Operation Groceries

I know many of you will be able to relate to me when I say that I HATE grocery shopping. Yes 'hate' is a very strong word but I use it because I actually HATE grocery shopping. If I could avoid it then I would. Which is why I was more than willing to hand over that task to my husband the moment he started studying because he had the time and actually liked the task. Once upon a time, pre-children I used to enjoy it.  When I had the luxury of time to meander down the aisle, carefully selecting the best looking fruit and vegetable, reading the backs of packets and ferreting out products that I thought would be nice to try.  Back then we had the time and the money to do so.

Not so much now.  Fifteen years, seven children and half the income later trips to the grocery shop has the precision of a well executed military maneuver.  Operation Groceries!!  Hence why I hate it. Like I said earlier its something I willingly let my husband do, but for the last couple of weeks he has been unable to go for us for one reason or another so its been up to me.

The thing with home-schooling is that well the kids are always with me, (I do like that) but at the supermarket well it has the potential to become a disaster story, very fast, with no warning.  However the kids are ALWAYS excited to go shopping. Not only do I have at least have the majority of the kids with me but our shopping lists are organised detailed lists with opt-off options. Opt-off options are things that we can do without if it looks as though the trolley is getting a little too on the expensive side.

Like many of you I have horror stories of shopping with young kids.  Like the time two of my kids bit chunks out of a number of deli cheeses!. Or the time one threw a tantrum and lay on the floor in the middle of the aisle or the time my milk bottle leaked all through the shop and I left a trail leading right to the the checkout or  the time I left Jesse in the pram in the meat department while I carried on shopping with the trolley through a couple of aisle before I realised I was missing the baby or the time my card declined at the check out or the time with I inadvertently bought a number of pottles of liquid chicken stock and mickey mouse plasters after my kids had a competition with each other to see if they could sneak things into the trolley without me noticing.  What was I to do with multiple pottles of chicken stock?  And why chicken stock? They could of made it decent like bars of chocolate! But lately do I dare say that shopping has been almost almost pleasant????? I know! I don't know if I should be saying that out loud.

However almost pleasant shopping was last week, it was not without a horror story of its own.  One that left me racing through the rest of my shopping at an almost illegal pace just to get away from a fellow shopper.  Jesse had decided to be particularly cute and be super excited and point out all the different things he could see. He is nearly three you see and that's what three years do!  Look mama a tractor! Look mama a red car!  You know what I mean.  After turning into the cereal aisle we passed by a lady that was um of larger proportions than your normal everyday lady and she was wearing a very short skirt. Jesse proceeded to bring to my attention "Look Mama - giants legs!"  *gasp in horror* Needless to say I hurried out of the aisle and through the rest of the shopping. I didn't wait to see if she had heard or not, I was too embarrassed.  Perhaps I should of apologised. What could I say though....he is only nearly three!  *sigh! See even the seemingly pleasant shop can be a little traumatic.

Fortunately that was the only incident and I didn't have to use the opt-off options this time. So it was lollipops all round! Yes. Yes I bribe them with lollipops! (last week it was donuts).  And I bribed myself with a sneaky chocolate bar (last week it was a chocolate french pastry- shhhhhh)  I actually did sneak it on to the conveyor belt when they weren't look and ate it while was packing the groceries into the car. You have to do these things when you have young kids that sniff out any amount of seemingly unfairness and chocolate!

Pretty safe to say that Operation Groceries was a mission accomplished with only minimal casualties of war!

                                       

 

But I did have the greatest checkout helpers around. I didn't have to lift a finger!

Do you enjoy or hate grocery shopping?  Do you have to watch your weekly spend and have opt-off options?Do you have horror stories of shopping with kiddies? Have you ever left a child somewhere? Care to share? 

Weekly photo drop.

 

1. The girls have been busy drawing "Family Wood" - people drawn on blocks of wood!  In hopes to sell them at the gate.

2.This is the kind of things that I find in the washing hamper. Cups!

3. Life learning.  Five kittens born in the lounge.

4. Water play and "pooh sticks" at the park

5. Water play at the park. Someone thinks she can climb before she can walk.

6.Brother and sister love.  Decidedly cute photo opportunity involving cats.

