soup for you

this is a recipe from martha stewart's "everyday food" magazine that i have made many times and we never tire of it. it's easy, inexpensive and oh so good. my father-in-law once told he felt like he lost weight after eating this because it's very healthy and low in fat. this soup got us through the cold weather this weekend and i even froze some for another day.

tip:

-i always use rotisserie chicken or baked chicken breasts (cut up) and kale instead of escarole

-double the recipe so you can freeze some (i always use at least 4 sweet potatoes)

enjoy!

i heart belmont

this has been a rough week since buxton came down with pink eye, a viral throat infection and now a(nother) double ear infection. he's been so irritable and waking many times in the night. 4 days of this took quite a toll on mama so i decided we needed a little fresh air today. we took a stroll through belmont and enjoyed the warm weather, soaking up a much as possible since we supposedly have a snow/ice/sleet storm coming in friday. every time i drive through belmont i'm so happy that this is where i call "home". i'm such a small town girl and love small town charm with all my heart. i snapped some photos since taking pictures makes me happy...and today i needed happy.

family blessings

we were lucky to have ben's sister and her family with us this past weekend, especially since uncle ed was with them this time, having just returned from 6 months in afghanistan. whoop whoop for ed! they stayed with us for 3 nights and this allowed grace and buxton to have lots of QT together. you wouldn't believe how his face lit up every time he saw her! we also got to spend some time with buxton's cousin david:

david is from ben's step-mom's side of the family and he is 2 months older than buxton. i had buxton, david and grace for a couple of hours on saturday and WOW was that a handful. the reason behind it was good and worth it though. david's mom is young and single and has a new baby in her belly. she is considering letting carla and ed adopt the baby which would be a blessing for all involved. carla and ed were planning on adopting 2 more babies from russia this year so this new plan would be awesome for them and for the baby. i ask that you keep this situation in your prayers...it feels like God's plans are for Carla and Ed to have a newborn baby, but they need prayers to get to the day where it is officially theirs (7 days after it's born). please pray for peace of mind and heart, and faith.

these 2 are too cute for words when they are together!

buxton has become aware of the camera and "cheeses it up" for me now.

giving grace an open mouth kiss on her head....awwwe.

it's hard to tell here but lil man is standing on his own. ben was bribing him to do this by holding the remote above his head. he will only stand a few seconds but we are so excited about this.

sunday it rained a lot and there was a lot of football watching and cooking going on at our house. i made my very first pot roast and the first mashed potatoes i've ever made too. i used recipes from the pioneer woman's cookbook, which i recently purchased on amazon. i am not a meat and potatoes kind of person but if i ever change i will look to her for guidance...her pot roast recipe was VERY good.

the mountains with the babes

over the mlk weekend we spent 2 nights at my mom's house in the mountains (hound ears). the webster family was with us and we also got to spend a few hours with a lot of friends at shep gray's parents mtn house at hawksnest on saturday night. it was so great to get away from the house chores i'm sure i would have been doing if we were at home. we had a great time with the webster's, as always, and the babes really enjoyed each other's company. here are some of the pics i took:

on a hike at cone manor:

wynn has become my little model, and the camera loves her

it's hard to get these 2 in one frame and still at the same time so this is as good as it gets

year in review -09

i've seen a couple of blogs that did really cool "personal reviews of 09" and i thought it was such a neat thing. i have memory issues, especially after having a child, so for me documenting this past year on my blog is something that my family will appreciate later on. it was fun to go back and remember everything and yes it took AWHILE to get all these pics posted and organized. i mean it's january 12th already!

of course i didn't include everything from 2009 but i think i covered most of the important stuff. enjoy:

in january my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer,

i was given a super awesome baby shower,

and we worked on buxton's nursery.

in february my mom had surgery to remove the cancer, we laid sweet rita to rest,

and buxton patrick smith entered our wonderful world.

in march buxton met his aunt carla, uncle ed and cousin grace for the 1st time,

rode the lightrail,

and "played" with wynnie.

in april we flew to florida to celebrate my grandma's 90th bday,

we took lots of pictures,

and got on a skateboard.

in may we visited friends in black mountain,

had lunch dates with papa,

and went to the beach for the 1st time

in charleston where we spent qt with harp and verge.

in june we took more pictures,

swam in our pool a lot with friends and family,

had a photoshoot with buxton's future wife,

were blessed with a heavenly yard,

traveled to Wilmington,

and celebrated wynnie's 1st year of life.

in July we went to hound ears for the 4th, bought a mini van, prayed for libby claire, and said farewell to uncle ed who went to afghanistan for 6 months to fight for our freedom.

p.s. ed is home now as of last weekend!

in august buxton was dedicated at warehouse 242 with wynnie,

we visited lots of family on mom's side in mooresville,

and buxton turned 6 months old!

in september we spent a week in buxton, nc (OBX),

and celebrated mom's 60th.

in october we went to hound ears with the wc girls posse,

had lots of faux-hawk hairdo's,

mastered the army crawl,

and had a very festive halloween.

in novemeber buxton, mom and i went to palmetto bluff, sc

where we got some r&r and fresh air,

went to an antique car show,

visited the lazy 5 ranch,

and played with grace.

in december we laughed at daddy a lot,

took some pictures,

and had a very merry christmas.