Moving day party! Join the live FB fun!

Our movers/packers are coming next week!  Yikes!

I'm hostessing a Thirty-One Gifts virtual party on Facebook where I'll be posting about our day and how I'm using some great Thirty-One products.  I'd love to have you join me!  This is a Mystery Hostess Party which means at least one lucky lady who places an order on this party will be enjoying the hostess benefits!  What fun that will be!

I'm going to leave the FB party "open" for a while so that anyone can join.  If you're curious about how a moving day goes for us (large family/military life), just want to see what we're up to, want to shop, or are curious about Thirty-One's great bags then come join in the fun!  You can always shop at https://www.mythirtyone.com/ShopHarder  For this party you will want to click on the "My Parties" tab and shop through the "On the Move/Mystery Hostess" party.

I do hope you will join me, it will make moving/packing day so much more fun!  This party will close on June 9th.

*I am an Independent Consultant for Thirty-One gifts.

More kittens

Because we needed more cats right now....

One of our cats had kittens, about two weeks ago.  Her sister is expecting any day now.  This was a great plan when we intended to move to even more land; they would be needed to take care of pests.  Now we're moving to the suburbs.

This mama cat and her kittens are coming with us.  Her sister found a loving new home that is purrrfect for her.

Happy Birthday Mr. M!

Mr. M turned 11 this week.  True to his general nature we had a low key, but super fun time celebrating.  He wanted to open his gifts early.  We told him we only had one, but if he wanted to open it the night before he could....

...Yep, we got him a doll!

*For a couple of years now we've joked about getting the boys dolls for their birthdays.  We would say things like "did you go doll shopping?" and "What?  You're birthday is this week, well I need to go doll shopping"  Miss A was in need of a baby doll as she was swiping Miss C's regularly.  This was a good time to play this little joke.

As you can see it wasn't really the only gift, and his other gifts were much more appropriate.

He had been wanting a GOOD yo-yo.  Daddy researched them a bit with Mr. M and got a great one for him.  Its been fun watching him learn some tricks.

Miss A on the other hand thought the doll was a great gift.  Mr. M was kind enough to give it to her.

Bowling was his big request for the day.  We spent a couple of hours bowling and playing the games in the back.  A great time was had by all (well, except for Miss A who slept through it all).  I enjoyed watching our big kids caring for the little ones.

Mr. M was his hero.  Mr. K was so happy that big brother won a ball from the machine for him.

Mr. M ended his day with a laughing fit so long and hard that I thought we were going to end up with a tea party on the ceiling!

Happy Birthday Mr. M!  You are growing into quite the young man.  We are looking forward to seeing what God does in your life in the coming years.  Thank you for being a source of great joy in our home!

Blackberry picking!

A friend recently opened up her property for blackberry picking.  We've been super busy; working hard to prepare for our move.  I knew the kids would LOVE to go blackberry picking.  I also knew the kids really wanted a chance to say good-bye to this friend.  The problem?  We had a very busy day ahead of us.  The big kids all got up extra early to get things moving so that we could get out of the house and picking by 8:00.

Miss J was pleased to find that her tiny fingers could get into some tight spots.  We were impressed that she was able to get as many as she did.

I've got some great pickers.  Miss E, Mr. M, Mr. S, and Miss J stuck with it and found so many hidden berries.  They managed to pick enough that Miss E was able to make two large crisps and one small one (to freeze for during the move).  Mr. R hung out with Mr. K and Miss C who were not picking.  Miss A was swooped up by our dear friend and lovingly cared for while I enjoyed picking berries with the kids.  It was a nice relaxing break for all of us, then we were back to the GO!  GO!  GO! of life.

Moving with kids series

We're preparing for yet another move.  I've been working up several posts on moving with a large family over at my other blog..... Large Family Living in a Small Family World....Head on over and check it out if you are getting ready for a move as well, or if your just curious.  This is what we are/have been up to lately (and will be up to for some time)!

Preparing for a move

6 weeks to 1 month before the move

Kids and Moving

More to come....

HELP!!!!

A few of weeks ago I realized that I had about two months left to do our school planning for next year AND get our house ready for our move.  Oh yea, I also needed to keep up with our basic home life with 8 kids.  Yea, there was some panic there for a bit.  Then I remembered God's faithfulness in the past and that He will be faithful to provide.  Provide, he has!  I've taken a deep breath and rested in His faithfulness.

*This is what my bedroom was looking like a couple of weeks ago.  Stacks of school books covered the floor as I planed out our next school year.  I've been working on job charts as well.   Now I'm really getting into move prep.

This sweet young woman is preparing for a Mission Trip in June.  We count her family among our treasured friends here.  I needed help, and she has a gift with little kids/babies.  We are a great match!  She is sweetly coming over once a week to play with littles so I can work uninterrupted.

"Babysitter J" who goes way above and beyond the title babysitter; is coming over regularly to knock out some jobs for me.  While I'd LOVE to get to work on the embroidery on the kid's new towels; J is more than able to do this job.  Miss E loves helping her.  She is freeing me up to spend time with kids OR get other jobs done that no one else can do.

*Oh, I've also been blessed to have a dear friend down the street offer to take the kids once a week (when needed) in the afternoons so I could get some work done.  What a treasure she is!

