The Smith Family

Nice Day at HOME!!

2008-12-27T20:59:00.002-06:00

We just stayed around the house all day today. It was great!! We all slept until 11am this morning then the boys spent the day playing with new toys and riding 4-wheelers. Dawn & her boys came over for supper & the kids played for a while. It was a great day! Gavin just zonked out in the chair while watching cartoons & eating Goldfish crackers!! Isn't he too cute!!

Merry Christmas!!

2008-12-26T16:57:00.007-06:00

We had a wonderful Christmas! I don't think it could have been better! We went to my cousins' home in Lake City for Christmas Eve & then my mom & dad came home with us. We put out milk & cookies for Santa & reindeer food for the reindeer. We left Santa's special key out for him & said goodbye until next year to our scout elf Zack & then headed to bed. It was a bit of a chore getting Ryley to go to sleep because he was soooooooooo excited!!! The boys got us up I guess around 8. They both got everything on their lists from Santa & mom & dad. Justin appreciated having my dad here to help him wrestle all of the toys out of their packages & remove hundreds of tiny screws to install batteries! LOL!! I have had bronchitis for what seems like 6 months but has actually been about 1 month so after all the gifts were opened I took a little nap!! Which was great!! At lunch my mom made gumbo. Delicious!! Later on in the afternoon we went to Justin's parents' house to exchange gifts with them. All in all a great day!!

Gingerbread House

2008-12-17T23:12:00.003-06:00

While I was out running errands Justin & the boys built a gingerbread house. It is really cute!! They did an awesome job!! I'm so proud of my boys!!

White Family Christmas

2008-12-17T22:21:00.002-06:00

Last Saturday, we had our family Christmas with my parents, my brother & his new wife. We had a good time! The boys especially loved having an early Christmas!!

Ryley's Birthday Cake

2008-12-17T22:13:00.003-06:00

Ryley's actual birthday was the 28th (the day after Thanksgiving). Bethany made him a deer hunting cake for his birthday present. It was awesome!! Bethany makes the best cakes!!

Ryley Birthday Party

2008-12-17T22:05:00.002-06:00

For Ryley's birthday this year we took a group of kids to the ASU museum to see the Grossology exhibit. The kids had a blast but honestly I was too busy trying to keep up with all the kids to even look at anything!! Anyway that was way too chaotic & probably won't happen again!! Afterwards we went back to our church family life center to build ice cream sundaes with the birthday boy.

Winnie the Pooh Live!!

2008-12-17T21:59:00.002-06:00

I'm playing catch up again!! On Nov 7th my mom and I took the boys to see Winnie the Pooh Live! The boys had a great time!! We spent the night in Little Rock and shopped all day the next day!

Which was great fun for mom & me!!

Smores on a School Night??!!

2008-11-05T19:54:00.005-06:00

Yesterday after work Justin decided to burn a pile of brush in the woods behind our house. Well the boys thought it would be a great opportunity to roast hot dogs and make smores!! So I ran to the store and bought the stuff we needed. The kids thought it was so cool to do this on a school night. I think it is good for kids to see that parents can be spontaneous too!! The dogs had a great time also because Gavin dropped a couple hot dogs and at least a half a dozen marshmallows!!

Halloween

2008-11-04T22:29:00.003-06:00

We went to my parents house in Highland for the weekend so my boys trick or treated a few of my parents friends' homes on Fri evening. We went to my parents' church's Fall Fling on Sat evening which was lots of fun for the kids. Ryley got to shoot cans with a paintball gun so now of course he wants one for Christmas, but no way is he getting one!! Maybe when he's older. Ryley & Justin went deer hunting Sat morning but they didn't even see any deer. Oh well maybe next time!! I forgot to take my camera this weekend but I did take s

ome pics with my mom's camera. maybe one of these days I'll get copies of them!! Anyway these pics are of the hayride at our church's fall festival & go with the last post.

Saturday

2008-11-04T22:24:00.003-06:00

We had a great time at our church's fall festival & hayride Sat evening. It was perfect weather! My mom was here with us because she stayed with the boys while we had our short anniversary trip. Gavin did his best to abuse her by telling her she has a big butt! She wasn't too upset & actually thought it was funny!! But other than that she said they had lots of fun. She & Beda (Aunt Belinda) took my boys & their cousins (Beda's grandsons) Kade & Kaleb to Chuck E. Cheese for lunch.

Happy 10th Anniversary to Us!!

