Gabe's babes

A winter picnic!

2012-02-15T09:11:00.003-07:00

The kids got the idea to have a "beach" picnic; complete with swimsuits mid-winder! It was such a cute idea and seemed like a fun thing to do so I went ahead and put the requested hot dogs on my grocery list.

With temperatures starting to climb into the upper 60's and even the 70's I guess we could have had the picnic outside, but this was fun and we didn't have to worry about any cactus pokes!

A little girl and her weapons!

2012-02-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

Miss J is mostly "all girl" she loves to play with dolls, have tea parties, play dress up and help in the kitchen. However, she does love her weapons!

Recently, after coming in from playing outside she was heard saying "Oh no! I've left my weapons outside!" On that particular day her weapons consisted of a sword and a pop gun.

Daddy is so proud, and so am I! You see we see weapons not as agents of violence and destruction, but as tools. Knives are in use daily for everything from cooking, opening boxes, yard work and various other cutting jobs around our house. Guns are viewed as tools as well, they are to be used for hunting and self defense (not to mention battle, we are a military family ya know ;) ). We start teaching safety and respect with these tools early on, even with toys. We study history as well and the kids see how these tools have been used in the past, how they were made, and how they have changed over the years.

A visit with The Wintons; and a concert!

2012-02-08T12:50:00.002-07:00

Our friends The Wintons are on their way to the San Antonio Independent Christian Film Festival. Not only did we have the pleasure of hosting them as they passed through, but they did a concert here too!

Miss J was tickled pink to have them here (the rest of us were quite excited too!), and was thrilled to get to play a couple of games with Mr. Winton.

The Winton boys are very popular around here too. I'm afraid this may not have been the most restful stop for them, with all of the kids wanting their attention. These are some wonderful young men, and we love having our kids spend time with them!

The concert was great too! We never get tired of their music, and their testimony is even better. It is always so encouraging to hear how God has worked in their lives.

*Mr. Winton took this picture with his iphone during a part of the concert that the boys where doing on their own. I forgot my camera.

We sure missed the Winton ladies. Maybe they will get to come next time?

The Wintons are on their way to the SAICFF because their film Rescued (a documentary on adoption) has been entered. It is a semi-finalist in the documentary category. For more a chance to win a copy of this DVD go here.

February/Valentine Cupcakes

2012-02-06T09:48:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday was our Church potluck, so it was time to make the cupcakes for the month!

These turned out cute!

They were super easy to make!

4 month? 6 month? Baby update!

2012-02-02T05:30:00.000-07:00

Mr. K finally got to have a well-baby appointment last week; just before getting sick! Since we had to cancel his four month checkup when my dad passed away and the make up appointment was not until he was nearly six months we just killed two birds with one stone and did both the four and the six (or was that three with one since Miss C also had her 2 year appointment then too?).

Mr. K is doing great, but I already knew that. ;) He is 16 pounds 5 ounces. He is working on at least three teeth, but none are in yet. He can roll over (I've seen him do it), but mostly chooses not to most of the time. He loves to play with toys, chews on them and transfers them from hand to hand. He smiles, coos, laughs and is starting to babble a bit. It will not be too long before he can sit up on his own.

Nursing is going fairly well after a bit of a bump. Mr. K is enjoying his "solid" foods as well though. Sweet potatoes and butternut squash seem to be his favorites. Pumpkin is ok and he just was not too sure what to think of the peas he tried. He is not too excited about his morning oatmeal, but takes a couple of bites. His favorite is the teething biscuits that he gets to chew on, I think he is going to be one happy boy when he gets to feed himself finger foods.

Miss C is also doing well. She is growing well and with so many big brothers and sisters to watch and learn from she seems to be excelling in every area. She is rather shy though, which is just part of her personality. She loves to run, play and chatter but has a fairly quiet and calm personality.

struggling AND gratitude

2012-02-01T05:30:00.000-07:00

I've really been struggling these past few weeks. My dad's passing has taken a lot out of me. I was already wiped out after Mr. K's birth, helping my wonderful hubby through his Phd, and moving. I had been looking forward to our Christmas break. The day that my dad passed was the day that break was supposed to start. Its been hard to keep going and do what needs to be done, I've been in a bit of a funk...

For more, take a look here.

Chickenpox? Maybe?

2012-01-29T14:25:00.000-07:00

Mr.S came down with a headache and fever mid-week. By the next day he had spots, nice round bumps. Where we dealing with chickenpox? Could it be? While no one wants to see their child sick I was not upset to be getting this over with. The poor guy was feeling awful though. A couple of oatmeal baths and several naps helped him through the day.

The next morning he seemed to be feeling quite a bit better. He was still covered in spots, but they didn't look like chickenpox anymore. More like the hives he is prone to when he has had a virus. It seems we have something other than the chickenpox in the house.

Today poor Mr. K has the bug (though no spots). We are resting and taking it easy around here; helping my little guys recover and wondering how many more victims this bug with have.

teething buddies

2012-01-17T10:43:00.001-07:00

These two are both teething. Mr K is working on his first two teeth, while Miss E is working on her 12 year molars.

Don't let those smiles fool you. Both have lodged complaints of pain. Both have had a hard time sleeping at times. Only one of them is having drool issues though. ;)

Baby rattle

2012-01-14T09:38:00.000-07:00

This old fashioned rustic looking baby rattle was found in my Papa's desk after he passed away. It had been made by my dad 30 something years earlier to announce to my Gram and Papa that I was on the way. They would be grandparents!

I love the creativity and excitement that it shows on my Dad's part. I love that my Papa kept it in his desk through all of those years. What a sweet treasure this little rattle is!

Starbucks, Chuck E. Cheese....

2012-01-13T09:27:00.000-07:00

....A wedding and the apple store. That was how Miss J wanted to spend her birthday. She's had it planned out for months. We just could not disappoint her.

After a breakfast of chocolate chip pancakes and sausage Rob took her to Starbucks while the rest of us cleaned up and got ready to go out for the day.

We were the first to get to Chuck E. Cheese which is just how we like it, nice an "quiet" Miss J had a great time playing games, eating pizza, eating her cupcake and getting her prizes.

*Miss J requested Cinderella cupcakes. These were so easy to make!

We couldn't quite figure out the wedding part of her plan though she insisted that we could "Just ask the pastor and he can set one up." The best we could come up with was going into a bridal shop and looking at some wedding dresses. She even got to try on a tiara!

Daddy was so proud of his little girl listing the apple store in her list of things to do for her birthday, and he was happy to take her. She went right to the back and sat down at one of the kid computers, while the rest of the kids stayed near the front to play on iphones and ipads.

We came home for dinner and a movie. Miss J loves princesses and Cinderella is her favorite (for now) even though she had never seen the movie. We gave her the DVD for her birthday and we all enjoyed a family movie night together watching it.

***Miss J was wanting a new bathrobe, a princess one was preferred. Nana made this one for her, and she loves it.

Hunting rabbit

2012-01-03T14:17:00.000-07:00

Mr. M has been delighted that Daddy has been letting him use the pellet gun lately. Since he would love to be able to go out hunting and provide his family with food someday; we have been encouraging him to work on his marksmanship skills. They seem to be improving greatly. In this past week he managed to get two doves and a rabbit.

The rabbit was the big score. On Sunday morning I was getting myself, Mr. K and the little girls ready for church. Outside my bedroom I could hear talk of a rabbit and rabbit stew. A little while later Rob came in to tell me that Mr. M had got a rabbit!

With only about 30 minutes left before we needed to leave for church they scrambled to figure out what could be done to keep as much of the rabbit as possible. Miss E ended up skinning it, she did a great job for the first time! At church Rob and Mr. M were able to get advice from some of the men on what to do with the skin, and how to better handle it next time.

Way to go Mr. M! You're well on your way to being able to hunt and provide for your family!

Remembering Grandpa

2012-01-02T20:50:00.000-07:00

At my Dad's memorial we had cards available for those attending to write memories and thoughts of him on. The plan is to put these all together in a book, and that we could each have a copy of the book as a special remembrance. I wanted my kids to be included in that so tonight we helped the kids make up their cards.

It was fun to hear the special things they remember from their times with my dad. I loved that they each wanted to write about something different even though most of them shared each of those experiences all together. As their personalities are all so different, so are the experiences they remember and treasure the most. I'll type up what I said at his memorial too so that it can be included in the book as well.

The last couple of days have been harder, doing this was good for us as a family. I do very well in "crisis mode" I generally do not panic, but instead just move forward doing what needs to be done. Later I deal with the emotions. Well, later has come. I knew losing my dad was a big loss, but the enormity of this loss is hitting me now. Knowing that I can't call him to tell him something I know he would want to hear. Knowing he can't be there for me if I need him. Knowing he can't come visit and teach the kids the many things I know he was looking forward to teaching them through all sorts of fun experiences he was hoping to have with them.... I'm sad and I can feel the weight of that sadness on me at all times even when I am enjoying a good time with my family or friends.

I'm so thankful for a wonderful husband,sweet children, dear friends and family, and a great great God to get me through this time! I'm blessed by HIS peace that passes all understanding (Philippians 4:7). I'm so thankful to know that HE has a plan for each of us (Jeremiah 29:11) and knows the number of our days (Job 14:5). God is in control and I can rest in that knowledge, this did not take HIM by surprise, and nothing else will either.

Cupcakes!

2012-01-01T15:05:00.001-07:00

I saw this cupcake calendar at the mall this week and thought it would be fun in the kitchen. I had already told the kids I'd be trying to make some fun cupcakes every month for the monthly church potluck.

Here is the first set for the year.

These were the January ones from the calendar. I'll also be using my Hello, Cupcake! and What's New, Cupcake? books for ideas this year. I'm excited to have a good excuse to try out some new cupcakes, and also glad that my kids will not be the only ones eating them (sorry moms at church, I'll try to do some that are not so loaded with candy.)

I'm linking to Raising Homemakers.

Mommy please pray...

2012-01-01T14:59:00.002-07:00

Tonight when I went in to say goodnight to my girls Miss J asked me to "Please pray that I would be cute."

No, I did not burst out laughing. It took nearly all of my strength to keep a straight face as I said "How about I pray that God would make you cute on the inside, and that your inner beauty would shine through making you beautiful on the outside as well?" She thought that was great and so I prayed that ALL of my girls would have inner beauty from God and that they would glorify Him in all they do.

Jammie Drill

2011-12-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

A jammie drill is when parents announce to their kids who are already in their PJs that they need to get their shoes on and head out to the car. Then the family either goes through the drive through for a treat or goes in somewhere for a treat.

We've done these in the past, a long time ago, but had forgotten about it. Thanks to this post our memories were jogged and we got to thinking about giving it a try again. We finally got around to doing one last night. We took the long way to Village Inn so that we could look at Christmas lights, which we had not been able to do yet this year.

We had a good time and it was just what I needed. It was something easy to do, but made some great memories with the kids. It was something silly, but special; it put a smile on my face and warmed my heart. I think the kids had fun too!

It almost wasn't Christmas

2011-12-25T03:37:00.000-07:00

Shocked, numb at times, and grieving; this past week was spent with family preparing for my Dad's memorial service. Most of the time it was easy to forget that Christmas was upon us, but I had this sweet little red headed travel companion (Mr. R) that was wishing everyone a Merry Christmas. As we made our way back home on Christmas Eve I slowly started to switch gears to Christmas.

I came home to a darling two year old who clung to me and patted my back while saying "My mommy! My mommy came back!" The tree was up, kids had already opened gifts from Nana and preparations for a Christmas Eve dinner where underway. Joy and laughter filled the house; kids have a way of helping you forget your cares, if only for a moment. After the kids went to bed it was time to stuff stockings and set out gifts.

