Halloween..... Smith Style!

Halloween this year was... INTERESTING! We anticipated a way fun 5 days of celebration with it falling on a Sunday this year. It started out great, and kind of went down hill from there. The older kids got to wear their costumes to school on Wednesday and had fun but Wednesday night Brinley was up all night sick. She was devastated Thursday that she could only go to the costume portion of her preschool (with heavy layers of sanitizer) and only because she had been looking forward to that day for 2 weeks straight and had been acting fine all day.

~ Kids at School ~

I didn't get a picture of Jordan this day because I was too busy trying to console Brinley. The pic above is an hour and a half later, when she got to finally go, so she was a lot happier by then!

Friday, we started off the weekend at an extended family costume party. The kids were really excited and looking forward to it. We got all dressed up and got in the car. We had to make it to Pleasant Grove... we finally made it there over an hour later, thanks to traffic! The kids had fun dancing, playing with cousins, and eating spooky desserts.

Rylan's 1st Halloween.

He has an Army outfit on for his costume but it is hard to see.

When we got home and into bed was the not so fun part! Mackenzie and Brinley were up all night! Mackenzie couldn't keep anything down and Brinley had a tummy ache. :o(

Halloween Night 2010

Mackenzie and Brinley both acted fine Saturday so our hopes were up that it was just that they had eaten something bad instead of actually being sick, but around 3, Kenzie started feeling sick again. About that same time, it started raining, and raining.... we were supposed to have a neighborhood potluck, which was still able to be pulled off in a garage, but was rather cold. I stayed home with Mackenzie and the little kids because of the rain and her being sick and Rich took Dallas and Micailey down for a bit. They got back around 5 and with some pushing from me to get the little kids out the door to be able to trick or treat at all, they finally started down the street. They were only gone for about 10 minutes when they all ran back in the house... I had enough time to ask why they were back home and hear a quick explanation of black skies and lightning... when the sky opened up and DUMPED hail everywhere!

It continued to rain for quite a while after. I decided that if the little kids were going to get any trick or treating in before it got dark, I was going to have to take them out in the rain. So Dallas and Micailey went out together, and I took the 4 little kids down the street.... we only got 4 houses in and we were so drenched and freezing that everyone was whining and complaining to go home! So we did! That was the extent of their trick or treating! Fun huh! Oh well, there is always next year and they didn't seem bothered by it, so it's fine I guess. FYI... the rain did end up stopping.... AFTER every one had decided they were done with the whole trick or treating thing...

Rich had to leave Sunday night for the week on a work trip which was kind of a downer to the actual day of Halloween, so I decided that we would try to make it a little better by having a fun dinner. It took some planning and prep ahead of time so that I could do it on my own with all 8 kids, but we pulled it off quite easily and the kids had fun!

Our Menu:

Witches hair with eyeballs,

blood n bones,

severed fingers,

and swamp Slime with worms and fish

So, to sum the weekend up..... It was..... INTERESTING! Sickness, rain, hail, very little trick or treating, and husband less... oh, and did I mention, as soon as Rich left, Macie had a tummy ache and that night Jordan was up sick :o) Gotta love being a mom!

Happy Halloween every one!

I hope you had a GREAT one!!!

Dallas's look alike :o)

Dallas is quite proud that Rylan looks like him! He has waited 12 years for this!

We still had the same outfit that Dallas was in so we decided to see just how much they looked like each other... You can decide

These are both Rylan at 2 weeks old

Rylan's 1st Bath

Surprise! Happy Birthday Rylan!

Well, I didn't make it to 10-10-10...I didn't even make it to October! You would think after having to be induced with all 5 previous babies that by child #6, you could at least plan on the same odds. I guess not when you WANT to wait....then they come early! Rylan decided to burst his bubble 11 days early! Still to this day it is odd to think of his birthday being in September.

My water actually broke around 10 p.m. but I wasn't sure until about 10:30 when it really started flowing. I was going to try to hang out for a while but Rich didn't think that was a smart plan and talked me into going in. He called his mom to let her know & she came in to stay with the kids.

Right before leaving for the hospital at about midnight

Changing in to the beautiful, always flattering gown :o)

By about 1:30, they had me all hooked up and the pitocin flowing

Rich's version of "Labor & Delivery". The men always have it so rough!

