How to make it to [early] church on time!

It is REALLY hard for me to be on time for...anything, really.  For example,  I am almost always a few minutes late to pick up my son from Kindergarten,  For me it is mostly due to a lack of planning my time correctly, but tardiness can also be due to a variety of things, especially when children are involved.  I am very guilty of this thought "I have a few minutes before we need to leave, so that gives me time to do one last thing...", which inevitably puts me over the time edge and causes me to be late.  I'm not sure why I don't learn my lesson!
When it comes to church, I really hate to be late.  I hate being that mom who rushes in with her kids after it has started.  I want to be on time to get a good seat (especially when we have 8 people to fit into a row), as well as to have a calm, reverant attitude as the meeting begins.
Our church just moved to 9am and in order to be on time, we had to plan ahead.  I took some of the principles I was already using for being on time to church, and then added a few new ones to adjust to the early time.  Then after following our plan, we made it there exactly when we wanted to.
I figure that there are probably a few families out there that could use a little help in this category, so here are a few ideas to make it to church on time:

1.  Plan out your time in a backwards fashion.  Today we wanted to leave the house at 8:15.  We wanted to have breakfast last and I wanted to allow 30 mintues for that, so I knew that breakfast needed to start at 7:45.  Then I knew that I wanted them dressed in their church clothes before breakfast and I figured 30 minutes for getting dressed would suffice, so I knew they needed to start getting dressed at 7:15.  There was no reason to get them up any early than that, so wake time was 7:15; they had 30 mintues to dress and do their hair; then they had 30 mintues to eat.
And as for me, I set my alarm at 6:20, although I accidentally slept an extra 20 minutes.  That gave me enough time to dress and do my own hair and makeup (I had showered the night before).  I just wanted to have myself ready by the time I woke the kids up at 7:15.
For us today, these time allottments worked out perfectly.

2.  Bathe and shower the day before.  When our church was at 1pm, we did about half of the showers and baths on Saturday and the other half Sunday morning.  But with the 9am meeting time, I knew that we absolutely HAD to do all of them the day before.  This meant that when they woke up on Sunday morning, they were already clean and all they had to do was to get dressed.

3.  Lay out everyone's church outfit the day before.   Late yesterday afternoon, I quickly ran from room to room, putting together church outfits for the 3 youngest kids.  I planned their outfits all the way from underwear to shoes, leaving out no detail.  Then I asked the 3 older kids to do the same.  They were a little reluctant to do it at first, but I was firm in my request and they eventualy did as they were asked.
I even laid out my own outfit!  Including my necklace!  This was necessary for me because sometimes choosing my own church outfit can take me way too long.
I'm telling you, having all of the outfits ready to go was a HUGE time saver.  

4.  Pack the church bag the day before.   Our church bag generally stays the same from week to week, but there are just a few things that need to be done every week.  This includes packing snacks, making sure there are diapers and wipes, and adding a water bottle for the baby.
I did this yesterday afternoon, and then I set the bag near the front door.  All we had to do this morning was grab it and go.  Easy!

These principles helped us to get to our new early church on time and I know as we continue to take these steps, we will continue to be on time throughout the year.  There is no need to be intimidated by a 9am church time!  It just takes planning and preparation.  In fact, these principles can be useful in any situation, not just church.  In reality, I have no more excuses for being late!  But that is good, because being on time feels so much better.

Potty Training Lessons Learned

I just recently potty trained our 5th child.  I was dreading it and I postponed it as long as I could.  But it finally had to be done.  And let me tell you I love being on this end of it!  After potty training 5 children I definitely wouldn't call myself an expert, but I would call myself "seasoned" in the potty training department.  But evenso, there's still more lessons to learn!  And I learned 2 valuable lessons during this experience that I want to share, along with a few general potty training ideas.

