Pumpkin Time

We took the boys to pick out a pumpkin today. Noah magically turned his into a Pirate! I have a feeling the pirate will lose all his body parts and accessories before Halloween even gets here. Once Reid discovers they're removable...IT'S OVER! Big brother is not going to to like it.

Reid Loves the Environment

Reid has decided to go green! Wouldn't this make a cute advertisement for Crest?

Home Rennovation

We have made a few changes to our house this past month. We ripped out our fireplace and had an entertainment center built in to the wall. We absolutely love it! Our fireplace was really nice, but we never used it. It was a wasted wall in our living room. Now our living room seems so much bigger. We also had our carpet ripped out and had stained concrete put in our living room. It looks amazing! It was a real pain because we had to move out of our house for a week, but we're glad we did it. We actually enjoyed the time at Nana and Pop's house and at Gramma and Pa's. Thanks for letting us shack up!

Trip to Gramma & Pa's House

We took a little trip to Rod's parents last weekend. It's always nice and relaxing to experience country living for a few days. As you can see Noah clearly enjoys being in the country and running around in his undies! Rod and Noah enjoyed fishing in Pa's pond. Noah caught a big catfish. He was pretty excited about it!

Motherhood Trials

Do you ever just feel like you're in a pit and you can't seem to get yourself out? Well, I've definitely been there recently. I'm overwhelmed with being a mommy...the house is a wreck, the kids are out of control, tantrums all day long, someone constantly needs a snack, drink, or a diaper changed...it's always something. In turn, all of these things send me spiraling downward into "THE PIT". The pit of self-pity, the pit of I'm not good at this job, the pit of searching for answers that I'm never going to find in earthly things. The list could really go on and on, because it's a very deep pit. I'm not "down in the dumps"...it's not something that people can see on the outside. In my heart though, I know I'm in "THE PIT". I know when my heart is out of check and out of balance.


It's naptime for Reid and rest time for Noah and normally I would spend the entire time occupying myself on the computer, cleaning the house, or talking on the phone, cooking, anything to keep myself busy. Today, I felt an overwhelming calling from the Lord. He said, come spend some time with me and let's talk. So, I went into my quiet and dirty bedroom and took the much needed time to just sit at the feet of Jesus and pray. I poured out my heart of frustration. Then I turned to a devotion book and the holy spirit spoke very loudly through the writer of the book....the devotion was about finding joy even in the midst of difficult circumstances. While circumstances could certainly be worse, sometimes just being a mommy and dealing with kids temperaments can be "difficult" circumstances (for me it can anyway..it can rock my world!). Can anyone else relate? Then I turned to Hebrews and read God's word, after all, that is the only place that I can truely find answers on how to get out the PIT. Here's what I read...in Hebrews 12:1 ....and let us strip off every weight that slows us down and easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish. Oh....that was so refreshing to me today! I was thirsty and tired and that was just the drink that I needed to encourage me to climb up out of this funky pit of negativity. I also realize that the things and people that I reach for to give me encouragement every day...things like friends, exercise, the computer, Rod, my family, my boys....just don't do it for me. I have to go to God..he's the only one who can truely understand me and meet me with strong enough arms to lift me up out of the PIT. I felt compelled to share this on the blog today. It encourages me just to type out my feelings. I hope this can encourage you too!

1st day of Preschool

Noah had his first day of Preschool at Warm World last week. He loved it! I was a little nervous, because he somtimes has a hard time with change. He's had the same teacher at Mother's Day out for the past two years. I thought that going in to a new room with a new teacher might be challenging for him. Fortunately, it didn't seem to phase him. I asked him to give me a kiss goodbye and he wouldn't . It's already started..kissing mom bye isn't cool anymore! Makes me so sad. He has 3 of his good friends in his class. He and his buddy Adam are 110% boy. They broke their teacher in good on the first day. Noah said he and Adam were pretending to throw up during lunch time. Oh my...boys will be boys!

Reid also had his first official day of Mother's Day Out. He jumped right out of my arms to get in there to play with the kids. He loves to play! They both had a good day. Mom enjoyed going to the dentist and having lunch with a friend.

End of Summer 2008

The Smith family went out with a bang for the Summer of 2008. We took a trip to Big Cedar Lodge on Tablerock Lake for a little family fun. We had a blast! Noah loves to go to Big Cedar..or should I say he loves to go anywhere that he can experience the outdoors. Reid also enjoyed splashing around in the pool. The hightlight of our trip was going out on a boat and riding a ski tube. Noah and Reid had their first boat ride. They took it like champs. Guess..we'll just have to get a boat! (wink, wink) We also saw the best fireworks show we've ever seen. We had the perfect "Norman Rockwell" moment (as Rod says...I'm always wanting things to be perfect) in the hot tub watching the fireworks over the Lake. It was truely amazing. It was a sweet time for our family. I will always remember Noah being 3 and Reid being 14 months in the hot tub at Big Cedar...It truely was a Norman Rockwell moment. Only moms understand this sort of thing.