I said I wouldn't.

But I broke down.
It was an emergency, really.

But who am I kidding.

I mean, most of the time when (as a mom) you make a statement to yourself like:

"I will NEVER allow my children to...."

or

"MY baby will NEVER...."

or

"My child certainly won't....."

You deserve whatever you get.

But this time...

I felt like I had this all under control.

I had made a promise to myself.

But in desperation, in one of those ill-prepared moments of haste...

I broke down.

And purchased these:

In my defense...

I was at the grocery store

without my diaper bag (I know... stupidity)

without diapers or wipes...

and baby boy was OOZING out of every seam.

So I was desperate. 

And they were on clearance.

For cheaper than the store brand.

So I caved.

They were pretty cute though.

The least I could do

The other day I had thanked someone, and their reply was

"It's the least I could do!"

And I thought...

I know what they MEAN by that,
I know it's just a phrase,
but do we realize what those words actually imply?

This was the absolute LEAST I could do.
I could do more... but I didn't.
That's all you are worth to me.
The LEAST thing I could POSSIBLY do for you.

This got me thinking.

How many times have we done this?

The LEAST we could do?

What exactly IS the LEAST I can do?

• Throw a $10 bill in the plate at church?

• Listen to a friend or neighbor pour her heart out and then offer a simple, "I'll pray for you." 

• Look at the tremendous need for adoptive families and say "oh, those poor little souls. More people should adopt children."

Maybe doing the "least we can do" just keeps us safe.

We don't get any of their junk on us if we keep a safe distance.

We don't get all uncomfortable in someone else's mess if we toss out a quick "I'll pray for you!" and then walk away. 

We don't lose our normal, happy lives when we brush off our sympathies for the poor, orphaned, sick or widowed with that head-tilt-tsk-tsk.

So, what's the least I can do? I have so much on my heart from our days in Ethiopia.

I have so many more children in my head, haunting my dreams and asking... 

what's the least you can do?

Can we do more?

Can our family do more?

I don't know.

I don't know what more we are supposed to do, or what the thoughts and ideas in my head are pointing towards...

but I know this...

doing nothing - well, THAT is the LEAST I can do.

awards, bread and hair

No, I can't think of a more creative title.

Awards:
Today and tomorrow I get to pack up the littles (5, 6, &7) and head on over to the middle school where I watch the two biggest get an award for the first semester of school accomplishments! Today was 1's award day. I was so proud of him! It may not be for straight A's or even all A's and B's... but he was recognized today by his teachers for his compassion in and out of school! I mean, come ON! Grades, schmades! I want my kiddos to be compassionate and others-focused and the public school recognized this in my son! Awesome.
Tomorrow is 2's awards day. She has informed me that she gets THREE awards, one of which is the Honor Roll certificate! Not sure what the other two are, but I am almost afraid to hope for another awesome character trait award... but a momma can dream!

Bread:
I've been baking bread like a crazy person! I think I am up to nearly 50 loaves (not including what I made for breakfast one day for the kids). I am baking for my parents' dental office. They take bread (or some other gift) to their referring doctors once or twice a month and since I am currently not employed... I get the job!

Pumpkin bread with butterscotch chips, white chocolate chips and craisins... with the Starbucks two-tone scone icing! I wish I could eat gluten... these look yummy!

And we have been doing more hair experimentation! I had 6's hair in little puffs this past 4 or 5 days and when I took it out, I was amazed at how long it had become with the stretching/drying of the puffs!
Check it out!

Here are the "twins"...

Aww... all matchy-matchy!

I think I "get" these little twists now!

It turned out cute!

Other side view.

I wasn't going for the spider-web part pattern, but since it's late October... 

I will just go with "oh yeah, it was totally intentional!"

(side note... see that stack of newspapers? Yeah, that's my ghetto booster seat, baby!

