Bah Bye Blankey!

Oh HaPpY DaY! Edyn's blankey (or rather lack of) has finally been put to rest! This day has been a long time coming and finally we mustered up the courage to break her of this awful habit. It actually went really smooth leaving us to wonder why we hadn't tried a long time ago. We decided to go camping for a few days and we did take her mess of a blanket with us (for just in case) but decided that since she was out of her element and comfort zone that we would keep it from her and see how it went. She asked for it in the car on the way to our camp site and after hearing me say that it was gone she didn't ask for it again for the whole trip. I was shocked!

The first night I put her in her sleeping bag and laid beside her thinking that it was going to be an awful night with her crying for her blankey but no, she played with her hello kitty flashlight but while doing so I noticed that she couldn't get comfortable and was constantly moving and throwing her legs and arms all over. I think she was semi-aware that she was missing something but just couldn't figure it out. She did this for quite awhile so I yelled out to Chad, who was sitting by the fire, "I think this girl is going through withdrawals!". I guess you had to be there but I thought it was pretty funny. One other added bonus to taking her blanket away is she has drastically reduced the time she sucks on her thumb. I think I've only seen her do it a couple of times and that was when she was asleep. But whatever, her dental daddy is pretty happy about it. Awwww, I'm so proud of Edyn and so happy we got this taken care of before she heads off to preschool next week! Oh, and for amusement here is a picture of her blanket in it's entirety. Can you believe how much of it was left (see above picture) and that we actually let her out of the house with it?! I'm embarrassed!

An Amazing Woman We Will Miss

Monday morning, August 4th, we got a call from Chad's mom informing us that his Grandma had passed away the night before. We knew this was coming, as she was just shy of her 94th birthday, but no matter how prepared you are for one's death it still is hard to take. So I just wanted to post a few things that I remember about her.

The first, and I'll never forget this, is when I was dating Chad I had gone over to the Wolff's home for dinner and grandma Dora was there also. After dinner she had heard that I wasn't feeling all that well and decided she needed to do something about it. So we were all gathered in the family room and on each hand she touched her index finger and thumb together (just like she was almost getting ready to meditate). She then started to tap the connected finger and thumb against the other finger and thumb and while doing so she started to name different kinds of herbs. When the two interlocked she then began to explain to me that this is the herb/medication I needed. She then did the same process again but this time she counted in numbers starting at one. When her fingers interlocked, the number she landed on was the dosage amount I needed to consume to feel better. Well, can you imagine my shock! I had never seen this kind of sorcery done before! But I must admit, I was a little intrigued and wanted to try out the given prescription to see if she was truly a witch doctor. I think the family got a good laugh out of me but no matter, that is one moment I will never forget about Grandma Wolff.

I will never forget the times that we dropped off grandma to her home and noticing that her lamp was on in the front window and with a smile on her face, she would lovingly comment "Oh, grandpa Ed must have been by." (He's been deceased for many years). Grandma Wolff is one who completely and wholeheartedly loved her family and you could see the joy on her face when they were in her presence. She loved every child, grandchild and great grandchild and was always interested in what everyone was up to. Not only was she a loving woman but she was a stubborn one! Her stubborness makes for great family stories that now just make me smile and remind me of just how much we are missing her. It literally broke our hearts that we weren't able to be there at the funeral with family to celebrate Grandma Dora's life. I'm pretty sure that Grandpa Ed is embracing Grandma right now, a reunion that has been long waited for and how blessed we have been to have had Grandma's influence in our lives for this long. She will be loved and missed dearly!

Ethan and Candace Smith

My brother, Ethan, got married last Saturday without us! We were so sad that we weren't able to make it but sometimes that's just the way the cookie crumbles. That's one thing that's been hard for us since living out here in New Jersey is not being able to attend weddings, baby blessings, reunions, funerals and just some good ole' getting together. The first year was hard, second and third got a little easier and now it's back to hard again. Maybe because so much has happened lately that we've had to miss, I don't know. But we have sure come to appreciate our families and all they have done for us since we've been out here. So back to Ethan's wedding. My brother, Nathan who took their photos, posted these on our Smith Family blog and I thought they were so cute so I grabbed a couple to show them off here. So to Candace, Gage and Thailan . . . Welcome to the family! We love you and are so excited to have you be a part of our lives!

A Time to Laugh and a Time to Cry

I can't stop being giddy over Joshua winning on "So You Think You Can Dance!" and at the same time completely saddened that SYTYCD is over until next summer. Yes, I'm a complete nerd when it comes to this show, as you can see by my "Do You Think I Can Dance" post, but seriously it was the best season yet! I was soooo rooting for Joshua and Katee all season long and here they are: Joshua the ultimate winner and Katee the top winner in the girls! The finale was awesome and quite a few of my favorites that I've posted in the past were some of the judges favorites that were danced last night so it was awesome to be able to see them again in good quality instead of youtube quality. However, I was so hoping that the judges would pick this dance so I could see it again but it wasn't picked. Even though it's not Joshua and Katee it is still my number one favorite dance of the whole season. I've posted it before but here it is again . . . Tim Burton's Wedding danced by Chelsie and Mark.



So to finish off this post and all "So You Think You Can Dance" posts by me until next year here's a dance by Katee and Joshua that I really liked and hadn't posted yet. But, really though, I don't think there was a dance that these two danced together that I didn't like and that's why they were my favorite couple that couldn't be beat!

I'm So Behind . . . Time To Catch Up!

Well, now that I took my week off of recooperating from 4 weeks straight of family and friends (which we loved and had so much fun but you wore us out! LOL.) it is now time for me to show you all what we have been up to. Shaneen, Bryn and the kids (Drake and Tori) were the first to visit. I was so nervous for them. They were flying the redeye and none of them had ever flown before! They did great for first timers! So below you'll see a few pictures of us at 6 Flags, Staten Island Ferry (so that we could see the Statue of Liberty), and the Beach. We did so much more but I think I forgot my camera most of the time.

One thing we got to do with Shaneen and family and a bunch of friends was head on down to Washington DC for the 4th of July. We had so much fun. We headed out early so we could hit the parade and then look around at all the museums which were all free! Can't beat that. Lunch time arrived and somehow everyone seemed to split up. Shaneen and Bryn went and found food with friends of ours and we assumed that they would be together the whole time since Shaneen didn't have a phone nor did they know where anything was. It was about 4 hours later we get a call from the friends we had been hanging out with previously that there was no sight of Shaneen and Bryn and nobody knew where they were. I instantly went into PANIC mode. I knew we were never going to find them. There was hundreds of thousands of people but that still didn't stop me from looking for them. It really was going to be like finding a needle in a haystack. After awhile Chad saw how uneasy I was (well yeah! They didn't have a phone, they didn't know the town we were staying in and they had no idea how to get to the train to get back to the hotel!) So we split up on our way walking to the fireworks. The whole time I was praying that I'd find Bryn or he'd find me. After an extensive walk down "The Mall" Edyn and I got to the end and I just realized that we just weren't going to find them and started to head up to meet Chad for the fireworks. I looked up and guess who was walking right towards me! Bryn! I couldn't believe it I almost started to cry. We had last seen them at noon and here it was past 7pm. I was just so thankful that we had found each other. If you've ever been to DC at that time of year you'll know why this was a complete miracle. So here's some pics of our DC trip.

The rest of the pictures here are when Rachel and Cub Wolff visited followed by Kent and Kristi Wynder. It's been a busy summer so far but we've had lots of fun and it's been so nice to see everyone and spend time with them.