38 weeks and....nesting!

I am not really in the mood for blogging tonight.  In all honesty all I want to do is blob on the couch, eat chocolate, have a massage, drink a choc/flake crushers milkshake from KFC and not have my feet swell so much they itch!  I have never actually had one of those milkshakes from KFC but I am pretty sure I would love it because they look sooooooo good.  I have even tried to talk my husband in to going into town to get one for me. But I can't sell an $8 dollar trip (petrol) for a $2 milkshake!  Darn it!!  And yes I do know that that milkshake is highly unhealthy but hey........my feet itch here!!

Over the past few days "I" have been nesting. I say 'I' like that because in reality I have had the list and my family is nesting for me.  Its called the 'delegation en mass', a bonus of having a large family!  I have the list and they have the muscle power and youthful energy.
(Oh I probably should mention that they were bribed with pizza and the Xbox)

The bathroom and the kitchen were on the days agenda because you know that one simply cannot give birth with an untidy bathroom cupboard, fly poo around the windows or messy plate cupboard!

The steam cleaner comes in super handy in times like these. 

The problem is is that EVERYONE wants to have a go! 

Just in case you were thinking that I didn't pull my weight, I did.  All that day I kept the normal household duties ticking along with things like baking morning tea, washing and folding it etc.

However I did also step up the next day and manage to sort out my entire room of donated goods for 'Loving Arms'. It took me all day and I could barely walk afterwards and my feet were incredibly itchy but I finished and I now have my room back. Oh my husband is extra pleased about that too. We no longer have to share our space with, step around and over baby baths, boxes of nappies, car seats and containers of clothes.  I can now open my side of the wardrobe without having to haul things out of the way.

Check out the progress!!

So here I am after my huge day yesterday you can understand why I am too tired to be doing anything extra. You wouldn't think that I had an hour and half sleep today.

So there you have it, short and sweet tonight.  We have one more week of the school holidays and I am really hoping the weather will improve, I want to get out and do something!!!

  How has the weather been at your house?

Talk soon xxx

Spring is Coming!!

"Your promises have been thoroughly tested; that is why I love them so much." - Psalm 199:140

Over time I have made no secret that we have been going through a "winter" season and not just in the literal sense but in a metaphorical sense as well.  This winter has been nearly three years now and our spring "feels" like it maybe just around the corner. We are hoping and praying. Praise God!  Like the time as winter fades and slowing becomes spring where we see less frosty days, more glimpses of colour in places where there was barrenness and dead-ness and we see and feel more of the sun and its warming rays. So is it for us. Gradually we are seeing less and less of the hard, dark and gloomy days where everything seems to be just plain sucky, more glimpses of days where there is a little more colour in our moments and more experiences of lighter times, brighter days and days where we can bask in the warmth of the sun.

Please understand that our winter hasn't been all bad or doom and gloom and while we have had some pretty low days and weeks, it has been an amazing time of cutting back, pruning, reassessing, and walking out our faith one small step at a time.  We have seen God move for us in the last three years than we have ever seen him move in our entire lives. Yes people we are a living testimony that Gods promises are true and his miracles are well and truly alive today as they were over 2000 years ago!

Yes things may have not gone to plan like we thought best but Gods plan for us as individuals, as a couple and as a family has been far better than we could of imagined for ourselves.  Our steps of faith have literally been one day at a time, one meal at a time and one bill at a time.  We have grown in character and in faith over these years.  I can say that while times and days have been hard, damn hard. I will be forever thankful that we had these years.

But in all that......there is a time for everything, a season for everything and I am up for a change now and "feel" that our spring is around the corner. I am believing for it now. And while I am thankful for our winter, and know that our winter has been important,,,,I am tired of winter. Its time for spring! Time for the sun, time for the flowers and the new life that spring brings.  (hey maybe that's why this baby will be a spring baby).  Unfortunately we all need winter times to bring us back to Him, back to our Creator, back to needing him and recognising that we are nothing without Him and without Him everything is pointless.  Without winter we simply cannot have regrowth and new life, redirection or refreshment.

Without winter one cannot simply bloom!

