Hi Jess, I don’t know if you answer emails like this since you aren’t active on your blog, but wanted to tell you I took your advice to heart and am not blogging. It was the best decision. I had my fourth baby, and I would’ve had to lay down priorities in caring for my family to…
Search Results for: large family
VIDEO: Things I DIDN’T EXPECT (as a Large Family Mom)
Like many Americans in the 80s and 90s, (maybe like you?) I grew up with one sibling. So I didn’t really know what to expect as a mom of many children (we have 9 now). Some things we can anticipate: (laundry, food, and stacks of clothes bins!), but what I wanted to talk about in…
How I Built A First-Aid Kit for our Large Family
We’ve got 7 children. 6 of those are boys, but actually, our daughter ended up having the worst traumatic accident we’ve encountered yet (so don’t count out those girls!). We’ve had dozens of ER runs, and dozens more of NEAR-ER runs, where I carefully assessed the damage and ultimately decided to stay home and…
So You Want to Have a Large Family?
So you want to have a large family? Or you’re on the fence and thinking about having more kids? Maybe your husband wants more, and you’re not sure? Or vice-versa? Before we got married, we both wanted a “lot of kids.” But back then we would have said that number was something like 3-5 kids. NOW?…
21 Ways Our Large Family Saves Money
Discount grocery stores— this is currently my top budget-slicing method. At Costco, one basket costs us about $300-400. At my discount grocery stores last week, I got 3 basketfuls of groceries for just over $150. It takes creativity, and a little more time (we went to 2 stores, 45 minutes away, rather than just 1 store…
12 Ways I Aim for Homeschooling Excellence with a Large Family
Q: I would love to know some things that have helped you how to simplify homeschooling in order to do things WELL. Everyday life with a large family (I have 5 kids under 10) in itself makes just the basics challenging some days!!! I would love to know some ways to maintain a certain level despite all…
How I Handle Ugly Comments (About Our Large Family)
To each large family mom out there, especially you who are on the newer end of being a large family and hearing ugly comments: first, let me say, I’m sorry for the rude comments/attitudes you’ve received. We’ve gotten all the typical comments too. Back before we were a “large family,” I’d read the articles or hear…
10 Ways We Make Time for Our Marriage (Amidst the Chaos of Large Family Life)
It can be difficult for parents in any season of life— with a newborn, with two or three little ones, with the time commitments of little league, with teens, or (as in our case) with a large family that bridges many of these “seasons”– to prioritize marriage amidst all the “busyness.” Here are 10 ways Doug and I purposefully work…
My Value As a Large-Family Homeschooling Mom
One of the realities of my life right now is that there is a dividing line that happens in almost every first/intro conversation I have with people (and this last year has included a lot of those)… The normally-progressing conversation that happens before… and then the shift that comes after… … people find out I…
The Soothing, Sorrowful, Sweet Song of Extended Family
Amongst the embroidery and cut glass and old craft projects and photos of the dead and the long-dead, the pain comes. Embedded in these roads and walls are the pain of loss and error. Failures flood the mind, and while the heart leaps at seeing our beloveds, the leaps share dance steps with lurches. Joy…