traditiooooon!!

clytie adam's nutcracker is one of my favorite traditions of the year.

the smith girls always get together and go to the saturday matinee - this year laurel was finally old enough to come so all the girls in our family were accounted for.

we went to breakfast this year at doug and emmy's before the show- oh my was it good! 

we waited for ever for our food so we had lots of time for photos.

some how i missed getting a photo of addie at breakfast.

allie, and all the little girls, were especially fond of their hot chocolate.

we were in a huge hurry by the time the food got to us, so i missed getting a photo of the giant scones, i couldn't believe how big they were! we will definitely eat here again, but some time when we're not pressed for time.

we barely got to the show on time, but thanks to april's illegal parking job, we got a spot right up front and ran in just in time. (don't worry, we did not take a handicap space, just "extended" the row by one spot)

we especially love seeing so many of allie's friends in the production, everyone did a wonderful job. next year i need to make a point of taking allie's photo with all of her friends who dance in the production, it really is a highlight for us to get to see them in their element.

i am always completely stunned at the grace and athletisism of the professional ballet dancers. which is good, because you need to have something to distract you from the sprayed on pants of the male dancers. wow. i mean, talk about self confidence.

the lady taking our photo kept moving to the right which accounts for our weird posing.

what was she thinking?

over all it was a wonderful day, yummy breakfast, beautiful dancing, happy girls and of course, TRADITOOOOOON!

i have to admit though, i was sad to be missing ashleigh from this year's photo. sigh.

minus - a billion other things

the killer cherry jello salad is chilling

the sweet potato casserole is ready

the cranberry sauce is cooling

the cherry pie is beautiful

the pecan pie didn't turn out - waa!

the stuffing is almost ready

AND....

the eagle has landed!

well, technically, it's a turkey.

and when i say, "landed", i mean it's cooking in my oven.

which means, i have about an hour before

finishing the stuffing

peeling potatoes

rolling the dough

and (my favorite part)

  working the drippings for gravy baby

with that break comes this list

gratitude for-

rich's intense work ethic

employment

healthy bodies

our lipstick house

my american citizenship

i have kids! i always wanted to be a mom

pioneer woman - she taught me how to make gravy baby

being able to stay home with my kids

so much love and friendship in my life

jesus christ

my knowledge and testimony of him

sunbeams!

teenagers and a toddler

aprons and gel heel inserts

rich's big heart

kids who are good cleaners

awesome extended family on both sides

jc bigalow cinnamint lip gloss

tweezers

beautiful photos (not necessarily mine)

creativity

theraputic thursday

fiestaware to make a pretty table

amazon.com

my toyota sienna

contact lenses

flexibility

music

SILs and friends with great recipes

christmas lights - and the teenager who hung them!

my warm and wonderful bed

hand sanitizer

clean water

happy email in my inbox

education

that's a pretty good list,

i think i only left out about a billion things.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

the kid wrangler

this is the time of year for family portraits. everyone loves the autumn leaves. unfortunately, it's also the time of year that i feel the most anxiety about my craft. i still get knots in my stomach before a shoot, especially a family one. it's really dumb, i know, but welcome to my anxiety, it's the irrational kind.

there's plenty to worry about with a family shoot, they seem to be the hardest ones for me. i worry about being able to capture the right tone and feel of the family, getting the group to all smile and hold their heads just right at the same time, and of course all the technical aspects of the photoraphy itself. it's enough to make a girl quit her glorified hobby job, and believe me, i've considered it several times. but, i have a secret weapon, and her name is allie.

  you thought i was going to say xanex didn't you?

not unlike xanex, allie has a nice, happy, calming effect on me.

makes me feel like i'm not alone at the shoot, and takes away some of the anxiety for me. makes me feel like i brought a "crew" with me which helps me feel more professional. 'cause you know you only bring a crew if you're a pro. right?

she's also good at placing people, which is such a relief, that's one of the hardest parts for me. she's also fantastic at "wrangling" the children, which can include, but is not limited to: jumping up and down,  making funny faces, loud zerbert-like noises, etc. no matter what, she gets the job done.

oh and did i mention?

she is a fabulous photographer herself.

and i feel a little twinge of JOY when i see this...

so she's also my little apprentice, except she has a way better eye for beauty than i did at her age.

is there nothing that this girl can't do?

and of course, we have to have a little self portait before we leave the shoot.

freezing cold red noses and all.

 love. this. girl.

mom and dad are cool - really

friday nights are usually crazy at our house with three teenagers coming and going with their friends. last friday night, it ended up that everyone was going instead of coming and ethan found himself with just lame old mom and dad to hang out with. what's a four year old to do?

he wasn't so sad when he found out dad was taking us for ice cream.

and agreed to sitting at the tiny kids' table no less!

(thank goodness the chair i sat in didn't break and thus my self esteem remained in tact).

so over all,

the seating could've been more comfortable,

but the ice cream was really good,

and the company, was even better.

i love how ethan is holding our faces in this photo.

mom and dad aren't so bad after all.

swooning

so here's my ten (ok eleven) cents about new moon.

1. i liked kristen stewart better in this movie than in the first.

2. jasper is still totally lame. and why do they make him wear that horrific wig?

3. i could have used a lot more of this in the film...

4. i'm not a fan of the new vampire contacts, edward's real eye color is much more handsome.

5. taylor lautner is so yummy in this movie, for a few minutes i almost switched teams. there, i said it.

6. but i'm still team edward, because, let's face it,  he looks like he was carved out of cream cheese.

7. i thought the wolves looked ridiculously fake. i mean, c'mon.

