Smith - Party of Six

09 July 2014

Cousin Time

My sister Britney and I have been "taking turns" having kids all these years. It's just worked out that way. She recently had her 4th - Baby Thomas - and my kids were excited to meet him as well as see their other cousins they love.

They were here Saturday night - Wednesday morning. Sunday was our first full day and they went to church with us in the morning. The kids did great going to classes together.

It was Father's Day so we did a few little things to make the Dads feel special. I found these cool free prints I had made on Engineering Paper at Staples (they were big and only $3 each) and I had each set of kids write about their dads on them.

Then in the evening we took them on a hike through our neighborhood trails. Isn't it wonderful how well they all get along?

Monday we took a stroll through Downtown Nashville. I found a great place to park for us - it was across the river in one of the free parking lots of the Tennessee Titans Stadium. There was a great walking bridge we strolled across and got some great views of downtown.

We tried on boots at the store that does Buy 1 Pair, Get 2 Free, we sampled some candy at Savannah's Candy Kitchen, and ate a yummy BBQ lunch at Jack's BBQ. Then we headed back home and did some swimming in our neighborhood pool. The kids had a blast.

Here's little Thomas, 4 months old, and he was the best baby ever. So mellow and sweet the whole time.

I borrowed a corn hole set from one of my neighbors and we had a great time tossing beanbags in the evenings. It was really hot when they were here so the evenings were the best time to be outside.

Tuesday we went shopping at the mall and they used our discount at Journeys Shoes and Lids. :) We also stopped for some yummy froyo at Sweet Cece's and then finished off the day swimming again at the pool. We had a great time and are so grateful that they made the trip out from Iowa!

Hello Houston!

Memorial Day weekend we took a road trip to Houston, TX to visit my parents. We hadn't been back since the previous Memorial Day and in the meantime my parents bought a gorgeous new house so we were excited to visit again and see their new place. We had a great time! My brother was also living with them at the time so it was great to see Jordan there too.

On our drive down we always seem to stop at Raising Kane's for their awesome chicken tenders.

My parents home is on a golf course so of course the men got to go golfing one day.

The girls went shopping at the mall. My mom spoiled them with a few outfits and some books from Barnes and Noble. They were in heaven! Then we went to check out their neighborhood Memorial Day BBQ. It was at their pool and we had fun splashing around with our kiddos. Our own neighborhood pool hadn't opened quite yet so my kids had been excited to do some swimming!

Thanks to Jordan for all the pics! I was so busy having fun this trip I didn't think to take any pics of the rest of our fun.

But we had a great time eating out at some great restaurants, going to movies (the kids saw the new Wizard of Oz with their grandparents and Merrick and I saw the new XMen with Jordan), playing baseball in their backyard, playing clue, and hanging out with our family. Thanks Mom and Dad for the great visit! We hope to be back again soon!

Last Day of School

In Tennessee, the kids get out of school way early- like May 21st. It all seems great until they go back to school super early too - August 8th this year! Yikes! That means our summer is over halfway over by now. So here is a quick recap of the Last Day of School.

Camryn's teacher made up a CD of all the pictures of Camryn she took this school year. Here she is with a few of her besties.

And we'll never forget "Kamryn with a K" as they called her. Our girl was called "Camryn with a C", haha. At the end of the year I guess they started calling each other Camy and Kami a little but it was definitely interesting to have a double name for the first time!

Here's Camryn with her teacher, Mrs. Dawson, on the day they did their Kindergarten Program, all dressed up. We sure loved that teacher!

Camryn's friend Kayla came and rode the bus with Camryn every day this year. She doesn't live in our neighborhood but it worked out for her mom to drop her off every day and that way they had a friend to sit with on the bus. Her mom sent me these cute pics.

Here's Camryn saying goodbye to her teacher before we left.

Avery's teacher suggested that we do a party for the Summer Birthdays for our last day of school celebration. Since Avery is a summer birthday I sent a little classmate gift in for her to give everyone. I designed it myself - no Pinteresting this time! I think they turned out cute.

And here's my A-girl saying goodbye to Mrs. Rogers. What a great teacher she is. Avery had a wonderful second grade year and we continue to be impressed with her elementary school.

Now on to 1st and 3rd grades!!

17 May 2014

Family Update

So in recent news...

Yep, Smith- Party of Six is happening!! We are due at the end of October, but I probably should have said November seeing as how I went 10 days overdue last time before I finally got induced. But then again, that resulted in a baby that was 10 lb 4 oz so maybe we won't try repeating that history!! :)

I'm 16 weeks now so in another month we will find out if it's girl #4 or our first boy! We are excited either way. :) The girls are really excited too and they all are hoping for a boy, I think. But I'm sure they'll love dressing up another princess too!

I have been feeling well and not a whole lot different than my other pregnancies. I had a little nausea for a few weeks in a March but my second trimester has been smooth sailing so far. I'm feeling really blessed about that!