last post..

This will be my last post... on THIS blog. I have been posting on my photography blog and sadly neglecting this one. I think about posting often, but never get to it. SO... for the benefit of myself and my laundry:) I am going to just finish out this blog and start posting on my other one. I will combine my personal posts and my photography posts on one blog. Because I know you were worried;) Just for the fun of it... here is a recap of what has been going on around here...in random order.

1) Homeschool is going great. It is number 3 priority( God, husband, children) in my house right now so it gets lots of attention. Kellen started reading this past month! How fun! We have been SLOWLY going through the old testament, l have been learning lots and I am amazed at how God sets the scene for Jesus to come save us. He made a way for us over and over and again ( bc we as humans kept screwing it up...but He knew we would) Some of our other subjects have tied in with bible, some are separate. Reading, Language Arts, Math, Science, and History/Geography. There never seems to be enough time in the day to do what we want!

2) Jason is still wholesaling cars and thanks to the wonderful economy:) also doing yard work and other side jobs to keep the dough rolling in. We have also learned ALOT about keeping our expenses down. I have been doing a little creative shopping and now I am educating myself on the whole coupon deal. i am doing it! Slowly but surely. I have a little competition with myself to see how little I can get a lot for.

3) I have stared my photography business. I will try not to bore you with details, but I have wanted to do it for years. After waiting and praying a listening to my husbands advice...I made a decision to follow this dream. It has been a fun ride. I am truly blessed to be doing this. Thanks to you all for being so supportive and encouraging of it!

4) Church, hanging with our friends, making crafts, laundry, 2 stomach viruses, Thanksgiving, Christmas shopping, Alabama football, etc. whew!

This post sounds like we are crazy hectic around here, but with God's grace and anointing on us, it is possible. I may need to be reminded of that everyday, but I know it is true. So... if you have gotten this far in this post... bookmark my other blog at www.mandysmithphotos.blogspot.com Thanks!

I saw one!

I have not seen many Obama supporters out there driving around, good thing, my husband might rear-end them just to talk to them out of it.:) But, today we saw one and he was going in the exit side of mcdonald's. Exactly.

Other Blog

Hey everyone! I used to have a photo blog attached, but I took it off and redid it a little. Check it out if you like! I could have done so much more to it, but I had to keep it simple. Please let me know what you think. I did include a price list at the bottom, but for those of you who have already booked an appointment at my intro pricing... of course I will honor that!! You won't hear any more plugs from me about my photography business. It really annoys me when people do that and I am sure you feel the same. Plug over. Really, I am done. What are you still doing here?Go check out my other blog at www.mandysmithphotos.blogspot.com

Photo shoot

This is a wonderful couple... you can tell by their pics how in love they are. Here is a sneak peek at some of their pictures. Now I have to go finish the rest so I can get them their CD!

ramblings...

Hey peeps! Can it really be almost 20 days since I have posted? Where has the time gone? I have been super busy...like I am sure you all have been as well. Let's see... homeschool, soccer, taking care of babies:), loving my husband:) and photography have been about all I can handle! I love life these days!

Soccer is OVER! it was a blast, but I am always glad for a break at the end of any sport season. Jackson and Kellen had so much fun. Homeschool is going well, we are having fun and learning so much. Babies and husband are doing great! Photography is REALLY fun and I am surprised at how it is taking off.

I have talked about and dreamed of becoming a photographer for years. It all started when I got my hands on a friend's SLR. I love being able to manipulate my settings until an image looks like I want it to. I love seeing the beauty with my own eyes and being able to recreate it with my camera.

I have been doing a few photo sessions.. I will post some pics soon. I hardly have time to edit lately. I could spend hours on it, but there are so many other important things to do:) I am shooting a wedding with a great friend of mine in a few weeks. I am so excited. I hope I do a great job. Thanks to everyone who have booked photo sessions with me! I look forward to getting your pictures to you soon. I hope everyone is doing well! I wish we all had time to sit down and have a cup of coffee one on one. I would love to hear about your life, so I will be blog hopping later ( the older 3 are at my mom's today!)

I am shooting on MANUAL!

