the usual

as usual, I'm struggling at keeping up with this blogging thing. recently we had family photos take, and I'm in LOVE! 

things are slowing down a bit. less photos. less school activities. less illness. but I'm sure all of that is about to pick up as soon as I post this. such is life. never slowing down.

hope you're all enjoying the autumn season!

questions questions questions

I've been working on these frequently asked questions for quite some time, writing them in a notebook, planning to add them to the blog, and have just never sat down to do it.  shame shame shame ;) most of these questions are from friends/followers of the blog and/or Instagram. I apologize I don't remember exactly who asked which questions but here goes...

How do you do it/how do you keep it together?
I have a secret... I don't. I do *not* keep it together. I have nothing together. I struggle with organization of household chores, schedules, routines... DAILY. I try again every day - over and overrrr - to balance everything. I've come to the conclusion I can't have and/or DO everything all the time. And I'm okay with that. I've been delegating more these days and it's a slow, painful process for me. I like to do it all. All the time. Daily struggle.

How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
lazy - boring steady consistent - unorganized

Casey's response when I asked her to describe me: "consistent/boring - fertile - lactative - calm - quiet outgoing"

What's your favorite part of every day?
Some days I love the mornings, enjoying a cup of coffee before everyone is up. Other days it's hands down nap time.

If you had the opportunity to have a guaranteed 30 minutes of free time (pretending kids didn't affect what you do), what would you want to do with that time?
I could change the answer to this daily. First 30 minutes... I could use more like 3 hours. But today I would probably read if I had some spare time. Just sit quietly and read a good book.

Where did the name Buffaloes and Butterflies come from?
naming things is hard. puppies. blogs. businesses. kidssss. here's how B&B came about.

So. You have seven kids (now eight). Seven. Tell me more about that.
Well, I'm not sure what to say about this. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would have eight kids. Before I had kids, I always... okay, before I had kids, I never thought about having kids. I was 17 when we got pregnant with Peyton so having kids wasn't even on the table yet. But when we had our third, I knew 4 wasn't my number... as we had loosely discussed. When we had 5, I was scared... that's how 8 happens. We're at 8 and I'm *still* not sold on 8 ;)

You do photography, right? Of what? Whom? Any specialties?
Indeed, I do dabble in photography. I'm attempting to steer away from weddings and specialize in maternity/newborns/children. We shall see how the summer of 2015 goes. Mostly, I want to transition into lifestyle photography.

Aren't you a certified EMT? How do you fit that into the whole seven-kids-and-a-husband thing?
another indeed, I am a licensed EMT. I've been an EMT for almost 12 years. I took the class when I was pregnant with Lia, our second. Funny story: my mom said I couldn't, so I proved her wrong. Mom won't remember this. I remember. ;) How do I fit this in? Well, it is difficult with being pregnant and nursing 80% of the time. BUT I do my best. I sign up for 10 six-hour shifts a month and pick up calls whenever I'm available. A lot of the time it's "34 is unavailable." Many thanks to those who cover my unavailables.

What kind of meals do you have?
I married a wonderful butcher so there are very few meals we go without meat. I'm *beyond* thankful for this. Sometimes our meals are just meat. No joke. Watch for another post about this. I think this deserves it's own post. Don't get too excited though, we tend to rotate the majority of our meals :\

How do you discipline?
Discipline... this is a touchy subject for a lot of families. This question is a tough one for me to answer as there is *so* much controversy. I don't think our way of discipline is the only way, but I do think it is the right way  [for us]. ;)  I've tried just about everything you can imagine. Different kid, different attitude, different discipline. I enjoyed reading Patti's post regarding this topic. A few things: Dave and I are in charge. Period. The End. We don't take no shit from anybody. We don't take no prisoners. No... we don't take no for an answer. 

Kidding...had to throw some Tommy Boy in there ;) Back to the point: There are some zero tolerances, and the kids are well aware of those. We don't like to tell you something twice. Sometimes you're not told once. You should know better. And mom *will* get up from a seated position, newborn baby attached, and get you. Beware. She's not afraid. All that being said, we say yes. We are strict, but never short on fun. There are dance offs in the kitchen. Tickle 'fights' at the drop of a hat. And movie nights with sleepovers in the living room. I think we have a pretty reasonable balance. 

