Ryleigh's Third Birthday

I can't believe she's already three! Ryleigh talked about a "kitty" party for months so that's exactly what she had. Hello Kitty everywhere! We even took her to Build a Bear for her birthday to build her own new kitty, and for her party, she wore her "kitty bling-bling" shirt complete with sequins and all.

At two . . .

and now three!!!

She is definitely a daddy's girl,

but she'll hang with mommy once and a while too!

Rockies Game for Mother's Day

We painfully watched the Rockies lose another, but it was still fun! Noah and Jakie got on the big jumbo tron--the guy focused right in on them for several seconds. Noah was counting his money for the cotton candy guy, and I think he felt sorry for Noah when he didn't have enough, because the guy ended up giving him a free backet of the stuff. I am sure we will attend many more this summer--it's a relatively cheap time and the kids love it, even Jakie.

Pictures of the Kids

Noah finished 4-year old preschool last week, and Ryleigh turned three! I'll talk more about her birthday in another post, but they are both glad that it is summer. Noah can't wait to have his dad off work too. I think the summer will bring lots of pool time-----I can't keep them from turing the hose on out back every few minutes and the wet laundry is piling up faster than I can do it!! And who knows, our house is for sale, so maybe a move to another home. This one is getting a bit tight with all of the kids. Here are some recent pictures of the kids . . .

Ryleigh learned how to ride the trike this past month.

Ryleigh's first real shiner . . .and boy, was she proud of it!

The best of buddies. . . most of the time!

Gods' greatest blessings . . . .

Noah was a ant for "bug day" at school--nothing a sewing machine, some brown felt, and a silly mom couldn't do!

Jakie, like his big brother is a man of the "binky." And what a cuddler!

Jakie's Surgery

Before surgery . . .

Right after surgery in the recovery room . . .

Thirty minutes later in the recovery room . . . look at that grin!

That same night . . . . !!!!

We weren't very good about telling everyone that Jakie had surgery in March, but most of you probably heard it from somewhere. His urinary tract opening was shaped wrong and located a bit out of place, so they did a "streamlined" procedure so that "he could write his name in the snow someday" (the words of the pediatric urologist--what a sense of humor!). What a miracle that day was! He was happy going in and came out just as happy!! You can see in the pictures that he doesn't even look like a kid that just went under the knife. When Jakie went back into surgery, the surgeon gave us a postoperative care sheet to read that talked about the bruising and pain that he would go through and the detailed care that we would have to provide for two or more weeks. When the surgeon came to talk to us about the surgery, he handed me a tube of neosporin and said to just squirt some on with each diaper change. Jakie required the very minimal repair, and the bruising was only slight and gone in three days! He was moving around on all fours and bobbing up and down whie sitting that same night so obviously he wasn't in any pain! What a blessing!

Recap of the Winter Months!!

Well, I thought I could go back to work full-time this spring semester without a hitch, but things got way more busy than I would have liked. Between our increased activity at church, my special projects authoring for a publisher, and three small kids, I once again fell behind in my blogging (and everything else!). But summer has arrived once more and I have time to get back to the really important things! Anyway, I am going to post some big moments in our lives over the past four months since the last post. Hope you all enjoy the update! I will start with some winter pics of Jakie as he has been growing up so fast. . . . .

Playing cowboy--Noah had cowboy chapel at school and thought it was fun to put his hat on Jakie.

Always, always happy!

Or sleeping . . . it was time to put the old swing away (too big!!!).

And still always happy . . .

Scrip Program for Noah/Ryleigh's School

Noah and Ryleigh will both be attending a Christian preschool and then on to a Christian elementary school in the coming years. The Resurrection Christian School is a part of our church and is one of the best private schools in the area. We feel so blessed to have an awesome place for our kids to attend school, not only for the spiritual aspect, but also because of its excellent reputation for the academics (something important to two educators!!!). Anyway, this is by no means a solicitation for your dollars in helping with tuition, but the school does offer a way for family and friends to buy gift cards for tons of places they would normally shop anyway (groceries, gas, clothing, food, etc) and a percentage goes directly into a specific student's account. For example, I can buy grocery gift cards for money I will spend anyway and up to 8% goes into our family's tuition account. If anyone is interested and it is worth your hassle, I have put the link to the online gift card store below. You can just order the cards online with free shipping to your home and put Noah and Ryleigh Smith (preschool) in the special instruction box on the checkout page for them to get credit.

http://www.servenation.com/cards.php?storeID=4299

Jakie's Almost Five Months!

