Way too late!!

I'm up way too late tonight making these little guys for Rebekah to take to school tomorrow...

Thanksgiving 2012

Oh Thanksgiving!!! So very different from last year, we stayed home and had a few of our wonderful church family over to participate in the craziness that is a holiday in the Bennett home!

It was so nice to just relax and spend time fellowshipping with the "family" God has supplied for us here. He is so very good to us!! The following are some photo opps from the day, complete with the Christmas tree we had to put up today as I am going out of town tomorrow. Side note, we named our turkey Jerry this year, and as we were eating him Kayle said "Jerry tastes yummy!"

It was also Justin's 12th birthday and he revived a gun that belonged to his great grandpa, so very special.

More DIY Days

The following is what I have been working on this morning, Brittany thought she needed a zebra print head board, some pencil lines and a little paint later and this is what we have

Toothfairy Moment

Oh toothfairy, thank you for your flexibility!!!

We had yet another reason to call the toothfairy today.  We seem to have them quite often for very chickeny reasons, and todays was no exception...

I was sitting on the sofa trying to ignore what was going on on the sofa next to me, there where 3 chickens sitting on that sofa.  CN2, CN4, and CN5. CN2 seemed that it was a good idea to start throwing CN5 at CN4.  So, there I am sitting, watching CN5 sail across the sofa at CN4 and I think to myself "this does not look like a good idea, but since they have done NOTHING but argue all day I will see how this pans out."  just about that moment SMACK!!  CN5 hits CN4 right in the face, I pause and wait for the scream that will come from the princess.  None comes.  I think, alright, maybe we will get through this without to much of an ordeal....WRONG!!  The scream comes and it is a different type of scream than I was expecting, I see there is blood coming from her mouth and then go to comfort her, as she calms down I ask why she was screaming so hard, a small GULP from her, a sniff and then, "He made me swallow my tooth"

And so here I am tonight with a little chicken that has one less tooth tucked safely in bed and a little chicken note written to the toothfairy that says:

Dear toothfairy,
Sorry for eating my tooth.
Heres a cup for my money.
From Rebekah

Thankfully my wonderful husband called the toothfairy after the ordeal and she told him that she would visit tonight.

There was much rejoicing among the chickens.

First day of school 2012!!!

Whelp, we Made it through the first day!! Today four little chickens headed excitedly to their first day of school, one little chicken was left at home crying, not understanding why he could not go with even though he had a "pack pack" with lots of books, and one little chicken chewing on some sweet little goodie left in the wake of last nights dinner, oblivious to the personal space he would quickly gain for the next 8 hours, one father enjoyed the quiet of the morning after the four departed and one was consoled, and one mother had the realization that in a few short years she will have 6 chickens in four different schools...

She's growing up...

It's hard to believe. I think I was living in denial. Maybe just thinking it would never happen, but it is.
My oldest is a young lady. I have been seeing little glimmers lately but on Sunday there were two experiences that just blew me away, the first is the external, she came in on Sunday morning to barrow some earrings and I was blown away at what I saw before me, gone way the awkward girl that I had just seen at the breakfast table , there standing in front of me was a young woman, a young woman that I have had the privilege of building into for the last 8 years, a young woman who will shortly be a teenager. (YIKES!!)
The second, and most dear to me is an exchange she had with her brother who had to apologize for relaying some miss information that could have blown up in his sisters face. That very same day, as I sat behind my daughter as she listened to her brother tell of what he had done and ask forgiveness for potentially ruining her first day at school I was amazed, and in awe of just WHO this young woman is. She sat there and in the midst of a situation we would all agree she had every right to blow up over and calmly asked the right questions and the preceded to give her brother some words of wisdom that she had to learn the hard way herself. I, sitting behind her there on the bed, could not have been prouder!! She handled herself with grace and was able to singlehandedly take a difficult situation and turn it into a learning experience.
She is growing up. She is growing into a beautiful woman inside and out!! And as her mother I am so very overwhelmed at the gift God has given me of "helping" her make this transition.

once again...

Whelp, here I am once again after a trip finding myself with little to no pictures.   But let me bring you up to speed...

I have been thinking about the last few trips we have taken and the lack of photo documentation and I feel that my focus has changed.  You see, I have for years been stuck behind a camera and missing out on fantastic conversation, and fun with my extended family and friends, worried only about documenting such an event.  Now, after God working on my heart through a book I have been reading, I find myself just looking for the place He is and trying to join Him there.  I have been far more blessed with hearing wise words and experiencing new things, rejoicing over a chicken simply chasing his shadow, and all I had to do was not pack my camera.

Now, don't get me wrong, I still treasure the few pictures I am able to snap.  They are on my camera, and tend to stay there, but its not my motivation, my motivation has shifted to internal memories, the ones I will be able to recall for years to come, anytime I desire, because they are stored away in my brain.  Sorry, you do not have access to those pictures, some im sure you would think me even more insane if you could see...but nonetheless stored for my viewing pleasure.  

