The Smith Wedding

The immediate Smith Family

This past weekend we were invited to attend Brian's brother's wedding. The girls were so excited about getting dressed up, wearing their "wed-din shoes", and getting to dance the night away.

Brad and Andrea have been together for just over 6 years I believe. It was a beautiful wedding. Brian was the co-best man. It is amazing how well we all clean up =0)

Karleigh and her cousins taking a break from dancing.

I guess now I can no longer write in cards - from the Smith Family - because there is technically another one.

Here is a pic of Brian and I.

Cookies for Sale

Madison was playing so nice with the play dough this past weekend. After a bit, I checked on her to see what she was doing. I hadn't heard a peep out of here in awhile, and well - you know how kids are - quiet is not always the best thing sometimes. Quiet sometimes equals I am doing something that I am not supposed to be doing.

To my surprise, she had "baked" several kinds of cookies, and was playing bake sale. What a smart cookie. She would ask me how many cookies I wanted, and then tell me my total.

She played all

afternoon like this.

Almost to the point of

the play dough drying out.

Michigan's First Snow!

Boy - were we surprised when we left church Sunday morning and there were flurries in the air. Karleigh squealed in joy, "let's go home and put our boots on so that we can build a snowman!" I tried to explain to her that we needed a bit more than the few flakes that were flying in the air.

Then as the day went on, the flakes would start again - and stop. Poor Karleigh was so disappointed.

Then - at supppertime - it happened. The snow came down harder - and actually stuck to the ground. Within what seemed like minutes - everything was white.

Karleigh begged me - can we go outside? Please? I told her to grab her coat and hat - and we would go outside on the driveway for a few minutes.

Here are some pics of her enjoying the first snowfall. So exciting for a little kids. I guess it makes us appreciate the little things in life.

I am glad that she likes the snow - it sounds like it is supposed to be a wintry winter.

Trick or Treat!!!

We had beautiful weather in Michigan for the trick or treating on Halloween. It was 67 during the day -and quite comfortable at night. The kids actually got to wear - just their costumes!

Mommy started the day out - by going to Maddie's school to run the Halloween bingo and watch the kid's parade. Maddie was very excited to have Mommy there. The prizes were a big hit with the kids too! We had pencils, bubbles, play dough, bracelets, parachute guys and vampire teeth.

Then we were off to Josh and Sheri's to meet up with some of our cousins. We went around 2 subdivisions in our search for candy. It was a lot of fun.

Look at all of my candy Mom~!

In Search of the Great Pumpkin

Here we are - the final countdown to Halloween. And in that same great tradition - it is time to carve the pumpkins.

The girls were excited to pick out that special pumpkin, as well as that particular pattern that they wanted carved into their pumpkin.

We started out on the floor. Each girl eagerly handing Mommy the tools to open up the pumpkin. They were looking forward to seeing the big pumpkin seeds that awaited inside of the pumpkin.

Maddie and Kar both dove into those pumpkins and scooped out the seeds. They were careful to distinguish between the "guts" and the "seeds", because the seeds we were going to keep and roast in the oven later.

Maddie chose a cat outline for her pumpkin. Daddy carved hers. Karleigh chose a ghost pattern for hers, and Mommy carved hers.

Here are some pics of the big event!


Here is Maddie (doesn't she look excited??) Taking the guts out. (We are in a phase right now - that if she does not want her pic taken - watch out!)

Caught her with gloves on - that only lasted 1-2 scoops - and then they were getting in the way.

Here is Karleigh posing with her pumpkin. All smiles. Loved to dig out the guts.

There was pumpkin everywhere!

Here is Maddie, Mommy and Kar. Posing for the camera.

The girls are getting a lesson on what is the best way to scoop.

Here is Karleigh and her finished ghost.

Latest Happenings

Well, can you believe that it is already October? Where did the summer go? Here is the latest on Mads and Kar.....


Mads has her last soccer game this coming weekend. It has been quite an adjustment this season, with moving up to the next age bracket. She hasn't scored many goals.....but she is holding her own with the older girls. I know that Mom and Dad are having a hard time sitting down on the sidelines.....so you can usually find us hopping up and down the sidelines. For those in Wisconsin, we videotaped her last two games, and we will be sending that home for you to watch.


She is battling hearing problems....AGAIN. And not just the normal I am six and I am not listening to you! The ENT doctor said that her hearing in her left ear is the equivalent of having a finger stuck in your ear - and trying to hear. (And that fine feature has made soccer a challenge too). It sounds like we will have an appointment just before Halloween, and the doctor will decide what needs to be done. It may be another round of tubes again. But, in the mean time, the teacher is watching her to make sure that she doesn't fall behind.



