BIRTHDAYS BIRTHDAYS BIRTHDAYS!

Well we're back in action! We have had 3 birthdays in the past 6 months! Dallin Turned 7 on April 10th. I can't believe he's almost 8 already! We love our sweet sweet Dallin. Whenever we go over to Aunt Kelly and Uncle Nathan's apartment, Dallin always straightens up their place after they (the boys) have messed it up, AND he even straightens the shoes by the front door! (I think he does this because their house is less messy than ours, so it's easier to clean it up). :) Also, whenever we go somewhere and it starts to rain and thunder, Dallin suggests that we say a prayer so we get home safely. He LOVES to play with Erik and use to be the only one who could make him laugh, but now all the boys can make him laugh. :) a popular phrase Dallin says is "this is the best day ever!" or "this is the worst day ever!". LOL We love you Dallin.

(Dallin's cake fell apart when I was trying to get it out of the pan, so I tried to make it look like an Oreo cake... and well, I'm not very good at decorating cakes. )

Erik turned 1 on August 29th. I can't believe a whole year has passed already, and I can't believe that we'll be having boy #5 in less than 4 months! Erik is an absolute Joy to all of us. He is the most pleasant baby, despite the discomforts of his eczema. We don't know for sure, but we think he is allergic to eggs. And we won't know for sure till I get him in to get a skin test for allergies. Poor guy, his skin has had a rough year. :( He is not walking yet, but he sure speed crawls every where. :) He likes to babble a lot! I have several videos of him taken on my cell phone, and I will upload them soon. He LOVES baby einstein and BOOKS. It doesn't matter what kind of book it is, he will grab it and turn all the pages over and over. He is very much a mammas boy just like his other brothers. Daddy isn't all that thrilled about it. Poor Heber. I wish we could have a little girl so she could be a Daddy's little girl... (sigh). We love our Erik. :)

Owen turned 5 on October 3rd. He is a ball of fire! He has the most interesting and bizarre questions to ask me. He LOVES to draw, especially the temple and Angel Moroni. He is a bit obsessed with the temple and Angel moroni. I actually found an Angel Moroni action figure on LDS books online, And I ordered a porcelain temple to set on our book shelf. He LOVED both of them. But he knows the porcelain temple is fragile, so he is careful with it. :)

Heber has had this Darth Vadar Helmet in his closet for like 3 or 4 years, and he finally decided to give it to Owen for his Birthday. So to surprise him he dressed up like Darth Vadar as you can see above. He had us turn off all the lights so he could make his grand entrance with Darth Vadar theme music in the background and a light up red lightsaber to finish the look. It was pretty entertaining to watch. LOL!
It's nice to have Kelly and Nathan right around the corner from us. So they get to come to all the birthday parties. :) And the boys love them dearly.
Ethan just keeps getting more handsome every year, as well as his brothers. The girls in his class tell him he looks like Justin Beiber with his long bangs. LOL and one day I found him flipping his bangs to the side like Justin Beiber! Just had to laugh!
Dallin is quite the goof ball. I had him smiling in the picture, and then as soon as the flash goes off, this is what I get! He loves to make people laugh.

This is what Erik does to me every single day. My leg is like a tree trunk for him, always climbing up it and holding onto it while laughing or whining to have me pick him up. :)
This is my new hair color that I did all by myself. I have to say it turned out pretty good. I am practicing for when I go to beauty school in the next year or two. A friend of mine who is a licensed makeup artist and hair dresser invited me to come help her with a wedding last weekend. I ended up doing 4 updo's including the flower girl, and one girls makeup. And I got paid for it. :) It was a great experience for me!
He Loves, loves, LOVES my phone!

Girls night makeovers by yours truly

We have a girls night every month called "Village Night", and every month we usually talk about a book we read that month, and then we do things like eat different types a fudge that one of the girls made, or have a jewelry party with jewelry that another one of the girls makes. etc... well, we decided to have a makeover night so that I can start to create a portfolio for myself, incase I decide to have my own little makeup business. So... I haven't done makeover's in a while so please don't judge my work too harshly. I haven't gone to beauty school, or have the latest, most expensive makeup and tools to work with. I'm a work in progress. :) I want to thank these lovely ladies for being my models. :) They all are beautiful with and without makeup. :) And thank you to my sister Kelly, for fixing their hair for the finished look. It was so much fun.

Leanna was great for letting me do a smokey eye look on her.
I forgot to take a before picture of Kirsten.


In this picture, just touched up Jeannette's eye shadow and put on some lipstick and some powder
Ashley thought I wasn't going to have time to do her makeup, so she put most of her makeup on, (which she already does a great job), and so I just played up her eyes a bit more.

