Be Encouraged

We are getting ready to head out of town, did I mention that? We're taking our crew to the Knoxville area for a few days to catch some R&R at a family lake house. And I use the term "R&R" loosely when it comes to our lively crew. It's a cheap getaway and we get to spend some time together thats uninterrupted by our usual schedules - its a win win :)!

(Oh, and we will have limited to no internet till the weekend. I KNOW. I'm not in love with that idea. Its good to have a break, but lets face it, I like my internet. Anyway, I have every intention to answer the school question among the others about our schedule and such when we get back in a few days :). Promise.)

(Also, I looooved hearing all about how you named your kiddos, I even read some to Eric the other night. And the fun names for the picture of Lincoln and the girls cracked me up!)

As I was packing yesterday, and stressing about packing, I was chatting with a friend about the ins and outs of the week....and the ups and the downs of our day at home with the kiddos. When days are long we often text funny things back and forth about our madness, and how we are so glad to have the encouragement of each other and other moms walking the walk of motherhood.

So it got me thinking and I decided to ask on Facebook and Twitter (some of you might have seen), "What is the best advice/encouragement you've ever received as a mama??"

I think I read through them 100 times. Here are some good words for your day from other mom's...

"Go with the flow and do what is best for your family not what someone else says is the best." -Kelsey

"Make sure to take time for yourself....." -Jennifer

"God gave your children to you, because know one else could raise them better. They are a unique blessing only you can receive." -Sarah

"This phase you're all going through? It's ONLY a phase. It will morph into something else entirely before you know it :) (And I repeat this to myself all the time!)" -Sarah

"Housework and laundry will always be there...your kids will not." -Shelbi

"When I had my first baby I had post partum and felt like I was a horrible mom and Jesus follower (wasn't having quiet times and just was struggling to trust and had zero joy) and a friend shared Isaiah 40:11 with me" He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; HE GENTLY LEADS THOSE THAT HAVE YOUNG." (emphasis mine) She reminded me that the Lord is gentle with those who have young and that His grace was abundant. It literally saved my life. LITERALLY." -Moe

"They are only little for a short while, it may feel like forever in the middle of it, but they will never need you in quite this way again." -Stacie

"Fully devote myself to my children while they are growing up, and I will never regret it. Now I have the most wonderful, mature, loving adults that God could have ever given to me. What a great Blessing they are to me." -Kathy

"Not to worry about housework because they don't remember how clean the house was, they remember if their momma was present and playing with them and doing things, those are the memories they remember... not the dishes being done..." -Laura

"Without a doubt it was this: Let your husband take care of the kids THEIR way... in other words... don't try to correct the way he puts on the diaper or how his bath and bedtime routine might be different than yours!" -GoOutMom

"Don't compare your children to others. every child develops at their own pace." -SageMom

(Amen, Amen, and...Amen)

"This too shall pass" - SarahPJs

"Not to be judgmental of other moms and not worry what people think of you as a mom as long as you are doing the best you can." -MomsInHeels

"You've got this thing! You're doing great!" -momwithaminivan

Good, right?

Feel free to share the best advice/encouragement that you've received as a mama - We all need to hear it :)!

I Think This Photo Needs A Name...

Don't ya think?? :)

These Hips Were Made For Birthing (More Kids??)

Is this your last?

Are you finally done now that you have your boy??

What if you have another set of twins??

You know what my answer is to that last question that I get asked ALL the time??

"Well...I guess we'll love them and raise them."

The truth with a little sarcastic undertone. Nice, right? :)

I get why people ask those questions though. And I would imagine that every mom gets why people ask those questions - because every mom gets how hard her job is, and every mom gets that more kids might equal a tad more craziness. Especially when you have a newborn, and you're a week postpartum, and you haven't showered or brushed your teeth, and the baby is crying, and your other kids are fighting over who is mommy's biggest helper, and the washer just ate your only pair of post delivery net underwear.

Not that we've had that scenario played out in our own home.

The real answer to those questions? I don't know.

While our hearts are open to bringing more children into our home, we know that the great Author is the only one that knows what that plan would look like. We don't have any definite plans, and we haven't done anything permanent.

I know that society doesn't often view children like we do, and I know that we are judged for having a bigger family. After all, children take your time, your money, your sanity, your plans, your vacations, your freedom, and your dreams, right??

That is so wrong.

