Magic-Makers

 A good thing to remember heading into a fun-filled family vacation right before Christmas:

And Just Like That...

 And just like that... our first semester in Rangely is complete.

We've moved twice.  We've completed our work.  We've hosted a Christmas party... we just want to breathe a minute and enjoy the season with our family.  (Just one last grad assignment, which is almost done and I'm officially done with work).

What a wonderful semester we've had!

Christmas Spirit Day!

 Thursday was Christmas Spirit day at the kids' school.

We certainly had fun dressing up for the spirit day.

Now... Christmas Vacation!

1000 Words

 1000 Words

The Shift

 Over this past Thanksgiving week, I experienced a shift in my reality as a mother... it was big.

When I became a mother everything changed for me because I had waited MY WHOLE LIFE to be a mother -- and I did not stop at one child.  Hubby and I had 6 children in just over 7 years... and I have absolutely loved it.

That said, I have worked very hard these past 7 years at keep children alive, happy, loved, fed, clothed, relatively clean AND tried to make every birthday, and holiday special, memorable, and full of loving family traditions.  It's been a lot.

I would not trade any of it for the world, but, frankly, it is enough to sometimes make me wish we wouldn't celebrate Holidays or Birthdays because of all the extra work involved for me.

But this Thanksgiving, there was almost a complete shift.

It began when Tracey and Lee Lee started the first day of Thanksgiving break by waking up bright-eyed and bushy tailed at 5:15am.  I think Tracey was hoping that she could welcome the start of a week off school with early morning time on the ipad... THAT WAS NOT HAPPENING!

So, I put both girls to work stuffing Christmas cards... and much to my surprise, they happily set to work, and stuffed 250 cards in envelopes for me before anyone else was up.

Whenever my mom and dad visit, my dad ALWASY asks me what he can do to help.  Every day, usually every hour he offers to help in any way possible.  A few days later, I took my Dad up on his offer and asked him to fold all of our Christmas letters.  He happily set to work -- for hours accomplishing that task.

Not long into his project Tracey, Caroline, and Lee Lee recognized this as a part of the Christmas card project, and they began adding the Christmas letters to the envelopes that already had Christmas cards.

The next day, Tracey was repeatedly asking if she could add the address labels and the stamps to the Christmas cards.  I soon set her to work.

The kids became so invested in the process of sending out 250 Christmas Cards to family and friends, that they soon began coloring pictures to put in the envelopes of their friends so that their friends had something special to open when the parents opened the card from us.

I have had to exert almost zero effort in the process of sending out Christmas cards this year.

When we were decorating the tree, Tracey begged to be in charge of hanging the lights this year, and so we worked together on them -- it was the first year I had help hanging the lights and it went SO smoothly.  She was a HUGE help!

I unpacked the ornaments, but our four big kids decorated nearly the entire tree by themselves.  I was there reminding them how breakable some ornaments are, and telling them where certain ornaments are from and why they are special... but they decorated the entire tree.

We have six children and that is a lot of work... but we have six children who are growing up in a home where we need their help, and we expect their help.  This was the first Holiday that I felt the help of so many joyful little helpers.  They really did lighten my load, and we participated in traditions together, and we had such a wonderful time as a result.

Six children are still a lot of work... but something has shifted, and in the blink of an eye, I am going to have more helpers in the kitchen and around the tree than can fit, and they are going to be doing the entire thing themselves and cooking better than I ever will.

I will forever have six children, but they will not remain children... before I know it, I will have six adults, and the many hands will make light work.

Our Family Christmas

 We had a wonderful family Christmas.  The kids are not allowed to go downstairs in the morning until we all go down together as a family.

Our kids exchanged names and bought presents for a Secret Sibling, and those presents all went under our "kids tree" and presents from Mama and Daddy and Santa went under our big tree.  That way our children open the presents from each other first and can thank each other before the gifts from mom and dad and Santa.

Here are some photos from the day -- and yes, we stayed in pajamas ALL DAY!