Smith life

Gabe's Banana Trout!

2011-06-30T08:33:00.000-06:00

Hello....

2011-04-02T13:22:00.007-06:00

So, it has been awhile since I have posted anything on here. It has been a long winter with alot going on at the Smith house, but those things can wait for another post, for now....our first camping trip of 2011. Our destination...Twin Bridges Campground. All to ourselves. I must say it is nice to have a trailer to keep us warm on such a early camping trip. The kids and Dad on our first of many walks. Julie took a picture. She wanted me in one.

Our four munchkins that are growing up way to fast.

We found a tree that a beaver had chewed so the kids had to pretend to be the beaver.

I was not trying to get the to be goofy that is just how it came out and I love it.

Trouble in the trailer. :)

Another walk, this time with the dogs.

Our friends, Clint, Tanelle, Kaeson and Ellie came for a day of cold camping. This is Ellie, isn't she a doll!

The six kids on a walk.

My handsome husband whom I love with all my heart!

Our Gabe who is growing leaps and bounds.

Our Julianne, she is getting so tall and looking so grown up that is catches me off guard quite frequently!

Our Stinkerbelle :) She took this stick and it was her gun and she would ask anyone who came to the trailer.....are you a bad guy?

The kids shooting their BB guns. Julie did good, but Gabe is an amazing shot!

Our kids really enjoyed our trip.

Gabe wanted to take a picture.

Another walk.....we took at least 6 long walks. Our Noah. I must say, his smile melts me.

Phew...he must get it from his daddy.

Our beautiful girls with Miss Pearl.

Gabe with Miss Moby....I know she looks like she is in pain, but I swear she wasn't.

You HAVE to throw rocks in the water while camping.

The beautiful sunset on the second night.

The dogs playing in the water.

Tink had to get her feet in the water.

So then she was tired and had wet feet, so her daddy carried all the way back. I thought she looked so sweet cuddled up on him.

So we get home and we get a call....Toby and his dad put a bid on a boat and it was accepted. This made my honey EXTREMELY happy. So the kids checked out the boat.

After the boat, we took the kids around the block, Noah had to wear this helmet.

Bobblehead from the back.

I hope this finds you all well. We are ready for spring and warm weather. We want to praise the Lord for all the blessings He heaped upon us this winter and we look foward to how we are supposed to us them.

Fall Fun

2010-10-18T21:51:00.012-06:00

This fall has been gorgeous and allowed us to do more outdoor fun. Toby and I went hunting, my first time. We didn't get anything, but had a very good time being together. Then up to the land to clean up and Roxanne took our picture. I like it because since we have had kids we have few pictures of us together.Julie is my little one who wants to be exactly like me. Now with glasses she is that much closer. I sure do love my little princess pie.
Our whole little family.
They are all getting so big.
Miss Belle helping momma make waffles.
We have been blessed with a new trailer. Makes us so excited to go do some camping. Our first "trip" with it was to Gram's house. It was wonderful.
The crew up at the land.

My biggest man. He is so much like his dad that it makes me smile everyday.
Tink, she dressed herself and put her own shoes on. She is a spitfire that keeps me on my toes, but I love this little girl soo much!
Noah wears cowboy boots EVERYWHERE!!! His old boots were shot, so Grandma and Papa Smith got him new boots. Blue is my little man's favorite color...so that makes these boots Noah's perfect boots.

Then there is my Julie, who we recently found out couldn't see very well up close. So now she gets to wear glasses and she is loving them. She says this about people who don't wear glasses..."To bad they aren't one of the lucky ones." She looks so adorable in them. I am so proud of how she is doing with them.

More....

2010-09-17T11:19:00.005-06:00

Soo...I forgot what I was doing and didn't finish downloading all the pictures I meant to. That is what 3 hours of sleep gets you. :)

On Sunday we went walking around Papa and Grandma Smith's property. It was so beautiful out. I praise God for sweet days like this with family. We got all the kids up here. I thought it turned out pretty cute.
The kids were picking up sticks, so Belle picked up the biggest stick she could find. She is such a funny little thing.

We stopped for a minute to throw rocks into the canal and over the canal to see who threw like a "girl" and who didn't I know Julie and Marlee threw like girls, I think Papa passed the rest of through as "boy" throwers. :D

As we were walking we saw a whole bunch of trees that had grown around an old barbwire fence. If you look closely at this tree you can see the barbwire coming out either side.
The wooden part of the fence is even enclosed by the tree. Really quite fascinating.

Tink getting a ride in a little wagon that Marlee was so nicely pulling. Don't those eyes just reek of mischief?

Our sweet Noah walking along. It is hard to find a sweeter dude.

The favorite place to be is to be by Grandma. We sure do love our Grandma!

We had so much fun!

God has definetly blessed with a great family!

Hello

2010-09-17T10:59:00.004-06:00

So, I have had it pointed out to me by several people that I have been slacking on our blog. In my defense, the blogger was acting up and it was frustrating me. It behaved today so I am putting up this post. :)

Miss JuJubee is getting so big and is super sweet and helpful. She has such a great sense of humor and is constantly making us laugh.

My hard working honey. He is liking his new job and we all feel blessed that the Lord chose to give us that job.
Miss Marlee, our cousin, at Grandma's house.

Tink, ahhh, I don't know quite how to describe her lately, she is two.

At Grams house playing around.

So Mom and Bob had Buddy and Jeff back. I was honored to be able to take them to lunch at the North HiWay. They thought the bench was cool....which it is....and I took their picture. I have pictures to put up of the concert, but that might have to wait until later. I took a break from my chores to put this post up and I better not stop for to long. :)
If the blogger continues to behave I will resume my blogging. :D

Praising God for His faithfulness and love.

Cassie

For Auntie Bethie

2010-04-27T08:56:00.007-06:00

Sooo..here you go Beth. This blogger has been a pain in the neck. It finally let me let me put some pictures on here. Here are a few, I will post more when I have a little more time.

This is a picture of steam coming off the fields by the church. It looked so cool. I did not do it justice, but it gives me more to improve on.

My sweet Noah, he is so handsome!
My Gabe, he is getting so big, it is unbelievable!

JuJu...she is my little shadow.

Papa Powell and Belle. One of my favorite pictures of my littlest boy. :D

Easter outfits.

2010-04-06T08:44:00.005-06:00

Okay, so the blog has not been letting me put pictures on here. I seem to be having more and more problems with this site. :P Anyway, I finally got a couple pictures on here so this will have to do for now.

Some of our familiy was sick on Easter so only momma went to church...Toby was supposed to be heading up the Easter breakfast, but since he was sick, that task fell to me. Then, once I had finished with what I was doing I came home. I dressed the kids in their outfits and we had an easter egg hunt in the living room. This is Noah in his vest, he said he didn't need a shirt. :)

JuJu in her dress she picked the material and pattern for. Needless to say, she loves it. :D

The two girls. What little goofs.

Tink in her Easter outfit. She really likes her hat. I must say...those of you that don't know her are missing out! She keeps me on my toes and laughing so much of the time. She is a sweet little blessing!

As my little family "suffered" on Easter, I couldn't help but be grateful that we don't get the suffering we deserve. Jesus took care of that on the cross for us...He rose from the dead and made it possible for us to have a relationship with God. THank you Lord!

The three bigger guys

2010-03-23T19:28:00.005-06:00

Here is my sweet sweet Noah. The older guys were playing "basketball" with an imaginary ball for me and Toby. :)

Surprise, suprise, she is posing.
Cute red cowboy hat!

Yes, posing again. I sure do love this girl!
The three basketball players. :D

Noah slam dunkiung.

Julie slam dunking it!

And of course, Gabe slam dunking it!

I just LOVE this sweet smile!

Yes, I am officially a hunter now. Don't you love the hat I got when I passed Hunter's Ed. :P

My sweet boys. I am so thankful for these two!

Gabe is looking so old! It seems like I blink and they are so much older!

My beautiful JuJuBee!!! She is my little mini-me. She doesn't look just like me, but she wants to copy everything I do. I am her favorite person and I have to admit I kinda like her too!

This is such a classic Noah's face! I LOVE it!

My three oldest...yes, Tink was in bed when I took these. I love these little people! Toby and I surely consider ourselves blessed by God with these kids! They have shown us so much. We love you Gabe, Julie, Noah, and Tink!

This and that.

2010-03-15T15:10:00.003-06:00

No real rhyme or reason to this post, just had some pictures that I wanted to put up.

Gabe has lost his 3rd tooth. You can see the other one coming through. I can't believe he is so big to lose his top front tooth.
He is handsome even with a missing tooth. :)

Tink with the measuring tape, I guess she has been watching me sew. :)

Hannibal and Jamie up at Targhee. This is the only picture I took. I think Hannibal is hating the whole ordeal, but I believe he managed to survive. :D

I have so many things to be thankful for. God has blessed us so much, with each other and gives us money to be able to do fun extras. Thank you, Lord!

Miss Tinkerbelle

2010-03-15T07:35:00.004-06:00

Sisters coloring at Grandma Walton's house. Yes, that is marker that Belle has by her mouth. :P

Also notice how she is two handing it. She is such a stinker.

When we are at Gram's, I think her favorite time of the day is when Papa gets home from work.
Belle goes around asking everyone....one...one. She goes and gets you pretend candy and you have to eat it. Yes, she sticks up one finger so you make sure you know you are only getting one. haha!

A couple weeks ago we spent a few days at my grandma's, Grandma Walton, while she went to visit her sister. She has an English Mastiff and he sleeps in her room in his "crate". This is what I found one day. Belle in his crate with the phone calling someone. No, I don't know who it was. Yes, I am a bad mom. :) They lived in Canada..that is all I found out. Oh, that girl!

She is our little menace and sweetheart! I wouldn't trade her for the world! Thank you, Lord for our little Belle. I don't know what we did to deserve her.....wait....I mean that in a good way....I think. :D

Fun Sunday!

2010-03-01T09:45:00.002-07:00

With Grandma and Papa Smith off galavanting around, we went to the cousins house after church today. The kids had so much fun. They were outside for quite a while. This was taken in their tree house kind of thing. The kids thought it was great!!

While the other guys were outside, Aunt Shyla let Tink listen to some music! I thought she looked soo cute!

Then she read some books. :) My kind of a girl!

Then Noah showed up. I think he was trying to show me his muscles.

Belle put the headband on by herself. She was very proud of herself!

Toby had the camera, yes, I am back to working out so hopefully that double chin will get back to where it belongs.....GONE!!!! :)

We had such a yummy dinner and brownies for dessert. Thanks you guys! We enjoyed it soo much!

Beaver in the Shower.