A year ago, I didn't know what manual was. I got my camera and discovered that there are ways to adjust settings and make this baby take some cool pictures. But, as I tried... and tried and tried... I could not make it click in my brain! I would try to shoot on manual (versus automatic which chooses the settings for you) and the pictures looked BAD! So, I shot on the automatic settings while I put photography on the back burner. Auto was just fine when i could barely waddle over to get the camera and snap a few of my boys. ANYWAY... I shot at a wedding this Saturday and of all places it started making sense and I shot almost the whole time on manual. I am so excited. I am looking forward to doing more weddings in the future. I love photography... almost as much as painting, maybe more, because you get (almost) instant results. And I get to (hopefully) bless people with beautiful pictures of their families! I will post a few more another time. I have got to go to bed! BTW...Did anyone watch the office? We cut off cable.... thanks again Dave Ramsey! I love it!

Just a few pics..
1. I love green.., I have always loved green, but lately I have been craving green. I do that for some reason. I go through seasons were I crave certain colors. I once craved orange through an entire pregnancy. Good thing it was an color that can be eaten a alot! (orange sherbet, oranges, orange peanuts, etc) So... Green is my new color. Go Green!
2. This is my niece and her sweet hubby. Aren't they cute! They will be married for 1 year in November. (Those are my babies!) Can you tell by the look on her face that they will have some of their own soon???
3. Sweet feet.. One reason, I think, that God made it so babies can't walk yet is so we can stare at the bottom of their feet. NOTE: My 6 year old still wants to name them Rick and Bubba. Uhh.... NO!
4. The best pic for last... My sweet and wonderful mother. She has ALWAYS been there for me and she does get frustrated with me.. but she LOVES me and my family! And I am so thankful for that...

I cringe when I hear people yelling at their spouse or even worse their children in public. I am sure you have witnessed this. It always seems to happen to me at Walmart.  I always feel so bad for them. Don't you agree that is a really awkward moment for everyone?  Or. maybe the people are so used to yelling that they don't even notice it. The other day at soccer, i was up the hill at the car changing the twins' diapers. For about 5 minutes this lady was letting her kids have it. Her son was 4 or 5 years old and he didn't bring his ball to practice...YOU FORGOT YOUR BALL! WE ARE SO LATE NOW! HURRY UP! GET OUT OF THE CAR!  I mean, it just went on and on (kind of like this post!) Then, the kid started crying (ya think?) and she actually says...WHY ARE YOU CRYING? DON'T YOU WANT TO PLAY SOCCER? WE WILL NOT SIGN YOU UP AGAIN EVER IF THIS IS HOW YOU ACT! Can you believe that the kids didn't want to go play? I think I would have nightmares about soccer if I were him.

Now, here is the funny (sort of) part of this post. Just so you don't think I am judgemental or mental)... we were at our SOCCER game Saturday morning. Now, we got there at 8:45 (after a shower, a quick clean-up after breakfast, a trip to target, and leaving my half-finished coffee in the van (AGAIN!) we were in the middle of the game,with no chair, because we forgot it (AGAIN).  Jason is one of the coaches. He is helping coach the kids, I have a baby taking a bottle in one arm, holding another bottle for the other baby in the stroller, my four year old is tugging at me and going through the bag because he is bored and thirsty. My 2 year old things I am a goalie and the fence behind me is the net. He keeps booting the ball HARD at my feet... i am kicking it back. I guess for the 2 seconds that I looked down at the baby in the stroller... my 2 year old decided that now is his chance to make it big in soccer and storms the field with his little ball. WITH 6 and 7 YEAR OLDS!    He was almost right in the middle of the game.

Here comes the yelling. Jason, my sweet loving husband, gives me a look that says to me... you crazy person... what are you doing??? He runs out, gets our little one, and YELLS at me... MANDY>>> WHAT ARE YOU DOING?????    He actually has to ask that? Well, instead of the gentle, kind words that were supposed to come out... I YELLED back... HEY<>

It doesn't sound that bad, but it was ugglllyyy. 

Now, those of you who know my husband, know that he probably didn't notice or care. I mean, he had been in the middle of yelling and cheering the kids on anyway. But, I felt awful. I wanted to cry! I was so embarrassed and mad at myself  (and him) . Needless to say, this is how the rest of the game went for the little soccer star...

we are good now...of course it never came up and I forgot about it until I just downloaded this picture. HA! look at his cute little soccer ball!

