I need my sleep. I am not one of those people who functions well without enough of it! So why am I writing on my blog at midnight? Well, it’s been quite a week. Full of lots of comings and goings, lots of eBaying, lots of birthday partying (Greyden turned 5), and lots of vomiting.…

We currently own 26 book shelves – 14 of them are filled with books, 10 are filled with clothes, and 2 are filled with movies and music. Even with 26, they are still overflowing. So, it was time to either acquire more bookshelves, or reduce what was on those shelves. As much as I wanted…

We were invited to a hymn sing at a local church last evening. Friends of ours just recently started attending this church, so we had never been there before. Since we love to sing (and love our friends), we went, even though it meant keeping the children up past their bed times. Let me set…

Many people think I’m crazy to have so many animals. They think that 8 children is ridiculous and wonder why I would also have a mini farm as well. If I even hint at feeling frustrated or overwhelmed, the immediate response is, “Just get rid of your animals!” (I guess they say that because they…

Jim called today. He wanted to know if I would be offended if a friend of ours paid somebody to clean our house. Offended? OFFENDED!! What does he think I am, crazy! Of course I’m not offended. I offered to kiss this person’s feet, but Jim said that wouldn’t be necessary. Now I do admit,…

Today our Advent Activity was to play a family game. Now normally playing games as a whole family is pure torture. The younger children can never concentrate, so you’re always having to remind someone it is their turn. And because there are so many of us, the games last forever! And there are few games…

This is the advent calendar that Aunt Ellie gave us years ago. Sometime in November, we sit down as a family and make up a list of 25 things we want to do together. Each one then gets written on a slip of paper and placed in one of the pockets of this advent calendar.…

It always surprises me when people know who I am. It doesn’t help that I am HORRIBLE with names and can never remember the names of half the people I have met before. Anyway, I took Brett and Greyden with me today to run errands. We had to go to the bank, the post office,…

One of our family traditions is doing Jesse Trees during the Christmas season. A Jesse Tree is just a series of scriptures that takes you through the Old Testament and shows you how the Old Testament points to the birth of Jesus. When we do our Jesse Trees, we read a Bible Scripture. We have…

We’ve been line drying clothes for at least 2 years now. It’s pretty easy in the spring, summer, and fall. But more difficult in the winter. It’s not like I’m hanging laundry for just Jim and me – I’m hanging for a family of 10! So we use a lot of drying racks. And just…

It’s time to take down the Fall decorations and put up the Christmas decorations. And once again, the Jonas animals are benefiting. Jim came home with his pickup truck full of pumpkins and squash for two days in a row. Colter counted them (since he got to unload them) and he counted 128 pumpkins and…

Our local bank ran an advertisement in the newspaper. Fortunately for us (and unfortunately for them) we saw it. It said something like this: Bring in your child or grandchild and get a free piggy bank. The first time you fill it up and bring it in we will match the funds up to $25…