Happy 11 Years!

Sorry there hasn't been much going on here the last few weeks... we've been on vacation!

Summer vacation, that is. We took the last two weeks or so to relax and spend time as a family. We've been hanging out with friends, going to amusement parks and completely shirking our schedules, chore charts and blogging obligations.

Also, the Amazing Husband and I took a two day mini-trip to Disneyland to celebrate our 11th anniversary. We're a little early, but it's cheaper that way.

We stayed at the fabulous Grand Californian Hotel. It was pretty pricey, but we got a discount with our annual passes. Also this is our consolation trip - we were supposed to go to London last year for our 10th anniversary, but we had baby #5 instead. Comparatively, this was a pretty inexpensive getaway. 

This was the view from our room. Too bad we didn't pack bathing suits. If you ever get the chance, I highly recommend the Grand Californian. Not for the room, which was nice but not amazing, but for the service and the perks such as early entry and super magical fast passes. And the tuxedo strawberries which were not only adorable but delicious, too! (The Amazing Husband had them sent up as a surprise.) 

This is us, looking more like we're on our honeymoon than celebrating 11 years of marriage. Ah, well, we don't mind. 

Oh, and thanks to everybody who pitched in and watched our kids for us. You're brave and courageous and we appreciate you! 

A Year of Fun at the Happiest Place on Earth

Yes, you heard right. I caved.

I turned my back on all my frugal, crunchy-granola, classical-educating ways.

I bought Disneyland annual passes.

I have lots of excuses, don't you worry. And yes, I do feel the need to justify my purchase. After all, spending that kind of money on entertainment goes against just about every principle I hold dear. You might remember this post, in which I explained exactly why I did not want annual passes to the happiest place on earth. But then...

1. The Amazing Husband really wanted some. And it was his birthday. His 30th birthday. And people do crazy things for love, kids.

2. You only live once. And we're only getting these passes once. One year of Disneyana and then it's back to real life. I realized when we left Vegas that we never really know the plans God has for us. I'd hate to end up leaving here after a few years of thinking we'd be here forever and regret not going.

3. They didn't end up costing as much as I thought. I mean, they did cost a lot. I nearly hyperventilated when I hit "Buy Tickets". BUT. Annual passes including parking ended up costing us less than we would have spent to come for a long weekend. (We bought the cheap ones.) So this year, instead of a family vacation, we're doing Disney.

3a. We were able to pay cash. I note this because everyone I talked to around here about it said, "Hey, don't worry about the cost because you can make payments!" Now I really like these folks, but no way am I buying Disney passes on credit. We happen to believe that if you don't have the money for something, you can't afford it. If you can afford the payment you should save that money until you have it all. The only exceptions to the cash only rule are houses and medical bills. And maybe cars but there would have to be some extenuating circumstances to that one. Which is why we still drive our old blue van.

Anyway. We bought our passes last weekend and spent the whole day Monday, then we went after school on Thursday. And it has been a real blast. It's nice to go not worrying about getting it all done. It's relaxing. The kids love it. And next time we go we'll have paid for the passes.

So that's my confession for the week.

This and That

Right now, I'm sitting at the computer, listening to my children (the older 3) in the next room playing "Headbanz" for their free time. Can I just say, this might be the best entertainment I've had in a long while. 


Some snippets:

Owain: "You belong in the kitchen." Alese: "Am I french fries?"

"Sometimes you're crispy."

"You're not a Sith."

Hysterical laughter. "But if I'm not a banana what else could I be?!" More hysterical laughter.

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Yesterday I commented on a comment over at Heavenly Homemakers. I shouldn't have, I suppose. I should have just kept my mouth shut, but I can't ever seem to do that, you know? And then, this morning, there in my inbox was a reply to my reply. And boy did it get my blood boiling. The post was on modesty. Someone had commented that they felt we should have the right to get up and move if the person sitting next to us in church was dressed inappropriately. This was my reply:

It seems to me that our primary purpose in life is to win others to Christ. So, if I'm in church and a (possibly unbelieving) woman sits next to me in a skimpy dress, I might feel uncomfortable but I should push through that discomfort and do what I can to make her feel welcome in my church. I want her to feel like she can come just as she is, so that as she sits under the teaching and through the worship, God might change her heart. I might, however, discreetly and gently let her know that her dress isn't appropriate, after I'd made an effort at a relationship with her.

Here is the new reply:

Your post leads me to think that you might believe that a woman dressed less demurely thatn yourself you may think she isn't a christian....yet another thing that Jesus woulsn't do...judge..I'm so glad my church isn't like yours...we go to worship not judge..

Wow. I mean, wow. And boy did I want to comment back. I mean, I really, really wanted to. But I didn't, because that wouldn't have helped anything. But I sure wanted people to know that I'm not judging.. so I figured I'd tell you all. You know I'm not a meanie, don't you? 

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It's been just a few days shy of a month since we arrived in California, and life is still not quite back to routine. I should probably be more patient and understanding of this, since there are 7 of us in a new home in a new city, but I'm really irked about it. 