First, the potty training general ideas:
-Be prepared!  Watch videos, read books (and blogposts!), gather supplies.
-Supplies = rewards (toys, candy, sticker charts, etc), potty chairs, underwear, whatever you want to create the best experience possible.
-Know that it will take time and diligence and be prepared to be patient.  It's not going to happen after the first day (or second or third!) and that's completely normal.   Potty training is a process.  I'd say give it a week or two and sometimes more, depending on the child.
-There no need to rush into potty training!  It's okay to just wait until they are ready or even just wait until they are a little older.  I potty trained 2 of my kids at age 2 1/2 and the others were all 3...I know that may sound old, but it was fine.  I think in some ways, it made the process a little smoother.  Again, every child is different and ready at their own time.  My easiest potty trainee was Gracie.  She was 3 and we were living in hard circumstances (I was 8 months pregnant and we were living in a hotel).  Once I got her started she just took it and ran with it.  It was such a blessing because I just didn't have it in me to be very detailed at that time.  But she was sure ready and jumped right into it.  I see pottty training similar to transitioning a child out of their crib - I see no reason to rush into either one.

Now onto the new lessons learned:
-Potty training is not a one size fits all deal.  We watched a few videos on You Tube this last time to get George prepared and excited.  There are some videos on there that show potty training as an x, y, z kind of experience.  And sometimes it is.  But sometimes it's not.  Every child is completely different.  They may not accept this new teaching as you expect or they may take different approaches.  And again, this is okay!  At first George would not go in the regular toilet, or in his froggy potty.  He had a little anxiety of using either and I could tell he was about to explode and so I offered him our shower drain and he took it.  For a while that is all he would do (pee down our shower drain) and he would not poop in any kind of potty.  This went on for about a week.  But eventually he started trying the toilet and the froggy potty and realized that they weren't so bad afterall.  This situation was definitely not in any story I've ever read!  But it all worked out alright in the end.   So if a child is potty training in their own way or at their own speed, it's alright.  And this leads me to the second lesson learned.
-When in doubt, pray.  After a few days of George peeing down the shower drain, I started to second guess myself.  What if he wasn't ready?  Should I stop and start again at another time?  I really didn't know what to do or how to overcome this hurdle and so I prayed about it.  And the answer I received was to just move forward and be patient.  So I did.  And it worked out very well.  I learned that the Lord knows us and he knows our children and he is just as concerned about potty training as he is about any other experience in our lives.  He is willing to lead and guide us in every step of motherhood (and fatherhood).  We just have to be willing to ask for help.  

So that's it.  My newest thoughts on potty training.  I have 5 kids now done and 1 to go.  I feel very satisfied to know that I only have to do it one more time!  And the funny thing is that I'll probably drag my feet with baby #6  just as I did with every other one.  I guess that is just the nature of this particular beast.  But really, once you are prepared, you have no reason to fear.  Just jump in with 2 feet.  Do your best, ask for help, and it will all work out.  

New Year's Eve Party

We normally don't celebrate New Year's eve.  We just haven't made the effort.  The last fun New Year's eve we celebrated was a few years ago when we lived in Provo.  Our kids (we either had 2 or 3 at the time) were put to bed and then Adam's brother and his wife (Lance and Nancy) came over.  This was before they had kids.  We played games and ate yummy snacks.   I really enjoyed it.   I look back on it as "that one fun New Year's Eve."
We'll this year we decided to have a little party.   This was not an adult only party, it was a family party.  We invited 2 families and together we had 6 adults and 9 children. 

Here's the whole group

First we ate dinner.  Larry brought a yummy rotisserie turkey and we provided rolls and sandwich fixens.  We also ate fruits, chips, and veggies. 
Before and after dinner the kids ran around and played.  They had a blast just running and running and playing and playing.  They were loud and crazy and happy. 
At some point, we played our first game - a Pringles challenge.  We got the idea from EvantubeHD, although we simplified it a bit.  We got 6 flavors of Pringles.  We passed 1 flavor out at a time, and after everyone had a chance to taste it, they would take turns guessing what flavor they thought it was.   Most of the time they were stumped, but I think maybe 2 were guessed correctly.  It was fun.  A few months ago our family did the same thing with ice cream and that was fun, too. 
By this time my 2 youngest really needed to go to bed and so Sara conducted a few of her games while I put the kids to bed.  They played New Year's bingo and a little table Canadian curling. 
When I got back downstairs the games were done and everyone was settled down, watching the movie Minions. 
After the movie the kids were itching to do our New Year's countdown.  One of the families had brought New Year's hats and noise makers, so they passed those out to everyone.
Now in preparation for this party, I did a little pinterest search to gather ideas.  The best idea that I took away from my search was to do a balloon drop at midnight (or at our own appointed "midnight").  I bought a plastic table cloth, duck tape and balloons.  Earlier in the day, Ella blew up most of the balloons and then Adam helped her secure them to the ceiling with the tablecloth and the duck tape.  Ella also headed up the sign making and the streamer hanging.  She's a little party go getter.  I thought the balloon drop was brilliant.  The kids loved it and it brought a certain excitement to the countdown.  As the balloons fell, everyone cheered and used their noise makers.  