I can't stand the idea of buying another booster seat and our kitchen won't fit another high chair... so I saran-wrapped a stack of 5 papers together and VOILA! Booster Seat! The plastic wrap keeps it from sliding off the chair like a phone book, and its fully disposable when it starts looking yucky! LOL!)

As for Baby Boy, #7...

He is still fully embracing his Two-ness.

Today I said:

"No! No scissors!"

"Please don't put that in the toilet!"

"We don't eat leaves!"

"Do NOT pull that tree out of the pot!"

"No putting mommy's phone in the garbage!"

and...

"NO swinging from the balcony!!" 

(by a sheet, tied to a rail, by an older brother)

Whew.

He's two.

Not recently three.

I don't know that I need a bone-scan to verify that.

But he's really stinking cute!

50 ways to stay awake - by Baby Boy, #7

Since I am currently forced to sit in 

Baby Boy's room with him while he 

tries to go to sleep plays for an hour  ...

Here is a list of suggestions for those of you 

out there who need help staying awake.

You know, just in case you HATE how easily you fall asleep!

1. Demand that a very bright light stays on.

2. Demand that all stuffed animals are put on your shelf.

3. Pull all stuffed animals back off of the shelf.

4. Scream when you find the stuffed velvet frog.

5. Bite on your blanket and then pull it from your still-clenched teeth.

6. Kick all blankets off.

7. Get annoyed because you can't fix the blankets back.

8. Pull the elastic on your pajama bottom waist straight out... then let go.

9. Laugh.

10. Repeat 8 and 9 until told to stop.

11. Cry when told to stop.

12. Lay on your left side.

13. Switch to your right side.

14. Lay in an "S" shape.

15. Playfully throw limbs into the air and let them fall lifelessly onto the bed and make a plopping sound.

16. lay on tummy.

17. Kick covers off again.

18. Yawn.

19. OH, CRAP! NO YAWNING!!

20. Sit up in bed! 

21. Find non-scary, non-offensive stuffed animal.

22. Demand your mom tells you the name of all of the bear's body parts.

23. Find same body part on yourself AND your mom.

24. Laugh at poking mom in the eye while labeling "eye!!"

25. Cry when mom won't let you poke her eye again.

26. Mental note, when you can't pass biology - it's all Mom's fault.

27. Pout.

28. Stick out lip.

29. Demand labels for "bed", "blanket" and "bottle".

30. Get angry with mom for incorrect interpretation of "water" instead of "bottle".

31. Ask for a book.

32. Close the book mid-story.

33. Cry when mom sits in the rocking chair instead of on your bed.

34. Refuse to lay down.

35. Agree to hold teddy bear and make him go to sleep.

36. Feel tricked into laying down.

37. Throw teddy bear.

38. Try fake crying again.

39. Realize it does not work.

40. Agree to be covered up.

41. Toss and turn.

42. Turn and toss.

43. Flop onto your back.

44. Flop onto your tummy.

45. Make strange growling noises.

46. Make clicking noises with your tongue.

47. Finally sit quietly.

48. Think about kicking blankets off again.

49. Consider asking to play the "name that object" game again...

50. Decide to lay quietly instead.

AND FINALLY...

He's asleep.

Racism.

Get ready to be offended.

If you offend easily... please go read something 

else I have written since this post is off-the-cuff and very raw.

Today, while grocery shopping with the babies, 

I found out what it's like to be "conspicuous".

There was a group of two ladies and a man 

who kept checking us out, mumbling, and rolling their eyes.

I ignored it, but wondered what was up.

On another aisle, I was walking past them and just then, 

one of the women makes a disapproving face 

and motions toward/over my girls with her hand... 

"See THIS... THIS is what I DON'T like to see. 

THIS is what I was talking about before when I said...."

And they kept walking. 

I stood there for a moment...

deer-in-the-headlights.

The babies were looking at them and at me.

I turned to look at the group as they were walking...

and they were still talking about us.

Motioning in our direction, shaking their heads.

Not knowing what to do...