Off to the races!

The base was giving away tickets to the local race track.  We're always up for fun new experiences.  We went back and fourth on who should go.  All of the boys wanted to; the girls could take it or leave it; I'd had a busy day and could use the rest.  We knew everyone would have fun though, and I really wanted to see how much fun Mr. K would have there.  In the end we all wound up going.

Before starting the race everyone had the chance to go down to meet the drivers and see the cars.  These guys decided to go down with daddy.

This girl was a little wiggle worm while waiting in the stands for the races to start.  When they started?  She was still.  Those cars got her attention and she was happy to just stand/sit watching them.  I'm not quite sure what to think of that.

This little guy was the life of the party.  He made friends with the man sitting behind us.  Which led to little chats between races, Mr. R teaching origami to the group behind us and lots of extra laughs.  *An extra special bonus was the friends that joined us half way through the race.

It was a late night, but I'm glad we all went.  A good time was had by all and fun memories made!    

Uh, oh! We have a climber!

Well, Miss A is at it again.  Stinker baby enjoys climbing.  She can't get very high yet, but her policy is to go over when possible instead of around.  Pillows, toys, baskets, boxes, even the one "stair" in our house; she finds them all great fun!

Hey mom!  I'm just hanging out here on this box.

She has even found a new way to play with/on her saucer.

I suppose all of this is not all that unusual, except that she is only 6 months.  She seems fairly certain that she belongs with the kids and is determined to catch up with them.

A special and VERY productive trip!

We've been "baby-sitting" my brother-in-law's truck while he is stationed overseas.  For our move we have 2 drivers, but 3 vehicles that need to be transported (one towing the camping trailer).  The math was not adding up.  We quickly figured out that we would need another driver or trip.  Rob headed up to Colorado this past week to solve this little math problem and while there take care of some stuff with the house (we're moving back into our house we own there, we had been renting it out).

Mr. M was excited to get to go along with Daddy.

They had fun together camping out at the house; and it looks like they had some great quality time as well.

My, it looks COLD there!

They managed to get some work done in the house as well.  Paint colors are chosen and marked on walls.  Arrangements have been made for new flooring in the house.  Some shelving has been made/put in.  I got tons of pictures and measurements so that I can get as much done on this end as I possibly can.

Yes, that is snow.  As my sweet husband said "It looks like Easter!"  Easter in Colorado, that is.  Its a bit late in the spring for this.  Layers, I need to pack layers for our move.  We're gonna freeze.  It's already in the 80's and 90's here.

This was a perfect trip for Mr. M to take with Daddy.  He loves these sorts of projects, and he is good at them too.

I just love this picture of these two hansom guys!

A flat tire

We were all set to head out early and knock out a bunch of errands one morning this past week.  It seems there were other plans in place for us.  As I was headed out the door the kids were running back in to let me know that we were not going anywhere.  We had a VERY flat tire.

Mr. K was quite concerned.

I'm thankful for AAA, and that we were home for this.  We were only delayed (in leaving the driveway) by one hour.

Our first stop was to get the tire repaired.  That was another 1 1/2 hours.  We hung out a bit snacking and playing games.  The tire shop was next to the paint store where I needed to verify paint colors (for the new house), so we were able to get that done while waiting (what a blessing)!  Some of us even napped.

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to all of the moms in my life!  A special "Thank You" to my mom, grandmas and aunties that taught me so much (and still are)!  I am blessed!

My sweet kids blessed me with tea in bed first thing in the morning and a lovely brunch later in the day.  Miss E is so talented in the kitchen!  Mr. S made sure we were able to dine by candle light.

I had fun cuddling, reading and playing games with the kids.

During a game of skip-bo Miss J leans over to Miss E "Does this come after 8?  RIGHT after 8?"  all said in the sweetest, silly voice.  My kids make me laugh!

God is so good to allow me to be mom to 8 wonderful children!  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

A little too mobile

I figured that a 6/7/8 month old during a move would not be too bad.  She should be sitting up, maybe moving a bit, but not too much.  I was wrong.  This is one mobile baby.  She wants to be right in the middle of everything, and she is making sure she can get there!  We picked up this cute little garden activity center to give her a contained play area that could be moved around, and a nice change from the saucer that she likes so much.

Within a few minutes of getting her in it she was up on her knees.

Then up on her feet.  What a big strong girl!

I've been seeing this coming for the past week.  I thought that maybe mastering crawling would be enough of a challenge for her, but no.  I guess she will work on that and standing at the same time.

Hey look!  There are toys on this side too!

Hopefully she will be content to play and exercise in here a bit as we move it from room to room working on our move preparations.  Baby gates.  I need to buy baby gates for the new house.

Happy Birthday Mr. S!

Mr. S turned 9 this past week!  He started out his day opening gifts.  Cash, legos, and a cool backpack/stool made him one happy boy!  He was sweet to share and to let siblings put some of his lego sets together.

His birthday happened to be on errand/piano lesson day.  A quick stop at Starbucks with mom was a fun treat!

He requested a birthday party (with friends) at a skating rink.  We don't often do big birthday parties, but being near the end of an assignment we thought it was a great idea to do something fun with some friends.  He had a GREAT time.