Those views make me sad. I feel that these kiddos have been a way bigger blessing in my life than I have been in theirs. They give me hope, they make me smile, they point me to Him, and they remind me to embrace the small things in this life.

Is it hard to see other couples or families go on lots of dates or getaways? Sure.
Is it near impossible for us to find a sitter to care for all 6? Clearly.
Are there moments when I pray for one stinkin' minute to myself? Yep.
Does our budget accommodate kids needs and wants more than our own? Of course.

But would any of those things trump the giggles coming from babe #6 tonight as I blew bubbles on his stomach? Uh, no. Not even a chance.

I will say that since we moved, our eyes have been opened to things we have never thought about. As much as my womb will always flutter a little at the sight of a round belly full of newborn goodness, I have also had the chance to spend some time this past year with kids who are just looking for a home environment to come to.

(our kids are in public schools, and YES, we have specific reasons and convictions for that decision if you'd ever like to know.)

One little girl in particular has changed my heart. I don't know the whole situation at home, and I don't know exactly what she is looking for, but I do know that she always wants to be here, and I want her to feel like she is always welcome. There are kids in your own backyard who need love.

A friend with a large family who's kids were grown told me this once, "Be the go-to house. Be the place that the kids and their friends know they can always come to and hang out." I really want that for our family, my home growing up was like that and I plan to carry it on here.

I don't always do this mom thing with a joyful heart or full confidence, but I'm a work in progress and I know that God will continue the work He started in me. At least that's what I cling to.

Maybe I will carry more babes, maybe we will foster or adopt, and maybe we will just be the home that loves on kids that need love while we raise our own 6. The Lord only knows.

We are open, to whatever He has in store :).

The Names We Chose - And The "C" Name We Didn't Choose

Colson (cole-son).

That was the name we had picked before we decided on Lincoln. I love that name, but I was a tad nervous of people shortening it and I wasn't sure I wanted that. So we hung on to both names till the hospital, and when Eric sent a picture text to our family after the delivery it said, "Meet Lincoln".

I guess he knew when he saw him what he wanted to call his little man :).

Even though we had looked for a C name, I really wanted to name him Lincoln, and was hoping we would both agree on it.

Unlike the great name debate of 2004 when we had our Ella Girl. Sweet Mercy.

Here is a rundown of the how's and why's of our kiddos names.

All their names, either their first or middle are "classic" in our eyes. We like a lot of older style names and family names.

#1 - Ella's name was old-fashioned at the time, and I loved that. Let me just get all sentimental on you and say that I remember my 23yr old self sitting in that hospital bed thinking, "I am a mom...this is by far the best day of my life". Her middle name is Julia, that's my mamas name.

(1st set of twins)

#2 - The first set was our easiest naming experience. Eric wanted to name the "Baby A" Reese Olivia, and that we did :). She was our first twin, and she has always been our little leader.

#3 - "Baby B" was my choice, and that was our quiet, reserved, meek Charlotte Grace. At home, I often call her Gracie.

(2nd set of twins)

#4 - I knew I wanted to use the name Kinley, or Joya and call her Joy, but Eric wasn't sold on "Joya" so we decided to name the first girl out of my womb Kinley Joy.

#5 - This seems funny to me now because she is SUCH a Raya, but I wanted to name her "Tess"...the nurses actually called her that. I do still looooove that name. But we just didn't feel settled on it, so we went back to the drawing board till I said, "hey, what about Raylin and we'll call her Raya??". We have never really called her Raylin though, she will always be Raya. Her middle name is June, Erics moms middle name and his grandmas first name.

#6 - Lincoln...well, you kinda already know that story :). His middle name is Lynch, that is Erics dads middle name.

and #7 - for this one...

Oh I kid, I kid.

Hahaha.

Giggle.

Snort.

We are not there yet.

I'll get to what we think and how we feel about adding more in my next post :).

Now it's your turn, how and why did you chose your kiddos names??

Lost Titles

This is me with the worst case of writers block ever.

The past few months have been...well, busy. Life moves like a tornado with a half dozen children under 7, and it has worn me out a tad. I have sat down at my computer a bajillion times only to end up staring at it, and then I end up turning on old episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond.

Brain candy. My mind craves it come 8pm.

If I could, I'd like to share what posts could've, would've, should've been titled in the past few months if they would have been written. I like to refer to these recent months as the 30's Fog. Or the Lot's Of Children Fog. Either is appropriate.

