Smithen Annual Update 2007

~Season’s Greetings to Our Family and Friends~

Wow – another year has flown by! Time for another update from the Smithen clan – please control your excitement….☺

2006 ended with a “bang” – our 3rd son, Jacob, was born on Boxing Day. What a different holiday that was – one that will never be forgotten! Christmas was spent in the hospital waiting and New Year’s Eve was spent sleeping (because Jacob was actually asleep) – what partiers we are! 2007 has been an interesting year as we have all adjusted to our bigger family while still living in our SMALL house! Aidan and Eliot loved their little brother right from the start – this sure has helped with the adjustment process. And now we all wonder how we were a family before Jacob entered our lives!

So far I am still at home full-time with the boys. I may take on a part-time job in the new year, not sure when though! I am still volunteering with La Leche League and my sons’ school. Lately my biggest hobby has been playing Scrabulous with my Facebook friends! If you are on Facebook, search for me (Cori Smithen)! Peter is still working at Cover-All Building Systems as their Information Systems Manager. He is also a Cub Leader.




As for the boys, Aidan has been playing basketball and soccer; he finished his last year of Beavers and “swam up” to Cubs which he LOVES! He is very keen to work towards earning badges – he should get an “enthusiasm badge”! Eliot was in Beavers, played soccer and took swimming lessons. Aidan finished grade 2, had his 8th birthday and is now in grade 3 (in a grade 3&4 split class). Eliot finished his last year of preschool, had his 5th birthday and FINALLY (in his opinion) entered Kindergarten! He is a boy who loves school. Both boys go to the French Immersion School that is 2 houses away from us – very handy! Jacob has grown a lot this past year! He has always been a very sturdy and strong baby, now he is walking more than crawling and is trying to communicate more. It is amazing how much he looks like his brothers, but is still very much his own person! He is a beautiful boy and brings us much love. Tilly is now living with my parents as her medical conditions are making it difficult to have her in our small house with a crawling (and now toddling) baby. She is old, already 12 ½ years old, and will likely not be with us much longer, the poor ol’ lady. Not much other news from our extended families – all is well!

A major highlight of 2007 was our family holiday to Winnipeg and Ontario! It was a roller-coaster trip – involving driving and flying and hotels and beaches and staying overnight at 3 different homes. It was quite exhausting managing all the suitcases for all of us (well, actually just 4 of us – I made Peter take care of his own stuff!) with all the packing, unpacking and repacking. BUT it was lots of fun - we got to visit with lots of family and friends and even met family we had never seen before (at my mother-in-law’s family reunion).
Another highlight was visiting with all of my siblings and their children – we even managed to get a photo of ALL of us at my parents’ home! We also had a visit from Peter’s mother – it was a good opportunity for the boys to spend lots of time with her. This fall we also completed a house project that I have dreamed of doing ever since we bought this house – we redid the bathroom – it is so much nicer now! Now for the kitchen……!!!

The boys are now done school for the year and we are trying to get all the last minute shopping done. We will have a quiet Christmas this year, just us! I am looking forward to having all my children home full-time and hanging out together. To me, that is the most important thing of all – being together as a family.

I wish all of you a wonder-filled season of love,
family and friendship. However you celebrate
this holiday season, whether it is Hanukkah
or Ramadan or Yule or Christmas or Kwanzaa,
our hope is that it was filled with peace and
thanksgiving.

From our family to your’s:

Happy Holidays and All the Best in 2008

Much love from the Smithen’s

~ Cori, Peter, Aidan (8), Eliot (5), Jacob (1), Tilly (the dog) and
Windsor (the rabbit) ~