Brendan's Birthday and Mabon

On the 25th of September, 2011, we celebrated my youngest child's 3rd birthday. It was fun and heartbreaking at the same time. He's my youngest, my baby and now he's three. He's growing up fast and soon he'll be in school. Where does the time go? I'm thankful for all the time I get with kids, including the bad, but it all seems to be slipping by way to fast. We invited Glenn's family over for his birthday. We grilled out. The kids had a blast playing outside while the guys grilled and played horseshoes. I ran around inside like a crazy person getting the rest of the food ready and set up, in between watching my favorite liberal shows and reading through the news of course. We all ate and relaxed a few min. after the meal, then gathered in the kitchen to sing Brendan happy birthday. He refused to blow out the candles on his cake, so his dad helped. I took pictures while my husband passed gifts to him to open. He was having fun until he got to the clothes and he got mad and started pouting. I couldn't help but laugh, because I thought it was cute. When Brendan finished opening gifts, we dished out cake and ice cream to everyone and that was pretty much our night. The boys of course still have a trip to the Dinosaur Museum coming up too. My husband I haven't decided when to do that yet. We have another birthday to celebrate in a little over 4 weeks. Hailey, my oldest child, has a birthday on October 31st, 2011. That's right, she's a Halloween/Samhain baby.

This year I have been getting back to my Pagan ways and celebrating the Pagan holidays this year. The 23rd of September, 2011 was one of those holidays called Mabon. Mabon is also known as Fall Equinox. It is a fall celebration of the harvest and the changing of seasons. It is a time to give thanks and is similar to the American Thanksgiving. It is a time to be thankful for what you have and food from the harvest. It's a time to celebrate life and family. Of course the celebration wouldn't be complete without a feast. Most Pagans try to use plenty of harvest foods in their meal such as fruits, grains, and vegetables. I made a ham, mixed veggies, shells and cheese, dinner rolls, mixed fruit bowl, and pumpkin spice bread. We also had fall decorated cupcakes for desert. It probably wasn't all traditional foods, but it was still a good meal and most Pagans celebrate in their own way. I can't wait for the upcoming holidays. It's a lot to look forward to.

Latest From The Smallwood Household

A lot has been going on at our house the last several weeks. Our fridge quite working and we had to get a new one. Then our DVD player stopped working, so we replaced it with a Blu-Ray player. I have to say that I love the Blu-Ray Player. I recently purchased the first 7 Harry Potter movies because until recently I had only seen a couple of the movies. I have watched them all now and I can't believe how amazing they are. Just the creativity and design that goes into these types of movies is amazing. Not to mention the story line is amazing and addictive. J.K. Rowling, I believe, is an lovely woman with an amazing imagination. I haven't read the books yet, but if they are anything like the movies then I'm sure they are just as brilliant. I look forward to buying them one day. I also purchased the movie Thor. It's an interesting movie and the effects were amazing. I liked the movie and look forward to seeing the sequel.

September 15th, 2011 was my son Landon's 5th birthday. The years are going by quickly. It was a school day so he took some treats (juice boxes and goldfish crackers) to school that day to share with his class. He got a birthday crown from his teacher. After school, we picked up his presents and cake. We invited a few people over and celebrated his birthday. He had a great time. He's into super heros so we bought him a few super hero toys and some clothes. My husband is also taking him and our other son Brendan to the Dinosaur Museum soon as part of their birthday presents. Brendan's birthday is also this month on September 25th, 2011. He will be 3 in a few days.

Last weekend I went to Marysville to visit my mom and my sister and her family. It was fun. I got down there late again, thanks to my kiddos and hubby being slow. We grilled out and talked a lot. We stayed Saturday night and Sunday we hung out and visited some more. I didn't get to see my mom much because she had to work. I spent a few hours taking Senior Pics of my neice Britney. She's a wonderful girl, and we recently found out she is pregnant. She's 17 and the baby was not planned at all, so it shocked us all. My niece is very responsible and was taking precautions, but stuff still happens no matter how careful you are. She'll be an amazing mother though and I'm really happy for her. She's more mature then most girls her age, so I'm sure she can handle it. The following are a few of the pics I took of her.

While in Marysville, KS I went to the local walmart and found some items I just had to buy. I found a 52 piece Incense gift set. I bought 2 one for me and one for my sister. I also found a 5 headed dragon incense burner that I thought was awesome. I got Dragon's blood cone incense to burn in it. The smoke fills the inside of the dragon statue and then comes out of holes in the dragon's heads which are in the mouth and the ears. It's kinda of cool to watch and the incense smell amazing.





We also recently added another cat to our family. An all black, female kitten who we named Midnight. I think the cat is crazy though. She has a major attitude. I guess that makes her fit in well here. Midnight was an early birthday present for Hailey. Her birthday is on Halloween so we thought a black cat would be the perfect gift. Hailey is doing very well in school and she is taking very good care of the kitten so I feel as though it was a good gift. I forgot how active kittens are and this one like to try and climb my leg all the time and try to attack everyone when she's playing. She sure is cute though and fun to have around. My other cat, Fat Joe, is less then thrilled that she's here. He seems annoyed by her and isn't afraid to smack her around. He seems like he is getting more and more used to her so hopefully one day they will get along.

This is some of the recent things going on in my life right now. I haven't blogged in a while so I figured I'd put all my latest news in one post. Brendan's birthday is coming up and I have other things that are going on that I will have to come back and blog about later, but this is it for now.





Sick of Being Sick!

Well, I haven't posted anything in a while because I've been sick off and on for the last week. I can't seem to get rid of my cold and it's getting old real quick. I have four kids who are in school all day around other kids, so I'm sure this is only the beginning of months and months of battling colds and flus. The wave of sickness seems to hit our house every September and lasts through March. The kids are usually sick for a few days and then they are fine. Me however, I wind up fighting a cold for 1-2 weeks or more. I remember back before I had kids. I had a functioning immune system then and hardly ever came down sick. Oh how I miss those days. I love my kids though and wouldn't turn back time for anything, not even to be cold and flu free. I'm hoping this fall and winter won't be as bad as last year, but it's not starting off well. I still have a cold, the girls are coming down sick, Landon just got over being sick, and I think Brendan's ear infection is back. Next week we will probably all be in the doc's office at this rate. Fruit smoothies and herbal tea seem to help a little bit. I'll just have to toughen up and wait it out I guess. Will post again soon about some new changes we've had around our house.