flashback friday (on saturday..oops)

i want to start posting a 'flashback friday' post every friday to give a little love to our life before children.  or sometimes...even before eachother.  i feel like when smith gets old enough to see the blog book, he may like to see what we were up to before the good days when he came along.

this was one of the very first dates that charlie and i went on.  pictured with us is one of my college roomies and best friends, stephanie and her date chris.  chris was an outdoor rec major along with charlie, so i thought it would make him a little more comfortable...seeing how he really knew NONE of my friends.  this was the chi omega casual spring of 2000.  charlie and i had hung out like 2-3 times before this date and basically, i had talked or asked questions the whole time.  i always joke that if he hadn't (still is) been so hot, we would have never made it past these first dates.  he was so extremely shy.  we didn't dance at this function because of his shyness, i am sure.  and, little did i know that the boy had skills on the dance floor.  i found that out later and it was just an added bonus.  

outdoor days

smith and i try to make it outside as often as possible.  first of all, he LOVES it and secondly, it is nice for me b/c he is always happy outside...no need to redirect from many "off limit" items.  winter has made this a little more difficult, but thankfully we live in a place with EVER changing weather with some really mild winter days.  we may have some wind, but that never keeps us down.

catch up, again (dallas visit, christmas)

i am really bad at blogging, and mostly it comes from knowing i should do it...but, i wait, and wait...and then, there is just too much to talk about.  charlie comes home FOR GOOD in about a week and a half.  he will motivate me.  basically, i have learned in our marriage..i am so much better at getting things done when he is around.  loneliness brings laziness in me.

so after smith's first birthday came a trip to temple (for an interview) and then on to dallas where we were able to see two of my best friends and their children.  we were very bad and did not take many pictures, but it was one short night and LOTS of kids.  this LOTS is going to turn into more, i realize, but we will be more used to it as more children come our way. 

this is smith checking out the new addition, laura and matt's matthew

kelly's hubby, jarrett with their sweet one, aaron

charlie and matt chilling (kinda)

sadly, no pictures of the actual reason we were all hanging out (us three girls), but we had a great time and ate some yummy tacos in between child craziness.

charlie left soon after that trip to go back to virginia for more hospital rotations.  we celebrated a small Christmas with my family (minus charlie, shelby, and bo).  smith is still not yet at the age of 'getting' Christmas...or even presents for that matter, but we had fun.  

uncle shad helping smith with the toy that he (and aunt shaynna) bought him AND put together for him.  smith loves it now even more..it is his first 'starter' bike with many more to come if his daddy has anything to do with it.

i made grace and george lapdesks...with this tutorial (modified a bit)

and i made them something to hold their colors from this tutorial.  both were fairly easy and i loved the results...i just wish i had better pictures to share with you.

this was our year to be with charlie's family at Christmas...so smith and i flew from home and met with charlie (who flew from virginia) for a good time with his family.  we had lots of yummy food and good time seeing everyone!

smith in his new boots and john deere shirt at his papa and gigi's house

smith licking the ice cream off his fingers that papa is already spoiling him with.  it won't take much to get this boy hooked...he comes from a long line of MAJOR ice cream lovers!

playing with a new present Christmas morning

playing with cousin london in her BIG play room

holding onto one of his favorite toys..."ball"...this is also among the short list of words that smith says very clearly.  

playing on cousin london's slide with mema and daddy