Saturday, August 15, 2009

We went to Coolridge Park in Chatanooga. Joel, Kim, and Lily Kate moved there recently.
Derric did the bike portion of the Nashville City Triathalon.
Derric went to Greece with a team from Grace Community and ran sound for missionaries.
We went to the park as a family.
Team Fartlick triathalon team and their boys.
We went to Will Langmack's 1st Birthday party in Atlanta GA.

Life has been crazy and it takes too much time to load pictures to blog spot so I've been loading them to facebook instead. The Rankins family is doing well. Caedmon is 17 months old and officially a toddler. He is loads of fun. I'm getting my Masters in Legal Studies and have made it through my first class with flying colors. It has been difficult juggling life, family, work, and school but it has been fun. I'll try not to take as long to update the blog next time.
Posted by Andie and Derric at 12:24 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

BLUE BELL ICE CREAM!



This was Caedmon's first time eating Blue Bell Ice Cream.  Needless to say he loved it!  If you haven't tried it, Banana Pudding Ice Cream is the way to go.  Mmm good.



I threw this picture in for fun.  He is smiling in this picture.  You can't really tell if he is happy or sad, take my word; this is a happy face. :-)
Posted by Andie and Derric at 5:30 PM 3 comments

Sunday, May 24, 2009

JOEL SMELLEY GRADUATES WITH A MASTERS

Joel doesn't update his blog often.  Actually I think he has only updated it once so... I'll do the blogging about his most recent accomplishment.  He graduated from Southeaster Seminary this weekend with a Masters in Christian Studies.  Kimberly also gradutated with Joel and received a Certificate in Women's Studies. I think Joel has been in school for about 10 years, just kidding but seriously, starting with his High School Diploma this was the fourth diploma he has recevied.  My parents, Derric, Caedmon and I all made the journey to Wakeforest, NC.  It was a 8.5 hour trip and it took us about 12 hours but Caedmon only had one melt down on the way and we chose not to travel at night.  Maybe next time we will rethink that idea.  Anyway, I'm so proud of Joel.  He already has a job with a church in Chatanooga, TN and starts Sunday June 7th.  He will be working as a youth minister.  My little brother is growing up.  After the graduation we drove to LifeWay's conference center, Ridgecrest and stayed two days.  Ridgcrest has trails and hotels and because I'm a LifeWay employee I get cheap rates. :-)



The Smelley, Rankins', and Collins' families.
Can you tell these are both "Smelley" babies?  Lily Kate and Caedmon, they look like they are brother and sister.
We had a picnic on the top of one of the trails.  It was beautiful.  Derric, Joel, Caedmon and I hiked up it and got rained on but we had a blast.
Beautiful family!


Posted by Andie and Derric at 1:28 PM 1 comments

Winne's Wedding... JUDSON GIRLS!





Winne married Richmond on April 18, 2009.  That is how far behind I am on blogging.  Derric and I left Caedmon with my parents and we traveled by ourselves to Dothan, AL for the wedding.  It was a nice break from parenthood. Winnie's wedding was beautiful!  We had fun and I enjoyed seeing my Judson friends.  For those who do not know Winne was my roommate at Judson and oddly enough, we were roommates again in Nashville before Derric and I got married.
Aren't they a cute couple!
Left to right: Me, my big sister, Amanda, Emily, and Drey.
Right before her walk down the isle.
These were all the girls who attended or were a part of Winnie's wedding.



Posted by Andie and Derric at 1:16 PM 0 comments

Sunday, April 12, 2009

HAPPY EASTER!

My Nana bought me my first Easter outfit.  Daddy picked it out and put me in his favorite chair to take my picture.
Daddy doesn't know it yet but this is my chair now.
When we went to Caboose park Daddy put me in a swing and I loved it.  It was my first time in a real swing.
Mommy, Daddy and me at Caboose Park in Nashville.  It was cold.
I found a piece of chocolate in one of my Easter Eggs and tried to feed it to Daddy.  
I finally got the hang of Egg hunting.  Mommy forgot to get me a basket so she improvised and used my lunch box instead.  It worked just like a basket.
It took me a while to figure out what I was suppose to do but Daddy helped me out.  I had fun picking up eggs.
We went to the park with Ms. Tara, Mr. Jeff, Caleb and Luke.  Mr. Jeff was taking our picture.
Mommy likes taking pictures of me when I smile.
Posted by Andie and Derric at 5:25 PM 2 comments

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Caedmon's 1st Birthday!

Caedmon's birthday was more fun for Derric and I than it was for him but that is typical for a one year old.  We had a few friends and family over to our house for hamburgers and hotdogs and of course, cupcakes.  I didn't know how Caedmon would respond to the cupcake but he LOVED it!  I can't believe our little boy is 1 year old.  Time flies by so fast.

Papa had a blast with his Grandson!
Nana J taught Caedmon the little piggy story with his toes!
Daddy was teaching Caedmon how to walk.
Uncle Joel, Aunt Kimberly, and Cousin Lily Kate gave Caedmon a stuffed Maddie doll.  Maddie, our bull dog is Caedmon's favorite.  He lights up when he sees her.  This was a great gift!
Caedmon got lots of great gifts but his favorite seemed to be the card his Uncle Joel and Aunt Kim gave him.  He played with it the whole time.
Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday to you. Happy Birthday dear Caedmon, 
Happy Birthday to you
Yummy
Mmmm. Milk and Cupcakes!
This stuff is good...

My friends Aiden and Anna.

My friends Megan, Will, Megan and Aunt Jess

My friends Rachel, Anna, and Phil

I played out side with Daddy while he was cooking with my friends, Phil, Uncle Rob, Papa, and Mommy.
Posted by Andie and Derric at 5:32 PM 1 comments

Playing in the fridge!


There were no toys for me in the kitchen so Mommy let me play in the fridge.  I found the coconut in the fridge door, I had fun but didn't get to eat it because Mommy wouldn't let me.
Posted by Andie and Derric at 5:27 PM 0 comments

Monday, February 9, 2009

4 Years!

Derric and me at Ruth's Chris.  
  

This weekend, Derric and I celebrated our 4 year Wedding Anniversary.  We stayed the night at Union Station Hotel in Nashville and ate dinner at Ruth's Chris.  The hotel was beautiful and dinner was the best meal I've ever eaten at a restaurant, EVER!  My friend and her husband volunteered to watch Caedmon over night for us.  I did pretty well to be away from Caedmon for the first time ever.  Jess gave me a play by play on the phone by texting me pictures.  I got one of him playing with a smile, eating, and sleeping.  It helped put my mind to ease.
Time flies so fast, it seems like just yesterday Derric and I got married and now we have a son who is almost a year old.  It is so important to cherish every minute with family because you never no how long you'll have and before you know it you'll blink your eyes and your children will be grown.
I am so blessed.


Posted by Andie and Derric at 5:16 PM 2 comments

Monday, January 26, 2009

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.
Posted by Andie and Derric at 6:48 PM 2 comments
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