The Smiling Smawleys

January 8, 2018

Just when you thought the Florida Christmas postings were over . . . they’re not!  I have just one more Florida story to share.

On the second day of our visit, Meagan and Nathan hosted their family’s weekly dinner.  After we had all enjoyed a tasty spaghetti dinner, Meagan said she had put together a Secret Santa (also called Dirty Santa) game, mainly for the kids since they love unwrapping presents so much.

Although I am aware that the Hawley family does most things in a wonderfully spirited fashion, this particular edition of the Secret Santa game seemed unusual in that it was getting more and more intense as the moments went by. That struck me as a little odd since Meagan had mentioned that all the gifts were just fun, token items and nothing to get too excited about.

When the time finally came to stop the swapping and launch into the opening, the children opened their gifts first, followed by Meagan and her sisters, their husbands, and Sarah.  And then, with a little extra zing reverberating in the already electrified atmosphere, Frank and Sheri and Steve and I were invited to open our gifts which had made their circuitous way to our laps.

When we had all removed the wrapping paper, what to our wondering eyes should appear but matching t-shirts!  I stared at my shirt in some bewilderment because I was seeing the word “grandchildren” written on the shirt along with the number “3.” Since we only have two grandchildren, I was in the midst of wondering how Nathan and Meagan could have made such a big mistake on our Christmas present when it suddenly dawned on me: Meagan is pregnant!

As you can imagine, when the news finally sank in there were whoops, laughter, tears, shouts, hugs and generalized hilarious rejoicings.

As it turns out, the Non Senior Adult People (Meagan’s sisters and brothers-in-law) had all been in on the plot. They had been diligently working to make sure that certain presents were passed along to certain people so that when all the swapping came to an end, the four matching t-shirts would end up with the appropriate person and have the appropriate number of grandchildren written on each one. So that explained all the super-charged intensity in the atmosphere.

Of course, we Senior Smawleys (Smawley is our nickname for the blending of the Smiths and Hawleys) had to immediately model the newest additions to our wardrobes that announced the newest addition to our families.

We posed with the two amazing people who keep on presenting us with even more amazing (little) people. 

Frank and Sheri recently found out their oldest daughter is also expecting a child–her first! So this year, they are going from six grandchildren to eight.

This particular pregnancy announcement was extra, extra special because it was the first pregnancy that Nathan and Meagan got to tell us about in person. It was also the first pregnancy announcement where all four grandparents were in the same room.  A magnificent moment, indeed.

Here are a few more pictures from the evening. 

Meagan is such a beautiful pregnant lady and Sheri and I are certainly two proud mamas!  (By the way, she is due August 4.)

 

Smiling Smawley Men were everywhere!

Congrats were everywhere, too!

Here are the Grinning Grandmas. (Sounds like a singing group.)

You can find Sheri’s version of this story here.

In these next two pictures, the Male Smiling Senior Smawleys were discussing whether they should suck in their stomachs or not . . .

which caused the Female Smiling Senior Smawleys to engage in a good bit of giggling.

We eventually settled down and got an official Smiling Senior Smawley Grandparent Picture. 

 

I posted this picture in an earlier post but wasn’t able to share the context with you.  Now I can tell you that the picture was taken shortly after we had heard the news.  Our girl will be Aunt Sarah three times over!

This is the picture Meagan posted this morning on her Facebook announcement. 

Her caption said:

This is how they wanted to tell about their new baby. They are fascinated that it is growing in mommy’s belly.  They love to talk to it and ask everyday when it is coming out.

(By the way, even though the post title references Senior Smawleys, I couldn’t use a picture of the four Seniors as the featured photo at the top of the page since the t-shirts would have given away the news. So that’s why the Junior Smawley pictured was recycled from another post and shared instead.)

Here is a little bonus: a video of The Very Moment!

So from ALL the Smiling Smawleys to you–there’s your dose of good news for the day!

 

Share:
48 comments so far.

48 responses to “The Smiling Smawleys”

  1. Kari says:

    Congratulations!!! What a clever way to tell you. The expression Noah’s face is priceless!

  2. mrs pam says:

    quite clever! how exciting for all of you.
    Aug. 4th is my husband’s b-day.
    I doubt that his grandparents had any special t-shirts anticipating his arrival.

    • Becky says:

      Mrs. Pam,

      You’re so right. Back in those days, pregnancy announcements were generally a little more low key–but I know the joy and excitement were all the same!

