Phoebe at 9 Months

She is such a sweet, happy girl!  She is scooting around on her tummy, waving, and eating everything she can get her hands on!  =)
 

2021 Family Road Trip

 Phoebe's birth was the first time that Seth got an actual paternity leave (as opposed to taking a week's worth of vacation time).  He split it into two parts, and had 6 weeks off in September/October.

With so much time off, we decided to embark on an epic family road trip!  We traveled from western Washington all the way down to Waco, Texas, to see the sights and visit friends.  We were gone for about 2 1/2 weeks, drove thousands of miles, and logged dozens of hours in the car.  It was such an amazing experience!  We saw several national parks and amazing sights, including the Great Salt Lake, Bryce Canyon, the Grand Canyon, Monument Valley, Four Corners, Mesa Verde, and Arches.  We spent time with friends we hadn't seen for years and came home so energized and refreshed.  We came home already talking about what our next adventure might be!  =)

 

Salt Lake

Salt Lake

Since driving always took longer than expected, we frequently pulled into campsites after dark.  It only took a couple times to decide that it just worked better to eat dinner in the car!

 

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

Bryce Canyon

This girl was fussy if we were driving past her bedtime, but otherwise was such a good traveler!

So thrilling to see cacti in their native habitat!

The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon

After several days of camping, a hotel was a fun treat!

In-N-Out Burger became a family favorite!

These girls are the best of friends!

Monument Valley

Mesa Verde - see the cliff dwellings in the background?

Arches

Arches

This was a trip we will never forget!  We are so blessed that we were able to do this and make such amazing family memories! 

Summer Days

 We are on summer break now, and I am soaking up the slower days!  Life with 8 kids is never super restful, but having most schoolwork off my plate (we still do just a little most days) feels amazing!  

Phoebe is almost 2 months old already!

Homemade popsicles are a summer staple!

Ezra celebrated his 10th birthday!

We've had such nice weather that we've been enjoying the pool for a few weeks now!

We have been going to the library every week and devouring stacks of books!  That makes my heart so happy!

Thankfully, we have a number of summer activities planned this year!  Camps, VBS, camping, and some big end-of-summer trips will be filling our days!  

Happy Summer!

Home Tour: Girls' Room

 Up until a year ago, the older 6 kids were in one bedroom, while the baby, Moriah, was still in our room.  When she outgrew her baby bed, we rearranged things to create a girls' room.  The girls were given what had been our bedroom, right off the kitchen.

We moved one set of bunkbeds into the girls' room, even though they didn't need it yet, since we had gotten a triple bunk for the boys.  Joanna uses one bed, and Moriah sleeps in the playpen for now.  

They have a small dresser, with one drawer each for their clothes.  Joanna uses the top drawer for her drawing supplies.  She also has a couple of plastic bins under her bed for her toys and treasures.

This room has two closets, a small one that used to house the water heater and a larger one.  Again, we don't use them for clothes, but rather for more general storage.  The small closet behind the playpen holds infrequently used things, like suitcases, our air conditioning unit, a few baby items, my gift and wrapping supplies, and my bag of fabric. The other closet stores our games, extra blankets and a few sheets, our cloth diapers and supplies, extra toilet paper, winter gloves and scarves, Joanna's stuffed animals, my pictures, and a few other random things.  

And that's it!  This bedroom is fairly small, and again, it isn't used for much besides sleeping and naps.  

Mother's Day 2021

 My favorite people...

And a little real life:

Ha! ;)

Announcing...

 Phoebe Lillian!

Born Friday, April 23, 2021 at 1:40pm

21 1/2 inches long

9 pounds, 6 ounces

She was induced at a week overdue, and I'm so glad we didn't wait any longer, as she was already our biggest by almost a pound!!  Seth joked that she must be an introvert; she heard all the commotion around our house and didn't want to come out and join it!  She may be; so far she is very chill!  =)

Home Tour: Hall, Bathroom, and Boys' Room

 I've been meaning to get to this forever, and it wasn't happening, so I decided to not worry about it being perfect so I could just finish it before baby arrives! :)

Off of the kitchen, there is a small hall (I don't feel that "hall" is the appropriate term, but I'm not sure what else to call it) that leads to the bathroom and boys' room.  This doorway used to have a door that led directly into the bathroom, and the bedroom was accessed through the bathroom.  We changed that when we remodeled the bathroom, so now we have the little "hallway" there.

Off to one side of the hallway is the linen closet, but we use it for a little bit of everything since it is the only closet outside the bedrooms. 

The very bottom contains my sewing machine and supplies, a basket with the heating pad, hot water bottle, and hair trimmer, and a basket of cleaning supplies.  

 The next shelf holds a basket with our bathroom towels, and all of the kids' Lego boxes.  The majority of the Legos are in the boys' room, but they each have a plastic shoebox containing the Legos they can use at any one time.  They are allowed to trade these out with other Legos, and occasionally they can have what we call a "Lego party" and they get all of the Legos out, but a shoebox is the amount they seem to be able to take care of at any one time.  We put the boxes in this closet so they can get them out in the early morning before everyone is up.

The next two shelves are where Seth and I keep our clothes.  We no longer have a bedroom closet, so we keep our clothes here near the bathroom.  We are very minimal with our clothes, so it works for us!

The next shelf holds a basket of first aid/medication, and a basket of extra toiletries.  

The very top shelf is difficult to access, so I keep a few seasonal items and lightbulbs there.

The first door in the hall leads to the bathroom, which is pretty small and basic.

The pedestal sink came with the house, and though I like the look, I don't think it's the most practical with kids.  Since there is no storage there, we added the little drawers which serve as our bathroom storage (deodorant, hairbrushes, Waterpik, etc.) and counter.  On the sides of the sink are the trash can and diaper pail (just a basic plastic trash can with lid).  There is just enough floor space near the toilet for the toddler potty when we need it.  Behind the mirror is a cabinet that has a few more hair and toiletry items.

The last door leads to the boys' room.  Six kids shared this room until last year, when we made a switch and gave the girls their own room.  

It is a small room, and hard to photograph very well, but pretty much what you see is what you get!  There is a regular bunk, a triple bunk, a dresser, and the closet is behind the door.

The kids all love stuffed animals, so they all have a number of them, and they keep them on their beds.  Under the regular bunk we store the rest of the Legos, and each of the boys has a plastic container for their personal toys.

We keep kids clothes minimal also, and they each have a drawer for their clothes, and they share an underwear drawer.  One drawer is actually empty right now, and another holds their AWANA stuff.  They use the top to store the Lego creations they want to keep intact.  When it gets full, we clear it off.

The closet is not used for their clothes, but for storage.  

This side holds their shared toys...Duplos, action figures, dress-up, Playmobil, and a few random things! :) Sleeping bags are on the top shelf. 

The other side of the closet holds the rest of the kid sleeping bags, some Nerf guns and the rest is mostly clothes that I have saved for the kids.  I save MUCH less than I used to, but I still keep a few things, especially things that I know we will need, like shorts for summer; pants, since my boys wear them out sooo quickly; a size or two ahead in baby clothes; and a few things for my oldest kids.

And that's it!  Bedrooms are mostly used for sleeping and getting dressed, so while there is not a lot of space, there is enough for those things!  They do occasionally play in there, but not often.