official toddler

So... this is happening...

Miss Drew has decided she'll just walk now. Little by little for the last month she has been taking steps. Then steps turned in to short bouts between the couch and the recliner. Then for the last couple weeks she stands up in the middle of the room. WHAT!?! Then she walks from the couch to the recliner to the wall to the stairs to the kitchen... And that turned in to this video... and now I'm going to cry myself to sleep because my baby... walks. Just teasing... but for real, where did the time go... completely amazes me!

Some things to ignore in this video:
* Tayt dominating his nose in the first few seconds
* Nash saying "mom look" repeatedly... I didn't notice until I uploaded the video... oops! pay attention MOM!
* Drew is still in her pj's... give me a break, it's Monday! ;)
* my man voice... yowza!

too thankful

* I am firstly thankful for God's surprise nearly 12 years ago. This family is today because of that surprise... holding back tears until I'm done may be impossible...

* thankful for the spice and creativity to make you smile daily

* thankful for the craziest, girliest-girl around

* thankful for this rough and tumble all boy... The Original Beast :)

* thankful for a child who provides no dull moments & always catches his fall with his forehead (even on Thanksgiving morning!)

* thankful for first steps and the happiest of happy babies

* thankful for the man that makes every day better.  FOREVER  :)

yup, that did it... tear    :)

Saint Mary

"My saint is Saint Mary. She is the mother of Jesus. And she never sinned." ~Austyn

This children's mass was as adorable as Austyn looks here. I could almost feature this as a daily Smith fashion as well because she wore the borrowed clothing around a few days before she had to "perform."  All the saints were so cute and did a great job reciting the facts they learned about their saints. Huge kudos to the first grade teacher for all her work. They/She did excellent!

bon voyage!

Let this serve as a quick note to warn all you followers (oh so many of you...) ;) of some changes happening on the blog. I'm currently separating The Courtney Smith from Courtney Smith Photography and moving the latter... HERE! Make sure you check me out over here and I apologize for all the confusion and mess to come... hopefully this will be painless because I certainly cannot promise quick.  Enjoy!

Snickers bars

Here is a photo of the finished product from the pumpkin carving... oops... forgot to add this to that post :)

And then there was trick-or-treating. Thinking about all the candy they got makes me a little nauseous at the moment. We dumped the final ice cream pail into the candy drawer just yesterday. Nash doesn't stay out of it... darn kid! At least once a day I have to pry the remains of a wrapper out of his death grip. And then he dies in a heap on the kitchen floor. Rough life!

Anyway, we lucked out this year and the snow held off. The weather cooperated slightly and it was only slightly freezing warm enough so we walked house to house. Dave took Drew and sat at my Mom's... trooper... not. Ha! :)

the Smith clan

Jax Man (Mallory's little guy)

 Dave was so excited for trick-or-treating ;)

Nash the bumble bee

friends of ours with the pirate and the skunk :)

and this, folks, is the entire crew of grandkids... special (to say the least) :)



pumpkin seeds

Carving pumpkins in our house should be a paying job. I carved 4 pumpkins this year and was extremely grateful when Dave walked in the door... you're doing the last one! (Peyton carved his own.) I was done... as usual, I'm way behind on posting these. Beware... I had to sift through 172... yes one-hundred-and-seventy-two photos... Mallory had the camera for the duration of the pumpkin carving and as you can see near the bottom... she went crazy!



Drew loved the pumpkin insides. &wanted them in my shirt.

daily Smith fashion

After some discussion and minor coaxing, I convinced Lia to let me feature her in a daily Smith fashion episode. :) She gets embarrassed easily but I think she looks super adorable. And check out those boots! The girl has style :)

Also just noticed ...and I'll be thanking God tonight in my prayers... Lia did *not* inherit my bowed legs. One less thing she has to worry about for the rest of her life... Thank you, Jesus!

Lia:
Shirt: worn for Casey & Jake's wedding via Old Navy
Skirt: also work for Casey & Jake's wedding via jcpenney
Boots: birthday gift from Aunt Pigg from Payless

P family session

Of course I forgot to post the finals from this session... these repeat offenders and good friends of ours are always a pleasure to photograph. Thank you again for spending a couple hours with me and letting me capture how much your children have grown over the last year. Click on that link... crazy! They're adorable!

This dude went from one extreme to the next in a hurry. He was loving up my camera :)

 and one more of the birthday girl (her birthday is just before Lia's)  :)