Q.

We recently added a new baby to the family and I can’t keep up with kids, homeschool and the house. I am about ready to throw in the towel and send the kids to public school.

A.

When I was about at your place, we realized some things needed to change. These are what helped us. Your mileage may vary.

• Changed homeschool curriculum so my time wasn’t spent, exhaustively, continually, helping. We switched from Bob Jones to SOS
• We incorporated MOTH scheduling into our lives. This is coming from someone who has never been a schedule person. I find it flexible.
• We evaluated what the kids were doing to carry a lot of the load and made sure that they were all being trained as per their level of ability for chores.
• We reevaluated to be sure us parents were diligent to discipline the children (mostly me!).
• We got rid of a lot of toys and clutter.
• We reevaluated what activities we were doing and how/where we were spending our time. We had been busy with a lot of activities and realized we needed to focus on being a family unit. Going out all the time caused a lot of stress involving clean clothes, chores being done, meals prepared, just everything.

I know there was more, but that is just what I could think of first. I hope you and your husband communicate a lot.

Oh… and another thing… this is really a short season in your life. Enjoy your children and hold those babies. You may also gain something from this post.

Tags: baby, Family, Homeschool, Organization

Someone recently asked me on my blog,

Call this a daft question, but you announced last March that you were expecting again, and I just realized (duh!) that you can’t still be pregnant!! Did I miss something????”  Hanging my head low, I have to admit that I am a terrible blogger!

Let me back up a few months and fill in some spaces ~grin~

Miss Elle Jane McLean was born via c-section September 4th, 2007. It took us several days to decide on a name. That’s Elle with a long e on the end.  She is my biggest girl baby at 6 pounds, 11 ounces!  Interestingly, only one other baby of mine has been overdue, and that was merely one day. She was almost two weeks overdue! Otherwise, they have all came early. Maybe that is why her weight was more than the other girls.

Without further ado, here she is:

This gives a an even dozen… well, not so even. The girls outweigh the boys 7 to 5.

Here are all the kids, with the oldest holding the youngest

If you click here, you can see an early video of Elle smiling.Here are a few more shots through the year. There are probably more photos than you had bargained for below.

Thanks for asking… and thanks for looking! What mama doesn’t like to show off her kids?

Tags: baby, Elle, Family

Job 1:21 the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

What a whirlwind! I was experiencing some pain Thursday. As the day progressed, it worsened and the spotting, too. By the time I got home from getting Ben from work, I could barely stand it. I went straight into the doctors. They did an ultrasound. I thought I’d see a lifeless baby, but no! I saw TWO healthy, active babies! TWINS! What a hoot!  Anne was with me. We could see their little fingers and toes!

They gave us a couple images. They also videotaped the session, for which I am thankful.

They sent me home saying I may miscarry.

The pain increased so much! By the time I got home, I ran straight into the bathroom. I was passing HUGE clots and blood.  It was major. I called the doctor and they wanted me right in to labor and delivery.

Once in there, they did an ultrasound. Mind you, it was only 2 hours after I got home. *Poof* they were gone! It was empty. Nothing.

They kept me to watch the flow and make sure everything was out. They were very nice and discharged me this morning before 8am.

Dh took me next door to the doctor’s office, where the ultrasound machine is better to make sure everything was out. Then we went and had breakfast together. It was good to do that. We had been so apart with my flu. I slept on the couch. I was glad to be with him for awhile.

Tags: baby, Family, health, Photos

Sorry life has taken me away from posting. But then again, maybe it’s best if I don’t post too often. You know the old saying, “absence makes the heart grow fonder.” Do you grow fonder the longer I am away?  Hehe

Well, the Superbowl is today. I have no clue what number year this superbowl is. We haven’t watched it in over 17 years! But I do know this: Steelers are playing the Seahawks. Being the Northwestern gal I am, and since I was born just outside Seattle…and because my Dad is a huge Seahawks fan, I guess I’ll officially, silently, root for the Seahawks.

I did find out, however, a few years ago, that today is a great day to do any shopping at Costco! Anne and I went there to find a very vacant warehouse! Oh! We did bump into our neighbors.  They told us they make an annual event of shopping on Superbowl Sunday because no one is around.  So there’s my tip to you today!

Dennis has been heavy into recording for our new CD. This one will be much more professional than the last, which was really intended just for fun and family.  I am excited to see parts of it coming together.

The purpose of this CD is to encourage the Saints and to plant seeds in non-believers. You can come visit our band’s site at www.electricchurch.net.  Please join the mailing list and enjoy reading!

Dennis has a 3 day weekend! Yippee!!!  What a treat for us! He really needed a break. He works between 14-16 hour days 6 days a week, usually.

The mice have been keeping us on our toes here, lately. It seems that they have all moved from the shed into the house. Understandably, right? I mean… the house IS warmer and there are crumbs…yes, crumbs. I know, it messes up your pristine image of me.

Anyway, the mice never keep us short of excitement here. I think their life’s goal is to taunt me.

School is moving right along! I enjoy sitting and working with the girls. The boys are mostly doing independent work.

I haven’t been feeling real well lately. I think it has something to do with the fact that we are expecting [again] in September!

We had a worm (a virus) infect a couple of our computers recently. It wiped out a lot of personal items, for which I am sad about. Just another reminder to have things backed up on CD!

Yesterday, Bethy and I sat and went through a large box of photos. It was so enjoyable to do this and everyone in the house came by us more than once to view all the photos of memories past. We managed to get them all organized into 2 small shoebox sized boxes.

I guess that’s enough for now. I need to get started on my day.  Until next time!

Tags: baby, Bethy, electric church, Family, health, television