The Smith's

2009-11-03T11:59:00.020-05:00

WOW... It has been forever since I last posted. It's been super busy around here and I haven't had much time to play around on the computer. Here are some pictures that I have taken since Alan's broken arm incident. Hope you you enjoy!!!

Halloween 2009

October 23, 2009
Birmingham, Alabama
Miley Cyrus Concert

Alan being cool like his daddy!
Alan was outside practicing his golf swing
with his gold clubs that he got for his birthday!

Carrigan posing!

Pictures of the puppies!
Dixie, Sophie and Princess!

Alan on his 5th Birthday!
September 8, 2009

Celebrating Alan's birthday at American Pie!

Alan's inflatables for his birthday party!
Thank you to our church for letting us use them.

Alan's table decorations for his party!

All of Alan's friends and Family!
Bottom Row - Amanda, Carrigan, Jacob, Zach & Jason
Back Row - Ashley, Hunter B., Brooke, Alan, Ty and Hayden
Missing from picture - Hunter P. and Brandon

The Moon!

Rusty getting it focused for us!

Carrigan checking it out!

I hope you enjoyed!

Want to see what Alan has done this time?

2009-08-22T18:50:00.006-04:00

AUGUST 22, 2009

Guess what happened to Alan shortly before lunch time today?
He was playing on the swing set and from what we understand - he was
swinging and jumped backwards and fell on both arms.

He broke the radius and ulna in his right arm and the radius in his left arm.
I will have to take him to an orthopedic surgeon next week
(not for surgery - the breaks won't require that) to have
both of his arms put in casts. He's not feeling very well
right now due to them both hurting but the doctor did
give us pain medication for him.

Here are some pictures that I took.

This was taken in the car on the way to the doctors office.
Rusty made him a sling and we put ice on it to try to get the swelling down.

Rusty and Alan waiting for the doctor to come in.

Rusty checking his left arm which Alan said hurt too. Luckily we had it x-rayed
because it ended up being broke also.

Alan resting in the bed. He's not feeling very good.
I guess if I had 2 broke arms - I would not be
feeling very good either!

I'll keep everyone updated on what the ortho says next week!

First Day of School

2009-08-03T09:27:00.020-04:00

AUGUST 3, 2009

Today is the first day of the new school year.
Carrigan is now in the 3rd grade and Alan is
in Pre-K. I can't believe how fast the kids are
growing. Before we know it - they will be
graduating from high school.

Here are some pictures that I took this morning.
Thank you Nikki for letting me borrow your
camera. HUGS!!!!

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OPEN HOUSE - MEET THE TEACHERS
July 30, 2009

I hope that everyone has a great day!

Look who lost 2 teeth!!!

2009-07-12T11:15:00.005-04:00

July 10, 2009

Alan lost his first 2 teeth!

Check out the photos!!!

The tooth fairy was very good to him Friday night!!!

Gymnastics Camp

2009-07-10T09:13:00.042-04:00

JUNE 11, 2009
Gymnastics Camp and Crystal Springs Pool

Carrigan went to a 4 day gymnastics camp from June 8 - 11, 2009.
The camp was 5 hours per day. Carrigan had a great time
and really learned alot. She even learned some new skills.

Below are some pictures that were taken on the last day.

Parents weren't allowed to watch practice but we were
able to watch them for the last hour have some fun :-)

This is the girls lining up to start their morning run....
Carrigan is in the brown and pink t-shirt.

Here comes Carrigan!!!

That was so sweet...they were holding hands
helping each other along :-)

Lunch time!

After practice the girls got to throw pies at the coaches
faces. The girls had a ball and I think the coaches
did too!!!

Here is Mrs. Mandi handing out the plates...

READY...AIM...FIRE!!!!!

After the pie throwing the girls got to go back inside
and have a little fun!!!

After practice several of the mom's took their kids
to Crystal Springs Pool. What a fun place :-)
Carrigan and Alan loved it!

Alan has turned into a good little swimmer!

Carlie

Alan and Joe

Some of the girls practicing off the high dive!

About 15 minutes after we got home from a fun day...
this is what happened!!!

We hope that everyone is having a great summer! We are!

2009-06-29T12:34:00.048-04:00

LAKE MARTIN
June 26-27, 2009

Our friends Kim and Jimmy invited us to their beautiful lake
home this past weekend. We had a wonderful time.
Thank you so much for opening your home and
inviting us. We had a fabulous time.

Below are just some of the pictures that I took from the weekend.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is their beautiful home. This is the backside and what you
see from the lake. I forgot to take a picture from the front. It is
just as beautiful from the front as it is from the back!

Rusty and Jimmy on the boat ~

Jimmy was so sweet. He let the kids drive the boat.
They were in Heaven!!!

I forgot what they call this but...as you can see...it's a
bunch of rocks. Kim said that tons and tons of boats
will hook-up (Redneck Yacht Club)and people climb the
rocks and jump off. It looked like alot of fun but
I would never try it!

If you look really close on the left hand
side you can see someone jumping!

Another person jumping!

This time a girl is jumping in a bikini!

and another.....

Rusty enjoying the ride!

We stopped in a cove and everyone jumped out..
except me and Jimmy. I had to take the pictures - LOL!!

Carrigan loved it when Jimmy threw her in!

Carrigan's turn to drive!

As you can see - the kids were driving by themselves.

When we got back to the house it was wave runner time!

Carrigan and Casey
(Kim and Jimmy's beautiful daughter)

Rusty and Alan
I was afraid that Alan wouldn't get on but he did and
he had a blast.

They were both having a great time!

Casey

You don't see them hold hands too often.
Carrigan was helping Alan jump off of the dock!

Look at me!!!!

Kim

Jimmy

Jimmy and Kim's beautiful boat!

We went out for a late ride before the sun went down.

Alan got to drive again. He thought he was so cool!

He was really paying attention
to what he was doing!

Look Mommy - I can drive by myself!

Carrigan driving. I forgot to put her hair up.

Alan had so much fun on the boat and driving that
he got really sleepy!

Going ~ Going ~~~~~

GONE!!!!

When we got back to the house - of course,
Carrigan wanted back into the water. Rusty
calls her his little water rat!!! She loves
the water!!!

You can tell that the sun was setting by the colors
of the water!

Jimmy and Kim's boat again!

The wave runners!

Beautiful sunset over Lake Martin

The kids had so much fun. They fell asleep while
we were playing a really fun card game.

Sunday was another beautiful day! Fron the time the
kids woke up all they talked about was wanting
to go swimming, go on the wave runners and go
for a ride on the boat. Poor Jimmy - they must
have said his name 1000 times.

Rusty got to go tubing. Carrigan didn't want to
try and Alan was terrified. I did video tape
Rusty while riding (I couldn't get
it to load onb YouTube - URGH)
and Alan kept telling Jimmy
to slow down for his dad. It was so cute!
Alan didn't like watching his daddy
flying behind the boat!

Heading back to the house! Alan had to be just
like the guys and stand up. It was so cute!

We had an awesome time. Thank you again
to Kim, Jimmy and Casey for a wonderful
weekend!!!!

Alan 's Lip

2009-06-16T08:21:00.007-04:00

June 15, 2008

Want to see what happens when a 2 x 4 falls on you?

You get a busted lip!

This is what happened to Alan last night. We had a very long night.
Alan and I spent 6 hours in the emergency room.
Thank you so much Kristi, Pat and Hunter for watching Carrigan for me.

Below are some pictures that I took
Yes I took my camera with me - it goes everywhere I go - LOL!

This is a picture that I took before we left the house.
I sent it to Rusty to make sure that Alan
needed to go to the ER. Pat verified it when I dropped
Carrigan off.

Here is Alan after they gave him the first round of numbing medicine.
As you can see - he is not a happy camper. We (me and the nurse)
had to fight with him to get him to lay down on the bed. Once he finally did,
he realized that it didn't hurt.

This is after the 2nd round of numbing medicine. They also gave
him Versed - short-acting benzodiazepine general anesthetic adjunct for
preoperative sedation. About 10 minutes after he took this medicine,
he was out.

The groggy medicine kicked in and he finally fell asleep.

When the doctor came in, it was time to put the stitches in. Of course,

Alan woke up and even though he was medicated - he wanted no part in it.
After the doctor tried twice to get his stitches in - they decided that we needed
to sedate him. It was a good thing because about half-way through the
second attempt - I almost passed out. My knees got weak, I started getting hot
and cold and the doctor said that I was looking pretty pale. I had to sit down.

It was breaking my heart hearing Alan scream at the top of his lungs while I
was holding his hands down, a nurse was sitting on him and another nurse
was holding his head still while the doctor tried to work. This was an
experience that I hope I never have to go through again.

Before they sedated him, they had to put an IV in his hand. That was
also something that I hope I never have to experience. Alan was
making sounds and screaming like I've never heard him do before. They
also had to strap him onto a board that had velcro on it so that he could not move.
Alan was also crying for his Daddy. He kept saying that he wanted to get up
and he wanted his Daddy to fix his lip. They put a board on his little hand so he
could not bend it. He didn't like that either.

Once the doctor gave him ketamine (a rapid-acting general anesthetic) he was out
like a light. This medicine was alot different then the first one.

Once the doctor was finished stitching him up and Alan started waking up -
he wanted me to take his picture (yes - I asked him first). Here he is
smiling in-between falling back asleep.

We got home this morning somewhere between 330am -345am.
Alan is still sleeping and so is Carrigan. Carrigan was
really worried about her little brother.

Alan will be fine. The scar can take anywhere between 6 months -
1 year to heal up. He's still my little handsome man!

Thanks again to Kristi and Pat for watching Carrigan and to Barb
for staying awake to hear how he was doing.

June 2009

2009-06-08T18:49:00.029-04:00

Hi Everyone! I hope that everyone is having a wonderful June.

I made preserves all by myself.
YEAP ... I did it all by myself
and didn't have any help from anyone! I was pretty
proud of myself once I got it all done. I was kinda aggravated in
the beginning though because I couldn't get my food
processor to work so I had to mash all of the strawberries by
hand with a potato masher. There was no
way I was going to stick my hands in strawberries (yuck) so the masher
was my only other option. Of course - Rusty comes home this
weekend and tries the food processor and it worked perfectly for him.

Go figure!

Here are the pictures I took during the whole process!

I forgot to post the rest of the pictures below from May.

Carrigan's BFF Alex spent the night with us the night of the Luau
(see the post before this for pictures of the Luau). The next morning
when they woke up - they made us all breakfast. There was great
team work going on in the kitchen that morning!

After breakfast I had to take Alex home and Carrigan

went to her friend Macy's birthday party. What a neat

place to have a party. I might have to look into this
for Alan or Carrigan's next birthday party.

Check out the pictures!

Carrigan had so much fun on this bungee thing!
She was doing front flips and back flips!!!

After the party we headed over to the car wash
that was done by the gym for the girls that are

headed to Nationals in Savannah. Good Luck Girls!

Here they are washing my car!

Carly getting ready to hose it off!

Some of the girls and parents helping out!

Mandy (one of the coaches) bringing in the business!!!

I hope that everyone is staying cool and that everyone is
having a great summer!

Another thank you to friends and family for all of the
support that you have given us. It is very much appreciated

and thank you from the bottom of our hearts {{{HUGS}}}.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

OOPS...I almost forgot...I have to brag for a minute!!!
Carrigan made a perfect score on her CRCT in Math - YEAH!
Obviously she takes after her daddy when it comes to school -
he's really smart and makes awesome grades too.
Carrigan was recognized in front of seven out of about twelve
2nd grade classes (they split it up in 2 groups for
the awards day ceremony) so there were about 140 students
in her group. She was 1 of 2 students in her group that received
a perfect score in math and she got a special
award for it! WAY TO GO CARRIGAN! We are
so proud of you!

