My End of The Year going ons....

I guess that over the last few months I have really lacked in writing for my blog. It used to be something that I would do every few weeks and now. Well you guys have seen how long it has been since I have wrote. Sorry about that. I am sure that all of you blog stalkers have missed the updates of the goings on with all us Smith's, but I haven't heard many complaints so I am sure that there are not many people who are actually reading this anyway. It's mainly for ME anyway. It's my own selfish attempt at a journal. It's just more interactive than writing on paper and everyone in the world can read it. It really takes on the meaning of an open book right??

So here is what we have been up to in the last few months.

September went without much going on after Ben's Birthday. We did get him some really cute flowers for the top of his headstone this year. Katy went with me on his birthday to put them there. It was fun to visit him and Nutmeg. The photo is thanks to Katy. Not bad for my 4 year old.

Then it was to the last of the count down for our family cruise with the Grandma! The middle of October was just not coming fast enough for all off us but before we knew it Cruise day was here! We had a short drive to Mobile to pick up Grandma and hop on the Elation!

Here is the view from our room on the morning of our cruise :-)

Waiting for our shuttle to get to the port.

And then we were sailed away from Mobile and found ourselves in Cozumel!!

After another short night on the boat, we found ourselves in Isla Roatan. My most favorite place in the whole world! It was so fun seeing the monkeys and birds. We went to the orphanage to visit with the kids and just had some fun!

Sorry there are no pictures of Hannah with the birds. She wasn't too keen on visiting with that kind of stuff, so we just let her be and were just plain happy that she was with us!

Before we knew it we were off to Belize for our last stop of the week. We were going to go see the Ruins. Something that I have always wanted to do and I was so excited for the opportunity to go see a different set this time with my Mom and kids. It really made the Book of Mormon come alive for our kids. I hope that one day, I will get the opportunity to go back for a week or two and just go around and see the ruins!

Of course we have to end with Hannah and her handstand in Belize! They do them everywhere and anywhere!

Our cruise ended and it was time to tell Grandma good-bye until the next time we see her :-( It was good to get home and before I knew it the days had faded to Halloween. The night was great! Poor Katy had a bag malfunction and lost all her candy while we were out. It was nice to not have so much candy around the house, but man I felt bad for her. Nope. No pictures of Hannah again. She is in this crazy don't take any pictures of me mode right now. Katy had 3 or 4 costumes this year, but that day she ended up as Hannah. She wanted to be her big sister! How cute is that?!?!

So now onto November. It just speeds up from here! Katy tried sushi, a trip to Atlanta, Thanksgiving, decorating, haircuts, and more!

The girls decorated the tree all by themselves this year. This is what they did while we were outside putting up the lights for the house. I am so proud of them!

Hannah's new hair cut. She just wanted her hair cut while we were at the mall and well that is what we got. I can't believe how big she is already!

Ruby's first Thanksgiving lunch at Kitty Stone

And now onto December. We have had something to do almost every day this month so far and it just keeps getting more and more crazy as the days have gone on this month. Steve started bugging me about still having Halloween music on the blog and now that it is almost Christmas it is finally changed. Maybe I will leave it up for a little into the new year. The kids have kept us really busy this month.
Hannah had her state gymnastic meet the first weekend of the month. She placed 7th all around and got 3rd on vault!!! I was so proud of her. She got 5th on bars and had the best meet that she could have had.

Ruby has had us at Christmas programs and dance programs and parties all through the month.

Katy has had us at more parties, programs, and dance stuff too.

I can't keep up with everything that these little people have me going to, but I am so thankful that I am able to attend everything that I need to be at.

Steve has had his birthday this month and we had to go to Katy's Christmas program that night, but we were able to go out to dinner to celebrate before her program. Katy could not keep a secret of what we got Steve for his triple combo present (birthday/anniversary/christmas) so he found out that he was getting a new drill with lots of "umph" as he calls it. I sure hope that he loves it! But he still is getting a really cool present under the tree :-)

Here are a few pictures of what we have been up to this month so far....

Steve had his little "procedure" this month. Of course on the day of my final, so it was a very stressful day for me, but he did awesome!