Rammer Jammer!

*I started this post on Sunday morning...just now got it done... Monday night. How bad is that?

Hey Bulldogs!

Hey Bulldogs!

Hey Bulldogs!

We just beat the hell out of you!

Rammer Jammer Yellow Hammer, give em hell Alabama!

Please excuse profanity... opinions expressed in this blog are not the opinions of the blog owner ...blah, blah, blah  

Oh yes they are!~this part has to be read in a Brian Regan accent:)

We had fun watching the game... sorry about all the extra noise Matt!

Our boys love watching football with Daddy (even the babies). Sooo, we let them stay up and hang with the guys... and Mommy!

Jason is so awesome, at one point I looked over and he was eating his hot wings with like 4 kids hanging off him, sitting on him, etc. What a man!

Nursery...

I am sitting here feeding Charlie... "Charlie bit me!"  Just kidding. (If you haven't seen that youtube  video then never mind.) Anyway, out of boredom, i posted these pictures of the nursery and of Charlie.(Charlie is thinking..."what is that woman up to now??") I love the name plates my mom made.  I am going to velcro them to the wall above their beds. Nailing them to the wall will not be enough around here:) I am also thinking of other things I would like to velcro in place... the remote, the phone, the kids... just kidding! 

I love watching my kids learn!

Specifically, I love homeschooling. Now, I know that I could wait for them to get home from school and ask them how their day was, but somehow I just don't think it would be the same as sharing it side-by-side with them. Friday, we went to the Aldridge Gardens. It was a planned field trip with our home school group. We went on a tour and learned all about trees. It was so fun. The best part to me was that our whole family went, even Daddy and the babies! I am so glad that these brothers get to experience things together. 

Then, after the field trip, I took the older two boys to pottery class. I absolutely love this teacher and loved watching them make their honey-pots. I am thinking this would make a fun-mom's night out. You can buy a piece already made and then paint it. She fires it and you pick it up the next week. All for 15-30 dollars! 

On another note: please be praying for Josiah Carrier. He is 18 months old and was injured when a big tv fell on his head. He is a little miracle child! Check out his website at caringbridge.com  Type in Josiahcarrier as the sign-in. Thanks!

close-ups of Charlie

Here are a few close-ups of my sweetie. I was working on a collage of Charlie before I broke the camera. I love these eyes!

TO BE CONTINUED...

new camera?

Sad to say, my camera is broken. My fault... I was packing the bags for our Saturday soccer games. I have found that I have to take only 2 bags if I pack my camera in the diaper bag. The camera bag is too bulky. I always take it right out when we get there and wear it around my neck during the games. Well... the bags were on my kitchen counter and I was on the other side of the counter pouring my second cup of coffee... I heard a crash...I felt like I was moving in slow motion...too late. There lies my Nikon on the ceramic tile. Now all the pictures are dark. Like, black. BUMMER! I tried to convince myself that this is no big deal, but it didn't work. I miss my camera! Now, I have to wait until we save up to buy another one. Thanks a lot Dave Ramsey...with all your debt free blah blah blah! Now I can't in good conscience buy a new one yet:) Maybe it won't be long. 

On a much happier note... my hubby and I celebrated our 7th anniversary! We are in awe of how much God has blessed us in the past 7 years. It has been amazing. He is my best friend and we have so much fun together. I know this might annoy some... but what the heck, this is my blog. :) Do something sweet for your spouse today to let them know how you love them!

My babies

I practiced photography the other day on my favorite subjects. I wanted to get some good shots of the babies while they are still little. First, I set up the backdrop and checked the lighting with my older 2 boys. They had so much fun.

What a cutie! He looks just like his Daddy!

I had a little trouble with the focus on this picture, but I love it anyway. He is such a sweetheart and I could take pictures of him all day.

Their patience wore off!

