Catching up - In a BIG way!!!

So this blog is titled, "Keeping Up With the Smuckers."  Well..... NOONE has been keeping up with the Smuckers - especially me.  I feel I am always behind, missing something, forgetting something, etc.  It's all I can do to keep up with everyone and everything - and some days are better than others.

However, I am going to attempt to catch up a little bit this evening.  This will be a long post with lots of pictures covering several months.  So here goes...

We had our family birthday party for the girls in early October at the park down the road from us.  It's a great venue with a pavilion right next to a playground. We celebrated Emma turning 9, Heidi turning 6 and Rachel turning 3. Yes, I made 3 cakes - 2 Princess cakes and 1 Sprinkle cake!

 

 The girls with Papa & Grandpa!

 Chief in Charge of Cake!

 Rain boots!!! She's got an eye for fashion already.

 All the cousins watching gift opening.

 Heidi with Kelsey.

 Family photo op!

 Emma with Grandma & Grandpa

 And I got something for my birthday too!

 Exhaustion! Heidi didn't even make it home (less than 3 miles).

It was such a fun evening!  So thankful our family could gather with us to celebrate our girls!

Jason spent 18 days in Brazil participating in the World Boomerang Championships.  If you're on Facebook, you saw lots of his pictures and videos there.  He had a wonderful time and a great trip. But we missed him greatly while he was gone. We made special signs and decorated the house for his return.

 

 

 

 They were both happy to see each other! :-)

 Welcome Home Daddy (decoration by Heidi)

 We went out to Chili's for dinner that night.

 

 Daddy and his girls.

We continued to stay busy while he was gone - with Fall Festivals, Heidi's birthday and party, and Halloween parties!  He did make it home for Halloween and trick-or-treating.

Heidi's birthday party was at one of our favorite places - Champion Kids! She was SO excited about her party she was constantly asking if it was time to go yet.  The party was at 4PM. I told her we'd leave at 3:35 - I wrote it on a piece of paper and she sat by her clock waiting for the minutes to tick by.

 

Emma jumping on the trampoline - one of her favorite things to do.

Heidi on the rope swing - one of her favorite things.

 

Heidi and Ava

Me and two of my girls (missing the birthday girl)

I think this is the first time I did not make a cake for one of my girls' parties.  But she really wanted a cookie cake, I'm no good at those, and it was so nice to just go pick it up! Not to mention it was really yummy!

 That is some genuine happiness right there! Love that smile!

 

 Silly friends

 Angie and Heidi

It was SUCH a fun time.  She is blessed to have so many wonderful friends from her preschool years, neighbors, and Kindergarten class. Happy Birthday Heidi!!!

Our Halloween festivities started with a trip to the pumpkin patch.

We came home with one large pumpkin to carve and six little "baby" pumpkins. Heidi decided to draw faces and write names on the little pumpkins (while Rachel supervised).

Later we carved our big pumpkin. Jason is usually chief in charge of getting the "goop" out, but he was in Brazil, so it became a team effort (but mostly mine). I think Heidi would have done more, but it is difficult.

 Rachel wanted her turn too.

 Proud of the finished product.

 Our pumpkin family.

Next was our annual Neighborhood Halloween party which is conveniently held in the cul-de-sac we live on. It's a great time to visit with neighbors, meet new ones, and for all the kids to play. Initial Halloween costumes this year were Heidi and Rachel as "Purple Fairies," and Emma wanted to "be herself."  So for the neighborhood party, we had two chilly purple fairies and one Emma horseback rider.

 

 

However, when Halloween rolled around, it was going to be way too cold for fairies.  So we had some last minute costume changes.  We still had Emma horseback rider, but we added Curious George and a ladybug.

 

 

 We went trick-or-treating with our neighbor and a friend who came over to our neighborhood.

 Good friends!!

The girls all came home with pumpkins FULL of candy! Everyone covered more ground this year. I guess that will continue to increase from year to year. We may have to go with something bigger than a plastic pumpkin though.

That's enough catching up for one post. Next will be November and in to December. Christmas will get it's own post. Stay tuned...