i luh you, mommy

"I luh you, mommy. I luh you, mommy. I luh you."

How it warms my heart. Makes me smile. Makes me want to sing and kiss her all over. Anna has recently taken to singing these beautiful words as she walks around the house. I think it's triggered when she is thankful for something, but as I can't see her thought bubble, it's kinda hard to tell for sure.

She says it when she walks down the hall. She says it when you give her a snack. First it comes as, "Tank you, Mommy. I luh you, Mommy." She proclaims it as she dances in the living room with her naked freedom (naked babies are just too cute! plus, it helps with the casual potty training approach we have around here :) She says it as she plays with her Little People Princess Castle. She unabashedly proclaims it as she stands at the door to wave to you as you head to the grocery store.

Wouldn't that make you stop and just smile?

Her verbal lovin has made me ponder if I have said that enough to my heavenly Father. Wouldn't it make him smile just as much if I continually walk around the house loving Him with my words and my heart?

Shouldn't my thankfulness for something be extended into gratefulness and love to my Father who gave it to me?

Shouldn't I dance in delight at what has been generously given to me and proclaim my love? Doesn't my thankfulness need to come from deep inside, instead of merely a list of "thank you fors"?

"Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His love endures forever." Psalm 107:1

"I luh you, Father God. I luh you."

happy 2nd birthday banana!

Our pretty princess has turned 2! This is now one of my all time favorite pictures of her. I took this as she was walking through the meadow with her new princess tutu on her birthday. What delight and a joy she is to us - we can't believe how big she is when we see these pictures. Crazily enough, she still seems like a little peanut to us because of her big brother, but the truth is, she's a healthy sized peanut :)

We had her well check on Wednesday and the baby girl comes in at 97th percentile for her height - she's 3 feet tall. If you go by the 'ole "double when they're 2", Miss Anna is set to be 6 feet tall! HA! Needless to say, she'll for sure be somewhere in Mommy's range of inseam length. She hits the middle of the pack for her weight at 55th%.

She is starting to love the "girlie" things, and my friend Marion commented today on how our house is looking different: a bed for her babies, a Little People princess castle, and the babydoll stroller. She loves building legos, playing with "paydoe" and cooking with Hudson in their kitchen. She does beautiful princess twirling dances and gives the most gorgeous-melt-your-heart smiles and kisses. Here's a look at our baby from September 2007 to 2009.

let the marathon continue...

I have to add this: this is the concentrate in the quart jars. We canned 27 quarts. We've already gone through a whole gallon of yummy grape juice in 5 days. This stuff is better than Welch's!

PS. Thanks to Michael for the grapes; and to Laurie and Maxine for helping mom get them!

kid friendly museums - luv em!

We met Mom-Mom, Aunt Jenny, Caleb, Naomi and Ruby on our way through Philly at the Please Touch Museum. What an amazing treat! This place rocked. Seriously. Check the link. I've been talking about it for days, as has been Hudson. He tells his friends about the grocery store and the carousel. This is our adorable niece Naomi givin' her carousel mountain ram so luvin. ha!

Aunt Jenny and Anna checkin' out the SEPTA bus - is Hudson driving? Watch out!

Ruby and Anna loved grocery shopping with carts their size in the grocery store.

Hudson and Caleb were very serious about their jobs as checkers...the machines actually worked and when they passed the food over the scanner, it beeped for every item :) The aisles were complete with lights to signal being open.

Another really cute shot of our Shop-Rite shoppers.

deep in the 100 acre woods

Anna loves Pooh. I can't quite figure out if it is because she can actually say "pooh", or if she really likes him - or if it is both...which is likely. Here's Miss Pooh with Aunt Steph at her Smith family celebration.

Wow, we "akchulee" (Hudson's new favorite word) got a family picture - and don't look too dorky.

Leave it up to Hudson to find the hose. And soak himself. And daddy.

Anna's yummy birthday cake. She ate a whole slice - and ice cream - and m&ms. It was her birthday.

Mom-Mom cutting slices for everyone - that's Hudson anxiously waiting for a piece with a flower...akchullee.

we've come a long way, Em!

That's my friend Emily. Yes, and that is me. This picture was taken almost 15 years ago. OUCH! And yes, we were that corny that we got our pictures taken together, at a studio (KMart!) in matching shirts. Why you ask? Well, we were friends of course! And, everyone in HS thought we were sisters. In fact, oddly enough, some people thought we were twins. That I don't get. OMGosh, I just realized we are both wearing small lockets in this picture too. Did we plan that?