Anyway, lost titles of 2011...

"3yr Olds Who Boycott Wearing Pants"

"Is That Juice Or Pee On The Floor?"

"The Newbies Guide To Explaining Why Baby Brother Looks Different Than His 5 Sisters"

"The One About Not Going To The Bathroom Alone Since 2004"

"Local Mother Runs Over 4 Lane Dividers At Chickfila"

"Half Dozen Children Thought To Have Given Woman Gray Hair"

"Gym Member Comes To Spinning Class With Hole In Back Of Her Workout Pants"

"Same Member Wants To Come To The Cardio Theater And Sit And Eat Popcorn Instead Of Working Out"

"Neighbor Kids Move Into The (Savvy) House Next Door"

"Eating Whats On Your Plate And Then Finishing Whats On Your Kids Plates Proves Not To Be The Best Diet Plan"

"Using Your Crockpot Isn't A Time Saver If You Forget To Plug It In"

I mean, those are just a handful. Clearly, life has been crazy :).

So, I have wanted to share more, write more, say more, but the ol' mind has been tired, friends. The holidays were fun, but I'm kinda ready for things to settle down and resume a normal routine.

Any ideas for some posts? I am even way behind on reading blogs, I think my Google Reader has given up on me. I have some emails with questions that need answers...but maybe I'll just post them here? Anyone want to know anything about our crazy little family?? Not that we're real interesting :).

More kids? What do we eat? What do we drive? School? Marriage? Multiples? Do we have a schedule?

I'd be happy to share about anything, you know, within reason :).

A Year In Pictures

Could this year have gone ANY faster???

Thankful for our many blessings, our ups and our downs, our easy and tough lessons, our sweet half dozen, our fun and chaotic life, and for your friendships through this past year.

Hope you have a fun New Years...here's hoping I'm not asleep when the ball drops :)! Anyone have exciting plans?

Good, Good, (random) Times...

lots of gifts were opened...

even more Christmas goodies were consumed :)...

tons of memories...

5 girlie's that love their new toys...

1 little guy that is crawling...but only backwards...

I thinks it's because he is so used to backing up from all these women :)...

we got Netflix as a gift and I keep wondering why NO ONE told me how great it is!?

our house has been filled with giggling kiddos...

and our overflowing shoe basket is going beyond the call of duty...

the long weekend went to fast...

I loooove having holiday family time...

and having my hubby home...

and opening little gifts that the girls have wrapped...

I'm looking for someone who wants to hit Targets holiday 75% off sale with me...

the girls have been playing Twister and they think it is hilarious...

I'm wishing it would snow instead of rain...

and a certain little man got some Lincoln Logs this year...

Although dad and his little girls have been the ones playing with them for now :).

Pretty random, eh? You'll have to excuse me while I try to get back to forming complete thoughts after a long, relaxing weekend. I hope you all had a great Christmas!

From Us

Well friends, it has been a busy week (and month) around here. We have been hanging out, wrapping gifts, baking, and the older 3 have been making loads of friendship bracelets for their cousins (they are really into those right now) :).

I'm out of here till after Christmas to spend loads of time with family and our house full of kiddos.

So from our little family to yours...

(and yes, I realize that Lincoln looks like a clone on Eric's lap! Ha!)

Hope you have a great weekend and wonderful Christmas celebrating all that He has done for us!

Much love to you all!

As Seen In Our House Yesterday...

Not the most perfect buckeyes, but the Littles worked pretty hard on them :).

(the recipe I use is right here!)

Happy Tuesday!

Laugh Till You Drop

Everyone always asks us, "how are the girls with Lincoln???"

Well, they are gushing over him and cracking him up all the time. (They also act like 5 little mama's which can be good AND bad!)

So excuse me while I post this 18 second memory that I want to keep forever so I can listen to that little laugh years from now :).

Pretty cute, huh??

It also kinda melts me at the end when Char says, "again!". Looove that joy they bring to each other.

Alright, mommy-melting-moment over now. Normal business can resume :).

Bakin' Some Goodies - Peppermint Bark

We started in on our holiday baking this week and I thought I'd share this kid friendly Peppermint Bark recipe. I'm sure many of you have made it, but if not, the kiddos adore it and it was a huge success even with all our little helping hands :).