I said, "Girls?"

They say (in unison), "Ah bet?" (Amharic for "what?")

I said... "I love you!"

They said "I love you, too!"

And I kissed my baby boy on his gooey, sticky face.

Do you want to know why this makes me even more angry?

It didn't come from a group of white people.

Nope. They were as black as my babies... and they were racist.

They saw me shopping with my precious babies and 

all they could see was a "white lady" with black kids.

Do you know what else makes me mad?

As a white person, raised in the south

 (ooohhh EVIL southern white people...)...

I am tired of being assumed to be the racist one.

I don't know about you... 

but I have been taught my entire life that white people 

are racist and black people are not. 

Racism is an equal-opportunity-destroyer.

I'm white. Yes, according to Loreal, I may be "light taupe"... but I'm white.

I am a white person.

And I love three small black people.

LOVE them.

LOVE, love, love them.

It breaks my heart and makes me want to flat-out-destroy anyone who would ever call them a derogatory name because they are MY babies and you better NOT talk about them in a bad way. ANY of them.

And *I* am supposed to be the racist one.

Because I grew up in Tennessee.

Because I am white.

Well let me tell you one thing, black people from the grocery store today...

you have become the very thing you have hated for generations.

You have become the oppressor. 

You have become the hater.

You have become the racist bigots.

You have become the VERY thing Dr. King DIED to end.

You have become HATE.

You look at me and my babies and see pigment differences in our skin cells.

I look at you with pity because you will NEVER know 

the depth of love it is possible to have for a child 

not born from your own gene pool. 

You will NEVER know what it is to see hands intertwined 

- not matching - 

but BELONGING together.

And that is pitiful.

You should be pitied.

And you should be ashamed.

Where are you when the orphaned children in Africa

go to bed hungry night after night after night after night?

Where are you when they fall and get hurt and 

need someone to make it better?

Where are you when they are sick and need a Mommy?

Where ARE you?

I know where I am.

I am holding my babies.

I am being a Mommy.

THIS is what LOVE looks like.

****EDITED TO SAY****

This is not a "black people are racist" post.

It is a "PEOPLE CAN be racist" post.

These three people at the store could have just 

as easily have been white, tan or any other shade of skin. 

The hate is still there, alive and kicking.

Women's Hierarchy

Considering I myself am a woman, I feel compelled to discuss something I continue to see over and over throughout my lifetime.
I hope it’s not just me, because then I would feel really stupid... but what I see in myself and I have overheard in others, is that as women, we rate ourselves against our friends, strangers online, and people at the store.

We put ourselves on some kind of crazy measuring stick, and we choose our “spot” based solely on our comparison to everyone else.

For example..
While shopping at Target, we see a woman with more children than we have. She’s happy! The children are smiling and getting along, laughing together, and all wearing clean clothes with nary a crusty, dried-booger nose to be found. The woman, we observe, is dressed in adorable, mostly-current fashion and carrying a perfectly stocked diaper bag with every necessity neatly in its place and accessible at a moment’s notice. She’s thin, appears to exercise regularly and obviously only feeds her family the highest quality hormone-free, organic, whole foods available.
I hate her.
I love what she stands for, but I want to BE her.
She is obviously a better mother, wife and woman than I am.
She wins.



Turning around in a huff to walk in ANY other direction, we see a woman with “only” one child. She looks grumpy. Her child is dirty, missing a shoe, snotty nose running down his chin, and he appears to have a sucker stuck in his hair. She is wearing a shirt stained by both bleach AND some random tomato product. She has obviously not washed her hair today... perhaps this week, and her idea of exercise is dragging her child past the sugary cereal as he kicks and screams about marshmallow filled boxes of wonderfulness.
CLEARLY I am better than HER.
I made it out of the house today with washed hair.
None of my children are that dirty and they all have two shoes on their feet.
I’m somewhere above her, but far below the perfect mom on the other aisle.



