Harper and Hayden turn 1

On May 8th and May 12th, Harper and Hayden turned 1! We had a joint birthday party for them on Saturday, May 16th.



This is Hayden Blair Smith on his first birthday. Isn't he handsome?



David and I took him to The Purple Cow for lunch. He got purple vanilla ice cream and loved it!



I got him a horse for Christmas, but since he was only 7 months old, I decided to save it for his birthday. He was a little unsure of riding it at first, but now he loves it! A baby cowboy in the making!

Hayley and Justin hosted the birthday party at their house. Our dear friend Lynn, who is obviously blessed with amazing cake-making abilities, made the birthday cakes. She also made mine and Hayley's wedding cakes. The pink and turquoise cupcake cakes on the sides are Hayden and Harper's cakes. The real cupcakes around the big cake were for all the kids at the party.

Uncle Mark pushin the kiddos.

Ryan, Hayden, and Gabe.

This picture is kinda blurry, but I love it. Those 2 are gonna be great friends!

This picture explains it all...Chaos!! Hayley and I were opening the presents because Hayden and Harper had no interest. They even wandered off to different rooms a couple of times! I think there was a total of 8 kids at the party, not including the birthday babies!

This picture cracks me up. Papa and Gigi got Hayden a riding Firetruck, and all of the babies loved it! Even Harper's princess car was a hit!

Hayden had no problem digging right into his cake. After this picture was taken, he started to get upset. We took him straight to the bathtub and there was cake and icing in his nose, ears, eyelashes...!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my daddy, James Fred Creel, Jr., on April 28th!
Happy Birthday to my Banana, Melba Elizabeth Walters Nixon, on May 3rd!
Happy Birthday to my Mary Reagan Richardson Skates, also on May 3rd!

New mode of transportation = WALKING!!!

Hayden took his first step, or atleast the first step I saw him take, on March 19th. He was exactly 10 months and 1 week old. He began taking little steps here and there when he wasn't paying attention. If we sat down on the floor we could get him to walk to us. As of this Tuesday, April 21st, at 11 months, 1 week, and 4 days old, Hayden has chosen walking as his new mode of transportation! He is still a little wobbly and kinda walks like Frankenbaby, but he is a walkin man, or baby! If he is in a hurry, he will revert back to speed crawling, and this is the reason I don't have a video of him walking! Everytime I try, he spots the camera, falls to his knees, and starts speed crawling towards his favorite toy only because he is not allowed to play with it! I will keep trying to get a video so I can put it on here.

Ok, I have some beef with Mr. Blog, or whoever started up this blogging thing. One would think that your pictures would be in the order that you downloaded them, now wouldn't one? Apparently Mr. Blog, or Miss Blog, decided to make it much more difficult, and after 7 blogs I still can't get it right! Of course, this could just be me! The pictures are kind of mixed up, but for the most part they are in order of most recent to oldest.


David, Hayden, and I went over to Mark and Michelle's house Sunday night for dinner. Michelle made Taco Salad for us. Hayden loves playing with his cousins, Makenna and Micah.



These 2 pictures of the babies passed out were taken after GiGi and Papa took us to the Botanic Gardens the Saturday before Easter. They played so hard that within minutes of getting them in the car they both fell asleep!

We found a shady spot underneath some trees and put down a blanket to sit on. We brought snacks for babies and snacks for grown-ups (notice the bag of Oreo's)! The babies loved just crawling around and playing in the grass. It was probably 73 degrees with a breeze, perfect.

This picture was taken mid-August, when the babies were 3 months old.

This picture was taken 8 months later in the same spot. It was taken before we went to the Botanic Gardens.

Hayley, mom, and I threw Brittny a baby shower the same weekend that she threw our baby shower a year ago! Baby Lilly is due May 17th.

Hiding behind The Belly.

During the baby shower, Papa took Hayden outside and walked around with him. He ended up falling asleep and taking a nap while Papa continued walking with him.

A couple of weeks ago Hayden and I went over to Mark and Michelle's house to see Neeny and Poppa for the afternoon. When they left, we took the kiddos to the park right across the street. There is only one bucket swing, so we put Micah and Hayden in it together! They both love swinging.

I still think they look so much alike!

Neeny, Poppa, and Haydey.

Aunt Michelle tickling Hayden.

Micah Brian Smith

The kiddos playing together. They were having so much fun!

Harpey's Anna Jean Wolfe Creel smile.

Swingin together at the park.

This is my favorite picture. Hayden gets so excited when I turn on the bath water. He starts dancing around and stands on his tippy toes to try and climb in the bathtub. It is the cutest thing.

This is a video of Makenna and Hayden playing. She was kicking a big blow-up dolphin around her room, and for some reason, Hayden thought it was hilarious! I love it when he laughs!

Happy Birthday to Us!!!

