Smith Family || Portraits {March 2015}

Earlier this year I was asked to take new family photos for our pastor's family; enjoy these shots I captured at a reserve in Conifer Grove.

: : Amelia : :

: : Aaron : :

: : Owen : :

: : Keith : :

Another visit to the Botanical Gardens!

Smelling the flowers

One Friday afternoon (3rd of May to be exact), the weather was nice so Mum decided we should go for a walk at the Botanic Gardens. The Smiths agreed to go with us, and soon we were piling into our vehicles (I went with them since we don't all fit in our van!). 

Diana and Amelia pose
(Don't you love Diana's 'peace' sign?!)

The little ones played for AGES in this hut;
it's incredible how entertaining running
around in circles can be!

Left to right: Aaron, Danielle, Diana, Amelia, and Bryce

The Smiths Come for a Visit



Mrs. Smith plays the piano for us

 One day during the holidays (sorry I don't recall which one exactly! lol), the Smiths (our pastor's family) came over for afternoon tea.

I must say the double choc chip muffins were, as usual, a hit! Sorry, no pics, but in fact I'm probably doing you a favour - if you saw a pic of these mouth-watering, choc-filled muffins, you might salivate so heavily your keyboard would be kinda gross...:P

But anyway, to get back to what I was writing about...



I'm not sure the ukelele is supposed to be on the tramp...!

 Nobody in our family can really play piano (Danielle was taking lessons last term, but no-one is learning right now), and Mrs. Smith is Grade 9 (!), so it was really nice to hear the piano played that well, despite the fact that she played from memory because we don't have any books her level!

Monique enjoyed Keith (4 months) and the other little ones (she loves young children).

Amelia enjoys our trampoline

Diana and Amelia LOVED playing with each other. I think Amelia has probably only met people within our church so far, and it is relatively small, so I think there is like one other girl her age (who is our cousin!). Also, my siblings were talking for AGES before the Smiths even came to NZ about being friends, going to their place to play and whatever!

Despite the fact that I was sewing, I still managed to read to Aaron (4yrs). He just loves Thomas the Tank Engine, so I got to read parts of a few books to him (haha little ones aren't patient enough to listen to a whole story!), and name the characters on the covers of the books shown on the back covers; thankfully their names were written down, or I would have been stuck!!! lol



Amelia and Diana pose...



 I think Mum enjoyed sharing some of her accumulated homeschool knowledge; it's nearly 11 years since she began homeschooling me!

And mainly, everyone enjoyed socialising for a few hours!

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Well, um, I hadn't planned to write much...consider yourself lucky!!! haha

Bee

Meet and Greet

From 2-4pm on March 24th, all of us but Mum, Maria, and Laura, went to the de Boers' place to meet our minister's family, who had arrived from America the day before.
I was kinda sleepy, but it was nice to meet them!

The little ones were very taken with Snowy, Dieuwe's maltese puppy. (Sorry I just realised I don't have any pics of Snowy!)

And...Amelia Smith (5yrs) was very excited to lose her first tooth that afternoon! See if you can spot the gap in the pic:

Ok so I suppose I should introduce them a bit...

Mr. Smith is Texan, the eldest of 7 children, and was homeschooled.
Mrs. Smith is Canadian, one of 4 children (sorry can't remember where she is in the lineup!), and was also homeschooled.
The met through the church (The Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland), and now have 4 children: Amelia (or Amy) 5yrs, Aaron (4rs), Owen (2yrs), and Keith (4 months).
You can read their blog here.