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

2009-05-26T10:07:00.024-04:00

May 26, 2009

We hope that everyone had a Safe and Happy Memorial Day! We didn't do much.
The weather was rainy on and off but we did manage
to grill out (ribs) and the kids got to play outside.
Thank you Mike and Denise for the sparklers - the kids loved them.

Below are some pictures that I took yesterday! Hope you enjoy!

This is one of my Ice Plants out front.
I love taking pictures of flowers!

Did you notice the bee?

This is a Knockout Rose. We have a birds nest in this bush.
Check out below!

This is the momma or daddy keeping a look-out!

Carrigan loves to fly kites. Last week the wind was just right!

I can't believe that this is Carrigan's last week of school.
Tomorrow is her awards ceremony and her Author's Reception.
She wrote a book about Fireworks :-)

I hope that everyone has a great week!

Kim

I'll be adding more stuff to my blog the next couple
of weeks so be sure to check it out!

P.S. I made this for Carrigan's teacher and filled it with goodies :-)

My Family from WiddlyTinks.com

May 2009

2009-05-19T12:23:00.032-04:00

Hey Everyone!

May has been a busy month for us. Rusty got to come home for 2 weeks the beginning of the month. While he was home we got alot of stuff accomplished. We painted, cut the grass twice, cleaned the house, ran errands, etc... Most of all he was home with the family. He will be back home in August to start his clinical rotations and he won't have to go back until next April other than every other month to take a test. Can you believe that he has been gone for 1 year. I am so glad that we are on the countdown now!

Last Friday Carrigan had her end of the season party at the gym. The theme this year was a Luau. The girls all had a great time. All of the coaches did an awesome job!!! WAY TO GO GIRLS and COACHES!!!!

Below are some pictures from the Luau!

One of the signs in the gym :-)

Maci, Joiee, Carrigan and Mrs. Faith

The girls waiting to start their bar routines.

Carrigan doing her beam routine!

She nailed it :-)

Janelle, Maci, Carrigan, Abby and Joiee

Be sure to watch the videos!!!!

Here are all of the kids that participated Friday night :-) It was
alot of fun to watch. I wish everyone could have come!

Carrigan striking a pose on the bars!

While Rusty was home we got some painting done!
Here is what we did. I wish we had done this years ago!

The living room is called Shutter Brown

The foyer is called Milk Chocolate

Carrigan had a Mother's Day Breakfast at her school.
This is what her desk area looked like.
Carrigan made the flower pot and I got to bring it

home. Each of the flowers are ball point pens.

Carrigan and her BFF Alex!
They must have planned what they were wearing!

Carrigan and her friend Ragan :-)

and her friend Ashleighanna :-)

Another fun day at the neighbors pool!!!!

We hope that everyone is having a great spring. I can't believe that Carrigan's
last day of school is next Friday. WOW - She will be in 3rd grade next year and
Alan will be in Pre-K!!!

I have to brag for a moment - Carrigan got her CRCT scores back and she
exceeded in everything. She even got a perfect score in Math. For those of
you that know me - I HATE math and I struggled with in all through school - she
obviously takes after her Daddy when it comes to good grades and the brains!!!!!
Carrigan also finished the year with a 4th grade 8th month reading level!
WAY TO GO CARRIGAN!
We are so proud of you!

If anyone is interested in sponsoring Carrigan for gymnastics or purchasing a banner,
please let me know! We would greatly appreciate it. Banners are anywhere from $25 - $500. It's a great way to advertise your business or just do a banner with Carrigan's name on it and tell her good luck! Thank you to all of the friends and family that have sent us money to help support her. It is all very much appreciated and because of you - she will be joining the competition team next month. THANK YOU - THANK YOU!!!!!

Here's how to go to the website for Banner Info:

You can click on the link to the right that says Extreme Gym
(http://extremegym.net)
Once there click on Competition Team on the left
Scroll all the way down to the bottom and you
will see Banner Information Packet - click on that

Thanks again for helping us out and for making this possible!

I hope everyone enjoyed the pictures and videos!

Kim

April 2009

2009-04-26T19:44:00.023-04:00

April has been a pretty busy month for us.
Here are some of the
things that we have done so far:

Carrigan's friend Ashleighanna had a skating party the
beginning of the month. The kids all had a great time - including Rusty!

Carrigan and her Daddy holding hands while skating!

Alan did a great job skating. He was such a little
stud with his hands in his pockets while skating around!

Carrigan's gym went to Athens for a meet on April 19th.
Carrigan did an awesome job!!!!

Here is a picture of all of the girls before the competition started.

Carrigan getting ready to warm-up!

About to warm-up on the beam.

Coach Lacy helping Carrigan with her dismount.

This is Carrigan's floor routine. She scored a 9.5.
This was the first time that she did a backbend kickover.
She has only been doing this for a little while and has
never done it at a meet. We were so proud of her!

This is Carrigan the next day. She was getting her
picture made on this day at the gym. She loves her
hair curled but hates the hairspray!

After her pictures were taken - it was off to work.
They work her hard in tumbling class. This is what
she does at Monday night practices.

FUN TIME AT ZACHARY'S POOL!

Can you believe it is hot enough (in April) to go
swimming. I thought that the pool would be way to
cold but it was actually very refreshing! Thank you
Ms. Tonie for inviting us over!

Zachary and Alan

Carrigan relaxing in the pool!

Working on her tan!

Zachary!

Carrigan

Alan was freezing but it didn't stop him from
getting in and having fun!

Looks like Zachary is holding on tight!

Having fun!!

We hope that everyone is having a wonderful Spring.

Kim

Gymnastics

2009-03-25T18:03:00.015-04:00

March 21, 2009

St. Patty's Bash

Carrigan had her 2nd meet at her gym this past week.
She did a great job and had tons of fun.

Here are some pictures and videos that I took:

Here are some pictures of Carrigan warming up on the bars.

The beam ~

Practicing her hand stand ~

Her dismount ~

Here she is practicing a one-armed cartwheel.
She doesn't do this in her floor routine - yet!

Here is the whole team lined up
before the competition begins :-)

Let the competition begin:

Be sure to click on the videos :-)

Here is Carrigan waiting to receive her 1st place medal
that she got on the floor routine :-)

We are so proud of you!

All of the girls after the competition!!!

Carrigan is really having a great time at gymnastics. She loves it
and looks forward to going to it everyday. She goes 3 days
a week now. 2 nights for Gymstars and 1 night of tumbling!

She absolutely loves it!!!

I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures and videos as much as I
love making them :-)

March 6, 2009

2009-03-08T09:12:00.019-04:00

Carrigan's 1st Gymstars Meet

The Gainesville "Fun Meet"

Carrigan had her very first gym meet yesterday in Gainesville.
We are so proud of her. She did a great job.
It was kinda questionable for a little while if she was even going to
get to compete because she was not feeling very well.
Luckily we had some medicine to give her and she was a trooper
and went out there and had a great time!

Here are some pictures of Carrigan!!!

This is Carrigan's friend Joiee. They are both Gymstars and
they both take the tumbling class together!!!

She was down on the floor getting ready
to start warming up.

Here are the girls talking to the the coaches.
Their leotards did not come in on time so that
is why they are wearing different things.

Working those arms and back!

Stretch - Stretch!

Back bend!

They are waiting for their time to go.
Carrigan was not feeling really good in this picture!

They are introducing the teams!

This was Carrigan's 1st attempt at the Vault.
During practice she missed it every time but...
she did it when it counted.

Her 2nd attempt. She scored a 7.9 and came in
6th place. We are so proud of you!

On the Bars she got 8.45 and came in
4th place! Way to go Carrigan!!!

This is Carrigan's favorite. She loves the beam. She
was so proud of herself (and so were we) because
she stuck her landing!!
She got a 8.6 and came in 5th

Here she is doing her Floor Routine. She did a great
job and scored an 8.5 and came in 5th.

Carrigan is watching one of the other teams
compete. There were some great girls
there and it was alot of fun to watch!

Carrigan is getting ready to receive one
of her ribbons and medal.

This picture was taken last night after we got home.
The hair came down :-)
She is very proud of herself...she even slept with her medal on.
You can tell in her eyes that she was not feeling very well!!!!

Mommy, Daddy, and Alan are so proud of you!

WAY TO GO CARRIGAN!!!!

SNOW!!

2009-03-01T18:06:00.003-05:00

Be sure to click on the video...It's a little fast (I was cold)!!!

January 2009

2009-02-11T17:33:00.040-05:00

January was a very busy month. I won't bore you with too many details
but wanted to share some pictures from the last month.

Carrigan and Alan were very busy one morning making us breakfast.
We had cereal, carrots, poptarts, toast, cinnamon and raisin bread,
a banana and orange juice. YUMMY - YUMMY!!!

Here is a picture of the kids with Sophie and Sophie
playing with Princess. Sophie has turned such a good puppy.
She loves to play with Princess in the back yard.
They also like chasing each other around in the living room.

We celebrated Kati and Ty's birthday. We had a great time.
This year it was held at Kati's mother-in-laws house. We had a really good time.

Rusty and Alan watching Kati and Ty open their presents.

Carrigan turned 8 in January and she had a slumber party.

Here is the cupcakes and cake that I made for her. Yes - I made those
all by myself. I was pretty proud of myself.

Here is a picture of 3 of her friends that spent the night.
Maddie and Alex weren't here when the picture was taken.

Ragan, Sierra and Carrigan

This is Maddie enjoying her pizza!

Here's a picture of some of the girls working on decorating
their pillow cases. They girls had alot of fun being creative.

The finished products!

A group shot minus Maddie. She was sitting on the
sofa with me watching the older girls!

The girls did a dance for us that Coach Zach taught them at school.
Me, Rusty, Maddie and Alan loved watching them dance!
They also had a dance off later that night!

Be sure to watch this video...it's really cute!

Group shot around the cake!
Ragan, Maddie, Carrigan, Alex and Sierra

Alan and Carrigan working on a project.

Sierra and Maddie

Alex

Ragan

The sleeping arrangements. Even though Alan is on
the sofa - he didn't stay there.

Cher turned 40 the day before Carrigan's birthday.
Here are some pictures from her party!

Cher, Tom and Me. It was an Italian theme - that's why
I'm wearing the beret.

Rusty and Steve Rusty and Cher

Cher has some awesome friends!

Lynnette, Sheree, Whitney and Celesta

The gangs all here!

Cher and her brother-in-law Steve

Cher is getting serenaded!

Kelly (Cher's sister) is holding the canvas that we all wrote a
special saying in Italian to Cher!

Me and Cher!

I hope you enjoyed the pictures!

Kim

Sophie

2009-01-21T16:48:00.005-05:00

January 21, 2009

Meet Sophie!

Sophie is the newest member of our family.

In these pictures she was a couple days older than 6 weeks old. As of today she is 9 weeks and 1 day old. I'll have to take new pictures of her. She still looks the same - little :-) Princess and Sophie are starting to get along - as long as Princess does not pounce on her. I still don't let the 2 of them be together by themselves though. Princess is still too rough. Sophie "might" weigh a pound and Princess is 6-7 lbs so you can only imagine.

I hope that everyone is staying warm.

Kim

Happy New Year Everyone!

2009-01-01T08:57:00.016-05:00

2008 sure did fly by fast!!!

WOW - I didn't realize that it's been awhile since I last posted. I've got some catching up to do just like my SIL Kati had too.

Here is a slideshow of Christmas at our house. Enjoy!