Would I like less of the next question (see below)? yes. 
Do I think my children are perfect, or myself for that matter? no. 
Do we work really hard at raising disciplined, polite, kind, honest children? hell yeah. 

I will be the first to admit I don't think we're doing everything right. After 8 kids, I still have moments where I look around and say to Dave "I don't know what I'm doing!" and then we reevaluate and start over in that moment. Usually Dave reevaluates, has a pow-wow with the kids, and I angrily stir supper, completely ashamed of myself and convinced I'm failing as a mother. We're doing a lot right and a lot wrong and it's totally working for us (if you ask me) ;) so probably none of this answers the question... another good read. I love *everything* Dave Ramsey has to say about raising children so if all else fails, we're pretty old school.

Do you yell?
I MOST CERTAINLY DO NOT YELL. I don't necessarily like to use the word "yell." It sounds so mean AND LOUD. I like to say "raise my voice" or "talk sternly" or "be in charge." Just recently I realized I've been wasting my voice for almost 15 years. I can whistle. Loud. They respond very well to my "stern" whistle. 

Do you rotate baths to not run out of hot water?
Some shower, some bathe. While there is an infant in the house, I give that one a bath. Dave bathes the middle ones. The older ones shower. We only have 1 (yes, ONE) bathroom in the house. There is a flushable toilet in the basement buttt the kids will only go down there in pairs for "emergencies" because it's scary. Use your imagination. 

Back to the point: our landlord (my father-in-law) put in a big dog water heater when we moved in so this bad boy must know how to get his job done - the water heater, not my father-in-law. Most bath/shower nights, everyone gets clean. Usually youngest to oldest - ish.

Can you video getting ready for 8am mass?
If I could video that chaos, I'm not sure you would like me any more. Kidding! Mass starts at 8am. We should be up getting ready by 6am. We're lazy Sunday morning-ers. The house is usually up between 645am and 7am, realistically. From there, it's a dead sprint. The oldest 5 are very good about getting themselves ready and helping with the little ones. Bathes are almost never done Sunday morning so that's out of the way. I'll get little girls clothes ready, get myself ready, and then come back to them to do hair and put shoes on. Then the bigs help with coats and getting the littles out the door. Dave's great about managing everyone while I'm frantic. Sometimes I forget someones hair. Or my deodorant. And only once have we discovered a shoe-less 2yo at church. BUT we're at 8am mass. Occasionally before the bells. Praise Jesus.

When is everyone in bed? How long does it take to get everyone in bed?
Bedtime...ahhh, bedtime. To say this is interesting around here would be an understatement. I don't do well with bedtime. I know this is an extreme mom fail. I'll work on it. Tomorrow night. ;) Our routine is still quite a bit like this, just add 3 kids. And we haven't taken vitamins in years. Oh, and I quit Facebook. Add these to that list as well:

* I forgot I had homework!
* It's fictional character day tomorrow. What am I going to be?!  :|
* Nash peed in my bed.
* Can we go back to Florida?
* Do we have school tomorrow?
* What time is it?

Do the kids do chores? What chores?
My kids do chores. Daily. Okay, honestly. They're supposed to do their chores daily, but they struggle. Daily. And so do I. So it is what it is. We try our best every day with them. We've tried many things with the kids. These kids do these specific chores. The other kids do other specific chores. We swap chores. Everyone does alllll the chores. We do a little of all of that. But one thing we have done that seems to work well - we have a dry erase board in the kitchen. Every day I write chores. Every day they are to do the chores. I don't care who does what, all the chores get done. Kitchen is assigned to the three biggest. Bathroom is assigned to the fourth biggest. Littles help with toys and tidying blankets and pillows. I'm in *love* with this family's routine. We just get lazy at managing. In my dream world, the kids would just do their chores and I wouldn't need to hound them, but I think that's unrealistic. I'm just hoping these small steps daily will create some hard working kids and adults some day.

