Raising Olives is Moving

Ok, take a deep breath and get ready for some action. Raising Olives is moving. Come visit the new Raising Olives and then change your links, favorites, bookmarks, feeds, or whatever you use to read Raising Olives, you don't want to miss out on all the action.

I will be leaving this site up, but all new posts will be over there. Come on, what are you waiting for http://raisingolives.com/, move it!

I'm Famous Thanks to "Trenches of Motherhood"

Mandy over at From the Trenches Of Motherhood featured our blog in her post today. She included more information about our family and why we decided to blog, so if your interested, head on over and read it here and while your there tell her thanks and look over the rest of her blog!

Not Me! Monday - Ice Cream

Thursday, I did not fall asleep on the couch at 7:30pm surrounded by 9 rambunctious children and so neglect to give the children their special surprise treat of ice cream to celebrate that Suzanne has spring break and will be gone for a whole week is finished with mid-terms.

This post has moved to our new site. Read Not Me! Monday - Ice Cream or visit our homepage and choose the Not Me Monday category to read more Not Me Monday posts.

Reasons We Have a Large Family

In no particular order:

1. When God said, "Behold, children are a gift of the Lord...Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them (Psalm 127)", we believe He meant it.

2. World domination.

3. We know what causes it.

This post has moved to our new website. Read the rest of this post or visit our new homepage.

Cross Country

The excitement level is high in our house, cross country has started back up. Our oldest five are able to run this season and are in high spirits. They will be competing in their first 5K, so are excited about doing a little longer distance in a race.

Cross country is a great activity for our family. Everyone can participate, even those who are too young to actually compete. We all love heading to the park in the afternoon and walking or running for a couple of miles. Nicholas gets put in the Ergo, Colby walks some then rides in the stroller and I bribe the younger ones with time on the playground in order to get them to run a mile and a half or two so that I can get some exercise. Then we chill on the slide and swing while the bigger kids finish their distance. We also enjoy running in the evenings or around the neighborhood with daddy.

I'm so happy that spring is here coming and we are running again.

Wordless Wednesday - The Wipes

Check out other's "Wordless Wednesday" posts over at 5 Minutes for Mom or enjoy some of my other Wordless Wednesday's.

See my posts on homeschooling or home management.

Not Me! Monday

When I was getting our two youngest boys ready for bed, I did not discover that my task was made lighter by half because one of them was still in his pj's. What kind of mother would let one of her children stay in his pajamas all day?

I have not been staying up late AND getting up early. If I did that I would be grumpy and difficult to get along with and I have not been grumpy or difficult to get along with.

I did not go to the library book sale three times last week. We already have loads of books and I am running out of shelf space.

If I had gone to the book sale multiple times and purchased more books than we have room for, one of those books would not have been a book about de-cluttering. Wouldn't that have been counterproductive?

Go visit MckMamma's blog to see what others have not been doing this week, or check out my other "Not Me!" Monday posts!

Wonder how a family of 12 functions? Checkout my home management or homeschooling posts.

Night Time Antics

Colby's (2) favorite person to take him to the bathroom is Matthew. A few hours after putting the children to bed we heard a commotion upstairs. When we entered the boys bedroom, Colby had exited his bed, climbed to the top of the ladder and was clinging to the top bunk and shouting, "Mafew, Mafew, I have to go pooootyyy." By the time we arrived he was quite upset that Matthew was still soundly sleeping and the decibel level was nearly deafening. "MAAAAAAFEW, I HAVE TO GO POOOOOOTYYY!" Happily he was satisfied with some help from Dad.


Another evening, after I had been in bed for a few hours I heard a voice calling, "Mommy." Unwilling to get out of bed, I called, "What honey?" A moment later there was a knock at our door. Still hoping to remain in bed I replied, "Come in." Nothing. I knew the gig was up. I got out of bed and opened the door. Without so much as a sidelong glance at me, Colby, blanket in tow, marched across the room and over to my side of the bed. Then he turned and requested, "Sleep in Mommy Daddy's bed?" "Don't you want to sleep on this nice soft rug?", I suggested. "No, Mommy Daddy's bed." I think that he enjoyed his sick privileges a little too much.


