Primarily written by Adrienne, a homeschooling mother of seven, ages 10 and under. She chronicles life, laughs, struggles, and lessons learned as she raises a larger-than-most sized family and tries to figure out what she's doing day by day.

With occasional posts, Alexandra, Adrienne's older sister, writes of her ranch life in Nevada and raising four sons, ages 5 and under. Life is never dull and her boys have given her some pretty awesome stories to tell.

Stick around awhile, and you're sure to laugh, nod, smile, be encouraged, and see what life is like with a big (little) family.

6.20.2010

We've moved!

Through a fun turn of events, we're moved, without hot water, and I've never been so glad to take a cold shower in my life. So cool. (Ha, didn't that one come out funny!) We'll be without internet until I can get the proper people called, so here's a goodbye until we surface out from under the pile of boxes...

6.14.2010

One small step.

Just sent off our first mortgage payment for the house that we're not even living in yet. It was a "Well, here we go. For the... Next. Thirty. Years. kind of feeling. A 'I'll be 56 when we get this paid off if we only pay the minimum. Likely a grandma, many times over.' kind of feeling." Wow. And, just in case you were wondering, I didn't send just the minimum. Here's to paying it off before I'm 56!

6.13.2010

Somebody check that man's ears.

Liberty came out of their bedroom tonight with shorts and a tank top on, announcing she was going to wear that instead of sleeping in her panties like she has been doing (It's about 90 degrees right now, at 9 pm.) because she sleeps next to a window and someone might see her. Blaine's response went something like:

"No, we can't open your window. There isn't a screen on it, and the bugs will come into the house."

I laughed. And laughed. "You have no idea what she really just said, do you, Blaine?"

"No, I guess not. Didn't she ask about opening the window?"

"No, she said she's wearing a tank top and shorts to bed because she sleeps next to a window and someone might see her while she's sleeping."

"I am turning into my Aunt Edith. She always answered questions she hadn't been asked."

And... I laughed some more. And then I told him he was about to make my blog. He was a good sport and told me I could. It was just too darn funny! Aunt Edith was the sweetest lady, born in Holland I believe, and her accent said she spent quite a bit of time there before coming to America. And her hearing was really, really bad. Oh, still funny, dear Blaine.

6.10.2010

Pretty sure these children have one goal: embarrass Momma.

Yesterday I had an OB appointment. I was a little stunned when they told me that my next appointment in July will be my glucose test, and from there on out I'm on every two week appointments instead of every four weeks. You mommas out there know what that means. Eek!

Anyway, the appointment. Or rather, before the appointment. We waited and waited - apparently someone's labor/delivery took precedence over my checkup, wouldn't you know? So we waited. And Sterling and Ruby played and played, chasing each other in circles having a great time. Then Sterling decided to lay down on the floor, Ruby laid on top of him, and Sterling decided she needed a bouncy ride. There they lay, belly to belly... Seriously! What do I do?! To tell them to get up would be admitting to all the nervous gigglers also waiting in the room that my children were mimicking something they have never seen. Never. So do I let them play, pretending they are sitting quietly instead of what it really rather looked like? Do I tell them to get up and act all embarrassed at their actions? Seriously, what do you do? I decided to ignore all and hope they went back to running in circles sooner than later. Still wondering what the right answer was.

After that whole morning, we went to another store, and the woman helping me asked if I homeschool. I told her I did, and she said she'd thought I looked like the type. The type?! No blue jumper or bun in sight (although I admit I have a jumper, maternity and all, and it's darn comfortable) so what makes me look like the type? I asked, and she told me my patience level and how I talked to my children and how they obeyed me. Is that what my ignoring the behavior in the doctor's office was? Patience? We can say so. I can anyhow.

The girls saw on TLC this morning that the Duggar's make their own laundry soap too. Suddenly, you could see it on Liberty and Eden's faces. "My mom is cool!" I'll remind them of that moment when they are sixteen. In the meantime, I'm enjoying the moment. And enjoying the fact that my girls' favorite show is 19 Kids and Counting. Now there's a typical homeschool family. You know, just super-sized.

The police just pulled away from my yard. My (rental) mailbox, and that of the two houses across the street, lay on the lawn, tire tracks in the lawn, and the car that hit them nowhere in sight. Time to move. I'm enjoying the fact that, should something similar ever happen in our new house, Blaine planted our mailbox in concrete. That little car would fare far worse than the mailbox here did if he ever decides to hit that mailbox. Pretty sure I'm on the neighborhood hit list for calling the cops though. Ah, the glares.

I have two babies with fevers and aches. The ibuprofen has them quite fun though. Still wondering if tomorrow brings a visit to the doctor or if this will fight itself. The snuggles I've gotten today will be entirely worth it when I get sick next week. Remind me of that.

6.02.2010

Slightly sleep-deprived ramblings of the moment

I think the ticks don't like me; not that I mind. The kids have each had a dozen or more on them by now, and I haven't had any, even with the many hours I've spent in the grass. Strange? Stop contemplating? The great state in which we live, while Blaine assures me there are no recorded cases of Lyme disease ever, has one very impressive tick population. So much so, that I've begun trying to convince Blaine that these would be a wise pet:


Ugly, I know. But from what I was told, and have since learned through research, guinea hens are fantastic bug eaters. And watch birds. Should you wander onto my property in the near future and hear a strange cackling, beware. I've read these things are not overly friendly to strangers. But don't tell Blaine that - he already looked at my quite skeptically when I told him of my bug control plan.

I got another area of our hayfield mowed! More specifically, during our recent Memorial day come-to-our-house-and-we'll-put-you-to-work day, most of it was mowed once by a generous and kind soul. Today I finished what wasn't cut on Monday and then mowed all of it again. Two cuttings later, my lawn just grew by many more feet and a good hour or hour and a half's mowing. Smart plan, I know. Blaine's on the hunt for a riding lawn mower though. I think he just knows that my stamina will likely taper as the summer progresses and this baby grows, and while I rather "enjoy" doing it now, he'll be up next and he doesn't want to push-mow the entire lawn. Pretty sure that's it.

With all that was accomplished Monday, we had high hopes of finishing what has to be done before move in this week and move this weekend, but now Blaine's working required overtime. Good, but bad. Hard to get much done anyhow. I dropped off the water to be tested today. Praying that comes back good, and that we can cross that off the list of to-do's.

Off to get something accomplished before Ruby wakes up. Once she's up, it's just best to keep her nearby at all times lately. Either that, or spend more time cleaning up the messes that she makes than it takes her to make them. The new house still has a pile of chocolate cake on the floor that I have to clean up. She climbed up on the folding table while I was mowing and helped herself, I'm told. Seriously now, if you had just asked! Actually, you're right, I'd have probably said no. Maybe that explains the "Do it and get forgiveness later" mentality. Because, after all, as my dear husband says, "It's easier to ask for forgiveness than gain permission sometimes." Ugh. Ruby's got that one down pat.