Later...
We get an email from a friend.
She’s announcing her 8th baby in 10 years!
After an eye-roll and deleting a comment about “don’t you know how that happens?” we decide on the obligatory “Congrats!” and hit “send”.
She home-schools all of her children, they grow and can all their own vegetables, make almost everything from scratch - including many clothes. She makes her own detergent, has the most child-friendly home EVER, and LOVES nothing more than being a mom. She is always positive, always patient, always smiling and oozing happy-happy-gooeyness. Her children are super polite and well-mannered, but may not always be the cleanest kids on the block.
She’s a better mom than me.
For sure.
I fed my kids pop-tarts for breakfast.
She probably made Eggs Benedict.
However, I am WAY cooler than she is.
I would like to be that happy and care-free though.
I feel guilt VERY deeply by merely observing her life.



These aren’t the only women we compare ourselves to. OH, no.


There are plenty of others out there. They come in all shapes, sizes, and economic classes.
She’s thinner, she’s fatter, she’s happier, she’s wealthier, she’s got more kids, younger kids, older kids, who has their hands the most “full”, who has the most volunteer projects, who has the most accolades, who has the most blog readers or followers, who has WHATEVER better or more than me.



I am sad to admit, I have thought these things before.


I have been that judgemental woman.


I have been that comparison-hungry mom who sizes herself up against you, your children, your neighbor and whoever else I find to compare myself to.



But late last night I had a realization.



Do you know what is at the heart of this whole comparison-extravaganza?
(other than a serious mental disorder?)



It’s fear.



We all have basic questions we ask about ourselves.


We ask our parents, our friends, our family, our neighbors, our spouse and our children the same questions.


Am I good enough?
Do you love me the way I am?
Will you ALWAYS love me - no matter what?



It’s security, or the lack thereof. It’s a neurotic need for approval and I’m not looking in the right place.



Instead of asking the right person the right question, I ask myself.



Am I good enough? Well... look around the house. Dirty dishes, dirty clothes, dirty floors, dirty children. Nope. Not good enough.


Do you love me the way I am? Hmm... probably not. I’m not looking that great lately, I could stand to lose several pounds and I am never going to be that crunchy-granola, home-schooling, perfectly-clean-house, mom-of-the-year.


Will you ALWAYS love me? No matter what? My child stormed out of the house on the way to catch the bus this morning because I didn’t give him the correct breakfast today. Clearly his love for me is fickle.



Maybe it’s just me.



Or maybe not.



But then...
Do you know what I realized?
I can only be the best ME that I can be.
That’s the ME that God made me.
Crazy, bad-with-numbers, lazy about putting laundry away, finds any excuse not to mop floors, can’t stand children’s craft projects, thinks glitter is from the devil, infrequent child-bather, and rarely on time anywhere... me. May never have a pedicure, good intentions-bad follow through, once-a-month-or-less duster of knick-knacks... ME!



I know it’s not about me. Life, this life, this... stuff. It’s not about me.
It’s not about being the best homeschooling, crunchy-granola, home-made laundry detergent making, super-stylish mom-of-the-year. It’s about being the best CHRISSY that I can be FOR CHRIST’s purposes. It’s about being the best child of GOD that I can be. It’s about being who HE created me to be and for THAT purpose alone.



I also realized that those women I compare myself to... I am seeing what I want to see! 
I see the pretty (or not so much) picture on the outside! I only see the part that woman shows to the world. I only see a tiny piece of the iceberg and create the rest of it inside my own thoughts. Any guesses where those lies come from?

John 8:44- You belong to your father, the devil,

and you want to carry out your father's desire.

He was a murderer from the beginning,

not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him.

When he lies, he speaks his native language,

for he is a liar and the father of lies.

So... here is my prayer for today... and for as long as it takes.


I want to see myself (and see others) the way Jesus sees them.


I don’t want to look at myself as better or worse than other women.


I want to see myself as the wife of a wonderful man who loves me dearly, treasures me, and calls just to hear my voice.

