Leslie's Little Smittles

You Dig It? Isaiah's Construction Party!!

2012-01-29T09:15:00.000-08:00

Today we celebrated Bubby's second birthday with a construction party. Below are pictures! It was SO cute!!

The Invitation(with our personal information marked out.)

A lot of times people ask about where I get the invitations made. I always make them myself. I usually just google for images until I find one that I think will work well for what I'm needing. I don't have any cool programs for making them. I just use Microsoft Publisher.

I found an adorable tool font that I used for the Banner and Thank You Notes on the goodie bags. Lots of times you can google the type font you are looking for by simply tying in "Tool Font." I've found all sorts of cool fonts this way. You can ALWAYS find them for free too.

OK, so here are the actual party pictures...

This was our first time to have balloons at a party. Probably our last. They are a big expense and don't last very long. Isaiah asked for them though, so we splurged. I thought they looked really cute, but Manly sure did have a hard time trying to keep them from flying away. We got the cones from Oriental Trading. They were pretty cheap, and I thought we'd be able to use them for other things in the future. The kids have had a lot of fun playing with them!

Bubby standing with his "baa-booooons!"

The front door. This wreath took us longer than just about anything else did. This was 100 feet of cord wrapped around my grapevine wreath. It was HEAVY! I thought it was cute though. I made the center sign using publisher.

A close up of the wreath.

The entryway. Each child got a hard hat(which I got at Oriental trading) with the Smittle Construction Company logo on it. I just used a sheet of labels and put one on each hat.

I got a huge roll of caution tape at Lowes for cheaper than I found a tiny roll at the party store. I think it was $4 and I still have a ton of it I can use another time or sell on ebay or something.

Manly made me all the signs. I wrote down what I wanted them to say and he free handed all of them. Thanks, Manly. They looked cute!

The Living Room. We used tools from our garage. I was a little worried about the ladder, but no one tried to climb it, so it worked out great.

We laid out tractors and road signs from Bubby's toys around the house as decorations.

I got a bunch of butcher paper from the tables at our MOPS Christmas Party, so I used some on the guest bathroom door to make a port-a-potty! HAHAHAHA! It looked hysterical! I snagged the waste management sign with google then added "port-a-potty" in publisher.

I thought this was funny! It's like a flagger sign, but with balloons instead. Another Manly creation. He's good at making my crazy ideas come true!

The goodie bag station. The bags had candy in them and there were suckers on the outside. I got them at Oriental Trading for really cheap! They were so so cute! The kids all really liked them. We used brown bags to look like Construction crew brown bag lunches. Scotty came up with the idea of putting the suckers on the outside with duct tape.

They were cute. I should have made the labels bigger, but it turned out OK.

This is the school room.

Livi put this construction puzzle together because she thought it would be a good decoration that the little kids could put together if they wanted to. She's so sweet!

More mini decor.

He has a LOT of tractors. Ha!

The drink station. We borrowed these jugs from our church and I made the simple signs with publisher. The cups had labels that matched the hats and the front door.

The baby table.

The food table! It turned out really cute.

My 2 year old!

My sweet BIG boy! He looked so so grown up! BOOO!

Sweet Boy!

Easiest food prep EVER. Seriously. It looked SO cute, but was so so simple. I bought a small bag of peanut butter cups and a big bag of chocolate animal crackers(because they were cheaper than getting a bunch of oreos.) We put them into a gallon sized ziplock, then rolled over them with a rolling pin. Once it was dirt-like we just sprinkled it on the table. Olivia had a good time helping with this part. We just put the tractors and road signs on the table around it with the other food.

The Safety cones were Nacho bugles. I HATE those things, but they really did look like safety cones.

The utility poles were pretzel rods.

Muddy Bricks were brownies.

Whoppers for boulders.

Dirt Cake in the dump truck for fill dirt.

It looked so cute and everyone really liked it.

A close-up of the "dirt."

The gravel or in this case pop corn.

A side view.

An up-close picture of the food table sign. SO SO cute!!

Such a special picture. This is Manly praying his traditional Birthday Blessing over Bubby. I love the look on Bubby's face.

Daddy and Bubby while we were singing "Happy Birthday"

He was so cute smiling while we sang.

Blowing out his candle.

Eating all his food.

There aren't a lot of pictures after this because trying to get pictures while all the people are running around is TOUGH! I stole some of these from my mom who got several more candid shots than I did.

Big Boy Foreman Isaiah

Bubby got a new tool bench from Nana and Pop.

Bubby and Mia playing.

Mia LOVES all the sounds the tool bench makes.

Love this picture of Mia. She's such a sweet girl!

Momma, Daddy, and Bubby.

Mia Jane would NOT keep a hat on long enough for me to get a picture, but she sure like eating them!

I ALMOST caught one, but she grabbed it too fast. Stinker.

Bubby ready to open his loot.

He would get so excited about each toy, then be sad to have to put it down to open another one.

I like this one because he's really into this toy.

A new remote tractor.

Mia checking out all the stuff she can put in her mouth.