Balloons stayed nice and secure until the right moment

Beginning of balloon drop

Balloons falling...

And falling...

Balloon drop complete!

We broke out the Martinellis bubbley (we aren't an alcohol drinking kind of crowd, and of course I'm talking about the adults) and we toasted to the near year.  We also had a few laughs, as everyone became a little silly.  One would have guessed that there had been alcohol in those Martinellis bottles.  

As we prepared to drink the Martinellis

Lots of laughing going on!

Sam forgetting the concept of personal space with his noise maker

Gracie in her party get up and probably her 3rd outfit of the evening

Lots of fun and smiles

Ella getting her noise maker on

As the celebration winded down, the other two families packed up and moved out (this was probably around 10:30). 

What a fun night!   I'm so glad we did this.  It was the perfect way for our family to ring in a new year.  

Happy New Year!  

Snow day!

We lived in Utah for 18 years.  We've been gone now for almost 3 years, but the kids still think they want to be in the snow... Go figure.  So we had a snow day a few days ago up near Lake Tahoe.  We went with some friends and spent a few hours up there.  It was a non-official spot just off the freeway where people just parked and played.  It was actually a little dangerous, too!   People were sledding into other people and sledding into a cement barrier the whole time.  It's a wonder no one got hurt. 
The kids all had a fantastic time.  

Adam and the kids at the top of the hill

Ella and George riding with our friend, Larry

Ella, Grace and Larry coming in for a landing...and what happened to Grace?  It seems she has toppled...

I bundled Hannah up in about 4 layers and put her in a pack on me.  She fell asleep for a little while and otherwise just hung out.   We still have some snow clothes leftover from our Utah days and then we borrowed a few items from friends.  The right clothing makes a big difference!   Oh - and especially the right gloves!   I'm going to start buying snow gloves (as opposed to regular mittens)  just so we'll be prepared next time. 

Adam

Miss Ella

Miss Grace, eating snow

Henry and his friend, Ethan

Adam, George, and Sam

Me and snuggle bear Hannah

 My boots... I wore these boots when I was in college 15+ years ago and worked at a horse ranch.  I went there a few times a week, rain or shine (or snow)  to feed the horses, etc.  When I graduated and left the area, I brought the boots to my parent's home and put them into storage.  That's where they've been until recently I came across them and brought them to my house.  I wore them on this trip and it was the first time since college that I've worn them.  They even had horse feed (among other stuff....) on them.  It kind of felt like they had been frozen in time.  It made me happy.  I loved my college experience and I loved working at that ranch.  I have very fond memories of those years. 

A view of my snow boots

 But back to the point!  This turned out to be a fun day and I think this will tide the kids over until next year.  It's nice to not live in the snow, but then to be just a few hours away in case of an emergency...at least that's the way I see it!

The Great Room-switcharoo

We have 6 kids and we live in a 4 bedroom home.  Not bad, really.   But as I'm here all day long and this home and this family are my life, I like to dream up new and better ways to do things.  What I would really love is 1 (or 2!) extra bedrooms.   But since that most likely won't happen any time soon, I came up with a new plan for the kid's rooms.  We decided to give it a try. 
The 3 rooms for the kids are small, medium and large in size.  We put Henry into the small room all by himself.  He's really into Legos and he has a lego table and since he's the oldest we thought it made sense for him to be alone. 

Henry's New Pad (Bed frame is in pieces in garage and will be put together at some point)

We put the 2 youngest boys, Sam and George, into the medium room.  And my dream is that we can get the train table up and running and put into their room.  Right now it's in the garage and in disarray.  I think they would really enjoy this. 

Sam and George's Room

The large room now houses all 3 girls - Ella, Gracie, and Hannah.   The girls are in a bunk bed and Hannah is in a crib.  This one is a little tough for me because I think babies should have their own room.  Already we've had a difficult time with the girls waking her up and vice versa.  But with what we have to work with, it was just too difficult to give her a room of her own.   So for now this is how we're doing it. 

