Smith Family Tree: June 2012

Wednesday, June 20, 2012

Jumping Monkeys

Today we had a "playdate" with Crystal, Emerson, and Mitchell at Jumping Beans in Wake Forest. Tyson keeps getting confused and calling it "Jumping Monkeys." Although a bit chaotic (with two newly potty trained little ones, a baby, and a toddler) we had a great time together. While eating lunch at Village Deli, with our 'jumping monkeys' crawling all over us, Crystal and I laughed about how much our lunch outings have changed over the last few years. None-the-less, I love her and her children so much. Most little girls talk about their "BFFs," but not many of them truly mean FOREVER. I am so thankful for our friendship that has lasted my lifetime.

Tyson just loves Mitchell. He kept peeking in at him and patting his little legs.

Oh lordy, Crystal and I hate germs, so motherhood has been an intersting time for us in that department. This was Emerson pretending to be a piggy with her lips pouched on the netting.

Juel was a little hesitant at first, but finally she joined in on the fun!

Of course the kiddos wanted to go to the fountain (it was about 1000 degrees) and of course we could not get a group picture! This was the best one! LOL

Future romance? They were holding hands for a while!

Tyson liked to follow Emerson around, but she would scream thinking he was chasing her!

Sweet girl giving a smile!

Mitchell was hot and mad at this point, but look at this cute outfit!

Cuteness!

Juel Juel Juel...

That's what you hear from Tyson very often. Since she is the second child I am trying to do a good job of "featuring" her in pictures/ blogspace to compare to her brother. She is such as sweet baby girl and we all are just crazy about her. Some things I hope I will never forget, so I try to list them here.

There was a rap song called "She get it from her mama..." we sing to her often when she does something like me. For instance:
-She loves to be on a stage.
-She likes baby dolls and to dance.
-She loves giving kisses (especially to her babee)
-She is stubborn (wait...she get it from her daddy!)

Her cute words now are:
duck and it says tack tack, babEE, bottle, thank you, more, broder, GEE (most frequently said word), please, juice, shoes (she LOVES them), cookie, cra-ker, wa wa (water), pool, car, Roalph (with a short o), up, sweet "out-siiiiide", mmhhmm and uhuh (yes and no), frooooog- in a growling voice??, blanket, rock rock, and of course my favorite is still Ma Ma! and sometimes Mommy!

-She loves fruit! (She did not get this from her mama!)
-Juel is not shy. She likes to meet people and will often crawl up in their lap if you are at an event.
-She is an excellent sleeper. She goes to bed at 8:00. She is a bit OCD about her bedtime routine (no comments from the peanut gallery). Mom likes doing it most often. She rocks with a bottle (yes I know it's time to part with it, but oh well, it will be gone by Kindergarten.) When she is done she reaches for her paci (perhaps it should go to, but too bad!) and a little bunny that says prayers. After prayers she brushes her teeth. Then she reaches for her baby and jumps in bed. She sleeps in a sleep sack and I love to go in to rub the hair at the back of her neck. She also takes a 2 hour nap each day.
-I think she may be easier to potty train than my dear boy. She has already sat on the potty to pee pee a few times. She will tell you when she has a dirty diaper and is very interested in watching her big brother take care of potty business.

Tyson loves her so much and is becoming a sweeter big brother. It is hard because they are already "fussing" about things. Whatever one child has, the other wants. Ug! I just want peace and love. Perhaps I will be able to teach valuable lessons through their sibling relationship?? I'll try. They really love each other so much. As soon as I take her out of her crib each morning her first words are "broda, broda!"

I can't believe how quickly they are both growing and changing. I am so happy it is summer so that I can enjoy this precious time with my little ones!

Whirlwind Wedding Weekend (Father's Day Edition)

Travis was so happy to celebrate Father's Day at First Baptist with our dear friend and amazing pastor, Brother Chip Sloan. He mentored Travis when he was a teenager and has loved him ever since! It was a special service.

It was so great to see Chip!He now has 3 sweet grandaughters that played in the nursery with Tyson and Juel. Tyson loved being in a Sunday School class with lots of kids.

After church I had lunch with my teacher-friends from Washington Elementary. Cindy retired this year. I can't imagine the world of teaching without her in it! I am so happy for her. Zennie is just as beautiful as ever, and Harlie is growing up (she was 3 years old when I first met her). Mary Esther is such a wonderful person. I treasure the lessons I learned from her always. We had such a great time remembering our good old days! Meanwhile Travis took the children to visit his high school French teacher. He loves her so much and was excited for her to meet the children.

