Already Missing Fall

Today was our first snow. I don't want winter to come! I enjoy Fall time in Michigan so much. it's absolutely gorgeous, beautiful leaves everywhere, great weather and lots of fun but there's always a little shadow hanging over Fall saying, "Winter's coming" and believe me that's a threat here. I swear Michigan Winters last for 6 months and it's sooooooo cold, dark and long . All right, everyone feeling cheery now?

Well, the threat of Winter reminded me that I never posted about our wonderful Fall family trip to upstate New York. We went with the same group we went to Niagara Falls with last year (the Collis and Savage families) plus the Smiths who were great additions to the fun. We rented one big cabin and just enjoyed each others company. There was lots of good food, good conversation and of course some good competition.

As you can see Keely had a fan in Anna (below)

Anna and Ben also got along really well until the last day or so when Anna started saying "I hit Ben now." Yep, she was just making the announcement that she was about to hit Ben. It was actually a great intimidation tactic and I'm sure that it was Ben's Karma, payback for all those innocent people he took on during his hitting stage. I was cracking up everytime she announced her plans.

The cabin had a huge yard complete with a a huge grassy play area (above), a fire pit (below) and a pier on the lake. The kids loved it!

On Friday we went into town and took a ride on a ski lift so we could see the beautiful leaves. The fall colors and fresh air was amazing. Oh, and apparently this little town is known for their grape pie (which I've never heard of) so of course we had to try it and I have to say it was pretty good.

Matthew and Keely were quite the hikers, I swear they could have kept going all day!

On Sunday we went and visited Palmyra and had a great time.

Visitor's Center at the Smith farm

Sacred Grove

Smith cabin

Visitor Center at Hill Cumorah

Yes We Can

While I'm so happy with the outcome of the election I know that not everyone is but I wanted to post a link to Obama's acceptance speech just in case anyone missed it. It's 18 minutes and definitely worth listening to. He's both gracious and inspiring and makes you proud to be part of this great country. One important thing that I think will come from this victory is an energy that we've been missing in America for a long time.

McCain was also very gracious in his comments and I really think that now that the fighting and bitterness of the campaigns is over there will be a great opportunity for both sides to work together. Today is a good day.

Halloween Scream

Here's some pictures from Halloween. Keely decided she wanted to be an angel and then said, "so mom, will you be the devil?" I was happy to oblige. Keely really was an angel on Halloween though. We got home earlier than planned from a party on Halloween night and there were still trick or treaters out but because we weren't planning to be home I hadn't bought any candy. Keely just dumped all her trick or treat candy in a bowl and said, "Let's just use mine!" And she was serious. I would have never done that as a kid!
My friend Elizabeth made Ben's Bam Bam costume along with his cousin Aviva's Pebbles costume. They were quite the cute pair, thanks Elizabeth!
We had a great Halloween with lots of activities and parties but my favorite part was actually the trick or treating.
When Ben figured out that he got candy he was super into going door to door. The funny thing was that instead of just taking the candy Ben was trying to trade people (see picture below).When the person at the door would give him something, he would just reach in his basket and try to give them something right back. I guess he figured, "hey, they're hooking me up, I'll hook them up!"

You Got Served

Hungry? Need an idea for dinner? Well you're in luck! (Great advertisement, huh?)

Seriously, my sister-in-law Kristin started a recipe blog not too long ago called You Got Served and it's fabulous! Kristin is passionate about food. She likes to eat it and make it and happens to have excellent taste so she's really the perfect person to do something like this. I turn to her blog pretty much any time I need an idea. Three of my favorites are Gary's Mac 'n Cheese, Flank Steak and Honey Lime Enchiladas. Check it out, you won't be disappointed!

Fall, Fairs and Cider Mills

Okay, I’m way behind on blogging so this is going back 2 weeks ago when my friend Jana and her family came to visit. They’re in Pittsburgh right now so we’re just a short 5 hour drive away, perfect! It’ll be even more perfect when they move back to Ann Arbor for Jason’s medical fellowship next year; it’s only 1 year long, but we’ll take it. It was so great to have them here!

Shauri and Kristin and kids joined us for some fun on Saturday and here’s some photos that our very talented Shauri took for us while we were out at the cider mill and the Dexter Days fair. Unfortunately we didn’t even think to get any “grown-up” pictures, but the kids are all we want to see anyway, right?

Thanks for the great time Smythes!

An Incompetent Granny…and other Keely funnies

The other day Keely and I were driving to get Mattie from the vet when Keely announced, “Mom, I’m only going to have one child.” I thought this was a strange way to start a conversation but just went with it.
“Oh really? Why?”
“Well, because if my husband and I ever want to go out of town for the weekend and drop the kids’ off at granny’s house (that would be me) I think you would do fine with 1 child, but 2 would just be out of control!!!”
Hmmm, thanks for the confidence Keely. I went on to assure Keely that she could have as many children as she wanted and promised that I could handle it but the fact remains that this slight could be interpreted in so many different ways.

Another fun moment was the other day when Keely walked over to the kitchen sink and turned to look at me disapprovingly while folding her arms across her chest. “Look mom, we’ve talked about this before; turn the faucet off. When are you going to start caring about our earth?!” I promise the faucet was barely dripping and I didn’t even know it was on but consider me well reprimanded!

One more story. We went on a road trip to upstate New York this last weekend and at one point Ben dropped his binki. Knowing that the road trip would be much more pleasant if he had his prize I took off my seat belt and then turned around to look for the needful thing when I hear, “Where did you learn that mom?”
“Learn what?”
“To take off your seat belt like that. Was it from Shauri or some other naughty person?”
Shawn and I both started cracking up about this. Shauri is Keely’s Aunt who often times tries to get Keely to try things a different way or “think outside the box” if you will. Looks like you shouldn’t go against what her mamma taught her Shauri! : )

Keely's Birthday Week

I am convinced that they (you know, the man) should change the word "birthday" to "birthweek." In my experience kids no longer have a day of festivities; between school, friends and family it seems to last the whole week. Keely's was no exception. She started the week by taking goody bags to school followed by a day (her actual birthday) of getting spoiled silly by getting to choose her whole day. Blueberry pancakes for breakfast, a surprise gift after school (an easel and art table), a movie at the theater with dad, play time at Max's, dinner at Red Robin and cake and ice cream with family that night. I think that she had a great day but after reminding me for the 100th time that it was her birthday and that she could choose/do anything she wanted that day I told her that I knew and she didn't have to remind me any more to which she replied, "But mom, that's what you do on Mother's Day." Touche.

After a little break from the celebrations Keely had her friend party on Saturday night. A "pretend sleepover" where everyone came in their pj's, and brought their favorite stuffed animal and sleeping bag. We started the party with pizza, followed by more cake (a Barbie cake that Keely had been begging for) and ice cream and had a scavenger hunt followed by slumber party games like "musical sleeping bags." Instead of someone getting out though I just told them if they didn't land on a sleeping bag they had to do a silly dance. The girls had fun with this and I suspect a couple of them were actually trying not to end with a sleeping bag. All in all I think everyone had a great time!



Happy Birthday sweet girl!