Charlie

Henry

Henry

Let me know what you think ... I am still learning so go easy on me!:)

We are doing good... soooo tired, but good. Today it actually took me ONE HOUR to get to a place that is usually about 2 minutes from my house. I got to the back, without my card, went back home to get it... went to the bank, then chick-fil-a, then back to the bank because I didn't get enough money out the first time. At this point my kids were getting so impatient (we were headed to this cool little splash park down the street so they were very excited). So, we get back to the bank and I dropped my driver's license and it was stuck in between the seat. I almost broke my hand trying to get it. I asked the boys to help... actually I asked for one, but 2 boys unbuckled and scrambled to the front of the van and dove onto the floor ( you would think they were given a pass out of prison or something) So they were on the floor cramming their little arms under my seat and practically fighting over who would get to the driver's license first. (It is still out there in my car under the seat right now) Thankfully, the lady at the bank remembered me ( how could she forget... I am the lady in the van with all the kids yelling, "3 suckers please, 3 suckers PUULLLLEEEZZEEEE!")

I think she gave me the 10 bucks out of her own purse just to get rid of me! HA

Okay, now I will quit rambling. Sorry for the long post. I could go on, but I will spare you!

Settling In and My Funny Dream

               I took this on my webcam and edited it in iphoto. 
Hey! I recently read in an article that it takes some mom's longer than others to "settle in" to motherhood with each baby. Usually about 6 weeks. Next week, the twins will be 6 weeks. Some days I feel like I have "settled in" and everything is easy, then WHAM... I feel like I am a first time mom and I have no idea what I am doing. After 3 babies, you would think I would have this down, right? 

We are doing great though and I have found that the key to staying sane right now is trying to maintain an attitude of thankfulness. I have tons to be thankful for, so it should be easy. :)

Last night, I had a funny dream that I was on a treadmill and people kept handing me these glass balls that were extremely valuable and I could not drop them. The treadmill was going faster and faster and people were handling me more and more balls. I think God intervened in my dream because all of a sudden there was a huge basket by the treadmill and I thought, I can't do this all alone, I will put the balls in this basket and God can take care of them. Isn't that a cool dream. I am really not sure if I was awake or asleep, it was kind of like a day dream, only at 3 a.m. But, I felt really at peace when it was over and I slept so great... until 6 a.m. :) 

So, was it a God given dream, or have I been watching the Olympics too much before I go to bed?

By the way, my 4 year old wants to swim faster than Michael Phelps one day. I told him he could with enough practice. He believes he can and I do too.  Have a great weekend!

Whew!

I am so excited to have 5 minutes to spare before my bedtime! I still have laundry to be done, dishes to be put up, etc. but it can wait. I miss all my blogger friends. I confess... I have not been reading your blogs people, but it is not because I don't want to. For example, my hubby is standing behind looking over my shoulder waiting for the computer. I have been on it now 2 minutes:) Granted, he is trying to research a few cars before an auction tomorrow. Have I mentioned how awesome he is??? No really, he isn't even standing there anymore... I really do think that he is:)

Update on us: ( and then tomorrow, I promise, maybe I will catch up on you guys!)
Henry and Charlie are great, gaining weight inspite of nursing woes. Hopefully that will improve in the next few days because right now my life consists of what the lactation gurus call triple feeding... nurse, feed them a supplement (45 minutes) and THEN pump for 15 minutes. It occured to me that this was insane to attempt!!! I mean, I should not even be driving right now I am so tired. :) So, I tried just pumping while they take their bottles in the middle of the night so I could get back to bed within 30 minutes. Genius! Then I was telling my friend of the triple feeding nightmare that was going on during the day. " oh, I am not sure I can handle this much longer... my kids need me, my husband needs me, my teeth need me (to be brushed, ya know?) " She says, "Why don't you so the pumping while bottle feeding routine during the day also, until they are strong enough to nurse and get enough milk from that alone?" Why don't I? Well, I will tell you why I don't... because that would be TOO SIMPLE!!!! So, thanks to my dear smart, well rested friend... life has gotten easier over the past few days. Hence the blogging...

Okay, the ramble has gone on long enough and my 5 minutes are up. Off to laundry, dishes and maybe a bowl of cereal with Blanch, Dorothy, Rose, and Sophia. I have been loving me some Golden Girls and Multi-Grain cheerios every night. Thanks DVR!!

Our Boys Are Here

Henry on the left... Charlie on the right.