On a lighter note.....thanks to a beautiful friend and her gift to us, we now have a new "member" to our family, Meet....Clara.

She has made herself at home, like a favourite great aunt who comes to stay and sneaks peppermints to the kiddies when the parents aren't looking.  Oh how I love Clara. She is grandly beautiful!!

Only five to seven more weeks to go until we meet our wee blessing!! I have never been one for due dates so somewhere towards the end of Oct-ish, whenever this one decides to make its way into the world.  Exciting times!  Yes I know I need an updated pregnant belly photo...I'll work on it, promise!

One of my favourite things.
For me it epitomizes the new-ness and sacred-ness of a new blessing into the world. 

What season are you in?

Snow Time

I know I know! I know that at the beginning of the year I set myself a goal to write at least one blog every week.  To date I have kept up with meeting that goal but tonight you will have to forgive me as I make this one nearly all photos. (its not really cheating)  I am just far too tired, fighting off a nasty cough and have not long got home from a lovely weekend away.

We were blessed to be able to take the kids away for the weekend and also make a trip to the snow. First time ever for all of the kids!  It was a real treat too!

The following is some photos of our time at the snow!

Checking out the amazing view from a pit stop on the way up the mountain!

I have to say Jesse wasn't entirely impressed with his snow outing.

Perhaps it was because his mother forgot his bag with his gloves in it and he was forced to wear his cousins pink socks as gloves!

One of my little snow bunnies!

Not impressed at all!!

Unfortunately (or fortunately) this was as far as we got up the mountain as the road was closed to normal vehicles and only with chains or 4wds were allowed up!

The main goal for the day was snowman making!

Wee snowmen were popping up everywhere!!

Of course the boys main aim was to throw snowballs at each other but mainly at Dad!

Something is missing......not sure what though!

Oh there we go, it had to have sunglasses and pink ones at that!!

 Jaydens master piece!!

After our trip to the snow we had a lovely soak in the hot pools too! Bliss!

It was a great weekend and like all weekends away, it wasn't long enough!

What did you do this weekend??

Last Night Together

You will have to excuse me if I miss any spacebar mistakes that I may miss when re-reading this blog as my 20mth old has pried off the space bar and hid it. We since have found it but its not working like it should - you now have to make an conscious effort to use strength in your thumb for it to work.  He has been doing things like that lately- scally wag!   Today I found the remote to the DVD machine floating upside down in the bath. Fortunately that still works or it was going to be bye-bye DVD machine because you need the remote to work it.  Yesterday it was another remote that had to rescued from the clutches of Jesse who was heading out to the sandpit.  I wonder what I will find where tomorrow?

So tonight it most likely the last night my wee man Jesse and I will have together.  I am sad, so sad. But also maybe a little teeny weeny tiny bit excited. Maybe about 0.5%.  Tomorrow he will be vacating our bedroom.(insert sad face here) Currently we have a giant bed between the three of us, being Jamie, Me and Jesse, a single bed pushed up against the wall and our queen bed jammed up against that.  I can roll and moved between my bed and Jesse's bed with somewhat ease and makes for midnight "uggles" (Jesse's word for cuddle) and hand-holding especially easy.  I will miss that.

But as much as I will miss it, he needs to move in plenty of time for him to get used to being in the same room with big boys and not right next to me before this next wee bubba comes along. I can't work out how I was going to bed-share with one husband, one toddler and a newborn. So with ten, eleven or twelve weeks to go before that happens now is the time. sigh! OH how I hate this!

30 week pregnant silhouette!

Fortunately I have a super duper husband that is prepared to spend the next week sleeping in a bed next to Jesse's in the room with two of the big boys. He is good like that.  And me I will get to have the entire bed to myself, be able to turn on the light at night, maybe even READ before I go to sleep AND be able to slip out of the side of the bed at night (as most pregnant ladies do multiple times a night) and not have to crawl down to the end of the bed to get out.  Now that I am looking forward to.