All you need is:

1 bag of chocolate chips
1 bag of white chocolate chips
crushed candy canes

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Melt the chocolate chips, either on the stove or in the microwave, and pour on baking sheet. Put in fridge to harden. Melt the white chocolate, be careful cause it burns quicker than the regular chocolate for some reason (anyone know why???). Pull baking sheet out of the fridge and pour the white chocolate over the hard bottom layer of regular chocolate. Crush candy canes and sprinkle generously. Pop back in the fridge and let harden. Then break apart and serve!

I made a double batch thinking I would freeze some for our family gatherings next week, but I think we are going to have to make some more :).

We made some cookie cutter sugar cookies too, always a favorite around here. Next week we are diving into the Lemon Bars and Buckeyes. I LOVE Lemon Bars. I mean, really love them. And those recipes are so great to make and freeze.

So, that's it for now, make this if you haven't already!!

Bedtime Woes

They are never fun.

For some reason I've been asked a lot lately about our bedtime routines - mainly how we keep the kiddos in their beds when they share a room. I mean, it's rough when you have a built in play mate, it's like a party all the time.

My main advice is to just throw them all in there and pray for daylight, my friends.

Ahem.

Soooo, I've been emailing back and forth with people talking about what has worked best for us. And WOULDN'T YOU KNOW, all the sudden after sharing the good and bad of our bedtime wars, our little 3yr olds have decided to give us a run for our money at bedtime.

Yet again.

It makes me sorta crazy when they don't listen at bedtime, mainly cause I've usually been on active mom duty for 16 hours and I'm ready for the sleep part of my shift. You know the feeling.

But even though it makes me crazy when they won't lay their sweet little heads down and get some shut eye, I have to laugh at what they come up with to keep themselves busy.

Exhibit A...

Those are my clever 3yr olds under their fitted sheet with ALL the animals and dolls in the room. They said its like a tent, and I have to hand it to them, getting under the fitted sheet is a pretty ingenious tent idea. Back in my day we just propped the sheets up with chairs.

Tent making has come a long way, folks.

So it looks like we are back to our disciplinary ways at bedtime. We aren't the only ones with night owls are we??

And for the record, those giggles are hard to crack down on, even when I'm really tired :).

The Good Life

It may not be the glamorous life...

or a wealthy life...

or the life that comes with the finest dishes...

But it's the good life.

It may not be the easy life...

the stress free life...

or the gourmet meals life...

But its the good life.

It may not be the quiet life...

the relaxing life...

or the life with the most personal space...

But its the good life.

It may not be the worry free life...

the free-to-do-what-you-want life...

or the life that remembers to fill frames in the nursery (just add a pic, its been 7 months!!)...

But its the good life.

It may not be the caught-up-on-the-laundry life...

the house looks perfect life...

or the life that thinks pants are more important than the decorated Christmas tree...

But its the good life.

It may not be the fancy furniture life...

the romantic getaways life...

or the easy bedtime life.

But its the good life.

I thought of Kinley when I looked down the stairs tonight after a draining, mom-is-so-worn-out kind of evening - I actually laughed about the underwear picture and her innocent sweetness when I saw the light of the tree...

Thankful for the reminders of God's goodness and incredible blessings :).

Sometimes being a mama isn't the least stressful life, but it's definitely the good life.

(1st Lights)

In Other News

The girls and I are painting nails today. Its one of their favorite things to do - and I have a new color I want to try out, called "I break for manicures", so its a win-win.

Have I ever mentioned that I've never had a full pedicure? I don't like touching peoples feet, and I don't like mine being touched either. I should get over that cause I hear they are fabulous.

Lincoln is sorta sitting up, but very wobbly.

AND he cut his first tooth! It's been a busy week for him :).

We're making homemade playdoh today - the kiddos are pumped to say the very least.

Remember that sign I posted on here from Pinterest?? Someone made one for us! Some sweet, sweet, person (they won't tell me who!) made it for us as a gift. We hung it in our entry way, opposite my Fall wreath/mirror...

I love, love, love it...

I'm making our first chore chart - turns out 5yr olds and 7yr olds CAN help out around the house :). So they are now the proud owners of morning and afternoon chores. It's added more structure to our day in some ways which I really am liking.

We are still having dance parties in the kitchen.

Our Comfort Crockpot Mac and Cheese is in the crockpot today, its always a hit!

So we're off now to start our playdoh making, Hoping its a success!!