Spooky Smiths

What a fun party we had today! With delicious, spooky snacks and treats, games for the kids, cookie decorating, and tractor rides with Grandpa Sherm on this perfectly beautiful fall day.

the food and set-up were splendid for our Halloween lunch-party


Cares playing "pin the face on the giant jack-o-lantern"

Star Wars trio

Tractor rides

HP

Random Bentley smile--but I love the fall leaves in the background and the orange crepe paper on the trailer.

Pics from our Hallow's Eve coming soon...

Happy Halloween!!

Pumpkin Carving

ready to scrape out seeds (a part Cares does not enjoy...)

digging in deep (a part Beans loves!)

carving with the Emerys--we made Russ do his home teaching over pumpkin guts...

Cares' final product: a kitty pumpkin...again :)

Bentley's spooky jack-o-lantern

and all on a snowy, snowy day

LeBarie Scaries

Halloween party with our LeBaron cousins at Nanny and Grandpa's house:

My best grandkid shot--and only the babies are looking! Classic. Look closely on the left or you'll miss "Storm Shadow" Tiago (from GI Joe)

Porter was happier to just pose for his own picture

Livs and her witchy mama :) And you can sneak a peek at baby Finch in the background

cute fall baby

a fun mask craft inspired by this and this

My hubby deserves the credit on these FYI--I just bought the materials and handed them over to him saying something like "make a cool craft for the kids with these." An hour later they were ready. He is just cool like that...

The Farm

A crisp fall morning at Wheeler Farm

with Heidi and Max

Max was thrilled to be there...

Enjoying our last days (day?) of this gorgeous fall weather

My kids are total posers...and I love it

Up To

What we've been up to this week:

I taught joy school at my house on Tuesday and focused on "L is for Leaves." We read one of my favorite fall books, Leaf Man, and then the kids made their own "leaf mans." Cares, Livs and I went on a leaf treasure hunt while Bentley was at school on Monday to prepare.



Bentley dressed Livs up in a cowboy hat.


We had a fun little neighborhood Halloween Party and debuted the Luke and Leia costumes.


Got my bedroom closet in pristine condition. Finally. And the kids keep going in it to find my boots and play "Target" in them.

New Nephew

Mason Tye Smith made his debut just minutes before midnight last night. Sweet little guy sure gave his mama a run for her money yesterday. But we are so excited he finally made it into the world. Isn't he darling? That ear is the exact same shape as my brother's...I love it.

Pumpkin Patch

An October FHE classic:

Our stay was very short-lived because the storms hit just as we unloaded from the car. So very fall-ish though to bundle up amid wind and rain. And we got some great pumpkins--Bentley's is HUGE! Can't wait to see what he and Joseph create out of it...

8 Months

oh this face makes me laugh--classic Olivia :)

We went to regional conference early today (at 10:00 am instead of 1:00 pm) over at my sister's stake center. I am not a glutton for punishment--if I don't have to ruin miss Olivia's nap time for church meetings I am certainly not going to. And she's been napping soundly for 2 hours already...sweet little baby...who is supposed to be the focus of this entry. Today she is 8 months old. I thought I'd just wait to post another big update on her next month--after the 9 month weigh in--but she has suddenly turned into this "big girl" in so many ways and I wanted to document more on our beautiful blue-eyed Livvie Lous.



1) Our family favorite is Livvie's constant jabbering. "Dada" is repeated about a hundred times a day but she throws in a "baba" and some "mum-mums" here and there. Her voice is usually super high pitched and we get a kick out of hearing her (check out the video at the end...)

2) She is also getting really good at sitting up which seems like such a huge accomplishment to me and yet she has 3 cousins just one month older who have been doing that for ages and are all proficient crawlers by now. Our Livs is taking her time and just as happy as can be to hang out and entertain herself in one spot. She can wait as long as she wants to start getting mobile if you ask me...

3) Olivia loves her brother and sister. And especially loves funny Bentley. Somehow that boy knows all the right things to make her laugh and squeal with delight. I love that this 3rd baby just adores having siblings around and enjoys them talking to her and helping her play with toys. The other day Olivia woke up from her nap and so I sent the kids in to her room to open the shutters and say hello while I fixed her a bottle. When I went to find them, all 3 of them were in the crib laying by each other! How a 5 year old fits in that bed is beyond me but it was just too funny how happy my darlings were to all snuggle up in the baby's bed together.

4) Olivia's first tooth popped through last week. And that seems to be the official signal that my baby is no longer a baby. Well--she is but she's not a tiny one anymore. We just love her so much--such a sweet little soul in our home.



Caroline's cameo is pretty funny. Just look at how Livs "loves" that tight hug from her big sis...

Another List

Remember my post for more order last month? It totally motivated me to action and so I am posting a new list. Try to ignore the fact that I still need to organize my closet...

1) (ahem) Organize bedroom closet.
2) Take Beans and Cares to the dentist.
3) Finish 3rd Blurb book archiving my blog.
4) Study and discuss recent conference talks with my husband (hopefully 2 a week.)

And that is all I feel like holding myself accountable to right now :)

Swiss Holiday

Zermatt Resort--as close to Switzerland as I'm getting this year...

I have to admit I was a horrible photographer this weekend, sometimes forgetting the camera in the hotel room, other times forgetting to actually use it, and then oft times, sending the big kids off with their daddy and grandparents to swim, wander the grounds, eat lunch and so on while Olivia and I took naps. All those naps sounds pretty dreamy actually--except for the fact that we were making up for tons of lost sleep during the night. Combining teething, a lingering cough, and a Graco with an 8 month old made for a bit of a disaster come the wee hours of the night.

Sleeping aside, we had a wonderful weekend. Three cheers for Nanny and Grandpa Neil who doted on our children nonstop. They played tons of games with them, took them swimming, fed them meals, gave them special prizes, bought them gelato--twice, and ended up sleeping with all of them at one point or another. We loved having Ruth Ann and Neil all to ourselves during our stay.

I have to admit that my massage was quite a highlight. I went in to it with a sore back from a restless night and an ever growing baby that seems to get heavier each day. And I left that massage feeling like a new woman--a relaxed, calm, ache-free woman. It was amazing and I have decided that I need those more often. Like once a month or so :) The calm and relaxed version of me didn't last too long once we found our crazy kids again but my back has continued to feel great. Such a treat!

Once we checked out on Saturday I realized we'd never left the resort during our 3 day stay--an arrangement I loved because it was so easy and convenient to do so. We ate at the restaurants there, hung out together in our rooms and around the grounds and when the kids were all sleeping on Friday night, Joseph, Neil and I wandered down the hall to the common area and played trains (Nanny listened for the not-so-soundly sleeping kids next door and ended up with Bentley and Olivia in her room before long--thank you Ruth Ann!)