Annual Smith Family Get Together

It was that time of year again!  We loaded up the car and headed to Aledo to see the Smith side of our family.  We didn't have as big of an attendance this year but that may have worked better for the kids because there was lots more room for them to run around and play!  We enjoyed some good food, visiting and even got to sing a little bit.  Some of the request included Jesus Loves Me, Our God is so Big, and my personal favorite led by Uncle Doyle, the Hippopotamus song.  :)

 

Uncle Andy and Pa playing cars with all the kids.

 

About half of the great-grand kids:

Logan (5), Carli (3.5), Timothy (2.5) and Ava (2)

Before we left for Dallas to go golfing and swimming, we stopped by the cemetery to show the kids where Grandfather and Grandmother were laid to rest. 

Until next year....

My How Time Flies

On my Dad's side of the family I have three cousins.  There are six of us total - 3 boys and 3 girls.  None of us girls had any sisters.  So growing up, cousins were as close as we got to having a sister.  The funny thing is that we are all five years apart in age.  Dionna is five years older then me and Cindy is five years older than Dionna.  I was the baby of the group of girls.  We have lots of fun memories and it's always fun to get together.  Now we are a bit spread apart - Washington, Houston and Tyler but thanks to "modern age" we still keep up with one another pretty well!

 

We think this picture was about 2001.

Dionna, Resa, Gina (Cousin in law), Cindy

Five babies and about ten years later.

Cindy, Resa & Dionna

 

I am the short one in my family with both my brothers being over six feet.  I love standing beside these two beautiful ladies.  They make me feel so tall!  :)  Love you guys!  :)

Swimming and Sonic

Anyone who knows me, knows I am not a huge fan of swimming.  Keith does a better job than I do at getting in the water with the girls.  I did not inherit my mother's love of the water.  But apparently it skipped a generation and both my children LOVE to play in the water.  So when Naggy and Pappy suggested swimming, the girls were all in!

We went over to Jeri's house and had free reign of her pool.  The girls LOVED it.  Keith and I made a Sonic trip, then had a blast just watching the girls splash around.  Ava has absolutely no fear of the water.  She jumps right in and starts kicking and paddling.  It is pretty impressive given her parent's water aversion.  :)

Swimming is hard work!  Makes a girl thirsty!

 

This is Ava's "OH?" face.

 

Okay - maybe we go to Sonic too much.

 

Carli is usually more reserved in the water, but once she gets comfortable she is all smiles!

 

Thanks Jeri for letting us crash at your pool twice!  The girls had a blast, I think Naggy and Pappy did too!

 

P.S.  Naggy has some really good pictures of the girls swimming on her camera.  I forgot to copy them before we left.  :/

 



Jump-N-Jive Time

It's becoming a tradition that we must go visit Jump-N-Jive when we go to Amarillo.  It is the best use of an old Beall's Department store.  There is so much room to run around and flat wear the kids out!  Allison wasn't able to come play with us this time because she is growing up and had to do some things with the youth group.  :(  BUT Jake got to come and he and Ava hit it off.  They had a blast!

Ava has a "look at me" face.  We are learning not to grab the camera and say "Look at me, Ava!"  Because this is the face you get!

This picture is blurry but I couldn't resist posting it b/c of the pure joy on Carli's face!

We use to get some awesome hand me downs from a wonderful family in Amarillo.  Then they had an "oops" pregnancy and it was another girl.  Oh well.  We are still very happy to get to see them and their girls.  Carli had a an absolute blast playing with girls "her own size!"

 

The whole jumping crew!

Jordyn, Carli, Brooklyn, Ava and Jake

Ava and her new buddy, Jordyn.

 



 

 

Carli wouldn't take "posed" pictures for me.  She was too busy and then she was too tired and melted down on us.  Jump-N-Jive did its job!  We had a quick lunch and then took some really good afternoon naps!

 



Sweet Tooth Anyone?

