I know this blog has taken a backseat during the past...half of a year? Life has changed for us quite a bit and this no longer became a priority to me. Maybe that will change. I make no promises. But for now I'm here to try to update you. I'll try to keep the most important parts at the top in case you don't have time to read a forever long blog of pictures and videos.
So here's an update on us. I started sewing more and selling some baby stuff. I absolutely love it. I love being able to sew fun things and make a few bucks here and there. As a stay-at-home mom it gives me something to look forward to during naptime and after bed time when Caleb is working on his school work. Before I would just spend that time watching Netflix while I procrastinated on house work. I feel like this is a much better use of my time. I have also started working with Christa in a facebook group where we find fun stuff and buy them at wholesale prices and then pass those savings along to the members of the facebook group. Between those two things I stay busy in my free time. The extra money has been great during our big transition time.
So, transition...earlier this year we started thinking about the possibility of God leading us to something new. We weren't sure what though. Caleb took the month of May off of preaching at our church and starting working full time at his retail job. After that month he really felt called to leave his position as pastor at our church. This decision did not come easy. There were so many pros and cons of both sides of the situation and I just had to trust Caleb's leadership in the decision. Fortunately God has really shown me since then that this is the right decision and now I'm excited about the changes God is doing and the new season of life that is starting. We he resigned we didn't know what we would be doing from here. We didn't have another church to go to so he kept working full time at Orscheln. He had talked with a few churches who needed pastors but none of them seemed right.
God then started opening the door of us possibly going to the church where Caleb's dad pastors and they could work alongside each other. The first Sunday after we left Cornerstone we went to their church to meet with them and have a question and answer time. That time went great and we became really excited with this opportunity! The following Sunday they voted for us to go there. It all just quickly fell into place and we are grateful for that. This means that we will be moving to Eldon, MO by the end of September. We are super excited to get to live close to family. We will be moving in to the house that his parents currently live, and his parents will be moving in to the house they bought a few months ago. Lots of transition!
Anyway, now to try to bring you up to speed on everything else. I'm going to try to update as much as I can. I'm basically just going to picture dump everything that is on my phone. I'll try to go back as far as I can and I will probably break it into a few blogs. I'll start from the present and work my way back. It will be like our life on rewind. :-)
Cade started walking! He also has learned how to climb. I'll be needing some extra prayers for patience and safety for my children.
We also get this view a lot. Aren't tiny people the best?
Snapchat is delightful. Caleb is not so impressed
Liam got some ice cream because he pooped several times on the potty in one day. He opted to share with his bubby.
Caleb has a lot of reading to do for his current class so I took the boys on a walk to get them out of the house. Liam found some flowers and a pinecone (that he calls a groundhog) and he went and took them to Ms Dorothy. You bet that brightened her day. We had a great time visiting with her. She is one of the sweetest little ladies you could ever meet.
She told Cade there wasn't a thing he could hurt in her house. He thought "challenge accepted", but I would intervene when she wasn't looking....like with that porcelain knick knack thing there.
She took Liam for a "ride" in her lift chair.
So I'm getting ready for craft fairs and just got a ton of bibs ready to go. Since I will be trying to do craft fairs in the midst of moving I tried to get super stocked up.
This boy. He's great.
Liam got a water table for his birthday. These two have had so much fun playing with it.
Liam was helping me change Cade's diaper. He ran away because he said it got too stinky. I wish I could do that when he drops some doozies in his dipe.
Normal lunchtime entertainment
Cade is quite the fashionista these days.
This was at church on Sunday. You have to bribe these kids with a whole candy store to get them to sit together nicely for a picture, but they did this all on their own.
Cade found himself a comfy spot to sit.
Aunt Christa got a hotel room in Eldon and the hotel has a pool. There were lots of excited boys who couldn't wait to go swimming! I couldn't find my swimming suit anywhere so I had to sit out. :-(
Liam has a love of climbing on top of things and jumping off. This cabinet is one of his favorites now.