Happy Father's Day Daddy!!

Wirlwind Wedding Weekend (Part 2)

Next we moved over to Gastonia for the wedding weekend. We could not check into our hotel so mom took the kiddos to the pool while Travis and I went to our favorite place in Kings Mountain, Swoogers, for lunch. We had a few fun filled, kid-free moments together, reminiscing about our life when we were first married and lived in KM. It will always feel like home to Travis. Of course we had to cruise by the high school and our old house. Wow our life has changed since then!!

Now onto the wedding! Chris and Donna Keeter were our dear friends from First Baptist in Kings Mountain. Shortly after we met them, they packed up their lives and moved to Honduras to serve as missionaries. We helped with their transition and really loved being a part of it. Travis (at the last minute, with one days notice) actually traveled with them when they first moved. We also grew close to their daughter Kala, who at the time they moved was a freshman at Appalachain State in Boone. Travis and I visited her every summer when we went to Blowing Rock. After we moved here we helped take a group from Bunn Baptist down on a mission trip. We had a spot open at the last minute, so we surprised Chris and Donna by bringing Kala with us. It was awesome! Regardless, they have become like family to us. Ever since first meeting her, Kala would talk about her "one day" wedding. Well that day came! She asked me to be her wedding director. It was an honor and great fun to be part of her special day as she married John Michael. Their wedding was at the Grand Hall in Mount Holly. It was a very unique venue. She is extremely creative and had done lots of preparation to make it beautiful. Here are a few pictures:

This picture is blurry but it shows the venue...it was a huge hall with exposed celings. Both the wedding and reception were here. The bride came down this stair case that is in the middle of the building. It was very lovely. (and caused for some interesting 'directing' as I ran around the building several times).

She used lots of different colors...and tons of beautiful live flowers and paper flowers.

Kala is a third grade teacher. She made coloring books and reserved a row for her students.

For wedding favors, they had collected lots of books to give away. It was a neat touch!

The decorations were all so "Kala" and seemed like they should be on Pintrest.

She used lots of burlap, fabric, and colored paper...

Each table had different centerpieces, but they were all on pieces of wood.

Her RSVP cards were also "crafty" and had places for people to write in various adjectives/verbs.

The aisles were lined with these old fashioned jugs.

I love this picture of Travis and his baby girl. They are both smitten with each other!

Family photos are just impossible!

The DJ did an "anniversary" dance that started with all married couples and ended with the longest-married couple winning a prize. The song was John Legend's "I Will Stay with You," that Cedric sang for our first dance six years ago!

Fancy that Tyson found a plug. He was pretending to use it as a microphone.

Juel loved the cake enought to lick the plate!

The bride and her maids dancing away. Once the dancing started...the younger people never left the dance floor!

Of course these two were on the stage!

We love the Keeters!

Whirlwind Wedding Weekend

We just had a wonderful weekend visit to southwestern NC! We began with a visit to Terrell to see Morgan and Cedric's new house, moved over to Gastonia for a wedding, visited Kings Mountain, celebrated Father's Day at KMFB, had lunch in Shelby, and stopped by IKEA on the way home! Whew I am tired just thinking about it!

Thursday afternoon we headed to Terrell to finally see Morgan and Cedric's new house. We met at Clyde and Miss Doris's for pizza, then went to tour the house (it is just through their backyard). The children had a BLAST playing together in "PaPaws Place," this awesome fort that Clyde built, and jumping on the trampoline with Miss Doris. Travis and Cedric had fun listening to music and talking while the girls talked non-stop. It had been forever since we had seen each other. Now let me just tell you about the house. It is just beautiful and should be finished soon. Some of my favorite features are: an awesome french door to Morgan's office, beautiful stained-glass windows in the master bath, a cool stained wood mantle above an awesome stone fireplace, and probably my favorite-the basement! I can envision lots of playtime in there! It also has a cool patio off of the basement. I am so happy for our friends to have this great house. They deserve it! Unfortunately I do not have pictures. We had plans to swim together then next day and I was going to take pictures, but sadly Gabriel got sick. I snagged a few of playtime from Morgan's camera card (she actually came to my house Monday night for a work trip...more constant talking and laughter). You can check out Morgan's blog for house pictures. The only thing I would change about the house is to move it to my backyard. We love them so much and wish we could be together all of the time!