Nine Years!!

Stacey and I have been married 9 years today! I can't believe it has been that long! That said, our wedding video is on VHS and I wore white hose with my dress, so there is no doubt some time has passed.

I don't have a scanner so these are pictures of pictures, but I hardly recognize those two kids low quality or not. This was taken as we caught our breath and guests lined up with sparklers just before we ran out.

I remember meeting Stacey for the very first time. I was coming home from chapter, actually standards I think, and had my hands full of what I'm sure were very important sorority documents of some kind and Delta Pie. I was fumbling for my keys when I heard, "You must be Caryn." I looked up and saw the cutest boy I had ever laid eyes on throwing a football with his buddy (KP). He introduced himself and his roommate and informed me that they had moved in upstairs next door to my besties, Brooke and Whitney, who had told them who I was. I confirmed that I was this Caryn and awkwardly offered them some dessert (which they declined) then went on my way. But I knew right then and there that was the man I was going to marry. OK, not really. But, a few date parties, love triangles, plane trips, around the world parties, long distance calls and late night talks and we knew it was the real deal. More than anything I loved how passionate Stacey was about Christ and how he made me laugh all the time. I just knew everything in my life was going to be sweeter with him in it.

So, when he got down on one knee on the ice at June Bug Park in Red River New Mexico and asked me to marry him I said YES!! And as I suspected, almost everything has been sweeter since that day!

I love you Stacey! You are an incredible husband and the best Daddy ever and I am honored to be your wife of nine years!! Happy Anniversary!

Big Boy Birthday Bike

Nannie and Big took us out to dinner and then took Stacey to pick out his birthday gift - his first bike!! He loved EVERY minute of it and picked out this precious red and black Trek. And yes, these Red Raider parents were beaming with pride. It is just too cute, and I'm sure tough and durable and engineered for biking perfection, but just so cute! I know I'm partial but he just looked so cute riding it.

Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dumb out for a leisurely ride on the tandem - HA!
Then we had to pick out a matching helmet - safety first. I have a feeling we'll be picking up one of these for a copycat little brother soon even though his bike riding days are a ways off. He could probably stand to wear one at all times so it can't hurt.

Thank you Nannie and Big for such a wonderful birthday surprise. Stacey is so blessed!! And I just have to say to my MIL that you're amazing!! She just had major ankle and jaw surgery, yet here she is, out and about making birthday dreams come true for her grandson.

Just for the record, all I asked him to do was go stand by his bike and his struck this "love me" pose all by himself! I don't know where he gets that. :) But I do know he'll have sweet dreams tonight, he wanted to sleep in his helmet.

Cracker Toffee Pedi Party and Traveling Shower :)

Last week I was able to enjoy some quality time with some of my favorite girls in Waco. Other than just enjoying some grown up time without our kids (THANK YOU SOOOO much to Angie and Kacey who watched my boys the whole time!!!) we were also celebrating Wendi's return from Doha (we are SO glad to have her back for the summer), the pending arrival of Miss Julia Steen and the surprise arrival of Mr. Clark Svoboda. He came a few weeks early so we got to meet him in person which was a real bonus!

We started with a Pedi Party honoring Lauren.

Then took our traveling shower to Katy's to continue the festivities and meet her new love bug.

Here are a few detail pictures from the night. Once Julia arrives these newest babes will make 15 kiddos between the 7 of us!! Can't wait for the next family gathering.

Friday we hit the pool and endured the heat for a few hours then headed back to Katy's for more baby love.

We wrapped up the evening with a delish dinner at Ninfa's, minus Shannon B. (who had to skip out early to celebrate her 10 year anniversary!) & Katy.

As usual it was a great weekend and I can't wait until we're all together again!!

III is Four Wrap Up

Our plan for the birthday finale was to go swimming with the Brown's and enjoy pizza and birthday cake. But, when we pulled up to the pool there was an unexpected "sorry we're closed" sign, so we invaded their house instead. Thankfully III and Wyatt love to play with these guys and didn't mind that the swimming portion was canned as long as they were with their buddies.

Sorry for all the shirtless pictures :)

We're having Stacey's official party this weekend, and it is all about Cars. But today was unthemed so it was fun to just let III pick out whatever he wanted which included spiderman plates and a rocket ship cookie cake.

Happy Birthday buddy, we love you SO much!!

The evening, as it always seems to be when Stacey and Landon play, ended with appearances by these spidermen.
Stacey you are my favorite 4 year old in the whole world and I am so blessed to get to be your Mommy. I can't wait to see what this year holds for you.

How is it that we have a 4 year old??

Guess who turned four today?

You guessed it, Stacey Reese Smith III is officially 4 YEARS OLD!! Last night I told the boys that I was picking out two special books to read since tomorrow was Stacey's birthday and it was my last night with my three-year-old. I read Birthday Monsters and then foolishly thought it would be a great tradition to read them I'll Love You Forever on the eve of their birthdays - phew - many a little tear shed by me! Such a sweet book and such a reminder of how much I love my babies and how bitter sweet each birthday is. Mostly sweet, but just a reminder of how much further they are from being my tini tiny baby just home from the hospital four years ago.

