Thanksgiving, Part Two

Then we headed to Aunt Cathy's house for Thanksgiving Smith style.

Classic Kate.

Maggie brought all her fun nail stuff to do my nails for me as a birthday present, and she brought some glittery polishes for the girls. The girls were really excited, much more so than reflected my Kate's expression in this photo.

And, as usual, Annie would not leave Brian alone. He spent a very long time swinging her and chasing her and generally entertaining her. After we leave Thanksgiving over there, I always feel like I owe Maggie and Brian something. They have to be exhausted by my kids every year. Thanks guys! You're the best cousins!

And finally, it was great to see our cousin Megan this year, too. The girls had a lot of fun together!



Thanksgiving, Part One

We went to Cleveland for Thanksgiving this year. We had a wonderful day, and we were so thankful to see so much our wonderful family.

First, we did Ralls family Thanksgiving.

Ella, Mallory, Annie, Kate and Madelyn getting ready to feast.

Adam joins the table! I always seem to miss Adam in the pictures. I think it's because he's overwhelmed by the girls and tries to avoid them, or just sits back and lets them all go crazy. Either way, he's smart. :)

All of them. It is nearly impossible to get a picture of them all. So, it's Brady, Kate, Annie, Mallory, Ella, Madelyn, Evie and Adam.

Evie and her groupies :) Madelyn and Mallory were such sweet little friends to Evie all day. They played with her and hugged her and were quite enamored.

Thankful

The girls did a little turkey project before Thanksgiving. They made turkeys and wrote things they are thankful for on the feather. They added many feathers and came up with these little beauties. (Yes, Kate's turkey has two beaks...)

Also, they were not in a picture-taking mood.

Kate is thankful for Georgie (her stuffed monkey), Daddy, her bed, Annie's bird Jewell, Annie and Evie, Georgie again, her lovey, her blankie, lovey and blankie again, and Mama. In no particular order ;)

Annie wrote all the words herself. She is thankful for the hammock at Gigi and Grandpa's house, Eve, Mama, her kitty, her baby doll, Daddy, her blankie and her lovey. She also added a flower to her turkey's head to make sure we all knew it was a girl turkey.



Little Spoons

Annie has been going through a phase lately where she is scared of everything. Everything. First it was monsters, than it was our house burning down, and now it is a stranger coming into the house while we are sleeping. (OK, that last one is a fear of mine, too, so I'm not judging on that one). She HATES to be alone anywhere at any time, and she especially hates it at bedtime. Which is fun for everyone. One thing that often makes her happy is sleeping with Kate. Kate is not always into that plan, but she was last night. Matt took this picture of them this morning before he left for work.

How sweet is that?

And funny. Kate's hair is always that insane when she sleeps. When she wakes up, it looks like she just left the salon. Perfectly gorgeous. I am so jealous.

How Quickly They Learn

Evie started shaking her head "No" recently. It is pretty funny what she decides to say "No" to. I got this cute little video of her the other day, when I was trying to catch some other tricks she does. Ignore my annoying voiceover. :)

Nine Months

Eve is nine months old!

It's actually been a rather rough month. Evie has had a tough time lately.

Does this look like the face of a hungry, double ear infected little girl?

Because it is.

Evie has been rather fussy this month. She hasn't slept very much at all (so neither have Matt nor I). It is so unlike her. She was having some feeding issues and the return of her well documented pooping issues (don't worry, I'm not going to go into it). And the other night, Matt and I discussed the possibility she might have an ear infection, but dismissed it.

Today we find out that yes, she is in fact in need of more daily calories, and she has a double ear infection. And yet, I bring her home from the doctor, and she spends 30 minutes laughing hysterically at her sisters on her bedroom floor. Best.Baby.Ever.

She continue to cruise on the furniture, eat any solid food we'll allow her and give me near heart attacks by trying to climb up the main stairs. She is so happy. Even when she doesn't sleep. Like this morning. She had just fallen asleep for a nap, so I left Annie and Kate coloring in the kitchen to put the carseats back in the car. I came back in and she was screaming her head off. Kate looks at me and says, "Sorry. I wake Evie up." Upon further probing, it turns out she did wake Evie up because "it [was] morning time." Obviously no one should be sleeping during morning time. So back up Eve went to play and cause trouble for another four hours. :)

Either way, Evie is awesome. We love her.

Happy Birthday Kate!

Our sweet, silly, tough little Kate turned THREE years old yesterday.

Kate is a wonderful three year old. She adores Annie. She wants to do everything Annie does, just the way Annie does it. And she equally adores Evie. Every morning, as soon as she sees Eve, she runs over to hug and kiss her. Then she says, "Mom, I love Evie." She is so sweet with her, though not always gentle.

At three years old, Kate talks and talks and talks. She leaves the "s" sound off anyword that starts with a compound "s" sound, making "sprinkles" into "prinkles" or  "squirt gun" into "quirt gun." It is rather adorable. She also calls graham crackers "damn crackers" and doesn't hear her mistake to correct it. It is rather funny.

Kate has always been our most dramatic child. She makes you work for everything and she is suspicious of everything. Everything. She is stubborn and persistent, and often these qualities pay off for her. She is also the most loving, silly, funny girl. She loves princesses and ballet and board games and crafts. Also, she has the most gorgeous blonde hair. :) Kate can be so generous. She shares so easily with both her sisters and is already so considerate of other people.

We love our Katie Bug!

 Her birthday party was last night. She wanted a Rapunzel party and to eat pizza. Easy enough!

She is smart, too. Who needs a spoon when you  have perfectly fine hands?!

I read on this blog about wish lanterns like in Tangled. I bought them, but then was so nervous we were going to burn one of our neighbor's houses down using them. Matt and my firefighter Dad assured me it would be fine. So we lit these awesome lanterns and watched them float away. It was amazing!!

My dad waiting for it to heat up enought to let go.

Floating away!

It was a really fun day for everyone. The perfect celebration for Kate.

Happy Birthday Kate!

We love you!

If You Liked the Halloween Post....

There is a resident group at the hospital that puts on family events throughout the year. We went to their Bowling Spooktacular last weeked. We were debating going, but once Annie overheard us mention bowling, the decision was pretty much made. The girls and Matt got all dressed up in their costumes, and we were all ready to go. Then, Annie and Kate begged me/guilted me into dressing up, as well. They even helped Matt get me a perfect Shaggy shirt. The things I do for these kids...

The whole gang. I drew the line at doing my hair.

Daphne and Velma getting ready to bowl some balls.

Annie told me that every time she stopped walking, she had to stand like this. Because that's what Dapne does. Obviously.

How cute are those little bowling feet? :)

Velma.

Shaggy and Scooby.

At the end of the night, we actually won a prize for Best Group Costume. It was a $20 gift card to Target! And a night of bowling. And some fun with friends. Good times.