Cameron made this.

Cameron decided to do some filming of the girls in the van. Be prepared for some jiggling of the screen. IF you are sensitive you may not like this. Remember this was filmed by a nine year old, who is almost a 10 year old.

P.S. The van was parked, and not in motion. And there was not really an earthquake. Just a boy with a good imagination :D

Enjoy!

Cathy

you might need earplugs, or maybe turn down your volume...

 

Well, as you know we spend A LOT of time in our van. So, I thought I would video a little bit of our ride yesterday. We are short one child here (our son) but all five girls were in the van. We actually had to stop at the side of the road because it was so loud in there. It was actually louder, but we missed that capture. All of this over Timbits...Goodness me. 

Happy Monday!

Cathy xo

Matching Family Friends

Oh, it was so nice to have a quick visit from a family that means a whole lot to me. It was my friend Lisa, in her exact same van (same make and colour) her 1 son, and 5 daughters popped over for a few minutes. It was so good to see her and hug her. Life has not been the same since they switched schools. I am officially the largest family at our school. It was always nice to have the support  there. Now, it is a lot more lonely at our school. 

We are going to try to get together after school tomorrow! And it will be just like before, except all of us a little bit older.

Lisa and I, plus our 12 kids (combined) 2 boys, and 10 girls. I cannot wait!

Puke Patrol

We have had a lot of puke going on in the last 49 hours...4/8

Catie: All over the tile floor, bathroom door downstairs, walls, sink and toilet and repeat into her bucket many times until this morning, Looked like a crime scene.

Claire: All over herself, the upstairs carpet outside the bathroom, all over the walls and toilet and a couple more times into the toilet and fine this morning. Evn worse...bigger tummy, more volume.

Carly...this evening after dinner...like Catie's above and again a few minutes ago.

Caroline...just as puke from Carly is cleaned/in process she does it but all in her crib, stuffies, pillow etc.

Cliff feels sick because he cleaned it up, as I sanitized the whole two levels...we work as a team here. We have to smile about this, because it is times like this we just want to cry and quit. This process took us hours. Tonight we spent two hours. All of the kids are now in bed. Now round two of bleach on the hard floors. I just want to crash, but life goes on!

I won't be able to sleep well again...just going though the 'what if's'/Who next/I cannot afford to get this thoughts in my brain. I am thankful it was not in the van this time, not at a friends house and none on our new carpet. Time for a profesh cleaning!

PS Laura now is the time to create a puke kit for your vehicle if you don't have one already. Two years old seems to be when the barf-o-rama begins. Well, in my experience anyways. Sorry there is puke in your vehicle and home.

Why puke in July?! I am not sure. Hubby informs me he is close to puking now too. That will be 5/8 but not our record of 7/8. That was back around Mother Day of this year.

May we all feel much better tomorrow.

PPS I really think I deserve HE washers after all of this. My machines are running for what feels like 24/7!

My Christmas Poem

Christmas is nice

Christmas is fun

But even on Christmas morning

There is laundry to be done

(yes, and this is the day after I did 10 loads!!)

This is for you Alyson! And for all of my friends with more than the "normal" size family! Please just change the number to whatever suits your fancy!

Large Family Article

Living Large: How Many Children

This is from the June 2007 issue of Today's Parent. It is a good read.

Too many?

Larger families are near and dear to my heart. And with saying that, I would have to say that I could not go "there" myself to go and have 5 more kids or even 1 more.

With my 5 kids that are 7 and under (7,6, 4,2, and 10 months) I spread myself thin on most days, as does my hubby. But, I would not change my experiences for the world. I know I have become a less selfish and loving person to all of my family. I think my priorities were off when I was a DINK with my hubby. Having this family (Circus) has changed me forever.

The thought of having another often is in my mind. My husband definately is at his limit. He doesn't want any more. The thing that stops me is when I get back to reality and think of my OTHER 5 kids and wonder what the implications would be to increase our family to 6 kids (or maybe 7 if we had twins). And how that baby (as MUCH as they/we would love her or him) would make THEIR lives a lot harder. That would mean a new van, and by that I would mean an 11 or 15 passenger van, a WAY larger home, and just meaning our kids would have WAY less. And having them adjust to more family changes.

The kids ask us when we are having another and we just tell them that we are not having any more. I just LOVE the fact that our kids would be so OPEN to having a 6th. Even if they all had to share a room or whatever. That makes my heart sing.

IF we had a 6th baby it would be for my selfish reasons more than anything else. I just love new babies and I love to see all of my kids together and loving each other (well maybe more like beating each other up lol) Today for example I walked my 2 eldest kids to school. (and then I had my double stroller with the 2 littlest kids in there) And my other daughter came a long too. So, all 5 kids lol. I pick up 2 other school age kids and take them to their classrooms to help out their Mom who just had a baby (a premie) I find it difficult to keep my eyes on the 7 kids...and 2 are strapped into the double stroller. I manage but could not GO there full time.

My hat goes off to families that can go that distance like the Duggars with their 16 and 1 on the way. I just know my limitations and I am pleasantly happy with my 5.

And, I am tired of being stared at, and having people drop their jaws in front of us and count outloud while pointing at all of the kids. Rude don't you think. I have also had people ask me "Don't you know what causes that?" etc. My family, my choice. Our family is well taken care of, and we do not require assistance.

We just have made a choice to do the best for our family. I have decided that lifestyles are expensive and not having kids. We do just fine! I am just happy that our kids have each other, and I *hope* that they will remain close.