Our trip to Amarillo was pretty laid back.  It was really nice just to hang out and watch the girls enjoy their time with Naggy and Pappy.  Apparently our love of sweets has been passed on to our children.  Combine that with the fact that all grandparents must spoil their grandbabies and we enjoyed some mighty fine yummy sweets while we were in Amarillo!

 

Naggy went to a Baby Shower on Sunday and brought back two cupcakes...

 

Keith and I were wandering where our cupcake was...

Ava is really saying "CHEESE" in this picture. 

Later on, the girls helped Naggy make some cupcakes.  They especially enjoyed putting sprinkles on the cupcakes.  Well, Carli put the sprinkles on and Ava ate the icing. 

Would you like a little cupcake with your sprinkles?

 

Ava may have eaten more icing than she did cupcake.

 

 

We also enjoyed some no bake cookies and a trip to Bahama Bucks, which was very yummy!  So glad Naggy and Pappy spoil our children and we get to enjoy the yumminess too!  :)

 



Amarillo = Jeep Rides!

One of the highlights of going to Amarillo (besides lots of Naggy and Pappy time) is getting to go on lots of Jeep rides!  The girls love it! 

Pappy, Naggy and the girls are off to go swimming!

 

Even Mom and Dad got to take the girls on a ride in the jeep.  The faces they make with the wind blowing their hair in their faces is pretty amusing.

 

We ended up having to moves car seats more than once because the girls convinced the adults that it was not too hot for a jeep ride!

Carli, do you love riding in the jeep?

"YES!!!"



Hot Air Balloon Festival

At the end of July, Logan invited the girls to go see the hot air balloons with him out in Longview.  We were having a very lazy Saturday and jumped at the invite to go do something!  The girls were pretty excited about seeing some really big balloons! 

On our way to Longview we stopped and at some BBQ and Ribs at the Country Tavern in Kilgore.  We had been told for the last six years that this was the best place ever to get ribs.  I don't do meat that well, but Andy and Keith confirmed that the ribs were amazing and decided we should take Grandma there for her birthday because she would love them!

Turned out that the balloons were a lot bigger deal than we had anticipated and we did not regret bringing the stroller with us!  We made up for our lazy Saturday and got our exercise in while walking from the parking lot out to the balloons.

The kids immediately spotted their favorite balloon and secured our seats right in front of it.  They were pretty enthralled.

We got to watch several balloons air up and it was pretty cool to see.  We were amazed at how close they all were to each other.

 Family picture with the balloons.

Carli was not interested in being in a picture with us.

We had to wait for it to get dark before the light show began.  The kids didn't mind at all.  They played and played and played.

I love these pictures b/c it shows how much Carli and Logan love each other.  :) 

Especially love the first one.



My handsome nephew Logan. 

They ran, they chased, they fell, they hugged and Carli twirled.

Turned out being in front of one of the biggest balloons wasn't the best idea when it came to seeing the lights of all the other balloons.  :)  Lesson learned.  It was pretty amazing to see and there were a lot more balloons than we imagined!  We would have loved to have seen them fly but apparently they only do that in the morning, very early in the mornings and that wasn't going to happen.  :)

It turned out that Keith's cousin Jeremy and his family were all at the festival.  Jeremy runs a company that sets up stages for concerts and events.  They were there doing the stage for the concert that night.  Small world.  We got to visit for a few minutes before the combined six kids had had enough standing around and we had to get going!  :)

Sassy Time!

You know what makes a Monday great?  If it's a Sassy Monday!  A couple of weeks ago our schedules worked out and Sassy came over to play for a couple of hours.  The girls were beyond excited.  They LOVE Sassy!  They must have played hard b/c when I got home at eight, they were all piled in Carli's bed.  If Sassy is around, Carli's arm MUST be tickled before she can sleep and Ava was not going to be left out.  So, I interrupted the ritual, but they didn't seem too ready for bed.  :)  Look at those bright eyes!

We were all happy to get to see Sassy for a bit and catch up.  She was a very important part of our lives and we hope to keep it that way!  :)