making memories... and a mess

It's not often when all four of us Smith kids are able to coordinate our schedules to get together, but every now and then our worlds align and Jayme gets a mega-dose of aunties and uncle attention. Last weekend I had a long over-due lunch with my childhood girlfriend and only planned to be gone an hour, so Bebba or Taycie had planned to watch the Nugget for a bit. Lunch was a much needed and wonderful catchup session crammed into an hour. When we pulled back into the driveway, the clean pig-tailed, princess I left behind with both sisters greeted me with open arms, her uncle Alex (an unexpected surprise) and a full body of warpaint! Turns out that she wanted to help her Aunt Taycie paint her dresser, and rather than keep telling Nugget "No"... the aunties improvised with a box of paint and a canvas just for Jayme to experience painting "a la aunties free-spirit style"

(from top left) "well this is fun!"- "uh oh. Bebba..."- "hmmmmm what else should I paint???"- "I know! my nose!"- "May as well cover my belly while I'm at it..."- "annnnnnd Taycie needs a little warpaint"- "back to work before mommy gets back"- "Look Mommy!!! Hugggg????"

too much silliness in one hour (memories that will last a lifetime)

Annnnnd because I'm such an awesome mom... I left this sugared up mess with the aunties and uncle  (and grampa) on her first official Grampa's house overnight!

 Meanwhile... Ryan and I took care of business... it was a bittersweet afternoon as we unloaded the truck in lieu of becoming a single car family, but our hopes for a first house outweigh the need to have an expensive vehicle (that we no longer need thanks to prayers answered and a career with Edison- complete with work truck!) Doing the math in our heads we figure we will save roughly $700-$800/month for this sacrifice! To counterbalance the initial sadness of departing with the truck that in two short years contributed to many memories (road trips, camping, work, and more) we decided to take in some In n' Out (doesn't that make anyone feel better?!) and The Campaign before a late night of couch potato sitting and mind-numbing Olympic watching (side note- isn't it ironic that these hundreds of athletes spend their lives training to be the best in their sport and the most fit, only to create idle couch potatoes in the millions billions of TV viewers around the world for 2 solid weeks?!)

Back at Grampa's house, Nugget finally learned to let go and swim on her own (literally- she would cling for dear life to anyone in the pool)! Granted, we have a ways to go before she is an official mermaid, but apparently Bebba and Uncle Alex encourage the right bit of confidence she needs to become independent in the pool (so glad we have spent $$$ on swim lessons :-/ )

July wrap up...

I can't believe we are already going into August! I swear July 4th was just last weekend right?! July has been quite the eventful month for our little family.

Our little Booger has continued blossoming into a little girl right before our eyes... we have been working diligently and our prayers for patience have started paying off as she is learning each day who the head of our household is (shocker its not her!) and we have had less spankings in the past couple weeks(yes we spank, and no I'm not sorry... it works for us and it appears to be working for our lil' sassy pants too).
*She has developed a love for rock collecting (so fun to see what naturally intrigues their little minds- even if it is a lifeless rock).
*Her shoe fetish has only grown (I literally can't take her down the shoe aisle at Target without a diva tantrum).
*She loves to learn (much like her mama) and has most of her letter sounds pretty much down (thank you Letter Factory!), as well as all of her colors (and corresponding signs), and counting to 10 or from 12-20.
*She love love loves her coloring time with her daddy (mommy is not allowed near her easel when daddy is home).
*We are officially done with the "bink" (seriously took 2 weeks to get her to soothe herself to sleep....annnnnnd now we have to give her extra hugs and cuddles before bed- not a bad trade off since we only get this sweet cuddle bug stage for so long)
*She started swim lessons with a private instructor at her grampa's pool and seems to be enjoying it.
*Whether or not she realizes how her only-child world will change in a matter of months, she loves to give sweet kisses or hugs to her baby "seester" or baby "bru-der"

In other news, Ryan officially starts as a full-time Edison employee in 2 weeks! He has been a contractor for Edison since October, and we are so blessed and excited for this new position that seemed to come at the perfect time (coincidence? I think not!) as Edison is scaling back and contractors are going to be the first to be cut pretty soon. The initial pay-cut will be a small change to get used to, but the long term career and benefits far outweigh the monthly income! And the best part is that his job will allow me to continue my role at home raising the lil' ones and making our house a home (prayerfully we will be in our actual first home before this baby comes!)

4th of July at Grampa's (Captain Dave and company's annual dinnertime hangout before a busy night of calls)

Enjoying her future babysitters and some Grampa BBQ with Aunt Tay

Impromptu dinner date with Grampa and Gramps (great-grampa)

Enjoying goofball time with her Aunties

Impromptu lunch date at Nana's work... she loves airplanes!

