belated slideshow from ian's birthday

at scioto trails...

reds game

$1 hot dogs and a 1st inning brawl for ian's 10th birthday! it doesn't get any better than that!!!

holden beach 2010

this never gets old

ian playing ball yesterday.

is there anything better than watching your child enjoy himself so completely?

probably a boring post for you but i couldn't be happier!

just when i was getting ready to pull up the pumpkin plants that seemed to be dying, i found these three gorgeous little fellas! hooray!

birthday boys

(above: wyatt, landon, and ian)

tracey lamerson graciously allowed me to combine ian's birthday celebration with wyatt's last night ~ resulting in nine boys playing, fighting, wrestling, hitting, roasting hotdogs & marshmallows, telling ghost stories, watching movies, and finally sleeping (around 3:00 a.m.). aunt juj and taylor even crashed the party (aunt juj had both ted and tracey as students in high school!). the kids had a blast, and ted and tracey were so incredibly hospitable. we really love them alot.

baby #1

hooray! we're finally expecting! (no, not a real baby...a baby gourd. you know, from the volunteer in the post below...)

isn't she cute and fuzzy? she measures approximately 3/4".

growth

this unexpected, little volunteer...

has become this:

now, if we can just get some fruit on that vine.

why we're jets fans

our cousin, eric smith, plays for the new york jets. last year he started at safety (many of you will remember the vicious collision between he and anquan boldin). there was a massive debate about the helmet-to-helmet contact between eric and boldin, but i honestly believe that kerry rhodes' involvement in the play didn't help matters, and eric found himself in an incredibly dangerous situation. (eric was knocked unconscious as well.)

at any rate, we got to hang out with eric at our family reunion a few weeks ago. he is delightful in person. quiet and reserved. great with the kids. kate and ian were on cloud nine the entire afternoon. (my grandfather and eric's grandfather are brothers, and for those of you who don't know, yes, my maiden name is smith).

at one point in the afternoon, many of the relatives were talking about what fantastic athletes the smiths have produced...and it's true. my grandfather was recruited by the st. louis cardinals prior to WWII. my cousin rob was a tremendous basketball player and now coaches at urbana university. eric's sister stacy is being recruited out of groveport to play college volleyball. all of the other cousins have shown an enormous propensity toward athleticism. it's pretty cool.

so anyways, here are my kids with one of their heroes. they have many, but i'm pretty sure eric ranks right up there at the top.

jill's zinnias

playing around with picasa and wishing i could do these zinnias justice...they are simply gorgeous. flowers make me truly happy.

From Collages

the boys of summer

oh my gosh...what a BLAST! ian was in heaven being on the all-star team! he alternated between playing shortstop and pitcher. (he is seen in most of the video wearing a heart-guard, a requirement for boys playing pitcher.) ian was the lead-off batter and had a pretty good on-base percentage. his fielding was awesome, too.

all in all, we couldn't have asked for a more wonderful tournament season. the boys were absolutely terrific (and adorable) and really pulled together as a team.

and as for our coaches...hey, we love you matt snodgrass, jeff davis, rick swain, and kent shanks! you guys rock!

p.s. to see erica snodgrass' fantastic tournament pictures, click here and here!

"Boys are beyond the range of anybody's sure understanding, at least when they are between the ages of 18 months and 90 years." -James Thurber