I want to see myself as the woman He created to be the mother of these 7 kiddos.


I want to see myself as a daughter of the King. Nothing more, nothing less.

And I want to see you that way, too.

I was tagged.

My friend Jamey over at Zehlahlum Family tagged me in a post for stuff about me.
Since I normally post stuff about the kids, about adoption, about my life keeping up with 7 kiddos... I will relent and play along!




1. What is your biggest pet peeve?

I have WAY too many pet peeves. I run a peeve petting zoo.
Some of them are:

• Someone using the word "quote" instead of "quotation". "Quote" is a verb, "quotation" is a noun. Read this quotation... and I quote... get it?
• Another word peeve - there is no "D" in refrigerator OR congratulations.
• The sound of overall clasps in the dryer
• Never being able to find jeans in the right waist/thigh/length ratio that cost under $100
• (like Jamey... didn't realize we had this in common) the sound of bathroom vent fans
• when my kids won't eat the crust of their sandwiches
• Text-speak (No, IDK WTH UR talking about. Knock it off.)
• waking up when it's still dark outside
• that sound it makes when you scrape your fork or knife on your plate
• Coffee stations that don't have real half &half as an option
• Planning dinner only to find out someone put an empty container back in the pantry and now your recipe won't work without a trip to the grocery store.
• Dog fur
• my dishwasher and how it leaves these baked on mystery crumbs inside most of the glasses
• People who "no matter how hard" they try... still can't gain weight! (Wah.)
• How my husband can skip the second double cheeseburger and drop 10 lbs and I eat like a rabbit for a month and gain 2lbs. Yeah. That one really gets me.
• Restaurants that STILL don't understand what gluten is and how to prepare food without it.
• People who ...                 And we are moving on...................

2. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?

Wow. Well, this is a loaded question for me because my heart right now is to have a large home on a large piece of land where I can be Mary from Owlhaven and adopt more children and have space for them all. I would like to have the Duggar's kitchen set up and family closet. As for where... I like Tennessee (except whenever it's over 95 degrees and 80% humidity), but wish we were closer to the mountains and my sister in Colorado. 
3. Have you ever been searched by the cops?

Ha. I don't think so... other than in Germany in customs where I was frisked like I may be smuggling undeclared chocolate out of the country.
4. What is the one thing on your mind right now?

It's naptime... I gotta do those dishes, vacuum up the fur, pick up in the toy room, and WHEN is my neighbor going to be done pressure washing his stupid deck! Sheesh that thing is LOUD!

5. Favorite song right now?

"Our God" by Chris Tomlin because every time it comes on the littles start singing along! It's ADORABLE and it reminds me that our God IS greater than all the other junk in my day.

6. What talent do you wish you had?

I'm not trying to copy Jamey's answers... but I wish I could sing. Oh, and play an instrument. I can't even effectively play the kazoo. 

7. Favorite drink?

Coffee, green tea, iced tea and if I am really going to mess up my blood sugar... I LOVE Root Beer Floats.

8. In one word, how would you describe yourself?

Sleepy? I don't know... I have never been good at describing myself in any number of words... how about you just "see above" pet peeve list... that should pretty much sum it up! ;)




I'm supposed to tag other people... I think 8 of them... but since I can't remember blog names without looking at my links list...
I am going to tag my sister, Melissa from www.benjaminandmelissa.blogspot.com
and if you made it this far and you are reading this... comment on your 8 things after this post or leave me a note and let me know you put it on your blog! 
There... instant tagging! :)

25 things I have learned

Things I have learned from my children:

