What Do You Do??

In my spare time, I like to read and blog. A year ago, I would have said that I love to scrapbook, but I've become torn. I discovered digital scrapbooking (was dragged into it kicking and screaming) and now I'm torn. Do I waste even more time on the computer, making digital scrapbooks that I could reprint at the click of a button should our house burn down? (My biggest fear is losing my scrapbooks in a fire. Could care less about any other material possessions. Just don't leave my scrapbooks in the house!!) Or do I keep making paper scrapbooks, because they're more fun to make?? Hmmmm.

Anyway, enough about me. I want to know about you! Do tell: What are your favorite hobbies?

Sibling Rivalry

I was at a Mom's Night Out a couple weeks ago with some moms from our homeschool association. They got to talking about sibling rivalry and what a big problem it was. I was sitting quietly, listening. My good friend, Lis, pipes up and says: Ginger, do your kids ever fight?
Ha! I thought that was funny, but the truth is I really don't have the problems the other moms were complaining about. And the answer is simple. We have a bunch of kids. Adjusting to 7 children from 3 was really hard, I won't lie to you. But some changes were a real blessed surprise. Two things I noticed after several months of being a "big family":

1) My kids absolutely never complain of boredom.
2) Sibling rivalry decreased significantly from when we only had 3 kids.

Not that we never have issues, mind you. I give gentle reminders throughout the day: "Was that a kind thing to say?", "Are you being a blessing?" and "You need to make it right with your brother/sister." But because there are a lot more playmates available, there is less to fight about and more cooperation on a regular basis.

My advice if you have sibling rivalry problems is: Have more kids!

My Firstborn

My good friend, Vicki, recently blogged the birth story of her only girl. It was so sweet and so funny, it got me all sentimental and thinking about my own births. So, please humor this sappy mom as I regale you with a tale from the apparently distant past. (boo hoo!!)

Three days after Christmas, I woke up with light contractions. I hoped, but didn't allow myself to think much of it. I called my friends and we headed to the mall to make returns. I had contractions off and on the whole time we were there. We stopped at ChickFilA for lunch and I remember eating whatever french fries anyone left on their plate.
Still not confident this was actually labor, I took a nap when I got home. Contractions stopped soon after I laid down. When Kyle got home from work, I told him I wanted to go out. We went back to the mall to walk around; I wanted to pass the time. We didn't walk far before I was tired of that and wanted to sit down somewhere and stuff my face. So, we went to one of the cheapest pizza buffets in town. You know the place. I remembered hearing that spicy food induced labor, so I ate plenty of my favorite- Pepperoni Jalapeno. Dumb move. It didn't taste anywhere near as good when it came back up later.

Fast forward a few hours, my parents are in our living room while I labor on all fours. It was a fairly easy labor, very textbook. But sometime early in the morning, things got intense and as I lay on the couch with Kyle inches from my face, I said with bug eyes: I feel like I'm coming out of my skin!! As soon as I said that, I knew I was in transition and a big hopeful smile came over my face.

An hour or two later, I was in bed ready to push. My water was still intact at this point. That's the way to go, I tell you, that extra cushion really makes laboring so much easier. Well, one big push later and I splashed water all over the midwives. 40 minutes after the big splash, Elena torpeedoed out of me. We had talked about Kyle catching her, but there was no time. The reality was- nobody "caught" her, she just slid out onto the bed, apparently in a big hurry to eat after all those hours.

What a peaceful experience her birth was! Today my Elena Glory is 9 years old. Happy Birthday, Elena!!

Frugality = Creativity

So, Kyle's parents' anniversary is coming up next week. Kyle wanted to give them a professional photo of their family. He thought it would be neat to do a photo of them in the center, surrounded by all their grandkids. That idea was nixed in favor of a big group photo of their kids and all the grandkids. Oh my!

