Cousin Club

As an Easter treat Grammy had Cousin Club t-shirts made for everyone 

 I'm not so sure how much "bathing" actually goes on when the cousins have bath time with Grandpa.

 Sweet Ellie reading a Berenstein Bears book to her cousins

 Abigail's 1st actual pony ride at Kiddie Acres

 Caroline and Ashley team up together for the Jeep Car Rides at Kiddie Acres

 Their favorite ride at Kiddie Acres was the Ferris Wheel

Thank you Grammy for a fun afternoon at Kiddie Acres!

A few weeks ago we went to Austin to celebrate an early Easter with my side of the family.  It had been awhile since all of the little cousins on the Peek side of the family had been together so needless to say there was a lot of excitement and anticipation that had been built up going into this weekend.  Even though there are quite a few years in between the oldest Peek cousin (Ellie-8 yrs old) and the youngest one (Caroline-19 mo old), they all love and adore one another and play extremely well together.  In fact, they get so excited when it works out for all of them to be in town together at the same time that they have nicknamed their group during these specific get togethers as the "Cousin Club".  It is ridiculously cute to watch them interact with one another.  Ellie is not only the leader of the pack but the babysitter as well.  She is always careful to include everyone and always dreaming up a variety of activities and outings that they can do together as a group.  Right now she is in the process of writing a play for the "Cousin Club" to perform for everyone.  I have been told it is a work in progress and will not be ready for another 2 years.  Even so, she was already working with Abigail on "her lines" during our last trip to Grammy's.  Thank goodness Abigail has another year or two to memorize her lines! :)  Ashley is full of life and full of adventure.  She has a huge imagination and an even bigger heart.  She loves taking care of Caroline and is content with just following her around.  She doesn't seem to mind entering into her 19 month old world of busyness and absent-mindedness as long as it means they get to spend time together.  As for Owen, he is a champ.  Up to this point he has put in 5 solid years of patience and compromise when it comes to the wonderful world of girl cousins and all of the pink, girly, princess dresses that come with it.  While he isn't afraid to stand his ground and speak up if something is a little too girly for him, he is a gentleman when it comes to looking after his girl cousins.  More times than not, he has set aside his super hero figurines in order to make the girls happy and play what they wanted to play.  Although he will almost be 5 1/2 years older than Cooper, I have a feeling there will be a pretty strong bond built up between the two of them.  Owen is looking forward to finally having a boy cousin in the club to rough-house with and get dirty with during Peek family gatherings.  As for Abigail and Caroline, they think their cousins hung the moon.  Being the youngest of the bunch they look up to them and literally hang on their every word.  If it was up to them, every weekend would be a Cousin Club weekend.

I love the fact that my kiddos are so close to their cousins.  Some of my best memories from when I was a little girl are from playing in the backyard of Gram and Grandpa's house with all of my cousins.  Although we have all grown up and gone our separate directions when it comes to careers and families we are all still extremely close and no matter what will always be connected by our strong family ties.  I pray the same will remain true for this next generation of Peek Cousins.           

It's A Boy!!!

This is the picture we used to announce to our parents that we were expecting
Our first sneak peek at Baby Smithson #3

We gave both sets of grandparents 2 boxes like these and told them we would call them after our sonogram revealing the baby's gender with instructions as to which box they could open

Finally the news came and they were told they could open the box with the green polka dot ribbonHere's what they found inside...

Surprise...It's a Boy! (For those of you curious as to the significance of the Almond Joy bar, just think back to the old advertisement jingle...What does Almond Joy have that Mounds doesn't? By the way, I am proud of my Dad for picking up on my weird attempt at humor with the candy.

Like I said before, this is a picture we had never seen before with any of our previous sonograms

Sweet Little Cooper's side profileThe girls celebrated the news of Cooper with blue balloons (however Abigail's first response after finding out she was going to have a baby brother was, "I wanted a girl"...cue the pouty face and arms folded. I then reminded her that she originally said she wanted a baby brother and that she wanted to name him Popcorn Pop...to which she responded again with a pouty face and arms folded, "I changed my mind"). Surely it's just a phase?!?Less than 24 hours after receiving the big news, a few sweet friends showered me with fun boy clothes. Let the shopping begin! (Thanks Shelby and Cara for the adorable outfits!)

It's A Boy!!! I honestly never thought I would hear those 3 words. With that being said, you can imagine the surprise and excitement that filled the room on Monday afternoon when Dr. Wampler told Josh and me that we were going to have a boy.

Before Abigail came along I had it in my head that I was going to be a mommy to lots of boys. There were no facts or logical reasoning to support this theory other than I had two older brothers and always tended to lean more on the side of a tomboy rather than a girly girl growing up. The thought of raising girls terrified me...in fact, in some ways it still does. Between the drama, the money, the high maintenance, the hormones, and the fact that I was all too often more than a handful for my mom during my teenage years, I always assumed it would one day come back to haunt me if I was a mommy to lots of girls. While that verdict is still out, I have to say I have grown pretty comfortable over the last 3 years in my role as Queen Mommy to my two little Princesses.