1. Popcorn and ice cream constitute a balanced dinner.
2. Milk and Barney. Barney and Milk. Never Barney and Water.
3. Every blank wall is a potential canvas.
4. Fish are friends, not food.
5. I make an excellent tissue.
6. There is a sound barrier somewhere between the kitchen and the balcony leading to the upper level.
7. Tension baby gates are not baby proof if the baby weighs 35 lbs and knows how to climb.
8. The same child that is not hungry at 6:30am, is miraculously starving by 7am when he arrives at school and needs a cinnamon roll purchased on his lunch ‘account”.
9. School lunch accounts work like credit cards with no limit and no rewards program.
10. A baby that wakes up for the day at 5:20 will grate your nerves until nap time.
11. What fun is a clean play room?
12. I am the only one obsessively concerned with being able to walk without stepping on sharp lego corners.
13. If you lose a lego, simply take off your shoes and walk around in the dark and you are guaranteed to find it.
14. A single loaf of bread will make exactly one sandwich for each of 7 children, spare the “icky” end pieces no one will eat.
15. One small bottle of nail polish will ruin a twin sheet set, a white knit blanket, two outfits and require 20 minutes of cleaning green polish off of the skin of 3 small children.
16. There is no good hiding place for nail polish.
17. If you wait a few days, you can find where your child (who wanted to “help”) threw the diaper away.
18. The day you are in a hurry is most certainly the day you will be missing the left shoe from EVERY pair you have for your children, the day the diaper will leak and the day there will be car-seat assignment issues.
19. If you have children who are the age to go out and play with friends, and you also have more than 4 children, your house suddenly becomes the local hang out for 12 or more children at once.
20. One pack of frozen kool-aid Popsicles does not contain enough blue or red for 12 children to all get the color they want.
21. Even when you think children are busy watching Sesame Street, they may actually be dumping hand soap and sanitizer into the toilet.
22. The dog eventually refuses to eat Cheerios off of the floor.
23. You should investigate ALL silences.
24. It is vitally important to not run out of coffee.
25. The days are long, but the years are short... and no matter what irritating thing happens today... something more irritating may happen tomorrow. It’s all going to be okay, and this too shall pass... but if you don’t watch out, it will all “pass” while you aren’t looking.

We have had custody 10 weeks today!

Okay - letting that sink in.

That seems like a LONG time!!

So, how are things after TEN weeks??

Pretty typical I think!
Here is our typical day at TEN weeks:

6-6:30am - wake up call. Normally it's just the girls that wake up this early, but some days baby boy #7 gets up that early too. Those days are not so much fun. He is not a morning person and should really sleep till at least 7am. We go downstairs, I start the coffee (if I didn't plan ahead and set the coffee maker the night before) and turn on Barney, get cups of milk and cover them with blankets on the couch. School days I have 1 and 2 getting ready to leave by 6:38, so this hour goes by pretty fast. Weekends... not so much. They don't respect the weekend-sleep-in routine we previously held so dear to our hearts. Some days even on Saturday I am awake and on the couch grumbling through stupid Barney by 5:45am. Yuck.

7am - School days we wake up 3 and 4 to start getting ready. Normally by 7:25-7:30 3,4 and the littles are all eating breakfast. I go through our checklist (do you have shoes on? Did you pack your backpack? Do you have your binder? Do you have your snack? What special do you have today? If it's gym.. do you have tennis shoes on?) while reminding the girls to sit on their bottoms and eat. I say this 800 times during each meal. If I forget to say "sit on your bottom!" someone will inevitably fall off the bench onto the floor which will result in an extra 45 minutes of breakfast time since we will stretch it out to include the crying, the consoling and the pouting period afterwards.

7:50 - 3 and 4 out the door. Littles usually watch the bus come and leave and begin their daily emptying of the toy room into the entry way floor.

***** (from here on down, using School Day schedule because on weekends... all bets are off)

8am - I sneak upstairs to get dressed. I have maybe 10 minutes before they all fall apart without my presence.

8:15 - clean up the kitchen. This may take as long as an hour depending on how many children are holding onto my legs while I walk the 3 steps from the dishwasher to the cabinets. Yes, helpful mommas out there... I have tried letting them "help" unload the dishwasher and such... but that ends in disaster as our kitchen is the size of a small shoebox and 4 people all carrying dishes or standing around the dishwasher is just NOT GOOD.

