New Adventure

Courtney is now an Pampered Chef Consultant! So let us know if you'd like to host a party, have a catalog show, place an order, or if you want more information on how to make some extra money while having fun!

And here we thought Brian was going to be the Chef of the family... :)

courtney.pamperedchef@gmail.com

just one of my favorites!

Trip to Akron

Ahhh. Old friends. This is Mindy, Court's friend. Mindy, Chris & Lilly live in PA so we met in Akron for a short reunion (and to meet each other's babies!). It was too short, like always, but refreshing for the soul. Anyway, we went to the Akron Zoo, among other things and took pics by the waterfall. Mindy is a shutterbug so she has more pictures on her blog. http://marosfamily.blogspot.com/

Lilly, Mindy, Court & Makenna

Smeltzer family photo



And yes, this is Brian pretending to be a penguin.

1st Swim

It was GREAT! There was water, there was wind, there were friends - everyone was happy!

1st Haircut

Did I mention she had a haircut? Here is my proof.


And yes, she loved it.

A visit from Uncle Joel... and other pics

Discovering Pop Cans

all this and she's never even had pop.

9 months and counting...

more pictures

let's see. first a picture of makenna & mommy.



Then we have some of Makenna's friends...


First up, My long-time friend Heather, with Grace & Makenna, who happen to be just one day apart! Heather & I are hoping they will be best buddies! Anyway, we were taking a break from setting up for a garage sale. :)



All strapped in... Lucy & Makenna at the Zoo. I should mention that Makenna doesn't really care about the animals yet, but she LOVES all the other kids at the zoo!



Sometimes we let her try new foods... like Pink Icy Pops...



And finally... her first moment of serious destruction. Grammy bought Makenna a book that has buttons to push that make sounds in the story. Up until now, she would just push the puttons and hit the cover. On occasion she'd flip it over. But on this day, I wasn't paying close attention until I heard tearing sounds. Oops... too late... she ripped the book. She ripped the front page off, but at the spine, then pulled the spine apart so all the pages came out. At that point , there was no recovery, so I let her play with the pages. Here is a documentation of her destruction.

I'm THAT guy

Remember when you were growing up and one of your neighbors, who was about 30, wanted to do something he used to be able to do. My neighbor Jim, wanted to try out my skateboard when I was in middle school and I let him try it. Not long into his attempt, he was on his back and in a whole lot of pain. His wife told him that it would be the last time he tried something like that. I think it scarred him...and me. I remember vowing to myself that I would never do something like that and get myself hurt trying to do something I couldn't do...or shouldn't.

I'm not 14 any more. I had to come to that realization last Friday when I went in for shoulder surgery. I blame it all on middle school kiddies and their cruel mind games. When I was coaching track at Summit Middle School this year, I was trying to demonstrate the proper form for discus. All of the sudden...

Student 1: "Hey, I heard you could throw out to the field goal post last year. Is that true?"
Student 2: "Maybe he used to but he's too old now"
Me: "You think I'm too old?"
Student 3: "Well maybe you're gut would get in the way."
Me: "Oh...you think? Watch this"

That's when I should have stopped and thought about what they said because they were all right. I didn't stop though...and I might add...I hit the pole. I was happy except for the burning/numbing sensation in my shoulder. Turns out I tore some cartilage in my shoulder and had to get it screwed back down. ouch.

I didn't know what I did but I hurt it more dancing in my car on the way home that day. For about the last 5 weeks my shoulder has been falling out of place between 8 and 25 times a day. The wifey made me call a doctor and the doctor said surgery and now...i'm in an immobilizing sling for at least 2 weeks. I did get some terrific pain pills though...mmm

There you have it. They were right. I am getting old.

It's a sad day.

Spring Things

Just a few pictures I thought you all would enjoy...


too sleepy to play...

First time at the playground...

Easter

Mighty Makenna

Sorry this post doesn't have any pictures. I'll try to take some this week. Just thought you'd like an update on Makenna's new activities. Now that she has rolling, sitting, and standing (holding onto something) under her belt, she is trying to master crawling and climbing. Right now she looks like an inchworm, but she is officially mobile. She can't go as fast as she'd like so she still gets frustrated, but it won't be long!
And since she is now a belly sleeper, she wakes up and starts playing. This was fine for a while, but she figured out how to grasp the rungs and pull herself up from her belly to standing all by her little self! Seriously... she's SO strong. Soon she'll be able to beat us up! ;)
I guess this means its time to babyproof the house!

Family Photo

Little Miss Hollywood

My favorite picture so far!! And yes... she leaves them on. I think she likes the world through green lenses.

cousins

First of all, Miss Sadie and her big happy face! I don't know if it was because of Makenna's fun jumpy toy, or silly Uncle Brian, but something sure made her happy!



Here we have a lovely picture of sharing toys...


And here they are sharing fingers...

Too tired to play

She was playing one minute... sleeping the next. Seriously.

Ball State Day

On our way to Nashville, we stopped by Grammy's office to visit everyone who gave me such nice gifts... well... they gave gifts to Mommy but they were for me... including my shirt! She took me around and introduced me to lots of nice people. Go Cards!

Makenna's First Road Trip!

We went to Nashville a couple weeks ago on a spontaneous vacation to visit Aunt Amy & Uncle Steve! We thought it would only be appropriate to take the picture in the car, since she spent to much time there. Ahhh car/roadtrip pictures... reminds me of college!

Sittin' pretty at 5 months

Here she is at her 5 month picture. This is her dedication dress for this Sunday (minus the cute little baby shrug that goes with it!) We took family pics that day too. I'll get that one up soon, and the others we've taken this month. :)