2016 in Review

Click on the link for 2016.

2016 Family Video

Trust Issues

Ever since last Christmas Afton has been seriously questioning Santa Clause. She is 6 years old! Of course he is real! I absolutely refuse to give in on this. To quote my friend, "If you want to receive, you gotta believe!" She can send me her therapy bill someday.

The problem is that I know deep down Afton does not believe in Santa, and me insisting that he is real has created some real trust issues between us. She is now questioning everything I tell her. So when we recently took a trip to Williamsburg and I brought up Pocahontas, Afton got all bent out of shape insisting that Pocahontas was only a Disney princess and that she wasn't real. For an entire afternoon I tried to convince her otherwise, but Afton wouldn't budge. As luck would have it, we came across a statue of Pocahontas herself, and after reading the blurb, Afton FINALLY believed me that Pocahontas truly existed. Based on the look on her face and how she snuggled up to this statue, you would have thought she met Pocahontas herself. 

I'm chalking it up as Christmas miracle given by good old Saint Nick himself. 

Update: 2 years later and Afton is a true believer of Santa! It seems we have put the skeptical years of kindergarten behind us. 

2015 in Review

After years of serious neglect I am giving this blog some much needed attention. I will not kid myself into thinking that I will actually catch up on all that I missed. Instead I'm starting where we are and simply posting a couple of videos highlighting the last couple of years. Click on the link below to view the video. We loved you 2015!

2015 Family Video

Patapsco State Park Camping

I love camping. I really, truly do. But I do have some rules when it comes to camping. Actually there is just one rule I have followed over the years: I don't camp with babies. Nope. I can't think of anything worse then getting up in the middle of the night, in a tent, to nurse a baby. Well yes I can- being in the middle of a campground and trying to get your screaming baby to sleep in the middle of the night. 

Over the weekend I added another rule to my list: I don't camp while pregnant. We did this in Europe when I was pregnant with Clara and I vowed never again. Seems like I forgot. My discomfort, however, was my family's gain. Seeing the smiling, smoores smeared faces of those kids almost made sleeping on the ground while 7 months pregnant worth it. Almost. 

And the fall would not be complete without a stop a the apple farm!

Indian Summer

Summer is stretching on this year, and I'm taking that as a special gift just for me! The nice thing is that the humidity and heat have decreased some, so our Saturday outings have been perfect. Below are some pictures of some excursion including Roosevelt Island, Baltimore and the National Aquarium, and of course my favorite, The National Book Festival. This year was extra cool as the boys were able to listen to and later meet one of their favorite authors- Jeffery Brown. 

Another highlight was going to the local Ukrainian Festival with one of my best friends from college and her family. They recently moved to the DC area, and it was so awesome to see her after all these years!

Lake Canandaigua

With 4 kids, and one more on the way, it isn't exactly easy (or realistic) for the two of us to get away as much as we would like. As our good fortune would have it, Andrew's former colleague and good friend planned his wedding in upstate New York on beautiful Lake Canandaigua. Andrew was asked to be one of the groomsmen, so we had to call in the grandparents and ditch the kids for a weekend. It was tough...

Seriously though, the location for this wedding was incredible and we had the best weekend. The bride was Jewish, so we got to see some really cool Jewish wedding traditions- like the breaking of the glass and the "Hora" (the chair dance). So. Much. Fun. We danced like fools all night long, and at the close of the evening the groom ushered everyone outside to surprise the bride with an amazing fireworks show over the lake. Perfection.

The morning after the wedding Andrew and I woke up and had breakfast along the lake and then took a 10 minute drive to Palmyra where we went to church and toured some of our church historical sites before heading home. Walking through the Sacred Grove with no one else there was incredibly special. So glad we had this weekend to ourselves!

First day of School

And just like that we have three in elementary school! Afton started kindergarten, Luke started 3rd, and Sam is now the big man on campus in 5th grade! Watch out world, this triple threat os ready to take over! 

The first day of school was also eventful on the home front. After a milk shake up gone wrong, endless dress-up changes (the bathing suit/winter glove combo below was by far my favorite), this little one wore herself out and crashed on the couch. I promptly laid down and joined her.