ERIK 7 months old

Since Erik was 3 weeks old, he has had terrible issues with his skin. The pediatrician told me that he had seborrheic dermititus, which is basically cradle cap, but it spreads to the face and other parts of his body. I have been trying to battle it with auquaphor cream and hydrocortisone cream along with other recommendations to help with it. I did some research online about it, and most people who's children had it said that it cleared up by 6 months. Well I waited it out till then. His skin has had ups and downs. Sometimes it clears up pretty good, then some days it flares up real bad. Well he turned 6 months about a month ago, and he still has it. I changed pediatricians and made an appointment right away. When I went in, he told me that he had eczema. I kind of figured that's what it was, because rough patches of skin spread all over his body. His recommendation to me was to give him probiotics in his bottle, as well as fish oil 2x a day for a month. I went to the whole foods store to get the stuff, and a lady that worked there asked if I was getting this stuff to treat Eczema. And I said yes. Then she told me about borage oil, and how a friend of hers works with her at Whole foods, and he has a grandson who has eczema. She then told me that they put borage oil in his grandson's bottle as well as topically on his face and other parts of the body, and his eczema cleared up within a week. I was sold! I got the borage oil instead of the fish oil, and have been giving him that for a month now, and his skin has gotten a little bit better, but not completely cleared up. So I took him to the pediatrician again, and he told me just to continue to do what he said, and then we'll evaluate things at his 9 month check up. If it isn't better by then, I will probably have to get his blood drawn to see if he's allergic to anything. Despite his skin issues, he is a WONDERFUL baby. We just love him so much! He laughs all the time, and his smile just melts our hearts. He does this thing with his hands that looks like he's trying to rev the engine to a motorcycle when he wants you to pick him up, or when he's trying to tell you that he wants something. it's so funny. :) I'm going to record him sometime doing that. :) Life has been good and crazy for us. As some of you know, my sister Kelly and her husband and their 2 dogs are living with us for a little while until they sell their house in San Antonio. It's been pleasant for the most part for me. But it has it's challenges. All in all it's been fine. And of course I love having my sister around!

A weekend of fun

5 weeks ago my Sister Kelly and her husband Nathan came to visit us from San Antonio. Nathan is planning on going to Chiropractic school this January and they wanted to come check out the Chiropractic school here. Little did I know the college was right around the corner from us! They are deciding between this school and a school in Dallas, but are leaning more towards the school here because, well you know, WE ARE HERE. :) That's not the only reason, but it's a big reason, or so I'd like to think :). My mom was also here with us helping me out with adjusting to 4 boys! Oh man I was so spoiled! She was the BEST! She relieved a lot of stress for me, keeping my house clean, preparing meals, entertaining Owen during the day while Ethan and Dallin were at school. Owen sure missed her when she left. We all did. I think I broke down a few times before she left and after... she doesn't know that. :) Here are some pictures of our fun weekend. :) Oh and be sure to scroll down and listen to Owen's story. :)

Kelly & Nathan, my mom and myself went to the downtown plaza here in KS, and I gave them a little tour. :) This is the river that runs right next to the plaza. You can pay to ride in a Gondola down this river. Heber and I have yet to do it. It looks so romantic.
"Please, no more pictures" :P
Dallin sure loves his new baby brother. He loves to give him kisses and "Pet" him. :)
Erik 3 wks old.
Owen loves to ride on Nathan's shoulders. My sister Kelly has another picture of the two of them like this when Owen was 1 yrs old. It's so cute!
We went to Diana Rose Farmstead. It's a free petting Zoo, but you pay to do activities like fishing, riding ponies, etc... Here's Dallin catching his first fish!
We were SO grateful Nathan was with us, because somebody had to volunteer to do the icky job of putting worms on the hooks, and it sure wasn't going to be me! (Heber was at home with Eric).
Kelly and Nathan in front of the entrance to the Petting Zoo

Here with Grandma Landress :)
And Aunt Kelly
And Momma :)
Grandma with all the Grandsons (yes Owen STILL likes to run around the house shirtless)
The whole family including Bella.

Owen's Story :)

A few weeks ago, My Sister Kelly and her husband Nathan came to visit us, and one of the nights they were here, Heber was upstairs getting the boys to bed, and he was telling them a story. While My mom, myself, and my sister and brother in law were downstairs talking, Owen came down the stairs to supposedly say goodnight to us, but then plopped himself on the couch and said he wanted to tell us a story. :) So Nathan got out their camera and started to film him telling the story. The reason there are 4 clips is because he would stop every time he thought Owen was done with his story, but then Owen would go on. :) I surprised Owen at the end. :) He is such a character! And he LOVES to make up stories.

ERIK THOMAS SMITH is HERE!

We are so excited to have Erik with us finally! For those who don't know already, he was born August 29th just before 10 pm. He weighed 9 lbs 9 1/2 oz, and he was 20 inches long. YEESH! he is a big baby! Biggest of all the boys! And he was a WEEK early! So he would've been over 10 lbs if he were born on time!! Thank goodness he was early! My labor was the shortest with him than with the other three, which was so great since I was having another natural birth. Everything went as smooth as it could possibly go. I was blessed with strength and endurance and good support from Heber and the midwife. Things couldn't have gone any better. :) And now we another healthy boy who is so good to his mamma. :) He lets me sleep 5 hours a night. :) He isn't much of a fussy baby. He eats good, and just keeps getting cuter every day he's with us. His brothers just adore him! Every morning when the boys wake up, they come running into my room to see him and kiss him and giggle over how cute he is. :) We love him so much!