Thanksgiving at Grammy's and Grandma's

This year Me, Carrigan, Alan, Kristi and Hunter rode together to Birmingham to visit Mom, Kandis and Matthew for Thanksgiving. We had alot of fun. Rusty and Pat weren't able to make it this year and they were missed.

Thanksgiving Day we went to Tim and Barb's. Everyone had a great time!

Enjoy the slideshow!

I thought this was funny so I had to share!

I know I've told some of you about me telling Alan not to put his clothes on the floor. Well - this is what he did with them....

I couldn't be mad at him - I did tell him to get them off of the floor - LOL!!!!

I hope that everyone has a awesome 2009!!!!

Kim

Jason's Birthday Party

2008-11-19T12:59:00.023-05:00

Hey Everyone -

The kids went to a really neat birthday party this past
weekend and I just wanted to share some pictures that I took.
There is a guy that will come to your house and he brings all
of these reptiles. I was really neat and the kids
seemed to enjoy it (kinda - HAHA!) along with some of the adults!
Some of the kids were a little scared but there were others that
wanted to hold then all! Carrigan was the brave one in
our family. Rusty would not hold anything. Rusty says the only
good snake is a dead snake!!!! He didn't really it when it came
to these snakes - just the ones out in the wild!

Enjoy!

THE IGUANA - NAMED SHEGOES
He was pretty neat. Once the guy told us about him - he sat
on the top of his cage for the rest of the party. The guy did pass
him around and show us his third eye on top of his head
which was pretty neat.

BEARDED DRAGON
He is just like the one that played "Fred" in the movie
"Nims Island". He was a pretty neat looking little guy!

MIKE AND THE BOA CONSTRICTOR

THE KOMODO DRAGON

The Birthday Boy Jason and Carrigan holding a turtle.

ALBINO PYTHON - 12 ft long
I don't think I would want this snake that close to my neck!

Alan is checking out this monster of a snake!

Look how many people it took to hold him!

Brandon and Maddie weren't afraid to hold a snake!

MILK SNAKE
This Milk Snake really liked Mike. It wrapped itself
around his hand. You can actually see where the
snake was shedding.

You can see in the picture below where the tip of Mike's
finger was starting to change color from the
snake holding on! - LOL!

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I hope that everyone has a Happy and Safe Thanksgiving.
I'll post more pictures after the holiday!

Kim

Catch Up

2008-11-07T13:51:00.039-05:00

November 8, 2008

Hi Everyone!

Sorry it's been awhile since I last posted something. Alot has been going on so I've been pretty busy. I'm not going to bore you with all of the happenings - most of you know about them anyway.

Have fun looking at the pictures and reading about them :-)

These are the flowers that Rusty sent me for our anniversary and for my birthday (both of which were this past week). It was a wonderful surprise. He's the best!

Here is Kristi and Pat's car that I drove for a couple of days this week. Uncle Pat - Alan has money in his pocket and wants to give it to you so he can buy it :-) Thank you Kristi and Pat for letting me borrow it and thank you Tim for fixing my car. Hugs to all of you :-)

This year Rusty actually got to go Trick or Treating with me and the kids. We headed over to Barb's house and did Trick or Treating over there this year. Rusty was able to leave class early that day so he met us over there. The kids had a great time!

Here are some of the pumpkins that I painted this year. I had a lady that wanted to buy them but when she realized how far away I lived - she backed out of it. Oh well!!!!

The kids went to Aniston's birthday party in October. We have been to every party she has had. Carrigan still considers Aniston her best friend. They have known each other since Aniston starting going to Ms. Jill's. They are 9 months apart. The party was at Jumping Jeans in Peachtree City. The kids all had a great time and so did the adults.

Stephanie (Aniston's mom) made the cake. It was awesome!

Aniston and Carrigan!

This place is awesome!

Alan making the climb!

Blowing out the candles!

Here is a picture that I took of the kids with Grandma Hammett. She is visiting until the early part of December.

On the way home from visiting Grandma Hammett I took the kids to the corn maze which is located across the street from our subdivision. This was on a weekend that Rusty was not able to come home so I thought the kids might enjoy it!

Our subdivision is behind the sign and to the right.

Here they go!

Starting the journey!

Alan is holding the map to the maze!

I had a day where I let the kids paint. They had a great time!

Alan was so serious!

Of course Carrigan picked out a butterfly to paint!

Tory loves Rusty. Here is a picture of her sitting with Rusty. She is such a good bird!

Tory is also a big fan of Popsicles!

Alan thought it would be funny to put stuffed animals all around his sister while she was sleeping. He then wanted to to take pictures of what he had done!

Alan loves the playground that Rusty built. He was so proud of himself getting to the bar that he wanted me to take a picture.

Can you tell they love each other?

I hope you enjoyed the pictures.

Have a great weekend!

Kim

September 20, 2008

2008-09-21T17:57:00.040-04:00

Hello!

As many of you know - this was an important weekend for Rusty. It was
Family Day at MCG and Rusty's White Coat Ceremony. Me and the kids
went over there to help celebrate this important event.

Here's a brief run-down on what went on and several pictures
that I took during the day:

MEDICAL COLLEGE OF GEORGIA
FAMILY DAY
SEPTEMBER 20, 2008

School of Allied Health Sciences
School of Dentistry
School of Graduate Studies
School of Nursing

9:00 A.M. Reception - Student Center
10:00 A.M. Welcome Address - Auditoria Center
10:30 A.M. Individual School Activities

The Physician's Assistant Activities started at 2:00 P.M.

Here is a welcome sign that hung across one of the main streets at the campus.

Rusty and the kids sitting on a bench outside of the Welcome Center.

After we went to the Welcome Address - Rusty took us over to
his building for us to look around.

This was the center pieces that they used in PA Classrooms.
That is where everyone went after the ceremony for refreshments
and to mingle with everyone and their families.

This is one of their surgical rooms. Rusty said this is where they will
stitch up pigs. Yes - pigs. I didn't want to know anymore!

I thought this would make a great picture of Rusty and the kids!

I took this when we were leaving Rusty's building. We had a lot of time to
kill before we had to be back for the ceremony.

One the way back to the car Rusty took us by the Memorial Garden that they
have for the cadavers. He said they actually have a service for them
when they are "retired".

Since we had alot of time before the next event - we took the kids to
our favorite park. I love this place. The scenery is beautiful and the
kids have a great time playing.

The kid striking a pose! Aren't the cute!

Carrigan and Alan being goofy!

Alan hit his head on a step and wanting his daddy to hold him and
make him feel better!

After we finished up at the park we went to eat at a place
called the Pizza Joint (I think). It had really big slices
of pizza (you can buy it by the slice) and great Greek Salad. Rusty
and I both had a calzone and salad and they kids ate pizza.

Now for the ceremony. Sorry the pictures aren't as good as the outdoor
ones. I have so many settings on my camera - I don't know which one to use indoors!

Here's a run-down on what went on at the ceremony!

Welcome
Introduction of Facility/Staff
Welcome by Administration
Introduction of Class Officers & Presentation by Class of 2010
White Coat Ceremony

Refreshments in the PA Classroom

This was taken before the ceremony in the auditorium.

These cute goodie bags were given out to all of the kids before the
ceremony. They were great!

Here's a picture of Alan coloring his.

Here is Carrigan wearing her patch just like her daddy!

I took this before it got started. This was on the stage.

When they introduced the students - they all walked down the aisle
holding their White Coats. Once they got on stage they handed their
coat to one lady and once it was on - another lady put a pin on it.

I'm so proud!!!

This was funny. Once everyone got back to their seats they were told to
turn around and face the crowd and recite the
Physician Assistant Profession Oath.

Here's the oath:

I pledge to perform the following duties with honesty and dedication:

I will hold as my primary responsibility the health, safety, welfare and dignity of all human beings.

I will uphold the tenets of patient autonomy, beneficence, nonmalfeasance and justice.

I will recognize and promote who seek my care.

I will hold in confidence the information shared in the course of practicing medicine.

I will assess my personal capabilities and limitations, striving always to improve my medical practice.

I will work with other members of the health care team to provide compassionate and effective care of patients.

I will use my knowledge and experience to contribute to an improved community.

I will respect my professional relationship with the physician.

I will share and expand knowledge within the profession.

These duties are pledged with sincerity and upon my honor.

Don't ask any of the students to recite this - they were all reading off of a sheet of paper!

Rusty and some of the girls in his class! The
Class President - Michelle - is standing next to him on his left.

A group shot! Rusty is on the far right - 2nd row.

Another group shot!

I'm so proud of you!!!!

Here's a picture of the cake that was on the PA Classroom!
No - Kati did not do this (I personally think she would
have done a better job).

In the classroom they had an Operation Game out on the table.
Of course Carrigan found it and had a great time playing it!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After we left and we were on our way back to the camper - Rusty noticed
some smoke. He knew the burn ban had not been lifted but he did
not have a good feeling about the smoke. This is what we came up on.
From the time that Rusty called 911 and the fire trucks arrived - it was only
3 minutes. I started taking pictures as soon as we got there.

This is a video - click the bottom left button!

Another video!

After I took the last picture - the firetrucks started showing up. Look what 3
minutes can do in a fire! Rusty said he missed being in on the action but he
does not want to go back - only forward! He smelt like smoke when he got in the
car. Brought back memories for both of us!

We had a great day (minus the fire). I am so proud of Rusty. I know
it has got to be hard with him being away from home and him having to study all
of the time. I want to thank everyone that has supported us
(it really means alot). Thanks for all of the phone calls and the emails asking us
how were are. It's not easy but the continued support helps. Thank you!

This time in 2 years - Rusty will be a PA!!! YEAH!!!!!!!! Less than 24 months to go!!!

Have a great week!

Kim

Alan Birthday Party

2008-09-07T17:55:00.025-04:00

September 7, 2008

Alan's Birthday Party

Hi Everyone!
We celebrated Alan's birthday yesterday and he had a great day. His
birthday is actually tomorrow - September 8th!!! Thank you to
everyone that was able to come and for those who weren't able - you were
truly missed. Carrigan even made several comments but we all understood. Alan
even wanted to know where you were!

Here are some pictures that I took from his party:

Alan's awesome cake made by his Aunt Kati. As usual - it was perfect. For those
that have not seen her previous cakes - look back at my January and September
postings in the previous years! Thanks Kati for making his special cake.

Before everyone got to the house Rusty took Alan outside to fly
his new Nemo kite. The wind was perfect and he had so much fun!

Here's a group shot of the kids ~
Left to right starting in the back:
Hunter, Carrigan, Brooke & Ty
In the front:
Jason, Alan, Hayden and Brandon

Here's a picture of the kids across the street - aren't the cute!
Brandon, Hayden & Jason

Alan had so much fun opening his presents. He has played with all of
them all day long! Thank you to everyone for the awesome gifts!
Kristi - those Transformer's are hard - glad they came with
instructions - HAHA! Alan loves them!!! Especially the one that
changes to an airplane. Of course - Alan loves

all of his tractors, trucks, train, book, etc....

Alan blowing out his candles. In case you can't tell in the picture -
the candles on the left spell out his name!

THE COUSINS!!!!

Hunter, Carrigan and Alan
Carrigan, Brooke, Ty and Alan

Thanks again to everyone!!! Alan had a great day!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Guess who can cut the grass now (with supervision)?
CARRIGAN!

She asked Rusty her daddy if she could do it and he said why not!
Here's some pictures!

Carrigan was very serious about her new job!

Rusty walked behind her in the beginning just to make sure she got
the hang of it. She is still quite small - her feet didn't reach the deck - HAHA!