My pretty girl, Addi with a balloon.

KK and my sister, Emilie(Aunt Em)

Lulu and my dad(pop).

Bubby and Pop

Mia Jane and Pop

Bubby looking at his "ba-Boooooons"

Sweet TWO year old BOY!

I Bow Now

2012-01-26T20:38:00.001-08:00

Music is a huge part of my life. I've been helping lead worship since I was a little girl. I've been part of praise teams all over the state and I have worked with so many talented musicians. My favorite to date is my dear friend, Marvin Williams. He's taught me so much about worship. In the past year or so he's put together a little gospel choir that Manly and I sing in. We sing about once a month in the service. This past Sunday was our Sunday to sing. The songs we sing generally have a catchy rhythm, but this last Sunday we sang a worship song Marvin wrote called "I Bow Now." For whatever reason the kids really loved it and have been singing it around the house for the last several days. A few days ago I heard Isaiah singing something and after listening for a minute I realized he was singing "IIIIIIII BOOOOWWWW NOOOOOW!!!" over and over again. It warmed my heart to hear him really singing his heart out. I know this will bless you if you watch it. Sorry you can hear my voice so loud. It was hard trying to get him to sing it on video!

Happy Birthday, SON!

2012-01-25T12:25:00.000-08:00

There are still times that I'll say "son" and think, "WHOA! I have a SON!" After three girls we thought we may never have a boy. Ha! When the ultrasound tech told us Bubby was a boy I could not believe it! I was in shock! Scotty was a little nervous to finally have a boy to mold into a man, and I didn't know WHAT I'd do with a boy after having the three girls, but we were SO excited!
When Isaiah was born and he was indeed a boy I was just so in love. It was so different from the start than it was when the girls were born. I'm sure it's something like little girls having their daddy's wrapped around their fingers, but when I looked down at my BOY for the first time I was in awe of the tiny little wonder God had given me to mold and raise.
Today marks TWO years since Bubby joined our family. His first two years have been such a joy. He's all boy and full of wonder and excitement. He loves his sisters. He's just such a wonderful addition to our family. I don't know what we'd do without him!
Happy Birthday, Son. Momma loves you more than Doritos and Brownies and Milk. That's a LOT!

You Bunch of Sicko's

2012-01-23T20:00:00.000-08:00

So, everyone is Still sick around here. We've had pink eye, ear infections, colds, and sinus infections just to name a few. It's been going on since before Christmas, so tomorrow I'm taking the three kids who haven't had a round of antibiotics yet to the doctor. I'm planning to set up camp until I'm armed with three Rx's to get this stuff knocked out!
With all the sickness I've missed time with my MOPS friends and we've had to cancel small group at our house twice this month too. So sad! I miss PEOPLE.
Since we've had so much time in the house together there's been lots of dressing up and playing indoor games. The kids have been good sports and haven't run out of things to do YET. We are praying this is the end of sickness for us. I'm so so tired.
ANYWAY, here are some pictures of our time here. Ha!

Bubby has a hard life with 4 sisters. There are so many crowns and tutus around here that he has to get creative. He ran into my room while I was getting ready(to take Mia to the doctor) and said, "I ANG-EE! I SPI-DAH MAN!!!"

This is Mia in a dress that was mine when I was a little baby! So many people commented on her "vintage" outfit at church. I said, "Yeah, It's vintage. Right out of my mom's keepsake chest!"

One of Mia's several silly teething faces! So silly. Makes me laugh EVERY time.

She's SO cute right now. She's got a little temper and oh so much personality.

Another teething face. This one looks like KK or Bubby to me. Those EYES! They are grey(ish) right now, but we'll see how they turn out.

This is a little coat that I wore when I was a baby.

Her entire outfit was mine. Even her little shoes, or in this photo I should say shoe...

So, this is KK. I've mentioned on here before that she's got a fascination with pirates and in particular Captain Jack Sparrow. She put this little ditty together and asked politely if I'd give her a beard and an x on her cheek. Of course I said yes. Love this silly sister.

Ya'll Gonna Make Me Act A Fool

2012-01-18T12:43:00.000-08:00

I'm sure NONE of you have ever had a little with a bad attitude. I know I sure haven't. BUT, let's just say figuratively speaking there is a child in your home that tends to struggle with getting upset easily...

There are disciplines that will likely eliminate this behavior, and you should take your littles to scriptures on honoring parents and obedience. There are some times though, you might just want to wash that scowl right off of their face. If that's the case, it's time you just start making a fool of yourself until they can't take it anymore and just start laughing and smiling.

This morning we were talking about Africa and my eldest little(who shall remain nameless since we are speaking figuratively) was just not in a good mood. I'd already had a hard time with her not wanting to do school and we'd already had a conversation about respect and obedience. She was just GROUCHY. We all have those days from time to time. It's just going to happen. BUT, the school room should be a place where learning is fun. So, I stood up, told her to stand up, then started an African dance complete with chanting. It took a good 30 seconds, but she came around. After a good old fashion eye roll. Ha!