Want to read some more about my amazingly active, adventurous, and insane 2 year old? Try his response to getting sick, his midnight travels, or how he ambushed me.

Wordless Wednesday - Sibling Rivalry

Winner!

You can see other WW posts here .

WFMW- Family Fun Night

Every Friday at our house is Family Fun Night. The children know what to expect and look forward to it all week long.

The fun usually begins after dinner when everyone runs to get ready for bed, grabs their pillows and blankets and heads downstairs. We play games, read books, listen to a story on Cd, or just watch a movie. We snuggle and play and enjoy spending some fun, relaxing time together.

The fun is not over when the movie ends, it is just beginning. The best part of Family Fun Night is that we all sleep together. The children take turns sleeping next to mom and dad. Sometimes the children make little tents, but we always snuggle up and sleep together on Friday nights.

Making amazing memories by spending time with my family that Works For Me!

WARNING: Sleeping on the floor with no additional padding is not recommended for children over 25!

Check out everyone else's Works For Me Wednesday posts here or view my other WFMW posts.

Ambushed!

For his birthday Carter (7) got a set of motion sensing devices that he can set so that they sound an alarm, light up and even fire darts if activated. To mention that our house has been a danger zone ever since would be unnecessary. There are alarms blaring, lights flashing and darts whizzing constantly.

Since I am cunning and constantly aware of my surroundings, cough, cough I had avoided being the victim, until today. I was undone by my sweet and charming yet deadly 2 year old.

It was nap time and I had put Colby in his bed, prayed with him and left to get his Cd. When I returned and knelt to put the Cd in the player I was hit, nearly in the face with two darts. Like any self respecting mom, I screamed. I was totally not expecting a dart in the face. Colby just laid in the bed laughing and saying, "Shoot Mommy, ha ha ha shoot mommy." I'm glad that someone is happy.

Not Me Monday

I did not allow the ant farm on the table during dinner, nope not me. Who wants to eat while watching a bunch of ants scurrying and digging, well, except for my husband and 9 children?

When I discovered that the children were digging their hole to China at the base of our slide, I was not less-than-thrilled. I mean who wouldn't want to slide all the way to China? I am not going to make them fill in their giant hole and start all over again, back in the woods, not me.

I did not dress my 10 month old in a Christmas outfit in March. I always dress my children in season appropriate clothing and their outfits always match.

I do not encourage allow our 2 year old to run around in his underwear just because I think he looks way too cute in his boxer briefs.

When I brought the rug in from the deck rail, I did not discover bird poop on it. I am a devoted mother, so did not balk at the idea of cleaning up after a BIRD.

When packing for our trip I did not forget to pack my hose and shoes for church. After all I only had one outfit to pack.

When I took my camera outside to play a game with the children, one of the children did not ask if we were doing it for the blog.

If you are curious about homeschooling or how we manage our large family, you can click any of the category words in the sidebar to see more. Some of our most popular posts are The Schedule and Daily Chores.

For more "Not Me! Monday" fun, visit MckMama on her blog.

Afternoon Activities

My goal is to have a tea party with my girls twice a month. It provides a special opportunity to talk, laugh, and let them practice being ladies. They often take the opportunity to make something special, dress up, or creatively decorate the table.These are pictures of what my girls call a "first class" tea party complete with written invitations, handcrafted place mats, and freshly picked flowers. This particular party was planned and prepared by Amber.

Often our tea party will consist of nothing more than making tea, using some pretty dishes, and having cheese, crackers and fruit for lunch. We don't always dress up, but we always sit down together, without the boys, and take a little extra time over lunch.

We usually pack the boys a sack lunch and they head outdoors to do battle. On this day it was raining, so they had their sack lunch in the family room and worked on their own project.
I couldn't resist this picture of Savannah with one of the flowers that are currently blooming in our backyard. Does anyone know what these are?
The food may sometimes be simple, but the company is always unsurpassed!

While the girls were busy with their tea party and the boys were exiled to the family room, they entertained themselves by creating a diorama. Using one of my cookie sheets, organic materials from the back yard, and some other odds and ends, they created this:

Of course Nicholas had to help.

Sewing Help

I know you see it coming.

I told you my children love helping. Look how proud he is!


