Beach Shots!

 Jennifer took these of us with her phone at the beach one night after dinner!

Mike and I have a beach shot like this from WAY back in the day when he started training in Pensacola, I should post it and compare how we've gracefully aged over the last 9 years!!! :)

Swimmer Sisters!

SUMMER 2012......Begins.....

And this being our 4th summer with a pool, the kids have really become one with the water.

Abby still swims all by herself in the deep end with no floaties, and Maddy can swim anywhere with her floaties on! She has changed so much from last summer, where all she wanted to do was throw things in the pool. Now she willingly gets in, and she and Abby play games and entertain themselves in the pool.

Since I didn't get any photos of them swimming at the party yesterday (where they swam for HOURS AND HOURS......we were all poolside from 11am-8pm!!!!), here are some from this afternoon!

 BE WARNED!!!! Abby now knows how to effectively fill up and use the water blasters!

  Jumping off the diving board!!!!

 Maddy LOVES throwing the dive sticks in for Abby to rescue!! They make a great team!!

Memorial Day 2012

In true Smith style, as far as pool entertaining goes, we hosted our.......3rd Annual Memorial Day Pool Party yesterday! We hosted about 20+ adults and 20+ kids for the day for an awesome lunch and great swimming.

I'm trying to spend more time enjoying myself while entertaining, so I spent more time poolside with friends and neglected the camera til the end of the party. But I snagged a few shots just as proof!

 This was towards the end of the party, but the place was packed earlier in the day!

 

My yummy contributions for the day.......ABOVE: Patriotic Bundt Cake; BELOW: Marshmallow Pops (half were red with sprinkles for the kids, and the other half were smoores, with chocolate and graham cracker crumbs......HUGE HIT)

 I hope everyone had a great Memorial Day weekend too, remembering those who have sacrificed all, and those who still do so on a daily basis by serving our country close to home, and abroad.

Mommy and the Girls

Mike got a rare shot of me in front of the camera......and I got these silly faces.....geez....

 Abby really knows how to turn on the charm!

Cousins!

This past weekend Mike's family from Pennsylvania were in town....Dave, Jennifer, Matt & Emily

They came for Matt's wrestling tournament for the weekend, but we got to spend some family time with them as well. Abby was in LOVE with Emily, as usual, and treasured their time together in the pool, at the beach, and she especially loved that Emily slept in the extra bed in her room one night too! Probably her favorite part :)

 Getting ready to head to the beach!!

Emily got dirty with them, building sand castles..........wish she lived closer....this would make my summers (and days at the beach) so much more enjoyable.

 The girls, enjoying their new beach chairs!! No more eating on sandy towels for these kids!

Maddy Silliness

Maddy has become quite the entertainer these days!! She comes up with these things out of nowhere.

The other day she insisted Mike drag her from the hallway while holding his ankle! She loves being silly and definitely keeps us entertained and on our toes!

Just a little Maddy Wednesday!

 Proud Mommy Moment........Maddy was enjoying some time in the playroom this morning, these colorful letters were all scrambled up in a pile (the usual playroom mess). She ran to get me while I was cleaning house and pulled me to the toy room to find THIS!!! She lined them all up, by color in a row!!!! And she was SUPER proud of herself too because she knew what she did! LOVE THIS KID!!!

 And the potty training practice continues......nothing like trying to eat a snack on the potty with the dog waiting for you to drop something....Roxy never gives up.

Favorites from last weekend

We squeezed a lot in this past weekend with Mike being back, but the kids had fun every minute!!

 

Abby and Mike picked up donuts as a treat Sunday morning.....somehow Abby ended up the messiest!

 Caught the girls in Abby's bed after quiet time, snuggling up with the ipod touch watching a movie together (and NOT arguing.....it was amazing)

 New bath towels! The girls love the new Ladybug towels I got them! They are hooded and wrap all the way around them, so the can never complain of their towels falling off anymore! And they can hang them up on hooks in their bathroom too!!