OH Lulu, Momma loves you, but you gotta lose the 'tude.

Here she is with her fancy makeover. What girl doesn't love BLUE eyeshadow!?

It's been a while

2012-01-17T11:21:00.000-08:00

I'm not on my game with my blog lately. Honestly, I'm trying to figure out what to do with it. When I first started blogging I blogged about everything that went on in my daily life, but that was back when I just had one and two babies. Now that I'm trying to make sure the baby gets nursed, Bubby gets to the potty in time, Addi and KK are playing nicely, and Lulu gets her spelling work done I just don't have time to blog about it all. Ha! I'm doing good to even remember most of what goes on in our day by the time I'm ready to post.
This really has been the most challenging period of mothering for me so far. I'm making it, but only by the grace of God. I guess that's a good thing, having to be 100% dependant on the Lord to make it from moment to moment. It's be TOUGH the last few weeks. We'll make it though.

Recent Happenings

2012-01-11T12:35:00.000-08:00

I thought I'd catch you all up on our recent happenings with pictures. We've all been sick since before Christmas, so we haven't done much outside of the house.

We've been doing a study on Germany. As part of that we've been talking about castles. One of the activities was to construct your own castle. The kids looked at pictures of real castles, then built this one. They were pretty proud.

Bubby likes to climb into Mia's entertainer. The problem comes when he's ready to get out. He can not get out of that thing! The first SEVERAL times we;d go get him out, but then it got to be a game. I started telling him that if he got in there he'd have to get himself out. Here he is trying to get out. HA!

He did finally figure it out.

All the kids having an after nap snack. This was Mia's first time to get to sit in the floor with the big kids. So sweet.

My sweet sweet Mia "Jane." turned EIGHT months old! Here she is making it hard for me to snap a quick picture before she takes off after her brother and sisters.

If you've spent much actual time with me you know that I call most of my kids by other names. Olivia has always been Lucy or Lulu. Emma Claire is KK. Addison is Fae or Addi Fae. Isaiah is mostly Bubby. Well, Mia is now Jane. I don't know why it happens, but for some reason when I talk to her I call her Jane. Mostly Mia Jane. Anyway, I wanted to give you all a heads up so you'd know I hadn't had another child(just in case I call her that on here).=)

Release Your Inner...Ninja?

2012-01-10T08:19:00.000-08:00

This morning I was taking some things out to my consignment storage area that Manly made me in the garage. I had forgotten I'd put an old mirror out there. When I turned around and saw my reflection I dropped everything and kicked at...myself. It's nice to know I've got a ninja inside waiting to burst out when I'm under pressure. I always knew I would be able to defend myself. I guess it's true that you really are your worst enemy...Just know I could have kicked you in tha face, sucka!

So, my last post stirred up lots of interest on facebook. Turns out there are lots of opinions on the subject. Know that I would never want ot offend anyone, but I agree with many that God has given me the best way to feed my baby and if I need to stop somewhere and feed him or her I'll do it. My point in the last post is that we have made breastfeeding somewhat of a taboo. This creates a great discomfort to others who MIGHT see it in action. I love that so many of you are comfortable to share your opinion!

A "Nurse-In"?

2012-01-06T18:13:00.000-08:00

So, my sister-in-law passed me this link. While you won't find me being part of any "nurse-ins" or "breastfeeding flash mobs" I do wish we could raise awareness for breastfeeding and make it more normalized for our kids. I thought this article was very interesting. It's sad to me that our society thinks it's necessary to erase breastfeeding from a children's educational program. It seems kids, especially boys, don't learn about anything about the female body until they learn about sex. By then, all they see is an object to bring them personal pleasure. I'm not saying that I think SESAME STREET should be teaching our kids. I can't think of the last time my kids even saw SS. I'm just saying that I don't like that breastfeeding has been pushed aside. Read the article and let me know what your thoughts are on public breastfeeding. As for me and my house, we will feed in public(with a nursing cover)!

In other news, Bubby hit a bit of a potty training milestone this morning. He took part in a poop painting of his bedroom and bathroom. Disgusting. I really was thankful for my new CUTE rubber gloves Manly put in my stocking(well, I bought them, but he put them in). It ended up taking well over an hour for me to get it all cleaned up. It was first thing this morning. What a way to wake up. Oh well. I'm thankful he's done so well until today. He's still doing well, I think, as he was wearing a diaper while sleeping, woke up, had to go potty, took off his diaper and went to the bathroom. We're getting there! He's not having pee accidents, so that's great!

One thing I'm really trying to do this year is get the pictures off my camera and into our home. I'm really good about taking pictures of the kids. I've got my camera with me just about all the time, but I've not printed any pictures since we got a digital camera back in 2005. That's just over 6 years of pictures. We're seriously talking about thousands of pictures that are just sitting in my drawer in on memory cards and CDs. Today I got my first shipment of pictures and got them framed. It's so nice to have more recent pictures on the walls. I walked past them tonight after getting the kids in bed and just smiled. I'm so blessed to live in this beautiful home and have such beautiful children to "decorate" with.

