Happy Mother's Day!

I have so many reasons to be grateful to be a mother.  I decided to list 8 reason I am grateful to be the mother of 8.  

1.  It keeps me focused.  When you are the mother of eight you have to be "all in" and "always focused".  There isn't time for half focused mothering!  

2. It is always a party!  We have so much fun with our own group I forget that my younger kids rarely invite friends over and their Birthday parties often consist of their siblings!  

3. Many hands make light work!  As they get older I am realizing that when we work together on a mountain of clean laundry it doesn't take long for it to all get folded and put away quickly! 

4. Personality Plus.  When I talk with other moms and they say they have a child that is messy or a child who regularly forgets needed items for school or a child who is very emotional.  I can always relate because we have a whole variety of different personalities between the eight kids!  

5. 8 x the Joy.  It is so true, I honestly feel so lucky because every single child brings so much joy and happiness to our family we really do have 8 times the joy!  

6. Time to learn.  As parents we make mistakes and we learn as we go.  At least I can get a lot of practice!  I have consistently been in the preschool years for the past 12 years (and will continue for the foreseeable future)!  …and yes, that means we will have teenagers for a long long time.  

7. Support.  Life is tough, we all have challenges.  It is awesome to see the support our kids give to each other.  When one has a challenge and they know 7 other siblings are praying for them, that is awesome support!  

8. Kids at Christmas.  Kids are what make holidays so much fun!  I am grateful that I will always have kids to celebrate with!  (I am assuming at some point I will get grandkids.)

Spring Wardrobes

Keeping kids clothed is a big job!  When the kids were out of school for Spring Break they cleaned out their closets and made a list of what they needed to buy for their Spring wardrobe.  (Abigail and I helped them.) Our general rule is 10 outfits for little kids and older kids have about 5 bottoms and 10 tops. (Abigail has a capsule wardrobe)  Less is more, and they love everything they have.

Yes, I did shop with all eight kids by myself!

 Another thing we do to teach responsibility and how to mange money is that when you turn ten years old you get the privilege of paying half of the money for your clothes.  It has been such a great system for our family.  I kids have learned so much!

On my to-do list…

I love to-do lists, I love to check things off my list, and I love the feeling of projects that are complete.  Motherhood isn't something that you can check off, but I do have daily scheduled moments to focus on my kids that I can check off.  The moments when I stop and focus or really take time to teach are always the biggest highlights of my days as a mother.  #motherhood

Preparing food ahead

My word for this year is "PREPARE". I want to be more prepared in every aspect of life.  After having my groceries delivered (I shop online and they are delivered for free-  amazing!) I spent one hour preparing food so that I am more prepared for every meal this week.  Rather than just putting the food away I did a few simple things to prepare it.  I chopped vegetables, boiled eggs for quick breakfasts, baked potatoes to have on hand for lunch, cooked turkey sausage for breakfast, cooked ground beef for a recipe later in the week, put chicken vegetable soup in the crockpot, cooked pasta and added frozen meatballs, and put some whole wheat bread in the pan to rise (thank you Rhodes for the dough). I am happy to be running ahead and not running behind! 😉 #prepare

The Gluten Free Life

During the last few months our oldest son has been on a gluten free diet.  I just wanted to report that it hasn't been nearly as difficult as I thought it would be!  It has caused us to eat healthier whole foods, eat out less, and think more!   For the most part I use all the same recipes that I always have.  I use gluten free flour and it generally turns out just fine.  Today we made Puffy Oven Pancakes from my usual recipe and they were delicious. 

Ingredients

2

tablespoons butter or margarine

2

eggs

1/2

cup flour

1/2

cup milk

1/4

teaspoon salt

2

cups assorted fresh berries 

Powdered sugar, if desired

Directions 

• 1 Heat oven to 400°F. In 9-inch glass pie plate, melt butter in oven; brush butter over bottom and side of pie plate.
• 2 In medium bowl, beat eggs slightly with wire whisk or hand beater. Beat in flour, milk and salt just until mixed (do not overbeat). Pour into pie plate.
• 3 Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until puffy and deep golden brown. Serve pancake immediately topped with berries. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

Home

We have lived in our house for over four years.  That is a really long time for our family.  😀. We have decided that after four years we really need to do a big clean out and we needed to replace a few things that are worn out.  

One of the things that needed replacing was our family room couch and love seat.  In October I found the perfect custom sofa in the clearance center of a furniture store in town.  I really appreciate quality furniture and was trying to figure out how I could afford a custom sofa that would look great and be durable.  When I found this sofa for a great deal we bought it and ordered some chairs to match.  They finally came this week!  I have been rearranging the room and trying out different options!  It isn't completely settled yet, but here it is so far!  

A Bright New Year--- Hooray for 2016!

There is one post that I wrote in 2013 based on a talk given by Sister Beck that I just re-read.  I could have titled the post "Advice I need to hear again and again,"  because as life gets busy I need to stop and read the advice I wrote in that post!  Sister Beck teaches that as women we can't overwork ourselves, we need balance!  Read the post here.    Life has been joyously busy lately and rather than increase in speed, I am choosing to deliberately and carefully proceed into this new year with thought and purpose!

In November our ward boundaries were re-aligned and not only did we get an entirely new ward, my husband was called to serve as the Bishop! (The Bishop serves as a leader of a congregation in addition to their regular career).   It is such a blessing on so many levels and I am learning even more about how to prioritize my time (as if 8 children wasn't enough :)

I am so excited for a new year!  2015 was a difficult year for our family.  The first few months of the year I was miserable with morning sickness.  I barely scraped by and accomplished the bare minimum for the survival of our family.  Hyrum's health issues consumed many many days and hours.  During the summer I tried to smile and love life, but lets face it, I was getting really tired of being pregnant!  We were overjoyed to have Lydia join our family in August and I haven't slept through the night since!

2016 is a bright new year and I am looking forward to thriving, not just surviving!  Hyrum seems to be feeling better.  I feel great and continue to get more sleep each night.  All the kids enjoy school are doing well.  We love all our new friends in our new ward!  So I thought long and hard about what I need to focus on this year. I like to pick a word and try to study my scriptures about that topic and listen to General Conference talks on the subject and read books that will help me.  My word for this year is "Prepared."

I am sick of being the mom that rushes to pick her kids up from school. . . late.

I don't want to be scrambling to throw their cold lunches together just before we walk out the door for school --with me in my cheetah print pajamas.

I don't want to have to move a large pile of laundry off of my bed so that I can go to sleep at night.

I don't want to wonder if their is anything important in the large stack of papers on the kitchen counter.

I don't want to run out of dish washer detergent.

I don't want to just read my scriptures to check a box and say it is done.

I don't want to miss minutes I could spend with my family because I am wasting time on the internet.

This year I want to be prepared!  

I am so excited to be more organized, deliberate, faithful, focused, and most of all PREPARED this year!