Girl's Room 1st View

Girls Room 2nd View

One thing I like about this arrangement is that we can start to decorate their rooms (our home is still full of blank walls) in ways that make sense.  When Henry and Sam were sharing a room, for instance, what decorations that were appropriate for Henry weren't appropriate for Sam since they have a 6 year age gap and different interests.  But now I think we can make it work well. 

BUT!   One of the tricky things about this move is that the stairwell and the hallway are now full of a bunch of stuff that I need to go through.  It either needs to be thrown away or put into the garage or organized into their rooms.  There was so much stuff!   I felt like we were actually moving, without going anywhere. 

The Hallway Mess

The Stairwell Mess

We will see how this goes.  Hopefully we can get each room organized into a way that works for the kids and that they can settle into their new spaces. 

Reflections on our journey

We have been on a long, strange journey that will soon come to an end.  It all started in November of 2012 when we moved out of our home in South Jordan, UT.  We were supposed to move into the home across the street from us, but it all fell through at the last minute.  Not knowing what to do, we quickly put our belongings into storage and started off on a very long adventure.  At the time, we had NO idea that we would be without a home for the next year and a half!  And I'm so grateful that we didn't know!  Knowing that would have been discouraging, to say the least.  It was all very stressful and hard to deal with as it was.

Part of the problem was that we were at a crossroads with Adam's business and so after careful contemplation and prayer, we decided the best thing to do would be for him to end his business and to look for a job.  So not only were we without a home, but we were also without an income.  

Since that time, where have we been if we haven't been in our own home?  We started off in a hotel, positive that the job and home would come quickly.  

From there we went to stay at Adam's sister's house.  We were living at her house when George was born (only about 2 1/2 weeks after we got there!) and we stayed there for just shy of 2 months.  

Next we went to stay with a friend of mine from college.  She and her husband have 5 children of their own and so there were 4 adults and TEN children in that home for 3 months.  We just stayed there until school got out.  

Small interjection - I'm humbled and in awe over both of these families, who so willingly and lovingly allowed us into their homes.  It was hard on everyone involved and they were so kind to invite us and to help us for so long.  I'm sure they were both abundantly blessed for their service to us.  

At this time our journey took a small turn and we headed west to live with my parents in California.  The funny part about this was that we thought that our journey was ending and that we had found our destination.  BUT it wasn't and we hadn't.  It was just another step, all the while getting us closer to our goal.  

In January of this year, Adam got a job!  We were ecstatic.  He moved up to the Bay Area and we stayed back here, in hopes that we could join him within a few months.  But we didn't realize that finding a home would prove to be so difficult!  We looked and looked and looked.  Most of the homes were either too expensive or already taken by the time we got to them.  We looked all over north and east bay.  

Adam traveled back down to visit us every 2-3 weeks and he would stay for the weekend.  This was both good and bad.  It was good because we got to see him and be with him.  It was bad because it was an emotional roller coaster for the kids.  It was pretty hard on them.  

After a while we finally figured out a good city to live.  It had a good reputation and good schools.  Plus, it was a little pocket of less expensive housing.  All good things!  We looked there for a while until we finally found "the one".  I about had a panic attack when I first saw the listing.  It fit all of our criteria almost perfectly.    We were the first to submit an application and we got it.  Move in date was June 2nd and Adam just took our belongings up there yesterday.  The kids and I will join him Friday.  

Some interesting things from our journey: 

-We had a baby in the middle of all of this!

-When we first left our home, Sam was only 18 months old.  Now that we are moving into a place once again, George is about 17 months old.  That is a crazy idea to me!

-We potty trained TWO children during this time - one at the hotel and one here at my parent's house.

-Before we left Utah we had a yard sale and sold many of our belongings, which included most of our furniture.  

-Most of our belongings have been in storage for a year and a half.

-I've lived out of a suitcase for the majority of the last year and a half.  I can't tell you how excited I am to have my own closet and dresser!

-We have been blessed beyond belief in every way possible.  I know that God's hand has had everything to do with that.  I believe in a God of miracles and I'm grateful for every blessing and miracle that we have received.  

