Yes, My Wife Still Is Alive!

Wow, I will have to say this blogging thing is farely easy! I was downloading some pictures off of our new Flip Video camera that we bought for our vacation. I was looking at all the blogs, and realizing that my wife has not blogged since September I thought I would update the blog! Jennifer, shame on you! :)

I thought I would let everyone know that my wife is still alive and that she has had a good excuse for not blogging since September. Our computer took a dive bomb, and was in need of some repairs. Luckily, our good friend Dusty saved the day and the computer is up and running again!

So please be ready for the weekly, maybe even daily if lucky, posts that will get you up to date on our family. I might even have to post a few times here and there if you all are lucky.

Signing off!

Shelby

The festivities Begin

Our sweet Rylan will be turning 4 on Monday.  I can not believe it.  Miss personality is such a blessing and I love her so much!  Grandma and Pop Pop are in from Florida and we had all the grandparents and Uncle ET over for a family party.  It was great to have everyone over and Rylan loved being the center of it all, imagine that!  Of course we had to finish it off with a princess cake for our very special Princess!

Apple Orchard Fun

Happy Birthday Pop Pop and Grandma...

WE LOVE YOU!

I had cute pics of you and the kids, but my computer bites the dust again!  AHHHH...We love you!

Fun Saturday

For the love, she is too cute!

Today we spent the day at the Miracle Mile Parade.  We had a lot of fun as we honored some special people in our community.  There were bounce houses, and the Logan and Rylan especially enjoyed the face and hair painting.  Logan also did rock climbing, and they watched the parade.  A great day! :)

TKD

Here is our big boy Logan at his belt test. He passed! :) He now has his black belt with the yellow stripe...I am trying to learn how all of this Tae Kwon Do action works. Anyhow, he worked super hard and we are all really proud of him. GO LOGAN!

Master Wiles belts him....Logan cheezing it up. He worked really hard on learning his pattern. :)

Ry goes back to School

Is she not the cutest? She was super excited to start back to school. Rylan's birthday is around the corner, can not believe she is going to be 4.

Logan's First day of 1st Grade!

Strutting his stuff....

and getting on the bus....

I was excited for Logan, and sad all at the same time. It really is true that life is flying bast fast. He had a great day and told me he had a great teacher. I am so happy for him!

HOLIDAY WORLD

Ohhhh...you better watch out
You better not pout...
You better not cry
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town.

We had a wonderful family trip to Holiday World. It was a great experience and we were all tuckered out at the end. Santa promised me that if I behave great things are coming my way this Christmas...(hint Shelby) the Coach purse I want!

Who let the boys out?

Some crazy boys were driving down our street.....

I do not know how they hot wired the golf cart......

and they went for a joy ride.......boy they are just too cute! :)

Logan

Happy Birthday Logan Hans!

A shout out to my big boy who turned 6 this past weekend. He is such a joy and I am really proud of him. He loves his sisters and takes really good care of them. I told him for his birthday I would cook him whatever he wanted...he wanted homemade spaghetti and meatballs...therefore that is what he got! It was super good.

Even Madison ate everything on her plate! :)

Mermaid Rylan

Today Rylan dressed up in this mermaid outfit. I must say she was positively adorable. She came down in her mermaid outfit and the mermaid heels and the microphone! SO CUTE! She asked me if she could go swimming in it, so she could swim like a mermaid! She is too sweet.

Reflection

This past week has been a bit of a whirlwind. I have had a lot of time to reflect on life and how important it is to live life to its fullest every single day because you never know when time is up. This past week one of the precious teenage girls from our youth group was in a car accident. She passed away on the scene. Yesterday morning tragedy hit again when our neighbors teenage daughter was taken from them in a tragic car accident. More than ever I am convinced that it is time to rev up our engines and share Jesus with our friends, our families, and our community. These precious people need to hear about the love that Jesus has for them. You never know when will be the last time you ever come in contact with them. My heart is heavy for the teenagers who are mourning the loss of their friends, and the precious parents who have had to say goodbye to their children for the last time, and the brothers who have lost their sisters. I have held my children closer this week and made the extra time to spend special moments with them. I am convinced more than ever of the importance of what Shelby and his youth leaders do with these teenagers. They pour their hearts into these teenagers and show them love even when they do not deserve it. I tell you I will be praying harder than ever for these children and teenagers to fall in love with Jesus because the time is short. Please keep our youth and the families and friends of these precious teens who lost their lives in your prayers. They are going to need us all during these difficult times.

