'til the numbers end...

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to share with a few dozen women what brings me joy during this "season" in my life. At the time I was going through a rough spot with one of our children who was not living up to her potential.  Added to that, another child has been dealing with self love issues that have proven to be serious, and Matt had been out of town for months on end. I was drowning and felt like there was little joy during this season. With seven children there is never a dull moment.  No time to sit and relax or to stop and just be with them.  Especially with Matt gone, and because of punishment, I was two drivers down. At this time in life it is all about the children.  They are growing and becoming more independent.  It is scary for a parent to consider a child faced with a serious situation that they will have to deal with without us right there by their side to help them.  All they have is what they have learned from us as parents, and ...

Too Much Guilt I don't know what my problem is, but if I can't be perfect, I feel guilt.  We each have a different threshold for how much we can handle, but no matter how much is put on our plates, we try to do it all.  Because if we don't, somehow we aren't living up to our wife and motherly responsibilities. Some things that make me feel guilt: Not making a homemade dinner every night, having a maid come and clean every other week (Matt doesn't even know about this one, but he's about to:), not being all made up when Matt gets home (he doesn't care, but I do), not having energy to do more during the day, not having graduated college (I'm working on that), more one-on-one time with the children, not feeling like I can handle everything on my plate sometimes.  I struggle to understand why I can't handle everything on my plate.  I should be able to, right?  What's my problem?  These are just the ones that come to mind off the top of my ...

What is "Family Home Evening (FHE), otherwise known as "Family Night"? There has been interest among some friends from my youth, who are now parents, to explain what exactly we do on Monday nights with our families.  What is FHE?  What is that thing we do with our families where we set our phones aside and hang out with our siblings and parents? First, every family is different.  I'm just going to tell you how our family does it.  We do what works for us.  Which means, sometimes we do it on Sunday evening because that's when everyone is home.  This week we did it on Wednesday evening because it worked for our schedules.  It is best to nail down one day of the week that the family can sit down together and catch up, or at least spend a little time together. We give assignments out so things are somewhat orderly.  We start with a song.  Usually a primary song from church.  Wheels on the Bus may be a song your children know.  One ...

Hurricane Harvey has come and gone.  We live in Houston, Texas.  Our home was not damaged in the flooding. I have never lived through a natural disaster of any kind.  I grew up in Olympia, WA. where nothing ever really seems to happen. When we were warned about the hurricane, my husband, Matt, was in Maine where he is currently working.  He had no choice but to stay and watch and pray as Harvey continued to progress and flood our city over the course of many days.  There were no flights coming in or going out.  Even if he had gotten a flight in, he never would have made it home through the flooding.  Watching from afar was torture for him. Here I was, sitting at home with our six children who still live at home, wondering how this storm would affect us.  What would I be forced to do alone, without the help of Matt? Through the years we have accumulated everything that I think we would need if power went out, or if we were stuck in the hous...

Selah could barely hold it, but she had to take her turn holding an authentic Mickey Mantle bat. During Spring Break our family went to visit Matt's cousin, Aaron, and his family in Kentucky. I had never been there before. It was beautiful and we all had a great time with the cousins.

Brower had a great year in Kindergarten. He loves to learn and can't get enough. He is very patient when he wants to know how to do something. He will sit and watch until it is finished. The picture above with Uncle Aaron, Brower is watching how he makes waffles from scratch. He'll do the same with electricians, builders, athletes, and anything else. The two kids sitting next to him are a couple of his best friends. Francisco is his best buddy and Rachel is a little sweet on him. And I think he likes her too (although he would never say it). She is a very forward little girl, but so cute!

Sumner loved the candle on his cupcake. He kept reaching for it while the family sang "Happy Birthday" to him. He got really frustrated and started crying until we finished singing. As soon as he got his hands on the treat he was just fine!

Everyone keeps asking me to post some pictures of Sumner. He is the sweetest, best baby ever! Just look at that smile! He loves his jumper. The other kids come by while he is jumping and swing him as high as can be. He gets a kick out of that.

Libby and Jeff came all the way from Pittsburg to visit us for Thanksgiving. On Thanksgiving Day, Matt and Jeff traded the turkey bowl for running over 13 miles to finish the Atlanta 1/2 Marathon. They both did awesome and still had enough energy to be part of the festivities.

Ira has been spending a lot of time walking around the house with this purse. If I had any concerns about gender identity (I didn't), those concerns were without a doubt eased. I decided to see what he was carrying around in this little princess purse. I found that it was VERY heavy. The picture below is what I discovered when I opened it... Ira's a smart little boy....looking all innocent, while secretly stashing all of these bullets right in the open! He's been fascinated with all things gun since going to the range one day with Matt. He got to wear ear plugs and learn all about gun safety. Needless to say our little guy is all boy!

Emma decided to be a DIVA and Eliza was a dead bride. Can you tell? She's the one slumped over. Savannah was our little princess, and the boys were tough guys, as usual. The children can't get enough of this picture!

Savannah, Eliza, and Ira waiting to play a game. Aren't they so cute? Selah had a great time at the party. She never slowed down. She has taken Ira's long held position in the home as being the most destructive and crazy. Today on the way to church she was beating Brower (our 5 year old) up in the back of the car. She does the same to Ira on a regular basis. The girl is ruthless, but somehow they still always want to be with her. Emma, the dead bride and Bethany, the gymnast. Emma was intent on being something dead this year. She got her wish. In this picture she was playing the part. She didn't smile because she said dead brides don't smile. Now she's over that and wants to be a DIVA for Halloween. I told her she doesn't need to dress up for that!

Savannah finally lost her first tooth during FHE this week. She is very excited because she is in second grade and pretty much everyone else have been losing their baby teeth for years!

Everyone was so excited when the water started to rise. The neighbors came over with boogie boards and went surfing. Eliza is in the top picture taking her turn surfing. It was fun while it lasted. The water kept rising, making me a little nervous. Matt was out of town, so my awesome neighbor came over and dug a trench that led to some drains. The water flowed out of our backyard as fast as if we had flushed the toilet! Quite an adventure, and something the children won't soon forget!

It's been raining a lot here lately, but for one reason or another there is always an excuse for them NOT to play in the rain. Either the storm begins right after they've showered, or it's dark, or there's lightening. Well, today is Saturday and it's been raining cats and dogs with no lightening. So I let them loose out back at 9 o'clock in the morning. I hope the neighbors weren't sleeping in!

Selah likes running around the house with nothing but a swim cap on. I guess it makes her feel closer to her sister's while they are gone to school. That has GOT to be uncomfortable!

Ready to pose for pictures. Today is picture day at school. I hope they look this good after recess. I'm not holding my breath!

What a handsome dude. All ready for church....ALMOST....

Matt and I went out on a date on Saturday night and got a babysitter...as we often do. It is hard for the babysitter to focus on all 7 children at the same time. That is why we always tell them to pay close attention to Ira and Selah because they will slip out of sight and who knows what will happen! So, as he often does, Ira found a way to slip under the radar and hide in Emma's closet. He found her fingernail polish on top of her closet and somehow climbed up and got it. He did a pretty good job painting his toes and got very little on the carpet. When we got home he was asleep so I had to wait until the next morning to take it off. We have 9am church and Matt is never there in the mornings to help. The boys wear salt water sandals to church so I had no choice but to scrub the paint off. He really does love his sisters!

Selah and Ira each had a cup full of shelled peanuts they were eating out back on top of the ball bin. Selah likes to eat them, shell and all. Part of a shell is on her chin. They were having a good time though. Our favorite way to eat peanuts is to buy them boiled.