Happy 12th Anniversary to us!

Yesterday we celebrated our 12th anniversary! It hardly seems possible that it was REALLY 12 years ago that Alan and I said "I do" in the sweltering heat that mid-July offers in South GA! I'll never forget that the asphalt was so hot I could feel it through my wedding shoes! I digress..... the important thing was not the oppressive heat or the overwhelming humidity, it was the marriage! And what a marriage it has been in 3 states, in 3 houses & 2 apt. complexes with a combined total of 8 jobs and with 3 children (+ 1 on the way) and wonderful friends and family! It's been an interesting roller coaster ride with Christ at the helm! I wouldn't trade my husband or these past 12 years for the world!

Happy Anniversary, Alan!

It's a .....

G. I. R. L. ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

We were so excited today to find out that we are going to have another baby girl!!!! The children are thrilled too! Bring on the tiny little pink and purple outfits! I'm ready! :-)

Weekend in Greenville, SC.

It's been a long time since I posted. We finished up school for the year and have been on Summer break for a week now. This weekend we drove down to Greenville, SC to support Alan's dad as he gave a sermon at his church while all the ministers attended a conference. Since everyone was dressed up for church we took a few family photos in front of the church. We had a very short, but fun visit. The children loved staying at Aunt Melinda & Uncle Dave's house and playing with their cousins! We were also able to have a nice dinner with Alan's mom and dad after church, before making the drive back to NC.

Our family, Alan's parents, Melinda's family

Alan's parents & all 6 cousins

Abigail on little roller coaster car

Autumn and Philip driving a cool car

"Baby" Ryan ready for his ride down the coaster!

Tyler on the back of Joshua's tricycle

Joshua felt so important "driving" Tyler around!

Here he is loving riding around by himself too!

Tyler

Tyler & Philip

Dirty Car Race

That's what Joshua called it....Philip's "dirty" car, instead of "Derby" car. Yes, Philip has now entered the age of Pinewood Derby races! His Royal Rangers group put together a derby car race for all the boys and Philip thoroughly enjoyed participating in the process. He started with a block of wood, axles and some wheels and ended up making a nice little car that he painted red and white, with the help of Alan. His car can be seen in the bottom picture, front row, third from the left with a star on the hood and a Lego minifigure in the driver's seat (of course!) His car held up great and raced well. We all went to cheer him on! The dads were also encouraged to make and enter their own cars. Alan decided to join in the fun and entered one. You can see it in the top picture below. (It's in the back row--a red one with 2 white stripes.) I was very proud of both cars!

Cars made by dads....

Cars designed and painted (in some cases) by the boys... (ages 6 on up to ??not sure...but teenagers, for sure)

Easter 2010

Here are a couple pictures of the kids in their Easter clothing. Abigail's beautiful dress was made by her Gigi Smith.

And the matching shirts for the boys were also compliments of Betsy. (Thank you, Betsy!)

Now, if I would have only remembered to cut the boys' hair before these pictures! Ugh! Oh well. We can't win them all.....

After church, we had a few families over to celebrate Jesus rising from the dead and conquering death once and for all! There were 10 children (ages 1-10) and 8 adults so we set up a children's table and an adult table. The kids and I had fun decorating the kids table with bunny napkin holders and bright cheery colors and paper plates. The adults just had Alan's grandmother's china and a nice tablecloth! ;-) Everyone brought food to share and so it was a yummy dinner! After dinner, we had a quick little Easter egg hunt and then came in just before dark for dessert. I made a cute bunny cake for the kids and a double citrus tart for the adults. Unfortunately, I don't think I took many pictures, but here is one Alan took of the bunny cake...

Hanging out at Hanging Rock

Entrance to Hanging Rock Park

We had a wonderful family hike to celebrate this beautiful weather! (Well, we were originally going to camp out, but the forecast predicted a rather cold, wet night so we decided to postpone the camping trip and go for a hike in the mountains instead.) We drove to the mountains about 2.5 hours away to Hanging Rock State Park. We had a picnic and then hiked up to the top of Hanging Rock. Even little Joshua managed to complete the steep uphill (sometimes slippery) climb without once being carried! Yay Joshua!

Abigail, Philip, Joshua on Hanging Rock

The weather was actually perfect for the hike, but when we got to the top, it did begin to rain. As we were not appropriately dressed for cold rain, we made a quick descent and jumped into our van (rather than stopping by the waterfalls on the way out.)

We had dinner at Mimi's Cafe and came on home. It was such a pretty place that we'll have to go back again to see the waterfalls! Oh! I almost forgot to mention, that just as we turned onto our trail to begin our hike, we ran right into some friends from church! Here we were 2.5 hours away and we bumped into people we know! That was a special treat! The friends of ours decided to camp overnight and awoke to a layer of ice on the outside of their tents! I'm glad we decided to head home!

Happy St. Patrick's Day! (a little late)

Irish Cream Cheesecake
Originally uploaded by Alan Smith

We celebrated the day in several ways. We began with a treasure hunt. When Philip went to get the water pitcher to pour a drink for lunch, he found the pitcher empty of water, BUT it had a little leprechaun inside! The leprechaun challenged the kids to try and find his pot of gold. He led them through a series of fun clues inside and outside that ended at a big pot of gold (gold-wrapped candy, that is.) They were thrilled!

After school, they did a craft with a rainbow, a cloud, a pot of gold, leprechauns and shamrocks. They had a blast drawing and cutting everything out.

When Alan got home, we celebrated with our traditional corned beef and cabbage (& cornbread) and the green irish cream cheesecake pictured. It was a great day! Although next year, I may try to squeeze in a "Shamrock Shake" from McD. now that my friend, Michelle told me she looks forward to having one EVERY year. I just gotta try one! ;-)