"Bama Suzy and Bampa Gwenn" had stopped by and they gave Liam some McDonalds money for lunch. It was Free Fry Friday so that worked out well. After he got done eating of course he wanted to go into the play place. He's never gone in there without Caleb being there. He got up to the top and got stuck and kept calling for me but I had Cade and I definitely could not climbing up there with him in my arms. Fortunately I was able to talk him into coming down the slide and then he was ready to go home. :-)
Baby batman is not impressed.
Dust busters are fabulous for toddlers.
Look whose brother found a sheet of stickers.
Liam had gotten into his sandbox and he told me that he had to wash his feet off. Or course the most logical way to do that is to climb in to his water table.
Cade has fallen in love with this hat. Too bad his big ol noggin doesn't fit. I ordered him a new one.
These boys. They make my heart full.
Cade was being a model for my new binky blankies and teethers. :-)
Liam loves playing hide and seek and found himself a new hiding place. He couldn't wait to show me.
Showing off the shirt "Miss Tista" (aunt Christa) made him for his birthday
Cade loved getting to play with Great Grandma Donna
Liam gets a popsicle every time he poops on the potty. It's been great motivation for him. I had to start cutting them in half though. 3 popsicles in one day is a little too much sugar for him.
I asked Liam what he wanted to eat for lunch and he said "how about spinach? Do we have any of that around here?" That kid.
A little bow I made to take to craft fairs. :-)
Liam loves to visit the Chance Garden here in Centralia and see the fishies.
He needed a picture to send to Daddy to show him that he earned a popsicle.
This baby boy is in love with his blankies.
He also loves his snack cup. Caleb jokes that it's his cow bell. You can always tell where Cade is because you can hear his snack cup as he crawls around.
More water table playing. I love that Liam is at the age where I can send him out into the backyard by himself and just keep an eye on him out the kitchen window.
That hair. That belly. That face.
Cade has been having teething issues for a few weeks now. He hasn't been napping well but he fell asleep on me one day during nap time. These days are rare and I enjoyed it.
We had to go rescue Daddy from work one day when his battery died. We were his cheerleading team
This is my view most days. He wants to be held all the time. Anytime I put him down he cries and hangs on to my legs.
Getting in some pen control practice with his new Usborne book!
This little diddy lived in my kitchen sink overnight. So. Gross. Liam found him in the creek. There were three in the cage at bed time. There were only two and a pair of claws left in the cage the next morning. *shivers*
Dis. Gus. Ting. My stomach was not made to be a mom of boys.
Some pictures from the creek:
Cade was sick with a cold so we didn't get to go to the creek. I love getting to spend some one-on-one time with him.
While we were home alone we worked on "Mama"
Liam was trying on his life jacket before going to the creek. He was so excited!
Ezra showing off his birthday presents we gave him.
Liam had to watch toy story with Jessie, Woody, and Rex.
Showing off his new animal book he got for his birthday from Great Grandma Connie.
Christa made me some oil shirts. I love them!!
I kind of dropped the ball on preparing for Liam's birthday party. The day before his party he wanted to paint some pictures to use as decorations.
He had soooo much fun painting them.
Here's the final product. I'd say it turned out well considering I hadn't had anything planned.
Aunt Meme and Uncle Bim came to visit the night before his party. I think he was showing him some animal videos or something. That's the way to Liam's heart.
They were so excited the next morning that Piper was here! (Again, that hat!)
Liam got to open his presents from Meme and Bim!
I know it's sideways and I'm probably not going to flip it, but here's the rainbow fruit tray for Liam's birthday.
He was so funny sitting there on the couch waiting for his party and eating his lunch. I didn't take the time to edit any of these so I didn't zoom in, but it's cute. If you can't see it just take my word for it.
Grandpa Glenn made some balloon animal decorations and we had nachos for lunch!
Liam kept asking for "blue Jello that looks like water", so I added some fruit snacks so it was the animals that didn't make it on to the ark.
It was raining for 40 days and 40 nights in the living room!