Charlie

Big brother and little brothers!

Hey there! Here are a few pics of our beautiful baby boys! They arrived on July 10th at 1:16p.m. and 1:18p.m. Henry Davis Smith weighed 6lbs 1 oz. and Charles "Charlie" Rhymer Smith weighed 5lbs 1 oz. We are all doing really well. We are delighted to have them here and even in these sleepless days and nights... we are so thankful and already in love with these two! They are so sweet.  

Also, tomorrow is my oldest 6th birthday! 6 years years ago about this time (10:00 pm) I started having my first labor contractions ever. I was 1 week overdue and I still wasn't sure I was really in labor. About an hour later... I was sure! I had never felt any pain like it before! But, I was so excited to be meeting our first little one that I did not care about the pain. I think it is interesting that 6 years later... here we are sitting up with our TWIN newborns!  5 boys in 6 years... how amazing! I would not change anything about it.

Happy Birthday Jackson!

Happy Fourth!

The dad took the boys (except for the two in utero!) to the July 4th celebration in our town. I love living in a smaller community. It was right down the road from our house, so I could actually see the fireworks from the window. It was really cool. I know the boys had an awesome time! D.S. (2 yrs. old) kept calling the fireworks rain. "that rain daddy? that rain??" He finally learned that they were fireworks. The first thing he said the next morning... "too loud, momma, pirechorks too loud..." Thanks Ardria for sending these pics. I missed you guys!!!

Typical boys! They found a snail and just knew I wanted it to keep on my dresser. Finally, I talked them into leaving it outside. I felt sortof defenseless being confined to my chair outside. Thank goodness it was only a snail. Then, yesterday, their cousins came over to visit. We had a house full of 5 boys. I kept watching them, thinking, this is what I will have in a few short years. I love it! They were very into killing flies that had gotten into the house. Then, as they were leaving, my oldest says to my sister-in-law, " I tell you what I am going to do... I am going to kill a fly for yall and put it in a piece of paper and then send it to you so that way you can have a dead fly." He was so serious. I told her, don't worry, we won't let him mail you ANY dead animals or insects. Hilarious!!!

Funny story...

I was talking to my 4 year old while his brother were outside. We had a rare few minutes of one-on-one time. Here is the conversation we had...
me: Who made you?
K: God
me: Do you know how much He loves you?
K: How much?
me: A LOT
Me: What did Jesus do while He was on this earth?
K: healed people and died on the cross

then a long pause and while I was waiting to hear what else he would say... he says,
"Mommy.... but why did Jesus get hammered??"

I busted out laughing for some reason... I tried not too, but he was so serious. I love his innocence. The phrase getting hammered to him means getting hammered ( as in nailed to the cross) I regained my composure and we talked some more about it. But, I was still laughing later as went outside to play. I love having kids!

One big momma

To all you wonderful people who keep telling me that I am not fat, etc, etc... I know you are mistaken, but keep it coming!!! Isn't this a sweet moment though?? If I could crop out my face:) And this is one of the better looking pics of me these days!

Other than my growing bigger everyday... everything is the same with the babies here on the outside. 35 weeks and 3 days... woohooo! Every night before I go to bed I think, " I wonder if tonight will be the night." Here is my thought process pretty much every night.... I wonder if tonight I will go into labor... I did just have one contraction...I forgot to pack my bag..again...oh, and I forgot to write down the number of my in case I go into labor in the middle of the night friend. ( I lost her number when we bought a new phone)... and we don't have the co-sleeper (bassinet) set up...there goes another contraction.... at least I had a shower...Did I shave???... oh wait, I didn't shave because I can't reach past my knees...I hope that we have enough gas in our car...Tomorrow I am going to... 

The next thing I know, it is like 2 am and Jason is elbowing me, waking me up to tell me I am snoring. GOOD TO KNOW WHILE I AM SLEEPING!!!  I really think between that and the bathroom trips I am up at least 4-5 times a night. God is preparing me for when these babies get here. I can hardly wait!!! yeeeeeeeee

The Screwtape Letters

I am reading C.S. Lewis's The Screwtape Letters. It is messing with my mind! I would never have picked it out, but Jason got it to read and I have read all the Amish books we checked out... so I had to try something new. Do you ever notice how if you do something a lot during the day, then you dream about it at night. How annoying! I jsut want to sleep without dreaming about Amish people or Mr. Wormwood and Screwtape.

