so many family and friends we love.

Trevor and I celebrated our 6th anniversary on March 5 and were amazed at how much had already happened in our 6 short years of marriage.

We had a busy Easter weekend in April.  Trevor’s sister, Sarah, her husband Jon, and our niece, Milah, came to town.  The four cousins got to visit our church on the Saturday before Easter to hear the Easter story read aloud to them, go on a fun egg hunt, pet little chicks, and play in a jumpy house.  We got to celebrate Milah’s 1st birthday along with Trevor’s Nana’s 80th birthday as well.  We went to my parents’ house in Ukiah for a large family gathering along with an Easter egg hunt outside for Amabella and Adeliza.  The girls got all dressed up in two different dresses throughout the day, in attempts to take family pictures, and looked just adorable.

In May we celebrated Trevor’s Great Grandma, Fay Graham’s, 104th birthday and got to celebrate with extended family.  Adeliza was also in her first wedding as a flower girl as some of our great friends, Rachael and Matt Sangervasi, got married.

In July we took a week and a half long road trip to Oregon and back.  We went up to attend my cousin Chloe’s wedding in which the three girls were flower girls.  While in Oregon, we got to spend extra time with my family as well as my Uncle Tim and his girlfriend Cheryl, both of whom my girls just adore.  We also got to have a park get-together with Trevor’s Great Aunt and Uncle, Susan and Bill Graham, along with Bill’s children and their little ones (Ember, Oliver, and Levi), as well as with Sarah, Jon, and Milah.  It was so fun to have the 7 little cousins all together with the oldest being 3 ½ and the youngest being 9 months.  We continued our vacation traveling along the coast stopping at the Tillamook cheese factory, the Oregon Coast Aquarium, camping at Harris Beach, the Ocean World in Crescent City, then we drove through the Avenue of the Giants (Giant Redwood trees) stopping at a tree house village and drive-thru trees.  The girls particularly enjoyed learning how to swim a little, and jump into the pool at the various hotels we stayed at along the way.  We ended our trip with my Haydon family reunion camping weekend.

In August we celebrated Avalina’s first birthday with a ladybug party.  I had fun making a ladybug cake on grass and ladybug cupcakes.  We had kiddie pools set up outside and our “baby bug” looked adorable in her ladybug swim suit.  Again, family and friends made our day even fuller!  In August we also began our first garden as a family and had such fun.  We also began scripture memory with the girls.  They love it!  (Most recently, the girls worked on memorizing Luke 2:11, however, Amabella is trying to memorize Luke 2:1-20 and has parts of it memorized.)

The girls got really good at road trips this year.  At the end of August and beginning of September, we went on another trip to Oregon to get to visit Trevor’s sister and our niece Milah.  Trevor’s parents and grandparents joined as well.  We went to our first amusement park, the Enchanted Forest, and the girls really enjoyed it.  We also were able to visit the extended family and get all the little cousins together again.

Later in September, the girls and I, along with my mom Robin (aka. “Grammie”), went to southern California for my cousin’s son Liam’s first birthday.  It was really nice to get to visit with all of our family.

In October, Great Grandma passed away at 104 and we had a wonderful memorial service for her.  We went to Trevor’s cousin Christine’s wedding in October as well.  My most treasured memory from the year came on October 11th when Amabella prayed to ask God to forgive her for her sins and lead her life.

In November we went to Disneyland for our first time with the girls.  My parents, Randy and Robin, and my sister Tiffany, and my brother Nathan joined for the adventure.  We also had an early Thanksgiving with our relatives in the area at my Aunt Debbie’s house.

We took our first little ski trip in early December.  Trevor and the two older girls went on the slopes in sno blades (they are basically mini skis without poles).  I kept Avalina and one of the big girls in the lodge while he took the other out on the slopes to teach them how to ski.  They did very well and had a lot of fun.  We might try another trip this season and let Avalina spend the day with grandparents instead.  Then the four of us could try skiing together.

Overall, it sure felt like a year filled with road trips and weddings.  One adventure after another.

Christmas was busy and full for us.  We were able to celebrate with both families.  We spent some time with Trevor’s family on Friday evening, and Saturday (Christmas Eve).  Christmas morning we did Christmas just the 5 of us: opening stockings and presents together.  Amabella got a princess bike with training wheels and Adeliza got a mini keyboard piano.  Avalina enjoyed her sister’s piano and her Winnie the Pooh musical book.  We, then went to breakfast at church and stayed for the service before heading to my parents’ house.  We spent the rest of Christmas and some of Monday with my family.  At 3:00 Monday, Adeliza had an appointment to have her stitches removed.  Then, in the evening, Amabella, Adeliza, Trevor’s mom Judy, Nana Helen, Papa Carl, and I drove around Petaluma to enjoy the Christmas lights before they are taken down until next year.

As this year comes to a close, we look back in gratitude, and as the new year in in view, we look forward, expectantly to a wonderful coming year.  We are very excited to welcome our little niece (my brother Brandon and his wife Nichole are expecting) in January.  We hope your Christmas and holiday season was meaningful and enjoyable and we pray that the new year will be full of wonderful blessings and joy for you and those you love.

With Love,
Tawnya, Trevor, Amabella, Adeliza, and Avalina Smith