We got home yesterday from another weekend camping trip. This was our second trip this summer with my parents and my younger brother and his family. It's always alot of cooking, alot of eating, and TONS of laughing!! My dad can be quite witty, and my brother never stops - he is constant jokes, puns, songs, smiles, and laughter. He keeps the ball rolling all weekend. Precious times.
Today I was able to drop 4 kids off at Vacation Bible School at a church where they have attended VBS for the last few years. They are creative with their props and everyone seems to get into the spirit of the event. My kids love it. It felt strange to leave the four of them and realize they had 3 hours without me there, and they were perfectly fine with it. They are all seasoned scholars now, having school day experiences behind them, and they were even thrilled to have classes with some of their previous school mates today. They were all smiles when I picked them up.
Our local elementary school is providing free lunches this summer for children. The kids thought that was pretty awesome today, so we plan to go tomorrow too. It's plenty of food, but I was hesitant at first that I shouldn't partake. We don't NEED to go for a free lunch, and I didn't want to take from someone who needed it. The staff assured me it was open to everyone, and if they didn't use it, the grant would not be available next time. It was nice to see others from the community, and visit while we ate our sack lunches. After lunch, my cousin and her kids stayed to play on the school playground with us. Then I brought her 2 home to play while she went to her college class. I don't think the kids wanted their fun day to end.
At supper time we got a call from our friend. He and his 3 kids were looking for someone to hang out with tonight, so I asked them to join us for supper. It turned into a fun evening with all ten of our combined children playing hide and seek and then catching fireflies once it was near dark. The kids were so tired from all the running and playing with their friends tonight that they dropped into bed without a fuss. It reminded me several times of the days when I was young, and then the later on years when my older children were youngsters, of playing out in the yard, and running around with the cousins. It brought back special memories for me, and I love the fact that the new generation of children are making their own memories.
It's been a full day. I have more painting projects to finish, but I wouldn't trade the times I had today for anything in the world. Time with family and friends are what makes my day complete, or as a friend says, "Fills my cup." I am full to overflowing tonight, and that is a wonderful feeling to fall asleep on.
I hope each of my friends and family have their cups full tonight, and memories to dream of as they sleep. Goodnight to you all.
Large family life, through a mama's eyes
Showing posts with label best friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label best friends. Show all posts
Monday, July 12, 2010
Saturday, April 24, 2010
A Date
I am really excited that my husband and I am going on a real date tonight!
This is a real treat. Since we have 7 kids at home, getting away typically means either I am home with the kids, or he is home with the kids. It's just the easiest way to maintain a little bit of "me" time in the midst of so much "them" time.
The last time we were out without children in tow, we were sitting in the hospital waiting room all day, focusing on his fathers heart surgery. That was not my idea of a date. And I am sure his father would have rather we were out on the town instead of waiting to hear the surgeons recap of the day's events. (thankfully, the surgery was successful, and he's still on the road to recovery.)
I have learned that getting out a night or two in a weeks time makes me a much better mom, and more prepared to deal with the usual 24/7 of parenting. Mike's job gets him out daily, and he has a few service opportunities that he enjoys being involved in, so that has really been a fairly good solution to parenting a large family.
But tonight we get "us" time. It's a rare treat. We tell our sitters we don't mind paying them well for staying, and we try to make it worth their while. Our biggest problem with that is, simply, it's hard to find sitters who can handle 7 kids at one time. Hard, because it's really too much responsibility for even the best teenage sitter, and hard, also, because we have a young teen in our home that resents having a sitter.
And night times can be stressful here. Between medications for behaviour wearing off near dinner time, and nighttime medications not kicking in until bedtime, there are a few difficult hours in there that even we, who are much more accustomed to the issues, shudder at. It's that 5 to 7 night time "meltdown" phase around here.
