Thanksgiving Adventure

As you can see from the pictures, it was another festive Thanksgiving holiday at the Smeltzer household in Washington. The trip down proved to be very adventurous. Noah is usually a pretty good traveler and rarely cries in the car. So, it was somewhat surprising when an hour into our trip last Tuesday night that he started wailing. I took off my seatbelt to investigate what the problem was and then I smelled it. I knew we were in a bit of a hurry to find a place to change a diaper. Stuart pulled off the first exit we saw and stopped at a Shell gas station. As soon as we extracted Noah from his seat, we could tell this was no ordinary poopy diaper. We sprang into action. Stuart went inside to obtain a plastic bag for the clothes and I tried to contain the damage inside the bathroom. We basically had to bathe Noah and change all of his clothing inside a gas station bathroom. Quite the adventure. The rest of the trip down was pretty uneventful. We stopped halfway at my Aunt and Uncles in Indy for dinner and then proceeded to Washington.
The time in Washington was awesome. We caught a Hatchet basketball game (won in 2ot), had a great Thanksgiving dinner (I think the final tally was about 23 people), and even caught some black Friday sales at the Wal-Mart. I think we all gained a good amount of weight and are now fasting until Christmas at the Smeltzer's.
Oh, I almost forgot the Cameron story. It's not a holiday if you don't get at least one hilarious story from that kid. So, the day before Thanksgiving, we thought we'd catch a pregame meal at the Amish restaurant in Montgomery. While we were there, an Amish family came in. Cameron, in mid-bite, nonchalantly says "oh, they have Pilgrims here." While I wanted to tell him that his awesome step-mom wanted him to have the most authentic Thanksgiving and that I'd actually brought the Pilgrims in on the Mayflower that morning, I was instead reduced to laughing while my wonderful husband explained the Amish lifestyle to Cameron. Cap that off with Noah rolling over for the first time and you've got one heckuva good time!!!

Thankful

Here's some of our family pictures we had taken last month. I love them!!! We are so blessed to have Diane Drake, one of our dear friends, who takes our pictures. Check her out if you live in the area and are looking for a great photographer. There's a link to her blog on the side of this blog if you want to see some more of her work.

Can you believe we are only 1 week away from Thanksgiving? The Rogers family has so much to be thankful for this year. We have truly been blessed. Whenever I get sad and miss all of our family and friends in Indiana I just have to remind myself of all the great things that have happened in the past year. Here's just a few of the things I am thankful for:
1. Noah Stephen Rogers
2. Cameron now lives with us full time (hooray!!)and has many new friends.
3. Stuart successfully finished all of his radiation treatments and remains healthy.
4. We have a beautiful new house in a great neighborhood.
5. I have the privilege to stay home with my favorite baby boy and watch him grow.
6. Our wonderful friends and family who have loved and prayed for us during the peaks and valleys of 2009.

This is a big week in sports for the Rogers family. On Sunday night, our beloved Colts came from behind (thank you Mr. Belichick) to defeat the arch rival Patriots. Stuart and I should be ashamed of ourselves for doubting the Colts and going to bed early in the fourth quarter. This Saturday marks one of the biggest rivalries in college football. It's the big Ohio State vs. Michigan game. This rivalry is bigger in our house this year because we live in Buckeye country. So, here's hoping the blue and maize can pull off a victory so Stuart doesn't have to hear it from our neighbors for the rest of the year.

Next week we travel to Washington to spend Thanksgiving with all of our favorite people. We can't wait!!! Thus begins the crazy holiday season. Good luck with all of your Christmas shopping, I'm almost done. Have a great week!!

Cameron and Cub Scouts

I thought you guys might want to see some of what Cameron has been up to at Cub Scouts. The other day they made cards to send to the troops in Iraq and Afghanistan.





Both Stuart and Cameron are enjoying their Cub Scout experience. On Monday, Cameron will receive his Bobcat badge. Hooray!!! Have a great weekend everyone.

Noah's first trip to Michigan

This past weekend we ventured to the booming metropolis of Sunfield, Michigan. It was Noah's first trip to the place where his daddy grew up. It was a great weekend and Noah handled the road trip well. He really does travel pretty well. Cameron had a great time and proclaimed Aunt Rosie's house the happiest place of his life. I'm not sure what that means but I'm guessing it means he likes it there.

Our sweet cousin Alaina (also one of the reasons we love Aunt Rosie...baked goods!!!)


Noah and Grandpa Dale


Cameron and our cousin Gabe


Alaina and Noah


In other news, report cards came out last week and Cameron is doing great academically. He struggles a little with his talking and behavior at times but overall is doing wonderful. Boy scouts are going great and he managed to sell 400.00 worth of popcorn to support local scouting.

Noah is learning to sleep better at night. Other than refusing to sleep in the pack n' play while we were in Michigan, he is on a streak of sleeping through the night. I couldn't be happier about that. We are trying to break him of napping in his swing but without much luck yet. He will usually take 1 nap a day in his crib and all the others are in his swing. Another development is that he's learning to roll over. He hasn't made it all the way yet but he can roll from his back almost all the way to his belly. He just can't figure out how to get his arm out of the way. He had his 4 month check-up last week and he is up to 14 lbs. and 2 feet long. Hooray!! We can start solids at any time now but I think we will wait until he's closer to the 6 month mark for that.

The Rogers family has still not managed to be vaccinated against the swine flu. They have had several clinics in the Columbus area for high risk groups. However, Noah is too young to be vaccinated yet and all of the clinics have been during school hours. So, hopefully within the next week or two we can get the entire Rogers family to a clinic to get vaccinated.

Roscoe's new favorite place to nap


Sweet smile


Celebrating a Colts touchdown

Halloween Weekend

We all had a great Halloween weekend. Cameron wasn't with us but I managed to snap a few pics of him in his Darth Vader costume. Noah withstood his Mother and Aunt putting him in 3 different costumes on Saturday. Even Stuart got into the spirit dressing up as a Master's Caddy (courtesy of St. Francis South and their lovely c-section suits for dads).

Cutest football I've ever seen

Aunt Stacey as a deviled egg, Noah as a dalmatian, Stuart as a Master's Caddy

I love me some Aunt Stacey

Our little pumpkin

Darth Vader!!!