Because of her size - Rusty had to put a phonebook behind her. With this type
of garden tractor you have to stay back on the seat or the motor will

turn off. If you stand up the motor will turn off. You have to keep

constant weight on the seat. This was the only way we could keep the
motor running and her still be able to cut the grass.

Rusty told her how to keep the tractor straight but....

I could not resist taking this picture of the crooked cut. She did a
great job though!!!

There she goes!

Here's is a video of her cutting! I hope it works!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

MEET TORY!

Tory is a Goffin Cockatoo! She is a great bird. She talks, dances, likes to
play games, loves to be scratched and I think she has found a new friend
with Rusty. She has yet to step up on my arm and she has already gone
to Rusty and even sat on his chest! She's a clown!!!!

I love this picture of her. It's kinda like she was posing for the camera!

Her close-up shot!

Have you ever seen a bird go to sleep?

GOING - GOING - GONE!

Tory was one tired bird from playing all day!

I hope that you enjoyed the pictures!

Have a great week!

Kim

Slideshow of the Kids!

2008-08-23T15:51:00.000-04:00

Our Family

2008-08-20T14:18:00.001-04:00

Create your own family sticker graphic at pYzam.com

August 2008

2008-08-17T22:28:00.007-04:00

LOOK WHAT RUSTY DID WHILE HE WAS HOME!

Rusty is amazing. He can do anything. While he was home on break from school - he decided to go ahead and tile our master bathroom. In case some of you are wondering how we could afford to do that since neither of us have a job and money is super tight these days - we have been saving Lowe's Gift Certificates since my birthday last year. Thank you to all of the family members that helped contribute. As you can see - we put them all to great use! Thank you!

Below are pictures of the tile work in our bathroom:

This is a before picture of the wall -

and then an after! I love it! :-)

Around the bathtub!

Here is a closeup of the center tile. The center square matches the accessories and towel holders in the bathroom. It also goes with the mirrors :-)

This was not the only thing that Rusty did while he was at home. Our garage is now clean and I can put my Tahoe back in the garage. He also cut the grass (we have 2.71 acres), he helped clean, he set up Carrigan's computer, he took care of the kids, he took me to the movies and out to eat and most importantly - he spent family quality time with us! We love you!!!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WANT TO KNOW WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
I"M CLEANING AND
NOT PAYING ATTENTION TO ALAN......

He goes into my computer room (see honey - I'm not always on the computer- LOL), opens up a craft drawer and decides to stamp himself with a multi-colored stamp pad all the way down (and I mean down) his belly and private parts. This is a prime example of why I can't get anything done unless he is right with me. All mom's know it is almost impossible to clean house when your little one is right under your nose.

I made Alan soak in the bathtub for an hour and it still did not all come off.
All of the dark places turned pink. LOL!!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I hope that everyone has a great week!

Kim

Summertime Fun and First Day of School

2008-07-27T20:06:00.021-04:00

AUGUST 4, 2008
First day of 2nd Grade

Where has the summer gone? I can't believe school is back in session :-( The kids had a great summer. Luckily we were able to see Rusty every weekend during the summer (except this past weekend - he stayed in Augusta to study for finals but he will be home tomorrow for almost 2 weeks - YEAH).

I've posted some pictures below of Carrigan this morning. I can't believe my baby girl is in the 2nd Grade now. For those of you wondering if Alan got to go to school this year - No - he had to be 4 by September 1st and his birthday is September 8th. When he woke up this morning I pretended that I was his teacher and I we started working on his ABC's and 123's. He also worked on some coloring projects. I guess I'm going to kinda homeschool him with just fun activities as long as he's willing to learn!

I've also posted some pictures taken this summer of different things that the kids did.

I hope you enjoy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Carrigan's First Day of 2nd Grade

Carrigan picked out her outfit this morning. Her backpack actually matches her outfit.
The diamonds on her shirt match the diamonds on her backpack!
She looked at me this morning and told me that she looks like a teenager!

Here she is on the phone talking to Rusty before she headed to the end of the
driveway for the bus!

The full view!

My toothless 7 year old. She is missing a total of 4 teeth on the top row!

Walking to the end of the driveway!

There she goes!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LIBRARY FUN!

The library had different activities going on this summer. Carrigan's bus driver came with his
birds one day! I loved that day! There was a guy that came with his snakes (we didn't go to that one) and there was a day when you got to go to different tables and make bug projects. The theme this year at the library was "Catch the Reading Bug". Below are some pictures that I took of the kids making their projects!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PROJECT WITH DADDY!

Rusty taught the kids how to make butterflies and fish out of coffee filters! The kids
had a great time doing a fun project with Daddy!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
POOL TIME FUN!

Our neighbors got a new pool and invited us over for a swim. Thanks Mike and
Denise. We had a great time!

Kaylee, Alan and Hayden playing in the pool!

Alan thought this Lobster Float was the coolest thing. It took him a couple
of tries getting one but once he did...he went floating across the pool!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

FRIED APPLE PIES

Carrigan got to spend a whole week at Grammy's. Thanks Mom - Carrigan had a great time
and she's already planning on going back next summer! She had a great time and thank you
Kandis and Matt for spending quality time with her! Mom she loved making earrings with you (all 20 or so pairs) and thanks for taking her to the library. She loved her whole vacation! :-)

While she was there - Mom taught her how to make Fried Apple Pies so of course she had to make some when she got home. Here are some pictures of she and Alan making the pies!

This is what they looked liked before I fried them.
Sorry I forgot to take a picture of the finished product!

We hope that everyone had a great summer! We did!!!

Kim

July 6, 2008

2008-07-06T15:44:00.004-04:00

MEET PINKY!!!!

The newest member of the Smith Home!

My love for birds just keeps growing and growing.
Pinky was given to me by Susan (Kiwi's first mommy).
When Susan told me about him - who could say no - not me!

Pinky is a male and he is 30 years old. He's a Bare-Eyed Cockatoo.
Bare-Eyed Cockatoos are approximately 14 inches in length.
Pinky is the largest bird that we have.

I'll update more on Pinky as he gets more use to his new surroundings!

I hope that everyone had a fun and safe 4th of July!

Kim

Lake Oconee

2008-06-26T11:45:00.027-04:00

Lake Oconee
June 21, 2008

We had such an awesome day last Saturday. The morning started off with it raining on our way from Augusta to Lake Oconee. We were a little nervous that the rain was there to stay but it turned out to be a beautiful day. Thank you Kristi, Pat & Hunter for inviting the whole family to Jan and Larry's home. I'm speaking for everyone - we had a great time! Thank you! It was also special because Mom, Kandis and Matt were there also. Can you believe the whole family was able to get together? Happy Birthday to Mom!!!! Her birthday was last Friday so it was a special weekend for her also!

Here are some of the pictures that I took during the day!

This is the back of Jan & Larry's home. In case your wondering
who Jan & Larry are - it's Pat's Mom and Dad - Kristi's in-laws.
They have a beautiful home!

Here's a picture of Mom and Kristi getting ready to take
a ride on the Waverunner! Mom had a great time.
From what I understand - Kristi gave her a great tour!

Here's our little man. While Grammy and Kristi where touring the lake - Alan decided to go swimming all by himself. He walked down the stairs and right into the water. The next thing I knew - he was swimming around the dock. He's a little fish! Thanks Dana for Alan's new life jacket. As you can see - it's getting used!

Carrigan and Hunter like to run and jump off of the dock.
Here's a picture of Carrigan jumping off.

Carrigan had alot of fun just floating around!

It was Matt's turn to run and jump or I mean dive!!!!!

Here's Hunter after one of his jumps into the lake!!! I just love his eyes!!!!!

Here's Kandis checking everything out!

This is Rusty throwing the kids into the lake.
Believe it or not - they kept coming back for more!
They both came up smiling!

Now it's Hunter's turn. Matt and Pat teamed up together and threw him in!

Carrigan, Kandis and Hunter getting ready for their ride!

Pat and Matt making sure that everything was ready to go!
That is such an awesome Waverunner!

Here they go across the lake!

There goes Kandis and Matt on the tube!

Now it's Matt and Rusty's turn. Kandis is on the back making sure nobody falls off!

From the looks of this - someone fell off!

Now it's my turn!

I'm just cruising across the lake and then...........

you guessed it! I went airborne. Thanks to Kristi for taking this picture!
I bit my tongue (I'm laughing in the picture in case you can't tell) when
I hit the water but .... I had so much fun!!!!

Rusty and Mom getting ready to go tubing!

As you can see in this picture - Rusty is not on the tube - he fell off!
Mom went by herself and had a great time!

Hunter and Rusty's turn!

Hunter fell off and then Rusty was riding solo until.....he bit the dust!!!!!

The perfect picture to a perfect day!

Thanks again Patrick Family for such a fun day!
It was fun spending quality time with the whole Famdamily!!!!!

Kim

June 8, 2008

2008-06-08T20:20:00.013-04:00

POOL TIME FUN!

I just wanted to share some pictures of Carrigan and Alan playing in the pool in the backyard. Thanks Barb and Tim for letting us use it. As you can see in the pictures - the kids are having a great time.

Carrigan was the first one to get in. She said it was a little cold (we have well water)
but she didn't seem to mind.

Alan was pretty comfortable just sitting on the steps in the beginning.

Splashing around!

Getting braver!

Carrigan figured out that it was fun jumping off of the steps!

As long as Carrigan was with Alan - he ventured out away from the steps!

FATHERS DAY!

Rusty was home the weekend of Father's Day!
Before he went back to Augusta the family played in the pool!

Rusty just floating around!

Alan is very brave now. He no longer wears his life jacket and he swims
all around the pool. In the picture he's sitting in a noodle chair.

The family isn't the only ones that enjoy the pool! Check out the "Princess"!!!

Princess loves to be in the pool when we are in it.
She is very content just being held or floating around!

I hope that you enjoyed the pictures.

I hope that everyone is enjoying the summer!

Kim

School's Out for the Summer!

2008-06-03T10:22:00.011-04:00

May 30th - 31st

Hi! I just wanted to share a couple of pictures that I took last Friday and Saturday

Carrigan's teacher had a special last day planned for the kids. The got to have a big lunch with Mexican and Chinese food as well as play all day on the big jumpers. It was a great last day for all of the kids! Now on to 2nd Grade!!!!

Carrigan and her teacher Mrs. Tyree

Carrigan and her friend Kaitlyn. Kaitlyn came in 2nd place in the
AR competition and wore her shirt also on the last day
of school. As you can see in the picture - the kids all signed each others shirts.

Carrigan and her friend Camryn.

Carrigan and her best friend Lydia. Lydia and Carrigan
were also in the same Kindergarten class last year.
Isn't she a cutie. She's so small :-)

I took the kids to Augusta this past weekend. Rusty had to study so we dropped him off at the library and I took the kids back to their favorite park on the river.

The kids are standing on the stairs that go down to the river and the park.

Alan loved going head first down the big slide.

Carrigan loves her little brother too much sometimes - LOL!

I loved the willow tree next to the water!
I took forever for the kids to line up just right!

It was a very hot day in Augusta. The kids only played for about 3 hours and then they were ready to drive around. We were hoping that the fountain was on for the kids to play in but they had a bunch of vendors lined up selling stuff (plants, purses, veggies, etc...) so the fountain wasn't on that Saturday. Luckily Rusty called right as we were getting into the car so we didn't have to drive around and waste time and gas :-) We ended up going to a RV dealership to get a part for the camper and ended up looking at some new ones. Maybe when Rusty gets out of school we can get a new one :-) That's what I call the 2 year plan :-)

I took the kids to the library this past Tuesday and had them check out some books. Carrigan checked out 5 books and Alan checked out about the same. Carrigan in 2 days got over 5 hours of reading time. My child loves to read! I took them back today for them to check out more books since Carrigan read all of hers and her brothers. She has been reading all afternoon! She loves Junie B. Jones books. She has read just about all of them. Today she checked out moer Junie B. Jones books, Beezus and Ramona, some really easy readers and some of the Amelia Bedella series book. She also likes the Magic Treehouse Series. I just hope that she keeps up the reading through out school. Alan on the other hand makes up his own stories since he can't read yet. It's so cute!