So, then a few days before this photo shoot is to take place, my dear sister-in-law called to say that we all needed to wear jeans and a white shirt. Grrrr. Only three of us look good in white. (Can you guess which three??) And, as it turns out, Kyle is the only one that even has a white shirt. I was not thrilled about going out and buying a bunch of white shirts that several of us would likely never wear again. I had just read the chapter of Financial Peace that talks about bargains and negotiation. I decided to get creative.


I called my stepmom to ask if she had a white shirt I could borrow for Maya. She did and also had one with sleeves long enough for me. Then I called a friend/neighbor, who had 2 more shirts; and another friend/neighbor who had 2 more shirts. The next day, my mom gave me a bag of hand-me-downs someone had given her for us. Among the clothes was a white shirt! That makes 8! God is so good! (I should mention that Pedro was unavailable for the photo shoot.)

Never Forget

Merry Christmas. . .

. . .from the Clarks!

May your time together be blessed as you celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

It Bears Repeating

Christmas: Excitement or Dread?

Quizzes by Quibblo.com

Time-Outs

Special-Needs Children Forced Into Cells aka "Time-Out" Rooms

The room where Jonathan King hanged himself is shown after his death.

MURRAYVILLE, Georgia (CNN) -- A few weeks before 13-year-old Jonathan King killed himself, he told his parents that his teachers had put him in "time-out." "We thought that meant go sit in the corner and be quiet for a few minutes," Tina King said, tears washing her face.

But time-out in the boy's north Georgia special education school was spent in something akin to a prison cell -- a concrete room latched from the outside, its tiny window obscured by a piece of paper.
Called a seclusion room, it's where in November 2004, Jonathan hanged himself with a cord a teacher gave him to hold up his pants. Watch Jonathan's parents on their son's death »

An attorney representing the school has denied any wrongdoing.

Seclusion rooms, sometimes called time-out rooms, are used across the nation, generally for special needs children. Critics say that along with the death of Jonathan, many mentally disabled and austistic children have been injured or traumatized.

More here.

If you have children with special needs, don't be duped into believing the public school system can do a better job with them than you can.

A Cake for Hitler

Grocery Store Refuses to Make a Birthday Cake for 3 Year Old Hitler (link to article)

Anybody see anything strange about a couple naming their son Adolf Hitler and then saying: It's not like he's going to grow up to do what Hitler did?
If they dont' want him to be like Hitler, why name him after the famous murderer?

He's Legal!

Last night, Pedro came over for his birthday dinner, Zuppa Osso Buco, his favorite. He has just turned 21! (Since he's dieting, we gave him his other favorite- the much-requested oatmeal raisin cookie, in place of the carrot cake he loves.)

It was so great to have all my kids together. It's been two months since Pedro moved out and he'll be out of town for Christmas, so this will be our first Christmas without him. Boo hoo!

Strike a Pose

I wanted to do a post about my love of thrift stores and post some pictures of some great finds, but that would honestly be too many photos. So, I'll just show off one of Elena's favorites. See those fancy shmancy jeans? They looked brand new and they were an 8 slim. Whenever I find anything in slim, it doesn't matter what size it is, I buy it. Slim jeans are so hard to come by, I figure if we don't get to them, someone will.
Here, she's modeling her favorite jeans with her favorite shoes- her prized "cowgirl" boots.
Anyway, back to the topic at hand: I've been shopping at thrift stores since way back when we were a double income family and had no kids. I just love it. I feel like I've just won something. Somebody bought this nice Abercrombie & Fitch shirt, but decided it wasn't the right color and gave it away instead of returning it to the store. I'm happy to benefit from their laziness. Or somebody got these great jeans as a gift, but they're the wrong size and unreturnable. Drat, that Grandma Sue! But I'll take them and thanks! I've gotten so many awesome deals, I've lost count. All I know is, I've saved a FORTUNE. Clothes just feel better when they were a bargain.

