The countdown to Ben's job is happening.....13 days until he starts his new job! We are trying to get as many things caught up on as possible before our insurance in no more. Today we started with Dentist appts for the 4 boys. Clint has 1 small cavity but it is on a baby tooth that will be falling out soon so we don't have to do anything for it. He does however has some other issues that are going to take an ortho. He had a baby tooth fall out prematurely and will need some sort of wiring/brace because the molars are crowding where the adult tooth is supposed to be. I'm sure that will be spendy. Not sure when that will get done. Ethan : no cavities!!! Both of those boys are going to have sealants put on tomorrow ( we are on a crunch for time you know!) Blake has 2 cavities that will be taken care of next week. Owen had his first check-up and didn't have any! I thought for sure they would all have a bunch since we haven't been there in a few years! Ben and I are both going in next week for cleanings too. Owen and Audrey both have shots tomorrow. I am.NOT.looking.forward.to.this. Meanie brother Blake keeps telling them they are getting shots even thought I told him NOT too. I like to wait until we are on our way there. The less tears the better!

It is going to be a crazy day tomorrow. We have to get school done and be in town for dentist appts by 11am then we get to stick around town until 3:45 for the shots. Hoping its nice out so we can spend most of the time at the park.

After the appts this morning Ben decided we should go mushroom hunting for Morels (not sure of spelling). We explored the Litchfield Nature Center and didn't find any but the kids did find a snake which is apparently very exciting. As soon as I saw it I was getting in the van. Didn't want to give Ben a chance to chase me with it, as I knew he would!

We had a little picnic out there sitting on logs and the kids thought it was fabulous! I love that it doesn't have to take gobs of money to have a good time together and still have lots of fun. Hoping they don't grow out of these types of fun anytime soon!

{pardon the horrible photos, dummy me forgot my camera and had to use the cell phone one instead}

Finally Friday

I think I'm going to start a little post on Fridays and write snippets about what we've done during that week.It will probably be boring but this way I can remember what we've done all week. So here it goes....

Friday April 20th....Audrey has really been into dressing herself these days...one of her outfits:)

We did school then we went to the park with my sister Jaclyn and her 2 little cuties. The kids love going to the park and I love visiting with my sister while they are playing:)

Blake's toothless smile:)

Clint took the little ones on a walk on the trail.

Pazli has been walking alot now...what a cutie!

Just a swingin'

I picked up my sister Christa's 4 kiddos after the park and brought them home with us for the evening. We had homemade pizza roll and watched the Muppet's!

Saturday April 21st.....We loaded up the bus and headed to the Cities to pick up a 4wheeler that Ben found on good ol' Craigslist. The kids were ecstatic! after that we rushed to the Farm to show our camper that we are trying to sell. They loved it and were going to come back the next day to pick it up.

As soon as we got home Ben and the boys headed into church for the Wild Game Feed, the 2 littlest stayed home with me to get food ready for Killian's Baby Dedication the next day. Such a busy day- I was exhausted!!!

Sunday April 22nd.... Killian's Baby Dedication. Typical morning of a baby dedications...complete chaos trying to get everyone ready for church AND get all the food and things ready for the meal afterwards.



So many of our family came I thing around 60 of us were there! Lets just say it takes A LOT of food to feed that many, but thankfully everyone one helped me brought something to add to the meal.

After that we rushed home to change then rushed to the farm to clean out the camper of all our stuff and clean it for the new owners. It was sad to see the camper go- we've had some really fun times camping with her!

Monday April 23rd.....Ben left at 5 am to drive to pick up the new camper we found on craigslist. We were anxiously waiting for him to return so we could check it out! The kids are super excited to get a camper with bunk beds in it!

Not the best picture but I haven't taken any more of her yet .

Tuesday April 24th....School, school, and more school! Can't wait to be done for the year!!

Wednesday April 25th....School. The boys had boy's club for church.

Thursday April 26th.... Homeschool Coop Day. The kids are getting ready for the big end of the year Musical they put on every spring:)
We found out Ben got the new job. So much happiness around here at the news! can't wait to see my husband everyday!!! The countdown begins!!

And Today, Friday April 27th....So far just school. And cleaning and laundry, and cooking and baking, and everything else that needs to get done everyday! The boys have slept in the camper every night this week and tell me its their new home, only come in the house to eat. We've even been doing school in there. They say its easier that way;)

Blessings

I'm so excited.

And nervous.

And scared.

Bursting with news.

Overwhelmed by the Lord's Blessings!

Its been 6 years in the waiting.

Long, lonely nights.

Week after week of trying to make it.

Feeling like a single mom, doing everything alone with the kids.

NO MORE!!!

NO MORE!!!!!!

We've been praying for this.

God has answered!

Ben was offered a job today. A job where he will be home every.single.night.

EVERY.SINGLE.NIGHT!!!!!

Of course it does come with lower pay but we have decided that we will have faith that God will provide for our needs. Our children need their daddy home more. We need him home more than we need the extra $$ from trucking.

We are feeling that God has went before us in this and opened the doors that led to this. They don't even want to interview him they just want to know when he can start! Definitely God is showing us the path we need to take.