I ao enjoy sleeping with my children, especially my babies close to me, literally within arms reach. I enjoy listening to their breathing and their gorgeous sleeping sounds.  I love that when they are wee I don't have to get out of bed and up to feed them, we can just cuddle and fall back to sleep together.  I love that their sweet chubby fingers curl around mine or rest against my cheek and their tiny body molds itself into mine. It is so beautiful, so peaceful.  I will miss him, like I have missed all my others.

I know that this isn't everybody's cup of tea or idea of how babies and children should sleep or be put to bed and that's OK. But this works for us and our family and we will never change it.  You best be praying for me (and for Jesse) that this is a smooth transition.

Sleeping so peacefully! 

To Death with Superwomen!!

I cried today. Sat on the floor and cried. Not because I was sad or happy which is quite the norm for me but because my house was messy.  And I mean REALLY messy and I just didn't have it in me to tidy it.  So I cried.  I am such a baby.  I know that sitting on the bedroom floor isn't going to get my house tidy but it felt like the only thing that could be done as I surveyed the Sunday damage.  I call it Sunday damage because it is at its worst on a Sunday. Hey you try and get 8 people of various ages, with conflicting clothing preferences and hair style issues out the door to be on time or even early to church. Todays damage is made worse by a busy week and the kids having friends over which inevitably creates a hiccup in the household routine. (Definitely not saying that they were particularly messing or anything). My missing beater was found half licked in the flannel drawer, my washing of three days ago is still unfolded on the window seat and I let my one year old fall asleep in front of the Wiggles in his high chair.  Today has been one of those days!

People often comment to me (once they find out how many children I have) that I must be superwomen.  I should invite them to come and look around my house. I am not superwomen.  Actually I don't really like the term. Whether they intend it or not, it comes across that they think I am actually better than they are.  So not true!  Definitely not true!  I live my life and they live theirs and we each deal with whatever our lives consist of. 1...2....3 or even 13 children.  We are all coping, dealing with and living our lives to the best of our ability on any given day! When we label someone with a Superwoman status or put them on a pedestal we are actually being unfair on them by not really allowing them to be 'human' and have bad days AND at the same time we are lowering ourselves and what we are dealing with and accomplishing to the level of nothing special, nothing amazing. We are all amazing! We all ROCK!!

Yes I have six children (soon to be seven)  I love each of them dearly just like a lady with 2 children.  My bad days are just as bad as yours as are my good days. There have been days where I could of called them 'Days from you know where!'  I think back to them now and I can most laugh as I reminisce.  Like the day when I only had 3 children, my then 4, and 2 year old climbed and got a can of bright blue paint out of the shed, used a screwdriver to pry the lid open, found a pair of paint brushes and proceeded to paint the back of the garage 'bathroom bright blue'!  The garage that belonged to the landlord!  Superwomen was nowhere in sight!

Or the day when I was sitting in the doctors office with my 4 year old who was having an asthma attack, my two year old was terrorizing the room and touching everything in sight probably making sterile things unsterile with dribble and my 5 month olds bottom exploded and poo oozed out of his nappy, all up his back and down his leg and through out his car seat and was screaming because he didn't like it.  I am pretty sure the nursing staff was about to order me straitjacket! Either that or order me a whiskey. Superwomen - nonexistent!

Or the time when I was bravely stupidly grocery shopping with my 4 and 2 year old and I had a 4 month old strapped to my chest (fortunately the 6 year old was in school then) and the 4 and 2 year old were running riot as they tend to do.  They ran ahead of me and the 4 year proceeded to bite chunks out of deli cheeses.  I had a number of cheese in my shopping that day, expensive cheeses at that!  Superwomen - who is she?

Those are just three times in a whole raft of occasions where superwomen was nowhere to be found and she isn't around today either.   In fact I don't know her very well at all.  We women can be our own worst enemies and we can be good at tearing each other down too.  I remember just after I had my first baby I was just getting into the swing of motherhood (actually I still am) and I used to have a competition with the mother across the fence from me to see who could get their washing out first in the morning.  Of course she didn't know she was having a competition with me, but she always won! Grrrr.  Every morning I would feel like a terrible mother who was doing a terrible job. I am not sure anyone ever set that the benchmark for mothering, that was to see who could get their washing on the line first in the neighborhood.  It wasn't until much later that I discovered her hanging her washing out the night before!  Hmmmm CHEAT!

