Leslie/Emily/Whitney

On Friday, we spent some time with my friend Leslie and her girls Emily and new baby Whitney. (Aren't they pretty girls!). Rylee and Emily played dress-up and "Enchanted" (as they told us) while Caden entertained himself in a variety of ways. Leslie and I caught up as Whitney slept. We had such a good time - very relaxing day!

New dress

Rylee has been begging for a "dress-up wedding dress". While staying with my mom Friday evening, she mentioned to my mom that she wanted one like that of her friend Emily (Leslie's little girl). Mom told Rylee she thought she might have something that she could use for playing dress up. Early Saturday morning, mom brought over this dress. This is a "miniature bride" wedding gown my mom made for me to match my cousin Kelly's wedding gown (I was the miniature bride in her wedding when I was 6 years old). Mom cleaned it up, and it was a perfect fit for Rylee. Check out the comparison. The second picture is a picture of me wearing the dress the day of Kelly's wedding - June, 1985. I have to explain the bangs I'm sporting in this picture - as a child, I NEVER had bangs, so this almost doesn't look like me! A night or two before the wedding, Maria hit me in the forehead and left a huge knot/bruise. My mom cut the bangs as a solution to hide the knot.

Monkey Joe's

Tuesday (7/15), our church play group went to Monkey Joe's in Cornelius. We had a great time as usual!

A day with family

Today, we spent the day with family. I took the kids to Mamaw Ocie's to pick her up and take her to lunch. We met Adam, Maria and Jason, Aunt Kathy, and Bibi and the kids at Jones' Fish Camp. Luckily the restaurant wasn't crowded, so we had a back party room all to ourselves! The kids were able to play together while waiting for lunch - Caden enjoyed pushing his tiny cars around the edge of the room while Rylee played with Halle. After lunch, we all went for a swim at my cousin's house. Rylee tried to show off some of her new skills. Caden is finally FEARLESS of pools (unlike the ocean)!!!!!!!! Last year, it was a battle to get Caden in the water - and once he was in, he was attached to me like a monkey! This year, he wants to jump in and be let loose!!! It's a little bit scary - especially with the kind of spastic child he is!

A day with family

Swim Lessons

Rylee took swim lessons this year for the second year in a row. Ms. Lori (a teacher from my school) taught Rylee's group lessons. Rylee "graduated" her beginner class on Friday, 7/11 by learning to glide, jump off the side/diving board, float on her back, retrieve objects under water, use crawl and back strokes, perform a kneeling dive, and to swim with assistance in deep water!

More Lazy 5 pics

Lazy 5 Ranch

Today, I took the kids to the Lazy 5 Ranch with our church playgroup. The kids had a wonderful time! We got to ride through the ranch on a horse-drawn wagon with buckets of feed and feed all the animals by hand - zebras, ostriches, giraffes, antelope, etc. After the ride through to see the animals, the kids played on the playground - Caden's favorite area was the mudhole under the slide,

July 4th

Well, this 4th of July has been an interesting time for the Smith family! Steven was a little "under the weather" as some of you well know, so I took Rylee to Bill and Amber's pool for some fun in the sun and hangout time with friends on the 4th. This is a picture of Rylee enjoying her swim with friends Sydney and Saylem. Caden had a little stomach virus so he stayed behind with my mom. I think this is the first year in a long time that we were home in bed rather than watching fire works later that evening!

More Catching Up!

Steven and I took the kids to the Charlotte airport overlook Wednesday afternoon (as we had originally planned to do on Monday). The view is really cool there - you watch the planes take turns landing and taking off - it's so relaxing and entertaining. Next time, we'll try to go before or after nap-time, though! Caden fell asleep on the way, and he doesn't do so well when he is made to wake up from a nap - he prefers to wake up on his own!

Catching UP!

Monday evening (last week), we went to the park with Kirsten, Vanessa, and Buffy. The plan was to have a relaxing evening, go to the airport, and view some planes while having a picnic; HOWEVER, the kids were a bit too hungry and ill to make that trip, so we stopped for Bojangles and headed to the park!

Tuesday, I took the kids to Chuck E. Cheese with the few members of our church playdate group who were able to go - Jodi and Zane and Heather and Cooper went with us. The kids had fun, and then we headed to McDonald's for some lunch and more climbing!