8. i thought the wolves in their man forms were ridiculously good looking.

9. there was still not enough of the cullen family on screen - this was a complaint of mine from the first movie too. they are one of my favorite parts of the books and they're practically non-existant in the first two movies.

10. the scenes with victoria were very cool. i officially want her hair.

11. over all, i thought it was better than the first one, and really well done.

loved it.

toddler's eye view

funny little surprises from the camera tonight.

ethan must have gotten ahold of my camera.

spencer is composing a song, taylor is doing his homework, very observant.

some artstic takes on ordinary things around the house

even some self portaits!

(he must be taking lessons from mom)

this is my favorite - what is he trying to say with this face?

over all i thought it was so funny how i could tell from these photos that he really was trying to take photos of specific things. i don't really think of his brain working like this, but i was wrong.

he must get his great eye from his mother.

i'm a quilter! i quilt!

tonight, i'm feeling a little like bob when he went sailing for the first time.

i'll tell you why...

for about a month now, i've been seeing a lot of this...

...and i love it!

i'm not much of a sew-er, but i've always wanted to learn. especially quilting, i just adore a well-made quilt and have always wanted to learn this beautiful skill.  about a month ago i was in our local quilt shop admiring all the stitched up goodness, lost my mind, and signed up for a quilting class! what the?! the lady promised it was a good class for a beginner, a very "forgiving" quilt because at the end you throw it in the wash, let it frey and it hides all of your mistakes.

and so, i picked out the fabric, went to the class, and tonight, i finally finished my

VERY FIRST QUILT! 

it was not easy, especially going to the class. it as a panic attack waiting to happen.
i was so intimidated, especially by the sewing machine, and i knew immediately that i was a fish out of water. i had butterflies in my stomach, and allie, the real sewer in our house, called me three times during the class to make sure i was doing ok. i should have checked her out of school and made her come with me!

but, like bob, i conquered my fear, wrangled the sewing machine and got it done. it feels so good!

i pulled it out of the wash tonight, and the lady was right, all the freying that took place added a ton of charm and made it harder to see all the bumps i hit along the way. it's adorable!

i am so happy with how it turned out, i already bought fabric for the next one.

i'm quilting! i'm quilting!

thanks bob.

just plain silly

after a night of panini making for dinner,

ethan found a funny mirror in the top of the panini maker.

he found it particularly hillarious to pinch his bottom lip and chin together.

and he kept making this same face over and over.

cracking himself up every time without fail.

you could say it was his favorite.

but this one was mine.

he keeps us young

it's a good thing we have a four year old around the house on a day like halloween.

the teenagers all went in different directions to go to parties of their own, mom had to hand out candy, so someone has to stick around to take dad trick-or-treating!

otherwise, he might get bored.

how about the cutest buzz ever? that should keep him busy.

to infinity, and beyond!

sixty nine inch legs

it was really nice and helpful of allie on saturday to rake up a giant pile of leaves.

ethan thought so too, and wasn't intimidated by his pajama wardrobe one bit while he jumped...

and jumped....

and even dove.

a few minutes later, allie comes in to tell me that she thinks ethan has grown a lot lately, his legs seem especially long. which i'm thinking to myself is ridiculous because he's kind of small for his age.

then i looked outside, saw the sly look on ethan's face and giggled.

it was all taylor's idea. and all of taylor's 5'9 body.

sometimes i worry about ethan being the tail-ender in this family and spending his days without other playmates around him.

other times i think he is the luckiest kid in the world to have three much older sibblings who enjoy entertaining and making him laugh so much.

camouflage

this studdly guy, my youngest brother brandon, turned twenty-eight last saturday.

he celebrating his birthday during his first weekend at boot camp in fort knox, kentucky, because he joined the army. that's right, i said JOINED THE ARMY. at first when he told me his plan, i really questioned his sanity. then, i realized, it's something he just feels like he needs right now in his life. something he just needs to do. and i respect that. i mean, who can argue with that?

we had a big family party on the saturday before he left as a sort of send-off to one of our favorite people.  lots of silliness ensued. (more photos  and videos coming later)

 we also had brandon and my parents over for a little family dinner on sunday, we laughed, but we also cried, because seven months is a long time.

lucky for us, we found out that he gets a two-week break from boot-camp over christmas, so that made it a little easier to see him off at the airport.

i think he'll be wearing his camos next time we see him though, so we might have a hard time finding him.

love you little bro.

take care of yourself.

the big trade in

happy big guy birthday to little E.

we've been talking about this big guy birthday for months now - mainly me trying to explain that his birthday is after taylors,dads, moms, allie's and halloween. and him telling me what kind of toys he wants as presents. also, that four year olds don't have binkies, and that on his birthday he would need to throw them in the garbage in exchange for his gifts. sort of like a toddler version of the "cash for clunkers"  ya, i know, we are the meanest parents ever.

except, he did fine. took the whole bowl of binks out to the garbage can and pitched them in one at a time.

(i can't believe i'm posting a photo of my disgusting garabage can.)

he was excited actually, he even did that funny little dance he does when he sends the cars down the little garage track. he got to the last one, gave it one last suck for old times' sake...

...and then pitched that one too.

i was most worried about bed time, but i just got him tucked in, and other than that it took a little longer to settle him down, so far so good. thank goodness we still have blanket - blankets don't affect your orthodontia bill.

but i think he thought it was worth the trade in-

for the woody and rc car from toy story that he's been asking me for since he saw it at the disney store in JUNE! he's nothing if he isn't persistant. at least he knows what he wants eh?

love this little guy.

happy birthday little e. you've made the last four years a lot of fun for our whole family.

i love you.