Seriously, the book was hard to get into, everything is reversed because it basically is a bunch of letters (fictional of course) written between 2 devils. It makes you look at how you think of things and do things in a new light. It kind of gives you an insight into all kinds of silly traps we humans tend to fall into.

Am I boring you yet?

Happy Day!

Okay... I will start from the beginning. I woke up feeling like today is my birthday or maybe Christmas. I AM 34 WEEKS today! YEAH! Way back at 29 weeks when I was put on bed rest the Dr. said, if you can just get to 34 weeks we can avoid a lot of problems with them being too early. I do love a challenge! Now, I am hoping to get to 37 weeks. I am in the homestretch!

Also, I went to the Dr. today for my regular appt. I go every week( or 2x a week lately) for a heart rate monitoring test. Some of you are laughing at my "stress test"! Then I waddle upstairs for an ultrasound.. which went great. The boys weigh somewhere between 4 and 5 pounds! They have plenty of fluid. Now, for the very personal part...the exam! I am only 1cm dilated (which is great) Normally, when you are getting checked you pray that you are very dilated or already in labor... but I will save that for 37 weeks.

The best part is... the first baby is head down so no c-section for me! I have never had one and I would like to keep things the same so I will know what to expect.

Thanks for your prayers and food!

33 WEEKS AND 3 DAYS

Well, time seems to have slowed down lately... doesn't that always happen at the end of a pregnancy. Sometimes, when we are really busy I want things to slow down and they seem to speed up around me. Funny, how that works.

I have been reading a few Beverly Lewis books. J. went to library for me and found them... that is love:) If you have never read her books, she writes Amish fiction. How did I ever get into these???? Oh, I remember, I bought a huge box of Christian books at a yard sale for like 5.00 or something. Anyway, I love her reading about the Amish... A few of you know my affection for their lifestyle. In fact, every time I start reading one of her books, J. always says, "Baby, we are not going to be Amish unless Jesus walks through that door and tells me to be Amish...even then I would ask Him...are you sure???"

I agree totally, I would miss the modern conveniences of life too much. But, I have to admit that I am attracted to the simplicity of their lifestyle. It may sound cheesy, but every time I read about the Amish ways, I am reminded of my nature to collect "stuff" just to feel happy and secure. It usually leads to discontentment and more time spent taking care of and cleaning up all this "stuff" I have collected.

Here is one thing I learned from the book: WE MISS OUT ON A GREAT DEAL OF PEACE by rushing around, going from one thing to the next...collecting and maintaining, collecting and maintaining. Then, we evn have to spend more time sorting through all the "stuff" and hauling it off to Salvation Army or a yardsale, etc.

Does anyone else feel this way, or am I just nesting??? :)

Friends

I am a little emotional these days, but I don't think this kind of emotion is a bad thing. 

I have always been so grateful for friends, but lately I have a new appreciation. I have realized how important they are to me and how God places them in our lives for a reason. Friends are a necessity. Good friends make your life so rich. Sigh.....

Our friends have been calling, brining food, encouraging us. laughing with and most importantly, praying for our growing family.  Check out these pictures of some of our friends, some we have had for a long time and some are new friends that we will hopefully stay in touch with over the years. I love doing life with you all! And the many more that I don't have recent pictures of!

New Yard!

You know you are a real grown-up when you are excited about your front yard being landscaped. For some reason, even though I just turned 30... I still have a hard time seeing myself as an adult.
Anyway, we bought this house a year ago and we have loved it here. We bought it because it has LOTS of room for improvement... it is part of our plan to renovate it and then sell it and have a nice amount to put down on the next one. I think we may do this a few times until we can have a house debt free... (at least it sounds good, we will see with 5 kiddos)

So...my very hardworking husband, with the help of his friends and brother, leveled and sodded our front yard. It looks so good I had to brag on him. The yard looked like a jungle when we moved in. He has been clearing it for weeks and weeks. The bare spots are lined with rocks and will soon be flower beds. Good job honey!

Our Crew