the colors of fall

There is a hike not far from our home that we love to frequent…particularly in the fall.  Year round it provides a gorgeous view of the river and the beautiful surroundings that God has provided for us.  The hike is not to challenging for the kids and it has a grand payoff at the top.

For Daddy and Mommy, it is about being outside in the Creator’s garden with those that the Creator has graciously given us.

(her joyfulness and expressive face…gotta laugh most of the day!)

(his freckles, his eyes…they get me every time…)

(we’ve yet to see what this angel brings us in personality, but her calm and gentle demeanor thus far has captured our hearts.)

I am so grateful for the creativity of a God that is a master artist….from living in the rugged beauty of the Southwest to the resplendent seasonal changes of the Northeast, His gift to us in nature is truly awesome.

Stop, admire, and breathe in His goodness.

yummy fall salad

Here’s a yummy fall salad that I concocted from looking at several recipes, and knowing what my family likes….maybe I’ll be “cornily” creative and call it (drum roll please…)

Fall Into Salad  (insert groaning laughter)

Assemble the following:

- 2 heads romaine lettuce, washed and chopped.

- one apple, one pear chopped

- 1/2 pound of crisped bacon, crumbled

- 1/2 of a small container of feta cheese

- package of craisins

- 1 cup of cinnamon toasted pecans (this is done by placing 1 cup of pecans in a sauce pan and heating them with 2 T of sugar and 1/4 t of cinnamon…stirring constantly until coated and delicious…)

For the dressing:

- 2 large spoonfuls of homemade blackberry jam (or your favorite jam – I like raspberry, strawberry and peach too!)

- a splash of apple cider vinegar

- a splash of EVOO

As you can see, I am not particular with my measurements, I go by sight.  So make it as you like it.  The total amount of dressing came out to be about 1/2 to 3/4 cup.

Mix all of the ingredients together and serve with a yummy sweet bread.  We happened to have Cinnamon Sugar pretzels with ours……Anna (and the rest of the solid food eaters) loved it!

And this is because I can….

We were at church in the children’s choir room playing with the scarves – Hadleigh thought they were hilarious!

discovering the port

Daddy went away for a week to Texas for work, and Mommy had her first adventure of caring for three alone.  (Well, it wasn’t totally alone!  We have great family and friends that helped out…grandmom even slept at our house 2 nights to help in the mornings.) 

All week long, I had a few fun activites planned for the big kids and myself, to have something to look forward to – with the culmination of heading to Baltimore on the last evening together.  We picked up Hudson a little bit early from school and ventured to the port city – and enjoyed a beautiful evening on the town and at the children’s museum.  It was Target’s $2 admission night, and it was packed!

We met Marion and the boys there, as what is an adventure without a good friend to enjoy it with?  When we are together, it makes the difficult challenges seem less stressful, as there is someone to laugh with – I am grateful for her friendship – and the yungins are grateful for their friends as well.

Above:  at the café serving delightful diner food.

Below:  Art station – dyeing our own yarn out of kool-aid dye.

We finished out the night with dinner at Panera Bread – and quite a sight we were to the other patrons…7 children and 2 mommies…they had the perfect table for us. 

Despite the deluge of warm rain as we walked to the restaurant, it was an incredibly fun evening.

like it always is with good friends….

Field Trip with Poppy

We were blessed to have Poppy and Mom-Mom visit us while Daddy was in Texas.  They were able to come down for a night and spend the next day with us…and much to Anna’s delight, Poppy got to come along on her field trip to the orchard and farm.

What a gorgeous and special day it was.  Mom-Mom hung out with Hadleigh at home so that we could have a special morning.  Anna learned about field corn, and even got to push the dried corn into the grates!

She picked apples and a pumpkin from the patch as well as she had the chance to become “princess of the world” in the straw maze.  (That’s Anna-speak for getting to climb to the top of the mound.")

We had a delightfully fun day!

happy 3 months

three months have flown by…and to document here are some of the highlights of your past month of growing….

* you blow bubbles and buzz your lips

* your hands fascinate you and you’ve found your fingers to chew on…we still think you may be looking for your thumb to suck on.

* you giggle and coo and talk (especially at night after your siblings have gone to bed – we think you know that you have our full attention!)

* you are a master pooper – well, a mini-pooper as we call you

* you had your first bottle from Miss Angie and then one from Daddy

*  you love your Baby Einstein playmat and are batting things on it like crazy!

* you bat your eyelashes and smile so much while eating that sometimes you lose all the milk in your mouth at that particular time.

* and you are so darn cute and cuddly that strangers stop mommy in the mall, on the street, at the market, in the city, to tell me how adorable you are.  Really.  They stop me.  Because they want to look at you.  One grandma even told me I should have more babies because they’d be as cute as you.

We love ya Hadleigh-bug.

best fort ever…

The princess and I built a fort today in the basement…with our couches, a bit of creative engineering with the coffee table and a play café table and a big bean bag.  Oh yea, it rocks.  We had a blast playing in the fort; reading books and pretending.  This is Princess Anna looking out her sunroof.  (I had to come up with some reason there was a hole in the roof…)  She thinks it is awesome.

Of course, she was ecstatic to show Hudson when he got home and they watched their daily dose of PBS Arthur after he got off the bus – from the coziness of the couch inside the fort.

And while I wish I could say she is really napping, she wasn’t.  She wanted to, but there was NO WAY she was really going to sleep in there this afternoon…she had fun pretending though!

and this picture is just because I can….because it is my blog to remember my life…with our kids….

Those curls, eyes and cheeks melt my heart!

our family

My husband snapped this picture of us recently while we were out together enjoying a meal together…compliments of a very nice gift card we were given ;o)

I love it.

He said he took it because at that moment, it was totally us.  It is.  It is totally us.  Anna is putting on a show; I am laughing at her antics; Hadleigh is comfortable being entertained; Hudson is busily trying to investigate the inner workings of the blinds (“how do these things work, exactly?”)

lucky ducky, piggy wiggy

These two cutie cousins were able to have a delightfully delicious Olivia party together at Poppy and Mom-Mom’s home in September.  They are only 3 days apart, and turning 5 is a big deal so we were able to celebrate with the whole family!

I love that I caught Poppy in the backyard playing baseball with his grandsons…and I adore that I was able to snap this shot of Caleb coaching Hudson on how to connect with the ball.  It was so fun to stand on the porch unnoticed for a while – just observing them all having fun together….and the patience that was flowing from big cuz – I was impressed!

Inside, the party was getting started and the Olivia piñata (homemade by Mom-Mom and Naomi) was being admired by the little girls – and they were anxious to get a chance to whack that poor pig!

After collecting the candy booty from the piñata, the birthday girls had a special cake to admire…and very cute Olivia cupcakes made by the talented and adored, Aunt Jenny.

I have a huge smile on my face just looking at these two pictures – they were so excited to have a party together!

All 6 Smith grandkids together….(with Uncle Jim assisting the newest grandbaby)

Little piggy wiggy, you are a lucky ducky – 2 birthday parties with people who love you, adore you, pray for you, and desire to see you grow into a beautiful little lady.