The grief was still there; just hovering. There was no way that I could get into "the Christmas Spirit" but there is so much more than Jingle Bells and Deck the Halls to Christmas.... There is Jesus; there all along, through this whole week. He always has been, he always will be. This is what we are celebrating, His life, His death, His resurrection, His saving grace which is the greatest gift of all. Now that I can get into!

Christmas will feel very different this year. I'm thankful that I still have hope, that I still have reason to celebrate. God's gift of eternal life is why we are celebrating, this year it is so much clearer.

***On a funny note.... Last night when I got home Miss J announced "I helped Dad wrap your hair bows! Its a surprise though, so you don't know what it is!" and ran off on her merry way not realizing that she had just spilled the beans!***

Want to know more about my dad? You can check out his web site and this article published just this past week to see his art and learn a bit about him.

Saying Goodbye to Dad

2011-12-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

My Dad passed away suddenly last night. I am shocked. I am numb. I am getting myself and two of my kids ready to fly out to Portland tonight.

Prayers for the whole family would be appreciated. I am so thankful for the love and support that has poured in from friends and family both old and new; near and far! I am thankful for my wonderful husband that has arranged for me to fly up to be with the family and is caring for the kiddos here at home as well as finishing Christmas preparations! I am also thankful to God for his peace that passes all understanding.

Christmas 2010 with my Dad

Updated to add- Dad died of a pulmonary embolism. There were no typical signs or symptoms of the growing blood clot that would end his life. The one symptom he did show (a strange cough) would not have lead to the discovery of the clot. He appeared to be a very healthy 60 year old man; his loss was oh so very unexpected.

Early Unwrapping

2011-12-16T20:27:00.000-07:00

We received a package from G'ma and Grandad the other day, and while we usually wait until Christmas to unwrap gifts there was a note encouraging us to open the gifts early. So we did.

Many of the gifts were books from G'ma's library, which will be very useful for school!

The kids are very excited about their new books and have been spending quite a bit of time looking at them or reading them (depending on the age).

It looks like a trip to Starbucks and a bit of shopping is in store for our family too! Everyone got some cash and a Starbucks card! How fun!

Starbucks giveaway

2011-12-13T09:01:00.000-07:00

Go on over to my Large Family Living in a Small Family World blog to enter my Starbucks giveaway!

A Christmas musical

2011-12-12T15:01:00.000-07:00

This week-end our family got to go to a Christmas Musical at a friend's church. She had extended the invitation, the added bonus being that for our family it would be free since we were military! The musical had a military theme, and the church was honoring military families in the area. We were happy to put on our Camo and fatigues to help add to the feeling of being in a USO show (and the kids were thrilled that I was letting them out in public in dress up clothes!).

All of the kids were great during the show. Mr. K sat quietly or nursed allowing me to stay in with the family the whole time! Yippee! Miss C managed to wait until after the show to go potty, again letting me stay the whole time! Again, Yippee! Miss J was mesmerized by the singing and dancing, asking several times if she could get up there and sing and dance too! She wants to go again. Of course the older four kids were great too and enjoyed the show too.

As if the show was not enough, there was a whole room filled with goodies after the show. The kids enjoyed the cookies and candies as well as some hot drinks!

It was a wonderful family evening and we got to get to know our friends a bit better too. Two of their girls were in the show, and it was such a pleasure to watch them sing/dance with such joy! Thank you "N family" for inviting us and making us feel so welcomed last night. We had a wonderful time.

Potty trained!

2011-12-08T08:16:00.001-07:00

Miss C has been ready to potty train for several months, but with the new baby and move it seemed wise to put that off a bit. This past week was the earliest that I felt up to tackling potty training and Miss C was thrilled to take on the challenge.

Candy is a major motivator for Miss C, once she realized we would give her candy every time she went she decided that she was going to get as much candy as she could! I think she has been accident free for 4 days now (including church on Sunday!). So at 25 months she is officially potty trained! Yay!

I must say that potty training with older kids around to help is so much easier. When she announced that she needed to go and I was nursing the baby someone was always around to help her. They have all been so encouraging of her too.

Cloth diaper reviewers needed!

2011-12-07T13:09:00.000-07:00

Midnight Mommy is looking for cloth diapering Mommy bloggers to review and test out some cloth diapering products. Go here to sign up! I'm hoping to get to do some reviews and giveaways here or on my other blog.

Locks of Love

2011-12-04T20:52:00.000-07:00

This week Miss E decided that she was ready to donate her hair to Locks of Love (again). So the two of us went out to get haircuts on Saturday afternoon.

Her hair sure had gotten long, she was able to get 12 inches cut off!

She is enjoying having shorter hair again and has been told by a couple of people that the shorter hair makes her look older.

This was her third time donating her hair. The first time she heard about Locks of Love she was five years old and was determined to do it as soon as she could.

Guest posting- Go laugh with me!

2011-12-01T07:10:00.000-07:00

I'm guest posting over at Laugh with us. If you want a good laugh go check out my post there.

If you are visiting from Laugh with us, welcome! Thanks for visiting and please take a minute to visit me over at my other blog Large Family Living in a Small Family World. I've got a give-away up over there too!

Ear piercing

2011-11-29T16:37:00.000-07:00

For over a year Miss J has been asking us to get her ears pierced. A few months ago we thought maybe we would do it, but a quick pinch to her ears and she decided that maybe she didn't want to. About a week ago she started asking again, and this time pinches had no effect. She still wanted them done! Given the timing of Christmas and then her birthday coming up soon too we thought we would go ahead and take her to have it done.

She was so excited...

then she got a bit nervous.

We were all there to cheer her on.

I guess it hurt worse than she expected.

A lollipop will make it better...

but not quite all better.

See my pretty earrings?

The bone yard

2011-11-27T11:36:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday right before Thanksgiving Rob was in one of those "welcome to the base" meetings and I was at home with all of the kids preparing for Thanksgiving when I got a call from him at about 10:10 AM "The meeting is ending with a free tour of the bone yard, it leaves at 11:00, want to come?"

Knowing that this tour is a fairly expensive one (especially for a family our size) and that the kids would love getting to go I said "Ummmm.... Sure we can make it". Kids were all over and most of them fairly dirty from playing outside in the dirt or helping me with cooking. "Ok everyone, go get errand day clothes on and get ready to go! We need to be out the door in 10 minutes!" Amazingly no one asked "why" or "where are we going", without a word everyone flew into action and we were out the door in 10 minutes! Everyone even looked presentable!

Oh, are you wondering what the bone yard is? Why we would be excited to visit it? It is where the military stores all of their old planes or the ones that have been taken out of rotation for now. Acres of airplanes lined up, row after row. Yea, to say the kids were excited would be an understatement. We drive by parts of it regularly on base, but can't get in. This was our chance!

The stealth fighter is invisible not only to radar, but on the ground too! (ok, it is actually in storage elsewhere right now)

The kids loved seeing the rows of airplanes, helicopters, and even spare parts.

A good time was had by all!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-25T04:28:00.001-07:00

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving here. We had a slow morning and enjoyed our time together. Then we headed off to be with some friends right up the street.

We had a fairly large group, but most were kids. We had 20 kids, from just three families!

All of the kids had prepared speeches, songs or some sort of presentation.

We had a wonderful feast and great time of fellowship.

After our meal we enjoyed some English Country dancing.

We have so much to be thankful for, this year has been such a busy one and we've had so many transitions happening the last few months. God has taken care of us and provided for us every step of the way. What a blessing to see that all come together in a relaxing morning spent in our wonderful new home and then going on to some great fellowship with new friends. All of which God provided in some amazing ways. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

A quick tour

2011-11-22T07:58:00.000-07:00

Now that we've been in the house for nearly two months I figure its about time I did a quick tour of some of the house. We are really enjoying this house, and are so thankful to our friends that helped us pick it out!

Here is the living room. Since we have loads of kids living here, it looks like kids live here! We set up a doll area in the corner for the girls, they spend hours over there taking care of their babies and having tea parties. Mr. K likes to hang out with them over there too.

The dining room was the easiest to get moved into. We need to turn the china hutch to be next to the door. Miss E sewed up the table cloth for us!

This is the first time we've really had a school room. In the past it has always been a part of the living room or dining room. We're enjoying having a place set apart for school, but still in a main area of the house. I love having the couch in here so that we can cuddle and read together in here while little ones work on activities at the table. We spend quite a bit of time in here.

My kitchen is yellow again! I love it, though it does not show up well in the picture. Miss E and I are enjoying having plenty of counter space in here. I also love that there is a large laundry room off of the kitchen with plenty of space for one of our freezers!

Down this hall you'll find the bedrooms, that I'm not quite ready to show you. Maybe after Christmas? There is still plenty of work to do to get us all settled in, but as you can see it is quite livable. We are really enjoying the layout of the house, I think it is our favorite so far!

I'm starting a new blog!

2011-11-17T13:08:00.000-07:00

This blog was started to be a way for friends and family to keep up with our kids. As I started putting more home management and large family living things on this blog I began thinking that I should have another blog for those sorts of things.

I'll still be posting here with the personal family stuff, but putting the organizing and large family management on the new blog. Please come visit over at...

Large family living in a small family world

Thanks for coming to Gabe's babes (and please continue to come!), and I'm looking forward to seeing you over at my new blog!

Making pasta

2011-11-16T21:29:00.000-07:00

A while ago I received a pasta machine from my grandparents. I have fond memories of making pasta with grandma, mom, aunties and cousins. When Rob (who loves pasta) and Miss E saw it while unpacking they thought making pasta would be a great idea.

Miss E and Mr. R worked on making noodles.

Mr. M helped a bit too after helping me transfer chicken broth into containers to freeze.

Once the big kids were done working on the pasta Mr. S and Miss J decided to get in on the action. We cooked the pasta up and put it in our soup for dinner.

Pack rats!

2011-11-12T10:38:00.000-07:00

We've all heard of pack rats right? You know, people that can't seem to get rid of anything. Well, that is not the sort of pack rat I'm writing about. We have real live rodent pack rats here! They like to collect things and put them in dark places..... like under the hood of a car, and while there they may just chew up some wires!

Mr. M's sharp eyes spotted one heading into our van, which made us realize we needed to do something about these pests sooner than later. We didn't want a bunch of traps in our yard as that would be a hazard to our little ones. The solution?

Cats of course! We have a friend with several cats/kittens, that are good little hunters, who offered us some of hers! Yay! We ended up with a mama cat and her three kittens.

These cats are outside only cats and are here to work (though our children sure are enjoying them). They all have food related names to help our kids remember that the cats are here to make snacks of pests around here, but may also become coyote snacks themselves. They have a place of shelter on our porch and will generally be safe there so we hope they will be with us for quite some time.

Signs of fall!

2011-11-10T15:10:00.000-07:00

It has continued to feel like summer here even though the calendar says it is fall. Slowly signs of fall have been creeping into the home.

Like the pumpkin seeds that Mr. M roasted. He requested them, so I found a recipe for him and he did the rest. They are quite tasty.

Miss E made Pumpkin cranberry scones and cranberry butter to have for our tea party.

We've pulled out the Thanksgiving toys....

...and our sensory bin is all ready for fall too!

The table cloth the Miss E helped me sew is on the table and some other fall decor is out too!

And the biggest sign of all? One morning this week we all awoke to a rather chilly house! I scrambled to find fall clothes for the kids who were shivering in their summer clothes (I guess they've acclimated!). Fortunately I plan ahead and I had nearly everything all set and waiting to be needed!

