COLE'S BIRTHDAY

Here is Cole on his 5th birthday. He is opening up a present from Aunt Robin and Aunt Anne, Uncle Andy, and Justin.

It's Where the Wild Things Are and he now has a "Wild Thing"

He's so excited here!
He also got a 3$ gift card from Toys R Us courtesy of Jeoffery! Whoa! He was so excited! (Jeoffrey is the giraffe in all the Toys R Us commercials...)

Here's the party! We had a great time!!

Pinata time. Chris almost took a hit in the knees!
Carter pretending he is a "big boy!"

Chris and I gave Cole a new Raleigh bike. It's a bike he will use for a few years we hope! So the boys went out on a bike ride. We need to get a little carrier for Carter and then we can go as a family.

Back to the party!

This was after everyone had left and we were reading bed time stories...of course we read Where the Wild Things Are with the character. This is Cole's new favorite story among his favorite Dr. Seuss books. Carter was crawling around and knocked over Cole's toy hamper and then crawled inside!

Here he is laying on the toys...trying to find one...

I snatched a birthday hug and kiss.Cole then insists on sleeping with all his new toys. Among the favorites are Ultra Man from Japan. Grandpa Bob actually ordered it FROM Japan so all the packaging was in Japanese. Very cool! The 2 Japanese monsters are sleeping next to Ultra Man too.

Tomorrow is our party at the zoo and then a soccer game! I am loving life! Chris is too!

COLE IS 5!

It's with tears in my eyes that I say "Cole is 5!" I am both excited for him and also sad that the last five years have zooomed by so fast. I am so excited for him to grow but I am also trying to hold onto every minute of his childhood. I know someday he will be a teenager and he won't want to cuddle up in bed with me in the mornings or have me help him pick out his shirt to wear.

This morning we opened gifts and my Aunt Anne sent him a book, Where the Wild Things Are with a stuffed animal of one of the "wild things". Upon opening it Cole immediately climbed into my lap and asked me to read it to him. He was in his pajamas with crazy hair and morning breath. We read the book and he clutched his new stuffed toy with such excitement...then Chris served him a pancake breakfast on his favorite monkey plate. Cole smiled and giggled and told me, "Momma, I'm 5 today!"

This is what life is all about.

(he is wearing his "I'm 5 Today" sticker/badge from Grandpa Coke and Grandma Tamara. He was pretty excited to put that on and in fact waited until AFTER he had brushed his teeth so it wouldn't get dirty)

SMITH FAMILY UPDATE-Long overdue!

Guess who is walking?
Mr. Carter and he looooves it!
Here he is with Grandma Kathy.
Water break!
Teach them when they are young.....
Carter looooves balls.
Here he is walking....or at least getting ready to.


This is my little sister, Whitney. Cute cute cute!
Mr. Cole




Ah...I know I'm so behind on blogging! I have a few projects going on and I just can't seem to sit down long enough to post pictures....although I sit at my computer all day (and night!) until now! So this will be Part I, II and III. Alot of great things are going on and the kids are doing fabulous!

This is Cole's new game. "The Rock Game" After we put him to bed last week I was doing some housework and I saw this in his doorway.

He is always coming up with new games...this one is called "The Rock Game". He put the game sheet on his stool and arranged the rocks correctly. Chris has played with him...but I haven't yet. I'm hoping to soon! He's sooooo creative!

This is Carter. I'm making dinner and he doesn't want to sit in his high chair any longer. Chris was trying to feed him some delicious baby food.

Here's what I made for dinner. Homemade PIZZA! Even the sauce was home made with basil and fresh mozzarella cheese.
About to go into the oven. (this is a Martha recipe)
In the oven....
Done. YUMMMMY!

DING DONG THE WITCH IS DEAD

...or at least the fans are gone....the house is somewhat back together....

I really intend to post pictures here shortly....probably tonight....

Cole's Birthday is Friday. Party at our house Friday night from 5:30-8 and then for the kids at 10 am we will be at Tautphaus Park Zoo at 10 am for another party...with an "animal encounter" even....more on that later...

RSVP to 520-4941 or designoutloud@gmail.com

Invites went out on Monday

THE FLOOD OF 09

Oh boy...oh boy...this week has been so much fun....today marks day 3 with these lovely monsters that make an incredible amount of noise...so much that Carter is deathly afraid of them and cries like crazy anytime he comes within 3 feet of them. Of course the only reason he would be near them is if I'm carrying him from the bedroom to the kitchen...and he clings to me like a little monkey. Did I mention this is what our hallway looks like...and right below is my laundry room.

