March Maddness

March Madness boys trip could VERY well be the thing my boys and HUSBAND looks forward to most the whole entire year. Period.

This year they met up in Dallas where Brooks' brother, Bronson lives.

March Madness trip when all the Smith boys and their older sons get to go meet up for a few days, watch some NCAA games, golf, play basketball/baseball and laugh.

This year ol' Uncle Gabe introduced everyone to Yoga....

Which turns out isn't one of Brooks' strong areas.....but I include this picture to prove the point that I was not on this trip.....because I would DEFINITELY have said something about the stripes/plaid issue.

I am EVER so thankful to Linsey for capturing these priceless male-bonding moments.

Headed out for golf in the ol' Sasquatch the first day (my Bronson wasn't there yet, he had to stay back for a school baseball game)

Grandma drove him down to Dallas after his game and arrived EARLY in the morning. Such a good sport.

I love this picture of the NCAA papers out, people everywhere and the HUGE stack of pillows and blankets in the corner. Linsey and Bug were such good sports/hosts.

Speaking of good sports.....Elle has an obsession with Bronson. Always talking about "Papi" and she couldn't WAIT for him to come to HER house. Personal space was not an option. :)

Another time heading out. 

FOUR......that's the number of times these two made it on the Jumbotron.

This is my favorite pic of the whole trip that Casey texted to me.

Emerson and Lincoln are quite the pair. They kept getting better and better seats when people gave them their tickets after leaving. Twice Emerson ended up sitting next to the AD of Tennessee and carried on a conversation with him.....also, accepting the popcorn the guy gave him. haha.

It was also nice for us to have Grandma and RA here for a little bit thanks to March Madness... which meant someone else to read the endless books to the babies.

And more snuggles for my kids.

One morning I told Pat we should go to a park. She had JUST put curlers in her hair and I said, "Pat, we are in Arkansas....trust me, you are okay." And so she came to the park with her curlers. Such a good sport.

22 month twins

 These two........ 

Wynn and Iley are pretty funny playing and interacting with each other....and OH the conversations they have behind their closed bedroom door. Not really understandable words for most people but these two understand each other. You know, like they communicate enough to tell the other to lay down so they can try to put a diaper on. You can never start 'em too young is what I always say!

 The babies took turns getting sick.....but THIS is my favorite sickness.....the one where they just snuggle and lay down. 

Good thing there's a lot of people they can find willing to snuggle them.

 Iley had it first, then Wynn got it. Here is Iley snuggling Wynn who wasn't feeling well! 💜💜

YES my heart was bursting.

Reading is their FAVORITE thing to do!

Well, besides making messes.....

All you have to do is say "libro" and they come running!!!!!

They call them "la-la" because we had so many Llama Llama books that I think they started thinking "llama llama" meant book. :)

Dallas

February the youth in our church had a temple trip. Since the temple is 5+ hours away we decided to make it a family trip and also swing by and see Brooks' brother who lives down there. Unfortunately Bronson had a baseball camp so he couldn't go. Bummer for him, but sitting in a temple session was SOOOOOOO VERY needed for me. It had been since September since I had been.

Here is Brooks and Camden before doing baptisms.

We stayed at a hotel with a pool......the pool is a must!

Seeing my two babies in these swimsuits made me extremely hungry for some reason. 😋

(miss iley looking up to big sis)

The kids were so excited to have their cousins come swim with them. Here is sweet Everly not leaving Tia Linsey alone.

 And silly Camden and Emerson thinking they could get me thrown in the pool...... it didn't happen though. #goodthingBronsonwasntthere 

 Kellyn LOVES her cousin Elle. How cute are they being thrown in the air by their dads?!?

 My daughter is the one with the wedgie. 

Perma-wedgie = Kellyn

Can you see their faces smiling at each other in the air?!?!?💗

How SAD that my phone recently died and I lost a lot of my pics.....and that I didn't get any of us at their home playing....THANKFULLY Linsey sent me a few of us eating at a BBQ joint with Tia Linsey's ever-so-generous parents.

 Aleeya with Tia Linsey

 I have NO idea what's going on in this picture with Kellyn's face....but STILL this is how she feels most of the time when someone else plays with "her cousin".
Stay away from Elle, Everly!

 The trip really was a BLAST!

except the ride home.........the whole shut-down-the-highway-thing-for-construction thing was a total bum-MER! Especially because it turned into an 8 hour ride home getting home after 1 a.m. 

But even KNOWING about that horrible ride home, I STILL would do it again....the temple + family time was well worth it.

Valentine's Day

 It was nice living in a new house because it gives me NEW places to hide their Valentine's stash. Emerson said he wanted a REALLY hard poem this year because his are always too easy. Well, it worked because the kid was looking about 4 times longer than everyone else. haha. His was actually hidden in the van, but I had to run someplace IN the van while he was still looking. I asked if he wanted a hint and he said no. So while I was out in the van WITH his Valentine's stash in the front seat I couldn't help but smile while he was home still looking.  #heaskedforit 

Here are the girls in their cute Valentine's matching pajamas.

(yes, I know my camera stinks. Brooks keeps getting on me to get a new phone! But you can still see their cute faces!)

 This was also the FIRST time I've ever had classes at school have the kids decorate Valentines boxes at home to bring. I know, how I dodged that bullet so far is beyond me!

