Test Yourself

I couldn't think of a better way to start off the Christmas season.

Be blessed,

Finicky Bath Baby

After weeks of giving Julia turbo-speed baths with her wailing the entire time (while her siblings filed in one at a time each crying in sympathy, wondering what kind of bath torture device I was using on their sweet innocent sister), I finally came up with a solution!

She didn't cry. She didn't wail. My little bathroom didn't transform into Grand Central Station.

It was bliss. It was wonder. I was to-ta-lly thuh-rilled!

Something about that face makes me think she enjoyed having Chloe hold her while I bathed her.

I Love This Time of Year!!

If you've been (like me) patiently waiting for the Vision Forum sales to get better-- they have!! The Christmas Sale is here!! And check out today's "deal of the day"! The new Jonathan Park CD is HALF PRICE! I jumped up and did a triple cartwheel when I saw that! The kids are going to flip!

Remodeling Tip

Uh oh! What's going on at the Clark house? Could it be. . . remodeling?!

Oh surely they wouldn't dive into a remodeling project with 7 kids, one of them a crawling baby! Gasp!

Oh but we did. BUT I have learned one thing after 3 houses worth of remodeling: be patient with the process. And since I am determined to learn this hard lesson, it's going to take forever to finish this project. And that's OK!! (Or so I keep telling myself)

Here's my tip: To make clean up super fast and easy, place a grocery bag over the paint tray.

Fits perfectly.
When you're done:

1. place the roller in a clean bread bag and tie a twisty tie tightly around the metal part of the handle. Place in the freezer.
2. Remove the paint-covered grocery bag inside out and toss in the trash can.
3. Only clean the paint roller when you're totally finished with the project.

I LOVE simplicity!!

You're Invited

Calling all big families. I'll be hosting a blog carnival to answer all the burning questions people have about making it all work in a big family. Every other week, I'll have a topic for you to blog about and then you can link to your blogpost here.

Are you in?

Attitude is Learned

How wrong is this commercial? Let me count the ways.

Entitlement. Unthankfulness. Vanity. Oh my, I could go on.

I remember when we first got our minivan. Somebody joked: No more cool car. Now you're a minivan mom.

The truth is: I loved that minivan. It was big. It had room for our three kids AND all their stuff and friends could ride with us. And it turned on a dime. I loved that thing!

But now, we joke about how utilitarian our 15 passenger van is. It doesn't have 18 cup-holders. It doesn't have reclining benches. It doesn't have a lot of things, frankly. But it does have 7 of my children. And a huge trunk. And we can now take a whole 'nother family with us (as long as they're a small family).

I love our big giant van. LOVE it! And the kids do too. They love all the leg room they have now. They love that we can fit two weeks worth of groceries in the trunk (and for us, that's a whole lotta groceries) and still have room for all their footballs and soccer balls (because you never know when you might need them). They love that they can lie down in the back on long trips.

Protect your children from the self-centered media. Teach them what nonsense it is to say "you deserve it" in light of scripture. Teach them that being a good steward of their money is more valuable than feeding their pride.

And be thankful for the vehicle God gave you to transport your most precious cargo.

P.S. What's up with a boy wearing skin-tight jeans? Is that the fad for boys too now? Oh my! Skin tight jeans and a girlie haircut. Ugh. I have no words.

Discoveries of the Day

I've recently discovered:

• if you leave an earthworm in a box of dirt for a month, it really stinks
• if you leave a diaper on a baby for too long, you have to peel it off
• poetry is far easier for kids to memorize than math facts
• sarcasm is a hard (and really bad) habit to break
• when you stay home a lot, you save a lot of money
• I don't like staying home a lot
• the library has almost everything I want to read
• emailing InterLibrary Loan requests makes me very happy
• Vision Forum sales get better and better the closer Christmas gets
• Vision Forum's deal of the day was a genius marketing strategy
• I wish I'd thought of it
• I have a compulsive desire to make people think my life is easier than it really is
• homeshooling 7 children is hard; no matter what I tell you
• God's grace is always sufficient, but I have to ask for it first