Children

We are excited that we are going to have another baby in our family.  All the children want to have a boy as we have five girls already.  I am five classes away from finishing my Masters Degree in Education.  I have started to think about what I will do once my degree is complete and I have not decided.  I have never been happy to just enjoy being at home because for me I get bored easily and I honestly like to work.  I am tired a lot now but hopefully I will get my energy back and come up with some great ideas that I can do while my children are so little.  My children will be attending public school in the fall despite the time spent at private school we did not feel it worked for us any more or less than public school.  My son who is in the gifted program does better at public school because of the gifted program.  The private school does not have any programs to help him.  Our other children will have to get additional work at home to help them meet their individual needs.  I enjoy our time together as a family and look forward to helping our children learn and grow.  We are looking forward to summer and the warm weather.  I love being outside and the children enjoy playing outside.  This should be a great summer.

Christmas Day Was Fun

We woke up early and had toast.  Left to church and returned after services.  We opened gifts and ate lunch.  Next the children played with their new toys and put away new clothes.  We bought Rody horses for the little girls, a spinner, two huge riding bouncy balls that can hold 400 pounds.  For the baby we bought a rocking horse from little tykes.  I bought these toys because the children have outside toys but I needed toys that they could play with inside and still be a little more active than sitting on the couch. All of the children loved the new toys and the new pajamas were a hit.  I felt like the children got nice gifts that will play well for at least a few years.  I don't like to buy throw away toys; I have in the past and it was okay I guess I just feel like if I am going to spend money on a toy it should last a while.  Anyway, I am so pleased with this Christmas it went very well.  My husband cooked a turkey dinner for us to enjoy. Yum!  I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.

Children Shopping at Christmas

I have already taken older children to buy gifts for each other.  It was difficult they all wanted to buy something for themselves.  I did not really mind but it did add about twenty extra minutes as each child picked a toy for the others very quickly and spent the remainder of time finding a toy for themselves.  Next year I will not try that again as I don't want Christmas to be about themselves when it should be about giving.

Christmas

We have almost finished Christmas shopping.  We picked up chocolate today and one last train to buy.  All the children are out of school and our house was painted this week.  We are still recovering from the mess that produced.  Tonight we are having pumpkin mac and cheese.  I love it and it is a great compromise with my children.  I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas.

Organizing a Small House with A large Number of Children

Okay, my husband and I have been working on organizing our house to help reduce the clutter seven children make on a daily bases.  We are going to add a door to our garage so that all winter gear will stay in the garage. I hope that as we do this the shoes, jackets and snow pants, gloves and hats and whatever else the children pick up will not end up in our toy room but in the garage.  We have put in new shelves to reduce clutter in our bedroom and looking at new ideas for our laundry room.  Our total square footage of our house is 2400 on four different levels (very broken up). The broken up part is on purpose I did not want children falling down stairs. We are looking forward to the end result and will post pictures.

The Big Picture

Starting the day the same as yesterday and finishing it the same as yesterday.  It calls me to see the big picture of life with seven small children in my house.  Everyday, I am so grateful to spend time with my family even when it seems the same as it was yesterday.  I would never trade one minute that I have with my family even when it is difficult.  I can never get those minutes back again and so I treasure every minute I have with my children and husband.  The children grow faster than I can buy bigger clothes for them and so I know it will continue year after year until they are off to college and getting married.  I am amazed at how much I learn just from the repeated lessons I get every day.  Every dinner is special for me every time one of my children calls for me is a reflection on how I will respond to their request.  I am given so many opportunities to become better everyday it is a work that I can only hope to be successful in doing.  Mostly, I just love my children and hope they have a good childhood.

The School Year Underway

We are full into school now and just finished Halloween.  Just hid the last of the candy this morning.  The three youngest children have had croup and generally have been sick the last couple of weeks.  The children are already getting excited about Thanks Giving.  Our baby started walking two weeks ago and is so busy she only wants to be held on occasion now.  The private school is wonderful, the teachers are kind and know my children.  I feel like there is a connection between the children and their teachers.  If I have to leave them, American Heritage is the place I am happy with leaving them.  Our last child left in the public school system is in the gifted program and is now having difficulty he has chosen to stop talking to teachers.  Now, we are left to decide if he can navigate a system where communication is mandatory for success.  Only time will tell as we continue to work with him on talking to teachers.  Our oldest daughter has met with great success and is doing so great in her school work.  We are so happy to see her grow and learn at a rate she is happy with at school.  She does not come home and act as if there is nothing to do; she comes home starts homework and finishes it and moves on to her next activity.  I am sorry, I have not been keeping up with posting and pictures.  School and children's sickness has kept me very busy.  I will start posting our new activities as soon as I have time to breath.