366 Book Project

I don't ever make resolutions because I know I won't keep them. But this year was different for me. I wanted to make a resolution to spend more time with my kids than I already do and the best way I decided to do that this year was by trying to be consistent in reading each night with them.

So my resolution was to read at LEAST one book a night for the entire year. Of course if there is only one book read on a given night it's probably because I was angry with them or something, because on average we have at least 2 to 3 books a night.

Last Tuesday we headed over to the library with a milk crate and filled it up. We fit 33 books into it. The librarian joked saying "Well this should last the month!" I replied with "I have 8 kids. I'll be lucky if this lasts a WEEK!"

It's Monday and we'll have gone through 20 books for the month already, and I am NOT counting the ones that we have read multiple times either!

Now, Rachel, in her infinte wisdom was confused by the "366". She asked "But doesn't a year have 365 days in it?"

"Yes, but this is a leap year, so we have an extra day."

"So . . . like today is really tomorrow?!"

O_o "Um, no. February will have 29 days instead of 28 days."

"So . . . December will have 32 days?!"

*smack head with hand* So I re-explained it, slower, and with visuals and she finally got it. Yes, this year has 366 days, people, not 365. Election years are held on leap years. Yes, lucky us, we get an extra day of political debates, commercials, and more! #sarcasm

So far so good. I am keeping track of the books we read and how many DIFFERENT titles as well. Like I said there are some days where they insist on a favorite book to be re-read. I add those titles to the list, but not the total tally of books read.

We are enjoying the new family memories being made though. You can never beat family time together!

'Tis the Season . . .

So my friend Olivia posed the question on Facebook: "How much fun would it be if everyone sent realistic Holiday letters out to friends/family. How different would the letters sound?"

So I thought I'd give it a try. I mean why boast about things that may make others feel bad? Should a Christmas letter really become a "pissing contest" of sorts? My kid is better than your kid, because "x, y, & z". So here it goes, and I bet it will make you feel better too! *hint I'm not perfect!*

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Dear Family,

I'm sure you are all doing far better than me, this year. I know I personally have failed in the parent department more times than I'd care to count, this past year. I've failed in my personal goals, and my marriage is far from perfect, either.

I am domestically challenged, too. My one sister said to me once that cleaning up after kids is like shoveling snow in a blizzard. Well, compound that when you have 8 kids to try and clean up after them.

For starters, my walls look like they've been tagged by a gang of toddlers and preschoolers. I try and ban writing instruments from the house, but we are human and we do need to write things down. Not to mention the occasional stray crayon that somehow makes it into our home from who knows where. I think I'd prefer crayons since the Magic Eraser can actually remove that. Pen, pencil and sharpies . . . not so much! I mean the one day I wore out a WHOLE box of magic erasers. I was pretty proud of myself, and the clean walls! The next day, however, one wall was re-tagged. {{{sigh}}}

My sink constantly has a pile of dirty dishes in them, no matter how many times a day they get washed. I swear my sink has dish herpes or something.


The laundry is piled up daily, despite the fact I do at least 3 loads every day. No matter how many times I try and put an organized system in place to prevent laundry piles, it never seems to work. Apparently, my kids are incapable of just taking ONE shirt and ONE pair of pants out to wear. Or when they do they MUST take it off the bottom of the pile so the whole pile can fall forward onto the floor to mix in with all of their dirty clothes they just took off.

My bathrooms are never clean. Toothpaste adorns the sink, faucets, and even mirror daily. One child seems to think that after wiping, the toilet paper goes into the garbage can, usually with poop on it, and usually not getting it all in the trash can either. One boy seems to think it's more fun to pee next to the toilet rather than IN the toilet. As a mom, I have a spray bottle of cleaner next to the toilet because I make it my mission to spray & wipe the toilet and the seat before I sit, each and every time. (I'd advise you do the same, if you happen to visit.)

Every window in the house has finger prints on them, especially the one that looks out at the family van. As the kids hear dad come home from work, they are compelled to shove their faces and hands all over it to . . . I guess, make sure it's really him?!

Also, every wall is dirty,too. Magic erasers can only do so much. I've even resorted to using a mop on my walls to speed the process up a bit, but unlike my one awesome sister, I refuse to get on my hands an knees and scrub the baseboards. I simply don't care that much. It's just gonna get dirty again, anyways. I'll wait until they are all out of the house, paint every last inch, and enjoy a stain-free environment until my kids start churning out grand kids for me.

Even then, it'll be easier to spot clean once in a while, rather than daily.

If you open the fridge, the shredded cheese makes a carpet on the shelves. Apparently, shredded cheese is more fun to eat than the pounds of string cheese I get them to eat.

The milk jug is missing it's cap (I don't recommend the milk if you visit. Hell I won't even touch it, unless the seal is intact.) Half eaten food will be found in there too. Yesterday, the brand new mayo jar was missing IT'S lid and formed that nasty looking mayo gel on top. So, more wasted food, because to my kids, the magic food fairy puts it all in there. . . . for FREE.