Keep the questions comin if you feel the need. I've also been asked about our "love story." I feel as though most of you know it, but I'll add that to the list ;)

minor set back

Well, as expected, closing my Facebook wasn't as easy as I thought. NOT because I wasn't ready, but because the darn thing is tied to my growing photography business. Since I know there isn't much traffic here, I need some help with growing the following on my 'new' Facebook photography page. I apologize in advance for even having to ask this, but would all of you friends (and mostly family) who follow along with this blog kindly reLIKE my photography page on Facebook. PRETTY PLEASE! andddd promote away if it's not too much to ask. Eek. Starting over from scratch with the photography page kind of scares me but it has to be done. Ugh!

Thanks so much in advance!!!

Click here for the actual page.

Also, I'll slowly be adding more of my albums back to the photography Facebook page... so much to do!

brand spankin new (almost)

both SOOC (straight out of camera) shots

My camera did a good number on me a few weeks back. I was at a family photo session (luckily with a friend...hopefully still a friend...haven't heard from her since...eeeeekkk!!!) and it wouldn't work. I couldn't get it do do ANYthing. I was/am still SO embarrassed. I couldn't get the lens off. I couldn't take a photo. The screen was dark. It was a mess. Knowing I have a wedding to shoot next weekend, I sent it in as fast as I could crossing my fingers it'd make it home in record time. Thankfully, she made it home in just over 3 weeks and is like brand new. I'm so impressed with Nikon's service and how quick they are! Of course right away I had to go outside and play with it. Now I need to catch up on the 52 of 2013 photos :)

pretties

(all photos SOOC)

Sometimes I take photos of things other than my children. SOMEtimes ;) It's hard... this time of the year I'm done taking photos of things outside so they are few and far between.

Life is busy happening around here so my posting (as usual) has been minimal. Very minimal. Maybe this is my norm. Who knows. In the last week I've started to learn to knit. Forgot to read any of my new book I started. Attempted again to potty train Rowdy. Failed at volleyball. And lost the dog 3 times. He is permanently attached to the line now. Muttttttt. 

random happenings

I've been taking more photos these days because of the 52 of 2013. I'm unsure what to do with all these photos, as far as the blog goes. So I guess I'll just do some 'random happenings' or something of the sort on here from time to time. There's really no significance behind these photos. And they are just that... random. Hope you enjoy!

Meg Olivia

Meg is now a little over 2 weeks old. Friday I thought it was about time I took some "professional" photos of her :) we did our best. Babies are sometimes difficult. There is a limited amount of time! She did great, but I'd still like to try, try again. I need lots of practice and what a better way to practice than on your own amazingly beautiful, perfect little girl :)

and then Drew lost it... her gentle wasn't gentle enough and she didn't care for mom telling her that :)

and then we tried again...

Meg is doing great. Everyone is adjusting very well to a newborn in the house. We love taking turns holding her and loving on her. The older kids are still willing to hold her and keep an eye on her while I'm showering or cleaning or most anything so that's a good sign. Baby Meg fits in just right, as expected  :)

(almost) daily photos

I've been doing pretty good about taking photos every day. I missed 8 days in January...not in succession...that's okay for a start. I know I can do better. Things aren't very exciting around here daily so bear with me on these :)

January 22, 2012

January 24, 2012

Drew *loves* water... LOVES!

January 25, 2012

Duke also utilizing the meat box :)

January 27, 2012

family movie night...beasty Drew!

Some of the missing dates are daily Smith fashion and some other posts to come. Come back soon!

(almost) daily photos

In a very minor effort to learn how to use my camera, I sorta kinda made a "goal" to use it every day. Here's where those resolutions come in to play. Here is also where the goals-need-to-be-written comes in to play. It hasn't happened. I've done pretty good but not every day. Regardless, here are some of the photos from my attempt thus far.

Note: We will not be short on photos of Drew. Oops. :)

January 5, 2012

January 6, 2012

 January 9, 2012

 January 10, 2012

 (moon shots are a learning process that obviously, I haven't mastered yet. but the moon was beautiful. not in this photo)  ;)

 January 11, 2012

 January 13, 2012

 January 17, 2012

ouch... missed 6 days so far this month. writing this goal down. immediately!

(some dates have their own post...soon) :)