Nearly normal

2011-11-08T15:16:00.000-07:00

This week we are starting to feel like we are getting to our new "normal" around here. While we are still doing quite a bit of settling in we are also falling into a nice routine. Chores are getting done regularly now, which feels so good.

We've been doing school (as in grammar and math) regularly, though learning never takes a break around here.

Little girls are getting to do "pre-school" activities regularly (play dough here).

Miss E has started helping me sew (she is working on a tablecloth here).

Mr. K is figuring out how to eat and sleep at regular times and even learning to put himself to sleep!

It feels so good to be finding our normal, it gives sense a peace and calm to everyone. Our house is starting to feel like home!

Happy Birthday Miss C- a very ducky day!

2011-11-07T09:41:00.000-07:00

We celebrated Miss C's birthday this week-end while my dad and step-mom were in town. The week-end didn't quite go as expected with the three little ones getting sick, but we still had fun!

Miss C had requested Ducky cupcakes from the "What's New, Cupcake?" book. I was so excited to make them, but with a sick, fussy baby Grandma had to come to the rescue and put them together with Miss E.

By the time it was time to frost and decorate the little ones were sleeping so I was able to help. Miss E made the cute little pink hat for Miss C's ducky.

The ducky cupcakes went very well with the ducky bath time doll Miss C had been asking for.

Despite being sick she managed to have some fun with her cupcake!

A fold down changing table

2011-11-06T22:18:00.000-07:00

I've been itching to get Miss C and Mr K back into cloth diapers but I had a couple of problems I needed to figure out before I could get that started. The first problem was that the movers lost the changing table. The next problem was that the best space for a changing station is too small for a changing table. What to do? A friend suggested a fold down changing table.

Rob is so great, he made one for me! We were both just wanting to get it done, so he put it up without worrying too much about how it looked. In a few weeks we will get around to figuring out how to make it pretty. I've got some ideas, but I'd love to hear suggestions. The bathroom is off of the laundry room next to the kitchen. I don't want to spend much $$$, and I want it to be on the brighter side since the room is small and the cloth diapers will be out (brightly colored). This is a room I'll be in regularly, I want it to look happy so I can look forward to coming in here!

Progress part 2

2011-10-28T16:23:00.000-07:00

This week my big job was to get the library/sewing room organized and cleaned up enough that my mom would be able to stay in there. Getting this room done was a low priority as far as organizing the home, but very much worth the effort now for mom to stay here. She is always so helpful when she comes!

Here is the big mess before (I actually took the picture after working in here for an hour! Scary!). A friend came over on Wednesday and in one hour we were able to get most of this cleared out!

Here is the after.

We are having a big garage sale too, so I had to organize for that this week. I got quite a bit done, but it feels like there is not much to show for it in the rest of the house. I'm guessing that I'll have some great "before and after" shots by the end of next week with Mom's help!

Locked out!

2011-10-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

We were heading out this morning to run errands. Kids were loading up and I had just put Mr K in the car. I was on my way back into the house to get the keys and diaper bag when a certain young man was being very thoughtful and helpful by locking the door behind himself since he was the last one out the door. Oops! Everyone had done such a good job checking to make sure all of the other doors and windows were locked that there was no way in! The kids got to spend some time playing outside while we waited to be rescued.

Our hero (Daddy) arrived to save the day. With only about a 1/2 hour delay we were able to get on our way to running our errands. Lesson learned by all: Check to make sure someone has keys before locking doors, and to stop and make sure that what you are doing truly is helpful.

*I'm not naming names. This young man felt so bad about what he had done. I explained to him that I appreciated what he was trying to do; he was trying to keep our home safe and help his mommy. Despite that he still felt bad that we were all locked out and that daddy had to come home and rescue us.

A fall, broken plate, cut chin, urgent care, and NO stitches!

2011-10-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

This morning Miss C was trying to help set the table and tripped while holing a plate. She had a couple of itty bitty cuts, a fat lip and a small deep cut on her chin. The cut on her chin was in need of attention. I stopped the bleeding, cleaned it; and after holding it closed for a while put a butterfly bandage on it. After talking with Rob we decided that it would be best to at least have it seen to make sure we had done our best to prevent scarring. So after being in town for just over 3 weeks we headed over to Urgent care.

The cut was checked to make sure there were no small pieces of the plate still in there, cleaned and steri-strips were put on. This was about what we had expected would be done. We didn't want stitches since that would leave more scarring, but wanted to make sure the cut would stay closed and heal properly. The steri-strips will stick better and keep her from opening it back up. I'm going to be picking some of those up so that we can avoid further trips to urgent care for this sort of thing.

I'm so proud of my big kids. They did exactly the right things in this situation. Though I was in the room some were closer to Miss C and reminded her to stay still until I could get to her so she would not step on broken glass. They also reminded Miss J to stay away from the glass. Mr M quickly got his shoes on and carefully cleaned up the broken plate with some help from Mr. R. They all remained calm and followed my instructions well so that I could care for Miss C. Miss E even helped keep Miss C calm and still while her cut was being cared for in Urgent care. Mr. K had decided that he needed to be fed RIGHT NOW, so I was caring for him. What a blessing to have such helpful big kids, and it was good practice should we have a real emergency in the future.

progress

2011-10-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

This week I set some goals for myself for moving in. Since most of the boxes in the house are unpacked I need to get down to organizing, but there is so much to do (besides the regular everyday mom of 7, homeschooling and housekeeping stuff) it was getting easy to get side tracked or just not know where to start; the goals help me keep focused.

For Monday I tackled the mess in the laundry room. Things had just been dropped off here and needed to be taken to the appropriate places. I grabbed a basket to put a few random things in that just could not find other homes yet. One of the square baskets holds the iron and spray starch. The boys did a great job of removing all of the wallpaper! They are such blessings and faithful workers!

Before After

The laundry room is far from done, but it looks so much better. I'm thinking that in the next week or two we will get it painted and have another shelf in there too.

On Tuesday and Wednesday we had errands and doctors appointments so I knew I needed to keep my expectations very low as far a progress in the house went. Rob asked me to work on the hallway that had become cluttered with "get rid of" stuff or just things needing to be taken somewhere else in the house.

Before After

There are still a few things in the hall that either I can't move or really do belong there. Some of the frames for the hall have been found, and I identified the box that should have the rest of the frames, I just can't get to it.

I had hoped to get to more this weeks, but there were some more important things that needed to be done that got my attention instead. I'm hopeful that next week will be more productive in the house. If not that is ok; I need to remember that we've only been in the house about two weeks (with our stuff) and I have 7 sweet kids to care for too. Moving into the house WILL get done, but it is going to take some time.

I'm linking to Organizing Junkie this week

J.O.Y.

2011-10-20T10:56:00.000-07:00

We've been having a few rough days around here; the fun and adrenalin of the move have worn off, we've been running errands, and we are all tired. We are all feeling the need to get back into a routine, but still have quite a bit of work ahead of us. We needed to be reminded of J.O.Y.

Jesus, Others, then Yourselves..... J.O.Y.

We talked about glorifying God and keeping his commandments; about God's grace through Jesus and needing the Holy Spirit to work in us. We talked about ways we can be showing love to others, and how some behaviors we have been seeing the past days (quite a bit) have not been loving. We talked about where we get the J.O.Y. rule.... God's word; specifically Matthew 22 36-39.

"Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied: " 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: "Love your neighbor as yourself.'

I sat the kids down at our school table and they colored a banner for us to hang on a wall and be reminded of this.

No, the irony of one of the kids coloring in "yourself" darker than "Jesus" or "others" was not lost on me.

When life gets busy it is easy for us to forget this (or even when life is not busy), when we forget life gets even harder. Sometimes the most important thing we can do as moms is to set all of the "important" things aside and refocus our children on what is most important... To bring J.O.Y. back into our homes!

Two months!

2011-10-20T07:10:00.001-07:00

Mr. K is two months old now and recently we made it in to meet our new doctor for his two month well baby. He is just over 11 pounds now, which means he has slowed down a bit as far as weight gain, but thats not a bad thing. He is right where he should be as far as weight and height.

Mr. K has been giving us more smiles and recently started trying to engage us in conversations. We love hearing his coos and the little girls just love it when I translate for him! He seems to be partial to Mr. R and Miss J, which is funny to see happening so early on. His little arms and legs are going more and more; from time to time he even manages to kick a toy or grab some hair!

Mr. K has some tummy problems, it seems his little body just can't handle any dairy even just passed through his mommy. That means I'm on a no dairy diet, which is truly and act of love for me to him! I love dairy, but I love my little guy more! ;) With the tummy problems napping during the day has been a bit rough for him too, but he sleeps 9+ hours at night so I can't complain too much about the day time sleeping habits.

Fire pit!

2011-10-17T20:44:00.001-07:00

One of the big things we were looking for this time when looking for a home was a large yard. One that would give our boys plenty of room to run and explore and also provide plenty of opportunities for work. So far this seems to be exactly what we got!

This week-end Mr. M asked if he could make a fire pit in the back yard. He did a good job picking a spot and setting up a ring of rocks. Then he set up the fire wood too!

We enjoyed a quick fire one evening in our back yard among the cactuses and Mr. M is looking forward to setting it up again. Next time he plans to have us better prepared with things like hot dogs and marshmallows (maybe even some chocolate and crackers?).

The baby whisperer

2011-10-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

Mr. R has recently acquired a new nick name, one he is very proud of. I'm calling him the "baby whisperer." He has always been good with Mr. K, getting him to take the pacifier even when I could not, and calming him with some sweet pats, but now he is even putting him to sleep! I think he got that from my Papa, who seemed to be able to calm any baby.

Would you believe this little guy was REALY crying just a couple minutes before this picture was taken? Then big brother came along and rescued him and everything was wonderful!

Moments later I took this picture!

Maybe he just likes red heads? Miss J kept him happy for quite some time just playing in his view and talking with him. He also seems to be extra generous with his smilles when she is around.

Finding time for fun too!

2011-10-12T14:40:00.000-07:00

While we are spending the majority of our time stripping wallpaper, unpacking boxes, and making this house a home we are still finding time for fun!

After spending mornings working on Friday and Saturday we spent the afternoons running errands for things needed around the house. On Friday we went out for dinner since we were already out. What luck! There was a lady there doing "balloon animals" though these were some of the best we'd ever seen and simply calling them balloon animals hardly seems right.

Miss J loved her orange princess that she had requested.

Mr. R requested an orange monkey.

The next day we pulled into a store parking lot to find that there were pony rides set up there! The big kids all got to go for rides!

We've been faithful to set our Sunday's aside as a day of rest which has been such a blessing too! We've met quiet a few new people and have enjoyed getting to know them. We are so thankful to God for providing friends, fellowship and help with the move right away! Meeting new friends sure makes a move easier!

the movers came!

2011-10-07T19:54:00.000-07:00

The movers came yesterday and unloaded all of our stuff. This is what was waiting for me this morning in the kitchen....

I'm so glad they do some of the unpacking. This would be an even bigger job if I had to take it all out of the boxes too!

This is what was waiting for Rob to tackle in the garage.

I need to balance my time between unpacking and this little guy (and his siblings too, of course). He is enjoying his little baby gym and also likes to look at his sweet little face in the mirror. I almost caught a smile in this picture!

removing wall paper

2011-10-03T09:32:00.000-07:00

We have quite a bit of wallpaper to remove in our new house. Our movers will not be delivering our household goods until Thursday, so we are spending our days removing that wall paper.