Yep, look at those big bangs for the PE dance show!

Isn't Hannah rockin' it out?!?!?

Ruby and her BFF at school! Aren't they so cute!

Ruby lost her first tooth while Aunt Emily was here for a jewelry party at the house.

Her new smile :-)

Katy playing dress up with all of Aunt Emily's stuff! Oh I am so worried already!

Katy with her teacher at her Christmas show. She is an official pre-school dropout as of yesterday. She just needed a little bit of extra time at home with us.

Ruby after her dance program! Posing that perfect dance pose for the camera!

Hannah looking great after the show! She did amazing!

This is my favorite picture of the night! Katy was so cute and there is Ru in the back pouting!!

The BEST news of the month came on Monday, December 12th. Totally out of the blue and it's big news for me. I got a call from Mr. Hoffland about nursing school. See I found out that I didn't get into nursing school a few months ago, so I was wondering why he was even calling me. I left the office with a number to another nursing program and a good luck. Well after of what seemed like an eternity, he offered me a spot in this new nursing class! I got into nursing school and if my life wasn't busy already it went into hyperdrive as of that moment! I have already been to CPR class, gotten a physical, filled out lots of paperwork, reserved my books, and so much more in just a few days. I will be graduating with my class and a BSN in April 2014. I can't wait for this adventure to finally get started. Please pray for my husband and family during this adventure of mine for the next 2 1/2 years. We are all going to need it!

Well there is the end of our year in a short entry. I PROMISE to get Christmas pictures up on Sunday afternoon. Until then.....

My baby got Angel Wings

It's really hard to believe that 10 years ago this evening, I had the opportunity to watch my first born gain his Angel Wings. So much has happened in the last ten years and I think that this is probably the first year that I have been happy during this time of year. I have smiled and even had a laugh or two over the last few days. It has taken me years to get to this point, but time does heal some of the pain of loosing a child. No it's not something that goes away, but I think I have made it to the point that instead of looking back I want to look forward. Forward to our reunion in years to come.

I was thinking yesterday on my walk home from sewing class about all of us sitting at the funeral home after we had brought Ben back to Jacksonville. Now I have never told this story to many people before, so I hope that you get a good laugh out of it too. If you know my Mom, then this is very out of the ordinary for her! But it is one of my most favorite memories of her. I will probably tell this story at her own funeral (many YEARS from now!) Back to the funeral home: This really nice lady is trying to make the best of the whole situation and let me tell you it had been a very long few days for all of us and our parents. Well they try to be nice at the funeral home asking for the money up front because that is the nature of the business. **So if someone dies, YES you are expected to pay BEFORE services are rendered! Don't say you were not warned!** We take care of all that side. My jaw just about hit the floor when we saw the bill that digging that little hole would be $300!! If I would have been feeling better, I would have gone and dug it myself. Then it was some outrageous price per mile to drive Ben over to the city cemetery, so we told the lady that we would pick Ben up ourselves. Not like his coffin would take up much room in my mom's minivan. He fit just fine in the back for that short ride a few days later. 

Back to the funny part of this whole thing. This lady was still talking to all of us. She went into this whole speech about how we needed three things during our time of loss. The first one was to drink plenty of water **she was holding her hands like she was holding 2 pitchers of water**. This was because we are going to be crying a lot and she didn't want us to get dehydrated! About this time, my mom puts her head down and I swear the woman has lost it. I think major break down right there in the funeral home. I am trying to keep it together for her and just pat her on the back. What else am I supposed to do? 

Then here comes reason two. You need comfortable shoes! Why? Because we are going to be doing a lot of walking and if I wanna go barefoot, then that was okay too. She said no one would remember or recognize that I didn't have shoes on. Now my mom is really starting to loose it. Just heaving up and down with big breaths and what I think are sobs.

And lastly there was reason number three. I can wear anything I want to the funeral. I mean who wants to go to a funeral in all black right? I want to wear red and this lady told me I could! Awesome. The sobs are still coming from my mom. 