2008-11-04T22:13:00.002-06:00

Believe it or not--on Oct 24th Justin & I celebrated our 10th wedding anniversary!! I know we don't seem that old! We had planned a romantic weekend at a Bartee Meadow Bed & Breakfast in Hot Springs-complete with massages, pinic lunches, and dinner cruise--but Ryley's taekwondo testing turned out to be in conflict with that plan--& as parents we have to sacrifice--they'll be all grown up too soon!! So we went to Memphis & spent the night in the hotel that we stayed in on our wedding night. We had to wait until Ryley's taekwondo testing was over so it was 10:30pm by the time we got to Houston's to eat dinner--but it was worth it. When we got to the hotel Justin surprised me with a beautiful white gold 3 stone ring. I was really surprised because I had hinted all summer that I would like a white gold wedding set & he kept insisting that he was not buying one right now & I believed him. Little did I know he purchased mine back in June!! I'd post a pic of it but I forgot to take one & it's at the jeweler's being sized right now--oh how I miss it!! We spent Sat. morning shopping at Bass Pro then headed home to get ready for our church's fall festival & hay ride. Here's to another wonderful 10 years!!

Ryley's Taekwondo Testing

2008-11-04T22:02:00.003-06:00

Ryley tested for his yellow belt on Oct 24th. He did awesome!! I am so proud of him!! He has diligently practiced the 19 step form & 5 1 steps that are at 4-5 steps each. I think this is quite an accomplishment for less than 2 months of lessons. He will find out Thursday if he passed or not. I'm sure he did from talking to his instructor. He's so excited!!

Fireproof the movie

2008-10-20T22:20:00.001-05:00

Justin & I went out for a Sunday afternoon date this past weekend. We watched Fireproof Your Marriage. It was wonderful!! I encourage everyone to take your spouse to see this movie!!

Halloween Party

2008-10-20T21:26:00.006-05:00

The Halloween party Sat night was loads of fun!! The kids had a blast running around, dancing, & eating!! Everyone was so cute in costume!! Thanks Tiffany & Allen for letting us party at your house!! Ryley & I made a ghost cake, a rat cake & cupcakes for the party. Ryley & Justin dressed up as phantoms. Gavin & I were a dalmation and Cruella DeVil.

Fall Decor

2008-10-19T21:57:00.004-05:00

We have recently decorated our yard and porch for the fall holidays. I think that the boys & I did a pretty good job this year!

Gavin is a "Big Man"

2008-10-19T21:54:00.006-05:00

I forgot to post some special news. Gavin is now a self-proclaimed "big man". He gave his pie-pies (pacifiers) to the baby red wolves on Oct 3rd!! He decided that he was a big man & didn't need them anymore. His friend JP gave his to the baby red wolves so Gavin did the same. I am so proud of him for being such a "big man"!! Since he gave up the pie-pies so easily his daddy & I went ahead a got him the kitchen and chef's outfit he was going to ask Santa to bring for Christmas. Doesn't he look sweet in his chef's hat??!!

Homecoming

2008-10-19T21:23:00.004-05:00

Yep I'm still playing catch up!! Last Friday was our school's football homecoming. Ryley was invited to ride on the Pee Wee football float in the parade so he was super excited!! Gavin & his Playschool pals were in awe of the parade!! That evening our church had a tailgate party which was lots of fun!! The boys loved having their faces & hair painted for the event!!

Soccer

2008-10-18T23:31:00.004-05:00

Ryley's soccer team has done really well this summer!! We are really proud of them! Go Goodman Contracting!!!

Pirate Cousins

2008-10-18T23:11:00.002-05:00

I just had to post this pic of my little pirates at Kidsfest!!

Taekwondo

2008-10-18T22:57:00.002-05:00

Ryley started taking Taekwondo in September. He loves it & is really good at it!! He will be testing for his yellow belt next Friday so he's really excited. He practices his forms everyday. We are sooo proud of him!

Fair Time

2008-10-18T22:00:00.005-05:00

Okay so I know I'm wayyyy behind on blogging so I'm going to try to play catch up tonight since Amber told me I better!!

The kids had a blast at the NEA District Fair. They thought the rides were pretty cool but the petting zoo was definitely their favorite part. We're going to have to get Gavin & Ethan some goat kids! They loved them!!

Labor Day "Fishing" Trip

2008-09-01T21:59:00.005-05:00

I had to see a patient this morning so we got a late start today. Justin decided that we should take the boys trout "fishing" at the Little Red River in Heber. So we packed up a picnic and hit the road. We had a good time but there was little fishing involved. The boys prefered to play in the river rather than to fish. The trout weren't biting anyway. I admit I was a little relieved because fish hooks and little boys usually result in an ER visit--and Gavin is especially prone to accidents!! They got soaked and had a great time!! And surprisingly--I actually remembered to bring each boy an extra set of clothes so they could splash around in the river as much as they wanted.

