ten smile tuesday

i'll start my smiles with three terrific gifts...i mean really, could there be anything better to smile about...well, my hubby, of course, but i don't have any big ol' pictures of him to post!

1. jillian claire...6 weeks already...oh my!


2. katherine christine...our ever in motion, spunky little princess...seriously can you see all her "bling" in the second picture...6 or seven necklaces, a headband, bracelets...and babies, always carrying babies around....


3. elizabeth irene...who turns four on thursday...FOUR! oh my goodness where have four years gone?! sparkling eyes, brilliant mind, amazing verbal skills...and almost four...wow! grandmommy, she rediscovered this hat you knit several years back and thinks it is the best thing ever!


4. elizabeth asking to feed jillian...and then enjoying every minute of it...precious!


5. a few hours by myself at the salon....eyebrows waxed, hair cut and styled, one refreshed mommy!


6. autumn foods...taco soup and cornbread in particular...and all the apple sitting on my counter waiting to be turned into apple crisp to take to our new neighbors, all four of them...minus the new neighbors who already received a loaf of pumpkin bread....

7. did i mention new neighbors...or pumpkin bread. its crazy...we've had houses all around ours on the market, some for over a year, and all of the sudden they've all sold in the past month or so. we are excited to have new neighbors to get to know...and we're excited to share some treats. i made some loaves of pumpkin bread to deliver to some of them, but a certain almost four year old (as in just DAYS away from four!) just might have done some "sampling" from the top of a couple loaves...oops!

8. family movie night..."The Muppets Take Manhattan" with homemade carmelcorn as a tasty treat....so much fun to hang out on the floor and simply do some relaxing together.


9. potty training progress...we've officially started the potty training process with kate, and so far she has had some success...including telling us she had to go and then successfully pooping in the potty (i know..i just said poop...but its my blog...i can say poop if i want to, and besides poop that makes it into the potty is a definite highlight in my life right now!).

10. a fabulous not-really-a-date-night night that was an awful lot like a nice date with my hubby. (did you follow that?) our church had a dinner for small group leaders last night and provided childcare for the big girls...so mike and i enjoyed some fellowship with other group leaders, a yummy dinner catered by bravo, encouraging conversation, and a little break from the norm...which is always nice...


and now i'm off...need to finish some cake preparations. we are actually celebrating miss elizabeth's birthday tomorrow evening (a small pizza party...and i mean small, just beloved "aunt" jill, "uncle" nathan, and brennan joining us) since mike and i have a date night with free childcare on thursday night (don't judge...you know you would do it too...who turns down a night out with the hubby when you don't have to pay a sitter!...i mean really, she doesn't know what the actual day is!) :). i'm making a "bug" cake...highly ironic since she is terrified of real bugs...and i mean shrieks in the highest pitched voice and frantically flails her arms around terrified. but she thinks pictures of ladybugs are cool and at one point requested a ladybug cake (in among the other seventy cake decor requests she has made in the past month or so)...i'm tweaking the ladybug a little since she also happened to request chocolate frosting...but it will be a bug nonetheless. pictures to come!