2010-02-26T12:49:00.002-07:00

So Toby trapped at beaver. He was told to freeze until he had time to skin it. So for a while I had a 45 lb. beaver in my freezer. Toby decided that yesterday he was going to skin it. It wasn't thawing very quickly (imagine that) so unbeknownst to me he was trying different ways to thaw it. I walked downstairs and heard the shower running. As I walked to the bathroom, I thought of all of the things I would be saying to the kids about messing with the water without permission. I yanked that door open to find the beaver showering. Now you can imagine how I was so NOT expecting this. I shut the door, ran upstairs and told Toby to let me know when he was doing that kind of stuff! It totally weirded me out! I didn't get a picture yesterday, but after I told someone the story and saying I should have gotten a picture with my new camera my mind went.....hmmmm.....I walked downstairs and yes, the beaver is still in the shower. He is no longer using up all my hot water, but I just thought you all would like to see what I walked in on. :) Yes, they look like a HUGE rat! Tonight I believe we are going to try beaver tail. If we do, I will take pictures and post them. :)

Family Music Night

2010-02-26T07:53:00.002-07:00

I brought my new camera to our family music night. It was so nice to have everyone there. Here is a picture of how we all sit. You can see my spot where my mandolin is. :)

Danny imparting words of wisdom, I am sure. :)
Toby started messing around with our camera. Here is Davy and Gabe playing the piano.

Trying out different things.

He is having as much fun with the camera as I am.

Wish all the rest of the family could join us for music night.

Some pictures with my new camera. :)

2010-02-25T17:01:00.004-07:00

Here is Julianne....the scratch on her nose is from sliding down the stair face first and putting her head down. Yes, her momma had already told her not to do that. She is pretty cute anyway.

Mr. Noah Baboah. He is getting so big and handsome.
Crazy face baby Tink. :D

Handsome daddy, yes I was pretending to be a pro taking tons of pictures from different angles. hehe, I somehow don't think that I got the same results, but it was fun nonetheless.

So excited to figure out how to really use my camera. :)

Thank you Lord, for blessing us so much that we could afford to splurge.

Julie's First Date!!!

2010-02-23T13:36:00.005-07:00

So Julie went on her first date today. I know it hardly seems like she should be old enough, but Toby and I feel that some things should start young. Here she is all dressed up waiting for her date.

She was checking out her dress. This was my adoption dress and so very special to me. So I thought that it would make a perfect first date dress.
She is so cute.
Then her date showed up. :) They are planning on going swimming, Reed's Dairy for ice cream and early dinner. She was so excited. What a great looking couple.

The short and tall of it all.

We think that it isn't to early for her to date her daddy and learn how boys are supposed to treat her. :) We sure do love this beautiful little girl!

Fun Times....

2010-02-11T10:12:00.002-07:00

So this is a sad, well actually mad, face. She was having a bit of a fit because I wouldn't let her have the camera.

Then I said,"Smile".....yes, she is a faker.
We have some friends who are staying the days with us for a while. Jacy and Eli. They brought treats for everyone today. Very kind of them. Yes, I told them to smile....if you look at Belle you can tell that.

And another one. I do have to admit that 6 is harder than 4. :)

Right now, I think Belle's face is the funniest thing. I will miss it when she is over this stage. :)

Lazy Sunday..

2010-01-31T17:50:00.002-07:00

With all of us, except Gabe, having a cold, only momma and Gabe went to church..(I was children's church) I got home and found the girl's like this.

Then Belle lounged on her Daddy.
So sweet!!
Toby had all the luck today!!! Sweet Noah fell asleep on Dad.

I love this sweet little face!!

I love my sweet little family!!!

Julie's Kitty Bank

2010-01-31T15:03:00.002-07:00

Here is the finished product.....she had such a blast painting it!

The back
The side

The front

I love my little artist.

Gabriel Wesley turns 6!!!!

2010-01-30T08:41:00.005-07:00

Gabe turned 6 and I can hardly believe I have a 6 year old. My mind wanders back to the day I first became a momma. I was so in love with that little teeny man. Now he isn't little and teeny, but I still love him. He is getting so tall that he needs size 8 pants to fit his length, although he swims in the waist of them. :) He has a great sense of humor and reminds me so much of his daddy! :D He wanted North HiWay for his birthday breakfast.

Belle giving her daddy kisses.

This is the face she gives you if she sees a camera or you ask her to smile. She reminds me of a chipmunk....the cutest chipmunk in the world, mind you. :)

Our handsome Daddy

Noah drinking his hot chocolate

Sweet Julie

Uncle Joe and Auntie Bethie sent the older two gift cards to Toys R Us for their birthday....Noah just kept asking me...is this $10...can I get this? He didn't get to buy anything so I let him take a 50 cent ride. :)

Julie got a gumball....

Gabe got a goo shooting gun.

Julie got a paint it yourself Hello Kitty bank. Imagine that, my little artist. :)

Birthday Party!!!!

2010-01-27T22:50:00.003-07:00

For some reason it isn't letting me move the picures. hmmmm..

Anywhoo, it was Gabe and Julie's joint party at Leo's tonight. The last day that I have two 5 year olds. Little Miss Jules wasn't feeling good, but was so insistent that she was well enough for the party. She has a cold. The picture above is right before they opened their presents.

Gabe asked for his own fishing lures, so he could use any one he wanted whenever he wanted. He was happy to get these. Wouldn't you agree? :D

Shy, Dev, Taeya and Marlee got Julie this scrapbook, which was done in one hour. :)

Belle had blast at the party. This is her face she does when you tell her to smile. hehehe!
I love it!

Again. It just made us all laugh. She then looked at the picture on the camera and would say, baby...baby....baby.

We are so proud of our kiddos. They had such a good time at their party and as always, Julie hit the jackpot at Leo's and had a ton of tickes. Poor Gabe had something like 30. Nonetheless, we enjoyed family and pizza and carrot cake. :) I thank the Lord for the years He has allowed us to parent these little ones. We pray for wisdom as we continue to lead these precious little souls. We love you soo much Gabe and Julie!

Just for Gabe. :P

2010-01-27T10:50:00.003-07:00

This is for Gabe, because his birthday is tomorrow. He thinks this is hilarious. Yes, we have reached the.... bodily functions are the most hilarious thing in the world... stage with him. Oh Joy! Happy Early Birthday! This is in honor of his last day of being 5. I am sure when he turns 6 he will be grown out of this. :P

Miss Julianne Rose turns 5!

2010-01-26T12:03:00.003-07:00

Julianne Rose Smith is 5. She is so happy and sweet. She has a killer sense of humor and doesn't hold grudges. She is always concerned about others and has such a sweet giving spirit. She is our inventor, collector, can't wait to wear make-up (she has to be 14 and says that that isn't far away) girl. I think back on the day when Gabe was 3 months old and I found out I was expecting again......I could never have imagined what a perfect fit for our family she was going to be. God knew what we needed. She brings so much joy to our lives. We are so happy to have been granted the privilege to be her parents.

So...for six days, I have two 5 year olds.

Toby brought Julie home a dozen roses on her birthday. She was pleased to say the least! I heard,"Mom, I bet you thought these were for you, because he always brings you flowers, but this time they were for me, because it is my birthday." We put them in her room.

Julie being Julie, shared them with everyone. Here is Belle with hers. She liked it a little. :)

Here is Noah smelling his.

My beautiful Julie with a rose.

I pray this year, she will become more concerned with being beautiful on the inside than on the outside. I sure do love this girl. Toby says she is just like me. I disagree and hope that she is not, for I want her to be better than me. I pray that she trusts and follows Jesus with her whole heart. Five years sure have flown by! Happy Birthday, Julie! WE LOVE YOU!!!

Space Jam

2010-01-23T13:26:00.003-07:00

The kids found our Space Jam cd. This is the only song they listen to...over and over and over. Yes, I know about Noah in this, but the rest of it is too cute...so sorry, he is our tinkie boy. :)

Random Pictures

2010-01-21T08:27:00.003-07:00

Miss Tink is all into telling you her body parts. Obviously this one she is telling me....nose.Hair

The kids just being goofs. The little toy chipmunk that Julie is holding says, "It's so beautiful." Julie walks around with it, makes it say that, and then says,"Why thankyou, I like it too."
Excited....it was my birthday and they were happy.
This is a self-portrait of Gabe. :)
I love this picture. Gabe took this picture as well, which accounts for Noah sticking his tongue at the picture taker. hehe

Depending on how Belle is going to bed, sometimes Julie gets to fall asleep in our bed. The other night I walked in to find her like this. I just thought it was sweet.
She is such a sweet fiesty little thing.
Last night Toby came home and took off his boots. The next thing we knew, Belle was wearing them. She LOVES her daddy.
Of course, then she fell down, I think they weigh as much as she does.

Okay, so the sad thing is I am caught up now, because I haven't been taking very many pictures. Tomorrow this will all change. We will have two 5 year olds tomorrow. Yes, my sweet JuJubee turns 5 tomorrow. I will post lots of pictures of her sweet day. :) I thank the Lord for all of my children. Right now my heart is thinking of Julie. I love that girl!

Island Park

2010-01-21T08:09:00.002-07:00

I know it has been forever since I have updated our blog. January is always such a crazy month. So here is a few pictures from our overnight trip to Island Park for my birthday. Toby rented us snowmobiles and we rode and rode. We went up to Big Springs and it was gorgeous. The weather was great and we had so much fun!

I always think it is kinda silly when people get upset over their age. I just consider such a blessing to have lived and enjoyed God's blessings this long. :)

Update

2009-12-28T08:03:00.006-07:00

We had a lovely quiet Christmas. We hope that all of you did too. I am excited because I finally received a book that I had ordered a long time ago. It is called A Gospel Primer for Christians. It is excellent. The bit of dying to self that I couldn't find is in this. So...to finish up that post on dying to myself. Here it is....

All Things Crucified

The gospel is not simply the story of "Christ, and Him crucified"; it is also the story of my own crucifixion. For the Bible tells me that I, too, was crucified on Christ's cross. My old self was slain there, and my love affair with the world was crucified there too. The cross is also the place where I crucify my flesh and all my sinful desires. Truly, Christ's death and my death are so intertwined as to be inseparable.
God is committed to my dying every day, and He calls me to that same commitment. He insists that every hour be my dying hour, and He wants my death on the cross to be a central part of my own life story as is Christ's death to the gospel story. "Let this same attitude be in you," He says,"which was also in Christ Jesus...who became obedient unto death, even unto death on a cross."
Crucifixion hurts. In fact, its heart-wrenching brutality can numb the senses. It is a gasping and bloody affair, and there is nothing nice or pretty, or easy about it. It is not merely death, but excruciating death.
Nevertheless, I must set my face like a flint toward the cross and embrace this crucifixion in everything I do. I should expect every day to encounter circumstantial evidence of God's commitment to my dying; and I must seize upon every God-given opportunity to be conformed more fully to Christ's death, no matter tha pain involved.