So I leave you all with this thought,
Are we truly able to look for God's blessing, join Him there and just simply enjoy?

I pray the answer is a resounding YES!!  I pray that is my answer for years to come, I never want to be in a place where HIS blessing goes unnoticed by me ever again.

Latest painting project

I have had these words traced on the wall for MONTHS!!! And finally today got them painted. I am happy with the result...

Army men on the bathroom floor

Today I am thankful. Today I know my Father has given me a gift. Today, waking to two energetic little boys, sleep still in my eyes I stumble upon an army man on my bathroom floor. One might argue it as just simply a discarded toy, a careless child, or even the cause of the sore on the bottom of my foot. But this morning I see it as the gift it is, a simple reminder of CN5. I am pulled back to just two short years ago and the medical fight CN5 was fighting, frail, scared, so very weak, and so very alone. Today, two years later he is so full of healthy energy that I often equate him to four kids in one!! He is a happy, loving almost 3 year old who just simply loves life!! He is my gift!! A simple reminder to live life to its fullest, army men and all. And so, this little army man will stay in my bathroom till a certain little chicken comes to reclaim him, ready for life's next big adventure...

Sunny daze!!!

Snidettson extravaganza 2012!!!

Camping with 16 people for four days in 105 degree weather = not many pictures, but we did make memories and were able to capture a few photos here and there.

Chicken rooms

We have started on the walls in the basement!!!! Super excited for them to be done and all the painting that will come with that!

A new fun place

When all else fails...

We have had a problem with a certain chicken escaping from the yard lately, so we went to the good old "locking him in" trick. That has worked beautifully until the other day when he decided to just simply scale the fence. Yea, can anyone say trouble??

the first year...

Today marks one year.  One crazy year.  One crazy, blessed year.

Cole,
I have found myself more than once thinking back to this day last year and I have found myself overwhelmed.  Overwhelmed my precious son at who God is, overwhelmed at His goodness, His blessing.  These words are what I wrote  after seeing you for the first time...

June 1st 2:30 am
My night nurse finally said I could go see you if I felt up to it, if I could have managed I would have leaped out of bed!!  It was a long trek down the hall to where you were staying, but within a few moments I was staring at your sweet little LIFE for the first time.  Your perfect little toes, on your tiny little feet.  All 10 of your incredibly long fingers on two incredible little hands.  My first thought was how truly incredible it was that your tiny little body was so perfectly formed.  All your features, everything, just as God had planned...

And so here I am today, one year later left thinking about the amazing things God has done through your LIFE in the past year, and Cole, I am overwhelmed.  Your LIFE has touched more people than you will ever know.  Your LIFE Cole Robert Bennett. Your LIFE, is a gift.  Please treat it as such.

God ordained you.  He knit you together.  He PLANNED you.  HE is your LIFE'S author.  He is the reason you could devour cake today!!  He is the reason you are alive!!  Please remember that son.  Without Him, we are nothing.

I feel like I need to also share some notes with you about your siblings, simply put, they adore you son.  I will never tire of hearing "Cole Robert!!  NO, NO!!" as you try to steal a favored toy from your big brother.  Or seeing the love and care in your biggest sisters eyes as she plays with you.  Or the fact that when your other big sister saw you for the first time and fell in love she immediately told me that we needed to adopt you because she did not want you to go away, not ever!!

Cole, you are loved indeed.  not just by countless fans on this earth, but by your heavenly Father.  Cole my prayer this night, is the same prayer I had when I carried you inside.  I want you to know HIM, to desire a relationship with HIM.  I pray that one day you will be able to see this Father that knit you together with such care.  Remember son, your LIFE is only LIFE because God said so.

Love,
Your Mommy

Kayle-isms

"mommy, my head knocker hurts"
"ouch, my finger just poked my eye again"
"please don't eat me"
"uncle coby daddy bennett!!!"
"when my toesie hurts it hurts my feelings"
"I am flying up to God to get my socks"

What next??

Five days to number 6 birthday and in the last two weeks he has had, his first bloody mouth, his first bloody nose, countless goose eggs and now his first cut. Yup, that's right one big fat cut on his little ear. And so we are left questioning what comes next?? Whelp I think it's safe to say if all this has happened inside of two weeks then we might be looking at casts in our future. Fun times.

Please don't spider man

The following is what could be heard from chicken #5 just a few moments ago...

Slipper, slipper please go on my toes, I don't want you to hurt them. Slipper, please don't hurt me. Get on my toezies please. (then taking his spider man slipper and looking right at it) spider man, please don't let my slipper hurt me, please make it get on my toes. No spiderman please don't do that, you hurt my toezies!! Oh slipper please just get on my toezies!! (after getting them both on) Thank you slippers for not hurting me, thank you spiderman.