Over the last 8 months God has been doing some major transforming in our lives, in Ben's life. I never would have thought two years ago or even a year ago that Ben would have changed this much. I've been praying for this and so have many people. I'm amazed and overjoyed at how Ben has completely given his life and our family over to the Lord's leading. normally I would have bucked this job change just because I wouldn't have known if this was just Ben's way or God's design but because of all that's been going on in his heart and life I know that Ben has been leaning and waiting on God for these life decisions. I'm feeling overwhelmed and so very blessed the way things have been falling into place.

So in 2 weeks, our life will be changing! I will have my husband home again! My children will have their daddy home again. We can start on this new adventure. I'm sure things will be tough, just trying to adjust but we have faith that this is where God wants us and will take care of our every need.

Thank you Jesus!

Cousins

It's always fun being pregnant with your sister in law, especially when she's a good friend. And I've been pregnant with my SIL Danielle with a few of our kids. This time around our babies were born about 3 weeks apart. We were due within pretty much just days of each other. Needless to say I was a little jealous when she went early and I went late. But here they are, little cuties in matching outfits that they got at their combined baby shower.

Adara and Killian

Aren't they just adorable?! They both were born with a head full of dark hair {although Adara was born with a lot more and longer, as it should be, after all she is a little girlie:) }

I'm sure they will grow up to be good friends just like our other kids have.



Killian's Monthly Photos

I can't believe how fast time has been flying by! I've been having fun with Killian's monthly pictures. Here are the first 3 months....can you see the theme?

My Aunt gave me a big roll of paper and the kids love drawing on it. I was trying to come up with some creative way to take his monthly pictures that would be easy enough to do and wouldn't take alot of props. Then it just came to me! White background with a different scene markered on that goes with the month. February/Hearts- Valentine's Day; March/Rainbows ( I also did shamrocks); April/April Showers bring.....yup, I bet you can guess what May will be;) Flowers;)

Some of you may think its dumb and tacky but I've been having fun with it.

{oh, and I put the little puppy in the pictures too so you can see a point of reference of how he's growing}



Owen recently learned how to ride a bike without training wheels. He has turned into a little speedster, riding bike as often as he can. I was really surprised that he learned already with him just turning 4 a couple months ago. When the kids took out the bikes from their winter storage, the training wheels on Owen's bike were broken. He decided he could do it without. With the help of big brothers, Owen learned how to ride a bike all by himself in 3 days! The first couple days after he learned I could not get him to come in the house to eat meals or go to bed, he just wanted to ride bike all day!

It was perfect timing because now Killian has taken over his seat in the stroller:)

I'm so happy that its been so nice out and we are able to get out of the house! We love our daily walks down our long driveway. Blake is always on the lookout for cool rocks. He told me the other day that everyday new rocks are on the ground so that's why he has to keep looking:) I love it because sometimes its the only time I actually get to go outside and Little K loves being in the Snuggy Baby wrap or the stroller.



So....yes, I know, I've been ...ech...ehm.. a little absent around here.

Maybe for like 6 months but who's counting!?

Its been pretty boring and not much has happened so I didn't think anyone would want to read about nothing.

JUST KIDDING!!!!

So much has happened, I'm not sure I will ever get it all written down here. I will at least share the MOST IMPORTANT event that has happened since I've left.

You know the last post I wrote and showed you a few pictures of a baby bump and that we found out it was a little boy. You probably thought I was still pregnant didn't you. I'm not. He did however decide to stay in a little longer than we hoped...like a week....man that was one of the looooooongest weeks of my life.

Killian Reid Smith

was welcomed into our family on

January 7th, 2012

At a whopping 10 pounds 5 ounces

{Yep, that's right 10lbs 5 oz!!!}

{{and yes, it was painful!}}

Here is his birth announcement...

Here are a sampling of pictures of our little man....

{I put them in collages so it wouldn't take me FOREVER to upload them}

Isn't he a doll face!?!?!

He has added much love in our household, that's for sure.The kids ADORE him.

He will be 3 months this Saturday and time has flown by quicker that it ever has. The past few months have been crazy and wonderful to say the least. I have never before felt so overwhelmed and blessed as I do now.

 I HAVE 6 KIDS!!!!! 

It shocks me even when I say it!

You should see people's faces when they hear that I have that many!

I kind of like telling people I don't know just so I can see the "look". Especially if I'm out with just Killian. Its hilarious! They usually ask if he is my first and then I drop the BOMB and say "Nope, he's my sixth." They usually reply with "What?!" Like they maybe didn't hear me correctly. Then I say again "nope my sixth". That's when I see their jaws drop practically to the floor. I love it! HAHA!

As you can imagine, having 6 kids has kept me quite occupied. I've neglected my blog because I get practically no sleep, and you'd think I could write in the middle of the night since I'm up anyways, but Little K loves to be held...a lot. So I do. And since he's so snuggly and I know how fast little ones grow I do it as much as I can.

There are never enough hours in the day to get done all we need to, so we try to get school done, laundry cleaned and folded ( putting away has become a thing of the past) food in my kiddos tummy's, and some semblance of a clean house (which only stays clean for minutes).

The above has kept me from keeping this blog updated but I'm hoping I can get on here with some regularity and at least document things for myself. I've been noticing more and more that my memories aren't as good as they used to be. I'm sure it has a lot to do with the lack of sleep and the amount of craziness that goes on in our house daily but this will at least help me to savour the little things later on.

I'm excited to get back on here and let you have glimpses into our crazy wonderful life.

Welcome:)