Camping Fun

Josh and Mallory take turns feeding Shadow















Landry tries to take off with the cooler! Gotcha :)















Fun on the hike- yes we got a little wet!

More Camping Fun

Nate and Bella cuddle before bedtime


Josh, have you had enough dirt yet?

Camping Fun

Landry and Isabelle lounge by the campfire

















Bella and Aidan enjoy their smores together

More kids = More Patience???

Some thoughts/advice from Barbara Curtis at Mommylife... as we anticipate being "outnumbered" with baby #3 coming after the holidays. May God use these precious gifts of life to continually turn our eyes off ourselves and onto Him!

you can read the entire post here

Pray for Patience

So often I hear, "It's okay for you to have so many kids – you’re so patient/calm/organized/whatever."

That's not how it happened. Actually, it is through years of living with so many children that I have become patient/calm/organized/whatever.

I used to be a normal person.

How I wish I had reexamined my attitudes about sleep, for instance, before my fourth child. It would have saved me a lot of frustration. Instead, I muddled through many demanding nights - feedings, earaches, tummy aches, wet beds, bad dreams, sleepwalking - fighting for my right to eight hours sleep or mourning the loss of it. Now I know the meaning of sweet surrender. It is so much easier to be awakened at night if you never expected to sleep anyway!

My motto: "Sleep less, live more."

So, if parents of big families seem different, it's just that we've given up a lot of things we used to think were important - sleep, completed conversations, clean floors.

We're not heroes, we've just thrown in the towel, too worn out to fight for our rights anymore. Patience, calm, organization - they're just part of our survival kit. After all, we'll have plenty of time for all the sleep we want when we finally graduate from this 101 course and start writing our Thesis on Empty Nest Syndrome.

In the meantime, I try to remember to count my blessings before counting the dirty socks on the floor!

Fun & FREE!!!

Check out this great resource with free activities, coloring pages, projects and more from author/artist Jan Brett I found while reading mommylife...

I printed the cute & simple Gingerbread Baby Board game and laminated it this morning at my favorite resource center, Family Connections, along with some number flash cards and shapes flash cards.

And coloring pages galore... our little artist will never be bored :)

Check out the varieties of calendars too!

I'll probably print something new from this website every other week to take with me to FC and laminate... there are so many great learning tools on there! I love how the animals in her artwork are realistic yet so whimsical and fun.