Latest Reads

As you know, I'm a book addict. I've been reading Mansfield Park for quite awhile. I'm new to Jane Austen and I absolutely love her satirical style. About halfway through the book, however, I got several non-fiction books from InterLibrary Loan.
So, I'm working my way through Better Late Than Early, Adrenal Fatigue, and Financial Peace.

What are you currently reading?

Everything I Needed to Know about Dating I learned from a 3rd Grader

9-year Old Author Reveals Secrets of Picking Up Girls (Link to video)

Forget the psychologists and relationship experts, guys. If you really want to know how to meet girls, snuggle up to a clever little book written by 9-year-old love guru Alec Greven.

A year ago, Greven was just another third-grader with a writing assignment at Soaring Hawk Elementary School in Castle Rock, Colo.

“We got to write whatever we want, and I chose to write about girls,” Alec told TODAY’s Meredith Vieira Thursday in New York.

Here's an excerpt from his book, "How to Talk to Girls":

If you are in elementary school, try to get a girl to like you, not to love you. Wait until middle school to try to get her to love you. Otherwise, you have to hold on to her for a long time and that would be very hard.

Tip: Most boys in elementary school can hold on to a girl for only 30 days.

Don't you wish your kid was in public school gaining valuable knowledge like this?

Is It Wrong to Gamble?

Well I do! (Judge me if you must.) Every time a baby is about to be born, our family has a gambling tradition. My quiverful sister is 36 weeks pregnant with #4 and is taking bets on the baby's gender, birthday, and weight. Head on over and take a gamble. She's giving away a prize!!

Really Big Hair

After having her hair in a half ponytail all day, Chloe took it down to find this 'do. She was super duper proud of her big funky hair.
That goofy look is her proud look. Let's hope it mellows a bit over the years!

A New Laundry Inductee

As you know, all the kids do chores. We've had to change up the chore system since Pedro left, so I recently sat the kids down and told them:
Chores are not just for big kids anymore! It's time Daniel and Lydia did their part! We're all grateful for all your dishwasher duties, but it's time you stepped up to more responsibility!! No more playing around while everyone else dusts and vacuums! No more sitting idly by while your laundry is folded and put away for you! You're 3 1/2 now! Act your age!
And as for you big kids, I know what you're up to! No doing their job for them because you feel sorry for them! No taking over because you want it done faster! These babies gotta learn and you're gonna help them! So stop helping them!

So, after the big girls had washed their clothes, Lydia took them out of the dryer.

Some things are way back there, but she's not afraid! She dove right in there to grab those orphan socks and unmentionables.

Did you get it all Lydia?
Wait I see one more! Go get it, girl!

Tada! No more runaway panties! Liddy's on laundry duty now.
She drug the basket to the den for folding. Which she supervised. Because she's too little to fold clothes.

But she did hang up all her clothes. So leave me alone! She's the baby. I'll teach her how to fold next week.

A Clark Christmas

We have a lot of Christmas traditions and memories as a family. There are lots of things we like to do together every Christmas, places we like to go (Who could forget the Christmas Parade incident??), special books we love to read, and songs we enjoy singing. One of our favorites is decorating the Christmas tree.

For us Clarks, it's all about the ornaments. The kids each get a new one every year and they are each sentimental. It's a very exciting and emotional time when we decorate the Christmas tree every Black Friday. (Who wants those early morning crowds? I'd much rather lounge around in our pajamas having fun.)
Here's how we do it (because you know there must be order in a "big" family): we set the big box of ornaments in the center of the rug and the kids line up in front of it.
They take turns picking out an ornament, unwrapping it, strolling down memory lane, and then adorning the tree.
As soon as that ornament is on the tree, the next kid jumps up. It goes pretty fast actually.

Lydia kept saying: I got a big one! I got a big one!