All 3 of the Smiths have just celebrated Birthdays! Mine was March 2nd, David's was the 3rd, and yesterday, the 12th, was Hayden's 10 month Birthday!


For my Birthday, mom surprised me and came with Hayley to Ft. Worth to spend the day with me! We met David at the usual, The Purple Cow. Then GiGi, Hayley, the babies, and I went to the Hulen Mall. GiGi bought the babies' Easter outfits, we had adventures with strollers on the escalator, spilled a Strawberry Lemonade Smoothie in Macy's (Hayley), and for the most part had 2 happy babies all day. Thank you GiGi and Auntsistermom Hayley!

I found a new way to keep Hayden happy at Target! He loves to sit, crawl around, play, and stand up in the cart instead of sitting up front. So cute.

Wednesday, March 4th, I took Hayden to a playground for the first time. It's in our neighborhood and it's really pretty. The weather was perfect and the sun was going down. I put him in his very first swing and he loved it! At first he was laughing hysterically, then he just smiled and looked around. He got very still and relaxed and after about 10 minutes of swinging, he fell asleep!

I just kept swinging him. He probably slept for 15 minutes! Daddy met us when he got off work. Hayden tried the slide and the jumpy horse, but his passion is for the swings!

We drove to Abilene Friday night and had dinner and birthday cake with my family on Saturday.

Sunday we had lunch and presents with Juney Babe, Paul, Grandmommy, Aunt Peggy, and Uncle Gary!

My baby brother, Michael Andrew.

Awkward prom picture.

GiGi giving the babies their first piano lesson.

Hayden now has 8 teeth and is so close to walking! I bought him a walking toy that he walks with and he will walk with us if we hold is hand. This is a video of him walking with his toy. It's short because like I said in a previous blog, the babies are always crawling towards the camera!

God is so Amazing!!!

I found this blog today, and I truly feel like I was supposed to find it, called Bring the Rain, http://www.audreycaroline.blogspot.com/. Her name is Angie Smith and I could not quit reading her story. Her words, attitude, and relationship with God in the midst of a terrible loss made me realize that my relationship with Him is nowhere near where it should be. I desperately want that kind of a relationship with Him. Hayley and I just finished reading a book about relationships with God called "The Shack," and I highly recommend it. In the book they have such a close relationship with God that they call Him Papa. If you want to know more about the book, the website is http://www.theshackbook.com/.

Angie has 3 little girls and came up with these 7 prayers to pray over our babies throughout the day. That is what the 7x7 means: 7 prayers a day, 7 days a week. That is actually one of her little girls in the picture. I loved the prayers and want to do them for my babies, Hayden and Harper. I copied them from her website so you can do them to! Angie Smith gets all the credit.

1. When they wake up: "Let the morning bring (child's name) word of your unfailing love, for she has put her trust in You. Show (her/him) the way (she/he) should go, for to you (he/she) lifts up her soul." (Adapted from Psalm 143:8)

2. When they are getting dressed: "Therefore, as God's chosen child, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourself with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Lord, help (him/her) bear with others and forgive whatever grievances (he/she) has against others. Help (him/her) forgive as the Lord forgave (him/her). And over all these virtues, help (him/her) put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity." (Adapted from Colossians 3:12-14)

3. While they are eating: "Teach (child's name) the secret of being content in any and every situation whether well-fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. Teach (him/her) that (he/she) can do everything through him who gives (him/her) strength." (Adapted from Philippians 4:12-13)

4. When they go out of the house: "(Name of child), do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is-His good, pleasing and perfect will." (Adapted from Romans 12:2)

5. While they are taking a bath: Lord, give (name of child) clean hands and a pure heart, and let (him/her) not lift (his/her) soul to an idol or swear by what is false. Let (him/her) receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God (his/her) Savior. Let (him/her) be part of the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob. (Adapted from Psalm 24:4-6)

6. When they are going to bed: "The Lord Your God is with you; he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, be will rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)

7. While they are sleeping: "I pray that (name of child) will do everything without complaining or arguing, so that he/she may become blameless and pure, a child of God without fault in a crooked and depraved generation, in which he/she shines like a star in the universe as he/she holds out the word of life-in order that he/she may boast on the day of Christ that he/she did not run or labor for nothing." (Adapted from Philippians 2:14-16)

On another note, I was staring at Hayden as he slept in my arms the other day. I just kept thinking how beautiful and perfect he is. It is unimaginable how much his daddy and I love him. It is unending how much his daddy and I love him. Nothing that he can ever do will change how much we love him. And then it hit me, this is exactly how God feels about us! That kind of love is hard to grasp, until you have a baby. I believe that our babies, our angels, are given to us to help us understand just how much God loves us. Unconditional love. Hayden is not old enough to mess up yet, but when he does, we will still love him. We will be sad, but David and I will still love him just as much as we do today, if not more. We mess up, but thankfully God still loves us! Amazing! God is so Amazing!!!