Birthdays and more...

It has been such a hectic week, so I haven't been on the computer as much as I'd like. First, Chad's 31st birthday this past Monday, then Ethan's 8th birthday on Thursday, his & Conner's birthday party yesterday, plus Katie & Ethan went to Vacation Bible School all week long, and now Father's Day. I am SO broke right now!

Some of my best memories were the birthday parties I had each year. Mom didn't spend a lot on presents, but she did go all out on a cake, order pizza, and sometimes got crazy with her Paint program and a printer. I remember many a birthday coming home to birthday banners all over the house, streamers everywhere. Plus, she always allowed me to invite 5-8 friends for a sleep over. Add in the other 7 or 8 kids living at home and it was a house full! We'd rent movies, eat pizza, and stay up all night laughing and talking about boys...it was the best of times!

Now, having my own four, I wonder how in the world she did it. The money, the stress of 10 teenagers in the house (me & Beth plus 8 friends, usually)...it's a wonder she is so sane!


I realized this week just how much Ethan is like his dad and how much Katie & I are alike. Chad could care less about birthdays, especially parties , and apparently Ethan feels the same way. He has been so laid back about it all that I really think I could have gotten away with no party, just taking him & his friends to swim, then eat brownies for cake, (which is what we did on his actual bday Thursday) and he'd have been happy. Live & learn!


Unfortunately, Katie is just like her momma and already planning her big birthday bash, including a sleepover of God know how many squealing girls. My head hurts already!


So, here are some pictures from Ethan's birthday and Conner & Ethan's joint birthday party:

When asked what he wanted for his birthday dinner & cake, Ethan chose french toast and brownies. That's my boy!

June 18

Mom says he looks just like me. I see more of my brothers Aaron & Neal in him. They look like Mom, I look like Dad.

He was being a goober & needed some loosening up...and I'm just the girl for that job!


After eating french toast & brownies, off to VBS with friends Violet & Robbie.

Saturday's birthday party at a local elementary school:

June 20

It was about 95 degrees outside when we started the party, at 5pm

Popsicles were a great idea on such a hot day.


I love that all of my family shows up for birthday parties, even for the babies. Only ones missing were Casey & Neal...that's 7 out of 9 kids present!

Michele says we "Smiths" smile with ALL our teeth. I didn't know there was any other way, but we do have some big grins, don't we!



I told you it was going on the blog, girls! Right after this, Louise probably came over & told us to socialize with someone else besides Michele. As if!







She really was happy to be there, I just caught her off guard :)







See all those curious, envious faces? They were ready to help with opening gifts at a moment's notice!

Today is Father's Day, so a special shout out to my dad, my babies' daddy, and all the great dads out there. I've said it before, there is nothing sexier than a dad with his kids, playing with them, holding on to their little hand, giving them a piggy back ride, throwing a football to his son...it always melts my heart!

June 21

Happy Father's Day!

Summer Time!

Ahhhh, summer!

Here are a few of the summer things I am thankful for:

Ice cream - it's the only time I like that cold stuff :)

4 wheerlers - even more fun on a hot day!

Heat - as a girl whose body temp hovers on freezing, I love not having to dress in layers every time I step outside.

Cherry limeades - except, now, they have mango & strawberry too!

Kids playing in the sand - need I say more?



Little boys fishing with their daddy - is there anything sweeter?!

Picnics - well, if it's not too hot, too bright, any mosquitoes, no ants....

Swimming pools - I may not be a huge fan of cold water, but it keeps my kids happy for hours.


Later sunsets - don't you feel like there's an extra hour or two in your day right now?

Happy kids - even a boring day at home beats a fun day at school!

Flowers - I get sad when the Spring flowers start wilting, but then I get to see cool new ones like this:

Day lilies...and the best part? They spread like weeds :)

No idea what these are but I LOVE them!

And my very favorite of the summer bunch, so far:

Now THAT is a girly flower! Pink, complimented by a wonderful green, all spikey and OUT there. No idea what it's official name is, but I call it an Amy ;)

Then, I found my, I mean, it's opposite! Vibrant green tenticles, with a hint of pink in the center. A-mazing!

Happy Summer, ya'll!

Aaron, etc

Last Wednesday I had the good fortune to chauffeur Aaron to his surgery. Being the genius that he is, my little brother drank a little too much Jesus Juice and got in a fight that wasn't his to begin with. The end result being he had a boxer's fracture (behind the knuckle) on his left hand, on the pinkie & ring fingers. So, he had to have a metal plate put into his hand to fix the break (they broke clean in two).

For those keeping count, this is his second metal plate. The first is located just below his left eye socket. We think he is trying to become Robocop, one metal plate at a time. Being me, I took pictures with my cell phone for my blogger viewers. Aren't I sweet?

Yes. The answer was yes. (I know Beth & Louise got it wrong)

Here is a picture taken within 2 minutes of them bringing him back to the recovery room. He was already starting to try and sweet talk the nurses into uping his meds. @@ (That's an eye roll in Internet Lingo)

He's single, ladies. (cue "Single Ladies" by Beyonce)

By the way, he couldn't wait to tell me how the nurses were talking about his "nice" tan and how cute he was, while he was going under anesthesia. Word to the girls: they can still HEAR you!

They couuldn't wait to tell me how he came out of anesthesia cursing like a sailor. But as soon as one of them said, "Now honey, we don't say those words here", he apologized and promised not to do it again. And she said, in amazement, "And he didn't!" There's hope for Aaron yet, girls.

Then another picture as he lay helpless on the couch just a few days post surgery. He was asleep till he heard the click of my camera. Looked at me through bewildered eyes, then went right back to sleep. They are all used to me by now ;)

Up close & personal...

Tried not to zoom in too far...I'm pretty sure some of those words would make Mom blush and Jesus cry ;)

So, that was part of my pretty exciting week last week.

The best part of the week is that my two oldest, Katie & Ethan, are back home - woo hoo! We picked them up outside Nashville Saturday and Ben & Micah were SO happy to see them. I don't know who missed whom more. Of course, Ben was enjoying some major spoiling by Aunt Beth so he was a little conflicted about it all.

Now we get to enjoy summer break, as Katie keeps reminding me. Time to do FUN stuff. Outside. In the heat. Hot HOT heat.

The good news is that Aunt Beth, my favorite sister in the world (today) is getting a pool - big WOO HOO! 16' round and 42" deep, it's perfect for the kiddies...AND, it won't be at my/mom's house :0 Remember the mud puddle? Now imagine what those two would do with a 42" deep mud puddle and you get the picture. So, very excited about the pool.

That's all my news for now. I am trying to catch up on so many projects that I feel like I'm always 2 days behind when I wake up in the morning, so blogging has become a little harder to get to lately. But I love telling the stories of my family, with pictures of course, so I'll keep going as long as someone keeps reading ;)