Birthdays

Wow, October has been crazy. This is the month of birthdays around here. Kaleb turned 3 at the beginning of the month, and Alana turned 1 this week. It is so hard to believe! Time really does fly by. Especially this last year. So we've been having parties like crazy around here. Kaleb was really into having friends for a party this year, which was fun. He is seeming like such a big boy now. He is totally potty trained. Wohoo!!!! I must say it's very nice only have one kid in diapers, although now we do have to go to every bathroom in every store. Oh well, small price to pay.

Alana's birthday was a lot of fun. We just did a family party, which was enough excitement for her. She had one of her favorite dinners, homemade mac and cheese, and ate with gusto as always. She was excited about her presents, but she got pretty overwhelmed when we kept showing her more stuff when all she wanted to do was play with the first thing. It's so fun to buy presents, but they always like the smallest, cheapest thing anyways. She was starting to get a little fussy until we presented her with her cake. She took a small taste of the frosting, and then dug in eating by the handfull. She had frosting in her hair and all over her face. It was clearly enjoyed. She was pretty proud of herself. She even licked her princesses that were on her cake.

She also took her first steps over a week ago. She still isn't walking much, but is perfectly capable. We have to bribe her or take something away and throw it on the couch or accross the room. I'm sure one of these days she'll just take off on us. We'll see. She doesn't seem as motivated as Kaleb was to walk once he figured it out.

We are also moving at the end of the month. Crazy! We are very excited though, since it means more space and the kids will have their own rooms. Yay! That should simplify bedtime and naptime quite a bit around here. Right now it doesnt' seem real that we are moving, which makes it hard to get motivated to pack! Our new house has a huge yard and a small creek to play in, and is on a dead end street which is great. I think the kids will really enjoy the extra space!

So that is what's new in smithland. Very busy! We are so thankful for all the blessings that God has been giving us lately. We really feel that this move is from him, even as quickly as everything has come together.

Busy

The last few weeks have been busy around here. We spent the first week in August on vacation in Colorado for Wes and Stefanie's wedding. It was such a great time! The kids did amazingly well for how crazy the trip was, and it was so wonderful to see friends for the first time in years. And of course, it's always fun to show of the kids. Funny thing about vacations with little kids. For some reason, it didn't seem like much of a vacation. I got home more tired than when we left! Oh well.

Dave's work is really starting to pick up in preparation for apples starting soon. He has been running all over in town and out the last few weeks. This time of year is definately my least favorite. I will be glad when harvest time is over!

The kids are all over the place of course. Kaleb has been having quite a few playdates lately, which he really enjoys. He asks to go to someone's house every day. Alana is crawling all over the place, and getting into everything. She can pull up on things, although sometimes still misses. I think crawling may be a pretty brief thing for her since she is still much more intent on walking. One of these days I half expect her to just take of and walk across the room! Alana and Kaleb are fighting over toys like crazy. Anything he has, she wants, and vice versa. We're still working on the whole "sharing" thingwith Kaleb. He'll take something away from her, and she'll chase him down and take it right back. It's funny to watch, although it makes for a lot of me playing referee. I guess that's what I'm here for. At least for now they are always willing to hug and make up.

So we have had a fun, busy week in the Smith House. Our friends Ben and Brielle came to visit early in the week.






We had so much fun catching up, and playing with the kids. We took the kids to the park to feed the ducks and play. Alana wasn't so sure about the ducks, but Kale loves to feed them, (and chase them). On our way home, Ben managed to rescue a kitten that was stuck way up in a tree. We checked all around the neighborhood, but no one claimed her. Unfortunately we aren't allowed pets in our house. She was way too cute to abandon at the park, so I talked my mom into taking her. It made for an eventful trip to the park.















Alana is officially crawling, although only when she is really motivated to get something. Especially if that something is her brother's. Of course, he's bopping her in the head while she's trying to crawl, so I guess it evens out. Sort of. She does a mix of the army crawl, the traditional, and the bear crawl. What's scary is that she is trying to push herself up to standing from the bear crawl. She hasn't figured out how to pull herself up on furniture yet, but she's working on other options.

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So, my noble idea of being able to update this often isn't working out quite as I hoped. I guess better late than never, right? We have been busy around here lately. Dave is still working quite a bit. Things have slowed down with cherry season being done, but other things are picking up now.

Alana is crawling, more or less. She still goes backwards better than forwards in an actual crawl. Going forward, she mostly does the army crawl to get where she needs to go. Either way, she is getting around more making her a much happier girl. She is also pulling herself up pretty successfully. Most often on me. I don't think she knows that she can pull up on furniture yet. Of course, I have forgotten what it's like to have a crawling baby around and am having to start re-babyproofing the house. She and Kale get along well most of the time, although Kale still steps on her, or shoves her down when he is in a mood. It would almost be easier to discipline him if she cried. It usually doesn't upset her. It's hard to convince him that he's hurting her by laying on top of her when she's giggling.

I am now a Pampered Chef Consultant. A friend talked me into it to help make some extra money to help get us into a house. Either way, their stuff is great, and I get it for free! We'll see how it works out. August is the first month I am starting, since July is almost done already! So if anybody needs anything, let me know!

Dave and I celebrated our 5 year anniversary yesterday. It is hard to believe how fast everything has gone by! We were able to go out to dinner, (with no kids of course), and then spent the rest of the evening at a class for church. We are hoping that later in the summer if things slow down we can actually get away. A nice dream at least.

okay, so most of the pictures didn't want to load today. I'll try again later. We've got to get a faster internet connection!

So all is well and busy in the Smith house.



Alana on Kale's John Deer

Pictures and Updates

It is so hard to believe that it is already July. This summer is going by fast. Dave is keeping extremely busy with work. Sometimes it's hard for the kids to have him gone so much, but that will be the norm for summers. Alana is getting closer to crawling, although she is frustrated for now with not being able to get where she wants. She thinks she is ready to stand and walk on her own. Kaleb is running around, talking a mile a minute as usual. They both love to play outside no matter what the weather is.











Alana was dedicated on June 18th, Father's Day. We were so thankful to have family able to be there. Kaleb kept running on and off the stage while Pastor Jon was talking. Alana was very happy and quiet for the whole thing.

After church, we all went out to breakfast to celebrate the dads. It was so fun to watch the babies interact, being so close in age.

Here's Alana in her Dedication dress. She wouldn't wear the hankerchief on her head for more than 10 seconds of course, but it was cute for the picture.

New Blog

hi Everyone
So we are going to use this as our temporary home on the web until we can get a website of our own operational. Hopefully this will be a little more practical to have the time to get it done for now. Anyways, so we will be using this to post news and pictures of the kids and the like. Feel free to comment or email us to tell us what you think!

these aren't the most recent pictures of the kids, but they're the best I've got downloaded. I'll work on getting some more posted soon.