With all of my pregnancies, I never had a strong feeling one way or another as to "what I was having". While there was always the hope that we would someday get to experience the other side of parenting in the world of little boys I saw my chances this time around as pretty slim, especially considering the fact that this pregnancy has been identical to the other 2 when it comes to first trimester symptoms, the way I carry the baby, etc. Going into our appointment on Monday I had no idea what to expect. While Josh kept saying he had a hunch it was going to be a girl I still wasn't feeling strongly one way or the other. I spent my morning preparing myself to hear the words, "It's a Girl", and kept reminding myself of all the many reasons why my life is so much more complete and full of joy because of the little girls I have in it. While it sounds drastic and in some ways harsh to admit that I had to "prepare" myself for the idea that I may have another little girl, I'm just being honest. While I love my life and the princess costumes, jewelry, and sparkles that sometimes overtake it, I couldn't help but be curious as to what the other side of the spectrum would be like if it was filled with dump trucks, dirt, bugs, and the color blue.

It wasn't long into the sonogram before it was obvious to Dr. Wampler what we were going to be having. She held off on telling us as long as she could in hopes of showing us by picture the proof as to what we were having. (Note to self, having a Coke right before your sonogram appointment helps to wake the baby up and get it moving but also makes it difficult for your doctor to catch good stillframes of the baby and all of his/her parts). Finally she couldn't keep the news to herself any longer and told us that we were having a boy. Almost instantly the tears of joy began to flow as I asked Dr. Wampler at least 2 or 3 times "if she was sure". I just couldn't believe the news. However after catching a good glimpse and realizing that the picture I was looking at was definitely something I had never seen on a sonogram before, the shock began to wear off, the reality sunk in, and we were all "sure"...we were going to have a boy!

While girl names have always been a challenge for us to come up with for some reason, Josh and I have always been in agreement on what we would want to name a boy if we ever had one. With that being said, we can't wait to introduce our family and friends to Cooper James Smithson.

Catching You Up To Date (Through Pictures)

As you can tell, Caroline was anything but thrilled to be taking pictures with Santa.

Abigail can't get enough of her friends at Sea World's Sesame Street Bay of Play

The Night Before Christmas...Abigail, Caroline, and their cousin Owen, sport their new Christmas PJs

If you look closely enough you will see that Abigail and Caroline are actually outside playing in the Kerrville "snow"

Abigail and her Prince Daddy are dressed to impress and ready to go out on their annual Daddy/Daughter Valentine's Date

Bring on Summer! Caroline and her BFFs have a watermelon eating contest. You wouldn't believe how many pieces of watermelon these 3 tiny girls were able to tackle. Notes for next time...it needs to be a naked watermelon eating contest...they were covered in watermelon from head to toe.

Heaven forbid we slide without our purses!

Caroline's 1st Haircut

Abigail is all smiles as she sits down to have her nails painted for the first time (from someone other than mommy). Apparently a manicure comes free with a haircut...now if only Mommy could find a salon with an offer like that.

The girls outside of Sharkey's Cuts for Kids

In case you were confused and thought you had missed a post or two from me over the last few months...don't worry, you haven't...I am just that far behind. So in order to bring you up to speed without taking up too much of your time, here is what you have missed over the last few months in the lives of my sweet little girls...

The Smithson Big Top

Party Favors for all of Abigail's Friends

"Popcorn" Cupcakes

Abigail testing out one of the Bean Bag Toss Games

Abigail gets her face painted by Miss Claire

"Kitty Cat" Abigail loves her Grammy!

Great Catch! Abigail tries her luck at the Castaway Carnival Game

Abigail and her friend Julia take time out from their candy necklaces to smile for the camera

Reagan the "Lion" chomps into his Cotton Candy

Abigail and her friend Claire

Abigail gets ready to surprise Mommy with her new hair-do courtesy of Grandma.

This year for Abigail's birthday party we decided to throw a Carnival. Seeing that her birthday falls smack dab in the middle of November, you never quite know what you're going to get when it comes to Texas weather. Thankfully, the weather was perfect for our Carnival. Sunny and almost 85 degrees, we couldn't have asked for better weather to go along with our outside festivities. Not only were there 2 bounce houses to entertain all of our little guests but various games were set up throughout the yard to help create even more of a carnival-type atmosphere. From Bean Bag Toss to Pin the Nose on the Clown to Face Painting, Abigail and her friends spent most of the afternoon running around handing over tickets in hopes of filling their treat bags with lots of prizes and loot. Of course a Carnival is only as good as its food and what Carnival would be complete without corn dogs, popcorn, soft pretzels, and everyone's favorite...cotton candy!

For those of you who were able to join us in celebrating Abigail's 3rd birthday: Thank you for Clowning around with us. We look forward to celebrating many more birthdays with you in the future!