Here are some of the ones that I had printed and framed this time.

How do you save your photos? I'm about to go through and start scanning all of our photos in, and I'll need somewhere to save them to. Scotty has been telling me about cloud storage. Anyone have any experience with that or anything else that would work?

Bubby Update

2012-01-04T20:00:00.000-08:00

So after three days Bubby went all day with NO accidents! I was so proud. He even told me a few times he needed to go which is great for only being in training for three days. We are training him standing, which I didn't think he'd be able to do, but amazingly(to me) he is able to aim right into the potty! Ha! Seriously, this training boys thing is so different! I just drop a cheerio in the potty and he hits it every time! Ha! He also likes to spit in the water, which is really gross to me, but whatever works, right?!
I had to bag up all the extra pacci's in the house. Every time I'd turn around he'd find another one in the drawer where I keep all the kids plastic stuff. Now the only one in the house is Mia's and he's only put that one in his mouth a few times. He's not crying for it too much at bed time anymore, which is nice.
Tonight was the first time he got out of bed after we put him down. I think it was because we put him to bed before the girls.
He's amazed me how grown up he's become just in the last three days! This afternoon I was feeling really bad and I kept blowing my nose and sneezing. He came over to me and put his hand on my knee and said, "You OK, momma!? You OK?" Love that sweet boy!
So I mentioned in my last post that Manly had been sick, but I didn't mention that everyone else had been sick along with him. We've all had this terrible cold stuff. Today I had to take KK to the doctor because she was having a lot of ear pain. Turns out she has a double ear infection, poor girl! She was just so pitiful with that look of pain in her sweet eyes. While we were at the office and the doctor was checking out KK he heard Mia coughing and asked to check her out as well. I'd been worried about her after she'd been awake ALL night last night, but thought it was just teething in combination with the cold we've had. Turns out he thinks she's got RSV. It's the first time any of my kids have had anything like that. She's on breathing treatments for the next few days or until her cough goes away and she's feeling better. She's been really good with the treatments, so that's been a blessing.
If you think about us just pray for healing and rest. Thanks!

Manly Man is Manly

2012-01-03T18:18:00.000-08:00

Over the holidays Manly got SICK. I'm talking that dude was not well. He sounded like his head was going to explode. He coughed for more than a week. It was not pretty. He very rarely gets sick, so when he does it's usually pretty rough for him.
When I realized he was getting sick right before the holidays I was sad for him because I knew he had a nice long list of things he wanted to get done on his week long break from his regular job.
I didn't need to worry though. Turns out Manly is not only manly, but handy too! That poor sickly man installed a new HD digital antenna on our roof and had it working within less than an hour, raked and mulched our entire yard and resurfaced the flower beds, made cookies, made gingerbread houses, made dinner, went shopping, played horsey, and NEVER complained. One bit.
I know you know it, but I'm declaring it. Scotty Smittle is such a blessing to me and my littles. I love that man and I'm so glad that he chose ME to spend his life with.

This picture makes me laugh out loud.

Manly at my 80s themed 30th birthday party this year.

Eat Your Heart Out Dr. McManus

2012-01-03T11:36:00.000-08:00

When Manly and I were in college we sang in the university choir. One of our choral directors was a man named Dr. McManus. He had this goofy face that he would make while we were performing to try to catch our attention and get us to look pleasant while we sang. Scotty and I used to talk about it and just laugh because it was so ridiculous! From time to time one of us would make his face to get the other to smile.
Recently, Isaiah has started making this scowling face that looks much like the face that Dr. Mc would make. At first, he was making it when he'd get mad about something, but I'd just laugh at him. Now he just makes it to make us laugh. I've been teaching him how to do the Dr. Mac face, so I thought I'd share the video. It's really funny to me and probably will be to others who were in choir with us. Enjoy!

And, because he and Mia are so so sweet playing the piano!

I'm a Big Boy Now!