Approx. 9am - begin thinking about asking them to clean up the toys from in the entry way.
If we are going out today to run errands or something, we usually try to leave around this time.

9-11am: Errands, play outside or play inside depending on the day.

11am - begin making lunch in a stealthy way. If I get caught making food, baby boy 7 WILL freak out and cry, climb up my legs and panic until I put him on the counter with me and feed him something.

11:30-12 - typically lunch time. 800 reminders to sit on your bottom, eat your food and telling them how "yummmmmmmm!!!!" their food is so that they believe me.

12 - nap time.
12:05 - 5 in the bed.
12:06 - 6 in the bed
12:08 - 7 in the bed
12:08:30 - back in the girls room. "LAY down! Go to sleep! Do you want to go outside after nap? Then SLEEP!"
12:09 - stick head in boys room - "its okay... go to sleep... Mommy loves you!"
12:10 - back in the girls' room. Stand in doorway and give the "Mom" look.
12:15 - sit in hallway between both rooms and fold laundry while repeating "SHHH! Tegna!" (sleep)
12:30 - typically everyone is asleep.
12:31 - huge exhale and go downstairs.
I may use this break to do house stuff, make phone calls,or talk to Jamey because she can relate. I try to remember to eat lunch at this time so that I don't remember after the littles wake up because then they think its time for them to eat a whole meal too, not just a snack... something that requires a plate, fork and drink. Not cool at 3pm.

2:30-3pm - Typically the time everyone wakes up. I literally RUN to get whoever wakes up first in the girls room so that perhaps the other will sleep for another 30 minutes or so. If they are not awake by 3, they will be awakened.

2:50-3pm - 1 and 2 get home on the bus. Lots of happy screaming from the littles.

4pm - 3 and 4 get home.

4:10-5pm: snacks then go over who has homework and who doesn't, argue the merits of homework, argue against the usage of crayon or pen on homework and begin to think about stealthily preparing dinner. Sometimes one of the older kids will take the littler kids out to play so I can help another couple of them with homework. I am convinced homework is spawned of Satan. (just deleted 5 page rant on homework) Just sayin'.

5-6 : Cook dinner while playing referee, therapist, maid, potty assistant, police officer, and sometimes taxi driver - picking up kids from after school activities.

6pm - dinner time. 800 reminders to sit on your  bottom, 300 reminders to eat, 290 reminders to chew with your mouth closed, and 287 reminders to use your fork.

7pm - clean up dinner stuff, then get the littles off to bed. Brush teeth, lotion, pajamas, potty visit and tucking everyone in. We say prayers, get covered up, go over my (hopeful) request that they sleep till the outside lights come on (sun comes up), and say goodnight. About 50% of the time they go right to sleep. The other 50%... see above nap time schedule.

7:30-8pm - finish cleaning up kitchen, pick up toys, pick up random clothing from all over the downstairs, let dog out again, remind 3 and 4 to do their nightly reading, make sure backpacks have everything in them for tomorrow, and then get a few minutes to relax with the first 4.

8:45 - First 4 go up to bed. Yes, even the 14 and 12 year olds. 9pm bedtime. Yep. I'm that mean. They wake up at 6. It's all gonna be okay. I promise. I used to be religious about tucking them all in, hugs, kisses, prayers etc... but since the babies have been home it's tough to go in their rooms since they all share (except One - he has his own room). Sometimes the littles aren't quite all the way asleep then we have to start the whole bedtime thing over again and THAT is AWFUL.

9-10pm.... AHHHHHHhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh! Time with hubby when he is home, watch something on TV, read, play online, etc... something that I don't have time to do during the day!

10pm - I TRY to get to bed by 10 since I really need my sleep. Most nights I am successful. Sometimes not.

So... there you have it!
Our day in a schedule/nutshell!