So if I or anyone else looks like they have it altogether. Stop and think its probably because of one of these things....
1) Been there done that!  A tantrum in the supermarket isn't that scary and terrible when you have had to deal with 67 supermarket tantrums before.

2) I am faking it til I make it! I am probably silently swearing inside my head or thinking of how I can get my kids back when we get home all the while smiling an angelic smile. I also probably have an already opened packet of TimTams biscuits that one of the kids have opened on the way around the supermarket and I have bribed them all into being good with a lollipop at the checkout.

3) I have older kids too!  Yes they maybe large in number but at least half of them can take themselves off to the toilet, know the meaning of the word 'no' (well sort of), can hold a crying baby and know where to look for the cans of crushed tomatoes if need be!

4) And I probably left my house in such a state that even CSI would have trouble making heads or tails of it.

But in saying all that....there are times where I do feel somewhat superwomen-ish!  Like when I have totally owned the huge washing pile that has been sitting there all week!  Boom - I have my cape on!  Or the time when I had succeeded in cleaning up the kitchen floor after my son vomited all over it and my waters broke on top of the vomit with my husband not home yet!  Boom - I am working that leotard!

Truth is we all have terrible times as parents, times where we can't see the wood through the trees and we think we are the only ones dealing (and reacting) to such things.  But we all have our superwomen moments where we winning at this mothering thing.  A round of applause and a big hand for all of us!

10 Things I have Learnt as a Parent

As a Mama to 6, soon to be 7 beautiful blessings there are somethings well actually a lot of things I have learnt over the past 13 years.  Wow 13 years!  Yes my eldest turned 13 just a few weeks back.

My handsome 13 year old!!

A bitter sweet moment, as we all love to watch our children grow but it definitely makes me sad because time does go so fast.  Too fast.  I know 13 years it not really that long and that their are a huge number of mothers out there who have been mothering a lot longer than I.  Not only that, there are probably a huge number of mothers that are far more evolved in their mothering journey than I too.  BUT  there are lessons that I have learnt over my 13 years that I thought I would share with you, my readers.  Shall I share....

1.   Parent as it feels right to you.  DO NOT parent for anyone else.  For far too long I parented my first one, two, three children for other people.  Probably because I didn't have a lot of confidence in myself and I was too busy trying to raise perfect children to please others and to make myself look good.  Over time I have learnt to trust in myself, trust in my children and go by what my Mama heart feels is right for my children.  I wouldn't go as far to say that there isn't a wrong way to parent because I do believe there is a wrong way.  But if you honestly have your children's best interests at heart then you are doing great!  By all means read the books, listen to the 'experts' and talk to Grandma but YOU make the decisions that are best for YOUR children.  YOU know them best!

2.   Your children will help you rediscover your sense of wonder!  I love watching small children as they discover the world around them. From the leaky hose to the garden full of earthworms, everything is exciting and amazing to them.  If you let them they will teach you how to be amazed by and appreciate the very small to the gigantic world around us.  This of course may mean you get dirtier and wetter and totally out of your comfort zone than ever before but that can only be good for us can't it!?

3.  You will be embarrassed by your children - many many times!  Actually I think they are created with the ability to force us to leave our dignity behind. From poo-ing through their nappy AND their clothes AND our clothes in front of the corporate-friend-with-no-kids-who-thinks-they-have-all-the-answers-that-you-haven't-seen-for-ages to biting giant chunks out of a number of deli cheeses forcing you to buy said deli cheeses and vomiting on the carpet and all over you at the doctors surgery to THEY WILL EMBARRASS YOU!  Get use to it.......and you will!

4.   Children are people too.  Yes I think we all know that but do we act like it - I don't know.  It really should go without saying really but you will be amazed at how many people don't realize that they aren't extending the same respect to their children as they do to every other adults in the their life.  Really in a nutshell we shouldn't really be speaking to and doing to our children that we wouldn't be saying or doing to any other adult. Sadly for some reason that is a really touchy subject for a lot of people to get their head. around and even sadder some people will severely disagree with me.

