Winning First Dibs on the Leftovers

Ah, the leftover meal. We pull everything out of the fridge, line it up on the counter, fix plates like short order cooks, and then pop them one-by-one into the microwave. There are two main issues that we face in this whole process. The first is that if you heat a plate in the microwave for 90 seconds, then by the time the 7th kid’s plate goes into the microwave, so much time has already passed that the first kid is already back in line waiting to have another plate of food warmed. This can make for an experience worse then cooking.

But that is not the real issue. The real issue is that the kids who are first through the line take all of the good stuff much to the dismay of the kids later in the line. So CrazyMom solved the problem tonight by having a drawing. Yes, the kids drew numbers from a hat to see the order in which they would go through the line.

And the winner was . . . Buddy. Here is Buddy with a plate full of the best of the leftovers.

An “Adequate” Education

“I believe that [Miss Bookworm’s] educational experience will be adequate to meet State Standards,” states the recent letter we received from the Executive Director of Business and School Improvement for our local school district. As a family that home schools some of our children, we are required to notify our local school district each year of our decision to home school and to provide a curriculum outline. Then we always get a response that the education we are providing our children at home is “adequate.” It makes me chuckle a little since I suspect that they think that no homeschooling family in our district can provide an education that is better than adequate. I am not complaining, however. I am pleased that we have the right to educate each of our children in the way that we think is best for them – including picking a writing teacher from Canada, having a heavy dose of two-column proofs in Geometry, and taking a literature-based approach in history. We love homeschooling - even if it is only seen as “adequate” by the state.

Lame Tooth Fairy

"Hey, Anna! Did the Tooth Fairy come last night?" Buddy just asked Anna at breakfast.

"No," replied Anna. "The Tooth Fairy sometimes takes two days to come."

Yes, Anna lost a tooth last night. Yes, she put it under her pillow for the Tooth Fairy. Yes, we forgot about it.

Maybe the Tooth Fairy will be able to remember tonight. But if the Tooth Fairy forgets again, at least Anna understands how things work in large families.

Yes, We’ve Got Problems

When I sat down in church today, a 5-year-old girl I knew was sitting in the pew in front of me.

“Hi! How are you?” I asked.

“I fell on my scooter yesterday and I got these,” she replied pointing to her legs that were stretched out in front of her on the pew. Visible through her white tights were two band aids on her left knee and one on her right.

“Band aids! Oh, my! Were you bleeding?”

“Yes, and I also got this,” she said as she held out her arm to show another scratch on her wrist like it was a trophy.

“That looks pretty bad. Was your mom watching you when you were scootering?” I asked. Of course, I already knew the answer. I know how large families work and she was the youngest of four kids.

“No, she wasn’t there!”

“How about your dad? Was he watching you while you were scootering?” I was focusing hard to keep a straight face.

“No, he wasn’t there either.”

“So neither of your parents was there?”

“No, and I had to go inside to get them and it hurt because I had to bend my knees.”

“Well, let me tell you something. We had a scootering accident at our house yesterday and there were not any parents outside either,” I confided.

“Really!” she said in a totally shocked voice. “You guys have the same problems we do?”

I nearly lost it. “Yes, we have the same problems you do.”

Little Foot Turns Nine

Turning nine is a big deal in our house. Since we have so many kids, we usually don't invite friends over for birthday parties. After all, every day is a party in our crazy home. But the planets happened to align the year Miss Bookworm turned nine and we had a friend party for her. Since then it has become a tradition that every child who turns nine gets a friend birthday party. We had a total of 17 nine year old boys at our house recently to celebrate and it was a fun (and energetic) time.

CrazyMom had the opportunity to make an ice cream cake for Little Foot for a celebration with grandparents, cupcakes for a classroom celebration, and then the cake for the official birthday party. It certainly takes a lot of cooking for all of that celebrating.

My Missing Jeans

“Um, Hon . . .” I said sheepishly. “Can you help me find my jeans?”

The whole family was supposed to be headed out the door in about 10 minutes and here I was begging CrazyMom to help my find my pants. It is always rather humiliating for me to have to go to CrazyMom with such requests – the type of requests that our kids make of her all day long.

She started up the steps quizzing me along the way.

“Did you look in your dresser?”

“Yes,” I replied. (I mean, come on hon. How bad am I?)

“Did you look in the pile of clean clothes by your dresser?”

“Yes,” I said, wincing because I knew that the clothes had been there a week and I had not put them away yet.

“How about the laundry?”

“Yes, I checked the laundry.”

Upon entering our room, CrazyMom went straight to my unpacked suitcase from a trip two weeks ago, reached into the bottom of it and pulled out my missing jeans. She held them out to me with an I-am-so-good-and-you-know-I-am-so-good-so-I-don’t-have-to-let-the-kids-know-about-this-like-you-would-have-to look.

“Thanks,” I said truly appreciative and in awe of how CrazyMom always knows where everything is. But I also wondered if she knew the whole time where my pants were but just wanted to be there for this moment.

You know, I guess part of me is looking forward to selling most of what we have as we go off to Africa. Maybe with so much less stuff even I will be able to find things like CrazyMom.

Back to School!

Soccer is Back!

Today was the opening day for the new soccer season with two teams playing five games. What a great day for soccer!

The Smokies

Last week Grandma and Grandpa hosted us in the Smokies.  It was wonderful.  Lots of hiking, playing in mountain streams, and seeing bears.  I highly recommend that all of you start planing a vacation trip to the Smokies.





If the above slide show does not work, try this link.

Hey, Blog Readers!

If you have read our big news, then you know we are looking to move to Africa, Lord willing, next summer.  CrazyMom and I are putting together an email list where we will occasionally send out updates about this move in our lives.  We will certainly still be sharing about some things here on the blog, but the updates will provide another avenue of a slightly different nature to find out what is going on.  If you would like to receive updates from us, then simply send us an email at welovebigfamilies [at] gmail [dot] com and we will add you to our list.  Also, it would be great if you shared a little bit about yourself with us so we can get to know you more.

We look forward to having many of you along for the ride as we look ahead to Africa!