I hope that everyone is having a great week!

Kim

May 29, 2008

2008-05-29T11:15:00.016-04:00

WAY TO GO CARRIGAN!!!

WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!
AWARDS DAY
AT
PIKE PRIMARY SCHOOL
May 29, 2008

Today was Awards Day for Carrigan at her school.
Thank you Kristi and Hunter for coming to share in this happy occasion.

Below is a list of the awards that Carrigan received and an explanation of the awards

This was on the cover of the folder that she received with all of her awards in it!

HERE THEY ARE!

Outstanding Achievement in First Grade is given to students
who earned all 3's and 4's on their report card.

Good Behavior Award is given to students who
consistently follow the rules of the classroom.

Handwriting Award is given to students with exemplary handwriting.

Math Facts Award is given to students who mastered first grade math facts.

Sight Words Award is given to students who mastered all first grade sight words.

Book-it and Six Flags Hour Reader Awards are given to students who read a certain number of books or minutes during the weeks of the contests.

Accelerated Reading Award shirts go to the top three AR readers in each class. Carrigan was the top reader in her class so she received a blue shirt. Red shirts went to the second place students and yellow shirts went to third place.

Throughout the year Carrigan was also in the Top 20 students for the 1st quarter, Top 40 students for the 2nd quarter, Top 60 for the 3rd quarter and she made the Top 80 for the final quarter.

We are so proud of you Carrigan!!!!!!

Carrigan loves her cousin Hunter!

It was so hard to get the 3 of them to all look in the same direction!

Tomorrow is Carrigan's last day of 1st grade. I can't believe she will be in 2nd grade next year. For those of you wondering if Alan will go to school next year - No. Alan missed starting Pre-K next year by 8 days. He has to be 4 years old by Sept. 1st. Alan will be hanging out with me next year. I've been thinking of fun activities to do with him so that he will think that he is doing schoolwork. He wants to go to school so bad.

I hope that everyone has a great weekend.

Kim

May 27, 2008

2008-05-27T19:38:00.008-04:00

MEET CHESTER
The Newest Member of the Flock
(aka The Family)

Sorry it's kinda blurry - he moved!

Chester is a Blue Crown Conure. I was given him by a very sweet lady named Rita. I answered an ad that stated that she had a Blue Crown Conure Free to a VERY good home. I had no idea that she would pick me but she did. She said that she choose me because I was honest and knew alot about birds. For those that don't really know me - I have over 20+ years of bird experience. I love birds! I always have!!!!! :-) My dream bird is a Blue and Gold Macaw!

Below are some pictures of Chester :-)

This is Chester in his new home. I will have to look for him something bigger.
He is bigger than I thought :-) This cage will do for now but in the near future
I will need to get him something else.
Anyone have a cage for a medium to large size bird?

He's posing for his picture!

While I was heating something up in the microwave
tonight Chester decided to venture out of his cage.
That was a big step considering I have had him less than
36 hours. He is really getting use to his surroundings!

Just hanging around!
This was taken right before he decided
he had had enough and went back into his cage.

All of the other animals are doing great. Princess' tail healed up nicely. You can see where it was injured but it looks really good. Dixie is also doing good. All of the birds (Sweetie, Pepper, Fred, Ginger, Kiwi and KiKu) are all doing good. It's funny to hear them all talk
back and forth to each other.

Carrigan's last day of school is this Friday. She will be receiving a couple of awards on Thursday. I'll post them at the end of the week. I can't believe she will be in 2nd grade next year.

Alan is doing great. He amazes us every day.

Rusty is back in Augusta. I love it when he gets to come home on the weekends. I really miss him when he's gone. I look forward to the weekends and so do the kids!

I hope that everyone had a Safe and Happy Memorial Day!

Kim

Look What Rusty Did!

2008-05-18T13:28:00.017-04:00

Sunday - May 18, 2008

Look what Rusty built for the kids!

We have been talking about Rusty building a play set for the kids but for some reason (money- HAHA) we just never got around to it. Well - with that extra tax money that we received it seemed like the perfect way to spend it on the kids. With Rusty in school now it will give the kids something to do this summer. Rusty did such an awesome job. Check it out!!!!!

Rusty started building this a week ago Saturday before he left for school.

This is an early stage of the fort or tower - whatever you want to call it :-)

Of course Alan had to help his Daddy carry the ladder.

This is a picture of Rusty and the kids yesterday.
They were both a big help when it came to digging in the dirt.

Making progress!!!

The finished product!

It only took Rusty a total of about 2 days to do this himself.
He did an awesome job and the kids love it!

Carrigan being a total monkey.
She decided to give her had a rest after she got 2 blisters on her hand from playing on the monkey bars.

My little poser!

Of course Alan had to try the bar.

This is Alan sitting in their little hideout. He and Carrigan brought out their chairs, a rug and blankets and made themselves at home. They even brought Carrigan's old moon chair for Princess to sit in.

Silly girl!

She is showing off her new haircut :-)

Alan had to try and do what his Sissy was doing.

Rusty and I were sitting back watching him.
We wondered what would happen once he flipped over!

He's flying!
Looks like he's going to fall flat on his face but.......

I promise - he didn't get hurt at all and he even .....

tried it again and again!

The kids love their new play set. Thank you Rusty/Daddy for building it for them/us!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a sad note.......

Please keep Cher and Tom in your thoughts and prayers.
On Friday they found out that they lost Little Garrett. From what I understand...they went to the doctor on Wednesday and Cher was 2 cm dilated and 70% and everything was fine. Cher told Rusty when she called Friday morning that Garrett stopped moving so they went to the doctor to get checked out and found out that Little Garrett had gone to be with Jesus. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers during this very hard time. Little Garrett was due to be born at the end of this month.

Kim

May 2008

2008-05-13T11:35:00.015-04:00

May 13, 2008

Hi Everyone! It's been a busy last couple of days. Rusty is officially in Augusta now. It's hard with him being so far away and not being 20 minutes down the road but me and the kids look forward to the weekends when we will get to see him. I'm hanging in there and I try not to think about him not being at home every night but...Carrigan is the one having a hard time. She keeps saying "It's just not the same". I think that she got very used to Rusty being home the last 2 weeks. Alan on the other hand is still too young to fully understand. He did mention earlier today that he missed daddy. It brought a tear to my eye.

Here is a picture of Rusty and the kids on the last day that he worked at the fire station.

Of course I had to take one of just the two of them :)

Below are some of the pictures that I took the weekend of May 2nd when we took the camper to Augusta. I hope you enjoy!!!!

For those of you that have never been to Augusta - they have a place called River Walk. Obviously it is right on the Savannah River. There is a kids playground which is an awesome place. Parents get to sit on the bench's and enjoy the scenery of the Savannah River while watching their kids play.

Brother and sister love!!!!

Daddy and the kids enjoying watching the boats go down the river!

Alan and Carrigan checking out the scenery!

Carrigan loves her Daddy!

Obviously she likes to have her picture taken!

Mommy take it now - CHEESE!

I love this picture!

Monkey See - Monkey Do!!! They had alot of fun on the slides!

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Here's a picture of Alan's new haircut. They call it a Cesear haircut! It's the same haircut that George Clooney has :-) I was a little nervous about it but it turned out really cute.
He loves for me to put gel in it to make it stick straight up on the top.

I hope that everyone is having a great week!

Love, Kim

April 2008

2008-04-30T10:04:00.017-04:00

APRIL 2008

Time sure is flying by....Let's see what all has happened so far in the month of April

I got 2 new birds - Kiwi and KiKu....please see an earlier post for their pictures! All of the birds are doing great. Kiwi loves to get his head rubbed. His latest thing is to sit on Rusty's had while he does his homework. KiKu is doing great as well. She is really adjusting to her surroundings and she is finally starting to make more noises. All of the birds - including the cockatiels and lovebirds love fresh fruit and veggies and Kiwi loves brown rice :-) They are little people!

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Brooke had a birthday on the 10th. Here's a picture of the birthday girl at her party!

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The kids went to Dante's birthday party on the 12th. The kids had a great time. Dante had a Thomas the Train theme and it was so cute! Dante is getting so big. What a cutie!!!

Alan, Carrigan and Dante getting ready for a group picture!

What cute party favors Sue had for the party! Alan wears his hat all of the time!

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Carrigan went to Brooke's birthday party on the 19th. All of the girls had a great time getting all made up. They had their hair done, nails painted, had their picture made, decorated a frame to put it in, made lip gloss and bath gel! Carrigan had a great time. Thank you Kristi for watching Alan for us so that Carrigan could do something without her brother!

Carrigan and Brooke all dolled up!!!!

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Kristi celebrated Hunter's birthday on April 20th. His actual birthday is April 22nd. We had a great time. Unfortunately though Pat, Rusty and Matt were able to come but we had fun anyway. Kristi made a Low Country Boil which was wonderful. Yummy Yummy :-)

The Birthday Boy!

Grammy and the grand kids! Hunter, Carrigan and Alan

Kandis and Hunter!

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A couple of hours after Hunter's party Dixie and Princess got into a fight. Let's just say that Dixie won. About 530pm that night I had to take Princess to the emergency animal hospital. Poor little thing had to get stitches in her tail. Dixie got ahold of her tail and it tore. When you first looked at it - it was not that bad but by the time I got her to the emergency animal hospital - the tissue had started to swell and it looked like a small balloon coming out of her tail. Needless to say - Princess had to be sedated, the tissue had to be cut away and then they had to sew her back up. Princess and Dixie don't get to play anymore. Princess growls at Dixie (I would too if I were her) so we have decided to keep them separated for now on. We don't want to take that chance again.

Here is Princess sporting 2 of her 3 collars that she had to wear. I had to take her back to the vet 4 days later and get a bigger collar because she had gotten ahold of her tail and ripped some of the stitches out. Rusty removed 3 stitches on Monday night and she is now feeling much better.

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The guys at the fire department had a going away party for Rusty on the 27th. Thank you to all of the guys and to everyone that came. Thanks to Zach and Susan for opening up their new home to everyone. Thanks Leo for arranging everything! :-) Everyone had a great time.

A group shot!

Rusty and Josh. Thank you Josh for coming. That really meant alot to Rusty :-)

Here's a picture of the kids fishing. They had a great time :-)

A picture of Rusty after he got thrown into the water. I think it took a total 4 guys to get him into the water.

I have more pictures from the party but I will post them later! Thanks again for all of the support and kind words guys! It really meant alot to Rusty :-)

Kim

April 11, 2008

2008-04-10T08:40:00.036-04:00

CAMPING ON WEST POINT LAKE
April 3rd - April 6th

What a fun and exciting camping experience we had over this long weekend. Carrigan was on Spring Break last week so we decided a couple of months ago that we wanted to go camping. Luckily Kati and Kevin and the kids were able to join us on Friday along with Kevin's oldest son Josh and his wife Katie and their 2 kids Hunter and Cole. Josh and Katie came over on Saturday.

I took several pictures from our trip - I hope you enjoy!