When my flesh yearns for some prohibited thing, I must die.

When called to do something I don't want to do, I must die.

When I wish to be selfish and serve no one, I must die.

When shattered by hardship that I despise, I must die.

When wanting to cling to wrongs done against me, I must die.

When enticed by allurements fo the world, I must die.

When wishing to keep besetting sins secret, I must die.

When wants that are borderline needs are left unmet, I must die.

When dreams that are good seem shoved aside, I must die.

"Not My will, but Yours be done," Christ trustingly prayed on the eve of His crucifixion; and preaching His story to myself each day puts me in a frame of mind to trust God and embrace the cross of my own dying also.

This convicts me on so many levels. It isn't about us at all, other than us dying to ourselves and doing what God wants, which is very often the opposite of what we want. I highly recommend this book it is a total of 97 pages that are well worth reading again and again in addition to your devotions.

Pearl Christmas Smith

2009-12-23T12:35:00.002-07:00

Yes, this mother has officially lost her marbles. I got the family a puppy for Christmas. She is a miniature schnauzer and is just to cute! Gabe said he wanted to name her Pearl and we all liked that name. So Toby told Julie she could pick her middle name. She chose Christmas. Noah calls her Pearl Smith. It is precious! Julie is in love with her! She is probably the happiest of all the kids. Although, Dad is pretty happy about it as well. :) She is doing very well on potty-training, better than my baby. :)
She follows me around alot and gives me cute puppy looks. I guess we will keep her. I do kinda like her, which for any of you who know me know, is not typical Cassie. Toby did try to let her sleep on our bed at night and I drew the line there. Nope!! I got her a nice crate and she has a comfy blanket in there. See Dad, I still am in here somewhere. :D

Isn't it wonderful that God created animals and we get to enjoy them!

Christmas....

2009-12-20T20:34:00.002-07:00

I am always amazed at how God pounds things into you. He has been pounding what Christmas is about this year. I have always known in my head and at times kinda in my heart, but this year He is really going at it. It all started with Children's Church, talking with the kids about what Christmas is about. I am amazed at how teaching, teaches you as well. This is what we came up with....

God-gave His only Son

Jesus-gave up His seat in Heaven
power
He basically gave up everything

Mary- gave up her reputation
gave up her home (they had to move to Egypt)

Joseph- gave up his reputation
gave up his home
most likely his decision to keep Mary had effects on who wanted him to work for them

What they got

God- to see His Son die a horrible death
to turn away from His only Son, because of all of our sin that was Him

Jesus- died a death that He didn't deserve

Mary- Got a Saviour

Joseph- Got a Saviour

This are just some of the things we talked about. I realized that Mary and Joseph didn't realize what they were getting exactly. They did it, because God told them to.

From the looks of these things....Christmas is about giving.

Yes, I know that everybody says that, but who really applies it. It seems like all the kids have lists of what they want to get. Parents worry and talk about what they are getting their kids. When do you see us making lists of ways we can give. Our time, our gifts, our money, whatever is needed. As I asked the kids what they wanted for Christmas they could immediately give me and answer. When I asked what they were giving, I got umms and ahhhs. As this is going on I realize that I have been relaxed on this subject as well, because I am selfish and I want to get stuff too. Wow...how humbling to think of what Christ....God.....gave up at Christmas.
He submitted himself to be inside a human womb, be born a helpless baby that had to depend on the humans He had made. He submitted himself to imperfect human parents and honored and respected them. He gave up the glory of being God and was what, many I am sure, considered a bastard child.

So as I have all of this on my mind, the Lord sends one my way that I am supposed to help. This person has made some poor choices that have led to a very hard life. I got a call that they needed a ride. I was headed that way. I got nervous about helping because this person resides in a rougher neighorhood than I live in. As I was thinking maybe that was the Lord trying to tell me not to go, I realized that Satan can use fear to deter you from doing what you are supposed to be doing. So I told the Lord I trusted Him to protect me and headed out. All the way there I said things like...if she doesn't answer her phone by the time I get there I won't stop, that will be my sign that I am not supposed to help her. Those kinds of things...you know. God made everything "happen" so before to long I was outside this house. The person came out and is mad at everyone. I drive us where we are headed. The time we are at the store the Lord is telling me what I need to do. In my head, there is a conversation going on with myself. As this conversation is taking place I realize I am debating on whether she deserves it. I was instantly ashamed. Who am I kidding? Is that the treatment God gives me? If I got what I deserved I would be heading to hell. So, I do what God is telling me to do.
After I drop her off I realize that I have fallen into the holier than thou group. I am so thankful that God speaks to me and helps me realize that I am no better than this person. I just have God, He is what is different. Even people who make poor choices are God's creations, He died for them too. Who am I to say they don't deserve everything I have and more. Everything I have is from God, so I better be doing with it what He wants. I don't mean to be preachy, this has taken hold of my heart. The more I think about it the more I realize I let the world tell me how to do Christmas. Yes, I give the normal gifts, but when do I really give...sacrificially like Christ did. Do I give up things I want to help others? Do I give to only those who I think deserve it? I am ashamed when I realize how selfish and self-righteous I have been. I don't know if this just seems like alot of babble, but I felt like I needed to put it up here.

We are to be like Christ and He gave and still gives. I am going to try to be like Christ and give what I can to help people, whether it be clothes, food, an ear to listen, a set of hands to help....I thank the Lord for using this season to show me how to be more like Him.

A year!

2009-12-17T16:40:00.004-07:00

I just realized I have kept this blog up for a year! I really enjoy doing it! It is so funny to go back and see how much the kids have changed this year! Thanks again, Bethie babe, for the great idea!

And Another..... :)

2009-12-17T08:13:00.002-07:00

Okay, so here is the same song. I got one from their practice before the show and decided that this one you can see Gabe good so I would post it too. :)

Jingle Bells!

2009-12-16T21:28:00.002-07:00

Here is a video. Smile....Smile....Smile....yes, this momma is very proud!

Getting Ready for our first Recital.

2009-12-16T20:32:00.003-07:00

Gabe saw a little elf hip hop thing and now is trying out hand signs. His mom quickly told him to stop. His momma doesn't like that. Then there is Julie ......just being Julie.Gram got them Christmas outfits and I thought they looked adorable!!
Cheesy smile faces. I sure do love these two!
They don't always get along, but they do love each other quite a bit!
She loves posing....obviously. :)
We are out of the little person phase with this one. He wants to be cool. This momma tries to impress upon them that cool is not what they want to be. Cool is defined by the world. I want them to be Godly people which is not always "cool" by the worlds standards. He sure is getting big!
Julie was telling me how she wanted her hair....like Tinkerbell's...you know the one in the movies. She wanted a "big curl without a hole". I finally realized she meant a bun. So here is our version of a bun in Julie's hair.

Brothers
The four people in the recital.
A proud momma with her two instrument players. I love music and it thrills my heart to see my children share this love.
They did wonderfully and I will post a short video of the one song that they played. :) I feel so blessed that we live so comfortably that we can afford to let our children participate in this. Thank you, Lord, for all the extras you bless us with.

Potty-training....

2009-12-15T22:12:00.002-07:00

So Belle has made it evident that she is ready to be potty-trained. As many of you know, potty-training is not my favorite thing, but I do like the outcome. :) This a picture of how happy Belle was to find out she had her own potty. She would run over to it and sit down, grunt and stand up.
When she got panties on she would pull them down and sit on it and then pull them up.

It was soo cute! She is so cute!

Hanging out at the potty....drinking some egg nog....what a life! :D

Happy Birthday!!

2009-12-06T21:40:00.002-07:00

Today, we went to church, went to lunch and have hung out at home and enjoyed each other's company for the rest of Noah's birthday. Here is a picture of our happy 3 year old! After her bath, this baby asked us....nana baby please me.....I think she likes to be naked. :)
Dad and Gabe wrestling. I have the most handsome guys in the whole world!

Happy Birthday Noah and Beth. Also remembering our Great Grandma Dekanek who would have been 92 today! What a legacy she has left!

Noah's birthday!

2009-12-06T21:17:00.003-07:00

Yes, he is wearing a blue shirt, he got a blue dice and his momma made him a blue cake. :)Blowing out the candies.
He likes trains and we got him this little train ensemble. Thank you, Leah. :)

Belle enjoyed the cake!
He had soo much fun.

Family and friends came and I think everyone had a good time. Thank you all for coming and helping us celebrate his birthday!

Our sweet Noah James!
Our little man who loves blue and Lightening McQueen. He loves his family and has a great sense of humor! It is a common sight to see him hugging and kissing and telling those he loves that he loves them. He has a smile that shines and gorgeous blue eyes. He has been such a special light in our little family! We thank the Lord for blessing us with this little guy for 3 years! Thank you, Lord!!!!!

Happy Birthday, our sweet birthday buddy, Auntie Bethie! We love you soo much and miss you. Maybe someday you two can have a joint birthday party! :)

Places to go; Music to play!

2009-12-06T20:59:00.003-07:00

Julie found an old purse of mine and Belle loved it. She put it on her arm by herself and picked up Julie's violin. I looked up and there she was like this. I grabbed the camera and took pictures. :)I just can't get over how cute she looks.
That violin is heavy for a little person.

Okay, we are off again. Excuse me!!
She has decided which way she is going now.

...there she goes...Do you think she sees many of her loving family carrying purses and instruments? :) I love passing on the sweet heritage of music. 15 months and 18.5 pounds packing her purse and instrument. :D

Gingerbread house....

2009-12-01T18:41:00.007-07:00

Tonight, after turkey pot pie and two plays that our children put on for us. ( Bunny play and Star Wars play) we put together and decorated our gingerbread house. We put it together and had to let it set up so we decorated little ornaments that came with it. Belle helped Daddy...she was the first to preview the frosting. :)She liked it.

Julie working hard on hers. It takes so much concentration!
Gabe
As I was taking this picture, Noah poured sprinkles on and then said,"Uh, that is to much."
The whole gang working hard.
She just wanted to test that ornament.
Daddy and Belle's ornament. I am wondering why the pictures of me don't ever look as good as Toby. Must be the picture takers fault. :)
Julie's...she is snacking on an extra one we broke into pieces.

Gabe in all of his corniness showing off his.
I LOVE this boys smile! His ornament is great too.
See what I mean, it must be Toby's fault. :D
When those were done we got to work on the house. Everyone helped and had fun.
The Smith's gingerbread house.