-We experienced 1 Christmas in the hotel and 1 Christmas here at my parent's house.  Both Christmas's were times of high financial distress and so any presents that the kids were given were brought to us by the goodness of others.  Another humbling and miraculous experience.  It's amazing how quickly and thoroughly people are willing to give.  

It feels like our journey is now coming to an end.  I hope that is the case.  However, I look back at this time with a softness of heart and with gratitude for a loving Father in Heaven who has blessed us so much.  We have grown in many ways and hopefully become at least a little better and stronger through these experiences.  

Updates from the last post

I know, it's a lame post name, but I guess it accomplishes it's purpose.  

Let's just go down in the same order as last time:

1.  Sicknesses - just before we took George to the doc yesterday for his pink eye, Sam's eye started showing signs.  But George by far has had the worst case of it.  He looked so terrible.  His eyes became very swollen.  He hardly looks like himself in the picture.  

My nurse neighbor came over and helped me get him all cleaned up.  She also gave me some...eurythromyacin (something like that) to put in his eyes right before bed.  When he woke up this morning he looked so much better!  

Yesterday was a long hard day and all I wanted was a good night's rest.  BUT then at 3:30 Gracie came into my room a little upset and as I was holding her and  walking her back to her room she threw up all over the 2 of us.  I have this weird "save the carpet" mentality when kids are throwing up on me and so I try to catch it all on my body...I know, kind of odd.  It just happens.  So that was interesting.

She hasn't thrown up since, but MY stomach has been growing more and more uneasy all morning...dun, dun, dunnnnn.  Hopefully this isn't a bug that gets passed around! I'm really very much done with sicknesses!

Sam is fussy and just wants to be held and so he, Gracie and I will just rest and watch movies today - as much as we can!  

2.  Adam's job - Adam started his new job yesterday and it went great!  And he will move into a house with roommates tonight (he's been in a hotel the last two nights).  Kind of funny that he will be living with roommates for a few months.  Back to the bachelor life for him.  Well, kind of, at least!

The kids are REALLY missing him and Henry skypes him on his phone all the time.  They've all kind of gone downhill in behavior since he left, too.  I guess it's a stressful and confusing thing for all of them.  

But the job is going well - yay!

3.  Dad/hospital - Dad is still in the hospital.  They have figured out that he is bleeding internally and they think it's his stomach.  His low red blood count is very low.  And last night in the middle of the night his numbers dipped so low that they gave him a blood transfusion this morning at 5.  The next step is to look in his stomach with a scope, but apparently they can't do that until tonight or tomorrow because they're waiting for his blood thinning medication to wear off.  So for now we just wait!  Hopefully life in the hospital isn't too rough for him.  

Even with lots of craziness, we are still being blessed so much.  Last night our good neighbor from next door brought a delicious BBQ meal for me and the kids.  And my parents have good friends that have been visiting them in the hospital. 

Now if I could only pry Sam off of me for 5 minutes so I could use the restroom... :)

What a day.

Wow - today has been very...full.  Let me explain why:

1.  For the last 2 weeks I have been sick and I can't seem to kick it.  This last week has been the worst part - I just feel so crummy every day.  But the problem is that I haven't slowed down at all.  And I'm up coughing half the night.  That's probably why I'm still sick!  And today is no different.  I still feel lousy.  This morning was amazing, though, because I stayed home from church with Gracie and George and I slept off and on through a movie I watched with Gracie and it felt wonderful.  But once noon hit, I went back to full speed the rest of the day.  

A few of the kids are sick, including 2 who now have pick eye (2 of us are already almost over it). Poor little George has swollen, gunky eyes.  

2.  Adam moved up to San Rafael today to start his new job tomorrow.  It's exciting and sad all rolled into one.  The house feels empty without him here.  Henry was pretty sad after he left.  Here is a picture of the kids all giving him a hug right before he left.

This will be a hard few months apart!  

3.  My dad went to the ER this afternoon and got admitted to the hospital (remember that we live with my parents right now).  He had trouble walking and was short of breath and very pale.  They ran a bunch of tests and came up with no conclusions.  They'll do one more test in the morning and then go from there.

So - that's it.  I'm sick, the kids are sick, Adam moved and my dad is in the hospital.  That's pretty much our day in a nutshell.