Kids are removing the loose and easy sections, and wallpaper remover goop is being sprayed on walls.

We purchased plastic putty knives for the four oldest kids, and they are making good use of them.

There are jobs for everyone! The little girls are helping to pick up the paper that everyone is pulling off. I purchased a little hand brush and dust pan that are a big hit with Miss J!

Even Mr. K has a job...

..to sleep! He is good at this job and is allowing me to help out around here as well as get sleep at night!

Dinner with the R family!

2011-09-30T14:36:00.000-07:00

It is amazing to us that God has provided two families for us to get connected with as soon as we got into town through other friends! We are so thankful to Him and the wonderful ways he has provided for us through this move.

We had a wonderful time meeting the R family that the J, R, and D families had introduced us to through e-mail. Many of their younger kids are the same ages as our kids, which was encouraging to our children to come into town to new friends! They all had a great time playing together.

Some of our kids were very excited to get the chance to see some of the local wild life.

Our evening of fellowship was such a blessing to our whole family, we came away so encouraged and blessed!

In town, and new friends

2011-09-29T14:26:00.000-07:00

When we pulled into town the first thing we did was stop by our new house. We didn't have keys yet, but we all wanted to see the house in person and at least walk around it and look in the windows.

The next thing we did was head on over to meet the friends that helped us pick out the house. When I say we were going to "meet" them, what I mean is that though we had talked with them on the phone, we had never actually met this family that had actually picked out our house! We were introduced to them through some friends!

Our kids were thrilled to get to ride their pony and play in their pool. I was so happy to come into town knowing we already had some friends, AND a washing machine to use!

The Harders big adventure

2011-09-28T14:16:00.000-07:00

We were looking for a good place to stop for lunch while on the road when Rob spotted some dinosaurs by the side of the road.

We got to go inside the brachiosaurus, which turned out to be the gift shop.

The kids have all been doing very well on the drive, and it was fun to have a quick special stop for them.

Road trip with 7 kids!

2011-09-27T15:54:00.000-07:00

Our kids are used to spending a few hours at a time in the car, but three days of nearly all day driving is a whole other story. I've been so focused on preparing our home for the move and getting ready for the new baby (and then enjoying him, and recovering!) that I have not done much to prepare for a road trip with 7 kids. I have a few simple things that I've put together that should make the trip run smoothly.

This bin is always in the car, under the first bench in the van where I can easily reach it. It contains some "emergency" activities, extra diapers and a back up outfit that will fit either one of the little girls.

I'll be passing out the etch-a-sketchs, stickers, lacing activities, and activity books from time to time while we are on the road. These are all simple to keep on hand and since we don't pull them out regularly they are a treat for the kids when we truly need them!

My mom picked up metal water bottles for the whole family last year, and the kids all enjoy drinking out of them. I love that the little girls' bottles are sippy cup style so I don't have to worry about them spilling. I'll keep a couple of jugs of water in the van and ration out the water in reasonable amounts that will keep the kids hydrated without the need for constant bathroom stops.

Since I tend to do most diaper changes in the car when we are on trips (instead of public bathrooms, yuck!) I thought it may be wise to pack up a diaper caddy. This will keep everything I need for diaper changes (for a newborn and toddler) handy without having to dig through the diaper bag. I'll keep the diaper bag stocked for taking into our longer stops (like visits with family/friends and over night stops). I think I throw a small receiving blanket (to use as a changing pad) and a burp cloth or two in there as well.

Snacks can really help things go well on a trip with little ones (and not so little ones!). Having some healthy (and yummy) snacks on hand will help us keep from picking up junk when we stop for gas or hold us over when its just a little farther than we thought until the next stop for a meal.

I'm packing some cookies (made with whole wheat pastry flour, natural peanut butter, very little sugar, oatmeal and a few chocolate chips), string cheese, fresh fruit, and most likely some treats like fruit snacks and cereal.

Where you stop along the way can be very important. We try to stop at places where the kids will be able to stretch their legs. We love quick stops at rest stops for the kids to run around a bit. We always keep an eye out for a place with a play land to stop for lunch, its a nice treat for the kids (the food) AND they get to get some energy out (and then the little ones will nap for a while in the car!). On this trip we actually have family and friends to visit along the way so the kids will get to stretch their legs a bit at those stops. When we stay at a hotel we try to get one with a pool so that the kids can go swimming.

Matching clothes help us keep track of the kids and make it obvious to others that we belong together. It also makes the kids look extra cute! Making sure the kids look nice makes people in restaurants and hotels happier to see our large family. The matching outfits tend to put a smile on other people's faces; they see past the number of kids long enough to notice that these are well loved and well behaved children!

Our little geek in the making

2011-09-26T11:09:00.001-07:00

Mr. K received this shirt as a gift in honor of his Daddy's PhD. It was just too fitting for this time to pass up!

He is getting a head start on being a geek. Daddy is so proud! LOL!

Helping out on the farm

2011-09-24T10:05:00.000-07:00

Along with exploring the ranch the kids have also had the chance to get a small taste of farm life. Rob took the kids, two at a time, to the morning milking of a cow in the area. While there the kids got to visit with the baby chicks and even help collect eggs.

This weekend it was time to slaughter chickens so Rob offered to help out with that. He got to take two kids with him and though it was a tough call as to who should go he decided that Miss E and Mr M were the best ones to go.

I hear they were very helpful. Mr. M stayed busy digging a hole that was needed for something. Doesn't he look like he belongs on a farm?

Doctor Dad

2011-09-23T17:01:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to my dear husband! He graduated with his PhD! Yay! We are so proud of him!

The kids did a great job at graduation, sitting quietly through the whole thing.

Rob's parents came down to help us celebrate.

Some friends of ours were able to join us. It was great to have the "B boys" there and Mrs. B was a great help with Mr. K, he slept through the whole ceremony thanks to her!

G'ma and Grandad took us out to lunch after, the kids sure had fun sitting by the window watching all that was going on in the water.

Enjoying the Ranch

2011-09-20T15:29:00.001-07:00

Now that our house is all packed up we have been able to settle in and enjoy some quiet, fun days at the ranch.

Miss E has spent hours outside devouring every book of interest she has found in the house (which has been many) and reading books that Rob loaded on her Kobo.

All of the kids have enjoyed the swing hanging from the mighty oak that seems to cover nearly the entire back yard.

The boys (and to some extent, Miss E as well) have been having a grand time hunting for, and catching, lizards and crawdads.

The little girls have been catching up on some much needed rest, but have also been enjoying the extra space.

Mr K has been settling into life and has been noticing his siblings a bit. We've enjoyed the few smiles he has been giving out, and are looking forward to seeing them more regularly. He is also sleeping very well, which I like!

My reading list

2011-09-19T15:48:00.000-07:00

I've had a stack of books in my night stand for over a year now, its only getting bigger....

Most of the reading I do is either to little ones, read aloud school books to the older kids, or reading for the purpose of learning more about nutrition, homeschooling, medical information etc. I don't do much reading for myself, and as you'll see even my "fun" reading still centers around my passions of being the wife and mother God has called me to be.

Since I should have more down time for a while during the move both on this end (while we are staying at the ranch) and the other end while we are waiting to get into our home/have our household goods delivered I'll be trying to catch up on my reading stack.

Here are some of the books I'll be working my way through.

Large Family Logistics - I've been working my way through this one very slowly since I got it at Christmas, but setting up a new home, new schedule, and new school year has given me a renewed interest in digging into this book!

Fit and Fabulous in 15 Minutes - I've known for a while that I need to get a better exercise routine going. I've been hearing about T-Tap for years from other moms of many. What seems to make it so popular is that it does not take any special equipment, can be done in as little as 15 minutes, and seems to be very effective. I'll be reading the book and hope to start getting back in shape in the next few months!

Voices of American Homemakers - Just an interesting look into the lives of homemakers in the past. I've been working on this book off and on since Mr. K was born and I'm enjoying getting a better look into the lives of women in the past, how far we've come (good and bad) and learning from the wisdom shared in this collection of thoughts and memories.

A Love That Multiplies: An Up-Close View of How They Make it Work - The newest book by the Duggars. Miss E has already read it, and I've been looking forward to reading it too! Mr. and Mrs. Duggar always have such wonderful words of wisdom to share, I've enjoyed reading their other book and one of our kids' favorite shows is their "19 kids and counting" show about their life in general.

Be Your Own Doctor by Rachel Weaver- I took a quick look at this book and liked what I saw. It lists treatments for simple and not so simple medical problems and injuries. I'm looking forward to taking a deeper look at this book.

The Excellent Wife: A Biblical Perspective by Martha Peace- I'd love to be an "excellent" wife! I've started reading this one too, and I'm looking forward to making some progress on this one as well.

Want to add to my reading list? I'd love to hear what books are your favorites. What are you reading now, and whats on your reading list? Maybe I'll add to my reading list... I'll get to those after we settle in, get school going, make it through the holidays....

A faithful worker

2011-09-15T17:53:00.000-07:00

Our movers have been here for the last two days, today they are loading up all of our stuff onto the truck. The kids have been great and even helping the movers a bit. Mostly they have been enjoying some play time though.

Mr. R has been a VERY faithful worker through the whole three days. Each and every one the the movers have commented on what a great help he has been to them. He is truly a faithful worker and we are so happy to see him blessing these men so!

Mr. K has been a great baby through these days too. He has spent much of his time sleeping in his car seat. He has been the perfect baby through these busy days allowing me to focus on the little girls that are a bit confused with all that is going on.

Cousin A stops in for a quick visit!

2011-09-15T16:26:00.001-07:00

My cousin A is on a road trip and was able to stop in for a very quick visit! I think she just wanted to be able to go home and have bragging rights, she got to see the new baby!

Thanks for stopping by, it was great to see you!

off to the Ranch!

2011-09-14T14:13:00.000-07:00

When its time for the movers to come we always clear out of the house the day before. It just works out better for us to have everything we need to take on our trip out of the house, so we go stay in a hotel. It is usually a fun time for all of us. A hotel stay of about two weeks with seven kids including a newborn was not sounding that fun this time though.

Ah, but we have some wonderful friends who happen to live on a ranch. That ranch used to be a working ranch. It has extra houses for the ranch hands that used to be needed there. One of the houses is furnished. It's for missionaries and friends in need of a place to stay. It has a large fenced in yard for kids to play an explore in. Yea, we get to stay in that house!

It's a bit hard to see, but the house is on top of the hill. The area fenced in by the white fence is "our" yard.

I'm looking forward to a couple of weeks of very minimal house work. The big kids are excited about getting to play in the big yard and are hoping to be able to help out with chores around the ranch (horses, chickens etc.). We are all looking forward to some extra fellowship with these dear friends before we head out of town!

lots of good-byes

2011-09-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

This past week and the coming weeks are full of good-byes. We're saying good-bye to places that have become home for the last three years. We are even saying good-bye to a season in our lives as a family. Rob has had more flexibility in his schedule than he ever has before, and will likely ever have again.

*There were tears and lots of hugs as we said good-bye to this sweet, dear family. We only managed to get pictures of all of our kids together though. Next time we are together we will have to get the parents too!

More importantly we've been saying good-bye to many friends that are truly dear to us. This is the hardest part of moving so often. Each time we move we leave dear friends behind. However, this is also one of the most exciting parts of military life. God allows us to meet so many wonderful people and many of those dear friends have had a huge impact on our lives in different ways. We spend holidays with them, we share new experiences with them, we learn from them, we share each others joys and pains. In this way we get just the smallest taste of how big and amazing the body of Christ is! In this way we are truly blessed, and we are looking forward to meeting the people that God has planned for us to meet at this next assignment. We've also seen how God allows our paths to cross with these dear loved ones and look forward to seeing how he will do that again!