He is finishing the candy that didn't make it onto the house.
After the fun. Getting ready for bed.
This is the..please pick me to turn off the Christmas tree lights....look. He got picked.
I feel truly blessed that we have so much that we can do things like this. Thank you, Lord!

Decorating the tree.

2009-11-29T18:54:00.002-07:00

Tonight, when our Daddy got done taking care of stuff in town, we started decorating our tree. We make due with what we have and has been given to us. I know alot of people have "theme trees". I don't have a problem with that, but I do have a fondness of hodgepodge trees that the kids have decorated and made some of the ornaments themselves. :) Here is Gabe putting on an ornament.And again!
Juju, helping and having so much fun. She was talking about some more ornaments she could make most of the time we were decorating. :)

Yes, even Belle got in on the decorating. She did a good job as long as someone helped her. When noone was she just threw the decorations and yelled,"BALL!" It makes me laugh just thinking about it. This year should be interesting with that little one!
Noah, was tired and just wanted to go to bed, so we didn't decorate it all. We saved quite a few ornaments to do tomorrow, so Noah can help. I ran outside and took a picture of what our tree looked like from the street. I approve. :D
Today, in Children's Church we talked about Christmas and giving. If you think about it Christ gave everything and gained nothing. Wow!! I encouraged the kids to not think so much about what they want for Christmas, but instead to think about how we could give. I think to often we say with our mouths that Christmas is about giving, but our actions and thoughts do not reflect this. The rusty wheels of my brain are already turning and concocting a plan that can help show and teach my children this. Selfless giving...hmm....

The tree at home.

2009-11-28T20:41:00.004-07:00

Yes, of course we had to trim it and it fits tight, but boy does it smell good!! We made fruit loop garlands and put them on tonight. The boys beat the girls in making the garland the quickest. :) This is my absolute favorite picture of today! I am soo blessed with my four beautiful munchkins!

Toby putting the boys fruit loops on the tree.
Gabe helping Dad!
Belle thinks she is participating. :)
My sweet family with the tree.

The Dad and Mom
The evening was just as pleasant as the day.

Wow!! He gets better looking everytime I look at him!!

This picture captures Julie's sweet side so perfectly!
Wrestling...I have such a wonderful life!
Tomorrow we are decorating the tree and the kids are thrilled. I am so happy to me. I would never trade my life for anything! I love my little family!! Thank you, Lord, for all these things that I don't deserve!

The hunt and cut!

2009-11-28T20:15:00.003-07:00

Found it....Melanie and I checking out the tree I want.Dad and Gabe cutting down the tree.
Tinkerbelle and Daddy. This was her first time all geared up for snow. She loves to be outside!

Noah playing in the snow!
And loving it!!!

GabeJulie looking adorable in the hat that momma originally made for Gabe, but now it fits Julie.
God amazes me that he made this little thing from Toby and I!
In the car, relaxing after we have the tree...
We were right by Upper Mesa Falls and Melanie had never seen it, so we went for a stroll. Belle insisted on walking by herself.

My little gang

I tell you what!! I cannot believe she is so big already!
We had such a wonderful time! Thank you, Rodgers for a wonderful day and a delicious lunch!! The Lord blessed us with a beautiful day to get a Christmas tree. We thank Him for His goodness and protection.

Mom and Bob's New Land!

2009-11-28T20:05:00.002-07:00

The land behind Mom and Bob's land went up for sale and the Lord blessed them with it. This is the day that we all got together for a party and they made an opening in the fence between the two properties. Grandma, Joel and Shelly and Granny were all present. Here are just a couple pictures of the fence cutting. :)

Mom finishing off the fence.

Our pretty little girl.

The proud new owners of 38 more acres, another little house and barn. How about it Beth and Joe???? :D

Precious Julie

2009-11-28T19:58:00.002-07:00

Soo....Dennis Rodgers told us about Disney create a fairy. So I let Julie go on and make two fairies. She was so proud of them! Sometimes she goes to sleep in our bed, depending on how Belle is going to sleep. When we went to move her into her own bed this is what we found. I thought it was tooo precious! She had tucked her fairies in...one on either side of her. :)

This are the little things I don't ever want to forget! I love my precious daughter. It makes me sad that she is going to get bigger. I will most definetly miss these little Julie things. :) Thank you, Lord, for our JuJubee!!!!!

Fall

2009-11-18T09:49:00.004-07:00

I absolutely love Noah's face in this picture!!

I was surprised when Julie came out of her room with her panties on her head. I thought they were done doing that. It made me laugh. I know that they won't do this for very much longer! She was a super hero. I so thought of us in Italy with our towel capes. :) All I can say is she is Julie.

They made Tinkerbelle a cape out of paper towels. I thought it was great!!
The boys raked up the leaves. They did it with such good attitudes. That makes this momma happy!

The working boys with their rakes.

Then everyone had to lay in the leaves that the boys raked up.
The boys enjoying the reward of their labor.

We are enjoying fall in our beautiful house that God gave us.

Dying to myself

2009-11-10T08:33:00.003-07:00

The past five days have been rough and I have found myself getting grumpier and grumpier with each passing sleepless night. Last night as I laid in bed with my sick husband the Holy Spirit was convicting me of not dying to myself. He laid on heart that this was His chance to shine. As I started thinking, when we are tired and seemingly overwhelmed, is when our true colors show. Unfortunately, mine were showing extreme selfishness. I wasn't getting enough sleep, I wasn't getting any time to myself, I was doing alot of the work, I....I....I. Laying there I was so ashamed. I am so thankful that Christ was not that way. So I determined in my heart to think about dying to myself. To make sure I was, not just letting it happen if it happened. (which was not very often, because frankly it isn't my natural tendency) The Lord knew I would be dealing with this and helped me before I even knew He had. On Sunday, I was only at church for a short time to help Grandma with her slides, the words of the songs she was playing. I was in a hurry to get home to my sick family. For a while I didn't really read what was up there, but for some reason I looked up and started reading.

Spirit of the Living God
Fall fresh on me
Melt me, mold me, fill me, use me.
Spirit of the Living God
Fall fresh on me

Under that was a poem of dying to self. As I read it I thought, that is a really great poem. God tucked it in my heart to be pulled out for later use. :) As I laid in bed, the poem popped into my head and I realized exactly what I was doing or NOT DOING! This poem below is not the exact same poem she used. I am going to find out what it is, but this one is still very good. I don't want to live one more day of life living for myself in any way shape or form. I want to die to myself, so that I may live for Christ. It's author is unknown.

When you are forgotten, neglected, or purposely set at naught, and you don't sting or hurt with the oversight, but your heart is happy being counted worthy to suffer for Christ;
That is dying to self.
When your good is evil spoken of, when your wishes are crossed, your advice disregarded, your opinion ridiculed, and you refuse to let anger rise in your heart or even defend yourself, but take it all in patient, loving silence;
That is dying to self.
When you lovingly and patiently bear any disorder, any irregularity, any annoyance; when you can stand face to face with waste, folly, extravagance, spiritual insensibility, and endure it as Jesus did;
That is dying to self.
When you are content with any food, and offering, any raiment, any climate, any society, any solitude, any interruption by the will of God;
That is dying to self.
When you never care to refer to yourself in conversation or record your own good works or itch after commendation, when you can truly love to be unknown;
That is dying to self.
When you can see your brother prosper and have his needs met, and can honestly rejoice with him in spirit and feel no envy, nor question God, while your own needs are far greater and you are in desperate circumstances;
That is dying to self.
When you can receive correction and reproof from one of less stature than yourself and can humbly submit, inwardly as well as outwardly, finding no rebellion or resentment rising up within your heart;
That is dying to self."

John 12:24,25
Verily, verily I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.

Belle and the harmonica!

2009-11-05T10:33:00.002-07:00

Here is Belle and her newest harmonica playing trick! This time she is just being cute, but she really can play it. She LOVES to play it! If she sees Papa Powell's harmonica case she goes and insists on getting a few out and plays them. Her Papa HATES this, you can be sure. :) We think she might start giving Buddy Greene a run for his money. She may be lacking a bit in the technique area, but definetly has him beat in the cuteness area. :D Sorry, Buddy! Have a great day, everyone! Don't forget to raise your voices and instruments in praise to God.

Two basketball video's!

2009-11-05T09:34:00.003-07:00

So the one of these is a little long, but is soo cute!! It is the beginning of the game where Gabe makes the first basket! At about 1:30 is my favorite part! I think the footwork that the little guy on the green team does is priceless! Sorry they are both so shaky, it isn't easy to record and hold a 14 month old who wants to be playing and keep track of Noah. So if you can bear my horrible filming you should get a good laugh out of it! Sorry, dad! I know this kind of stuff makes you woozy. :) The other video is just a little of Julie, I didn't get her basket....Belle....need I say more?

Basketball

2009-11-05T08:58:00.003-07:00

Toby found a 4 and 5 year old basketball league. We talked about it and decided since it is just for 6 weeks and only 1 day a week, we could give it a go. Toby wanted to help coach and then they needed a coach for Gabe and Julie's team so he is the coach. Last night was their first practice and game. We have 6 players on our team. When practice first started all the kids huddled by themselves. It was so cute. I wonder what they were planning in there. :) I know the pictures are dark. I brought the wrong camera. :(Then Toby would huddle with them to tell them what they were going to do.
He is such a good coach and we have a really good team. All but Julie can make a basket by themselves, but have no fear she is working on it!

Practicing getting the rebound.
Here we are in the game. Julie is passing the ball. We are Team Gray.....we played Team Green.
Gabe coming over to take his turn on the bench.

My basketball boy!
The game was...well....hilarious!!! I recorded some of it and will post some of it, but I am laughing through the whole thing. Our little team would have dominated if the coaches would have let them. They are a really aggressive team. On a very proud note, Gabe made the first basket of the game! He stole the ball and got the first "hoop"! Dribbling in this game was minimal and they followed whoever had the ball like a flock of sheep. Sometimes they all lined up in a line under the basket and sometime they were all in a cluster. We had soo much fun. Noah was very miffed that he couldn't play. Toby got him a shirt so he wouldn't feel left out, but he was sure since he had a basketball shirt he should get to play. Julie made a basket with a little assistance. (Just in case any of you want to know....we won.....you just can't say that at the game, but we did. :)

Daddy and Belle

2009-11-05T08:33:00.002-07:00

There is a sweet bond between Daddy and Belle. The older three children were basically momma's kids. (to different degrees) Tinkerbelle has always been a daddy's girl. If she is sick she wants dad, she will walk around the house saying,"Daddy, door!" and run and see if he is indeed at the door. When he is there, she is the quickest to get to him, talking happily the whole way! I love to see this sweet relationship! I completely agree with her that he is the best person to be around, have and love! I took this picture a couple weeks ago and I love it! It makes my heart happy. I love you Belle and Daddy!