I'm in the process of making my pre-fold diapers into fitted diapers. (I know you were wondering.) I'm using this free pattern.

You Know You Are a Large Family When...

there are too many children to play Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs.

This post has moved to our new site. Click here if you want to read this post and here is a post titled Reasons We Have a Large Family.

Before the Beginning

I was home schooled as a child. That was back when people asked if homeschooling was legal, when mom didn't allow us to go outside until after the schools let out, and when our neighbors called CPS because they noticed that we weren't getting on the school bus. That was also back when many curriculum publishers did not sell books to homeschoolers and there certainly was not any curricula written or designed for homeschoolers. I was home schooled back in the dark ages of homeschooling.

God used the amazing experience of my mother being diagnosed with cancer and given 6 months to live at the age of 35, to push our family into homeschooling. My mom was thirty-five years old and pregnant with her fifth child. I was the oldest at eleven.

This post has moved to our new blog. Read the rest of Before the Beginning: Our journey to homeschool or go to the homepage of the new Raising Olives.

Wordless Wednesday - Jedi edition

When we put Colby to bed he did not have that light saber. It wasn't even in his room. I wonder what went on last night.

This is my contribution toWordless Wednesday.

Nick Can Clap

You may well ask, "What's the big deal, most 10 month olds can clap?" Well, Nicholas was injured when he was born. His upper right arm was broken, but more significantly his left arm sustained a brachial plexus injury or Erb's Palsy, it was paralyzed. He had some movement in his wrist and hand, but none in his shoulder or elbow.

Brachial plexus injuries are complex. When this injury occurs at birth it is complicated by the fact that the newborn's muscles grow and strengthen drastically in the first few months. So even if a baby regains all nerve function, they could still deal with muscle imbalances and bone problems.

That's your science lesson for the day. Now on to the amazing and wonderful blessing that God has given to us. NICHOLAS CAN CLAP! This is a huge deal for BPI kids. I won't bore you with more science, but this is a big step.

Yeah Nicholas! He also no longer needs therapy. So hopefully we can wave bye-bye to thinking about BPI for the time being. Wave bye-bye Nick, good job.

Just for the record, I believe that if my husband and I had had more information before Nicholas was born, his injury could have been avoided. If you have ever experienced a shoulder dystocia during delivery, please do some research on BPI before you have another baby and check with your OB or midwife about their experience with this complication.

Not Me Monday-The Sick Addition

Since the four youngest children have been sick this week, I have decided to do a themed version of "Not me!" Monday.

When one of the children gets ill in the middle of the night I do not gather all the soiled linens, clothes, and animals and throw them into the bathtub to deal with in the morning. That would be gross. I diligently rinse everything and start a load of laundry, so that I won't be behind in the morning.

This week when the rug fell victim to the illness in the middle of the night. I most certainly did not take it out to the rail of the deck, pour a couple of pitchers of hot water over the affected area and leave it to deal with later. It did not stay out on the deck for three days until my husband asked if it was part of our new deck decor, finally prompting me to clean it thoroughly. It is most certainly not STILL out there half covered with snow waiting for the temperatures to rise above freezing so that it will thaw out and then dry.

During the night that our two youngest boys (Colby-2 and Nicholas-10 months) were most actively sick, I did not let them share a puke bowl. They most certainly did not decide to use said bowl at the exact same time. When finished, Nicholas did not try to splash his hand in the contents. If he had tried, I, being much faster than a mere baby, would have stopped him before he was successful.

Our sick children have not been consuming ginger ale, blue Powerade, Jello, and Popsicles. What kind of mother would allow a sick child to ingest that much sugar and artificial junk? If that were happening my health conscience children would NOT be enjoying it. They would be asking for something with a little more nutritive value.

I have not been secretly relieved that for the past week I have only had to cook for 7-9 people rather than the usual 12. I would not rejoice even slightly at my own offspring's misfortune.

Head over to MckMama's site to join in the Not Me Monday fun!

In the Not-So-Still of the Night

Two year old Colby is sitting up in bed where he just got sick. He looks up from the mess as mom enters and says, "Mommy, Colby spilled."



Colby and Nicholas have succumbed. Want to read about the beginning of our recent illness? Click here.