Aleeya actually wanted to design and do her's ALL by herself. And she did. 💗

Iris' class was handing out prizes for people's boxes so Iris wanted to go big or go home. 

The high school's mascot in town (there's only one high school) is the Cyclone.

Aaaaaaaaaaand she was SURE she would win a prize if she had a Cyclone Valentines box! So that's what she got.....and yes she got a prize. I think for the "biggest". Shocker.

 Speaking of Iris.......I went for her Parent Teacher's Conference and her teacher told me Iris' artwork was picked for the local telephone book and I had no idea! (mountains/lake......you're welcome)

Funny thing, at Camden's Parent/Teacher Conference I was told he was ALSO in the local newspaper.......only THIS time I wasn't as thrilled. Seriously, who pulls THIS face for a newspaper picture!?😂

Basketball Season

Winter = basketball season.

This year Brooks coached Royce's team. 

They are pretty fierce, see? Betcha can't spot my kid!

One day for his game he came down all ready looking like this. 😆

Here the team is at halftime.......and Emerson thinking he's helping with the coaching.....in his Heelies.

I was proud of this kid.... in the fall he walked up to the coach and asked if he could try-out for the 7th grade team even though the team was already picked last year. They let him try out and he made it on one of their teams. I never really DID get a good picture of Camden during his games.

Besides complaining about something else he hurt after his games (he has "man-cold syndrome"..... I am NOT kidding), he really enjoyed playing. He wanted to get better so much that he even started getting up at 4:50 with Brooks and Bronson to go shoot/workout at the gym in the mornings.

In the spring Camden tried out for the 8th grade basketball team for next year. They are basically going from three teams worth of kids to one in 8th grade. The numbers weren't in Camden's favor and frankly he hasn't had as many years playing and experience as the others. 

But Camden took Dad's dare and walked up to the coach evaluating him (who happened to be Bronson's old coach) and said, "Coach, I may not be able to shoot as well as Bronson, but I am better looking."

To which the coach smiled and said, "You know? I think you're right Camden."

Needless to say, he made the team for next year.

Bronson played on the 9th grade team this year. They started off winning a preseason tournament which was a good sign. (except the part where Bronson didn't play in the last half of the last game because coach doesn't like it when he smiles) 😃

Bronson was number zero.... and I wanted to get my kids to start a chant "Zero is our Hero!" but I DEFINITELY didn't want to make Bronson smile any.....or turn red. Well, that last one would've been okay. Here are some of his cute fans.

I didn't get any good pics of him playing either.....but at the start of the season he also wasn't playing as much.

Then Bronson just started hitting everything. Infact when someone found out "0" was my kid they said, "Oh, the shooter?"

His scoring points streak MAY have been with a LITTLE bit of thanks to Brooks. You see ever since Little League started I've always let the kids have a "jugo" (juice) for their games. We never have juice around the house so it was always a treat. I ran out of juice so Bronson reminded me to bring him a drink to the game.  Brooks overheard and said, "BAH! This kid is a freshman! He doesn't need juice, there's plenty of water there. I'll tell you what, if you score more than ten points tonight your mom will keep up with her Gatorade purchases." 

This was highly unlikely, plus Brooks thought he was doing me a favor in not having to buy Gatorade.  That night Bronson scored 18 points (6 three pointers)!!!!

He told me after the game that once he made his fourth, he thought about his Gatorade.

After that challenge there was maybe one game he didn't "earn" his Gatorade. 😂

Here I am bringing one of his Gatorades to school for his gameday.....hope he likes the bag!

Besides helping give Royce pointers in basketball, Emerson was busy with his Cooking Classes still and also rocking it as Captain of the Quiz Bowl Team.  #bornleader 

Last of 2017

For Christmas Aleeya and Iris got a certificate to get their ears pieced.....a few days later we went. They were actually pretty brave DESPITE all the fretting before.

On December 27th some young men in our church had this "BRILLIANT" idea to go go on an airsoft gun camping trip overnight. I drove them there freezing....but with temperatures in the 20s and 30s I decided they asked for whatever they signed up for!

Here's some pics a dad that went texted me. These boys are just TOO cool. (Bronson in red)

The whole group.....ready to go out to BATTLE. (they were camping behind some guy's house in our church with a ton of woods)

And apparently a turnip garden? Camden said he was eating them like crazy and brought some home afterward. Check out these honkers!

One last morning battle before they headed home.....I guess they FROZE all night.

Even after coming home and knowing how cold it was going to be they STILL say they would have gone again in a heartbeat.

New Year's Eve there was some lazer-gunning (some more miserable in the cold and LOSING more than others)

A game of Ticket to Ride with the bigs.....which I won!!!! (Ending 2017 a winner isn't too shabby!)

Everyone TRIED to stay up til midnight but Everly, Bronson and Emerson were the only ones who did with me. #droppinglikeflies

I don't know why but Brooks wanted to start a new tradition.....he wants to sleep out in a tent on the trampoline every New Year's Eve night. 

Ummmmmm, okaaaaaaaaaaay. Knock yourself out honey! YOU end the year freezing while I end it ia winner.

He convinced Aleeya to go with him. 

And they are already planning it again for next year.......

BRING ON 2018!