Thank you, Lord, for such a wonderful little daughter and a beyond words wonderful husband. I love them both soo much!

Halloween

2009-11-01T14:52:00.007-07:00

We had such a wonderful little Halloween here. I am not a fan of all the scary stuff of this holiday, but a little good fun is great. That is what we always have at our church's Ammon Antic's party. All four of our kids are so opinionated that getting custumes ready can be quite interesting. We will start with our little Belle. She was a giraffe and such a cute little one walking around. She had to wear this costume, because this momma wanted someone to wear it, so even though it was to big.....she did! She put a smile on numerous faces!She kept grabbing the nose and trying to pull it off of her head. It didn't work so well, because it is attached to the rest of the costume. We let her leave it off and she became happy.
I think the back is the cutest part of the costume. I loved the little tail!

I originally tried to get Noah to wear the costume. As you can tell, he was not keen on the idea. It had no blue on it.....I tried in every way I could to tell him how great that costume was.....
I did NOT succeed. Noah went as......
SUPERBOY (under cover as Snow White)
This costume has blue on it and that is the most important thing in life right now. Blue is his favorite color. It had a cape and it had blue. So Superboy...
He gave us and alot of other people chuckles all night. If you asked him what he was he told you Superboy. His daddy would quietly add once he had wandered off.....under cover as Snow White. We sure do love that boy!!!! Notice the Superboy pose. :)

4 Smith munchkins + 1 good looking daddy = 1 great picture

Gabe was a ninja. Hence the ninja pose. He got this costume about 2 weeks ago and it took me 5 days to get it off of him the first time. Amazingly enough, he took it right off this morning, no hassles.
Julie wanted to be Supergirl, but of course I couldn't find her pink Supergirl cape. Then I found the Snow White costume and tried telling her it was like a Superhero Princess. To this she promptly responded,"It looks like they started making a superhero costume, but forgot and put a stupid dress on it." I found this bat costume and she went as Batgirl. If you look closely she has a beard and mustache she painted on her face. She didn't want anyone to know who she was. I told her Sunday School teachers that and they were good enough to humor her and not recognize her and tell her she needs to shave. That was the highlight of her night! She redid her makeup 3 or 4 times yesterday. All of the kids did their own makeup.We went around our neighborhood, before heading to the church. The kids LOVED it!
At church they always have a pinata for the little guys and one for the older guys. Belle wanted to be in on the action so badly. Once it was broken and the candy rush was over, she went over and picked up the bat and took a few swings herself.

Thank you to Tamara and Blaine crew for all the costumes! The kids LOVED them!!
As we were trick or treating it brought back so many memories for Toby and I. Pillowcases, costumes and snitching candy out of the candy bowl! :) Beth, remember the ballerina costumes Mom made for us. I was so jealous because you got to wear that two years in a row, because you wore mine the next year. I remember dressing up in costumes my mom made us. She is such a talented and wonderful mom! I thought of Beth and Luke, I love you guys. We had such a great childhood! Toby thought of getting lots of candy and how he used to be able to just go house to house all the way to Grandma Evelyne's and back and just be loaded with candy! All in all we had a wonderful Halloween and thank the Lord, for special times like these that He gives us with our little family!
We hope you all had a great day, as well!

Just a few more pictures!

2009-10-30T16:09:00.003-06:00

This just kills me when my kids fall asleep in the middle of the walkway. He is even still holding the crayon he was using! I love this stage. Isn't he just precious!Toby and Gabe raked up the leaves in the front yard. Promptly after they were piled Julie and Gabe jumped in them. They look foward to jumping in leaf piles all year long.
It has been chilly, so momma made hot chocolate and the three older ones shared a cup. I just thought it looked so cute!

Yes, Julie has two ponytails in her hair....so people won't recognize her.....that is what I was told at least.

We thank the Lord for this beautiful fall! We always have so much fun in every season.

THE DEER!!!

2009-10-23T08:41:00.003-06:00

I am sure you all knew that this was coming! This is Toby's I am sooo tired, but sooo happy look! The hide.
Toby imparting bits of wisdom on the children.

They all felt the fur and the eyeballs and the horns.
I know this picture is a little fuzzy, but I love the look on his face! This looks like the look on his face when we got married. I guess he waited a while for that deer so I will just be okay with that. :)
Yes, even Tinkerbelle got in on the action.

Thanks to Todd for helping Toby soo much! Now we have a deer carcass hanging in our garage and pretty soon I will be fixing it for dinner. Yea!!! I thank the Lord for the deer and that He kept the guys safe as they were hunting!

Fun in the new house.

2009-10-23T08:35:00.002-06:00

Momma made cinnamon rolls and Noah got caught snitching some of the frosting.JuJuBee who was Santa Claus that day. :)
Belle is spoiled by her siblings. She stares at Gabe and he knows that she wants him to push her. It is soo funny! So here is Gabe pushing the stinker!

Daddy with our sweet swine flu boy!

A few pictures of the house.

2009-10-23T08:13:00.003-06:00

Okay, so these aren't great pictures, but at least you can kind of see some of the house. This is the upstairs bathroom. This is the girl's room.
Boy's room

The living room
The kitchen
This is the dining area. Don't you just love the mirror. Where is my gag a maggot icon. It is glued to the wall so I can't take it down quite yet. I am not ready to fix whatever is under it.

This is most of the top of the house. When I get other pictures taken I will post them. We praise the Lord for blessing us with this beautiful house!

Family Hunting Adventure.

2009-10-17T10:01:00.002-06:00

So...our little family was getting antsy from staying at home due to the swine flu. When Toby got home from work this was very evident to him. He suggested the whole family go for a car ride. This sounded fine to me. I would bring my crossword puzzle book and enjoy not having to do anything for a few minutes.
We all pile in the car and off we go. We stop by the North Hiway and when I asked what we were doing there, the hunter replied,"Getting my gun, it is in the truck." I rolled my eyes, thinking that we weren't going to see anything. He asks me to load the magazine and after a little instruction I got 3 bullets in the magazine.
We start driving. We drive out to Bone Road. Anyone who knows this area knows that it is dry and brown at this moment and not what I call scenic. The hunter just keeps commenting on how "that would be a good place for deer to hide" and "isn't this beautiful". I mutter a half hearted,"Yea", and quickly try to lose myself in my crossword puzzle. Meanwhile, we are flying along this dirt road and I make some comment about staying on the road. The hunter says,"This is a beautiful road, you should see some of the roads we go on." We talk briefly about some roads that have ruts three feet deep and if you get stuck in them you are done. Then when the hunter is satisfied with that topic, I dive into the puzzle.
All of the sudden, we are in reverse and the hunter is saying,"Butts, Butts, I see two butts!" We are now parked on the wrong side of the road, turned at an angle. The hunter jumps out of the car taking his gun in one fluid motion. Looking back I should have been impressed, but at the moment I calmy remind the hunter that it is illegal to shoot from the road. He knows this and informs me he is just "scoping" them to see if there are any bucks there. No, just one doe, but he is sure there were more butts than that.
So...me being the good wifey I am say,"Go on up and see. We will wait for you." Secretly thinking.....They won't be there once he gets there and he will be back to the car in no time. The kids and I watch him dissappear up this little hill and then we can't see him. We break open the snack bag and pass fruit roll-ups around and share a pop. The minutes go by and no dad. We have to move Cinnamon (our Surburban) because as other hunters are leaving we are getting stares that aren't on the kind side as the come right up to our front bumper and slowly go around. Cinnamon is moved and after assuring the kids that the hunter could still find us, we settle into our snacking routine.
It is getting dark (15 minutes later) and we see the hunter walking toward us, tearing grass apart. As I start to remark that the hunter must not have got anything, the protests begin. Julie informs me that she thinks he has it in his backpack. (he has no backpack) Gabe informs me that some deer are so light that the hunter could carry it on his back and we wouldn't even know it. To which I snidely remark to myself,"Sure, the invisible kind."
The hunter is now here and the story begins...."I got up there and I could hear them racing me to the top of the hill. So I started running. Then, there they were. A doe, a two point buck and a huge 4 point buck. This was a big buck, a gorgeous animal..."At this point I interrupt and ask why he never calls me gorgeous. The hunter brushes over this and continues...."If you go online and type in huge four point buck then you will see that buck. It was huge. Anyway, it turns at me broad side and looks at me. I don't even stop to take a breath I just shoot...twice. I miss both times. I could have sworn I hit it with one of them, but he just looked at me and ran off. Man, that was a huge animal. If I would have gotten that I would have mounted that. That would have been sweet to have gotten that and had it be my first buck"...The would haves continue the whole way home.
After looking at huge four point bucks online for 15 minutes. I was finally allowed to drop into bed. Plans have already been made to go find that buck in the morning. Luckily the hunters family is not part of the plan. We will stay at home and have a yummy warm breakfast and await on the news from the hunter.

Look! No training wheels!!!

2009-10-15T08:09:00.002-06:00

So...we have occasionally talked about Gabe being old enough to ride his bike without training wheels, although we have never made a serious attempt at it. He has tried a couple times and seriously resembled some other little blonde (me). He wasn't to excited about it. Well, we never had the energy to push it so he still was riding with them. He has been getting frustrated about not being able to ride on rocks and such (out at Gram's house). Last night, he asked Toby if he could try and of course Toby said yes. Toby took them off and Gabe just started riding. In under 5 minutes Gabe was starting by himself and riding around the back yard!!!! His momma is soooo proud of him! Oh......Julie has started getting serious about it too. So most likely there will be another training wheeless rider in our family before to long. :) I am afraid they got a little bit of Toby's and my competitiveness. :)

Seeing our new house.

2009-10-08T10:46:00.002-06:00

So this is us showing the kids the house when it was finally ours! Their reaction was not quite what we had expected! In all fairness it had been a long previous 2 weeks. Later that day, the reaction was more what you would expect. Ahhh! I love how you just can't predict how they will react. It certainly makes life more interesting!

Our New Garage!

2009-10-08T10:30:00.002-06:00

So, while we were waiting for both houses to close. The folks we were buying the house from graciously allowed us to move our stuff into the garage. This was one of the first days we started moving stuff in. We showed the kids the garage and what they were excited about just makes me laugh!

Gabe's Video!

2009-10-08T10:20:00.002-06:00

This is a sweet video that Gabe made! It makes me smile every time I hear it! :)

The Battle for Truth!

