New Year

Maw Maw and Caedmon

Nana J., Aunt Brenda and Caedmon

Bet you cant' guess what is on top of Derric's head...

a Santa hat!  I know, I was surprised too.

Aunt Link and Caedmon

I'm only 26 days late posting about our New Year. I guess that means I'm getting better. My husband from time to time likes to comment to me about our blog postings. His most recent comment was, "Honey, could you not talk in the third person for the next post? It seems silly." Okay so maybe I paraphrased it but the point is, due to my husbands request I will no longer talk in the third person.
But seriously I can not tell you how many Christmas letters I've received over the years from friends that narrated their lives in the third person, I think it is cool...

Anyway, back to the post. Our New Year was spent in Alabama with my Mom and Dad (Nana J. and ???? Paw Stanky, Papa, Popyee,I just can't decide what to call my Dad), Joel, Kim, and Lily Kate.
We had fun. The guys of course watched the football game. But later that night we all sat down as a family to watch "Journey to the Center of the Earth." Fifteen minutes into the movie (I'm wondering when Brandon Fraser is going to show up) we all start to wonder about this movie, it seemed really low budget with really bad acting so we stopped it and read the Netflix label only to discover that Mom had picked a different version than the Hollywood version we've all seen previews for on TV. We didn't finish it, it was BAD acting. We decided to watch Kit Kitridge(misspelled) instead. I thought it was cute and I was really surprised to find my husband still awake and actually watching the movie (secretly I think he enjoyed it but he won't admit it). We stayed up for a about 30 more minutes and kissed our spouses to bring in the New Year, then we all went immediately to bed (we aren't spring chickens anymore).

New Years Day my Dad's side of the family got together and we had a "Smelley" New Year, hanging out in Selma, AL at my Aunt Link's house. Previous to that we were able to see my Mom's side of the family and amazingly enough saw almost everyone. It was great! I really enjoyed seeing our entire family. That does not very often so when it does I consider myself blessed.

Derric and I will be married 4 years Feb. 5th and each year we sit down and make a list of goals. We don't call them resolutions because we don't like that word. If you set yourself a "goal" you've got something to reach for and if you don't reach it you just re-evaluate and try harder the next time. It has kinda become a tradition in our family. It is kind of nice sitting down with the previous year's goals and crossing some off and looking at others realizing that it wasn't as important as some but maybe we will move it to the top of the list for the next year. It helps keep us grounded.

That's all for January. Enjoy the photos.

Family Photos

Christmas with the Smelley Rankins

Even though Andrea was recovering from the worst sinus infection in the entire world and an ear infection (first one in probably about 18 years or so) this was reportedly her favorite Christmas.  Her mom, dad, brother, sister-in-law and new niece all came to Nashville for a visit.  While it was crowded in Andrea and Derric's small but beautiful home it was still a great time.  Andrea was of course a little grumpy due to the infections, but she still enjoyed herself.

This was Caedmon's first Christmas, h

e too, was recovering from an ear infection and apparently turned a corner into the next phase of his then 9 month life; seperation anxiety.  His mom was perplexed and couldn't figure it out but she is slowly learning the ups and downs of babies developments.  Caedmon really could care less about all his gifts but his Nana J and Papa (I'm making an executive decision because we still have not decided what to call my dad and Paw Stanky is just a mouth full) gave Caemon a Fisher Price music station that has a mirror.  As soon as Caedmon saw himself in the mirror he just lit up and grabbed the microphone and started playing.

I think we've got a little singer on our hands...

We were able to see our niece for the first time ever (she was 2 and a half months), she is beautiful in every way and so precious.  Seeing Lily Kate made me remember when Caedmon was that little, which really wasn't that long ago.  Time flies so fast and we you are reminded of how fast time flies it makes you realize what is really important; family.

This Christmas was the first for me for many reasons:

1. I realized it is not all about me; go figure. :-) It is all about our precious baby boy.

2. I started to see Christmas through a child's eyes.

3. I actually focused on the REASON for the season and tried not to get all materialistic because while the gifts are fun, they really don't matter.

4. Our family started a new tradition: family portraits.  Taking pictures may seem like a pain when you actually have to smile and pose, but years later when you look at them, they take you back to that specific time and you get to remember it and cherish it.