Packing up

2011-09-12T14:25:00.000-07:00

Our movers are coming starting tomorrow. We are so blessed not to have to pack up all of our stuff. However, we still have plenty to do. I'm packing up thinking that we will not have access to our household goods (stuff movers packed up) for about a month (most likely not that long, but its best to plan ahead). So I still have plenty to get into our van and trailer for our family of 9.

We've packed our trailer with things that we want to get moved, but movers will not take (propaine tanks for BBQ, some liquids etc). We've also packed things that we know we will want right away on the other end. We've found that shelving seems to be one of the last things off of the moving truck, and by the time they are off the truck the wall that we want to put the shelves on is filled with boxes (boxes that could have been emptied onto the shelves). So we bring some of our shelving with us to help the process along.

Some other things we are bringing along to make the first days in a new place go smoothly-

Sleeping bags- so that we can sleep in our house if we want to before our things are delivered.

Bedding for each bed- There is nothing worse than being in a new home and having all of the beds set up but not being able to find the bedding! It is easy to just pack a set for each bed in the trailer so we can all sleep comfortably in our beds.

Towels- Also something you don't want to be digging through boxes for. It also helps to have these incase our things will not be delivered right away but we decide to stay in the house anyways.

A phone- Not as important anymore now that we have cell phones, but still we like to grab one corded phone and bring it with us.

Cooking supplies- I made up a basic list of recipes and the kitchen equipment I would need to make those meals. I'll bring these items with us so that I can cook healthy meals for my family; this will save us money too by not having to go out! Again, this is useful if our things are not delivered right away, but is also helpful to have the basics on hand while we are trying to unpack the rest of the kitchen stuff. Crockpots are helpful during this time since after a long day of unpacking I'm most likely not going to feel like doing much cooking.

Toys- I bring a selection of toys I know my kids enjoy that have been set aside (they have not seen in a while) to play with once we get to the new house. These are all in a bin that will keep things nice and tidy.

Table and chair(s)- We are bringing a couple of folding tables with us. This is something that is easy to put in the trailer and makes eating in our new home easier. We will be bringing a folding chair and one of those baby chairs that hang on the edge of the table too. Keeping Miss C contained while eating will keep her from getting distracted and spreading her mess around our new home.

Little Mommy

2011-09-09T07:58:00.001-07:00

Miss C has been playing with her baby dolls even more than usual. It has been so sweet to watch her taking such good care of her babies! This morning she was sure her baby needed to join us for breakfast. She ate her entire meal with one hand while holding her baby!

Like all good mommies, she made sure her baby was fed too.

I love that she wants to be just like her mommy! It reminds me what a big responsibility motherhood is, I must set a good example. Little eyes are always watching!

Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

Titus 2: 3-5

Oh right, we're moving!

2011-09-05T13:30:00.000-07:00

I've been enjoying our quiet days, and this time of rest and recovery. It dawned on me at the end of last week though, that we're moving in about a week! YIKES! Our movers will show up about a week from now to pack us up.

*look at those sweet cheeks! He is getting little rolls on his arms and legs too! Mr. K is already over 10 pounds and almost sleeping through the night!

I'm so glad I planned ahead and accomplished so much in the months leading up to this time. I needed the time of rest, but now there is work to be done. I'll still be taking it easy, since there is not too much left to be done, and most of that can be done by kids with some supervision.

*Hey mom, take MY picture with Mr. K!

I'm so blessed to have older children that are so very helpful. The boys have been so excited to have an excuse to pull out daddy's drill and screwdrivers. They've been taking down valances and other things from the walls and taking things apart too!

*Cleaning off the front porch. His little sisters had left quite a bit of chalk marks that needed to be cleaned up.

All three of the older kids have been checking the running list I have going on the white board to see what jobs they can do. When possible they have been involving the younger kids too.

*Dusting things off of the shelf Mr. R was taking down.

I have to pack up our clothes and go through a few things still, but even those jobs will be done with the aid of the kids.

Rob is slaving away finishing up his dissertation, he should be done just about the time the movers arrive. We will be celebrating the day he turns in the finalized copy! Yippee!

Quiet days

2011-08-30T21:46:00.000-07:00

We have settled in around here for a couple of weeks of what should be quiet days. We have meals taken care of, for the most part, meaning I'm not having to do any cooking. We also do not have any errands to run, so other than the Wintons concert, we are staying home!

Mr. R has been reading through "The Dangerous Book for Boys" and found a project to work on. A pressure alarm.

Miss E recently acquired an e-reader (a Kobo, on sale at Borders) with her birthday money. She has been spending quite a bit of time reading.

Mr. M ans Mr.S are enjoying as much time as possible outside or playing with legos.

I prepared some activities for the little kids that we've started getting into. Simple gluing and cutting pages that will keep them busy for a little while each day. Miss E helped me make the cutting pages up a couple of months ago, it is great to have big kids that like to help with these sorts of things!

I'm enjoying plenty of cuddle time with Mr.K, who is well loved and almost always has someone asking to hold him. If he is not being held someone is usually sitting by him talking to him. We're a family of baby hogs around here, there is a reason my kids were praying for twins this time.... oh well, we will share.

Great music, great fellowship, and a house guest!

2011-08-27T19:32:00.000-07:00

We've been looking forward to some good fellowship with our friends the Wintons as well as their concert for quite some time. We truly enjoyed getting to have them join us for lunch and a nice visit before heading out to the ranch for the concert. Thats when things started getting interesting....

Their RV broke down on the way to the ranch. As we were trying to figure out how to get everyone and the equipment to the ranch for the concert and take care of the RV God sent along some help! A friend (also on her way to the ranch for the concert) drove by and was able to help with transportation. A man with the county road service stopped to see if he could be of assistance and was able to follow the RV as it coasted down the hill to the nearest gas station/shopping center where it would be safe for the night.

The concert was great, we enjoyed the fellowship with friends and as always the music and testimonies from the Wintons were so very encouraging. Miss J was absolutely thrilled to be in the front row listening and singing along with her favorite band. They even sang "Amazing Grace" at her request!

The next day the Wintons and Rob went about the job of seeing about getting the RV fixed with the hope of getting them on the road in their own RV that evening. In the mean time we got to host the Wintons for an extra afternoon! We enjoyed getting the chance to have some extra time of fellowship with them, our kids just loved having the whole family here too. Miss J even TALKED to them (she has been their biggest fan for over a year, but up until this week-end she would not actually talk to any of them when we were with them), not only that but she played with all of the Wintons and had a great time. It also seems that their girls have the same favorite movies as Miss J, so they enjoyed watching them together.

Unfortunatly by the end of the day the RV was not done by the time the shop was closing, so they decided to head on down to their next concert in a rental car. The car was packed full and there was little room left for their cat. Our kids are so excited when Rob offered to keep the cat for them until they came back to town for the RV. So, we have a little Winton house guest for the week!

We sure were blessed to have some extra time with this wonderful family. We hope we were a blessing to them, and we are keeping them in our prayers as they continue on with their concert tour!

My chunky monkey!

2011-08-25T08:54:00.000-07:00

Mr. K has been filling out nicely. I've noticed his belly getting bigger and his sweet little fingers and toes are getting a bit plumper. Since we have a digital postal scale, we thought we should weigh him....

His birth weight was 9 pounds 1 ounce.

At 12 days he weighs 9 pounds 9 ounces! Thats 1/2 a pound over his birth weight! Yea, I make good milk, and he seems to like eating.

yea, we stuck him in a crockpot...its what was there

So very blessed

2011-08-24T10:16:00.000-07:00

Over the last few months it would have been very easy for me to stress and worry about how things were going to work out once Mr. K came along and I would be in need of rest and recovery and my husband would most assuredly NEED to be working on finishing his Phd all while we prepared for our move. I realized early on that I needed to trust God in all of this, that only He could provide for us in this time and worry would only make things worse.

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:32

I will confess that I did find myself slipping into worrying from time to time, but for the most part I was able to take those worries to God and trust Him. I also did what I knew I could do to prepare our family and home for this time.

I just have to Praise God for all of the blessings he has poured out on us through the body of Christ! He has provided above and beyond what I could have imagined, and it has all been OFFERED to us before we could even ask!

A friend came to help for a week before Mr.K was born, helping me both emotionally and physically through those rough last weeks of pregnancy. God had put us on her heart and she offered to do this for us a few months ago. Another young woman came for a few days to help with kids and meals! She had spent a day with us along with a couple of her siblings and it seems she had so much fun that she wanted to come help us after Mr. K was born! What a blessing these two young women are to our family!

Some dear friends of ours were due to move away at the end of July (after having their 5th baby!), but God had other plans for them. Their assignment here was extended by a whole year! They have been such a blessing to us. They offered to watch our kids during labor and delivery, and Mrs. F even made our traditional cupcakes for the kids to take to Mr.K in the hospital! As if that were not enough Mrs. F made us several meals and took the kids for a couple of days so I could rest and Rob could work! Wow! I don't know what other plans God has for their extra year here, but He sure did provide for us by keeping them here longer! We are going to be so sad to move away from these dear friends.

Out of the blue flowers were delivered one day.... From our family at CVP! We are so blessed to be a part of such a wonderful church family and are going to miss them all dearly when we move!

Several other friends have brought or are planning to bring meals, some of them from quite a distance! Just knowing that these meals are taken care of makes the coming weeks look so much easier for me, what a blessing to have friends help me care for my family and allow my husband to work without worry of his wife getting enough rest and recovery time!

My mom came out for a few days too! She always comes when I have a baby to help out. This time the timing is just right to allow Rob to get some extra time at work and to help us out at a local church gathering that the kids were really wanting to go to. Nana's visit is very exciting for the kids too!

God has even provided a family on the other end of our move to help us out! We've never met this family (they are friends of friends), but they have already gone "above and beyond" to help us in our search for a home, and just assuring us of having some friendly faces in town when we get there!

What a blessing it has been to see God providing and protecting in these ways as we start this adventure. I'm looking forward to what he has in store for us in the coming weeks and months as we go through this transition time trusting in HIM!

"If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! " Matthew 7:11

A Wintons concert!

2011-08-21T20:45:00.000-07:00

This Friday night the 26th of August some friends of ours are hosting a concert by The Wintons!

If you live in the general area and are interested in an evening of bluegrass music, hearing a great testimony, and a fun time of fellowship too, then send me an e-mail (if you don't have my e-mail address use the "contact me" button on the lower right side of my blog), and I can get you the details!

Buying a house too?

2011-08-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

For the last couple of months we've been keeping an eye out for rental homes in the area we will be moving to. It was not looking good, there were not many homes available that would even come close to working for us and they were really all too small. It became obvious that buying a house was going to be our best option a few weeks ago.

We put an offer in on a house yesterday, got a counter offer today and accepted it! Yep, we are in the process of purchasing a house! We still have to have it inspected and all that, but we are excited.

We are fortunate to have friends there that have been our eyes and ears, checking out houses that were possibilities, allowing us to buy a home sight unseen in this very busy time.

Just two boys

2011-08-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

A wonderful, dear, and brave friend has most of my kids today (she has five of her own ages 6yrs-2 months). She took most of them a couple of days ago too (I had a young woman here helping with the two little girls that day). I am so blessed to have such a friend who is able to help me when I'm in need of rest and recovery time and my husband NEEDS to be working.