2009-10-08T09:57:00.004-06:00

The Galkin Ministries Team was at our church for a week. It was excellent. The kids had their own little meetings during the services. They were in the Battle for Truth. They were the Army vs. Navy (boys vs. girls) They learned these verses and had a really good time. I couldn't get Julie because some people were in the way, but boy doesn't Gabe look cute! There is nothing quite like your kids reciting verses. Hiding God's Word in their hearts!

Oh!! The girls won! Made one of mine very happy and one very sad, but luckily we managed to live through it! :)

I praise the Lord that we live in a country that I can post this knowing that there are no adverse consequences for doing so. We are so blessed and spoiled! I pray that my children become mighty warriors for God. Rushing hell's gates to proclaim the Truth and be missionaries everywhere they are!

New House!

2009-10-07T08:01:00.002-06:00

I will post pictures later today, but thought I would just quick write for right now. We are in a our new house and everything is "almost" put away and I am wondering how long the "almost" lasts. :) Seems like I should be done by now. The kids are loving it and slowly our nights are becoming normal. (Waking up in a strange place did nothing for a good nights sleep) We left our washer and dryer at our Shelley house and yesterday after a week of not having them, I finally got new ones! Soooooo nice to be able to do the laundry!

The kids love to be able to go in the back yard whenever they want and everyday Gabe goes and practices "hoops". Yes, we have a basketball hoop. It amazes me how much he is like Toby! I LOVE IT! Julie has started really wanting to cook so she is my meal helper! If you just walked in our house you might just find us all in the kitchen, cooking, and singing and dancing to Buddy Greene or the Gaithers or some other music. :) I absolutely love being the mommy of these little people!

Toby is busy working and fishing and playing with the kids! Well, I think that is all until I post the pictures later. :)

Just pictures

2009-09-12T20:06:00.003-06:00

So often, I think how big Noah is getting. When I saw this, he looked so little! It is not often he falls asleep on any of us, but he did on his dad today. Noah biffed it outside today and needed a band-aid for his wounded nose. :)
Today I packed ALOT!!! I was unloading the lazy susan and Belle thought it was her own special fort.
Is that the cutest little face?!!

Julie made a museum in her room. I did take pictures of it all, but will spare you all!
On Sunday, we were crazy and decided to take all the kids to the fair. Haha....I don't know what posessed us, but we did manage to survive it. As soon as we got home this is what we found when we walked around the house.

I don't know why he has the helmet on and yes, he is alive, but asleep.
I could hardly believe it! Who falls asleep like that?
Toby and I ran another 5k. It was supposed to be half a marathon, but we decided against that. :) We had so much fun and did really well! Thanks, Mom and Bob, for keeping our munchkins, so that we could have this special date!

Well, it looks like we have been blessed with selling our house and getting a new one. Right now our life is consisting of packing, packing and more packing. We praise the Lord for our new house and for everything He has given us! God is good!

Belle plays the harmonica!

2009-09-03T11:35:00.004-06:00

So...Papa Powell wants someone else to play the harmonica....here is Belle making his day! She is such a little character. I feel so blessed to have my children! They may make days hard, but they also make hard days easier. Wow! That sounded almost intelligent, I better stop while I am ahead! :)

Dancing and "Kartwheels"

2009-09-03T10:10:00.003-06:00

I know it has been a while since I have posted any videos. This video represents our everyday very well!

Noah

2009-08-24T09:31:00.003-06:00

I realized that Noah wasn't in any of the pictures I just posted. So.....here are two of him. Julie was taking pictures and caught me giving him a kiss. Our sweet blue-eyed Noah James!

First "ponytail"

2009-08-24T09:24:00.002-06:00

Us girls, Sunday morning before church.We put Belle's hair up in her first "ponytail". I am not sure what to really call it! :)

The ponytail lasted about 1 1/2 hours. Not to bad I thought!

My poser

2009-08-24T09:18:00.002-06:00

This is Julie, yesterday morning before church. She looked so cute I took her picture, which turned into a photo shoot. LOL!!! Posing, posing, posing!!!

Isabella is 1!

2009-08-24T08:24:00.003-06:00

Our little Isabella is one and we have been soo blessed to have her in our little family! She is so independent and funny! She talks so much! It amazes me how she just melted right into our family as if she had been here all along! Thank you Lord, for our little Isabella!

The morning started off with bagels and cream cheese....needless to say, she enjoyed it!

The birthday girl in her birthday outfit. I just love her sooo much!

Party time! She was so cute with the cake! At first she just put her face in it and then she decided she needed a fork.
After some were worried about the real fork, she got a plastic one and enjoyed her cake immensly that her daddy made for her!

Her Grandma Smith got her these cute shoes!!!!

Relaxing after the hard work of opening presents!

Belle and Aunt Shyla

Yellowstone...again.

2009-08-19T17:53:00.004-06:00

To end the fun of Toby's family visiting, we went to Yellowstone. It was nice. The kids made us laugh the whole drive. As we were watching some buffalo, Gabe asked Toby,"Dad, why is that buffalo smoking?" To looked and then told him it was peeing.

Boy, is it beautiful there!

I didn't mean to cut Toby's head off, but I was mainly trying to get all the kids in the picture. :)
Gabe

Jules

Noah
And of course, Belle!
Stepping on this grate was a big deal. At first they thought they would fall through.

The adults of the group. :D
Grandma and Papa got us great rooms at a hotel with a 100ft slide in the pool. They swam and crashed out!
That morning we walked around West Yellowstone and each bought something. Julie put this on and got quite a few smiles from passer-bys. They have cool buffalo's all over and we took pictures at everyone. I will spare you all of them, but thought a few were particularly cute.
We had such a good time. We are going to go back once school starts so that it will be less crowded and we want to see more animals.

On the drive back, poor Noah was pudering up a storm. Julie who sits behind him didn't realize this and called up to Toby," Hey, Dad, can you turn on the good air." I thank the Lord for a family who makes me laugh!

Gabe's lost his first tooth!

2009-08-18T16:58:00.002-06:00

Our sweet Gabriel lost his first tooth on Saturday. I had no idea any of his teeth were loose! He is very proud of it!

The tooth fairy came and gave him two dollars for his tooth! Toby and I were impressed since we only got a quarter for our teeth. When Gabe told Davy about it Davy told him the tooth fairy wasn't real. Gabe looked at him and said, "Well, I have two dollars from her." When Davy heard this he told Gabe, okay, okay, she's real. :)

Riot Zone

2009-08-18T09:07:00.004-06:00

So...Toby's had a whole bunch of his family come down and it was a blast! I was sooo bad about remembering my camera and unfortunately have very few pictures of the past week. One day I remembered it we went to Riot Zone. Thank you Grandma and Papa Smith. It was so much fun. They have Go Karts for 4 and up, jumping area, and lots of other fun! Here is my sweet Noah happy as usual!Belle who is rarely without this pretty smile!

These two are quite the buds. They are always playing together and laughing.
The first place Gabe and Julie ran was to the Go-Karts. We were laughing so hard it was soo cute! Gabe was a pro from the get go. Julie....well at first she hit the wall every 5 feet. By the end of her first drive she was doing good, by the end of the night she was passing people and nobody was passing her. She had 3 pads behind her so she could reach the pedals and could hardly see over the steering wheel, but that didn't stop her!

They have these little paddle boats and Gabe had a blast on them.
Noah liked them too.
In the jumping area we all had fun!
Here is Belle with Cheyenne, they are about 6 months apart in age and were really cute together!

Here is my Gabster. He took passing people VERY seriously!
Next, they climbed a little.
They both did so good!
Julie did good, but got frustrated because she was to light to go up higher than her daddy could reach her. The weight on the other side weighed more than her so she wouldn't just come down we had to pull her.
Last, but not least, we played a game of miniature golf. Well, 9 holes of it. Toby and I laughed so hard. Gabe was very proper about it and did it right. Julie took the ball to about a foot from the hole. Dropped it and hit it in. Noah would hit it once from the starting point, pick it up and go and drop it in the hole. Belle was our cheerleader and Mom and Dad just tried to keep up.

7 Years of Wedded Bliss!

2009-08-18T08:53:00.002-06:00

It is hard to believe Toby and I have been married for 7 years!! Toby surprised me and got us a room at Destinations Inn. We stayed in Athens and it was very nice. Here are a couple pictures of the room that I took right before we checked out. It was so cool! The kids saw the pictures and are begging us to go stay there. :D

We also went up to Bear Creek and went hiking and fishing. Roxanne watched our children so that we could have a little time to ourselves. We appreciated it soo much!!

I could say a million things that sound so cliche...but I will spare you all. :) I thank the Lord for allowing me to be married to Toby and look forward to the rest of the time He will give us!

Toby and the kids.

2009-08-18T08:46:00.002-06:00

Here is my handsome man! Belle
Julie....her poses crack me up!
Gabe
Noah, he is looking so big to me these days! He picked his own clothes and he looked adorable!
Every time I look at our children I marvel that God formed them from little pieces of Toby and me. Wow! It leaves me speechless! We LOVE them! Thank you Lord!

Bathroom floor.

2009-08-18T08:42:00.002-06:00

So....I got so tired of our bathroom floor. It was old and not very attractive. I loaded the kids up and headed to Home Depot, got the things I needed and redid it in about 5 hours. Very pleased with how it looks!

Finally!

2009-08-18T08:11:00.005-06:00

Okay, so a couple of people have requested new posts. It has been so busy!!! I have quite a few things to post. So, here is the first of many.....Tinkerbelle is getting her exercise on and is well equipped even has her sports bra on. :)

Here is the dress I made for Julie. It has a hat that goes with it and it looks so cute on her! I need to put ribbon around the waist and am now working on Belle's. Julie is quite proud of it if you can't tell.

Every monday we head over to Gram's. Belle hates it!I have no idea why Julie is this way, but it sure is cute!
We are always very happy to be at Gram's.
Julie, Gabe and Davy took some pictures themselves and there are a few that I think are very cute!

The two buds, Davy and Gabe.

Sunday at Freeman Park

2009-07-26T20:45:00.004-06:00

Today, after church we went to Freeman Park with Mom and Bob, Grandma and Leah. We had a picnic and some played Frisbee Golf while others watched the kids play in the stream by the picnic tables. After the Frisbee Golf the kids played touch football, while others tossed frisbees back and forth. Here is my handsome man playing touch football. :)Touch football...
Some of the group resting in the shade.

Mom playing frisbee.
More of the group playing football.
My sweet Julie.

Noah picking up the finer points of frisbee throwing from Gram and Papa.
Leah getting in on the frisbee action.
Belle being her little independent self, making noise with the toy.
Crystal going in for the attack.

She was going around the table, popping people with an empty pop can.
Here she is getting Tim.
Can they get any cuter?
Noah climbing in a big tree.
It was a wonderful Sunday with the family! I thank the Lord to live so close to so much family! I thank the Lord that I get along with my family! I couldn't have chosen a better way to spend Sunday afternoon.

