Strep throat

Strep throat.UGH! 4 of the kids are sick. Kieanna was acting like she wasn't feeling well about a week ago. I ask her if she was sick. No, she insisted she was just sore from the adjustment on her braces. She was invited to a friends house and really wanted to go. I waited until the last minute and didn't let her go. She was upset. Well now that 4 kids are complaining with sore throats and coughing she comes clean and says yea my throat hurt last week too. I'm sure she got it from the basketball team. They share water bottles. Every time I see her drinking after someone , I cringe. I've nagged and nagged about sharing drinks, but they don't listen. I'm sure more will come down with it. Our appointment is at 11:20 today. I've already been to the psychologist office this morning. I really plan on taking the month of December off. I need to shop and just about every day someone has some kind of appointment. I do have some dentist appointments I can't cancel because rescheduling takes forever. But all the therapy, school, and psychologist appointments are getting rescheduled to the first of January. In November I had 25 appointments. Some were at the same place and I had several school conferences scheduled on the same day. But that's a lot of places to be. That's my normal, I'm not complaining, I just need a break. I'll spend that break shopping for the best deals, and trying to shop from their Christmas list. Every year I say I'm going to cut back for gifts. The kids are all spoiled and have come to expect a big Christmas. I'd like to concentrate on the real meaning of Christmas. I read one family buys 3 gifts for each child on the basis of that's what Jesus was given. I like that. All the adults drew names this year. There is just too many adults to buy everyone a gift, now that I have 6 almost 7 children over the age of 18 and some of the with spouses. Sometime I'm glad they are all getting older and I think about how nice it will be not to have to clean vomit, wipe bottoms, clean toilets, do 10 loads of laundry a day, attend conferences, cook mega meals, step over blocks, and dolls, strip wet beds, and 100 million other things moms do. Then I think about what all I'll be missing, like the wet kisses, the hugs, the snuggles after a bad dream, the art they make, that says I love you mom, the laughter and smiles from just being goofy, all the chattering when everyone talks at once when the bus runs, all the games and singing and dancing and all the times they make me laugh and I don't want an empty next any more, I want my kids to take their time growing up.

Thankful for Family

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. All but one child (adults included) was home. He came on Tuesday but I really missed him on Thursday at our Thanksgiving meal. This may be a new normal as kids grow up and move away. Oh well I'll be Thankful every time we are all together, holiday or not.

Many Birthday's

November is our big Birthday month. We have 6 birthdays this month, and one of them was mine. Funny I don't feel any older, but I do look older. (just a little) I prefer wiser not older. The sad part is by the time you figure out most of life's questions, it's time to leave this life. I'll post pictures soon of the kids birthdays. We are busy getting ready for Thanksgiving. Two 26 pound turkeys and a 16 pound country ham. Along with all the fixings of course. I do love to have my family home and cook for Thanksgiving. And then there's the shopping too. I hope to take Christmas photos on Thanksgiving but I guess that will depend on how smooth everything goes. I still have to get the tree up and unpack all the decorations. There is always something to do. But I love it!

Happy helper?

Not in my world. I get so aggravated with attitudes sometime. I don't think anyone in this household is concerned about anything but themselves. Nothing! They all take for granted the hot meals, clean laundry, warm house, and soft bed they have. While I agree that they all deserve to be a kid and not worry I also believe they should want to do the right thing. Everyone of my teenagers wants to play sports, hang out, and do all the fun stuff. However no one wants to turn their hand to anything extra. By extra I mean other than the bare minimal to get by. No one keeps their room clean. Clean, as in bed made, clothes put away, most everything organized. They will not clean their rooms until I'm mad and complaining. They will just sit in a room turned upside down. They will not do laundry until I say_____ go do laundry. They will complain if they can't find the clothes they want, then blame the lack of clean clothes on someone else. They will actually walk around something rather than picking it up and putting it in its place. I know this is an age old gripe. But we are talking about 16,17, and 18year old young men and women. What in the world are they going to do when they start to live on their own? I won't be there to say start laundry, pick up your dirty clothes, put the dishes in the dish washer, clean up the drink you just spilled. Will they actually live In filth? I guess they will. I know when my two oldest girls were living at home they argued all the time about keeping their room clean. One was a neat freak and the other just passable. But at least it was passable. These kids rooms you can't walk in if I go longer than a few days without saying something. This isn't my only gripe today. I guess I'm just in a bad mood. I'll be back to my regular happy self tomorrow. But today, I'm gonna gripe!

