20 weeks?!?!

20 weeks ago today our little Audrey came into our lives.
I CANNOT believe our sweet little Aud-ball is already 20 weeks old!!

20 weeks - April 29, 2011

She is really becoming her own person lately.  She still seems to be pretty attached to her Mama (which I am ok with :)  but we are trying to get her more comfortable with other people, too.  We have also recently started trying to introduce her to formula.
She is right at 11 lbs now, and she is pretty much sleeping through the night most nights. (10:30-ish until 7:00).  She can wear 3-6 months clothing (generally) and is still in size 1 diapers.
She loves bathtime and she is on the verge of giggles.  She smiles most in the mornings and right after she eats.
She is a happy baby most of the time and she loves to watch Ben and Abby play together.  Ben and Abby love making her smile, too.

Ben and Abby have just over 3 more weeks of school left, then its time to celebrate summer vacation!!!
 

Busy Weekend...

The Smith Family had one busy weekend!

 Friday night Ben and I went to the Ranger game with Ben's friend Ryan.  

Duke stayed home with the three girls...Audrey, Abby and Abby.  It was Abby's first sleepover and it happened to be with her best friend Abby Cobb.

Saturday morning, we got up and went to Ben's soccer game before heading out to Easter in Kaufman.

 Just a few shots of our Easter bonnets...

All three babies lined up...

Audrey Elizabeth     Everett John    Hannah Claire

Sunday morning we woke up to see what the Easter Bunny left us.

And Audie tried rice cereal for the first time.

Then we headed up to Forestburg to celebrate Easter at the ranch.

(: My girls posing for the camera :)

Sunday was also our anniversary.  Duke and I have been married 12 years!  We celebrated with a toast Sunday evening at the ranch.

We ended the weekend with a crazy drive home Sunday night.  There were terrible storms with lightning, high winds and hail.  Duke even had to pull over for a few minutes at one point when the car in front of us came to a complete stop in the middle of the road.  We made it home - safe and sound - but it was one interesting journey to get there!  

Science Fair!!!

Today was a big day for Ben and Abby at school.  They had their science fair and their Easter parties.  Plus, it was only a half day before they got out for their four-day Easter holiday.

Wearing their science fair t-shirts

Ben won 2nd place for the 1st grade

         Abby won Honorable Mention for Kindergarten

Here are a few of the other projects 

(just to give you an idea of what our competition was like)

 

After the science fair, we headed back to the classrooms to have our Easter parties.

 

The girls table in Abby's class

 

Ben's class had a balloon artist

All the boys got swords

Abby got a princess wand

Splish Splash...

Audrey is such a happy baby, and she LOVES bath time.  We have noticed lately that her hand-to-eye coordination is really starting to develop.  She tries to grab at things now and she loves to kick and splash in her tub.

I just love the way a freshly-bathed baby smells. My cousin Lauren says they're "delicious".  What a perfect word for it.  I could just eat her up!!
Did I mention how much I love this girl?

A friend of mine asked me today if we have any nicknames for her yet.  
Let's see, there's...
Aud
Auds
Audie
Audie-Beth
Aud-balls
Aud-ible
Aud-itory system...(what?!)
Audi-ence

Audi-boo boo
Audie-woo woo
Audrey-Lou
Audie-lou lou
Boo boo
Blue eyes
Lovie
My love
Love-a-dove
Booga-boo
Booga-buns
Boogs
and sometimes we actually call her Audrey!

A Springtime Tradition

It just wouldn't be springtime in Texas without trotting out to a bluebonnet patch and sitting the kids down for a picture.  This morning after Mass, we headed to our favorite spot for pics before the kids had a chance to change out of their Sunday best.  It was pretty windy, and since we have little Audie this year, we had to work quickly.

The Girls

Our Little Man

I just love this time of year!!

After pics, we headed home to have some of Duke's first apple pie.  This new hobby of his is getting DANGEROUS!  Yesterday he made 2 loaves of bread and the pie.  It is goo-ood!

Happy Birthday, Daddy!!

Today is Duke's 35th birthday!  That means for the next 7 months we'll be the same age! :)

We celebrated tonight with a very low-key party - just the 5 of us.

He got a new stand mixer and the kids made him this apron to further encourage his new cooking, baking and grilling hobby. (I think he really looks like a grown-up in this picture.)

Happy Birthday, Duke!!

My little artists...

Tonight was Fulton's art and talent show.  The students got to choose 2 pieces of art from this school year to display.  They were also judged at each grade level, beginning with the 1st grade.

One of Abby's pieces.

Guess what!
Ben got 1st place for his grade level.  He was so proud!  He won a blue ribbon for it.  Its the first ribbon he has ever won.  He is VERY excited about it.

Unfortunately, Audrey got fussy so we had to leave before I could snap a few pictures of their other projects.  Poor baby got her 4-month shots yesterday and has been a bit fussy all day today.  On a good note, though, she is up to 10 lbs, 8 oz and is growing and developing very well.

Celebrate Good Times.....Come On!!

Duke and I have reason to celebrate today...we just paid for our honeymoon!
No - not a second honeymoon.
Yup - I mean the one we went on 12 years ago.
You see, today we paid off the last of our credit cards! 
When we got married nearly 12 years ago we opened a new credit line and charged our honeymoon.  That was the first of MANY charges over the first few years of our marriage. 
It didn't take us too long to charge up our cards, but it did take us YEARS to finally pay them off.  
It may seem silly to some people, but it means SO MUCH to the two of us. We haven't been credit-card-debt free since we were in college.
We are incredibly relieved today and I think we will have to celebrate with a nice dinner...that we will pay for with cash.  :-)

16 weeks!

Audrey is 16 weeks old today.  

I cannot believe she has been in our lives this long already!

She has tripled her birth weight and is now right at 10 pounds.

4 weeks old - January 7, 2011

8 weeks old - February 4, 2011

12 weeks old - March 4, 2011

16 weeks - April 1, 2011

She is growing so fast!

Love LoVe LOVE this girl!!

Yee - Haw!

In honor of Texas History, The Fulton School celebrated "Cowboy Day" with the lower school.  

Ben took a trip to his teacher's house where they saw her longhorns and took pictures in the bluebonnets.  Then they had a "cookout" for lunch.

Abby's class went to a "rodeo" at school.

Head and shoulders above the other 'cowpokes'.

  

I just love my lil' wranglers!