2012-01-02T12:08:00.000-08:00

Isaiah is currently undergoing "the change." Ha! The first change of life, that is. Isaiah is on the journey to becoming a BIG BOY! Yesterday was a big day for Bubby. He woke up thinking it be like any other day, but boy was he wrong.
I whisked him into the bathroom for his first real day of potty training. He's been willing and able to go pee and poop in the potty for the last several months, but I felt like he just wasn't really ready to potty train yet, so I'd let him go when he'd say something about it or before he was getting in the bathtub. Yesterday, however was his first REAL day of training. He did really good. Only two accidents all day, which I think is pretty good for a baby boy less than two. I got him some ADORABLE boxer briefs for Christmas and they make my heart melt on his tiny hiney. Seriously, my baby boy walking around in his underwear was choking me up! Ha!
We also transitioned Bubbs out of his crib and into his big boy bed. He's been napping there for the past several weeks off and on, so it wasn't too much of a transition for him, but he did great. He wanted all his things from his crib in his bed, which I'd planned to do anyway, but he stayed in bed all night and woke up this morning at 7:15 and knocked on the door and said, "GET OUT!" Ha! What a big boy! I know there may be some bad nights ahead when he realizes he can get out of bed, but for now he's doing great.
The hardest of the transitions was taking his...dum, dum, dum...PACCI away! I know! He's too old to be using a pacci, but there are some things I've learned to be OK with now that we have five kids and my almost 2 year old having a pacci was one of them. He was so tiny when Mia was born and I felt like there were a lot of "baby of the family" type things that were kind of taken from him, so I'd let him have his pacci thinking he'd eventually forget about it or decide he didn't want it anymore. Well, that day didn't come, so yesterday(while Scotty was still home on holiday) I decided we'd go ahead and do all the transitions in one swoop. He'd only had it at bed times for the most part, so I knew it wouldn't be an issue until he went to bed. As soon as he got in his bed and settled down he looked up at me with his big brown eyes and smiling said, "Pacci, please!" I looked over at Scotty(who was there for moral support) and really wanted to cave in, but Scotty spoke up and told him that he'd done such a great job being a big boy that we'd decided he didn't need the pacci anymore. They were for babies and he was NO baby! He started to cry, so we kissed him and consoled him and left the room thinking that if he was still crying after five minutes we'd reconsider our decision. I mean, his little sad eyes were breaking my heart. To our disbelief, that boy was SOUND ASLEEP in less than 3 minutes. He took his nap great! When he woke up I went into his room to get him and the bed was all disheveled. I said, "What did you do to your bed, Bubb!?" He said, "Look. Pacci! Not THERE! GONE!!" I said, "You were looking for you pacci, but remember you don't need it any more!" "I need it!" he says! Silly boy! He did even better last night at bedtime. I let him pick something out of the stuffed animal toy box to sleep with. He looked so big laying there covered up in his big boy bed with his Woody doll and his big boy haircut and no pacci. I love watching as he makes his place in our family, but I miss my baby boy already!

Thanks to my sweet friend Becke' for capturing this sweet picture.

It seems like yesterday.

Rub a Dub there's a BABY in my TUB!

2011-12-30T11:56:00.000-08:00

So, for some reason, people often ask me how we do bathtime with the kids. I know people are amazed that we are able to get anything done with five kids 7 and under, but bathtime is something that we've kept the same from the time Olivia was our only baby until now. It's just gown...a little. Ha! BUT, for all of those who are really wanting to know how we do bathtime, here it goes.

After dinner on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday evenings the kids get ready for bath by each picking out a pair of clean PJs(the other nights they can wear the same ones because obviously, Pajamas don't get dirty while you sleep...) and anything else that they need(panties, socks, house shoes, diaper). Olivia helps the two littlest get theirs ready. They usually do this while Scotty and I are finishing up in the kitchen after they've helped us with the dishes and clearing the table.

Once Emma Claire has her things out she'll move on to pasting tooth brushes. KK has recently been given this job. It used to be Olivia's job, but now that KK is old enough to do it and since Olivia has other responsibilities, KK happily stepped up! She sets the tooth brushes out on the counter in birth order so that they are ready for brushing. Scotty brushes the kids teeth while they are in the tub. This makes things so much faster.

Once Scotty and I are upstairs and everything is laid out Scotty starts the water and I usually strip down the babies. A baby is anyone in a diaper, so at this point it's Bub and Mia. (If we have a newborn Scotty usually bathes them first in a bath sling, then I'd get them dresses, but now that Mia is OK sitting in the tub, we do the babies together.)

We have a removable shower head like this one. I'd suggest buying one to anyone with kids. It makes bath night so much easier and faster. We got the idea from Jon & Kate Plus 8, You can get these just about anywhere and they are pretty cheap. We got ours at Walmart several years ago and we've never had any problems out of it.

Scotty does all the washing up and brushing teeth while I'm getting the hair brush, tooth flossers, Qtips, and nail clippers. I keep all of this stuff in one little basket which makes it easy for me to grab and use for bath night. Olivia or KK get this stuff out for me usually. This is also my time to get clothes out for Sunday or time to make sure everything is ready for bed.

Once the babies are washed up Scotty hands one off to me and he takes the other while the Middle Littles(KK and Addi) get in the tub for play time.

After bath we brush hair, clean out ears, floss teeth, and clip nails. We do this EVERY time. It keeps things routine and routine makes things easier. I used to dry hair too, and sometimes still do, but most of the time I just let the girls hair air dry.

Once the babies are done with all their stuff I'll give them a few floor toys to play with and I'll clip Livi's nails. If I've gotten time I clip the other girls nails before they get in the tub, but most of the time I'll get that done when they get out.

Scotty goes to clean up the girls then sends them out to get dressed. Once he has Olivia's shower set up she does everything else on her own now, so that's nice. She's just recently started doing her own shower and that works great for her to get to have her own time. Even if it's while she's in the shower! Ha!

