Our Family Can Get Quite Twisted.

Don't worry. This post isn't about anything overly frightening. We visited with family during a tornado warning. I was attempting to be punny... (see? I tried again.)

Yesterday we went to visit part of our family at Lake June. Every year my aunt and uncle rent a lake house and we love to go visit. It is such a great time to catch up with family we don't always get to see. Even though they live in Jacksonville, with crazy schedules, we only see them a couple of times a year.

This time last year I was praying I would go into labor soon. My aunt Alisa begged Ry to come while she was down so she could hold him. No such luck.

This year, we braved the storms to go hang out on the lake to celebrate Nanny Janet's birthday. Even with the flooding rain, we had so much fun! So much, that we didn't even realize a tornado had hit several houses down from us. Here are some things we did to pass the time....

We played stack the kids.

    We looked adorable.      

     

     We played with Daddy (who was not mad, even though he looks like it...)  

                                                              

                                                        And we cuddled with our sweet Malia. 

Then....the rain stopped. So we headed outside.

 Uncle pulled Tate on the tube...while talking on the phone. Talk about multitasking. 

                                                       Tate wanted to go faster of course.

Rylan went on his first boat ride. He was not all that impressed at first. He is not a fan of the life jacket.

Definitely not a fan.

But then....Uncle let him steer....

He took this very seriously. 

As the clouds darkened. The older cousins played in the rising water.

And obviously looked adorable again. 

While Rylan hung out with Aunt Alisa. 

Grandaddy Dane showed up....

just in time for chocolate cake.

                                         With him came Bubba (Uncle Mikell). Don't they look alike?



  

                                                               ...and Jessie of course!

Even with the rain, wind, and tornadoes, we had a great visit! We also worked on some super secret stuff...that will be posted later.

Oh, and no, I did not use a camera from the 60's...I just L-O-V-E the coloring option on Picasa. 

How blessed is Ry that he gets to grow up in a crazy big family with full of crazy big love???

Pretty blessed. 

BIG Night!!!

Tonight was a BIG night in the Smith house. Aunt Steph and Cousin Case came over for dinner while the guys were at work (another plus to them being so close now). After dinner Aunt Steph was playing with Rylan on the floor. She really wants him to walk. Like REALLY really. As a precaution to make sure that she keeps cookin' Tyce a little while longer, I have put a ban on her picking Rylan up. Since he can't walk, this means she can't watch him by herself like she used to. Like I said, she REALLY wants him to walk. I grabbed my camera in hopes of catching him doing his crazy one legged crawl (which has now been renamed as the LT. Dan crawl...) 

I got it!

I also managed to snap this pic....

right before this happened....

AHH! Please excuse my laughs/sobs!! FOUR steps (if you count the backwards thing he did). Yes, they were tiny steps, so tiny that some may say they don't count.; but to Steph and I....they were HUGE!!!

In case you don't like those first four...

What do you think of those??? 

They count!

You may ask...aside from Steph, what was his motivation??

 

Her phone!! 

BIG night in the Smith house!

 I am off to cry in my pillow. Our little guy will be 1 year old in exactly 6 weeks. How can that be? 

Father's Day Fun!

So you see the title of this blog-post and you think to yourself "late again", right? Not really. See I wanted to ensure that everyone involved had a chance to celebrate before I posted about our fun projects we did for Father's Day.


A few weeks before Father's Day, Steph (my sweet sister-in-law) and I were inspired by pinterest. Then again, who isn't inspired by it!?


Anyways, we went to Hobby Lobby (looooveee) and bought the letters D, A, and P. Armed with those letters, a camera, a sheet (which is actually a curtain...long story), and our sweet boys, we set out to work on our gifts.                 


It definitely took much longer than we thought it would. We had some uncooperative subjects. The only good one was Tyce...who happens to still be in his mommy's belly. 


Instead of smiles that face the camera....we got this...

and this....

and eventually this.... see the tabs on the curtain?

EVENTUALLY we got it right... and were able to create these

for my brother in law.... (look at sweet Tyce! We are SOOO excited to meet him in October!)

for Papa Gary....

and for Matt...

Steph and I ordered canvases for the first two, but I used Matt's as a cover for Rylan's book...

What's that? You didn't realize Rylan is an author?

Allow me to show you his published work. (Please excuse the quality of the pictures as they were taken with my phone...)

We had SO much fun doing this project. Yay Pinterest! 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          

A Mid-Month Update

We haven't been doing our job and updating each month, so......here is a mid-month update of what has been going on.

Since our 8 month post in April, which seems so long and so many milestones ago (sniff, sniff), Rylan now:
-takes single steps at a time. Only one though. Once he gets past that first step it is almost as he realizes he is doing it on his own, and promptly sits.
-is a super-speed crawler
-has this strange one legged crawl/walk he does...video to come as soon as I can catch it!
-still says "mama", "dada", "hey", "baba", and has recently added "ball" and "duck"!
-is slightly more cuddly and lovey since his week-long stomach bug battle
-condenses his short day naps into one long 3-4 hour nap in the early evening. This only happens when he stays home with mom. Mrs. Rachel gets him to nap in the morning and thus avoids the terror at 3:00 that occurs at home...
-is no longer the happy, smiley 24-7 baby we once had. He is still a flirt and very pleasant; he just now has opinions and is not afraid to voice them. Loudly. He also has developed a sense of humor. He finds most things (especially if daddy does them) funny.
-eats EVERYTHING. Seriously, if we have it, he wants it. Not only does he want it, he wants to feed it to himself or take a bite out of it.
-has 6 almost 7 teeth!
-wears clothes that range from 9 to 12 mos. His body is growing longer, so it really is just whatever fits him at the time.
-LOVES and I mean LOVES cars, or any type of vehicle. Every toy becomes a car. He loves to drive the golf-cart. He also loves to drive down the road (5 houses down) to his Cousin Casen's house. Them moving so close to us has been fun! (The move itself was NOT).

It seems like he is growing so fast. Every day we thank God for allowing us to be this little guy's parents.