The lady after giving this really cool speech quietly excuses herself from the room so we can have a few minutes to ourselves as a family. This is when I find out that my mom was NOT crying at all or having some break down, but trying not to LAUGH at this lady! Oh I could have wrung her neck, but all I could do was laugh! The woman could have won an Oscar with trying to hide her laughs! After everything we had all been through, all you can do is laugh. It is okay to laugh! I think all of us took a few minutes to gather ourselves and have a good laugh. The rest of us that night there were cracks about drinking plenty of water and "Did you find yourself comfortable shoes?"

I hope that all of you got a good laugh today! All of you mom's and dad's please give your babies an extra hug tonight before bed! Grandma's and grandpa's say an extra prayer for your grandbabies or give them a call just to say hi! 

I may not have my little man here with me today, but I am super excited that he got his 10 year Angel Wings badge today. I know he is working hard on the other side of the veil and is surrounded by those in our family who have gone on ahead. Katy wants me to remind everyone that Ben is keeping close watch over my Nutmeg, Lee the beagle, Sadie our very loved yellow lab, Pepper our "Very Special" black lab, and Dusty the horse too! 

Here is the link to the post with Ben's Birthday Story for everyone to read if you would like. Just click here! 

-------> Ben's Birthday Story <---------

If you know someone that has lost a baby or just needs to talk, please feel free to give them my name. Sometimes it's great just to listen to someone who has been in a similar situation. 

I love you Benjamin Alexander, my little man with Angel Wings!

Middle of September

I guess that I am doing better. It hasn't been months between posts :-)

This week was fun! It was my birthday and a good one at that! I first got to celebrate by going shopping at a great kids consignment sale. It's so much fun to shop and getting to shop for bargins too is even better.

Hannah looked really cute one morning this week and I couldn't help but take her picture. She is starting to look older. Maybe it might be how long her hair is getting, but that's my little Hannah.

She invited me to school on my birthday to watch her take apart some owl pellets. For those of you who don't know what those are. In simple terms, it is what the owl throws up after eating. Hannah and Ashley looked like they were having a great time finding out what was in them. I love being able to go to class and see what my kids are doing!

I have been getting some good deals on eBay for the girls and it just so happened that an outfit that I got at the consignment sale for Katy or Ruby matched a dress that I got for Hannah off of eBay! Katy wanted to wear it first and Hannah had to go try her new dress on. I think they are so cute!!!

Then it was time for Ruby to try on her dress for the cruise boat! I can't believe that I am getting my Ruby into a dress. She is a skirt and shirt type of girl in all ways. I saw this dress and splurged a little, but anything for her to be in a dress. I think that this will be a big hit in just a few weeks!!

Katy had to get in on the picture action and show off her new Tinkerbell costume!

The end of the school week was fun too! Ruby got to go on a field trip around Jacksonville! We have been to many of the places before with the Children's House, but a field trip is a field trip right??
Here she is in the new bakery that only makes cupcakes. I sure hope that it opens soon because they are so yummy!!

We got to go to the flower shop for flowers too. Then back to the library to see around the children's section and get read a story :-) We met up with the class that her best friend, Brody is in. Us mom's could not pass up a picture opportunity of Ruby and Brody together! I just can't believe how tall Brody is getting!

Ruby got to go over to the bank and look in the bank vault. Of course it would be my kid who said "What ya got in there?" in Ruby style! When it was asked what do you keep in a safe deposit box, Ruby of course yelled out "Your Passport!" Mrs. Starr said "Yep, she knows she is going on vacation soon!"

Here is our last picture after we got to go to Roma's! No Ruby did not make that little boy cry. He has really bad allergies. Ruby is getting so big too!!!

We went out for ice cream and found ourselves at Walgreen's to turn in a movie to red box. The halloween stuff is out and here is a little bit of scarry for all of you!

My birthday week ended with Steve taking me white water rafting. It was a great trip and so much fun! I don't know how I have missed out on that all these years. I so can't wait until Katy is 12 so that we can take all the girls with us. Sorry that we don't have any pictures from that. They take pictures and make you pay big bucks for them. Just trust me when I say I had a great time with Steve for the whole day! My day even ended with me getting a blizzard at Dairy Queen :-)

So there is a little bit of my week!! I am sure there will be many more adventures this week too.