Mr. R offered to stay at home with me and Mr. K to help out. It is nice to have some time with him, and I'm so blessed to have a son that has such a servants heart!

We're both enjoying some time quiet time with Mr. K too. That was the main reason Mr. R said he wanted to stay, so he could have more time with his baby brother.

Hospital day 2

2011-08-16T18:51:00.000-07:00

Rob had the kids in to the hospital to visit Mr. K and I by about 9:45 in the morning. I loved hearing Miss C's not so quiet voice in the hall calling "Mommy! MOmmy! MOMMY! Baby! BAby! BABY!" all the way to our room. It was just too sweet and made me feel so loved (and happy that she was so excited so see her baby brother).

They brought in the traditional cupcakes (we do cup cakes for each new baby, its their first birthday party!) and everyone took turns holding Mr. K a couple of times.

I spent the day cuddling with Mr. K and enjoying some peace and quiet by reading a book I'd been wanting to get to for a while. Those last few hours were rough though, too much peace and quiet! I'm used to having at least some noise around, I was really starting to miss the whole clan. I was so happy to be going home that evening.

On our way out of the hospital the volunteer that was pushing my wheel chair thought it was fun that the kids wanted to check out the fish pond and was happy to take the short detour over there. She thought the kids were so sweet and well behaved and she seemed to enjoy visiting with all of them. Miss J even threw a quick tea party for her with the pitcher and cup from my hospital room!

Here is the most recent family picture taken as we were heading out of the hospital.

Happy Birthday Miss E- and a birth story!

2011-08-15T11:38:00.000-07:00

Since we found out that my due date was right around Miss E's birthday she has been faithfully praying that this new baby would be sharing a birthday with her. It was no surprise then when I started having mild contractions while I was making her birthday breakfast! I could tell things were going to move slowly though, so we didn't rush around too much. I took Miss C out for a walk to help things move along a bit, then we started getting everyone ready to go to the sitter's house. Now Miss E is a very easy going young woman and she had some very simple requests for her birthday one was that she get to make her own cake, and some easy meal ideas and then.... That I have her new baby brother ON her birthday and that she be at the delivery. Yea, those last two were a bit harder to arrange, but we managed! LOL!

Before heading into the hospital we went to the mall and walked around a bit. Miss E was enjoying her time with just Mom and Dad then we headed into the hospital around noon after a light snack.

Things were obviously not moving quickly, though I was having regular contractions. Even when the doctor broke my water around 2:00 nothing really started happening. Miss E enjoyed some undivided attention with Rob learning to make a graph by graphing baby's heart beat. Then she played on Rob's iphone and watched the new Duggar DVD she got for her birthday. Rob worked on his PhD work. Then they headed out to get some dinner. It was a rather boring afternoon, but she seemed very pleased with it.

While this labor was a SLOW moving one, it was not uncomfortable. My contractions were barely noticeable until about 5:00, but even then not too bad (this is how many of my labors have gone, nothing much and then BAM! its time to have the baby!). By 5:45 though, Rob was needing to rub my back through the contractions. Miss E was sweet and helpful as well. Then the contractions really started to pick up and all of a sudden the doctor was there and it was time to have a baby!

That last little bit of labor is always the part where I remember why it is that women get epidurals, but I'm always comforted by the fact that I'm nearly done and I can handle 20 more minutes. This time was no different.

Mr. K was such a mellow guy right from the start. We could hardly get him to cry, not because anything was wrong with him, but he just didn't seem to think there was any reason to cry. He just snuggled in and enjoyed being with his mama on the outside now.

Miss E cut the cord and helped with his bath. She did a great job and after she left the nurse commented on how mature she seemed and that she had been surprised to find that she was only 11!

Miss E made it very clear that this was exactly how she had hoped she would be spending her birthday, and it was the best one so far. I'm so glad she enjoyed her day, and that she is so excited to be sharing her birthday with her baby brother. She also enjoyed getting to share the news with grandparents! Since she also shares her birthday with her Grandad she had fun calling him and singing "happy birthday dear Grandad, Miss E and Mr. K!" to tell him about the new baby.

Even though it was getting late into the evening and past their bedtimes we figured the other big brothers and sisters would really like to at least come say a quick hello to their new little brother. He had kisses waiting for them. Everyone was happy to meet him, and he seemed happy enough to meet the clan!

Welcome Mr.K!

2011-08-14T17:51:00.000-07:00

Mr. K was born on his sister Miss E's birthday (making her birthday wish of a new baby brother come true). He was 9 pounds 1 ounce, 21 inches long. More details and pictures to follow in the next few days.....

For now I'm resting and enjoying cuddling with my sweet baby boy.

Turning!

2011-08-09T13:44:00.000-07:00

I'm 39 weeks pregnant, at my appointment today my doctor noticed that Mr. K did not seem to be head down. He identified Mr. K's head somewhere near the top of my belly. An ultrasound was needed to determine his exact position, then we would be calling the hospital to find out when was the soonest I could get in to have him turned....

However there was another patient already waiting for an ultrasound, so I would have to wait a bit. While waiting I sent off a few texts and said some prayers. I could feel Mr. K moving and wiggling around while we (I had the three girls with me, the boys were home with Rob) waited. By the time the doctor got to doing my ultrasound Mr. K was back to head down, leaving the doctor a bit embarrassed thinking maybe he had made a mistake. I assured him that no, this little boy was just being a little stinker!

Speaking of little stinkers.... Mr. K is in good company. Two of his big brothers did just about the same thing to me in the last weeks of their pregnancies. His other brother saved the tricks for delivery! These three boys keep us on our toes, and my guess is that Mr. K will be no different. Life is never dull around here!

An encouraging week!

2011-08-07T21:31:00.000-07:00

I've been so blessed this past week to have a friend staying here with me (Miss K). She is a young woman from a church we attend (a couple of hours away). She offered to come help some time around my due date, this was the week that worked for both of us!

*Doesn't she just look like she belongs in our family?

Miss K helped so much with the children, around the house, and in the kitchen. She blessed me so much by helping in these ways, but the fellowship has been just as much of a blessing.

We made several batches of koolaid play-dough one day (the older boys made GAK), which was something I really wanted to get to, but just did not have the energy for.

I had been wanting to make more soap, but just could not see myself taking the two hours needed to make it and then being able to make dinner etc. The only chance I had at making the soap was if Miss K was interested in making soap with me. As it happened, she was hoping that I would be interested in making soap while she was here! We made two batches, one lavender and the other orange!

At the end of the week we took a field trip down to the water. First we went to see the sea lions and got to see pelicans, jelly fish, and plenty of other birds. Then we headed to Fisherman's wharf to try out the clam chowder.

I was able to run some errands on my own a couple of times. The big kids got to go to the park with Miss K during nap time and have more play time outside too. Rob and I even got to go out on a date for our Anniversary!

I had been praying that God would provide the help we would need during this very busy time, trying not to worry and just trust in him. I can't tell you what a blessing it has been to have Miss K here! I was really getting tired and worn down the week before and just ready to have this baby, but knew it just was not likely I would be having him that early. Having Miss K here gave me the physical help I needed, as well as the encouragement and distraction to keep going! She was truly a blessing from God and an answer to my prayers!

*We even went to the Scottish games with her, but thats for another post!

Waiting....

2011-08-03T21:16:00.000-07:00

I'm about two weeks from my due date, that means any day now..... OR a few more weeks.

I'm a at that stage where I'm interested in trying some of those interesting foods that have been said to put women into labor.

There's the prego pizza.... while the original is not near here Rob (who is always up for trying an interesting pizza) called a local place to try to duplicate it. It was a GREAT pizza, but obviously it didn't work.

I've been thinking of making the lemon drop cupcakes that are supposed to put women in to labor. The problem.... they are not local, I don't want to put the effort into making them, and that is just too much sugar. Maybe next week I'll be more interested in putting in the effort?

Maybe we will go out for spicy food for our anniversary?

In the mean time I've been so blessed and encouraged this week, but thats for another post....

My creation Bible winner!

2011-08-02T13:42:00.000-07:00

I'm sorry, I've been moving so slowly this last week or so, I kept forgetting to draw the winner for this giveaway.

The winner for this giveaway is comment #10, Sarah! I'll be contacting you by e-mail so that I can get your book to you!

August move to do list; take it easy!

2011-07-28T22:35:00.000-07:00

I've been working hard for months to get our house and our family ready not just for a new baby, but for our move that is coming up in September. I've had a "to-do-list" for the last few months and have worked through just about everything on those lists! I do need to finish a bit of school planning, but that can be done from the couch or bed resting and/or recovering!

Now is the time to start enjoying the fruits of my labor! Here is my "to-do-list" for August

1. finish move prep- this is here only because this job never seems to end and I figure I'll have some nesting energy to put to good use. I don't have anything specific to do, and if I don't do anythings else that's fine too!

2. have a baby- I can't wait to meet this little guy! I'm actually looking forward to labor/delivery (for the most part), it usually goes fairly quickly and without much pain so for me this is one of the easy parts of pregnancy. The hard part is the waiting and wondering when!

3. recover- I need to have some recovery time, no matter how much we have going on around here if I don't get some good recovery time up front that could lead to bigger problems later. The plan- when I get home from the hospital I'll go to my room for a week and enjoy a bit of bed rest, after that I'll have another down week getting up a bit late and cuddling with my little guy downstairs (all of this will of course include plenty of cuddles and interaction with the rest of the family). We've been blessed with wonderful offers of help from friends and my Mom will be here for a few days too, so even if Rob needs to go into work we should be able to follow through with this plan. I'll be taking it fairly easy for the remainder of our time here in CA as well, we will be in "survival mode" doing the minimum that we need to.

4. Prep graduation stuff- Getting a PhD is a big deal, and my husband has worked hard for this. I want to make sure that between the baby and the move that his accomplishment is not overlooked and that we take the time to celebrate it well! I have some simple but special things in mind for celebrating.

I'm linking to organizing junkie this week.

Colds all around!

2011-07-27T08:53:00.000-07:00

Last night I started writing a post about feeling ready to have this baby (even though I'm only at 37 weeks and have never had a baby earlier than 39 weeks), that was until the first report of a runny nose. Then Miss C was up quite a bit during the night, not feeling well (Thanks Rob for taking care of her). By this morning I was feeling stuffed up as well....

Who wants to go into labor sick? Not I! Who wants to bring a newborn home to a house full of sick kids? Not I! So I will wait patiently as this passes through. I hear it only lasts about 3 days (it seems to be the virus going around the area, some friends we have not seen in a while just got over something similar).

Fortunately my right hand (aka Miss E) is not sick right now (but 5 of us are). What a blessing she is to us! We will spend the next few days laying low, and I'll pull out some of my back up plans to keep the kids busy with little effort from me!

My sweet hubby picked up a supply of scones and mascarpone cream for me, so I'll be munching on those and drinking plenty of pregnancy tea while I'm taking it easy. So don't feel too sorry for me!

Quiet times for kids

2011-07-26T02:11:00.000-07:00

While we do quite a bit of Bible reading and just family reading and discussion, we've been wanting to help our children along with developing their own relationships with Christ. We've been wanting to encourage them to do their own Bible studies, but it can be hard to find something that is age appropriate and will help them grow.

I was so excited when I got an e-mail from a friend I recently met at a church gathering asking if I would be interested in reviewing her newest Bible study for kids; it is on the Armor of God. Both my husband and I took a look at her site Quiet times for kids and were impressed with what we saw, so we agreed that doing the review would be a good idea for our family.