Ahhh, life is never dull!!

Oh the places you'll go

Cole finds himself in sticky situations almost daily now that he is mobile, I often here a faint cry and have to go discover just where he is. Here are a few of my favorite spots...

Happy Easter!!! A few weeks late...

Well, we chickens have been slightly busy with chicken things, but we did manage to have a fabulous Easter! Here is a picture to document the event.

from there to here

I was scrolling through some pictures tonight and a funny thing happened, I stumbled upon some pictures that had a few less chickens in them and I found myself having a hard time remembering what it was like.  What it was like to leave the house with just a few minutes notice.  What it was like to fit in any size vehicle.  What it was like to not have to shop in bulk for the weekly groceries.  Ya, its hard to remember those days, but alas there are photos of such days so they must have happened.  Pictures don't lie...do they?

So how did we get from this...

To this...

I have no idea, but I wouldn't trade it for anything...well, most days.

A "little' more diy please

Whelp, this last weekend we decided to get a little more of our DIY on.  The agenda was simply the windows in the basement.  And we had 2 helpers and 36 hours to get it done in.  We had a few problems to overcome in the process but in the end we DO have two HUGE windows in the basement ready for walls to be built around them to house four male chickens.

Our first Problem:
Cobys Dad was one of the helpers and he brought his back hoe over from Libby so we did not have to rent one.  It started beautifully when he loaded it onto the trailer to head over to our house, got here and it would not start.  They worked on it for 2 hours and could not get it to start.  After calling around we were able to locate one in Great Falls that we could rent and were already heading into get the saw to cut the windows so why not??  Well the original plan was for Jerry to dig while Coby and his cousin Tom went into get the saw, but without a back hoe there was no work to do.  They got back to our house with the equipment at 6pm, just enough time to give the chickens a quick ride. (in their PJ's cause thats how we roll)

Being Carried out by Grandpa for the back hoe ride

Mikayle did not like it!!

With no day light left we decided to get an early start the next day and hopefully get it done in the only day we had left to complete the project.

Problem #2-6:
My job was to entertain the chickens without a playroom and the ability to go outside in the yard.  Not only that but it snowed on Thursday night (Problem #3) and was only about 25 degrees (Problem #4) so a walk to the park was out and I did not have a vehicle as our suburban is in the shop awaiting a new transfer case (Problem #5) so I set about my task with great hopes of a day at the dinning room table of games, coloring and art projects.  About 9:30 I start smelling a VERY strong smell of gas and look up to see we are sitting in a VERY grey haze.  (Problem #6) UGH!!  So I run around and get fans and windows open to air out the house at the same time telling the chickens to get their stuff on because apparently we ARE going for a walk!!  Some explanation, the saw we got was supposed to be better because you can cut from the outside and cut out the gas/exhaust from getting into the house, well, their first cut was off of a existing window so there was no way to keep the fumes from getting into the house.  So we evacuated and took a walk around town, as we were walking I was telling the kids to take deep breathes in and out, we must have looked silly.  We decided to go into the craft store just to look around and thaw out a little when the wonderful owner took pity on us and ushered the kids to the back room and proceeded to help them get their "craftiness on".

(Side note: These were taken with my new iphone and I think I can officially say I am a Mac lover now.)

After the crafty adventure we came back to a still stinky and slightly hazy house, I re-positioned some fans and we quickly had a area where we could breathe once again.

Our house looking like a construction site

Digging so they can cut the second window

Pulling the concrete out

Now its ready for framing in a window.

The men worked till dark but got BOTH windows done!!  It was a cold wet job but we now have 2 fabulous egress windows in our basement ready for this next weekends DIY fun!!  Hoping we wont have half the problems from this weekend.  Isn't DIY-ing fun.  :-P

Some things just dont add up...

I was in the kitchen and I heard Cole start to cry from the other room.  I said to myself "Uh-oh, Cole is crying." and from around the corner comes Mikayle shaking his head saying "I not hit him mom."  Something just doesn't add up, you see just this morning I watched him shoot Cole with a nerf gun...

move over betty crocker

I was up late one night, just thinking of things to fill my day,( because apparently being mom to 6 just is not time consuming enough) when I got the bright idea to make bagels and scones.  So the next morning I got out my trusty netbook (dont know how people cooked without these) and found the recipes then started in!!  I was surprised to find that scones are fairly easy to make.  They turned out fabulous if I do say so myself.  Here are a couple pictures of the experience and if you would like a recipe I am a sharer of recipes.  ;)

mmmmmm this yummy scone could not get into my belly quick enough!!

The bagel making was postponed due to running out of flour and time, I will update you when I get to those. :)

Meet Cole-Bertta

This is what happens when you ask your chickens to keep CN6 occupied during a mass floor removal...

Poor Cole.  Its so said and funny at the same time.  These will be in his highschool graduation slide show.