Iona Fun Run

2009-07-26T20:06:00.005-06:00

So, on Thursday I saw the Iona Fun Run in the newspaper. It is a 5k run/walk. I called Mom and Bob up and said we ought to do it. Everyone agreed with me. We decided that Mom would push Noah and Belle in the jogger (thanks Leah) and walk with Gabe and Julie. The rest of us would run. Thursday was a really rough bootcamp and boy my legs were feeling it Saturday morning. We didn't register Noah or Belle and when Noah saw everyone putting on their numbers he was so upset he didn't have one. They gave us a coupon for a dental office, so I pinned it on him. He was very proud of his number! This picture is all of us that were in it! This is before the race, hence all of us look fresh and not red in the face. :)Dave leading the kids in pre-race stretches.

Getting ready for the race to start. For those of you that don't know 5k is 3.1 miles. Doesn't sound very long, but.....

Toby ran with me...glad he did....he kept me going at some kind of a pace. :P Finished in 32:15. Not great, but not bad. Here is Desi finishing the race. She helped mom....they had an interesting time with all 4 little guys. No they didn't finish last, my mom would have NONE of that!
Here is my Gabe finishing up his first 5k.

And Julie....

And our Comfort Dental Care boy, Noah!
Mom and Belle, I think Mom and Desi did more work than those of us who ran it!
My children drooling over the "stropy's" Julie got second place for her division and went up and tried to take a stropy, but they were only for 1st place. She got a fancy backpack!

We all got a free movie pass, free dinner at Fazioli's, and a prize. The kids got huge bags of candy and the rest of us got dinners or baseball tickets. It was great fun! Bob won 1st in his division, Mom won 1st in hers, and Davy 1st in his. When they walked back with their strophy's, Julie offered to "keep" them in her backpack! We are definetly doing this again next year!

We thank the Lord for keeping us all safe and letting us finish with no injuries! Thanking Him for the opportunities to make such wonderful family memories!

Beautiful!

2009-07-23T08:30:00.001-06:00

I took this picture when we were driving home from our camping trip. I looked ahead and caught my breath! I held my camera out the window hoping that it would turn out okay. I think it did! We are so fortunate that God allows us to enjoy His beautiful creation! He is amazing!

Kids

2009-07-22T18:15:00.002-06:00

This was yesterday....nothing special.....just at home.Today we went swimming at Mrs. Young's house. She is their new Sunday School teacher. We all had such a good time! Julie wore the swimsuit that my mom crocheted for her when she was 1. It looked so cute!
The only problem was when it got wet it drooped at little! It looked like she should be in some Norman Rockwell picture! :)

I forgot the camera when we were actually swimming. Belle was actually the biggest fan of the water and even it being cool at first didn't phase her. I am so thankful to the Lord for giving me these children!

Yellowstone

2009-07-18T22:49:00.005-06:00

Yellowstone was fast and furious. We got a late start at it, but bought a year pass so will be back! I think I am going to make Toby take me there instead of Lagoon for our anniversary! :) We hit Old Faithful, because you just have to everytime you go....Of course when we got there it had just gone off so we had an hour to kill.
So we went to the Old Faithful Inn. It is such a gorgeous place! The wood work is amazing! All the wood is from Yellowstone! I won't go into the whole history, but I love this place. I have even stayed in one of the rooms that is the same as when it was first built!

I have seen it so many times and everytime I am just in awe. Isn't it wonderful that God gives us puny little humans the capability to build these sorts of things!After ice cream, thanks Papa, we headed back and watched Old Faithful.
Belle was so impressed and Gabe just kept asking when "Old Grateful" was going to explode again. :)
A picture of part of the outside of the lodge as we were driving away.
Momma and baby buffalo ( or bison to be technically correct! )

Even though they give you a paper when you go into the park that tells you to stay a safe distance away......there were people walking up to 10 feet of these guys taking pictures. We were in the car and heard a ranger tell someone to move away. Someone last week was charged and injured by one.

To end the Yellowstone day we stopped at Midway Geyser Basin. While we waited for people to get back from the bathroom, the kids made this a teeter toter and Micah had fun with them.
The vast array of colors is just spellbinding!
Noah decided Addey was his buddy and didn't even want to hold momma's hand. "No, my buddy Addey."

Julie was the leader here. Although some ruckus was had over that fact, the boys constantly trying to get ahead of her, she stayed the leader.
Gabe had blisters on his feet so Desi gave him a piggy back ride for a little bit. Notice in the background the boys right on Julie's tail waiting to get ahead of her! LOLJust think this looked cool!
Like I said, the colors!
The crew in our van.
On our way out.

Julie got the camera and took a picture of her feet. Not sure why, but I thought it was cute!

Upper and Lower Mesa Falls

2009-07-18T10:47:00.006-06:00

Okay, so I realize there are alot of pictures here. I tried so hard to keep it just a few, but in all reality this is just a fraction of what I took. So.......here we are at Lower Mesa Falls.It sure is beautiful!!
Julie and Gabe hanging out.

This is at Lower Mesa, I love it! I think it used to be a little inn. It used to be really run down and has recently been taken care of.

Inside are all types of displays and of course a little store.

The kids favorite place is a room in the back that has all sorts of animal hides to touch, skulls, feet and legs of different animals.
Also, this collection of butterflies....Julie's personal favorite.

Noah, very tentatively, touching the bear hide.
This was draped over a couch, I don't know about you, but this is so how I think of cozy by a fire! :)

Daddy and Belle checking out a fishing book. Noah and I snuck back and got it for him.

Papa showing Noah the falls.
Belle is in the "follow my finger" stage....needless to say, dad did not follow this fingerpoint.

This is the upper falls. My kids all loved the rainbow!
Noah and his "buddy Addey"
Not all the kids, but a good portion of them!

The big kids were running and my Noah had to let go of my hand to run with them. They grow up so fast!
Julie posing.
Another picture of the falls.
Toby hiking along.
The last bench they rested upon.
Constantly amazed by God's beautiful creation and very thankful that He let's us enjoy it!

Some more

2009-07-18T07:50:00.006-06:00

Toby got Belle this space saver seat. It isn't only a space saver, it is a sanity saver! :) She is a wild little thing and is all over the place. It was so nice to put her in her seat to eat and let mom get some stuff done! She doesn't mind it either. Noah having a camping whiny moment.
HAPPY!
Can you tell he HATES camping!

This is how the kids were on the bike ride. Toby pulled them. :) I had Belle on the back of my bike.
Julie's bike needed a little work so Dad and Julie took care of it.

Later that evening, it was Belle's bedtime. I forgot to close the curtains and just a few minutes after laying her down, this is what we saw.
After Belle was asleep, we roasted marshmallows.

I looked over and saw this and to be perfectly honest the mom in me went....Oh no! just for a second. Then I laughed and took a picture. If you notice the scratches above his eye. He thought the bench at the picnic table was a little lower than it was. He jumped off and this is the result.

Still eating
DONE!

My two girls peeking out the window.

Ready for floating.

Gram and Papa and everyone finally showed up. In this picture are grandkids.

Julie and Davy hanging out in the trailer.

My mom heard this great camping omelette deal. So we tried it! It worked great! You take ziploc bags. Write your name on it. Put in two eggs and whatever other adds you want. We did cheese, olives, mushrooms, peppers, ham, tomatoes, salt and pepper. When you have put in what you want, you get out all the air you can, zip it up and throw it in a pot of boiling water. After about 15 minutes you pull it out and you have a delicious omelette. The best part is, no dishes!!

This is Bob finishing loading his omelette.

Granny posing for me while she is waiting to do up her omelette.
So, this is the Mesa Falls, Yellowstone day. I will post those pictures up when I get a chance. :) Look at all the abundance just on the table that the Lord blessed us with. Thank you, Lord!

Gabe's camping spot

2009-07-18T07:46:00.002-06:00

When we were heading to Warm River to camp, Toby was worried that there wouldn't be a place for us to camp. The week before he had been up there and it was packed. We pulled up there and Toby said he was going to go look and hopefully there was a place for us. (they only reserve so many and the rest are first come first serve) Gabe said from the back seat,"Dad, there is a place for us. I prayed to Jesus and asked him to save us one." When Toby walked in there was one place left in the entire campground. What a sweet faith my little boy had. He believed and didn't worry. Such an example to me!

Warm River Camping Day One

2009-07-17T14:03:00.007-06:00

So, we went to Warm River to camp for about 3 days. We got the a day before Papa and Gram did. We set up camp and started having fun.Noah went straight to playing in the dirt. :) We went on a bike ride...I forgot the camera...so no pics of that. It sure was beautiful up there!
Getting ready for the ride.

I look alot more flexible than I feel. :) I guess all the ballet isn't out of me yet.

When it warmed up we floated down the River. Now for those of you who haven't been there, the "river" is VERY shallow and NOT warm!
First, Toby took the three older ones while Belle was taking a nap.

When Belle woke up, we joined them. She was so funny! That water is not warm and she just wanted to get as much of herself in there as possible!
Juju was so funny and even floated by herself for a while!

The kids and I floating...isn't the scenery beautiful!
I had to keep ahold of her so tight so that I didn't lose her over the edge!
Haha, the first thing I thought when I saw this picture was...I didn't realize her hair was THAT long!....it ....Julie is just perfectly behind her....Funny!
Yes, she is an awesome camper and loves all it entails!
My sweet little Noah!

Hanging out at the trailer!

Papa and Gram showed up and we had a blast playing and teasing. Amy, Kaleb, Addey, Josiah, Granny and Micah came up with the rest of the guys and it was nice to see them! We thank the Lord for all the safe travel and fun that He granted us and made this trip possible!

Playing at home

2009-07-13T10:33:00.003-06:00

Daddy with Belle. He is the person that she would rather be with! I don't blame her!

Here he is again! How good looking can you get?!!

Yes, here is one of me. Toby keeps saying make sure I put some up of me, because I am in this family too. :) Toby took this one.

This one just makes me laugh out loud! We think Julie's "cleavage" is just as recognizable as her face!
Here is Steve (a.k.a. Aldevon) a neighbor kid, playing with Belle.
Gabe and Steve are close to the same age. They play pretty well together.

Esteph is Steve's older sister. They all like Belle!
She looks so old to me in this picture. 1 is closing in fast!

Underwater camera

2009-07-11T19:11:00.003-06:00

Toby got an underwater and shockproof camera and had to try it out when he went fishing. This is a fish he caught. Toby said it is a beautiful creation of God! Notice the lip piercing....all the cool fish are doing it! :)

Rub a Dub Dub!