Sweet Sweet Family Time

2008-08-31T23:02:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Mom & Dad came down to spend the weekend with us. The boys were really excited to have "Mimi & Papaw" spend the night with them. Mom, the boys, & I tried to go shopping yesterday afternoon but we only made it to Lifeway Bookstore before the power outage put a bit of a damper on things so Dad & Justin just met us at O'Charley's for dinner. After dinner Mom, Ryley, & I went to Books A Million and Kroger. Dad wasn't feeling well this morning so they went ahead and went back home. Today has been a quiet relaxing day full of sweet sweet family time--something we haven't enjoyed alot of this summer due to our unusually busy schedules the last several weeks. We fixed one of the boys' favorite meals for lunch today--chicken soft tacos w/ rotel dip & chips. After lunch we Just laid around and watched "Nim's Island" and "The Last Mimsy" together. Both were really good movies. This evening we went to Awana and evening worship. The youth group led the service tonight. They started the service with an "Apathy Party" in which nobody was allowed to have any fun or show any happy emotions. If you showed happy emotions one of the youth would make you wear a paper sack over your head for 1 minute. Anyway the point was it just doesn't make sense to go to church and with an apathetic attitude. Our Lord does deserve better than that!! It was very interesting. The youth group did a great job!! After church we stopped by Justin's mom's house for a little while. Then we came home and Ryley & I mixed up a batch of fudge brownies. While they were baking we ate a supper of junk food (frozen burritos and pizza rolls) which is really rare for us but I guess every now & then a junk food supper won't kill us!! LOL!! After supper we enjoyed our still warm brownies with vanilla ice cream! I talked to Mom & Dad & thankfully Dad is feeling better tonight. Well I have let the kids say up late since no school tomorrow but they're getting cranky so I better put them to bed!!

The Track

2008-08-31T14:57:00.000-05:00

We had a blast at The Track in Gulf Shores. They have an awesome 3-story wooden go-cart track called "Wild Woody". It was great fun!! The older boys got soaked on the bumper boats. Gavin loved the little kiddy rides especially the horse!!

National Naval Aviation Museum

2008-08-31T14:32:00.000-05:00

While on vacation we went to the National Naval Aviation Museum in Pensacola. The boys loved it! The museum was really hands on & the boys got to sit in the planes and pretend they were flying them. We also rode in a flight simulator which was really cool. Gavin (the ever curious one) got his head stuck in the railing but luckily we were able to get it out without having to take the railing apart!! There's never a dull moment when Gavin's out of his stroller for more than 2 seconds!! Ryley loved it so much he has decided that we should decorate his & Gavin's playroom in airplanes--so we are!! I am going to make a photo collage poster online of the boys at the museum to frame to hang on one wall.

Fort Morgan Beach

2008-08-31T13:25:00.001-05:00

We had a great time on vacation at Fort Morgan (Gulf Shores). The boys LOVED the beach! Gavin wasn't too crazy about the "water waves" but he did get braver & braver as the week went on. The kids spent alot of time playing in a deep deep hole that someone had dug in the sand. Ryley brought home a hermit crab that Justin found on the beach. The beach was private so it wasn't too crowded. We saw dolphins everyday which was really cool! We brought home lots of seashells too. We had a blast bodyboarding!! The waves were awesome!! The jellyfish were pretty bad one day but the kids had a lot of fun scooping them out of the water with nets and burying them in the sand. Ryley, Brady & Connor had a blast crab hunting on the beach at night. Gavin was a little scared because it was dark, the waves were loud, and there were crabs running every which way!! He felt more secure being carried in a sling so that's what I did. We ate so much seafood that now at every meal Gavin says "I want shrimp!" We are already planning to go back next summer! I can't wait!!

Missing My Boys

2008-07-30T22:48:00.000-05:00

Nothing too exciting to report--I'm working in Texas this week and missing my boys. I miss their sweet bedtime hugs and kisses most of all. I will be able to spend alot of time with them the next 2 weeks though. I am so ready for the BEACH!!

Even More Redbirds Photos

2008-07-28T15:59:00.001-05:00

More Redbirds Photos

2008-07-28T15:56:00.001-05:00

Redbirds Game

2008-07-28T14:50:00.000-05:00

Last Friday night we went to Memphis to the Flying Fish and the Redbirds game with the Castles. The boys all had a great time. Gavin was really excited to see Rockey Redbird (yes he has finally stopped calling him "big red chicken")!! Ryley, Brady & Connor thought they were too old to get excited about Rockey. We all loved the awesome fireworks show after the game!!

2008-07-17T12:20:00.000-05:00

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

2008-07-17T12:19:00.001-05:00

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Our Date

2008-07-17T12:05:00.000-05:00

Last Thurs night Ryley & I went out on a "date". He wanted us to "dress nice" and wanted me to wear something "sparkly or shiny". I didn't but I did dress nicely. We went to the theater and watched Wall-E and then we went to Marble Slab Creamery for ice cream. He was so sweet. When we got to the theater he wanted to hold hands. It was lots of fun. My boys are so sweet.