One week away

Life just does not slow down. But I am sure glad I am never bored!

I have been working hard to create a collection of posts for November. I have 17 ready to roll out, another handful in progress and a whole list I haven't even started yet. I am hoping that will give me enough of a head start to stay on top of regular posts. I'm getting a bit excited about them. This has been a lot of fun to work on.

Looking forward to November 1st...

Birthday Boys

Eighteen and six. 

The spread is now ages 6-18. That really seems as though it should feel bigger. But since both the 18 and the 6 year old are a bit behind their peers developmentally, I suppose it makes sense that it doesn't feel quite as big. 

But according to our society we no longer have a toddler/preschooler and we have a legal adult. 

We celebrated with the usual donuts for breakfast on both of the boys special day. And then there was the usual party with family at Nana's house. Everyone came. Everyone ate. Everyone had a good time.

Oh, how Jacob LOVES his birthday!

The best big and little sister made individual birthday treats. Jacob requested sugar cookies. (number 6 for the boy turning 6) And Justin requested strawberry cheese cake. Everyone ended up happy.

I love this picture. These kids love each other. So glad they have each other.

Pure joy. This boy can get excited about anything. I believe it was a pack of gum that got this reaction.

Much love on your birthday boys!

Mom

Coming This November

In the past several months I have been bombarded by people telling me we need to share more about how our household runs. Things that are very 'normal' and every-day to me seem to amaze others. "You have to share this!" "I never would have thought of that!" "I'm totally going to start doing that." "You should have a 'mom-hack' blog."

It's coming from so many different people it is starting to feel like a neon sign.

So, with soccer season on the down hill slide I am starting to plan for this idea of sharing our tricks, short cuts, hacks and organizational tools. It's going to take a couple weeks to work on these and I can barely keep my head above water coaching 3 soccer teams on top of everything else. So my goal is to start posting regularly starting November 1.

Our blog has always been a family journal of sorts. Fun pictures and stories will still be the norm. But, next month I will start sharing some ideas here on the blog that have helped our household of 10-plus (the animals count as the plus) stay afloat.

As a little teaser, here is a peek at just a few of the topics on my list:

-Meal Planning: taking the headache out of feeding the troops
-Feeding the Locust: ten mouths on a budget (30 days of cost effective breakfast and dinner)
-Beyond PB&J: keeping lunches interesting (20 days of school lunches)
-Clothing is Not Carpet: staying on top of the laundry mountain
-Legos and Bare Feet in the Night: kid-driven toy clean up
-Backpack Bomb Squad: fighting the mess after school
-The dishwasher: it's not mom
-Happy Travelers: keeping kids entertained (and from killing each other) on long trips
-Happy Campers: secrets to camping as the solo adult with 8 kids
-Adjusting the Bunny Ears: helping kiddos with sensory issues cope under stress

I actually have a list of over 20 topics so this should be a lot of fun. If you have a topic you would like to see, ask in the comments section on this post. People ask questions all the time. "How in the world do you..." is one of the most common conversation starters I hear.

And, hey! If you have a secret mom-hack I don't know about, I need it!

Share your ideas in the comments too, please!

Stay tuned: November is right around the corner...

Summer Video 2017

I promised a video of our summer adventures and I actually did it! Yay me!

Next month (November 3) will mark 5 years home for Jacob. Five boys in five years. So much has changed in 5 years!

Ty has been home 3 years (July), Justin has been home 2 years (August) and Nathan and Aiden have been home 6 months.

We had such an amazing summer together!