5.  You will find yourself saying the most ridiculous things ever!! Things like"Please get your feet off the cheese" (actually it was damn cheese if I am honest).  "Please don't chase your brother with that plank of wood."  "Turn the drop saw off, now!!"  "Please stop making snowmen out of your mashed potato." "No you cannot buy eggs and sell them out the gate" "You don't need to stab your sister with a pencil" "Get the drawer out of the bath - it is not a boat"  and "Stop drinking the tomato sauce!"  I could go on and on and on.  I have plenty of them.  I use to think my children were exceptionally unusual but since realised ALL children are the same.

6.   Children's sense of imagination is NEVER-ENDING and will continue to amaze you (and entertain you) but only if you let it.  I love hearing my children play games, build stuff, create worlds, and invent characters but with all this imagining going it may mean one thing for you. You are going to have to listen to them even when you can't be bothered.  You just might have to stop and listen patiently while they explain the ins and outs of their latest lego creation.  Or it may mean you might have to incorporate a pumpkin person into their daily lives.  Or sometimes it may mean that you just have to laugh and move on.  Tonight Sophie told me that she just couldn't eat her "Mr Meat Pattie" friend that she had created on her dinner plate buy squirting on a smiley face onto her meat pattie.  A very clever way of getting out of eating her dinner I thought.

These imaginary friends lasted a good few days before they went back to being....well play doh and pumpkins!

7.  You will be cleaning up messes in places that you never thought could possible .  From smeared poo to vomit, squished play-doh to hair died in tomato sauce. I have had snot-covered sultanas and sparkly pink beads up noses and chewing gum in hair.  Paint and mud covered bodies and sand down pants.  You name it I have cleaned it. But no matter how many messes you clean up there is always another one not too far away.

8.  As mothers (and as fathers) we are all on the same team - well we should be anyway.  We have all embarked on the worlds toughest mission - parenthood.  There should be no labels, no us versus them but TEAM US!!!  Unfortunately right from the get go we are divided and boxed up into our (often self) given labels.  Normal birth vs C-section birth, Hospital birth vs Home birth, Vaccinators vs Non-vaccinators, Breast feeders vs Bottle feeders, Cot-sleepers vs Co-sleepers, Home schoolers vs Mainstream school, again I could go on and on. Coffee groups and friendships have ended over these labels. None of that matters! Well it shouldn't.  I know we believe that what we do is the right way to do it and that is why we do it but don't be so arrogant it's definitely not the only way of doing it.  We all make the decisions based on what we think is right (hopefully)  and that is our right as parents.   I really do go out of my way to encourage ALL mothers (and fathers) on this amazing journey of parent-hood no matter what 'box' they may fit into.  A little bit of positive encouragement can go along way and we all need that from time to time.

9.  You are never alone. NEVER!  Unless of course your children are out for the day.  Don't try and sneak a chocolate biscuit when you think they are outside because they will walk in and catch you.  Making a phone call while the kids are around - near impossible!  I have found myself hiding in my bathroom with my foot jammed up against it so whoever is banging on the door can't get it, all while talking on the phone.  Going to the toilet alone is no longer a right, its a reward!  Little fingers under the door, small eyes as an audience, important questions like "Can I have a biscuit?" or "Can I paint my face?" being fired at you through the door.  I'll even admit I have had sad little people sit on my knee while......ok ok too much information!!  You will learn the art of having a conversation over and above WWIII, a game of chase, a nerf gun war zone and pre-dinner madness.

10.   You will never laugh as hard, cry as much, be as angry, worry as much, lose as much sleep, be as tired. You will never be as proud, as happy, or as fearful. You will never hurt as much, sacrifice as much, and LOVE as much as you do now.  You will know the true meaning of unconditional love like never have before. There is nothing that these little blessings will and can do, that would change how much you love them. You will experience such joy and passion just from the smallest things but they will be the biggest things in the world to you. From little arm squeezes around your neck to sweet butterfly kisses on your cheek. From the playful arm punch to the endearing message from your now teenage son. These are the things that matter, that keep us going in all those tough times.  Those are things are fuel for our hearts.

What things have you learnt along your journey?