The Ambitious Life

This is something I used to do a long time ago - long enough ago that I didn't feel like searching to find out what number I'd stopped on.  So, here we are...10 things I am thankful for this Thursday. 1.  A fun night out with Dayton Women In The Word .  We celebrated two years of the podcast by eating a lot of sugar, being encouraged by other women, and having time out of the house with no kids! 2. Faith getting back to "normal" sleep patterns.  She was not sleeping well last week but if the past couple nights are any indication we are over that hump.  It wasn't fun.  Although remembering to pray instead of complain and to appreciate her instead of resent the lack of sleep was a great check on my humility. 3. I am feeling mostly back to normal after the c-section.  I didn't want one, I wasn't thrilled about. I found that God gave me a period of relying on other people and forced rest.  It was lovely and I feel like I've come out of it (with a ne

People assume with seven kids I'm organized.  It is generally true but it is more that we have systems that work although they are always being tweaked and updated.  Last year we used a file cabinet for our school materials but it is way too easy to fill a drawer with bits and things that don't belong there.  So this year we tried something new.  It's a work in progress based on the needs of the year, the number of students and what materials we need to be able to access quickly.  Here is how this year looks... This cabinet is in our dining room and holds all of our home school supplies fairly well.  We use the top and bottom shelf mainly although there is a hole punch hiding behind that picture of my Grandfather. On the top shelf we have little plastic containers that I bought at dollar tree.  The lids are attached (win!) and they stack well.  These hold all our pencils, art supplies, flash cards, manipulatives, glue, tape...all the little things we need frequen

Grace, Where to even start with you?  You are a lovely, sweet, creative, and kind young woman.  You are such an amazing big sister and we are so thankful for you!  You constantly surprise me with all the things that you know and are able to do.  You read all the time and I can't keep you in good books.  You pay attention to the world around you and are curious about all things...especially when dad and I try to whisper or keep a secret! You take care of all our rabbits and do such a great job!  You are also quick to help with things around the house - you definitely prefer helping with Faith and I think your least favorite is getting the boys out of bed or possibly putting away laundry.  Most of your time is spent reading or playing (other than school work).  You like to make up games for your siblings but you do get frustrated when they don't play how you are wanting them to play.   You have reached that age where you are fun to hang out with and talk to.   You have

Postpartum sounds like such a weird word.  And kind of an, eww, who wants to read that, type post.  That could just be my postpartum brain talking. Anyway, Faith is four weeks old today and it has seemed to fly by.  She is doing great.  She is putting on weight appropriately.  She eats well, most of the time still two ounces at a time which I don't remember any of my other kids doing for this long.  The flip side of that is before she sleeps for her long stretch at night and her long nap she eats 3-4 ounces usually.  It lets me know I'm usually going to get a good stretch of sleep out of her.  Sometimes though she'll fall asleep after 2 ounces for a long stretch and then wake up HUNGRY.  Fair enough. She is definitely a pacifier kid.  I have one clipped to her car seat and one with her 90% of the time.  It is nice because she soothes easily but of course when we can find it we are in for a rough time!  Fortunately so far she has been easy and none of the boys have hid

Homeschooling with four school age kids and three younger ones is going about as you'd expect.  It is loud, chaotic, and pretty fun!  We are settling into a rhythm and I think everyone is enjoying school about as much as is possible. The girls are adjusting pretty well to doing school work again although I think it will take a little bit of time to really get in the swing of things.  Taking the summer off was great, but now they have to get focused again and used to working hard on their work!  Grace had an essay to write and I was really proud of how she focused on doing it well the first time instead of rushing through it.  Maturity is coming through! The boys have been doing well with their work.  Reading Eggs and Math Seeds seems to be a great fit for them.  They love the computer work and I like that I don't have to teach that portion.  When they finish the lesson we just do the worksheets that go with it and are done!  Total it takes them about 45 minutes per day and

Timothy, You are a delightful little dinosaur.  If I ask you what a dinosaur says you stop your foot and roar at me.  It is hilarious and a great distraction when you are frustrated about something.  You LOVE dinosaurs and trains.  You have claimed Faith as your baby although sometimes you'll "share" with me and you say she is cutttte. You don't like being stuck in your seat when you are all done eating or being left out when the big kids are playing.  Fortunately, you are starting to play really well with everyone and have freedom to roam pretty much anywhere downstairs.  You like to put bottles away for me when Faith is done with them, but instead of putting them on the counter you stick them in the bottom of the fridge. You are my baby giant and I love your expressive faces, your quick smiles and your big personality.  I'm thankful you're mine little man and I can't wait to see who you become!! Love always, Momma For your birthday dinner we

We officially re-start school on Monday.  Yes, I know it is Labor Day...we are homeschoolers, we don't care.  We only finished a few days of work before Faith was born so I'm looking at it as the official start to our school year, but without having to retake first day pictures!  Last year I really only taught the girls since I only spent one morning a week working on letters with the boys.  The boys really only took about 30 minutes a week.  This year their work will be 2-3 days per week and I'll have to stay caught up on prep!  I am really looking forward to using Reading Eggs and MathSeeds with them and they love being on the computer to do their work.  One thing I noticed last year is how rushed I always felt.  I never felt like we had time to slow down to do the extra activities or read the extra books because we only had a limited amount of time and needed to finish the core things.  I also work in the afternoons so in order for me to get work done, we had to b