The flooring has been removed...
The carpet is pulled back and the disgusting carpet pad has been cut out.
This is looking into Carter room. So...the tack strips are exposed. Yes, tack strips and the plywood is full of sharp staples. This is not ideal for a household with a busy 4 3/4 year old.

Tomorrow morning Service Master is coming back to (finger crossed/hopefully) take these damn things away. I'm sooooo annoyed with them.

I will keep you posted on what we put in the house to replace the flooring...

Oh and Sears will be here tomorrow to fix the washer...between 8 and 1....

anyone want to place bets the Sears repair guy shows up after 4?

THE LONG AWAITED LEE ANN MOVIE

So here's the background on this movie for Lee Ann, Chris' grandma from Butte, MT.

Bob and Kathy (My F-I-L and M-I-L that's code for father in law and mother in law) searched through all their family photos to find the very best of Lee Ann over the years. Lee Ann has had a few hairstyles...so we wanted to create something in honor of her unique style and glamour she brought to Butte, MT.

So after alot of work...Bob and Kathy had about 35 photos. Then it was up to Chris and I to put it together in a video to be presented to Lee Ann and Gil on their 55th wedding anniversary.

55 years! WOW! Let me pause here....55 years! Amazing!

Chris picked out the music....he spent hours on itunes finding the right song...and he did a great job...and I created the movie.

We love you Lee Ann and Gil! This was so fun to put together and we all LOVED the photos and we think it turned out great!!!

WHAT DID YOU DO THIS WEEKEND?

This here is a nice gentleman from Service Master. Ah yes...our lovely washer overflowed...all over..

So after learning some new words from Chris (he has a talent for making up words when he's really mad) and running like a crazy person with Carter on my hip up and down the stairs we discovered the washer was overflowing and water was running into the floor vent into the basement...and that grey tube that normally carries wonderful warm air from our furnace into the laundry room burst open because it was full of water. Folks, this is very bad. Very bad.

So what seemed like a little bit of water turned into alot of water and it flooded the hallway and Carter's room.

I thought I had the problem cleaned up Friday afternoon. Saturday morning we realized it was a big big problem. The carpet smelled and it was getting worse by the hour. Long story short we had a professional cleaning company come this morning and they removed every bit of flooring in my lovely laundry room, the hallway and a portion of Carter's room.

In other news..Cole started Kindergarten today....I'll post his "First day of school pictures TAKE 2" tonight.

P.S.

Guess who officially starts kindergarten Tuesday (Monday is Labor Day)? Give up?

Our uber smart kid...Cole Smith.

After a few days in class his teacher approached me today and said Cole is on the cusp of reading (OMG!) and is really ready for the Big K!

So we signed him up. Tuesday is his first day of official Kindergarten.

Not Pre-K.

The real deal....

.......sniff.........

BEST. COOKBOOK. EVER. and other randomness

So.....I'm going to "go all Martha Stewart" now....

My Aunt Julia sent me the BEST cookbook, The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook...and it is THE BEST. Hands down. So delicious.

I'm cooking my way through each recipe...kind of like...Julie/Julia (best book..read the book before you see the movie!)

Chris came home a few nights ago with Burger King....I nearly passed out. I refused to eat it....after all the delicious food I've been making for him...this is how he thanks me by picking up "Burger King". From which Cole told him his swiss mushroom burger was "stinky!" I guess every once in a while you need a greasy burger....so I forgave him....but seriously...BK? or FRESH veggies and deliciousness! (it's been a busy week so I think Chris wanted a fast dinner...and hey...I totally get that and love him for that...he was being helpful so it's all good!)

So here are some pictures of the oatmeal scones I made for breakfast the other morning...this is cheesy to blog about it...but I'm obsessed with them...and they have REAL maple syrup in the dough and also the delicious frosting....



Perfection...I could eat 10 with coffee...


and this has nothing to do with cooking...but we snapped this picture of Cole holding a picture of my Dad in his football uniform from Dartmouth.....

The tape on the face.......will be explained below....

He gave it to us before he moved to California....Chris said I should have had him autograph it...DARN! I'll have to mail it. We fully intend on framing it and putting this picture next to the picture of Shaft autographed by the REAL Shaft..(thanks Ryan!) that Chris got for his birthday. We are an eclectic family and I love it!

(Chris' 29th birthday party)

Cole is pretending he has a beard and mustache..because of this.....


Please meet...Ron...adult film star!