Have you ever seen a rounder face????

I can't believe how time flies, but Jakie will be five months old on Monday! He's getting so personable with his coos and babbles, and what a smiley guy!

Kitchen Project

Ryan made the mistake of his life and gave me a "coupon" that allowed me to fill in the blank with whatever I wanted. He ended up helping me with a time-consuming project making a kitchen for the kids. And not just assembling a ready-built kitchen, but starting from a few modular shelving units and building it up from there. I wanted something big enough for two-three kids to play on and store up all of the kitchen playthings that were ending up all over the house. I think it turned out really cool and already, it has been a hit with Noah and Ryleigh. I don't think I will ever get another "fill in the blank" coupon!

The Holidays in Colorado/Ohio

Here is a look at our living room with Christmas presents everywhere. When we unloaded the van from Ohio and got the stuff brought over from my mom's, it was total chaos. Our families love us too much! Anyway, Ryleigh had the quote of Christmas when she asked us, "Can you move this stuff so I can get to my stuff?"

Christmas jammies

Christmas jammies

A new backpack for school next year

The foam rocket launcher picked by Uncle Jay was a hit!

A great Christmas break it was, despite a few cases of illness in the family. We spent the first week at home, with my brother and his family here for a visit. My niece Audrey gave us all a version of the stomach flu for Christmas--what a sweetheart! Just kidding, Jay and Mandi! Then, it was off on a road trip to Ohio for the second week. The kids did great on our 20-hour journey both ways. No extra potty stops, no major meltdowns, and for the most part, decent weather made the driving bearable. The kids had so many "Christmases" with different family members that they probably think Christmas lasts for a week. They were blessed with presents galore and fun exciting times with family and friends. Santa came through with the requested sunglasses for the kids, and some "gently used" teethers and rattles for Jakie (what's wrong with some hand-me-downs in his stocking???!!!) I will post some pictures from Ohio when I get some sent to me--we had our usual failure to take pictures when others have their cameras out!

A Blast of a Heartbreaker!

For the last home game of the Broncos season, Ryan, my mom, my brother and I had tickets for the "club" level at Invesco Field. Ryan scored these tickets at an auction at our church to raise money for Christmas baskets for needy families. The club level meant we had access to the restricted level of the stadium, complete with iron carved fireplaces, dozens of plasma TVs, steak and sushi for the hungry, and best of all, a coffee bar for the freezing! It was definitely a chilly one with temperatures in the low teens, but what a fun time it was! The only downside to the day was the final dropped pass in the end zone by Brandon Stokley that meant a Bronco loss in the game, a failure to make the playoffs, and crazy enough, the end of a long coaching career for Mike Shanahan. For those of you that are Bronco fans, that's a costly dropped pass!

Love One Another

The kids have their ups and downs with each other, but overall, Noah and Ryleigh are mostly great pals, and there is no doubt that they love their little brother. Everyday, I am thankful for these amazing blessings that God has entrusted to our care! Part of me wants to see them grow up so I can know what they will be like, but the other part of me dreads the quickness of life. One thing I know, we have three very happy kids. One mom in Noah's preschool told me the other day that "even when Noah doesn't have a smile on his face, he's still smiling." And that is one of the best decriptions of my son I can think of. I pray that he will always be that way and continue to live his life with total enthusiasm!

Video of Noah's Solo in Christmas Program

More Pictures from the North Pole

"Mom, Dad, why do you guys look sick to your stomachs???" Gee, I wonder!

You are on your own with that spinning ride, Noah! Have fun!

Annual Trip to the North Pole

Every year, I drag the family up to the North Pole--Ryan always tells the kids that they are helping to "amuse Mommy". But secretly, he loves every minute of it too (I think the comment after our first visit with Noah in 2006 was "That's the best day I've ever had of being a dad!")For those of you who have no idea what I am referring to, Colorado Springs has this kid's Christmas amusement park complete with rides, visits to Santa, and of course, hot chocolate. It been around for over 50 years--I remember going a few times as a kid! Ryleigh and Noah had a blast riding every attraction they could in five hours--they were so exhausted near the end of the day that Ryleigh laid back in the stroller and said she wanted to just rest for a few minutes before riding again! The visit to Santa was a bit of a bust though as we waited 30 minutes only to have both kids walk in his house, say, " I want sunglasses, please!", and walk away in less than ten seconds! Neither one would sit on his lap this year, but they were sure to state their wants (at least, they said please)! Jakie stayed home with Grandma because you have to be at least (or should I say only) ONE YEAR old to ride these rides.