Late night finishing touches for Katie's vintage sports themed shower (my 5th shower/party in 6 months!)

Bebba and Nugget keeping cool and busy watching Calliou during the shower

A month full of blooming personality

Hopefully August goes by a little slower than July... especially since it will be our last month to enjoy Auntie Bebba before she embarks on her indefinite journey out of the country!

May and June wrap up...

The past couple months have been jam-packed with lots of firsts (air show, ocean play, snow cone...) events (showers, birthdays, graduation of the last Smith kid), and family time (Sunday Fundays, Mother's Day Zoo trip, Belmont Shore visit, play-dates, etc)... so much so that I failed to even post about Jayme's 2nd birthday!!! Fail. So here is my attempt to play catchup with pictures... in no particular order here we go....

Mother's Day at the San Diego Zoo

highlights: bonding with each aunt and uncle and nana, NO accidents the ENTIRE day (yay for being potty trained by 2!), and an impromptu dinner at In N' Out (she ate her entire cheeseburger meal!)

Belmont with Bebba

never a dull moment in this fam

Chino Air Show with Nana

Play-date at "Mermies"

San Clemente camping... Turns out Nugget is like her Bebba when it comes to the ocean... no fear, and LOVES it! I'm sure she'll be surfing before 5 if Bebba has her way

soakin' up the sun and sand...

Last Smith kid to graduate and that makes three 49ers in the Smith Fam! Go Beach!

no shortage of attention for the Nugget

Baby Shower for the soon-to-be Pessa addition

Father's Day with Great Gramps

Baby Shower for our newest niece-to-be Erin Ann

more cake crafting for soon-to-be cousin Eliza's shower

play-dates with the Browns

Sunday Funday at Oak Glen (can't wait to go during apple picking season in a few weeks!)

 I had over 850 pictures to sum up 2 months worth of White Family happenings... but these are the highlights. It was overwhelming to sort through and look back on so many pictures, but that's what I get for procrastinating on updating ;-)  Now on to making July memories....

Lions, Cheetahs and beer... oh my!

We planned a trip to the Wild Animal Park with UB4 (Uncle Benny-Benny-Boo-Bear)... as we were packing up the car Aunt Bebba (formerly Uncle Buck) called to say it was pouring rain and hail in HB, so she cut her surf short and headed our way to join our trip to the Wild Animal Park... a major car fire, more traffic and an hour later- she arrived, we swapped out cars (free gas paid for by work- yes please!) and we were off to meet up with UB4. Thank God for the beautiful weather in SD... we couldn't have asked for better weather 75+ clear blue skies... and the best part was the lack of a crowd (and the fact that we all almost all got in free- thanks to a lenient membership check UB4 was "Sean" for a day and Aunt Bebba bought an annual pass for $30 more than admission so she can join our impromptu trips to the zoo)

"Ummmm guys??? Are we gonna go or what? I don't have all day!" (poor quality = phone pic)

SPF- check. Fed and hydrated- check. Baby with baby- check. 

 Let's roll!

Only in So Cal... normal people would probably wear walking shoes... we are far from the norm apparently

geared up

UB4

Auntie Bebba

cheers to 3 over-priced beers (and a minimal crowd on a beautiful day)!

such a MMM look!

"I think if we go this way we will find the Gorillas, dad..."

stink face measuring her hand against a Gorilla hand

 

that baby may as well be her best friend... she goes everywhere.

 

fascinating animals to watch for hours... thanks to Jayme, we didn't last "hours"... more like 15 minutes

we probably could have left the boys there all day!

on to the safari tram

Jayme loved the ride, despite the look of boredom captured here

MMM hat in full force

rough life

yeaaaaaa... that's a cheetah following a dog

watching the cheetah run with her daddy

 

way too fast to capture the actual run with people in the way, but how crazy are these best pals?! apparently they use domestic dogs to help "train" the cheetahs

 After the cheetah run, we headed back to the car... but not to go home. Next stop- Stone Brewery... I didn't take any pictures here because my child decided that this was the perfect place to begin throwing tantrums (in front of a packed restaurant and bar)... When positive mind positive result doesn't work, Becca suggested DB (drink beer)... too bad neither worked and Jayme and I ended back at the car to wait for the others to finish their beer. We dropped off UB4, finally found a Cheveron (long story), got Bebba some asprin, and somewhere around 9:00 decided we should stop for dinner...

Fudruckers... a last minute impulse (what you don't see is Jayme passed out in her stroller)

 

"dinner now??? it's after 9:30... really Bebba????"

10:something ... home sweet home... opps forgot to feed the Nugget! After a quick bowl of lima beans (yeah our kid LOVES lima beans... weirdo), some yogurt, and cheese, she passed out for the night.