I had the great privelege of meeting up with a good friend...one that I haven't actually seen since before Hudson. She had met my Chris, but she married her Chris while we still lived in AZ, and we were unable to make the trip to be at the wedding. And since then, we've each added 2 beautiful babies to our families - she has Samantha and Jake (she's a little crazier than we are; hers are both under 18 months!) and we have...well, obviously.

Mr. Chris playing with the bambinos in the sand - what a good daddy. Must be in the name! It was such a fantastic treat to get to be with Emily. We've been so blessed to keep in touch over the years, and it felt great to just have easy conversation and enjoy watching our kids together.
We've come a long way, Em!

Apple Picking - round one

Saturday morning we journeyed on a gorgeous East Coast early fall morning to a farm that had animals to feed, a big store, and produce picking. We met the Weidner clan (3 of the 4 families in that clan) and our Smith side to pick some apples.

Poppy treated us to a necessary energy booster before picking - Apple Cider Donuts - can you say yum?!?
We then took the hay ride out to the apple orchard and picked 2 pecks of apples. That's your goal for today. Find out what a peck is. I know, do you? :o)

We then boarded this rockin' wagon pullin' tractor to the corn field and the peach orchard. Afterwards we fed some of the animals and then went to Mom-Mom's mecca - Chik Fil A. Bubba was super excited to meet the cow. Anna clung to Mom-Mom and I and cried. She didn't even like to see him crossing the parking lot.

honest mommy

here's my honest mommy post. i am exhausted. mommy-emotional exhaustion I think is it. In fact, I am writing this post with my eyes closed because it just feels so much better. Although, I am not tired enough to go to sleep. Too much on my mommy brain.

things like: why did Anna scream for 2 hours before she fell asleep for nap today?

Why did she then proceed to only sleep for 35 minutes?

Why did she scream then before she fell asleep tonight?

Why did the Dr. say it's just a virus and we are going on day 6 of a low-grade fever?

what if it turned into an ear infection?

what if that cough is turning into something more?

what if she gets croupe because I let her cry too long?

What if I am a bad mommy and didn't cuddle her enough during creaming time because I was just too darned overwhelmed with the sound of the screaming?

Why is it that she doesn't ever fall asleep when she is rocked, but she likes it?

Why is she so darned stubborn?

Why does folding 6 loads of laundry seem like an insurmountable task, but not so bad once you do it?

Why is it that just when I'm really made at the situation, Anna tells me she has to pee and I take her and she goes? and then I have to "be excited" because she did go?

Why am I really upset that I have to not be entertained by fall TV lineup because the President wants to talk about his health care reform?

Why is it always on days like this it happens that Chris isn't home for dinner and he won't be home until 10 pm?

Why didn't I take that Excedrin and drink a Coke? (I am gonna do that - like instantly after I post this)

Why do I still think she is unbelievably precious even after copious amounts of shrieking?

I know the answer to that: I love her. She is mine. I love her. And when she does a princess dance in her tutu bathing suit before swimming in Grandmom's hot tub tonight, it makes me smile. A big smile. And I need that.

he loves her...

Yes, he loves her. This is what I found at the table as we were preparing to leave for time with the NJ clan this past weekend. My son, busy at work on a picture. Not just busy, but 15 minutes into coloring one page, very carefully. I assumed the delightful and carefully colored pictured was for Mom-Mom. Silly me. This was not the case!

Hudson knew that we were going to NJ to celebrate Anna's birthday. Early, but to celebrate with family and enjoy the gift of her for two years. This loving brother (yet at times that love dissipates like the vapor of a boiling pot of water) was artfully desigining a happy birthday picture for his little sister.

Not only that, but as soon as he hopped down from the table, he searched the toys for a gift that he wanted to wrap to give her. He decided on the Little People airplane. Now for those of you who don't know, airplanes are a big deal to Hudson, so I was really surprised when that was the toy that was selected!

After careful selection, the gift had to be wrapped, "bowed" and "tied" with Anna's birthday picture attached to the top. He couldn't wait for her to open it. He kept telling her "Anna Banana, you're really gonna like my present. It's an airplane and a cool picture I made for you."

At least he's got the thoughtfulness part of gift giving down! :P

last night @ soccer

I got the following text from my gorgeous husband while he was at practice with Hudson...
"Hudson is picking flowers on the field and giving them to the coach. ;o) "

Man, that coach deserves a medal - what kind of person volunteers to coach four year olds?