Here is a picture of our camper all set up. We were at Holiday on West Point. We were on Site 11 (it accommodated our camper 30'+). Kati and Kevin were on Site 10 and Josh and Katie had a tent on their site. For those of you looking for a place to go camping...I highly recommend this place. As you can see .... there was plenty of room and we were literally right on the water. The site was pretty flat also so that made it easy for the kids to ride their bikes. With these 2 sites being together we were pretty secluded which made it really nice. The site (#12) next to us was through a wooded area and we could not see them. The only negative thing was the bathroom in the culdesac (a toilet set over a hole in the ground and the bathroom needed a new paint job). There was a bath house within walking distance which had showers and 1 bathroom that was in much better shape than the hole in the ground - LOL!!! For those of you wondering - yes, our camper does have a bathroom and a shower but we did not use it all of the time since there was no sewage hookup at the site. However there was water and electricity. Rusty had to make a couple of trips to the dump station but it was not bad at all.

While we were getting the camper ready - the kids could not wait to go down to the water. This is a picture of them skimming rocks across the water.

This picture was taken on Friday. We went to site 19 & 20 (no hookups). The sites were beautiful and it was in a cove. With it being in a cove there was no wind which made it easier for the kids to fish using their bobbers.

I love this picture of Carrigan and Alan fishing side by side.

Friday afternoon when Kati and Kevin arrived - the winds really started to pick up. We knew there was some bad weather coming but we weren't sure how bad. The winds were so hard that it tore up our white canopy. Hopefully Rusty will be able to fix it. Later that evening Kevin took out his laptop and we started watching the radar. We were able to eat dinner before the bad weather came. We had our radio on and heard that there was a tornado spotted near Pine Mountain and that people needed to take shelter. As soon as we stepped outside Rusty and Kati heard the sirens. I never heard them but all I was concerned about was getting the family and Princess to the bath house. Once we all pulled up to the bath house we all ran inside and waited. Kevin had his laptop so they were able to see when the bad weather went by. Once it passed it was back to the camper. Kati took a picture of us in the bath house so hopefully it turned out good enough to post.

This picture was taken Saturday morning. Brooke is helping Alan with his fishing pole.

Carrigan had a serious look on her face.

Brooke fishing!

MEET OUR ANIMALS THAT WENT CAMPING!

Princess was probably checking out a boat in the water.

This is Josh and Katie's puppy Buck sitting so pretty!

Here's a picture of Amy on the front of Kevin and Kati's boat. This picture was taken before they pulled away to launch the boat. As Kati was driving the truck and trailer/boat to the launch - Amy spotted another dog and decided to jump out of the boat. To make a long story short - Amy ended up being fine but she scared us to death. She only suffered road rash on her chin. They were so lucky.

There's never a dull moment when camping with The Black's!!!! LOL!!!! Love Ya'll!!!!

While Rusty, Kevin and Ty went fishing - Rusty put Carrigan and Brooke in charge of keeping the fire going. Carrigan stirred while Brooke found pine cones. They were a good team.

Left to right:
Hunter, Brooke, Carrigan and Alan
The kids had a great time playing in the rain :-)

Left to Right:
Kati, Brooke, Carrigan, Kevin is in the back, Ty is to the left of Alan sleeping, Alan and Rusty.
Here's a picture of almost everyone sitting by the camp fire roasting marshmallows.

Ty sleeping :-)

I think that Brooke had way to much fun that day and was on the sleepy side!

Rusty helping Alan with the marshmallows!

Princess decided to get in Carrigan's seat and sit by the fire!

Left to Right starting at the back row:
Carrigan , Brooke and Ty
Katie holding Cole. Hunter, Buck and Josh

This picture was taken not long before a tree branch came crashing down and just missed the girls! Like I said - it's always an experience when camping with the Blacks! HAHAHA!!!!

Brooke and Carrigan getting ready to go for a ride in Josh's boat. Carrigan still thinks that Josh is the coolest cousin ever because he has a big fun boat!

While they went boating Alan decided to get his fishing pole and his net to catch some fish!

Kati and Kevin on their boat!

Alan thought this was so cool when Uncle Kevin would do this :-)

Josh and Katie bringing Carrigan back to shore so we could go home.

Josh couldn't get his boat any closer so Carrigan had to swim to shore. This is a picture of Josh putting her over the side. She wasn't scared at all. Notice the kids watching her!

She was doing so good :-) Everyone was smiling!

I did it Mommy and Daddy :-)

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MEET OUR NEW FAMILY MEMBERS

Kiwi and Kiku

This is Kiwi.
He is 9 weeks old! He loves to be held and that towel is his favorite! He is a Parrotlet. He loves to be cuddled. The picture on the right is his first time being on his playpen. He was a little scared but he loves it now!

This is KiKu.
I don't know much about him/her. As soon as I find out more I will post.
Thank you Shannon for thinking of me and bringing him to me. He is going to be in a very loving home and he will get lots of love and attention.

I hope that everyone enjoyed reading my BLOG!!!!

Kim

April 7, 2008

2008-04-07T14:22:00.004-04:00

WE HAVE BIG NEWS!!!!!!!

MEDICAL COLLEGE OF GEORGIA
HERE COMES RUSTY!!!!!

I am so proud of Rusty - he got accepted into the Medical College of Georgia Physicians Assistant Program. There were over 240+ applicants and only 40 students got accepted :-) He will be leaving next month.

I just wanted to share our big news.

If you have any questions - just ask!

Kim

P.S. If you see Rusty or talk to him - please congratulate him. This is a really BIG deal! He has worked so hard going to school the last 2 years taking the final classes that he needed to apply and working 2 jobs! I am so proud of him :-)

March 2008

2008-03-26T18:28:00.012-04:00

APRIL 2, 2008

Gosh - I didn't realize how long it's been since I last posted a blog! I won't bore ya'll with all of the details that has been going on. But.....here are some pictures that I have taken since my last BLOG!

Here is a picture of Carrigan at Cheernastics. Since this picture - we have switched her over to Gymnastics - same day, same time and same place. She is having so much fun :-)

Carrigan's new haircut!

Our new car!

Alan was practicing winking. Too cute!

Rusty and the kids dying Easter eggs!!!!

Alan was really into decorating the eggs!
He picked out all of the train, car and airplane stickers to put on his.

Carrigan liked putting butterflies and flowers on hers!

My little reader. She loves to read. Here she was reading or should I say sleeping holding -
Judy Moody Around the World in 8 1/2 Days.
It only took her 3 days to read it :-) It was a 3rd Grade 3rd month level book.
She's in First Grade :-)
She was so proud of herself.
Obviously she fell asleep
while reading it :-)

Here she is sleeping again! This time she was reading -

Junie B. First Grader One Man Band
This was a Kodak Moment!!!!

LOOK AT OUR NEW FEATHERS!!!!!

This is a picture of Ginger. Look at the new feathers on her chest.
She is really starting to fill in :-)
Those little white sticks are new feathers growing.

Here is Fred and Ginger...Fred is on the top.
If you look back at the earlier pictures of Ginger you can
really notice the difference. Each week she is looking better and
better. Fred's feathers on his chest are looking great also. He
looks like he has peach fuzz. He would not stay still enough for me to
take a picture of him though. Maybe next time! :-)

We are heading out of town tomorrow. We hope that
everyone has a fun and safe weekend!

Kim

It's been awhile

2008-03-08T18:04:00.008-05:00

March 9, 2008
New Pictures of the kids and new family members!

I know - It's been awhile since I last posted. It's been a busy last several weeks. What have I been up too...I couldn't tell you ...but it's been busy.

Here are a couple of pictures that I have taken since my last post.

Hope you enjoy!!!

Here is a picture of Alan in his bedroom. He is so proud of his Spongebob sheets and his new denim window panels in his room. Now is we could only get him to stay in there all night :-)

Alan is such a crazy kid. Rusty and I were sitting on the sofa watching TV and Alan decided to make himself a little bed inside this tote. He filled the bottom up with small pillows, got his blanket and crawled in. Five minutes later he was fast asleep. Rusty was able to pick up the whole thing and take him into his room. To be small again!

Carrigan's turn to be silly. She has on her brother's shirt and his undies. She wanted me to take a picture. I can't wait until she turns 16 and I can show all of her friends.

Monkey See - Monkey Do!

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Meet our Newest Members of the Family

Most of you know that I am a huge bird lover. I would have a house full if we had the room and Rusty would let me!

A couple of days ago I was on Craigslist looking for a new addition to our family and I came across this ad from a very nice lady named Ginger. I sent her an email telling her that I had 20+ years of bird experience and that her birds would get lots of love and attention. She sent me back an email and told me to call her. She mentioned that the birds didn't have some of of their feathers but that did not concern me at all. I told her that it was probably due to stress and she thought it might be because one of the birds was trying to get "attention" from the other one. That is a very good possibility or maybe they just needed to be separated. I told her that I had another cage that I could use to separate them. To make a long story short...she picked me to be the new mom to her birds. The kids and I drove to Decatur yesterday and met Ginger and her husband. They were such nice people. Once I saw the birds I noticed how beautiful they were. I could not wait to get them home. One the way home I stopped and bought them two new toys for their cage, a millet spray holder and a book about Lovebirds for me. Since I've never had lovebirds before I did alot of research about them the night before I picked them up. I read that sunflower seeds were too fattening for them and that they liked millet (that was a good thing since my cockatiels love the stuff and I now buy it in bulk). There was alot of other things I could write about but I won't bore you the details!

Ginger named them Fred and Ethel but for some reason the kids are having a hard time remembering the name Ethel. I'm thinking of naming one Ginger (since she was their first mom) and maybe keep the other one Fred since Fred and Ginger were entertainers. These birds certainly like to sing, entertain and dance around their cage.

Last night all of the birds did great. I never heard a peep from them. This morning when Sweetie and Pepper talk and it makes the new birds chirp. It is so cute. I also noticed this morning that they have eaten some of their millet. One of them also let me rub their head this morning (I think it was Fred). I've spent alot of time talking to them since they came home and they seem to be getting use to their surroundings and my voice.

Thank you again Ginger!!!

I'll try to post some more pictures this week. I hope that everyone has a great week!

Kim

February 2, 2008

2008-02-02T11:46:00.000-05:00

LOOK WHAT I FOUND!

Yesterday I was driving home from the grocery store and I found this puppy running along side a busy road. She was wet, scared and whimpering. I had to stop for fear of her getting hit. Of course I brought her home and tried to dry her off and I put her in the back with Dixie and Princess. Last night she slept in the house inside Princesses crate while Princess slept in her brown bed. They were both good dogs. The puppy woke up twice wanting to go potty and then she quickly wanted back in. She wasn't too fond of the crate but she got use to it.

I keep looking on-line to see if anyone has posted a lost puppy ad but so far nothing has shown up. Rusty is going to look today on his way home for signs that maybe the owner has put up saying that they lost their dog. She is so sweet - I can't imagine someone not looking for her. Until then she is in a safe place and is getting taken care of and Dixie and Princess have a new playmate!

This was taken not long after I got her home.
You can tell she was wet and muddy underneath.

She likes Princesses bed!

Princess and the puppy playing!

Alan and Princess

The kids and the puppies!

Here's a picture of our "Dixie Girl". She doesn't seem to mind the puppy at all!

I couldn't not take a picture of Princess!

Kim

CARRIGAN TURNS 7

2008-01-28T07:24:00.000-05:00

I can't believe that Carrigan is 7 years old! WOW - either I'm feeling really old or she's just growing up - HAHAHA!

Last Saturday was her birthday party . Thanks to Grammy, Kandis, Kristi, Hunter, Grandma, Papa, Kati, Ty, Brooke, Aniston and Bailey A. for coming. Carrigan had a great time!