2009-07-11T18:07:00.003-06:00

Rub a Dub Dub, Four kids in a tub!

Belle has just started joining them in their baths. Four kids is a tight fit, but boy, they do have fun!It always amazed me how the "new one" always just seems to fit right in!
Yes, she does this face ALOT!! She may be small, but she is fierce!

Blue eyes!

My littlest ones.

2009-07-10T14:50:00.002-06:00

This is my littlest man. He is getting so big, but is still so little. His favorite thing to do is come up to me, climb on my lap, give me a hug and kiss and say,"Momma, I need you." This momma hates that! :)He is crashed out wearing his train shorts and a train shirt.
Tinkerbell managed to get in this chest of Julie's. She looked so cute and was super proud of herself! She is a climber! She climbs and climbs. She makes this poor mama so nervous!

She is watching the other kids for a moment.
Here is what is becoming the classic Belle picture. She is such happy little baby doll!

I feel so blessed to have these two as our youngest! Thank you, Lord, for Noah and Isabella!

Belle at lunch

2009-07-09T11:57:00.002-06:00

Okay, so I was making Belle her bottle after she ate her lunch and had to go get the camera. Those are two pieces of her sandwich on her head. She is so adorable even with those sad little tear streaks. No, she is not very patient. :) She is just so cute, I can hardly stand it! We sure do love her!

Morning at the Smiths.

2009-07-09T09:28:00.003-06:00

This morning when I got home from bootcamp, this is what I found. It made me smile and I had to take a picture!Later Gabe came in the room, crawled in the bed and was basking in the sunlight that was coming in our window!
My littlest man, who is sick, but you wouldn't know it from this picture! When I went to put him in his own bed last night after I got his fever down he said,"There is a little pee in my bed." He has started wearing real underwear to bed and has been dry for a week. This time, there was a little pee on the bed, so mommy took care of that and he laid down and went to sleep.

Then the kids decided to take some pictures. My cheeks aren't normally that red, but I just got home from bootcamp.
My boys with me. Julie took this one.
This one Gabe took.
Noah "took" this one. He kept trying but was pushing the wrong button, so unbeknownst to him, mommy helped him with this one. :)

4th of July

2009-07-06T09:29:00.002-06:00

So we were in the 4th of July parade with Grandma Smith and the North Hi-Way Cafe. It was so fun and the kids had a blast! Gabe was hilarious, he ran waving the flag saying," Candy, free candy, who wants free candy." Then he would throw it. Julie ran and threw candy and some that took her fancy she would walk over to and put the candy right in their hands! Belle slept in backpack for the first half and Noah slept in Shlya's jogging stroller.

Toby fishing

2009-07-03T09:41:00.003-06:00

This is a video that Toby took when he was fishing. It makes me giggle every time I watch it! He is such a hottie! :D I think he should have his own fishing show.

Camping Videos

2009-07-03T08:49:00.004-06:00

I did remember to bring the flip, thanks honey, for reminding me! These are two of numerous videos. I think you get to see everyone in these two. They are both pretty self-explanatory. The kids are already asking if we can go again. We are already planning our next camping trip. Thank you, Lord for giving us such a wonderful little camper, we love it!

Camping

2009-07-02T19:57:00.003-06:00

These are the few pictures I got of our camping trip. My battery for our camera has kicked the bucket and lasted for a miraculous 4 hours. Just long enough to take a couple pictures. We had such a good time in our new camper! It worked out marvelous! It poured rain the first night we were there and we were warm and dry! We had excellent company, with Todd, Jeff, Nick, Kyle and Devin. The fishing was great and each of the kids caught fish! Daddy caught a ton! Mommy caught one. It was gorgeous up at McCoy Creek! Gabe thought it was Coin Creek and the place where the water got bigger was Quarter Lake. :) Wonderful time, will definetly do again!

This is in the truck on the ride up there.

Can you tell we were all super excited about our trip?

Here we are camping. My whole little family!
And drumroll please........our new(old) camper!

This is the last picture I got, it is of Kyle.

I wish you all could have seen how pretty and green it was up there. The wildflowers were to die for!! We had such a good time and thank the Lord for a safe trip there and back and a wonderful time to enjoy His amazing creation!

Mostly Tinkerbellerina

2009-06-26T09:40:00.006-06:00

Okay, here is Tinkerbellerina, Tink, Tinkerbell, Belle, Bella, Bellerina, Isabella, whatever her name is that day. :)

Do you see those sweet little teethies?

She was talking.
Now you can really see those teeth!

She is such a happy baby!
She is getting soo big! She soo has her daddy's blue eyes! She looks alot like her daddy!

This one just makes me laugh!So, Gram has this huge rubber ducky and it has always been one of my kids favorite toys to play with over there. It has been a bucking ducky and many other things, this time it was just a stationary ducky. :)
She is such a social little thing. She loves to smile and talk and wave and clap!
I so see her brothers and sister in her in this picture!
My mom has a pug whose name is Missy. Julie is sure she is her dog and chases her around, pets her and says, "dog,dog,dog" everytime she sees her. It is soo cute. We are still working on soft petting... in this picture she was super excited and saying, "dog, dog, dog".

Petting her dog, Missy really is a very nice dog!! Sorry Missy!
She has her Papa smitten with her! She thinks he is pretty swell too! When he came home she sat down (she was standing) and scooted while doing squishy face to him. He HATED that!
So, yes, the other kids were at Gram's too. I have to post a couple of them. I think I have given your Belle dose by now!

Here is Julie's new photo pose. She practices all the time so that when I get the camera out she is practiced up! LOL
What a killer smile!! Does he remind anyone else of Wes and Hannibal?
So the kids started wrestling with Papa, this is the extent that Noah got involved. He would run around them jumping and squealing, but never actually get in on the action! :) Oh! He had to strip to his underwear, because at our house you wrestle in your underwear!

Gabe was sure he could take Papa, he was even talking some smack to him. I think this picture clearly shows that Papa can still take him! Julie was in on it, but by the time I got the camera out she had run away! :)

Chalk in the evening.

2009-06-25T08:40:00.002-06:00

So when our sweet daddy got home last it was perfect outside. So we went outside to draw on the sidewalks.

I think it is so cute....artists in action.

Here are some hearts that Julie drew.

A person that Gabe drew. Kinda looks like this guy has a combover. :)

Noah is on the railroad tracks drawing a car for dad.
This is what Julie wrote. I ♥ U!!!!
She is such a little sweetheart!
Here she is telling Dad about the giant ant she drew.

Is he not the cutest!?!Done drawing and about to head for bed.
I realize that Belle is not in any of these pictures. She was asleep both times I got the camera out today. Will remedy that today. :)

A day at home.

2009-06-25T08:30:00.002-06:00

So I got into the picture taking mood yesterday. The kids just looked so cute! Here is my handsome 5 year old. Really it is hard to believe he is that old already.No, Julie is not throttling herself, this is her "pose" she has been practicing. :)
I kinda like this one, I think I will keep him.
So then Julie caught the picture taking bug. She had to take pictures of me making her dress.
Then she wanted a picture of her with it on and doing a pose. LOL!

I think Gabe took this one.

I am so thankful for my two boys. They bring so much joy to our lives!
I pray that they grow to be Godly men. I don't care what they choose to do as long as the follow Christ with their whole heart, soul and mind.

Father's Day

2009-06-24T09:46:00.002-06:00

I feel so blessed to have Toby as the father of our children! He is a man who is concerned with what God wants and is always such a wonderful Godly example to our children! He is the greatest in the whole world! I know alot of people say that, but I know I am right!! :D This year we did something special for dad! We got him a camper for his present. It is a 1975 Kit Companion. Excellent condition! 19 feet long, full bathroom, stove, oven, furnace, air conditioner, sink, and enough beds for all 6 of us very comfortably!! We are so excited to go camping as a little family. I like the idea of.....if it rains, we all don't have to huddle inside a tent and try not to touch the sides. :) We can now go inside, get some dinner, play some card or board games at the table. Toby is in hog heaven and it makes my heart so glad to see him so happy about it! We are hoping to use it sometime next week! I will post pictures as soon as it gets back over here to our house. (He was sealing the roof so that we won't have any leaking problems. :)

To my dad,
Dad, I love you and even though you didn't have to adopt me and love me as your own you did. I would never trade you for anything! I hope you had a wonderful Father's Day and know that I miss you.
Love, Cass

Julie and Noah

2009-06-24T09:41:00.002-06:00

This is at Gram's house. Julie thought this wig was GREAT!! Totally made me laugh!Noah wants to be just like daddy and that means wearing his fishing hat too! :)
Jujubee crashed out in the recliner! She is still soo precious, even at 4. :)
Doesn't look to comfy to me, but what do I know....

Kid's fishing.

2009-06-24T08:56:00.002-06:00

Last Tuesday the kid's fishing pond by our house opened. Our cousins, Taeya and Marlee, Aunt Shyla and my little brother, Davy, accompanied them fishing. I stayed home with Noah and Belle. When Noah woke up and realized they had gone without him, he was sooo mad!! Anyway, they had a great time and caught a very large rainbow trout, 4 other fish, 1 carp and a turtle! :) Davy was the turtle catcher. Here are some pictures of the delicious fish, which we ate on Father's Day!

Toby, Gabe and Julie, yes, they all love fishing!

Marlee, I don't think she wanted to touch the fish!
Taeya
Gabe, I love the cheesy smile and finger point!!

Here is my Jules, she is so my little tomboy! Her dad really likes that!
Davy, our turtle catcher! He was a little sad he only caught a carp ( a garbage fish he told me) and a turtle, but I think he still had a good time!

The guys! Notice Marlee hugging on Julie! They kinda like each other!
Taeya again, this fish that everyone got there picture with, my Gabe caught! He reminds me so much of his daddy!
Julie and Marlee, how super cute is this!?! If you look close there is a little fish on the pole. :)

Sounded like everyone had a great time! Thanks everyone for coming and thank you my handsome man for being such a good dad, uncle, and brother-in-law! I am so proud you are my husband!!

Life

2009-06-10T14:14:00.003-06:00

I don't have any pictures to post right now, but thought I would just put a little post up anyway. The biggest change is in our little Tinkerbell. She is pulling herself to standing, left and right. She claps and does squishy face All the time!! She is such a happy little baby and just as big as you please! Noah is potty-trained and uses the big potty now. Yes, mom has to clean the bathroom twice in a day, since standing up to pee is necessary, but hitting the water isn't. :) Julie is having so much fun having Marlee here to play with. Until now, she hasn't had a girl to play with. They are super cute together. Gabe is just growing like a weed! He went camping and fishing with Toby. They had a good time until Gabe got sick. I will post some new pictures soon.