I was so impressed with this Bible study. Mrs Davidson does a great job of drawing the kids in and asking great questions to get them thinking. In reading through the study I was happy to see how much the kids are expected to really give thought to the scripture they are reading and also give thoughtful answers. I also love that there are activities for the kids to do. The cubes to cut out and put together are great, as well as having the kids draw pictures, and the lego diarama projects really got the attention of my boys!

I'm so excited to be having my kids do this Bible study, and we plan to purchase more of the Bible studies that Quiet times for kids offers in the future!

Quiet times for kids is offering a $2 off coupon for the Armor of God Bible study, after applying the coupon code this Bible study will cost only $6! The coupon code is 'twodollarsoff'

They are also running a Lego diorama contest through August 31st with a great prize for the winner! My kids are super excited about that!

*Though I was provided with a free copy of this Bible study to review I was not otherwise compensated for this review.

Divided the movie

2011-07-22T20:06:00.001-07:00

Sunday School? Youth Group? Family Integrated? God's design for family and His church?

Divided the movie is about Modern Youth Ministry and how it may be dividing the church. It is a great one to watch if you have children/teens involved in youth ministry. It is available to watch here for free for a limited time.

This is also a great one to watch if you know our family and have wondered why it is that our kids are always with us in church and not in any of the children's programs.

Favorite Baby books- and a give-away!

2011-07-21T13:30:00.000-07:00

I just posted on our Family Bible Reading. It is important to us that our little ones hear God's word from the time they are born. Allowing little ones to touch and hold Bibles and Bible stories is helpful in teaching them to love God's word.

We've found that by the time they can walk around they usually want to cary a Bible around with them! We do let them handle our regular Bibles, but take a look at this post for one of the hazards to that (and for a good laugh). We like the "My Creation Bible" by Ken Ham that Answers In Genesis puts out. We really like that though it is not scripture it shows a more Biblical account than most "baby Bibles" do. It starts with a quick explanation of what the Bible is, and who God is and then goes on to give an account of creation and the first sin; all in a nice easy to read rhyming pattern. It also gives the account of Noah and the Tower of Babel, all while connecting sin and our need for a savior (and that Christ offers that salvation)!

Answers In Genesis has generously provided a "My Creation Bible" to give away! I'll give you a few ways to win this book.

1. Leave a comment here with your e-mail address (spelling out the "dot") so that I can contact you if you win.

2. Be a follower of my blog (leave a separate comment)

3.Facebook a link to this post/giveaway (leave a separate comment)

I'm linking to Giveaway Day at Hip Homeschool Moms

Happy Birthday to me!

2011-07-20T20:55:00.000-07:00

We celebrated my birthday this week-end! Rob and the kids made my day such a wonderful relaxing one, they are all such blessings to me! I slept in a bit and came downstairs to the smell of french toast cooking on the griddle. Miss E had offered to make breakfast for me, and Rob helped her. Breakfast was wonderful! Stuffed French toast, berries, sausage and lemon aid! YUM!
After breakfast Rob dropped me and Miss E off to get pedicures. I only get these when I'm pregnant when I get to the point that I can no longer touch my toes. I thought it would be fun to include Miss E this time, and that my birthday would be a good time to do this. We had a great time together, and even got flowers painted on our big toes!

*When we got home the little girls wanted their toes done too!

Rob made a wonderful lunch of baked brie, sausages, cheese, crackers, salami and apples for us as well as sparkling cider. What a fun lunch! While Miss E and I were getting our pedicures Rob and the rest of the kids went to get dessert; a lemon tart from Whole Foods. My favorite!
We spent the rest of the afternoon napping, relaxing, reading, and just enjoying some quiet family time. Then Rob made up Chinese food for dinner.
I had a lovely day relaxing and enjoying my family, what a blessing they all are to me!

6:15 am Family Bible Reading/ morning routine

2011-07-19T03:29:00.000-07:00

*I'm taking a break from "Summer School" to do this post and a couple of others that go with it.

Our morning routine has come up a few times in recent weeks, so I thought I'd do a little post on what we do....

Nearly every morning for over a year and a half we have been getting up together as a family at 6:15 to do family Bible reading. Some mornings we sleep in (mostly just Saturdays), but it is still the first thing we do when we get up. Everyone just staggers down, the kids are all still in PJs, though Rob and I do try to be showered and dressed (but I have not managed that in a while). Kids bring down blankets and we all cuddle, or curl up in a chair and listen to Rob read God's word. This is not a Bible study time, it is just a time to listen to God's word. We are on our second year of going through the Bible chronologically in a year. We also read the Proverbs chapter of the day. This all takes us about 30 minutes or so.

When that Bible reading is done everyone goes about doing their morning chores of getting dressed, making beds, cleaning up rooms, making breakfast etc. At about 7:10 everyone gathers again in the living room for individual Bible reading. This is something we just started about a week ago. Right now Rob is just letting each of the kids pick what they want to read. Miss J and Miss C look at "baby Bibles" while Mr S has a comic strip style Bible that is actually fairly detailed.

At 7:30 we have breakfast together as a family. When Rob is done eating he pulls out one or two of the books we are reading at meals (right now that is "Ten Ps in a pod", Iran (from VOM), and the Screwtape Letters), and he reads out loud while everyone else is finishing. Then we all work on some scripture memorization together and catechisms.

That's how our days start nearly every day. It's really just been in the last two years that we've been doing any sort of morning family devotions, and memorization. It has been such a blessing to our family! One of the biggest blessings has been watching my husband initiate each and every one of these things, how God has directed him to lead in these areas.

***I prayed for years that God would direct my husband's heart to do something like this. There is no way I could have asked him or told him to do this. It would not have been his leading then, and his heart would not have been in it. God used some wonderful godly men to speak into my husband's heart. Ladies, prayer is powerful! God works in his own ways in his own time. Our prayers are such a blessing to our husbands and to our families. What a great lesson for me in learning to wait upon the LORD (one I'm still trying to learn though!).

I pray that if this is the desire of your heart, that you are encouraged by this post, not discouraged. Devotions and such will look different in each family. Allow your husband to lead as he sees fit. Step aside and examine your own attitude and obedience to God.

I'm linking to raising homemakers this week.

Fun friends and German food!

2011-07-18T13:50:00.000-07:00

Last week the delightful "R family" finally came to visit us! We've been talking for months about having them down for a quick visit and incorporating a trip to a German restaurant into the visit! The open house at Rob's office provided the perfect excuse for the visit as Mr. R is a geek too, and thought it would be fun to check out all of the toys at the school. The kids got to drive boats and fly a helicopter, so they enjoyed the visit to the office as well! (did I mention that Rob is in the modeling and simulation department?).

The next day was spent just hanging around.
The kids enjoyed the time to play with their friends. Rob enjoyed our time visiting with our friends too! It was so nice to have some undivided time with this family!

We've been to this German place once before and had such a lovely time, we just had to go with Mr. R (who is German) before moving! With such a large group we had quite a wait for our dinner, but we had a great time while we were waiting and the food was wonderful!

Sewing fitted diapers!

2011-07-16T15:20:00.000-07:00

I recently finished sewing up some fitted diapers for Mr. K. Fitted diapers are cloth diapers that do not need to be folded to be put on baby and usually have some sort of closure (I used snaps), but they need a cover as they are not water proof. I had made a bunch of these when I was pregnant with Miss C, but some were pink and I can't put those on a boy!

While I didn't really need these, I already had all of the fabric and snaps. Having a few more was going to be handy and they really did not take all that long to put together. I loved making the minky ones, Miss J and Miss C often came over to touch and kiss the soft diapers. The yellow "space" one is one I've been wanting to make for a long time. I had the fabric left over from making some PJ's and could just see it as a cute little diaper!

Worth taking a look....

2011-07-15T08:30:00.000-07:00

My friend Rebecca just posted "What will be remembered?" on her blog. It is short and sweet, and very encouraging (convicting too?) and very much worth the read! Please take a minute to read it!

Thanks Rebecca for your wisdom and encouragement!

Summer School treats!

2011-07-12T15:08:00.000-07:00

Add to your blog:

*click on the "Summer School" button to see my other posts on summer break plans and ideas!

Like I posted earlier, I made quite a few batches of popsicles. Along with the "everyday" popsicles with spinach in them I made quite a few "junk" popsicles to be given out as rewards.

I made chocolate covered banana pops, with the help of Mr. S
The chocolate on them is a homemade "magic shell" so we just had to pour the left overs over some scoops of icecream!
I found this great recipe for root beer float popsicles, YUM! I adapted the recipe to make orange creamsicles too!

Miss J requested rainbow popsicles, and Mr. S helped me mix up the colors (including choosing the colors for me!). I made these with vanilla pudding, and Miss J was quite pleased with the results.
Chocolate pudding pops were requested by a couple of children too, so I made up a bunch of those as well.

Now the kids just need to get going on their reading so I can start passing these out!

Please link up your fun summer treats, or just what you are up to this summer. I think I'll be posting on "do something silly" for next Tuesday.

link up!

Playing with friends

2011-07-11T04:24:00.000-07:00

Some friends of ours from church came down for a quick visit on Friday! When making plans with them Rob let them know that we are early risers by welcoming them to show up for family Bible reading at 6:15, and they took him up on it! It was such a blessing to share our Whole day with these three siblings!

Our morning was filled with fun play around the house. Miss J really warmed up to Miss A and Miss H and it was so cute to see her interacting with them.

Miss E's giant beach ball was a big hit!

After nap time Rob pulled out an MRE to have for snack (a favorite treat for our kids!).

Then we headed off to NPS to explore the old hotel building. We had so much fun checking out staircases, the wonderful view, and the grounds too!

Dinner was clam chowder at the wharf. Fisherman's wharf is lined with restaurants and nearly all of them offer a sample of their chowder to try to entice you to come in. The plan was to try all of the samples, and then we would all pick our favorite one to get and then find a good place to sit an eat! We all ended up agreeing on two of them being the best, and ended up going into one of them to eat, we also got to check out some of the local wild life!

We followed dinner with a stop at the candy store. Miss J sweet talked her way into some cotton candy to share with everyone. We also picked up some yummy caramel apples and caramel corn too! Oh, and gum balls, those were fun too!

*Miss J trying to bite down on a much-too-big-for-her gum ball. Eventually I had to step in and do the job only a mommy could do.... bite into a gum ball that had already been in my little girl's mouth!

What a fun day! We were so blessed to have three of the "kids" from the C family come to visit us! While we had a great time doing some fun things with them, the blessing was truly in getting to know them better and watching our own children developing relationships with them as well!

July move to do list!

2011-07-09T05:13:00.000-07:00

July is my last month of big projects and preparations for baby and our move. I managed to cross everything off of my June list (except school planning, but that was expected to spill over to July and was already on the July list too!), so I'm all set to get going on this months projects! Once these are done I will be able to know that my big jobs for the move are done, and that will make it so much easier for me to relax and enjoy my time with my new little guy!

-Finish school planning

*Right now I'm buried in these books! I've got lessons planned for Mr. S and Mr. M in the Readers, so I have Mr. R and Miss E left to go. Then I'll move on to the Math, I'm thinking that may be a bit easier to get done.

-clean out freezers

-pack trailer and tape the "last minute packing" list to the door of the trailer *My wonderful boys helped me get our cargo trailer into the garage. I need to get it packed up with everything we will need on the other end right away and things we know the movers will not take. This would normally be my job anyways, but with Rob being so busy I need to make sure it is done before Mr. K comes!

-finish de-cluttering/cleaning

-meal planning for August

-clean out and re-organize van. Move car seats around.

-pull out baby clothes and newborn cloth diapers. Get it all set up for Mr. K!