Maddie is reading up a storm, and I am told by other moms that she is so smart. (Yeah 0 I know that she is smart, I just didn't want to be the braggy mom =0) It amazes me what they are teaching kids in first grade! Counting money, spelling lists, graphs, etc. We have graduated to sometimes taking hot lunch - which is a treat for mom!



Karleigh is our problem child. Sweet as pie one second.....and downright evil the next. She is the first one to shower loves and kisses, but if you want her to do something, and it is not on her terms WATCH OUT! Her favorite pastime is digging holes at daycare. She comes home SO dirty. She has been visiting the Hippo Preschool room and loves to see her friends.



Most of you know that she got into my nail polish. Six different shades. All over my carpet, the comforter, her new pjs, my sheets and pillowcases, and the bathroom floor. She not only had her toes painted, but her entire foot and pieces of her hair. Mommy was not amused. Daddy gave her a bath to get her cleaned up, while Mommy used the carpet cleaner to get everything else cleaned up. Needless to say, 98% of the carpet came clean! Amazing!



Karleigh still loves her babies. In fact most days she has a baby connected to her at all times. Such a good mommy. Loves to get into the candy jar. And LOVES to brush her teeth until you need sunglasses to look at her.



This coming weekend I think that we will figure out what the girls are doing for Halloween. Kar wants to be a princess (surprise, surprise) and Mads says Little Red Riding Horse (Hood).

Maddie's 1st Day of First Grade

Maddie was so excited for her first day of school.

So much preparation for a 6 year old.

We packed her lunch the night before. She insisted that she take cold lunch with her new lunch box, instead of the "nasty" hot lunch. We made a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, applesauce, blueberries, crackers, and fruit snacks.

Then, we were on to pick out the 1st day outfit. The forecast today is 90. A hot one for all. I have never seen Maddie pop out of bed so fast. She was off getting dressed, doing her hair, eating breakfast and then brushing her teeth.

When we got to daycare, Karleigh and I walked Maddie out to the group waiting for the bus. All of the kids were pretty excited. They were showing off their new backpacks, their school supplies and new shoes. I swear that half of the 1st graders backpacks were bigger than they were.

And then there were off. Off to start the day.

We officially have a first grader!

Our Trip to the Great Northern Woods

~*~* Summer Vacation ~*~*

We are back in Michigan after a wonderful trip to Northern Wisconsin. The girls had so much fun! Although - after a week of sleeping in beds way too short for a 6 foot tall body - it was nice to come home to our own bed and shower.

All of the swimming, eating, campfires, fishing and relaxing. In fact - I do believe that the girls never even left the resort, until the morning we were ready to head out. Heather got a chance to relax and hang out with her cousin Lesley - which hardly ever happens anymore.

Madison was a little fish in the water. It didn't matter that it was a cooler week - only in the mid 70's - she was in that water all day everyday. Karleigh loved to go around and plant her "plants" in the dixie cups. And I think if you asked them - one of their favorite things was taking baths in the sink!

Awesome margaritas were had. And the beer was flowing pretty good too =0) You will have to ask the boys about that! Dad even got to tend bar in a northern hangout! We tried to get Lesley to do the list......and it seemed like the one lazyboy in our cabin was the "I'm drunk" spot.

Brian and Heather got to go and tackle a hilly golf course. That was quite the experience. The golf carts even had GPS! I think that it was well worth it to tote the golf clubs 450 miles. We got paired up with a couple from Chicago....and after the first hole - we thought - my gosh - we are playing with pros! It ended up working out okay - and we had a great time with them.

Here are some pictures. One is of Maddy and Kar in Auntie Claudia's parents pontoon boat.

Another is of the girls standing in the archway at our cabin that we stayed in.

Towards the end of the week, we traveled a half an hour north to Uncle Brad and Auntie Claudia's cabin. Unfortunately it was very cool and windy that day, so we did not do any tubing or swimming. We went for a relaxing pontoon ride, and hung out with the fam.

We have put the next trip to the cottage on the calendar!

Here is a pic from when we were home in June. As you can see from all of the kids, we have our hands full.

We are all counting down the days until the cottage. Looking forward to a slower pace of life, and to enjoy the outdoors.

I am looking forward to playing (and beating) the boys at horseshoes! =0)

Let's see if this works....

Here I am trying something new, to see if this works. I thought that this would be a great way to keep everyone connected with the happenings and the pictures of the girls. This is a test run, I will add more later