It's like prom...for adults.

I look forward to this event every single year in hopes that Rob will be home and we will be able to get all dressed up and enjoy a fantastic night. I was not let down this year at all. Rob and I attended his unit's formal (it's like prom for adults) this weekend and we couldn't have had a better time. This year, it was in Nashville so we asked my mom to come to stay with the kids so we could just stay for the evening and get a hotel. She kindly (and excitedly, I think) obliged. It was a great deal, she got the grandkids all to herself and we got a night out. The Lt. Dan Band played our formal and they were AMAZING. If you didn't know, that is Gary Sinese's (Lt. Dan from Forrest Gump) band. We had a great time.

I would especially like to thank my sweet momma for driving all the way down here and allowing us such a fun night, Tonya, for the beautiful dress and my amazing and handsome (you'll see in the pictures) husband for just being so wonderful.

I can't wait until next year!

Final Days of First Grade

It's hard to believe that I have two second grade students, as of 11 a.m. this morning. Today is the last day of school for Mekyla and Xzayvier. They both completed first grade with flying colors! I am so proud of them. Of course these last few weeks have been filled with fun things...well, sort of, their second to last week was filled with a week off from school due to the floods, but last week they enjoyed their make-up field day and awards ceremonies. Mekyla and Xzayvier both made the honor roll, Mekyla made A/B Honor Roll and Xzayvier made A Honor Roll. They received academic achievement awards, patriotism awards and reading awards. Xzayvier received a 1st place trophy for being the "Star Reader" in the first grade. He was also the runner up in the first grade spelling bee! Spelling has been both Xzayvier and Mekyla's strong point, but apparently Mekyla thought her in-class spelling bee was for practice, when really it was to determine which three students got to go to the first grade spelling bee. She can spell...but she doesn't always pay attention. haha!

Either way, we couldn't be more proud of our little academic achievers. They are such great kids to be around, always smiling and having fun...well usually, anyway.

 

I couldn't resist posting this one. It was just so stinkin' cute!

2nd grade, here we come!

SURPRISE!!!

We celebrated Rob's birthday this week and I think this one might just go down in the history books for the Smith family! All along, I wanted to do something special for him and started to think about having BBQ cook out to celebrate him. This idea was completely amplified with just a few minor changes. Rob loves BBQ, which prompted me to think about Memphis in May. He's wanted to go to the BBQ competition for as long as I've known him. He also loves the show, Throwdown with Bobby Flay. So, a BBQ 'Throwdown with Robby Flay' Memphis in May-style was born, complete with a BBQ cook-off where Rob and a few others were the judges. There were BBQ themed birthday cakes that my friend Amie did an AWESOME job making. Oh, and the best part was that it would be a total surprise. And it was! So, minus a few weather glitches and last-minute a location change, the party was a great success.

My sweet friend, Tabitha made this awesome banner for the party.

Rob was pumped to judge the BBQ

The cakes turned out so cool! There was even some "icing" on the cake when his best friend from Milwaukee, Perry and his family, made a surprise visit for the weekend.

 

(sorry Perry, I had to post this photo...hahaha)

I think Rob might have been a bit overwhelmed, but in a good way, of course. It turned out to be a great week and I am so glad that we were able to celebrate Rob and show him just how amazing he truly is. :)

 

Happy birthday to my super-amazing husband! I love you!!!

A Busy Mother's Day Weekend

The Smith family had a very hectic and exciting Mother's Day weekend. Rob, Mekyla and I got up bright and early and spent Saturday morning at the Hope Pregnancy Center setting up and working the event...well, Rob WORKED, I did paper work and Mekyla just ran all over the entertaining herself. She had already done her work, she helped raise $768 for the event! I am so proud of her for caring about such a great ministry! It was a great event, as always. This year, instead of walking, the Hope Center had local flood relief projects for the registered walkers to go work for. If you didn't see it in the news, Clarksville, Nashville and a few other surrounding areas were all affected by a flood two weeks ago. The impact has been tremendous, but so has the response! God is sure to work a few miracles into this tragedy.

 

Soon after the "Work" for Life concluded we packed up, ran home and got ready as quick as we could and drove to Richmond, KY to see my sister, Nancy, graduate from Eastern Kentucky University. We were so excited to be there for this event and I am SOOOOOO proud of Nancy. She worked very hard for her degree, struggling through different majors before finally settling into her calling of Geography. I'm still super impressed that she's even willing to major in a science program. THAT is surely not my calling. It was a great visit. We got to eat dinner at Penn Station, one of my favorite restaurants from home, while spending some good quality time with my brother, Randy. Then we ventured out to visit Nancy's house before we headed that long road back home. We enjoyed seeing them so much. It had just been too long. 

 

With my sister, Nancy, brother, Randy and nephew, Deryck

We arrived back home a little after 1:30 a.m. and jumped straight into bed to get as much rest as possible before the rooster began to crow. Not too long after that, we were up early and it was MOTHER'S DAY! Rob always treats me so well on Mother's Day (not that he doesn't every other day...he just goes all out on this special day). Obviously we were exhausted. So, when Mekyla came knocking at 6:30 a.m., we were quick to tell her to get back to bed and get some more rest. Little did we know, she and Xzayvier were taking cues from Daddy and wanted to make Mother's Day special for me. Rob knew they wanted to do something, but he didn't know what. So when he got up about an hour later he went to get Mekyla up so she could start. His heart was broken when he looked in the refrigerator and she had already gotten up, poured my favorite cereal, cut strawberries and poured the milk. Xzayvier apparently slept in...haha, typical man! Unfortunately, it had sat in there for an hour, so of course, it was soggy. Rob proceeded to get Mekyla up and apologize for not realizing she had worked so hard already, but she was still eager to do it, even though she had to start over. So my day began with a wonderful bowl of honey nut chex and strawberries...in bed! I was so proud of Mekyla, not so much for preparing it, as much as just knowing her heart was 100% in the right place, seeking to make others happy. She was making a habit of that this weekend! Followed by breakfast, Rob gave me the CUTEST purse (I cannot even begin to tell you how proud I was to know that he remembered a shopping trip from weeks ago where I pointed this purse out among tons of others). He also gave me the sweetest card...ever. It was probably no different than every other Mother's Day card out there, but this year was different. Rob is a funny guy and so he likes funny cards. For years now, I have been giving him sappy love cards and he's given me funny, silly cards. So when he gave me a sappy card that said how much I meant to him...I totally pulled my girl card and cried like the overwhelmed mommy and wife that I was. It was such a sweet start to our day. The rest of the day consisted of a great sermon at church, lunch with friends and the best gift of all...a NAP! Sometimes, I wish it was Mother's Day every day. But if it were, I guess the kids and Rob wouldn't see much of a point in taking such great care of me, especially if I got to take a nap every day. :) Having one special day though, is such a sweet reminder that I am appreciated for being a teacher, a chef, a medic, a counselor, a dust-buster, an accountant, a secretary, a taxi service, a life coach, a friend... a wife and a MOTHER. I couldn't be more blessed to have the love of my life, Rob and three reminders of that love, Xzayvier, Mekyla and Kreid.