Miss Vanya made Liam a fantastic rainbow cake! I was going to try to make a cake myself, but again, I dropped the ball, and Vanya offered to make a cake so I took her up on it since i knew it would be lightyears better than anything I could make. My mom also made Amy a cake. Amy will probably forever have to share a birthday party with Liam. I dont think she will mind that but Liam was NOT going to share his party this year. We quietly sang to her and she opened her presents while Liam napped. :-)
Blowing out his candles
The inside of the cake. How awesome is this?!?
This is one of Cade's favorite toys. Proof he is a true Smith.
I took the boys outside and put lemongrass oil all over them...except for their feet. Poor guy.
This is how Liam watches tv when Cade is trying to get his breakfast.
Squeaky clean babe.
This kid is a mess. He found his chalk tub that had gotten some rain water in it so the chalk was basically sludge. He was wiping it all down his arms and saying "It's my soap!"
Showing how big and strong he was at his 3 year appointment. He was looking so forward to getting his head measured. They quit measuring that at 24 months but I told the nurse and she made sure to measure his head.
His pre-doctor's appointment date at steak n shake (still going backwards here)
On his birthday I asked him what he wanted to do and he said he wanted to go to daddy's work and look at the animals. Some days I wish Caleb would just take Liam to work with him because I'm pretty sure this thing of animals could keep him entertained all day long. The timing worked well because we were meeting up with some new friends in Columbia. I brought a cake and we all celebrated Liam's birthday. It was so much fun!
He really did have a good birthday, I promise.
We went for a birthday walk to the park! (BTW, we got a new stroller. $10 from a Facebook swap shop page. How fantastic?!?)
So this is now our Louisville trip in reverse:
Cade and I were glad to see each other after being apart for 5 days. He and Liam got to stay at grandma and grandpa's house! :-) I tagged along with Caleb and packed my sewing machine too. Do you know how awesome it was to not have any obligations? I could do whatever I wanted. If I wanted to take a nap, I took a nap. If I wanted to sew, I sewed. If I wanted to go get food, I ate food. I was missing my little people pretty bad by the time we get back though.
On our way back to Missouri we stopped in Springfield IL and visited Glenn and Leah. It was raining and they got a flash flood warning. The water got so high on their street.
He loves snap chat.
Eating our must-have bison burger. Bluegrass burgers is our favorite place to eat in Louisville!
Obligatory first day of school picture. His shirt says "Nailed it" --Martin Luther. Courtesy of Christa and Bert.
This goober
One time Orscheln was giving away these boot cozies (sp?). Liam likes to wear them as real boots...ish.
So we had been gone for an entire weekend down to Eldon and when we got home it was late, like 11ish or so. We had gotten the boys in bed and I was eating a snack before heading that way myself. Caleb walked in to the kitchen and pointed to the floor. This mouse trap is usually by the back of the refrigerator. I thought maybe he had known there was a mouse before we left and just didn't mention it but stuck the trap out further to catch the mouse or something. Nope. And that's no mouse in there. It's a bat. Caleb went and got a big work glove and grabbed a hold of it and took it outside. It was still alive and only had part of a wing stuck in the trap. By the time he got it outside it was out of the trap and just clinging on the glove. It was screeching the whole way too. GROSS. Our Parents As Teachers educator told me a few weeks later that bats usually dont get into houses unless they have rabies. Fortunately we weren't ever in the house when this was flying around so we don't need to do any rabies shots or anything like that which apparently they usually have you do as a precaution because bat bites can be so tiny that you dont see them or feel them. Also, our PAT educator told us that we one of three families that she knows of that have had a bat in their house within the past few weeks. That's crazy! (One of those bats did test positive for rabies!) I sent this picture to the landlord and he was like "oh well thats new". We are pretty sure it came in a ceiling vent in our bedroom and got in there through the damage in the roof.
Fun at grandma and grandpa's house!
Looking at pictures of animals that Uncle Seth has taken on some of his adventures
Riding the ferris wheel at Miner Mike's for Ezra's birthday party
3 brothers going down the slide together
This was Cade's favorite part of Miner Mike's
Checking out grandpa's new tractor
Better late than never, but I took a 12 month picture for Cade.