While Lulu is showering Scotty and I tag team to complete the girls nails and teeth and hair. By the time Liv is out of the shower we are ready to help her. She's big enough now to do her own hair, so it's usually just flossing her teeth and finishing her nails if they didn't get done before bath.

Once everyone is brushed and flossed and clipped and clean we are ready to begin our daily family worship time.

A few other thoughts:

We reuse towels. I have five towels and a six hook over the door rack. I just hang the towel on the rack once the kids are dry. Now if someone gets their dirty we have backups, but normally they are washed on Monday when I do all the other laundry. That means that they are used three times to dry a clean baby. Big whoop!
Once Bubby is going potty and is a little more "aware" of himself he'll bathe alone and Mia will move up with Addi and KK will likely shower before Livi. KK is probably old enough to take her own shower, but she's just not ready yet.
We use bar Dove soap. Even on the babies. I also use Lavender Aveno sometimes, but usually only if I had a good coupon.
We have a bath tub toy net to keep all the toys cleaned up and it's super easy for the kids to scoop them up as they get out.
We use an old towel as a kneeling pad. It's also used for quick clean up afterwards. With five littles there's bound to be some water on the floor. It uses the last spot on my rack.

Christmas Festivities

2011-12-27T13:29:00.001-08:00

I just love the Christmas Season.

I love the decorations and the smells and the food and the fun parties.

Here is a look into our Christmas Festivities for 2011.

Each year my dad's extended family gets together for a Thanksgiving/Christmas celebration. It's a fun time with eating and presents and a dirty Santa ornament exchange. Here are a few pictures from that get together. The kids were not great at taking pictures this day! Ha!

This is my Mom(Nana) with the kids all in red and black.

Lulu had two teeth pulled over the Christmas break. This is probably the first two of many that will need to be pulled. The poor girl has a TINY mouth.

I tried SEVERAL times to get a few good pictures of the kids for Christmas presents. It has gotten increasingly harder to get all of them smiling in one picture. These are the best two!

What Christmas holiday would be complete without some Holiday baking?! Here we are making chocolate cookies with candy cane sprinkles and peppermint icing. Isaiah really loves rolling the dough, as you can see!

The girls helping me. Addi is on the counter because it was a Wednesday(her special day).

Isaiah thinks the spoon at the end is the best part.

But he hadn't tasted these cookies yet. Look at that! They were so pretty and that peppermint icing was to die for!

Our gingerbread house 2011. This was the best yet. The kids had the idea of using some cupcake picks to ice onto the house as decorations. The Santa on the front is from a cupcake. Emma Claire also had the idea to give Santa some cocoa by biting a M&M in half to make it look like a mug. She's a culinary genius!

Another cupcake pick for the Christmas tree through the window. So cute! I loved the mini cupcake bushes also decorated for Christmas! The kids and their daddy did a great job with this!

Each year we have Chocolate syrup and biscuits for breakfast on Christmas Eve. Isaiah has only had it a few times in his life and as you might imagine, he LOVES it. For those wondering about Chocolate syrup, it's much like Chocolate gravy, only better...I'll post the recipe another time.

The girls like it too!

Mia will have to wait to have it next year, but the biscuits aren't bad, ehh, Mia!?

My two Middle Smittles are usually up to NO good!

The big girls getting ready to make our annual Christmas cookies!

Addi's hair has taken on a mind of it's own. I think it must need a trim. It's SO wild in the mornings!! Here she is ready to make cookies.

Even Mia got in on the cookie action! She's such a joyful baby!

Daddy and Lulu icing cookies.

Addi showing off one of her cookies. They were famous for having LOTS of toppings!

KK and Bubby wearing some of their icing.

Leaving cookies and milk out for Santa.

Leaving magic Reindeer food!

Momma and her Littles. What a blessing.

Our Christmas 2011.

Daddy and Mia going to wake up the kids with jingle bells.

Morning Smittles round 1

Morning Smittles round 2! Look at that hair!

CLASSIC Christmas morning face on Addi.

Bubby got a t-ball set and a new hat.

Mia got a Sophie!! She LOVES it!

Our family all ready for church on Christmas morning.

The girls all looking pretty in red and black.

Bubby handsome as can be.

My beautiful children after church. I just want to GOOSH them!

Isaiah in his Christmas sweater and new firetruck shoes. He's wearing my dad's Santa hat. It kept coming down over his eyes.

Our stockings. They don't look so overwhelming in this picture, but in person Scotty and I both had to double count them because it looked like SO many stockings!

Our after-Christmas Makeover party!

2011-12-23T20:32:00.000-08:00

May Your Days Be Merry and Bright!

Merry Christmas!

Love, The Smittle Family

Scotty, Leslie, Olivia, Emma Claire, Addison, Isaiah, and Amelia

The First Christmas

2011-12-21T22:06:00.000-08:00

This week I gave Olivia a list of 20 Christmas related spelling words. To help her learn the words I gave her an assignment to write a short story about Christmas using the 20 words. I didn't give her any other guidelines. This is what she turned in to me. Her manuscript writing is kind of hard to read. Her cursive is so much nicer, but since I told her she could do whatever she wanted this is what I got. I think you can probably make it out. I'm so blessed to teach this sweet girl! I can't believe she's SEVEN now! Boo!

