Getting to Church on Time

Sundays around our house are occasionally hectic.
I enjoy going to church. I feel at peace there. I feel uplifted there. Which is good, because the race before hand is tiring.
We have church at 9am now. This is my favorite time to have church. My second favorite time is 8am. I like starting the Sabbath out right and then coming home and being with my family.
This year I have an added challenge. Tony has meetings before church. This normally wouldn't have been a problem. But getting 4 youngsters ready by myself is a bit tiring. This past Sunday I tried getting up at 6:30. I showered, got dressed, and then Emma and Delta woke up. I nursed them, then started breakfast. I fed them and myself, then woke up the rest of the kids. At this point Tony returned home. I got my hair done, brushed my teeth, and put my make-up on. Then we both got the little ones dressed. As soon as one was dressed, I would do their hair. Then get coats on and head out the door.
You know, now that I write (type) it out, it doesn't seem like such a challenge. So why has it been hard to make it to church? Maybe because I am leaving out the messes, The little ones who need held, the fights to get everyone up, the fights to get everyone to eat, the fights to get everyone to get dressed, the messy faces and hands, the wiggly heads. Okay, so that seems like a challenge.
But once I get to church and am sitting on the pew listening to the music being played by the organist, all the morning's issues melt away. I am glad I made it. I am grateful to feel the peace. Pin It

Music in our home

I love music. All kinds. I love singing, playing, and listening to music. All of our children love music. Elyse took piano and violin, Julia took viola and piano, and Ari took violin. Jayden has been wanting to learn to play some Star Wars songs. Mainly the Imperial March. I've taught him a few easy things like Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater. Well, Jeanette and I have decided to teach the kids to read using this method.
What I've done is make a key to go behind the keys starting with A as red and continuing on through all the colors of the rainbow except indigo, and ending with G as brown. I cut 3/4 in strips of cardstock and colored each one with matching colored squares to coordinate with the notes color. Then I wrote some songs in treble clef only and in C so flats and sharps won't have to be worried about.
This has been a fun thing for all the kids. Even Ari has played the piano more often. He had gotten to the point of saying that he hated playing music, and now I have to tell him to give someone else a turn. Pin It

The Kids' Clothes

With 7 kids and 4 little kids, getting everyone dressed, and getting laundry put away, can be quite the task.
The other day I saw something on TV that I've been doing for about 6 months and thought it was just some crazy thing I'd come up with. You know those drawer organizers that are so expensive, well I'd been using shoe boxes instead. They fit perfectly and came free with the school shoes I bought in the fall. I put them in Jayden's and Katia's drawers, as well as Emma's and Delta's. In the PJ drawer I put the PJ's just in the drawer, then I put the unders, socks, and swim suits in separate boxes.
The other thing that helps is putting outfits together on hangers so that you just grab a hanger and you are ready to get dressed. I use the hangers the clothes come on as well as mixing the pant hangers with regular hangers. I also put pants on the hangers they come with. I have Jayden's and Katia's clothes on a lower rod in the closet so they can reach to put away and get out.
This makes it easy to have the kids put their own laundry away and find their clothes when it's time to get dressed.
If you put your kids clothes in a drawer, I heard of one idea where you put the outfits together in a large ziploc baggie. Then the child will pull out one bag and have an outfit. Pin It

December Pictures

Here is a link to check out the Pictures from December.
http://s448.photobucket.com/albums/qq202/famr_4evr/?albumview=slideshow Pin It

New Years FHE

For FHE we decided to talk about resolutions.
We read the story in the Friend, Gerald's Secret New Year's Resolution. We talked about somethings we would like to work on and what we would set as goal as a family. For our activity we played Battleship.
Then we ate homemade donuts.

For the older kids I'm going to share this lesson I found. Pin It