So, my niece, a mother of three and familiar with our kids, has accepted the challenge tonight. I started praying this week for a sitter, and although she may not realize she is a direct answer to our prayers, she is allowing us some breathing time and couple time that we couldn't have without her. It's a huge blessing, to which we are very grateful.
I will have the meal ready for them when she gets here, (spaghetti usually works best!) and they will have their pajama's ready to jump into. They can watch a movie, eat popcorn in the livingroom, or read books in their comfy places. But when I walk out the door tonight to spend time with the most important person in the world to me, I can leave with the assurance the kids will be well cared for, safe, and perfectly fine in my absence. What a gift to us!
I think the night out for us includes a nice dinner somewhere, then landing for several hours after that at our local booksellers for some quiet reflection and reading time. We usually enjoy a late night coffee, and if we don't eat too much at dinner, a nice dessert to go with it. Usually we get so relaxed that we have been known to doze in an armchair with our feet up, a good book in our laps, side by side as people mill around us. It's a great feeling to know I will be with my best friend, reconnecting again, without any interuptions of little voices, sticky hands or minor squabbles.
It's funny, but after a couple hours together, both of us are ready to get back at it all again. We come home refreshed, and ready for the next round.
Here's to Date Night. Here's to Us!! Here's to a wonderful sitter! Here's to the promise of a great night out!
This is a real treat. Since we have 7 kids at home, getting away typically means either I am home with the kids, or he is home with the kids. It's just the easiest way to maintain a little bit of "me" time in the midst of so much "them" time.
The last time we were out without children in tow, we were sitting in the hospital waiting room all day, focusing on his fathers heart surgery. That was not my idea of a date. And I am sure his father would have rather we were out on the town instead of waiting to hear the surgeons recap of the day's events. (thankfully, the surgery was successful, and he's still on the road to recovery.)
I have learned that getting out a night or two in a weeks time makes me a much better mom, and more prepared to deal with the usual 24/7 of parenting. Mike's job gets him out daily, and he has a few service opportunities that he enjoys being involved in, so that has really been a fairly good solution to parenting a large family.
But tonight we get "us" time. It's a rare treat. We tell our sitters we don't mind paying them well for staying, and we try to make it worth their while. Our biggest problem with that is, simply, it's hard to find sitters who can handle 7 kids at one time. Hard, because it's really too much responsibility for even the best teenage sitter, and hard, also, because we have a young teen in our home that resents having a sitter.
And night times can be stressful here. Between medications for behaviour wearing off near dinner time, and nighttime medications not kicking in until bedtime, there are a few difficult hours in there that even we, who are much more accustomed to the issues, shudder at. It's that 5 to 7 night time "meltdown" phase around here.
So, my niece, a mother of three and familiar with our kids, has accepted the challenge tonight. I started praying this week for a sitter, and although she may not realize she is a direct answer to our prayers, she is allowing us some breathing time and couple time that we couldn't have without her. It's a huge blessing, to which we are very grateful.
I will have the meal ready for them when she gets here, (spaghetti usually works best!) and they will have their pajama's ready to jump into. They can watch a movie, eat popcorn in the livingroom, or read books in their comfy places. But when I walk out the door tonight to spend time with the most important person in the world to me, I can leave with the assurance the kids will be well cared for, safe, and perfectly fine in my absence. What a gift to us!
I think the night out for us includes a nice dinner somewhere, then landing for several hours after that at our local booksellers for some quiet reflection and reading time. We usually enjoy a late night coffee, and if we don't eat too much at dinner, a nice dessert to go with it. Usually we get so relaxed that we have been known to doze in an armchair with our feet up, a good book in our laps, side by side as people mill around us. It's a great feeling to know I will be with my best friend, reconnecting again, without any interuptions of little voices, sticky hands or minor squabbles.
It's funny, but after a couple hours together, both of us are ready to get back at it all again. We come home refreshed, and ready for the next round.
Here's to Date Night. Here's to Us!! Here's to a wonderful sitter! Here's to the promise of a great night out!
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