Bowling

We ventured bowling as a family. The girls had a great time. We had it so the bumpers only came up while the girls bowled. Even Addie had her own shoes. She loved them. Also for the record, I beat Ben (yes it was without bumpers) Yes I know I am the queen bowler. At least that it what I tell myself!We had a great family night.

Mileys school Christmas Party/ Program

Miley had their little school party at her teachers house. They made crafts, made and decorated sugar cookies and then when parents arrived they put on a music program with their music teacher and all the songs they had been practicing. Mileys favorite has been I want a hippopotomous for christmas. She knows every word. It is very cute to hear. Then Santa came and Miley was so cute on his lap. She even gave him a hug.

Christmas Preparations

The girls had fun this year preparing our goody plates for all of our friends. This is Ben and the girls making his famous peanut butter balls. I was surprised we had any the way they were being nibbled on. And yes that is our Charlie brown christmas tree in the background.

Miley was practicing her photography skills.
Crazy daddy and cute Addison. We just started flippng her hair out and she tells everyone that she is pretty. She is not our shy one. Her new thing is " I need some pace!!!!" aka I need some space:)

Cookie Baking Day

Our friends Beth and Chance have a family tradion where they meet at an Aunts house in Portland every year at the beginning of December and they have a cookie baking day. It is serious stuff. There is no sampling dough or cookies until there is a final count at midnight( the record I think is in the 5,000's). I have never experienced anyting like it. We only went for a short time as it is hard to keep little hands out of cookies. It was great to see them and share in their tradition. Beth nad Chance have become adopted Aunt and Uncle to Miley and Addison so it is always great to see them.

Family Comes to Town

We had a great visit from Bens sister Jen, her husband Todd and their foster son Malachi. We played from the minute they came to town. We went to OMSI (Oregon Museum of Science and Industry). We went to their OMNIMAX Movie and to a planetarium show and we played with all of the exhibits. We also went to Silver Falls which is about 11 miles down the road from us. One of the falls you can walk behind. It was great fun (a little cold and wet but nothing a fire and hot chocolate in the lodge couldn't fix). We also went to the Gilbert House which is a discovery center which has a bubble room, craft room (we made some great rockets), play room with dress up and an outdoor playground. We had a picnic and froze but we played hard. Then we got a sitter for the kids and we adults went to dinner and then to the Transiberian Orchestra concert in Portland. What a great show. They had lasers, fireworks, fire etc.... It was a great show and hopefully a new tradition. We are so grateful for family that comes to visit. We had a great time!!!!

Getting the Smith Family Christmas Tree

Thanksgiving Feast

So I finally decided to get on the ball and put all of my pictures from my camera onto my computer. So we have some from long ago it seems but this is how we spent the holidays. We decided to be frugal this year with money and vacation time that we would spend the holidays at home on our own. It was different but good to start some of our own traditions. We had some great friends that invited us for Thanksgiving and this was our feast. We had a great time with friends and the kids were totally entertained in their basement play room (oh how great houses are!).

O Christmas Tree

So this morning I am up in the bathroom getting ready for the day. My kids are downstairs watching cartoons (yes I do let the TV babysit my children on occasion). All of a sudden I hear a crash and a scream. Don't you love those noise together. I knew exactly what it was. Addison loves to sneak behind the Christmas tree to try and hide. Well she has apparently done it one to many times because I run down the stairs to see Addie standing there, water all over as I had just filled the tree stand, and my tree and ornaments all over the floor. What a great way to start the day! Gotta love your 2 year olds some days.:) The look on her face was quite priceless if I had only thought to grab the camera. i hope everyone is having a great day.

Yummy new recipe

I am obsessed with this new soup recipe I got from a friend. It is quick and easy and delicious. It may not be the healthiest but it is yummy. I am also not a big velveeta cheese fan but this is great. It is for Cheddar Broccoli soup:
6 cups water
4 bouillion cubes or 4 tsp chicken bouillion
2 cups onion
2 cups celery
2 cups carrots
2 cups potatoes
2 cups cauliflower
2 cups brocolli
2 cans cream of chicken soup
1 pound velveeta cheese
Dissolve bouillion in water. Add vegetables and simmer until veggies are done. Add cr. of chicken soup and mix well. Cut velveeta into cubes and stir in. Be careful to not let burn. Once the cheese is melted use your immersion blender or emulsiphier to a slightly chunky puree. Serve with crusty bread. It is my new favorite! I hope you enjoy!