Top to Bottom:
Hunter, Ty
Bailey A., Alan, Aniston, Brooke
Carrigan

We had a couple of fun things that we did at the party. When the girls got there - they got to make their own lip gloss. Stephanie and Jennifer - my hands are still reddish. Stephanie - how are Aniston's lips? HAHA!!! Next time I will use the clear kool - aid and not the colored. LOL!

Hunter, Ty and Alan got to make tornadoes out of water bottles. They seemed to enjoy it. I think they liked putting the glitter in the bottles the best!

After that they played a game that was played at my baby shower with Alan. Since it was an ice cream theme - I thought it would be alot of fun. First you put cotton balls into one bowl and then set an empty one beside it. You put a blindfold on the child, give them a spoon and ask them to scoop the cotton balls out of one bowl and put into the empty bowl. They have 1 minute. The kids had a great time doing this. They even caught on and counted for the person that was blindfolded how many cotton balls were in their bowl even if there weren't any. It was alot of fun watching them.

Here's a picture of Brooke scooping of the cotton balls!
You can tell the kids had fun by the smiles on their faces!

We saved the best thing for last...Make and Shake Ice Cream. Thanks Laurie for giving me the idea. It was perfect.

This is Carrigan shaking her bag.

The finished product!!! Yummy!

This ice cream tasted just like Chick Fil A ice cream. It was so yummy! Kati came up with a great idea...this would be perfect to do on camping trips! We will definately have to try it!

Thanks again to everyone for helping celebrate Carrigan's birthday. I hope that everyone had a great time and for those who missed it - you were definately missed!!!!

Kim

Let's just say - Too Much Drama

2008-01-23T13:33:00.000-05:00

January 23, 2008
2008 Isn't starting off very good for us!

It has been a busy two weeks for the Smith's. On January 9th Alan swallowed a drill bit (scroll down to the next story to read about it if you haven't already). Then this past Sunday I was headed to a party and I got a flat tire. Let's just say that my car was sitting on the rim. Thanks to the guys at the fire department for helping me out. You know who you are! Then look and see what happened earlier today!

This what happens when you try to keep your dog warm!!!

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This use to be where Dixie's dog house was.

This is what is left of the light that we used to keep her warm.

This is a picture of our camper and shed which was untouched by the fire. Also the fire missed the pile of brush in the middle of the yard.

Here is another angle of the back yard. The fire jumped the fence and went behind both sides of our neighbors. Nothing was damaged!!! Thank GOD!

This is a picture of the back yard looking towards the front. The fire jumped the fence towards the street also but didn't get very far!

We are so lucky that nobody was hurt, the dogs weren't hurt and there was no property damage.

I guess Dixie will just have to rely on blanks and cedar chips.

In case anyone is wondering what happened....Dixie dog house caught on fire. Rusty seems to think that the cedar shaving got too hot and caught on fire which caused the dog house to catch on fire. Due to it being kinda windy - the fire spread. I never open my back windows so I did not know this happened until it was too late. Luckily I saw it when I did!

Kim

Drill Bit

2008-01-22T12:27:00.000-05:00

THE DRILL BIT IS GONE!
January 22, 2008

For those of you that do not know the story - here it goes!!!

This all started 13 days ago!

On Wednesday, January 9, 2008 I noticed that Alan had something in his mouth. I asked him to get it out out his mouth so he walked into my bedroom. He is really good about spitting things out so I had no reason to be concerned that he wouldn't spit it out. Well - Alan came out of my room crying "Mommy I swallowed daddy's screw"! Of course I was frantic. I asked him to repeat it again and he said the same thing.

I picked up the phone and called Rusty and he asked me alot of questions like - What kind of screw? Where did he get it? Tell him to show you where he got it! Are there any more there in the place that he picked it up from? etc.... Rusty then told me to call Children's Healthcare and get their opinion as what to do. I called them and spoke to a wonderful nurse name Faith. She told me because we did not know what kind of screw he swallowed it would be best to take him to the ER and get an x-ray to make sure that it was not a sharp pointed screw. After talking to them I called Rusty back and he told me that he would meet me at the hospital.

I got to the hospital about 430pm and Rusty got there shortly after. We weren't out in the waiting room long and they called Alan back. Rusty went back there with him since he knew all the doctors and nurses there. About an hour later I got a text message from Rusty that said "Phillips Head Bit". Rusty then called me on the phone and told me that he knew exactly what it was as soon as he saw the x-ray. We were basically told that he should pass right through and make sure that he did not have any discomfort, no fever, vomiting, etc.

The next morning I woke up at 545am to warm chocolate milk being thrown up all down my back. Poor Alan was so sick. I got on the phone with Children's and they told me that they would have a doctor call me back. I got a call back from a doctor and he told me that if Alan throws up again within the next hour that I need to take him back to the ER. At 8:00am I called Alan's doctor and they told me that I would do best by taking him directly to Egleston. I called Rusty and told him and luckily he was already in Decatur so I packed Alan up and off we went. Now this is after throwing up 7 times since 545am. From the time we left our house to the time I got to Decatur - Alan was feeling much better.

Rusty and I made the decision to just watch Alan and see what happens so we decided to go back home and just wait it out since Alan seemed to be doing better.

Alan had no problems going potty. We set up a little basket for him to go in and then it was time to check it. Poop patrol was not fun but it was something that had to be done. Alan was really good about telling us when he went just in case we were not sitting there with him. Carrigan even helped out!

On Rusty's last shift at work one of the doctors in the ER asked Rusty about Alan and Rusty told him that he had not passed it as of yet. He suggested that since it had been more than a week that we might want to get him checked out again just to make sure that we had not missed something.

I made an appointment for Alan this morning so off we went. Alan was such a trouper. Poor little guy wasn't feeling too well by the time we got to the doctor. His tummy hurt and he felt sick. I thought for sure that the thing had gotten lodged. (That's what we thought happened the morning that he was so sick). Our doctor sent us off to x-ray! I got to go back there with him and got to look at the x-ray from the hospital and the new x-rays. There was definitely no mistaking what he had swallowed and the good news was that it was gone!

I guess somehow we had missed it or it just slipped through one of the holes in the basket and went straight down the pipe. Whatever happened to it does not matter anymore! The good news is - IT IS GONE NOW!!! YEAH!!!!

If you ask Alan if he will do that again - he is very quick to tell you no. No more daddy's tools or anything else in his mouth again!

13 days was a long time!!!

Here is a picture of the "foreign object" that he swallowed. Of course - this is not the actual one since I did not know when he passed it. I just hope that the one he swallowed was not as rusty as this one I found out in the tool box - LOL!!!

Kim

January 19, 2008

2008-01-17T13:19:00.000-05:00

IT SNOWED AT OUR HOUSE!!!!!
JANUARY 19, 2008

What a fun day for the kids! We started our morning off headed into town to run a couple of errands. When we left home it was raining and there was a little bit of slush coming down. When we got to our destination after about 30 minutes - it started to sleet. On our 2nd to last stop - it had started snowing a little bit. Once we got home the ground was starting to turn white. Of course the kids wanted to get out and play in it.

Here are some of the pictures from our fun day:

One of our stops this morning was Carrigan getting her hair cut.
Do you notice anything else? She lost her first top tooth!

Alan also got a hair cut but you can't see it - obviously!
He was very proud of himself making this snowball!

Let the snowball fights begin. Mike from across the street had a ball
playing with the kids. Carrigan said that Mike was a "cool dad" but not as
cool as her own! LOL!

Here is a picture of our house kinda early on.

Carrigan, Alan and Rusty made this snowman! Alan calls him Frosty!

As you can see in this picture - the snow was really coming down.

But...not as much as in this picture. This is a view from my front
porch looking across the street.

In case anyone is wondering about Dixie and Princess ~ Princess stayed
in the house most of the day. She really didn't like the snow. Rusty
bought Dixie a light for her dog house and he put a burlap door on the entrance.
As of last night - she was sleeping in it and keeping herself warm.

I'm going to try to post more pictures in the next couple of days and a video. Stay tuned....

I hope that everyone had a fun and safe day!

Kim

Skating Experience

2008-01-06T10:21:00.000-05:00

THEIR FIRST SKATING EXPERIENCE
SATURDAY - JANUARY 5, 2008

Carrigan was invited to one of her classmates (Bryce) skating parties last Saturday. This was the very first time that she had ever been to a skating rink. Grammy had purchased her in-line skates for her birthday last year but she always skated in the driveway or around the house in them. She even had a pair of those skates that strap to your own shoes. Alot different from the real thing! Let's just say that Carrigan had a great time and she was very sore the next day. She complained that her hand hurt, her bottom hurt, her back hurt, she can't bend over because it hurt, etc..... But, she is ready to go back and try it again. The more she did it - the better she got.

Alan wasn't very impressed with skating in the beginning. He tried it for about the first 10 minutes and then he was ready to put his regular shoes back on. Towards the end of the night he was ready to try again and he wanted to skate with his sister. That didn't last very long and then the party was over. We'll try again hopefully really soon.

Here are some pictures from the party - hope you enjoy!

He did pretty well in the beginning until he fell down.
Of course he was skating on carpet. He wasn't ready to try to skating floor - yet!

He was ready for me to get the skates off of his feet!
Not having very much fun :-(

Carrigan could not wait to get out there. Notice she is smiling!
Once she got on the floor her face turned to pure concentration!

There she goes!

Carrigan and one of her classmates - Kaitlyn

They were helping each other along :-)

This picture was taken towards the end of the party. Alan
tried to brave it and get out on the floor but
he didn't get too far!

The kids ended up asking to go back soon. Carrigan wanted to go back the
next night until she remembered how sore she was. Alan on the other hand said
that he wants to go back when he's 4 - LOL! We will see!

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I just wanted to say thank you to everyone that got me gift certificates to Kirklands for my birthday and for Christmas. Here are some of the things that I have purchased so far! Keep Kirklands coming - I love that store!!!!!!

In the first picture I purchased the new sofa lamps!

In the second picture I purchased the new lamp and the mirrors.
These are in my master bathroom!

In the third picture I purchased the thing over my headboard.
It matches another piece I have in our master bedroom!

Hope everyone's 2008 has started out great - ours has!!!

Kim

January 1, 2008

2008-01-01T09:15:00.000-05:00

January 1, 2008
HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year Everyone!
We hope that everyone had a safe and fun night. We had fun. Thanks Tim, Barb, Mike, Dana, Rachel and Stephen for coming over and helping us bring in 2008! Thanks Tim and Barb for bringing the good champagne - next year I will look closer at what I am buying - HAHA! Thanks Dana for making all of the pigs in a blanket. Yum - yum!

Here are some of the pictures that I took of our evening:

Tim & Barb watching some football

Dana and Mike

These were shot across the street at Mike and Denise's house

There was a serious game of Farkel going on!

The kids waiting patiently for fireworks. Alan was already
in the bed sleeping. He didn't really like the fireworks
earlier in the night!

Kids can be so creative!

Mike and Dana were nice and brought some fireworks - thank you!

The blow torch and bottles that we used :-) I took these pictures after it
was all done. I love my new camera!

Rusty and Mike

We hope that everyone has a wonderful 2008!

Love,
The Smith's

December 30, 2007

2007-12-30T14:50:00.000-05:00

December 29, 2007

I love....

My husband, my kids, my pets, my family and........My New Camera!!!!

Yesterday after it stopped raining we decided to take down all of the Christmas decorations on the outside of the house. While we were at it we decided to do some yard work since it was such a nice day! What a perfect afternoon to take some pictures!