-Sewing! car seat blanket, bouncy seat cover, fitted diapers, bibs (bonus: if I'm done early I'm going to make myself a skirt!). *I've already finished most of this sewing!

As you can see I've got plenty to keep me busy this month. It is all coming together very nicely though, so I think this list is managable. I just need to be sure I'm not wasting time, and to remember to delegate when I can!

I'm linking to organizing junkie this week.

Spinach in their popsicles?

2011-07-07T13:29:00.000-07:00

Last week I made up nearly 100 popsicles (that seems like a lot, but with six kids I'm not sure they will last very long)! About half of them were "junk" popsicles intended to be given out as rewards for meeting reading goals. The rest were "everyday" popsicles. While I don't mind making up fruit juice popsicles I wanted something a bit healthier for the kids. I decided to make up smoothie popsicles, and our smoothies often contain quite a bit of spinach!
I made up three kinds; The first kind was berry smoothie popsicles I just used the frozen berry mix from Costco a BUNCH of spinach and some milk and yogurt. YUM!
Next up was the lemon "lime" popsicles. These actually have very little lime in them, but that it is still the excuse for the green coloring!Then I swirled the two flavors together a bit to make a third choice!

These were all enjoyed by the kids

The kids are loving their popsicles, and mommy is oh so very happy to be getting some extra greens in them!

Kid friendly "shrimp" boil

2011-07-07T13:18:00.000-07:00

I saw this post over at Life in a shoe and it reminded me what fun we had at a shrimp boil years ago in Florida. I thought it would be something my kids would love...minus the shrimp! I used a much smaller pot and cut up some smoked sausage and hot dogs as well as including the potatoes and corn. I put in 1/2 and onion and Miss E suggested we add some garlic cloves.

The kids were all excited about eating with their fingers, right off of the table (covered in brown paper bags), and not even having plates! No one disliked this lunch, though some liked it more than others (with six kids that passes as a GREAT success!). It was simple to put together, though it did take a bit more time than I had first thought it would. We will be doing this again at least one more time, and daddy suggested that maybe we could really do a shrimp boil one of these days when he is home!

Summer School serving others

2011-07-05T14:10:00.000-07:00

Add to your blog:

*click on the "Summer School" button to see my other posts on summer break plans and ideas!

We've tried to cultivate servant's hearts in our children and set good examples of serving for them. We want serving to be a way of life for them, not just something that happens from time to time. That starts in our own home, teaching them to care for and serve one another. We also try to serve others, either friends, family, people in our church, neighborhood etc. whenever we can.

Some times are more conducive to serving though. With less school work to do the kids have more free time, allowing them to have more time to serve! With so much to do around here there are plenty of opportunities for them to serve their family, by helping with projects, serving one another, and just looking for ways to help mommy and daddy (a favorite way to serve is to watch the little girls while I work on a project within hearing).

It also happens to be "moving season" in military land. On our street we've had four families move out in the past two months or so. That also means four new families moving in! This has been a regular sight outside our home.....

Mr. R asked to make cookies for the first family to move in. He made them all on his own (well, it looks like he may have had a little helper!) and had them on a plate and out the door before I could get pictures! He did taste one to make sure they turned out, that was it. He plans to make more this week.

A good friend had a baby a couple of weeks ago. She had a c-section and Daddy has limited time off. Miss E has offered to go over and help out with the kids, and chores around the house so mom can have more recovery time (Baby was #5, the oldest being 6 yrs.). I'm so glad that though I'm really not able to offer this help myself (though Miss E and I did make a few meals), that my daughter is not only willing but truly able! She is not old enough to be left alone to baby sit, but she is an amazing "mothers helper" capable to keeping an eye out on kids, and keeping them busy as well as seeing to some simple meals and even some chores!

We are also planning to purchase some parachute kits from Voice of the Martyrs and put those together as a family. It will be a great ministry opportunity, and a great way to take action as we have been reading the VOM newsletter regularly the past few months.

I'll be encouraging my kids to find other ways to serve others. I'd love to hear more ideas! Please link up with me with your serving others post, or just what you are doing this summer!

Next week I think I'll be posting on some of the summer treats we've been making!

link up!

Happy 4th of July!

2011-07-04T20:07:00.001-07:00

We spent the morning doing the weekly Monday de-cluttering after sleeping in a bit and having a slow start to our morning. At breakfast we read through the Declaration of Independence and parts of the Constitution/Bill of Rights (we would have gone through most/all of it, but some of us were getting antsy, and with the slow morning our time was limited).

Then we were off to a party at The Ranch (some friends have a ranch out in the valley that we LOVE to go visit). The big kids had a great time catching crawdads at the lake while the little girls enjoyed splashing in some water, they all enjoyed running around and playing in the big open space! We also enjoyed the fellowship with some great friends.

We went home and had dinner and enjoyed these jello-stars the kids had seen and wanted to make.

We can't do any fun firework type things here, not only because we are in base housing, but because of the city we live in. :/ So the kids got to throw/step on some poppers, lite snakes, and set of smoke bombs. Then we all went to bed early. It was a wonderful day.

Pajama Day!

2011-07-01T21:53:00.000-07:00

Today was officially our last day of school, we're moving on to "Summer School." To celebrate I planned a fun day for the kids, Pajama day! Our day started out "normal" except everyone was expected to come to breakfast in clean (as in fresh out of the drawer) Pajamas instead of dressed in clothes. Once some very minimal morning chores were done we moved on to the fun!

I had a craft planned for the kids. Cutting holes/pictures in black paper and backing it with colored paper to make the picture. Miss E and Mr. S seemed to be the only ones that got the concept, but everyone had a good time!

Snack time was cereal. "Junk" cereal. I'm pleading temporary insanity on most of the food served today....

Since the kids were all hopped up on sugar I figured pillowcase races were a good idea. The kids enjoyed cheering one another on and challenging each other to races. Miss J ended up being our "champion" only by the special rules all of the big kids encouraged her to play by (turning back half way down). Mr. M was the clear winner of most races though!

Lunch was eggo waffle PB sandwiches, cantalope, and bananas; followed by cupcakes.

Forts were being built throughout the day. Everyone brought their pillows down for "nap time" and we watched Runner from Ravenshead.

I made a snack mix from some of the cereal left over from earlier in the day and gave that to the kids for their afternoon snack, they munched on it while finishing the movie.

It was a fun day, with way too much sugar. Everyone was ready for a nice healthy meal when daddy got home and they got to tell him all about their fun day. The weather has finally been consistently nice out, school work is done, we are ready for summer!

Christian Cinema giveaway winners!

2011-07-01T09:25:00.000-07:00

The winners are comments #2 and #3 "A Restful Place" and Rebecca J! Congratulations!

I'll be e-mailing you with instructions on redeeming your free membership!

Church picnic

2011-06-30T12:53:00.000-07:00

After the carnival on Saturday we went to stay with the "G family" for the night. We have enjoyed getting to know this sweet family this past year, and we were so glad it worked out to have one more sleep-over with them!

Then we were all off to church on Sunday morning and a great picnic after church! It was a hot sunny day, and they had plenty of games planned to keep everyone cooled off! Mr. M participated in most of the games.

They had a wonderful canopy set up with kiddie pools and a slide for the little ones.

Rob helped run the pie eating contest, and our kids enjoyed participating!

It was a wonderful day of fun and fellowship with some great friends!

Funny boy!

2011-06-29T17:15:00.000-07:00

He went out like this yesterday; to run errands....

Yea, he is a funny guy! He showed up at breakfast like this, not even cracking a smile. At first I was not going to let him out of the house like that, but I figured it wasn't hurting anyone and may provide a few laughs.

Summer School being productive!

2011-06-28T07:58:00.000-07:00

Add to your blog:

*click on the "Summer School" button to see my other posts on summer break plans and ideas!

Summer is not just for playing and messing around; it's a great time to get things done! Since we don't have to be so focused on school, we have a bit more free time that can be used for projects we have not been able to get to.

This summer it is all the more important that we be productive and not just sit around (or play around). I have plenty of projects that I need to work on such as planning school for next year, sewing, organizing, preparing for baby, and preparing for our move! Whew! I'm going to need some help to get all of this done!

- Every Monday until I have the baby we will focus on one room/area of the house to de-clutter, organize and clean. This should get the house mostly ready for the move. The rooms may get messy again, but at least it will be an organized/de-cluttered mess that the movers will be packing up!

- Rob has been working on some bookshelves, and our boys have been helping him where they can. They have been sanding and even staining the wood for us!

- I'm trying to remember to delegate some of the simple projects that I need to do to the older kids. They like being involved in the school planning process, and my older kids can help me put together some of the activities for my little ones.

Miss E noticed some simple sewing repair jobs that needed to be done and asked if she could do them. I had not even thought of asking her to help me with this! She did a great job, and it was something I didn't have to do!

- There are outside projects that need to be done to prepare for the move too, like cleaning off the outside furniture and playhouse/play set. My bigger kids can do these jobs closer to when we are ready to move, but the little ones will have a good time helping with this too!

What about you? What are some projects that you need to get to? How can you use this time to be productive, AND involve the kids? Please link up with your summer projects and activities! Next week I'll post on finding service opportunities this summer!

I'm linking to organizing junkie today!

link up!

A carnival for charity

2011-06-27T20:29:00.001-07:00

This past week-end we were so blessed to be able to go to a carnival that is put on annually by a family to raise funds for various charities (this year the proceeds are actually going to fund the family's one year mission trip to Africa!). Several of our friends have been involved in helping to put this on for years, so we were excited to not only go have a fun family day, but to be able to fellowship with some wonderful friends too!
The kids played games for hours, and even Miss C got to get in on some of the action!

*Miss E trying to "hold" a mentos and coke in her mouth!

All of our kids won fish at the goldfish toss.

We could not pass up the chance to let the kids dunk our good friend (and host for the night) Mr. G.

The weather was wonderful (though a bit hot in the sun). Just in case anyone reading (Grandmas?) is concerned about me and the baby spending so much time in the heat--- half way through the day I parked myself (and Miss J) at the cake walk table, where our friends the "R" family were running the show and I just stayed there in the shade. Miss J was able to eat her snow cone and then go play a few games when Rob and the kids came by, and I was able to visit with friends and rest while still enjoying the fun!
There were also way too many prizes given out and tickets redeemed for more prizes.On our way out we stopped to let some of the kids ride the horses.

finding a few minutes.

2011-06-24T12:14:00.000-07:00

Sometimes as moms we think we need to put a bunch of effort into coming up with special crafts or activities for our kids. However; while these things are nice and do have their place (and I DO do these things) I've found that just finding a few minutes and taking an opportunity can be just as special!

Just yesterday Miss J and I were reading our "We help Mommy" little golden book (from my childhood, it is now out of print, but can be found in the Eloise Wilken LIttle Golden Book collection). She asked if we could make the same treat for daddy that the little girl in the book was making. I told her that was a great idea, but not today.

Today I was making up some pies to take to a church picnic.... Oh, I had dough and filling left over! Miss J was called in to the kitchen. "Do you want to make a treat for daddy, just like in your book?" This took about a whole 5 minutes, and was an afterthought, but it was very special for her. She was so proud of the good job she had done and can't wait to give it to daddy (though in this technology age, she knew to request that I text him a picture!). Now every time we read the the book she will remember that she got to make that very treat for daddy, and her mommy helped her!

Taking the time to listen and remember. Keeping your kids close to you. Noticing the opportunity. Finding a few minutes. Thats part of what builds relationships and makes those sweet memories!

*picture taken by Miss J!