 This is what it looks like when Minnie Mouse Madelyn pouts because she didn't get her way

 Story time with dad!!

 Maddy now LOVES going to the dr's office! Here she is inspecting everyone's ears!! 

Common occurrence with these ear infection kids we have.....bad genetics....my fault :)

 Working with her letters.....ABC!!!

Food, Photos and a Ride!!

We had a great first weekend with Mike back! Relaxing and full of yummy food (I've been eating minimally and watching intake and he's had "boat" food.....so we were both needing to indulge a bit)

Anyhow we hit Red Robin today for lunch because our attempt to attend the local Jubilee festival today was foiled by constant drizzle all day and it was the last day of the event

 Loving on her daddy!

 So of course after I pulled out the camera to take their picture, she wanted to take photos. 

And let me say, this kid is pretty darn good at taking photographs with any digital camera and camera phones! I think she's just about mastered it on almost any device! Her pics follow.......

 In case you wanted to see what the inside of her nose looks like......

And her silly tongue! Self-Portrait!!

 After naps we tried our luck one more time.....it was still drizzly.....but the event was almost over.

We parked and got in free, but most of the rides were not running due to the rain :(

So instead of paying too much for kiddie ride tickets, we let them ride one together, grabbed some cotton candy and hit the road to head home.....they thought it was great, so it did the trick.

 Literally.....all the rides were empty even though the event was rain or shine!

So they rode by themselves!!

Craft Time gone WRONG!!

 So this is what happens when you walk away from them to get things accomplished....

Maddy paints herself, eats a bit of it I'm sure, then cries about it only when I stop to take a photo!

Abby on the other hand loves to paint!! And made an awesome rainbow hand print on her own!!

Ahhhhhh

Daddy is home!! The boat pulled in early this morning, and he made it home in time to go with us to pick Abby up from school and surprise her!!! Both girls are in daddy heaven and getting the most out of him, and he's getting a chattery earful from them nonstop!! Exactly how it should be. Photos will resume next week after we enjoy a nice weekend together!! Life is normal again.....for a bit longer.

Maddy's 2-1/2 Year Checkup!

Miss Madelyn had her 2-1/2 year checkup yesterday!

And she PASSED with flying colors! This somewhat new checkup (between 2 and 3yrs) is mostly designed to catch any speech or cognitive delays......the doctor was MORE than impressed by her speech and word stringing and said she is a healthy vibrant young girl.

You should have seen her in the waiting room, it was just us, then walks in a teenage boy, and she connected with him instantly, whispering secrets in his ear, sitting next to him, and hugging him (poor kid, he was there for a sports injury of some sort, and also got some toddler affection:))

Then she proceeded to do the same to the dr in the exam room, wanting to sit on his lap even. 

She had ALL the ladies in the front office giggling at her cute behavior!

Anyhow, here are her stats:

WEIGHT: 28.6 pounds (50th percentile)

HEIGHT: 36.5 inches (75th+ percentile)

Our next hurdle (which she is currently practicing, and achieving like a CHAMP) is potty training!!

Planning to go hard core after memorial day weekend. As it is, she is already peeing on the big girl potty 4-5 times a day and doing great. Sometimes even having dry diapers thru bedtime/naps!

Maddy's new hair 'do

I have had SOOO many compliments on Maddy's new haircut! 

Everyone was so used to her scraggly curls, but so impressed with the short bob cut.

Here she is before she jumped in the pool with Abby the other day!

First few swims!

I refuse to get in until the water is closer to 75+ (currently 70)....but Abby and Maddy are LOVING the start to pool time this summer. This is what the fun looks like in our backyard! While mom's dry as a bone too.....usually drink in hand!!!

NOTE: Our August is very empty if anyone wants to book a trip to Casa de Smith! August is the PERFECT swimming month here!

The girls don't start back to school until mid September!!