The Hussle Bussle of the Season

O how I love this time of year! I love the music, the lights, the cold, the Christmas trees and decorations everywhere. Even the smell in the air is a christmasy(sp?) smell! I feel very good in that my Christmas shopping is all but done but for some reason there is this overwhelming feeling of chaos still present. All the Christmas cards, the baking, the caroling, the visiting teaching, the school parties, the Enrichments still to be for the month. Why is it so hard to put everything on the back burner and just enjoy the time of year? Never the less I will press on and do because that is what we do. I am learning that no matter what phase of life things are always going to be busy and we need to take time to enjoy the everyday little things. The other day we were in the car driving and we were playing Christmas music. Miley started belting out I want a hippopotomus for Christmas at the top of her lungs. She knows it word for word. It was the cutest thing. They are learning it at school for their little Christmas party/program. Those are the things I am trying to remember instead of dwelling on all that I feel I have to get done. Maybe then I will not be such a scrooge with the other things and will look forward to them as the little joys that I get to experience each day! For now that is what I will tell myself. Please excuse my crazy page. I am trying to update it and I am not having much luck! Be patient. I will also get a few more pictures taken and will quickly post some fun Christmas pictures!

I have returned

So I have returned to the world of blogging. After a very nice vacation (yeah right) it is good to be back. We have had family birthday and a crazy busy yet fun super saturday which have been occupying my time. It is nice to return to some sort of normalacy. I am back to my projects. We built shelves in the garage, I tore down the crib (no babies in the near future) and I converted that 3rd room into my craft room! I am in heaven! It has always been my dream to have a craft room. I walk by and just stand in the doorway to be in awe that I really have one. Miley even pinched me one day. Maybe now I will complete my box of incompleted craft projects. Then again maybe not. There always seems to be something going on. We love our crazy life:)!!!!!

Early Thanksgiving and Family Party

Happy 4th Birthday Poopers!

My Miley girl is 4 years old. I cannot believe it! She has grown up so much in just the last little while. She is such a blessing in our home. She is our nurturer and our lover. She has her fiesty times but my favorite is when she says, "can I nuggle with you"! It is fun to watch her in school and in church and to see the things she is learning and discovering everyday! She is a wonderful big sister to Addison. It is fun to watch Miley teach Addie the things that she is learning or to hear her tell Addie the rules of the house. She is our little mother. I don't quite know where she got that from. We are so blessed with a loving family that is so supportive. All of the family came to celebrate the birthday and an early Thanksgiving (we are not able to be together this year). We truly enjoy our time as a family and it is fun to see how we grow and how things change. My dad has leukemia (CLL - chronic lymphocytic leukemia to be exact) and though he is doing extremely well I think it makes us all a little more appreciative of the time we do have together. We truly are a blessed family!
We had a fun birthday party for Miley. She wanted Tinkerbell but she also wanted boys at the party so we did a Tinkerbell/captain hook party. We made pirate hats and fairy wands. We made candy treasure chest neckalces. We played follow the leader and we ate cake and opened presents. Miley has many great friends in the area and had a really great time!

School field trip to EZ Orchards

We took a trip to EZ Orchards with Miley's preschool. We took a hayride, picked an apple, and a pumpkin. Then we enjoyed apple cider and donuts! We had a fun day and the girls especially enjoyed the hayride.

Halloween in a nutshell

Pumpkin Carving

We had our friends Travis and Lisa and their 3 kids Elijah, Rogue, and Alexandra over and we had a ball. First yummy chilli, then pumpkin guts followed by carving and then frosting cookies. We had a ball. Miley even drew her own face on her pumpkin that she wanted carved. The girls had too much fun cleaning the pumpkins out. Are they really my kids? Gross!!!!

making apple cider

On Saturday we were invited by some friends to go to her parents house and make frsh pressed apple cider. It was pouring, literally pouring down sheets of rain so I got no pictures. We were all drenched but we had so much fun. We went through the whole process of washing, chopping pressing, sifting and pouring into jugs. Now we have 9 gallons of fresh pressed cider in our freezer and it is so yummy. Anyone that wants to visit can have some. This is an invitation to all! Happy Fall.

The finished product

mommy and addies work of art - really it is
don't eat it - it is a work of art
Miley keeps informing us that her and daddys house is the coolest- yeah right
Miley and Addison casting a spell on their houses to make them haunted