Happy Father's Day

WE LOVE YOU DADDY! :)

MAC CAMP

Right after VBS I headed off with our children from church to MAC CAMP. It was a wonderful experience! The kids had a blast and they spent the week learning from a missionary family from China! This photo made me laugh..even the stuffed cows were reading their bibles at camp. All the girls were gone and Tina and myself walked in and this is what we found! TOO CUTE!

Our crazy cabin!

This is what Sarah was talking about...the kids loved it!

Pastor Jim organized for all the kids that were at the pool to line the pool and run and jump at once. Super cute. It was a great week and I am glad that I was able to be a part of it!

VBS Kickoff

"WOW....WE ARE SO TIRED!" Our church put on it's first VBS musical, and yes, it was a hit! They performed the Boomerang Express, and after months of practice gave a wonderful performance. I will be honest, and say I am glad it is over. Logan and his buddies did wonderful and they sang beautifully! Good job kiddos!

Ry and her buddy sneak their 10th snow cone of the afternoon!

And this is my dear friend Sarah who got in the dunk tank to make money for our kids to go to camp. Way to take one for the team!

Madison loving her dinner

Those of you that know Madison know she is a picky eater. Obviously this was one meal she liked! :)

This is Rylan and I at the mother's tea at Little People University. This year truly flew by. I can not believe that it is summer already. Rylan truly is a blessing and I love her "too much"!

GO TWINS!

Here is Logan playing for the Twins. Maybe one day it will be in the American League! He had a wonderful season and did a wonderful job. It was actually really fun to watch.

Land of the Living

Well, I am back to the land of the living. It feels like the last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind. I do not even think I have had time to sit down at the computer much, and my shows are really suffering! HA!!! This is the kids last week of school, I am actually kind of excited about summer. It will be fun to have everyone home again. This week I am making a calendar of fun events to do this summer. Super exciting. This summer the Smith schedule is going to be jam packed full of fun! My mom is in town and has been helping me whip my house into shape. Thanks mom for all of your help cleaning, your favorite thing to do! :) And because we can not leave a post without a cute little picture.....

Rylans Trike A Thon

Rylan participated in a Trike-a-Thon at her school last week. She was raining money to go for homelessness. It has actually been a wonderful experience. Her teacher talked to her about how some people have no homes, and how they were raising money for these people. So since then, many of our conversations begin, hey mom...yes Ry...you know some people don't have houses....yes Ry....they live in the yard....and so on. It has been a great experience to talk about how fortunate we are! :) I also heard Rylan and Logan in a deep conversation about it the other day. It was a fun little race. She tried really hard to make it to 20 laps, but she cried, mom, it is just too hard to make this thing (bike) go. I was proud of her anyhow!

Belated Easter

Here is the only picture of me and the kids on Easter. We were so wiped out from the weekend and being sick that this is what we ended up as....tired Smith's!

CHANGE OF PLANS!

Well, I am not leaving for California until Saturday. It is all good. Sidenote: Congrats to Paul for passing his test! You deserve it! :)

WHO AM I?

HAVE A GUESS??

Look What the Easter Bunny Brought Me!!!!!

Is he not the cutest thing ever? I can hardly stand not holding him in my arms!

A baby is born....

I'M AN AUNTIE!!!! I am so excited to announce the arrival of a precious new baby boy. Nolan Shay Powell was born on Tuesday, finally! Congratulations Pammy and Jared. I know you are going to be wonderful parents! I will put up a better picture when one becomes available to me....it's all I got folks! :)

Egg Making

This past week was spring break in Indy. We did not have anything to do, no family in town.... :( We made our own fun anyhow. We decorated a centerpiece for our table. It is a paper mache balloon. Let me tell you, way more work than I expected. Layer after layer! GOOD TIMES!

Finally, the colors are going to go on!

Rylan and the finished project. She is the only one that stayed with me for the whole project. Way to go Ry!