Merry "Chistmas," indeed!

It's been a while

2011-12-20T12:48:00.000-08:00

It seems like it's been a while since I posted last. It's not really intentional. I've just been busy with the Christmas season upon us. There are so many things to do and see and buy! Yikes!

We recently went to Branson for a mini vaycay with the littles. They loved this sweet gift idea from my parents. We stayed in a family waterpark resort and rode on the Polar Express. The kids had a blast and it was nice to get away for a few days.

Here are the kids finding out that Nana and Pop got them a VERY special trip for Christmas this year. My mom made these little stockings up with golden tickets and jingle bells and showed them pictures of the waterpark. So cute! You can see the excitement on the big girls faces in this one!

The Littles at the waterpark. The youngest two weren't fond of it, but the older three went CRAZY there. Mia wouldn't let us even put her into the water without a FIT. Brother was just REALLY cautious. Isaiah is trying to make a silly face in this picture. Ha! And yes, he has another black eye. He's all boy and clumsy to boot. Poor boy!

My three little girls in matching pjs that used to be for Lulu, KK, and Addi! BOO for getting bigger!

I LOVE this sweet sweet picture of my darling Addi sleeping on the way to the Polar Express. That soft sweet cheek needs to be KISSED!

Oh how I love this picture of my beautiful darlings! They were SO excited to ride the train!

Our family on the Polar Express. We almost didn't get to sit together after one of the train people told us to go into a cabin that was already full. Once we got back to the right one there weren't any seats together. Luckily there was a family that was willing to give up their seats and move to another spot so we were able to all sit together.

Drinking hot cocoa and eating YUMMY cookies. This was their favorite part!

Santa on the train.

Addi really liked the conductor. He liked her too as you can see in this picture! Ha!

Another Santa at the Branson Landing. The kids loved the light and water show there, but it was COLD! Did I mention I forgot to pack coats and hats? Mother of the year award, people!

Before we left we drove over to Springfield to the Bass Pro Shop. All the kids love the animals there. This bear has been around for a LONG time. There are pictures of ME in front of it as a small child. The girls LOVED it!

Scotty told them to look scared of it! HAHA!

They had a cool Santa area set up with rides and games and crafts for the kids. Our kids loved the wild animal carousel. Too bad I couldn't get a picture of Lulu because of where she was sitting, but here are the other kids.

Love this silly girl! She said, "Mom. Make it look like the bear is going to eat me!"

I'm looking forward to Christmas this year. We are really rethinking how we'll do Christmas next year. We battle the Santa thing each year trying to decide what to do with it. This year we are doing three gifts for each of the kids: PJs to wear on Christmas Eve, a Santa gift(and stocking), and a sibling exchange gift picked out by the sibling especially for their sibling. I love the sibling exchange. It's funny sometimes, the ideas that they come up with.
What do you do for Christmas? Spending limits? Gift limits? Ideas? I want to hear!

Just Like Her Momma!

2011-12-13T18:48:00.000-08:00

A few days ago my mom found a box of "treasures" in her attic. She was so good to keep lots of sweet clothes from when my siblings and I were babies. She let me have lots of the ones that were mine when I was little. I love being able to put them on the girls. I had some cute can-can dresses from my pageant days that Addi LOVES. There were also some little things for Mia.

These are pictures of her in one of my gowns.

I just love this! It's so nice and soft and warm.

Sweet sweet Mia looking OH so cute!

I think she looks like her daddy in these pictures, but tonight, she's just like her momma!

Buddies are Best

2011-12-13T13:00:00.000-08:00

These girls are IN LOVE! Mia does just about anything Lulu wants her to. She's taught her to blow raspberries. She's got her crawling and trying to walk. Mia lights up when Livi comes into the room. I just love these sweet little buddies.

It's Baaaaack!

2011-12-08T11:30:00.001-08:00

About three years ago we got rid of our TV. It'd been used only for watching movies for several months after we'd gotten rid of cable, so we finally just sent it packing as part of a yard sale.
Since then we haven't missed it too much. Our kids quickly adapted to the lack of TV, and Scotty and I would just sit together with the laptop to watch hulu or dvd's. Lately, however, we've really wanted to get a television so that we could do things like family movie night. It's pretty tough to fit us all around the laptop and still be able to hear it.
SO, this week we picked up a new smart TV. I LOVE it, but I'm starting to think it might be smarter than me! This thing can do just about everything I can except cook and clean! So much fun to watch the kids come down and see it up on the mantle! They couldn't believe we ACTUALLY had a TV! Ha!
I have no idea how to get it to do normal things like actually watch TV on it, but it sure is cool and we are excited to be able to watch movies together...as soon as we get one of those Bluray players!! Whoa! Things sure have changed since this was our only option, ehh?

