Family Photos

While we were all together in Texas, we had a fun family photo shoot.  You can see Auntie Mel's post about it here and Auntie Nessa's post about it here. 

We went to a pretty secluded beach on South Padre Island that was covered in shells.  Noah and Cuz Jonah had fun collecting them.

Here's the entire Smith Family.

Nana, Papa, and their children.

 

Nana, Papa, and their grandchildren.

One of the only smiles we got from Bubs that entire evening.

Mama and Noah.

Daddy and Noah.

 

Our sweet little family.

Love this squishy face...and the crooked glasses! 

 Mama and Daddy.

Kisses for everyone.

What a fun way to celebrate our family being together.

Sand, Surf, and Swimming with Dolphins

We spent one glorious day at the beach while staying on South Padre Island.  While Cuz Jonah, Cuz Hunter, and Cuz Brooklyn were definite fans of the sand and surf, Noah was not.  He spent the majority of our time at the beach in his chair.

The other kiddos, however, had a ton of fun!  

They played in the sand,

dug huge holes,

and jumped in the waves.

Uncle Drew and Jonah were HUGE fans of the waves and spent quite a bit of time jumping and splashing.

This boy loves the beach!

 

Miss Brooklyn was quite content to dig in the sand.  She could have stayed there for hours.

 

After all that splashing, it was definitely time for lunch.

Shortly after lunch, while most of us were relaxing under the canopy, Daddy and Uncle Drew went for a swim.  Auntie Mel, while relaxing in her chair, suddenly exclaimed, "Look!  There are dolphins!"  Sure enough, we saw at least two dolphins jumping in and out of the waves.  The coolest part was that Daddy and Uncle Drew were in the water with those dolphins.  They were only about thirty yards away from the majestic creatures.  Even from the shore, the dolphins looked huge.  I can only imagine how big they looked from so close.

Ranger enjoyed splashing in the ocean as much as the rest of us.

Bubs went out into the ocean several times with me.  He may have been kicking and screaming the first time,

but after a few more trips, he sort of warmed up to the idea of being in the water.

After leaving the beach and heading back to the house, we all jumped in the pool to rinse off.  Noah was VERY happy that we were finally in water he could appreciate.  Daddy taught him how to enter the water like a scuba diver.  Bubs would sit on the edge of the pool and slide backwards into the water.

He thought that was so much fun!

 

Cuz Hunter was such a ham! 

Cuz Jonah was perfecting his aim.

What an amazingly fun day!

Texas Crafty Fun

While in Texas, we planned some crafty fun to entertain the kiddos and keep them busy.  Auntie Nessa brought some Play-Doh along with adorable mats the kiddos could create pictures on.  There were cookies, hot dogs, tacos, goldfish, octopus, guns, and flowers that were created...what a success!

 

Noah thought that all the cousins needed turtle shirts just like his.  It was so fun to help the kiddos create turtles that were as unique as themselves.

Thanks Auntie Mel for the pictures!

 

PopRo didn't want to be left out, so we also made a shirt for him with all the grandchildren's hand prints {including a belly print for Baby Jed}.

PopRo and all his little turtles!

Fun with the Cousins

It was so much fun to see all the cousins interact while we were in Texas.  Nana and PopRo rented a crazy house on South Padre Island with four bedrooms so everyone could be together...all the time. 

Cuz Jonah and Noah had a blast one afternoon with sidewalk chalk in the front courtyard.  This crazy monster was drawn by Uncle Drew and the boys thought it was so funny to stand in his mouth.

Cuz Jonah yelled, "EEK!  He's going to eat me!"

Noah joined in the scary fun.

Nana and PopRo brought Legos for all the cousins to play with.  There was loads of building, breaking, sharing, stealing, crying, and laughing between all the cousins.

Cuz Hunter worked very hard on some awesome cars.  You can see how impressed Uncle Kc is.

 

Cuz Brooklyn is an absolute cutie-patootie.  She was waiting so very patiently to play with some Play Doh. 

 

We had a few excursions throughout the week.  We went to an amazing turtle rescue center on South Padre Island as well as the Sea Life Nature Center in Port Isabel.  You can just imagine how excited Noah was at both locations.  He was in Fishy Heaven!!!

The Sea Life Center was perfect size for little kiddos.  The could run all over and explore the amazing amount of animals in such a little place.  Bubs thought this tank looked like the tank in Finding Nemo.  He kept asking me where the clown fish were.  Actually, they were in a tank a few steps away.

 

Bubs loved watching the very slow turtle

and even got to hold a starfish.  How fun!

All in all, the cousins got along famously and even taught each other some new tricks.  Noah learned how to jump on the bed from Cuz Hunter and Cuz Jonah and taught them how to do "fishy faces".

It had been over a year since all the cousins had been together but you never would have known it.  The laughed, played, ran, jumped, screamed, fought, cried, hugged, giggled, and generally acted like cousins.  We can't wait to do it all again next year!

2012

Noah, Jonah, Hunter, and Brooklyn

2011

Noah, Jonah, Brooklyn, and Hunter

{Can't believe how much they have changed!}

First Day of Preschool

Can you believe it?!? 

Here we are again.  

Both Bubs and I started back at school but this time he started on the official "First Day of School" rather than in the middle of the year.  Mr. Man was so truly excited to be back that he walked right into his room {didn't even say goodbye to Daddy or me}, sat down on a beanbag, and started reading books. 

 

What a big boy I have!

Noah Loves to Fly

Wow!  I can't believe it's already been a week since we returned from Texas and I am just now starting to blog about it.  It's not like we haven't been a bit busy this past week.  School starts on Monday so I've been spending every last precious moment getting my classroom ready for 28 little first graders.

Before getting on the airplane, we did quite a bit of preparation with Noah about what to expect.  We talked about going through security and practiced walking through the scanners and how Squirt would have to be placed on the x-ray machine {Noah thought it looked like when you "pay for it" at the store}.  Kc played "airplane" with Bubs and talked about landing in San Francisco, Houston, and McAllen.  They even practiced turbulence - Noah's favorite part.  I must say that Mr. Man was quite prepared and he did an AWESOME job.

The very first flight was on a little plane {a puddle jumper} that took us from Fresno to San Francisco.  The flight was less than an hour - by the time we got up in the air, it seemed as though we were ready to land.

Bubs was super excited and loved looking out the window as we were starting to take-off.  As soon as the plane got a bit loud {just before the wheels left the ground}, however, Mr. Man buried his head in my lap.  He stiffened up and let out a little squeal when his stomach did a flip as the plane climbed higher and higher.  Once we were up in the air, however, he settled down and enjoyed the ride.  Noah looked out the window and watched the sun rise as we flew through the clouds.  How magical!

The next two flights were easy and quite uneventful for Mr. Man.  He enjoyed the take-off and landing of our second {and much longer} flight from San Francisco to Houston.  He played a few games on the iPad and watched a little bit of Word World {his new favorite tv show}.  Our final flight was another short flight from Houston to McAllen.  By this time, our seasoned flyer was comfortable enough to take a bit of a nap.

Once we landed in McAllen, we were greeted by Uncle Adam and PopRo who came to pick us up in the greatest ride ever - an RV.  The Jacksons and the Carolina Smiths {who landed less than an hour later} all piled into the RV and made the hour and a half drive to our final destination - South Padre Island.  Kc did an excellent job teaching Noah and Cuz Jonah how to "chill" during the ride.