Here are some of the pictures that I took:

Carrigan loves driving the lawn tractor but...we found out that she is not heavy enough to keep it going unless she puts all of her weight to the back of the seat. If she needed to stop in a hurry - she just stood up and it automatically shut off.

She loves to have her picture made. Can you tell?

Alan was daddy's little helper. Of course, he wanted to do everything that Rusty was doing. His favorite thing to do was use the shovel and put everything into the small pull behind trailer!

My little man likes his picture taken too!

We hope that everyone has a Safe and Happy New Year!
We're looking forward to 2008 and hope you are too:-)

Kim

Christmas 2007

2007-12-26T10:24:00.000-05:00

Merry Christmas Everyone!

We hope that everyone had a safe and happy holiday! We had a great Christmas!

Christmas started early for us this year. After we attended our friend Jim's funeral we had Christmas with Rusty's family. It was a little early this year but the only time that we could get everyone together. Everyone had a great time and the food was great. The kids had fun as well as the adults. Thanks Barb, Tim, Kati, Kevin, Ty, Brooke, Chad and Ashley for everything! What a great Christmas!

The next stop was my mom's house in Birmingham. I took the kids over there this past Saturday (Rusty had to work).

Before we got to mom's house we stopped by to see The Sides Family. For those of you that don't know who they are. Me and Kristi use to play with Leslie when we were little. Her grandparents lived next door to our grandparents. We use to sit out on grandma's porch and color and Leslie can remember playing with the mailbox which my mom has at her house now. It was great seeing her and meeting her husband Scott and her daughter Erin. Her son Chris unfortunately had to go to work that morning.

Once we got to mom's house we had so much fun and boy does Mom make the best chili ever! Thanks Mom for having my favorite! We had alot of fun shopping and lots more fun opening the presents! Thanks Mom, Kandis and Matthew for everything! Again - another great Christmas!

Christmas Eve Rusty had to work at the fire station. It actually did not turn out that bad in the beginning since Carrigan was convinced by some little girl at school that Santa comes on the night of the 25th and not the 24th. Therefore they were not driving me crazy with wanting to open presents or asking me what time he was coming. I told Carrigan and Alan that we needed to go ahead and make Santa some cookies just in case he decided to come early. The kids had alot of fun doing this. Thanks mom for making the dough for me and for sending it home with us. :-)

Early Christmas morning I was prepared to do what I needed to do. I woke up at 130am and took care of business. For some reason I could not go back to sleep so I decided to turn on my scanner and see what was going on in the county. Unfortunately, there was a house fire and Rusty and Pat (my brother-in-law) were on the call. I listened to the call until 4am and then finally fell asleep. At 730am my phone rang and it was Rusty heading back to the station from the early morning call. By the time Rusty got home it was after 915am. It was a good thing that Santa wrapped all of the presents this year because it was really hard keeping the kids in the room. Poor Rusty - when he got home he was so tired. It took all that he had to stay awake long enough to watch the kids open their presents, ride their new bikes, eat breakfast and then open the family presents. He could not keep his eyes open. The kids were great and played while we let daddy sleep. He slept until around 400pm and then the kids were all over him. LOL! Tim and Barb came over later that evening and had dinner with us. They brought some more presents and got to see everything that the kids got. It was a fun night.

Here are some of the pictures that I took from our Christmas.

Here is a picture of the front of our house for those of you that didn't get to see it this year.

The Sides Family - Scott, Leslie and Erin
Doesn't their cat look just like our Gigi did?

Alan, Carrigan and Princess in front of the tree! Joan - do these shirts look familiar?

Carrigan and Alan getting ready to decorate the Christmas cookies.

They were both so serious when it came to decorating!

Finger licking good!
Mommy my fingers are yucky!

They were both so proud! They had alot of fun!

Carrigan with her Hannah Montana CD and High School Musical CD.
Alan and his new train set.

Their new bikes from Santa. They were both freezing but wanted to
ride anyway. Alan's little nose was so red! They only lasted
about 5-10 minutes - LOL!

Alan got a new Mater shirt and Carrigan was enjoying
listening to her new MP3 player. Of course - High School
Musical was playing!
Joan - he wore the Thomas shirt that you
gave him from Saturday - Tuesday! He even slept in it!
I could not get it off of him.

We hope that everyone has a Safe and Happy New Year!

Kim

In Memory of Jim Hambrick

2007-12-17T10:38:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was a very sad day. We attended the funeral of our friend Jim Bob! I took some pictures from the service to share with everyone

Please keep Mandy, Abby and Chloe and Jim's family in your thoughts and prayers.

Kim

Thanksgiving and other things!

2007-12-01T12:43:00.000-05:00

December 1, 2007

I can't believe that it is December 1st. This year seems to have flown by. I guess before I know it our kids will be graduating High School and ready for college.

We had a great Thanksgiving. I took the kids to mom's house the day before Thanksgiving. Kristi was also there with Hunter. Both Rusty and Pat had to work :-(. The food was excellent.

The kids seemed to have alot of fun also. Carrigan loves Grammy's computer. Her computer is alot faster than mine due to having DSL. On the way home Carrigan cried and told me to take my computer back to Best Buy and tell them to make it faster - HAHA!!! Thanks mom for letting her play on your computer. She thinks that is the neatest thing since it goes so fast. Alan decided to venture up the mountain by himself. He was not scared at all but Hunter had to go after him. There were several minutes that we were not able to see either one of them so Matt climbed it. Eventually we saw Hunter coming down the mountain and then behind him was Matt and Alan. Alan didn't seem to be too scared but I think that was because he had Matt and Hunter.

Below are some pictures that I took of our trip to mom's:

COUSINS!
No I did not plan on all 3 having on black shirts - HAHA! It just happened that way!

Carrigan getting ready to climb the mountain.

Alan on his way down the mountain.

Here comes Alan and Matt.

On Thanksgiving Day we went to Barb's house. The whole family was there - Barb, Tim, Grandma Hammett (Doris), Me, Rusty, Carrigan, Alan, Kati, Kevin, Ty, Brooke. Chad, Ashley, Joyce & Johnny (Kevin's Parents), Joyce's sister and her friend from Florida (sorry I forgot their names). There was a house full. We had alot of fun and the food was great. As usual we got out the sale ads and mapped out our adventure for the next morning. Unfortunately - I forgot to take pictures this year :-(

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Some of you might be wondering what Alan has been up to lately. Well....his favorite this is to still go outside and play. On this particular day I told him that he could go outside but for him not to get dirty. Carrigan was with him so I thought that everything would be okay. This is what I saw..........

Beware - some might consider this offensive - HAHA!!
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I crack up every time I look at this because the look on his face. It's like he knows that he wasn't suppose to take all his clothes off but he did anyway. Needless to say that it was probably about 50 degrees the day this was taken. Plus - Carrigan did not set a good example...she's in the back ground with her clothes all sandy. My little man and his adventures!

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Update on Pepper!

Pepper is doing great. She has gotten use to coming out of her cage and she likes to be in the same cage with Sweetie. They seem to be getting along just fine. As soon as I can I will look into getting them a bigger cage so they can share. :-)

Here is a picture of Rusty and Pepper.
This was the first time that Pepper sat on his shoulder.

Pepper and Carrigan

Carrigan and Sweetie

Carrigan was so excited to have both of the birds on her shoulder. All day long she has asked me to get them out of the cage for her to hold them.

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Kim

November 10, 2007

2007-11-12T11:57:00.000-05:00

A BEAUTIFUL NOVEMBER DAY!
November 10, 2007

This past Saturday Rusty and I took the kids to North Georgia. We thought that we would see some of the leaves that were changing and just spend the day as a family. We had such a great time. The weather was beautiful - a little chilly but it wasn't too bad.

Our first stop was Amicalola Falls. It had been approximately 10 years since Rusty and I had been there. It was actually the weekend that Lady Diana passed away. Things have really changed since we were up there last. Here is the website in case anyone wants to read about it : www.amicalolafalls.com

Here are some pictures that I took from our trip:

Here is a picture of Rusty and the kids. The falls are in the background. For those of you out of state and hear about our water situation on the news ~ we still have water. I'm not saying that we have alot but at least the falls are still flowing!

From the looks of this truck - the person driving it must have had a really bad day. The truck probably went off the cliff and rolled downed the hill until a tree stopped it.

The Falls!

Alan is at that age where he does not like to sit still and he will look every where
but at me when I'm trying to take his picture!

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Our next stop was Burts Farm! This was a really neat place to go. I can't believe they still had a ton of pumpkins and it was already the 2nd weekend on November.
I can only imagine what it was like in October! Here is the website: www.burtsfarm.com

Of course Alan was not looking where he was suppose too but I just had to
take a picture of him surrounded by the pumpkins!

My little man posing!

My beautiful little girl!

We hope that everyone is enjoying this beautiful weather and that everyone has a Safe and Happy Thanksgiving next week!

Kim

Pepper

2007-11-01T12:10:00.000-04:00

Introducing our newest family member

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Pepper

Sorry the picture is kinda blurry!

Several weeks ago I decided to look for a new bird to keep Sweetie company. I felt as though Sweetie was bored and needed a companion. Sweetie went through this kinda whinny thing during the day unless you were in the room with her. Well - guess what! She has not done that all day! :-) Thanks to Mrs. Kathie - I found the perfect companion for Sweetie!

In case you are wondering what kind of birds they are - they are both cockatiels!

Sweetie and Pepper so far get along great! I have put their cages side by side and they have been busy checking each other out. If Sweetie goes to the side of her cage closest to Pepper - Pepper moves in the direction. They pretty much try to stay close to each other. It is really cute!

This is Sweetie!

Here is a picture of Pepper not real happy that I was trying to take her picture!

Sweetie wasn't quite sure about it herself!

Just wanted to share with everyone!

Hope everyone had a fun last night!

Kim

Almost Halloween

2007-10-28T10:33:00.000-04:00

LOTS OF FUN ON OCTOBER 27, 2007

We had such a fun day yesterday. We started the day off by going to Aniston's 6th birthday party. For those of you that don't know who Aniston is - she is one of Carrigan's best friends. They both had the same sitter when they were younger - Mrs. Jill. They have practically grown up together. Aniston's mom is Stephanie who was a realtor on our current house. If you need a realtor - let me know and I'll give you her number.

Here are a couple of pictures from the party:

Here is a picture of Carrigan and Aniston. When they were both little it was very hard to tell the two of them apart - especially from the back. It was a good thing I knew what kind of clothes I sent that day or I probably would have been calling the wrong little girl - HAHA!!!

Here is the cake that Stephanie made for Aniston! It was so cute! Great job Stephanie!

This is Carrigan bobbing for apples. It took her two tries before she finally got one!

This is Aniston bobbing for apples. Poor thing was missing a front tooth which made it hard but she got one. I think that she even made her other tooth loose in the process.

After Aniston's party Rusty and I took the kids to the square in Fayetteville for trick or treating. The kids had a great time and it was alot of fun looking at all the costumes. There was one costume where the child was a John Deere Tractor. It was so cute. I didn't get a picture of it but I'm sure it will be at least one of the Fayetteville papers. There was also a little girl dressed up as Dorthy and she had her real puppy dog in the basket. Too cute!!! Here are a couple of picture that I took. If you notice - Carrigan changed her costume. she wore her Gothic Vampire costume (she was that last year) to Aniston's party and then she changed into her Veterinarian costume for the square.

Here is a picture of the kids in front of the City Cafe. In case you can't tell - Alan was a fireman!

In this picture Carrigan was walking around the fountain in the parade of costumes.

Our little fireman!

Rusty and Alan chillin' out watching all of the people!

We hope that everyone has a fun and safe Halloween! I might have more pictures later this week so be sure and check back!

Kim