Of course, the biggest thrill was when a kid unwrapped more than one ornament. Sometimes 2 or even three are wrapped up in that precious bubble wrap. (Their momma's a real penny pincher.)
I must brag about Daniel's footed pajamas. Found these at my favorite thrift store, in new condition, and ya know footed pajamas in size 4T are kinda hard to find!

Remember I told you Maya's always cold? Thus the windbreaker in our living room.

After we got all the ornaments hung, we celebrated the accomplishment with some holiday dancing.
Look at that happy boy! He's just happy to have found someone willing to dance with an over-sized wearer of footed-pajamas. Partners like that are rare ya know?

You're Going to Ruin Them!

So, this Santa discussion led to a real-life talk about parents who think we're ruining our kids' lives by doing things differently than our parents did for us. If you go against the flow in any way in your parenting, what flack have you received for it?

I Gotta Know. . .

You know that I have strong opinions about homeschooling, and vaccines, and well, everything else. It's just my nature to be opinionated. But here's an area I have yet to delve into:

I want to know what you think about all these bailouts?

Ford Asks Congress for a $9 Billion Line of Credit
Ford Motor Co. is asking Congress for a $9 billion "stand-by line of credit" to stabilize its business, but says it doesn't expect to tap it.

Detroit's automakers, making a second bid for $25 billion in funding, are presenting Congress with plans Tuesday to restructure their ailing companies and provide assurances that the funding will help them survive and thrive.

General Motors Corp., Ford and Chrysler LLC said they would refinance their companies' debt, cut executive pay, seek concessions from workers and find other ways of reviving their staggering companies.

The Big Three executives also are offering a series of mostly symbolic moves to burnish their images, badly tattered after they arrived in Washington D.C. last month on three separate private jets to plead for a federal lifeline for their struggling companies.

More here.



Now I know a lot of my readers aren't even in America, but I bet you still have an opinion about our sour economy. Let's hear it!

The Cold Hard Truth

An old friend of mine posted on Facebook that he had the flu. I said: It's better than the nasty stuff in the vaccine, but that stinks. I'm so sorry! (As it turns out, not surprisingly, he had received the flu shot.)

That led to a discussion about vaccines. (I love being able to talk to people about vaccines, but I also know it's not at all fun to learn. Ignorance is definitely bliss.) I said: I don't encourage you to look into vaccine ingredients unless you're prepared to be grossed out. Apparently he was.

Incredulous, he asked: Why hasn't anybody told me this before?

If doctors really did offer informed consent, as they are ethically supposed to do, would any loving parent really sign up to inject those toxins into their kids? Does anybody who knows what vaccines are made from and how they're made still vaccinate their kids or themselves?

In my idealistic world, nobody would. Fear motivates a lot of people to do things without looking into them. Education is the enemy of fear.

Let's Talk Santa

When we were first married and I didn't know the Clarks very well, we got into a talk about Santa. (It was Thanksgiving and we were all together.) I jokingly said: We're gonna tell our kids Santa is the devil.

She didn't get it. And she also thought I was totally nuts. How in the world can you celebrate Christmas without Santa? She said something alluding to the fact that it was cruel and unusual punishment for a kid to have Christmas without Santa.

I said: But kids just want the gifts, they don't care where they come from.
She's now looking at me like I have a third eye.

So, I try to explain: I just don't want my kids to miss the real point of Christmas and think it's all about Santa.
She then calls over her 5 year old daughter. "Bobby Sue (name changed), why do we celebrate Christmas?"

For Santa Claus!

I was embarrassed for the mom at this point.

"No, Bobby Sue, what's the real reason we celebrate Christmas? Who is it about?"

Bobby Sue looks really confused now and says:

Santa Claus!

I wanted to go hide in a hole for her now! But Bobby Sue certainly proved my point. Just because you read the story of Jesus' birth every year doesn't mean your kids are going to look past all the Santa and reindeer and see the true meaning of Christmas.

What do you think?

(Oh and just fyi, I don't think that Santa is the devil. That was hyperbole. You got that right?)