{Say Hi to Me}

“I can no longer call babies cute!” –Matt Oertle, my brother age 17

{after poignantly describing how much he loves and how cute he thinks his nieces and nephews are comparatively to the rest of the baby world}

Congratulations on my two passionately healthcare minded siblings!

Lauryn, congratulations Ms. Smarty Pants on your bachelor degree in business with a minor in pre-med. I am so impressed with the person and woman you have become in the 4 years of your degree. I am excited to see you put all your gifts to better the world. You have worked hard and I am so proud of you.

Johnny, congratulations Dr. Super Duper Smarty Pants on your Naturopathic doctorate degree. I am so proud {but as your closest sister in age with you I am not surprised} that you graduated from medical school with the third highest GPA in your graduating class. {I also must note here that the two classmates ahead of Johnny were neither married nor had a family to be present to in addition to their studies}. I am so glad this is the path you chose for your career. It has already and will only continue to bring to fruition your heart, healing bodies and counseling souls.

I love you both so much, and although I often bow out of your intensely disgusting topics of funguses, growths, abnormalities and lengthly descriptions of bodily parts, conditions and functions, you make me proud and my heart at peace with where your life is headed.

Meet Rosetta, one of the Tinkerbell’s fairy friends who in the movie Pixie Hallow Games is nicknamed Ro. In the movie Rosetta is one of the most girly girls in Pixie Hallow with a fear of getting dirty. She learns to overcome her fear and becomes a positive role model for young girls on how to be a woman who is nothing but feminine while still capable of being athletic {instead of a female athlete who is portrayed as being manly and butch}. This side of Rosetta is a GOOD thing!

However; back at the Smith house, Rosetta has a hard time maintaing her modesty. It doesn’t matter how many times I fasten the teeny tiny clasps on that pink silicone dress of hers, the girl loves to be indecent! This side of Rosetta is a BAD thing! This is especially problematic when Rosetta is often chosen as a favorite church pew toy. This scene can really catch a regular church goer in the pew behind off guard and majorly distract them from focusing on the sweet holy face of pure baby Jesus.

The girl just can not keep her clothes on.

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So after several comments of concern made by my husband and after several family house guests chose to hide Rosetta underneath a pillow, I took matters into my own hands to ensure this girl kept her clothes on once and for all! Solution: I made a one of a kind Candyce Smith modest-is-hottest original couture “party in the garden” dress. I even custom tailored this dress to NEVER come off. And voila! Dignity reclaimed!

Now fully clothed, Ro glows with the beauty within; her heart has been restored and has redeemed herself as a positive role model for young girls alike and now baby Jesus can shine on!

“But the biggest mistake I made is the one that most of us make while doing this. I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of the three of them sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages 6, 4 and 1. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.”
~Anna Quindlen

Days like today I feel so blog worthy. Days where I have just the right ratios of playtime, creativity, quality time and fitness TO homemaking, housework, productivity, and preparing nutritious meals for my family. I am not going to take the time only to bore myself months/years in the future when I re-read this blog to list everything I did today but let’s just say that I did ALL of the above said “options” that I can choose to fill my day with and they each had their proper priority. So that I did not spend more time and energy on being productive than I did spending quality time with my daughters nor did I let myself get lost in my creativity without neglecting the housework. In all humility, I feel so satisfied with my day as I write this blog right before I go to bed tonight.

Who knew that such a simple thing such as making these festive snowman bagels for lunch would have added so much to our day.

Norah was happy, Stella was happy {despite that her first bite was an olive which grosses her out}, and it made me happy to see how excited they were to see their lunches and then only adding to my happiness when their plates were both clean {again except for the olives on Stella’s high chair tray that grossed. her. out!} And yes, making creative snowman bagels for lunch time {both nutritious and fun} really does make me feel good inside!

But I am also trying to process my esteem at the end of days like today {and trust me not everyday flows like this one} where I feel like I give my 100% and feel just AWESOME versus other days where I still give my all but feel like I fell short. I have to believe that one) each day regardless of its effortlessness or its challenges is a gift from God and I refuse to curse the days that are hard because they are still days that I have life and an opportunity to grow in virtue and give life to others and two) Satan is going to try to attack my thoughts about my vocation to my wifehood and my motherhood, because it is something I value and gives me life in giving life to others.

It is ironic to note that even at the end of a great day like today, that was great enough to even make a blog about it a priority, it is now nearing too late for this Mama of three to still be up and my thoughts are sounding a little something like, “well maybe I still need more patience, maybe I still need to be more gentle, and maybe I should have played babies with Norah 15 minutes longer instead of going on a run and left at 3:15 instead of 3:00.” My mind is weak and instead of letting my last thought of my day be one of negativity, “oh but Candyce, you still lost patience and raised your voice when Norah kept asking why a million times over,” I want to end this blog the way I started it. . .the way my day really was, supremely terrific! And my last thought as I end this blog will be one of Norah saying, “Mommy, you are the best Mommy EVER de EVER!”

When Matt and I told Norah that we were going to the zoo she asked if we could please make a list. A list? Yes, a list of all the animals we were to make sure we saw when we went.

Congratulations Danny and Katie on your engagement! I love the sparkle Katie adds to my brother’s eyes and the personality she brings to our family gatherings. Katie you are special. My brother Danny deserves as much in his life as he gives of his life and in Katie he has found that which will keep his life full: full of joy, laughter, intellect, friendship, holiness and full of love. I am so happy Danny found Katie; I am so happy Katie found Danny. I am so excited to welcome an additional sister to our family come July 21st!

Engagements/weddings/couples in love remind me of how lucky I am to be married to my best friend. I am so glad I get to experience the beauty of life with Matt. It is hard to believe that come this April, Matt and I will be married 5 years. It is even more hard to believe that in addition to our marriage of almost 5 years, Matt and I were best friends for 2 years, were boyfriend/girlfriend another 2 years and were engaged an additional year making it almost a decade since Matt has been in my life as my best friend! To add one more “hard to believe” reality, when Matt entered my life my sister Carrie was the same age as Norah is now {3 going on 4}.

^My mom and dad with my brother Josh{sophomore in college} sandwiched in between

^The infamous cousin hug

-  ^^Mommas and their babies

^Norah pushing Jack on the tree swing that later broke that day R.I.P. {no one was hurt except maybe someone’s pride who will go unnamed}

^Uncle Matt with Gabe

Stella your little skinny jeans calls for a separate picture to show off the cuteness. I love how your jeans are bigger around your bottom to make room for your diaper and then quickly taper into two little poles to fit the style trend of skinny jeans. Because of this cuteness a nickname we now have for you is “skinny jeans”.