I want schedules and routines. I want a clean and tidy house. I want to know where the park is. I want to get through a day of school before dinner time and without skipping any subjects. (Latin isn't that important, is it?) 

Sigh. I know it will all come together, but I sure wish it would hurry up. 

In the meanwhile we've all been having a wonderful time playing together. Surprisingly, with no friends close by the kids have become best buds, and the bickering has gone down considerably. And we are making new friends, just in case you're worried about their socialization. 

Are ya still there?

Well.

It seems I am not superhuman, after all.

The crush of dealing with 5 kids by myself, making Christmas happen, making school happen, making a move happen, and doing as little much laundry as possible has meant that a few things have gotten pushed to the side of the plate, as it were.

Including this blog!

So I'm very sorry if any of you have been eagerly anticipating my next post, only to be let down for weeks on end.

In fact, I've been so busy that I had to write down my priorities and stick them on my fridge. It's a little reminder of what's important, and I'm thinking I may keep it up even after all this is over.

The Amazing Husband comes home in 2 days. Christmas is in 4. The move is in 6. And I can't find my hairbrush...

Merry Christmas everybody. See you in January!

Moving News

The Amazing Husband left yesterday. He is in Corona, already hard at work at South Hills Church, and believe me, he was ready to get back to work. He'd had about 10 days off between jobs, and while he got a lot done around the house, I was starting to think his head would explode if he didn't go back to work soon.

Things are going pretty well so far, but with me being so outnumbered, there is sure to be some kind of carnage. Don't worry, I'll take pictures.

So along with moving preparations, Christmas preparations, schoolwork, a Christmas play that 3 of the kids are in, doctors appointments for the little boys, and two birthday parties to plan, I get to play single parent for the next 3 weeks.

Should be fun!

How am I going to manage all this? I'm really not sure. But I have a few tips and tricks, and in an effort to be helpful, I'll share them.

1. Meal planning is a huge help. I have pre-printed meal planning sheets that I slide into plastic page protectors and hang on the fridge. I was going to link up the template, but really it's just a 2 column graph with the days of the week in the first column and a blank second column. Not very exciting. Anyway, I plan out breakfasts, lunches and dinners and write them down. The kids like it because they know what's coming up. Then on Sundays I'll take a look at the coming week and do as much prep work as I can. I make all my baked goods, brown meat, prepare casseroles and stick them in the fridge, etc. Whatever I have time for.

2. Stick with a schedule. In times of high stress and chaos, it seems easier sometimes to throw the schedule out the window and be more flexible. This might work for some families, but not mine! When we are used to a pattern, it's best for us to stick with it. We still get up, do school, do chores, etc. just like any other day.

3. Let things go. This year, we're skipping Christmas cards. I feel pretty guilty about this, but when the list of things to do got too long, we had to skip something. We're also not decorating outside, and I hired a cleaning service to come in at the end of the month. Normally I wouldn't be able to justify the expense, but I'm not Superwoman.

4. Be joyful! So what if the laundry isn't done? So what if you can't see the floors in the kid's bedrooms? Who cares if the bathroom smells like a linebacker? It's Christmas. Drink some hot cocoa, watch a movie and snuggle with your kids. Enjoy today!

I love hating television.

This really isn't as fun without pictures, but until I either get my phone fixed or find the cord to my camera, there will be no pics. :(

Westyn went in for his 4 week check yesterday and tipped the scales at 6lbs 7 oz! All the other kids got weighed as well. Judah is 25 lbs, Alese is 34, Owain 45 and Leslea 46. I told Leslea she'd better start eating more, but it looks like they all need some protein shakes or something.

The last two days I pulled the plug on our TV. I had gotten really tired of it being on 5 or 6 hours a day since Westyn was born. Can I just say that I love not having the TV on? Since I said no more screen time the girls drew a bunch of pictures and opened an art gallery in the pool room, Owain caught ants in a jar in the yard, we played with Unifix cubes and Tangrams, put up posters in the school room, cleaned out the craft closet and made mini pizzas. Amazing how the kids can get along when there isn't the distraction of the box. And when we did watch an hour of TV (Wipeout!) we really enjoyed it since it was something we really wanted to see, as opposed to searching for a decent program to numb our minds to. I'm moving back to 1850. Only with toilets. And A/C. And Starbucks.

Keeping busy

Now that Westyn is home we can't do much outside, and since school is out for the summer (!) we're getting a little bored. I've been trying to come up with things to do for the kids. On Friday, Alese, Judah, Westyn and I checked out the new Gibson library. Our good friends the Westerfields took Justyn, Leslea and Owain out on Lake Mead on their boat. (Pics of that to come) So here are the kids at the library. There were books there, too. Promise.

Yesterday was a full day, too. We set up the slip and slide then hit In N Out for lunch, the (usual) library and Golden Spoon. I would have pictures of that too, but Judah dropped my iphone in my glass of water and it's in a coma right now.