Liam was so proud of his potato head creation. He asked if he could watch tv with it.
:)
Learning how to shuck corn
This is his favorite thing to do when I'm helping Liam in the bathroom. (BTW, I hate potty training)
This is so Cade. :-D
These two. You never know what kind of a predicament they will find themselves in.
Baylee from church brought over the boys she babysits and they all got to play batman toys together,
Taking Piper for a walk.
Liam likes to act like Piper
Caleb and I got to go on a date! We decided to go bowling. This is a picture of the score. I won't zoom in because the score really isn't all that important.
Having a potty party with Aunt Meme and pipes.
He dressed himself
One day I ran out of wipes. I keep a package on the back of the toilet. I asked Liam to go in the bathroom and grab that package of wipes for me. Bless his heart. He tried.
Cade with his new haircut!
More snapchat shenanigans
When you take your family out for dinner and this happens.
Amazon subscribe and save delivery days are favorites around here
Once again playing with the animals at Orscheln
Being a baby model again
Listening to daddy play Jesus loves me"
See if you can find the boy.
Cade likes to fake sneeze
Being my post office helper
Morning cartoons with dad
I introduced him to milk and cookies.
Poor Cade must have gotten Roseola from his 12 month check up. Poor guy had a fever for several days and then broke out in this rash.
Watching the big truck come and pick up our brush pile
Poor sick baby
He likes to act like a "wah-wah" (koala) and climb his twee!
Sometimes Liam gets Grandma Lori confused with Ravoli
Singing his ABCs. He insists on the maniacal laugh at the end
So one morning Cade had woken up around 6. As I was getting him back to sleep I heard some thunder. I didn't think much about it. Right after he went back to sleep and I was getting back in bed the wind started blowing harder and harder. It was blowing so hard that it had even woken Caleb up. We started hearing things hitting the roof. I dont remember the order of events exactly but anyway all of a sudden the ceiling in our bedroom started leaking. We went into the kitchen and as we were walking past the back doors we realized a tree had fallen on our house. Branches continued to fall on the house and then our kitchen ceiling fan started dripping water. I was starting to freak out because I thought that the tree was completely on top of the house (based on where our bedroom was leaking) and of course worst case scenarios were going through my head. Caleb went and got the boys and brought them into our master bathroom because we didn't know what was going to happen from there. Anyway, the storm calmed down and Caleb went outside to kind of access some of the damage. Basically our whole backyard was tree. Not a whole tree but just the top part of a massive tree in our backyard. He couldn't even get to the shed to get his chain saw because the tree had fallen on the shed. I was pretty upset because you could tell that it had fallen on the swing set and possibly even the trampoline. (Fortunately both we better than they appeared to be, as was the house). We were without power for the whole day. Caleb was about to leave and go to work when a neighbor stopped by and asked if we needed some help "cleaning up the branches in the back yard". He didn't know what he was getting himself in to. I could tell that by the look on his face when we walked into the backyard. Anyway, he and his son and his son's friend along with some other people that I'm still not totally for sure who they were or why they picked our house, but they were all out there cleaning up. I'm not used to this small town life and I was just amazed at how so many people just pitched in and helped clean up. The next day the MO Baptist Disaster relief came to town. Caleb's dad was working with a group from their church and so they stopped by and got the rest of our yard cleaned up. I would have never guessed that a little more than 24 hours later that our yard would be so clean. Liam got to help with the clean up too and he was just precious. He had his tiny little wheelbarrow and was taking loads of sticks out to the brush pile in the front yard. Here's a video I made and posted on Facebook. In the end we were able to get a check from our renter's insurance to help replace stuff. The biggest losses we suffered was the lawnmower and weed eater got destroyed and then a few of Caleb's tools. If you ask Liam the biggest loss is that his new pool got popped. Our garden hose also got split so it's like a splash pad out there every time I try to water the tomatoes now.
Anndddd now I'm having trouble getting more pictures on my computer. I guess that means I'll end it here for now :-)
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