8th GRADE

My 14 year old daughter made the basketball team in middle school. Yea! right? She is very smart. Very Smart. Her grades are all A's with the exception of one B (89). I went in for her conference today. The teachers had nothing but praise for academics. She pays attention, turns in homework, reads, and does all her projects. BUT her behavior is lacking. Lacking respect, responsibility, truthfulness, and lacking the ability to pick friends who are true friends and not troublemakers. She is like this at home also. She does a good job on her chores. She will do anything I tell her to. She will not do it without complaining, whining, and trying to convince me there is a reason she should not do it. Keith and I plan on talking to her about all this. I have a feeling talking isn't going to do any good. DNA. She has siblings that are exactly like this. They have had to learn the hard way. I guess she will to. Consequences will have to be harsh. Not just a don't do that because that won't work. She is never wrong. She will never admit her mistakes. She will never take responsibility for what she does wrong. NEVER. Her life will not be very pleasant for the next year or so. Mine won't either.

The picture is of our house. Everyone that discovers I have 18 kids at home always ask how big my house is. My answer is not big enough! 10 bedrooms, and 5 bathrooms, still not big enough.

Homeschooling One

I'm homeschooling one child. Just one. My hat is off to all the moms who home school all their children. This one child does have a learning disability. Along with a low IQ. I still find it really tough to get her motivated. She had some problems in school with stealing and failed the state test they have to take every year. So I decided to try home school. First let me say her behavior has improved greatly! She and I are closer. There is not an issue of her trying to wear skanky clothes, or too much make up or jewelry. Her stealing behaviors are gone. (SO FAR) She is happier, she smiles more, she volunteers more around the house, she doesn't back talk or argue, and she is getting along somewhat better with her siblings. (still bossy) BUT I can not get her to want to do her school work. I had her tested for academic placement and she places about mid 3rd grade and early 4Th. I make out her lesson plan, and she is suppose to complete it. First we started off having it completed on a weekly basis. NOPE! that did not work. At the end of the first week she hardly had anything done. Then we tried it by subject. That week all she got done was her reading. She can't plan out and organize how much time to spend reading, and still get her questions answered. So now we have to go on a day by day basis. I have to give her a specific task for a specific day. If I leave her to do anything by herself she just dilly-dallies the day away. Most of her work has to be redone unless I'm right there with her. I know the school could not do this. So how did she stay in school. Maybe that's why she is suppose to be in 7Th grade and isn't. I haven't found what really works for her. She is a great helper in all I do. I try and use math and reading skills with her when I can, like measuring for lunch or dinner. Or baking a cake. There is always adding with fractions with cooking for all our family. She really wants to go back to school but I'm afraid. Will she go back to her old ways? I'm still thinking on it.

Halloween dress-up

These are pictures from Halloween. The picture of the Toy Story picture has the two year old in it. We were at the orthodontist and he was sick of waiting (so was I) and we walked the side walk in front of the office building. They had a fit over the poster. All the kids had fun and got tons of candy. In years past I have monitored how much they eat at one time. This year I slacked off and they ate all of their candy in 2 days! Good and bad. Good, as in I didn't have to deal with candy all week, and bad because one threw up from too much candy and the rest was on really wild sugar highs. Trick or treat is one of their favorite things because I don't buy candy. They get candy only as a treat. So it really was a treat.