How is he supposed to get any sleep in that chair tonight?!?!

My 1st "real" contraction on Pit

A little after 2, I got my epidural. That was a nice surprise! Usually I have to experience 1 - 2 hours of pit to get the contractions going and strong before they give it to me.

This is another familiar sight during my deliveries! The oxygen mask_ my babies usually come out with the cord around their neck at least once...and this one wasn't going to be any different! In fact it was actually pretty scary for a while! At about 2:30, after my epidural kicked in, I was watching the monitors and all of the sudden his heart monitor started jumping all over the place. I had never seen one do that before. The line didn't even exists any more, it was just a bunch of scribbles all over the paper. About as fast as I could had the thought of what is it doing... the door flew open and 3 nurses ran in and immediately started putting internal monitors on and undoing others. One nurse was grabbing things out of drawers and jabbering medical words between them all. The 2nd nurse came over to me, asked me if I had an epidural and if I was numb... at my Yes answer, she injected my hip with some medicine. I was still in a daze at this point as to what was going on. I knew something was wrong with the heart beat but no one had really said what the deal was or what exactly they were all doing in there. When I asked what I had just been injected with, they explained that the baby was in major stress and they had just injected medicine to instantly stop all contractions and labor....... okay?!?!?

So, we had to sit there for a little over an hour watching the monitors like a hawk and stressing about if he was going to do it again. That made for one LONG night! That, and they wouldn't let me roll to a different position all night which made the baby not come down very fast. The Dr. called at 6:30 a.m. and when he heard that I was still at a 4, he told them to warn me that he was on his way and if I hadn't made any progress he was going to have to do a c-section because my water had been broke for so long. I informed the nurse that this was baby #6 and I had never had a c-section before and I wasn't in there for one today! I then asked (almost begged because that side was so numb) to change position and see if that helped move the baby down. She said I could but warned me that if the baby didn't like it I'd have to be right back on it. All ended up well and the baby started coming down slow but sure!

He was born at 9:52 a.m. and was 7 lbs. 15 oz & 19 1/2 inches long.

My biggest baby yet!

I had originally wanted the kids to wait in the hall while I delivered so they could hear his 1st cry, but when my water broke, I thought that plan was going to be impossible. The Dr. had said that would be fine, but after getting there, the hospital would have made them go to the waiting room anyway. But with the way the whole delivery was and how slow it all happened, they got to the hospital, right as i was pushing and only had to go to the waiting room long enough to have the Dr. finish up and then they were able to come in. So, they didn't hear his 1st cry, but they were there within the 1st 10 minutes which was fun! They got to see him all puffy and discolored :o) We had to explain a few things about why he looked like that.

My new family!

Nursery Pic's - Getting all cleaned up

The 2nd day of his life :o) Getting Cuter!!!

The 3rd Day...I'm in love!!!

Getting ready to take my handsome little man home!

And we're off! So exciting to start a new chapter in life!

Wish me luck! :o)

Dallas turned 12!!!!!!

I know I say this with every birthday, but seriously, where has the time gone! I have a son who goes to Young Men's and Priesthood!!! That can't be possible! I'm not old enough for that!

Dallas wanted another Pirate Ship cake this year. He originally wanted it frosted with normal frosting and then changed his mind at the last minute (which was a blessing to me) to have a German Chocolate with homemade frosting. We had already learned that the frosting does not stay on vertical surfaces so we voted to simply put a pirate ship on top instead of make the cake into a ship. He also insisted that he needed Banana Split toppings too ( which was very Yum if you ask me)!

Blowing out his candles....

still trying to blow them out....

3rd time is a charm! And they weren't even trick candles! :o)

Opening his gifts

He had a few options and requests for his birthday party, but in the end he chose to go to Lagoon for the day. Rich had told/promised the kids during the summer that he would take them and we just never had time. The kids have reminded us of this several times, so after doing the math, we decided to let Dallas take his best friend from school with Rich and the 2 oldest girls to Lagoon for the day instead of having a party. They had a lot of fun! Unfortunately, Mom didn't go and insist on taking pictures, so there is no proof of that! But from the stories I heard they had a blast!

Dallas, I hope you had a great 12th birthday! We are so proud of you for the good choices you are making and for the great young man you have become! We love you!