Tis the Season for Lots of Activities

2011-12-07T19:54:00.001-08:00

My kids are used to getting in bed at about 7:30 every night. Our schedule has them in bed early, and they usually sleep until around 7:30am. I like to have the quiet evenings with Manly, and it's great for the kids to get a good night's sleep. It's tough, however, when the Holiday season hits.
We have lots of Christmas parties, practices, and family get togethers once December hits, and we like to take the kids to see Christmas lights on the evenings we don't have other things to do. This makes for late nights and tired babies. They've been so good during this time, though. I'm so proud of their good attitudes and great choices.
Here are a few pictures from our ventures lately!

We hosted our Small Group Christmas Party. Manly really captured the kids attention with a special Christmas story.

My big girls in their matching Christmas tree shirts.

Silly faces are their new thing...

Brubbs trying his hand at a silly face.

Our first snow of the year. The kids played our there for all of 5 minutes. Brubbs was not a fan. Obviously.

Bethlehem Revisited. It's a fantastic program a local church does for the community every year. Free and so much fun!

Mia and Momma all ready to go to Bethlehem.

Our "tour guide" taking us into the city.

The little girls in jail.

KK weaving a basket.

More basket weaving.

The fisherman.

Addison getting her head band.

The girls using their shekels to buy jewels! They give each child several shekels at the gate. So fun!

The spice store.

The toy store.

Mary, Joseph, and Jesus. Isaiah yelled, "BAY-BEEEE JEE-JUS!" Addison said, "Are you really the real real Mary?" KK said, "You're pretty MARY!" Olivia left her shekels as a gift for the newborn king. Such a sweet night! If you are in town make sure you head over to Antioch this week. 6:30-8:30 tomorrow and Friday.

Christmas Flash Mob

2011-12-04T11:34:00.001-08:00

Today our choir at church had a flash mob between services. It was quite nice and caught a LOT of attention from people leaving service or getting to service. I think it surprised everyone, because we've never done anything like it before. It was nothing like the one below, but still fun and everyone seemed to like it.

We did the flash mob to advertise for a Christmas concert we are participating in this coming Friday. If you are in the area you should check it out. It's going to be great with a mass choir, drama, and lots of Christmas cheer.

I like thinking about...

2011-12-02T13:14:00.001-08:00

This morning I made the kids blackberry oatmeal and sat down to feed Mia while the older kids were eating. This is the part of the day that the best conversations usually come out of the kids. Today was no exception.
We've told the kids that once Olivia turns 8 and Emma Claire turns 6 we'll let them get an outdoor dog. I know they still won't be old enough to REALLY take care of it, but I had to come up with some sort of number for them years ago when they were asking daily for a pet. Now that number that seemed forever away is only a year away, so they talk about their future dog from time to time now.
This morning Olivia was talking about how she'd be in charge of feeding/watering and walking the dog, but she'd take turns and share privledges with her sisters if they were sure they could be responsible. They talked on and on about what kind of dog we might get, and what it would look like, and if the dog would be a boy or a girl and what it's name would be.
Finally, Olivia wraps up the converstation by saying, "I love thinking about the future."
Emma Claire, always with the last word, says, "I love thinking about OATMEAL!"
Olivia rolled her eyes and went back to eating her oatmeal. Under her breath she says, "Seriously?!"
Love those girls!

Service with a Smile

2011-11-29T12:36:00.001-08:00

So there are seasons for just about everything in life. I'm not talking about winter, spring, summer, and fall. I'm talking about seasons of life. It's hard, while your kids are really small to do some things that are really GOOD things, it's just not the right season for them. One thing that I've really had to scale back on is service to others in the form of projects. On my own with five tiny littles at my feet or in my arms it makes it nearly impossible to be able to do any kind of work. I LOVE doing service projects, so it's really hard for it not to be in my season of life right now. I look forward to getting the chance to do more later in life, but every now and then I'm able to slip something in that is good for us to do together.
Today my local MOPS group was meeting at our city homeless shelter to decorate for Christmas. When I first heard we were doing it I wanted to go. I LOVE decorating for Christmas. I thought there was no way for me to actually help since they'd be there on a weekday morning, but as I decorated my own home I put anything I thought would be useful for the shelter in a tub.
This morning I loaded the kids into the suburban in their sock feet thinking that I'd run the tub over to the girls who were going to decorate. When I pulled up to the shelter I made a split second decision that I'd get the kids out and we'd help as long as we could, then we'd go. When I told the kids we were getting out they thought I was crazy! They weren't wearing SHOES! I said, "Well, just feel blessed that we have shoes to wear. Some people aren't blessed with shoes!" and we loaded in.
What a blessing to have my littles with me to help. Lulu and Addi did a great job with the decoration of the outside trees. Mia was a hit with everyone throwing out her constant charming smile. Here are some pictures from our day. Enjoy. I'm so blessed with great kids and great friends! Love MOPS mommas!

I had alread put the older kids in the car when we decided to take a group picture and I was NOT going to get them all back out!

Isn't this blue door fantastic. I love the details in old houses!