Stacey woke up to 4s all over the house and loved finding, gathering and counting them.

Daddy picked up donuts so we could have a special birthday breakfast before he had to go to work. We gave the boys a donut hole and then he offered them a sprinkled or a chocolate covered one. III replied very maturely, "Sanks Dad, but I sink this donut hole is going to be all I need. This chocolate milk is really filling me up." WHAT?? One donut hole?? We gave him a few more but one was all he ate. The overnight transformation from 3 to 4 is astounding. :) He has promised us a list longer than I can fathom of things that his is going to do when he is four, so maybe he's just following through on those lofty promises.

Then it was time for a few presents.

First, drumroll please.....not one, but two......telescopes!!!

Now before you call the nerd herd you must know that for about six months this precious has answered the "What do you want for you birthday?" question with an unchanging, unwavering, consistency that has been a little unnerving. The answer is always: a telescope and a pogo stick (stay tuned for the ladder). I think Mickey Mouse Clubhouse may have inspired his aspirations for all the great things he could do with both, but wherever the idea came from I am happy to know we fulfilled one of his (albeit strange) birthday wishes.
Wyatt was thoughtful enough to get him a new transformer!! And Bob and Jack got him a #4 t-shirt. III was quite amused by the idea of Bob and Jack shopping.

Then we opened his cards. Thank you Aunt Shirley!!

And Nana!! He loved his four crisp dolla dolla bills yall. Based on the picture below I think we're going to need to review 1 Timothy 6:10 ("for the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil.") JK, but seriously.

Why two telescopes you might ask...
That, and after a lot of searching I ended up ordering them online and wasn't sure if either one would be worth a dern.

The highlight of the day so far was taking those four crisp $1 bills from Nana to Dollar Tree and turning them into treasure. A styrofoam sword, spiderman water gun and car, and racing bugs were decisively chosen (I'm telling you 4 is really wowing me so far) after a little him hawing over bubbles. Don't worry the little guys got a little treasure too.
Then as the calendar would have it, it was home for our traditional and MUCH anticipated Muffin Tin Monday. I'm telling you it doesn't matter what it is, it tastes better in a muffin tin, at least to these two. Although today they seemed a little distracted. Not sure if it was the anticipation of the bug races that were up after lunch or if they were just full from the celebratory 25 cent candy I let them get at the store (you know the kind from the vending machine that I always say no to), or maybe that ONE donut hole really was all he needed today. :)
More to come on today's continued celebration of this big boy!!

4th of July 2009

We had a great 4th of July at the lake with my sisters and their families it was full of quality cousin time and lots of swimming, jumping, boating, lounging, eating and of course good old fashioned Red, White and Blue 4th of July fun.

Ryan and Stacey both jumped off the top dock, which is no small accomplishment for a three and five year old!! Check out this video of the jumping action. Stacey created a YouTube account so now all our little movies are available for the world to enjoy. :)

We returned to a little beach (really just a shallow spot with a lake mud floor) that the kids love because they can touch. I'd really rather not touch the bottom of the lake, EVER, but I was willing to sacrifice for their enjoyment. We're training up a bunch of little lake lovers with this crew. :)

During our stop we got a nice nature show with a herd of the biggest goats I've ever seen, a few sheep and some cows just feet away. Love sharing my swimming pool with the livestock.

Then it was time for a fourth of July, make your own skewer snack - in red white and blue of course.

Wyatt attacked his like it was a chicken leg. He and Ally were happy to just stuff their faces with marshmallows, I mean who isn't happy to do that? But the big guys made some lovely patterns.

You'll notice a sheet in the background of the first picture above. When we were little girls my grandparents would thumb tack sheets around the bottom of the open stairwell to give us a fort. We thought it was SO COOL and would play it is ALL the time and even slept in it sometimes. So naturally we thought he boys would go nuts for their very own fort. Right?Wrong. They could have cared less and went in it for maybe two minutes. Of course when we took it down on Sunday morning, Stacey said, "Hey, where is our fort? I want you to put it back so we can play in it." Are you kidding me. Maybe next year.

Team USA group pic. Always a crap shoot with this get-along-gang but they were all so cute in their patriotic get ups. I love matchy matchy :)

Speaking of SO CUTE, this little miss might be the most photogenic baby ever. Just take a minute to enjoy the cuteness.

Brotherly love (gum is such a great motivator).

Then it was off to the fireworks. Since I was little we've spent most fourths at the lake and typically go in the boat to watch fireworks from the water. Just another tradition that I LOVE getting to share with my boys.

There was lots of waiting for dark-thirty, but somehow we managed to stay entertained.
Once the fireworks started they did not disappoint. We ere RIGHT underneath them and it was a GREAT show!! I kept having to squint my eyes they were so bright.

We took our sleepy pyromaniacs home for a little of our own firework fun but III was having trouble keeping his eyes open so after a few sparklers, tanks and a homegrown finale we called it a night. Thanks for the cool fireworks Uncle Josh!!

Honey and GP we REALLY missed having you there, but we had a great weekend.