  3. Congratulations, Best Wishes and Happiness to all who share in glorious news. ❤️ Fred & Lucy

  4. Mel says:

    What a beautiful way to start the new year. Sherri caught on pretty quickly. It is funny because I was reading back on some of the stories where Megan has always been called the baby whisperer and how she wanted oodles of babies and I was wondering whether there would be more or now. So glad to see there will be at least one more.

    • Becky says:

      Mel,

      Yes, Sheri was definitely on the ball when it came to figuring out what was going on. I was still in proof reading mode wondering why they didn’t catch that mistake on the number of grandkids we have. 🙂

  5. Sharyn McDonald says:

    How wonderful for the entire family. Blessings.

  6. SueEllen Williams says:

    What wonderful, exciting news!! I am so happy and excited for all the Smawleys!

  7. Wendy says:

    Congratulations! How exciting

  8. CJ says:

    A round of congrats to you all! Such happy news!

  9. Verna Smith says:

    Congrats! That’s wonderful news and how special to have it announced that way! We are tickled to be the great grandparents!

  10. Ann Martin says:

    Congrats to y’all. Wonderful Christmas gift. Now the year will be full of great things and memories. God bless with a healthy Meagan and healthy baby. Looking forward to “progress” pictures. ??????? What a great way to announce to all. So glad you could be there in person this time for the announcement. Pictures are fantastic.

    • Becky says:

      Ann,

      Progress pictures really are fun. Glad you liked the announcement; Nathan and Meagan did a great job putting that together.

  11. Catherine says:

    WOW!! Congrats!! So very happy for y’all!! Best Christmas present ever! I’m sure!!

  12. Jenna Hoff says:

    Congratulations!!! I’m so very very happy for your family! A new little gift from God!! New babies are so special!! ???

  13. Cindy from Sonoma says:

    Such exciting news today! Congrats to all on this exciting event!

  14. Donna T. says:

    Oh WOW!!! Congratulations! So glad that all the grandparents were able to celebrate together!

  15. LeeAnne says:

    Congratulations to ALL the Smawleys!! What wonderful news and such a cute, creative and fun way to tell it! 🙂

  16. Phyllis says:

    Congratulations on grandchild/niece or nephew number 3 for the Smith’s and number 8 for the Hawley’s!
    This is not my story but a friend’s. This was Christmas of 2015. She like Sheri has 3 daughters and had two grandchildren with one on the way. Unbeknownst to her, number 4 was also on the way. Grandbaby number 3 was due in April. For Christmas, the girls gave her one of those necklaces where the birthstones are kind of floating in a circle – or maybe a heart. Well, they had put the 4th birthstone in. She of course got it right away. She sent a picture to me and I questioned why there was another birthstone. Her sister wasn’t quite as quick to understand. She ended up having all 3 of her daughters give birth to 3 granddaughters within a year’s time – April 2016, August 2016 and March 2017.

    • Becky says:

      Phyllis,

      Three grandchidren in a year? Definitely a year to remember. And I love the idea of a floating birthstone necklace. Sounds beautiful.

  17. Cheryl Denton says:

    Priceless! ?❤️

  18. Judy Joyce says:

    I am so happy for you all!!! Nothing like those Grands! I only have one and he is 17.

  19. krista121799 says:

    EEEEEEEEK! I am so happy for you all! And what a fun way to announce it! Congrats and Lord’s Blessings to all of the Smawley’s!
    btw… when the Grinning Grandpa’s go on tour, please post the tour dates, I’d love to see them live!

  20. Lesley says:

    Woohoo! Congratulations to all. Love the pictures, such happiness.

    • Becky says:

      Lesley,

      Yes, getting to take (and show) pictures just adds to the great joy.

      I love seeing photos of your granddaughter on FB, especially when she is with Sarah. Too precious.

  21. Oh my!!! How exciting for you!

    Do you know if they plan to find out whether they’re having a boy or a girl?

    • Becky says:

      Stefanie,

      They were kind of toying with the idea of NOT finding out since they already have one of each. But they haven’t really made up their minds yet.

  22. Jim Martin says:

    I know all Grandparents are so proud in this announcement! Three and counting!

  23. dmantik says:

    So super stoked at the spectacularly scintillating Smawley scoop! ?❤
    Love, Deb

Thanks for contributing to this blog through your comments.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Twenty years.

It's hard to believe I've been blogging that long. Many of you have been following since the first word was written all those years ago. Thanks to both old-timers and newcomers for being part of our story.

My goal is for Smithellaneous is to be a place where strangers become friends.

You are welcome here.

Subscribe Here. (Please!)

Receive notifications when a new blog is posted. Other than that, I won\'t bug you. :-)

Join 305 other subscribers

Search Past Posts by Month/Year

Archives