The Christmas tree we put up now looks very sad and mangled as the kids have played, moved, or destroyed; ornaments, garland and or lights. The tree skirt is balled up into the fetal position comforting itself, as we speak!

My leather couch has been stabbed to death, and there isn't enough egg nog this season to calm my nerves.

My oldest has gone through puberty so we get a nice healthy dose of hormones once a month now! Her sister isn't far behind so the constant fighting can only be lessened when I put my noise cancelling headphones on to drown them out. I do at least get a few free weekends away from them, as one or both head over to a friends for a weekend sleepover.

The oldest boy has taken up the guitar this year. It sounds better that way, rather than if I tell you my son has taken up annoying the shit out of us, with his horrible guitar playing, constantly. I'm sure he'll get better as he keeps practicing. At least that's what we keep telling ourselves.

#4 has taken a liking to multiple showers daily . . . I think we all know what this means. He is usually the helpful one around here, but it's usually so he can con his way into getting things he wants.
#5 is the genius in the bunch. Still that does not make for "smarts". (The dumbest smart kid we know!) I know we should probably be encouraging him more, but he is constantly "building" things with everything around the house he BREAKS. Not to mention his impeccable timing of questions. He always, ALWAYS, waits until your favorite show starts and after every commercial break when the show starts again, to ask a question or to tell you something new he learned that day.

I love him dearly, but I just want to watch my show, dude! Ask me AT the commercials, PLEASE! And to be honest, it's not like we don't try talking to him BEFORE shows. Just when we ask him "What's going on?" his answer is always "Nothing!" ARGH! And yes, son, that is a nice paper airplane . . . even though it's the 327th one you've shown me this week.

#6 . . . well it'll be a miracle if she makes it to adulthood without becoming severely obese or without becoming diabetic. This child loves to steal food like it's going out of style. She steals chocolate, chips, choclate chips, crackers, soda, cookies, ice cream, cough drops, fruits, veggies, and more. If it isn't locked up, (and we DO have a food/snack vault witha key lock!) she'll find it and eat it!

I seriously wouldn't care AS much if she just didn't try to hide the wrappers in every flipping corner of the house. Behind toilets, under sinks, in closets, under couches, and more. Frig! We've got a garbage can, use it! I probably wouldn't KNOW she stole it if she JUST got rid of the evidence in the garbage! geesh!

#7 is pure entertainment. I apparently swear too much and this little 4yo has become a parrot. Somehow hearing a 4yo say "Shut the f*ck up." is kind of funny. Probably not the best thing out in public, but still that shit is funny!

He is very bright though and every entertaining to talk with. Just the other day I jokingly said "Oh just kill me now!" to which he replied "No, don't kill mommy." long pause "Kill Sariah. She's mean. She yells at us."

Plus, it's really fun to listen to him try to say 'Despicable Me'. "Mom can I watch Despeckled Da Me'?" "What?!" "Can I watch 'Desktable Me'!" "You mean 'Despicable Me'?" "Yeah! Destibakle Me!"

#8 . . . she ain't as innocent as she was over a year ago. At 17mo she is testing her limits. She's learned to open the fridge, dig through garbage, take her diaper off, and play in the toilet. So I'd seriously think twice about kissing her hands or putting her fingers in your mouth playfully. She's also learning the art of temper tantrums. Another reason to enjoy noise cancelling headphones.


Our cat is old and hobbling around, and the kitten we did get, ran away one night after he got out; and then it proceeded to rain for 4 days straight, making any search for him virtually impossible.

The van is on it's last legs, and we're just hoping it lasts as long as possible.

Hubby is at least grateful for a job, even though it still doesn't pay enough and requires us to be on public assistance. If he made more, though, we'd probably both be drunk more often. We just can't afford the alcohol, with all of the cleaning supplies we need each week.

I'm just trying to make each day suck less by ignoring most of the shit around me through my facebook addiction, and the few alcoholic drinks we can afford rarely from time to time.

So, there you have it, family. Proof! You are better than me; at probably everything. Your houses are cleaner, you don't drink, you have better jobs and make more money, and your kids probably make fewer messes, are more talented, smarter, clean up after themselves better, and are probably much better behaved than mine, too.

Doesn't matter much anyways, as many of you never return my phone calls, or we've stopped communicating all together, for whatever reasons. Either way, we're still family and I'll still love you no matter what.

Time to uncurl the tree skirt, one more time, out of many more to come.

So Happy Holidays
From: The Morales Family!

Better Late Than Never

I don't think I blogged about the fact that Sariah, Rachel, and their friend Jane were in a local paper for their community service efforts.

http://www.argus-press.com/news/community/owosso/article_b0ba6678-6447-11e0-8d1a-001cc4c03286.html?mode=story

I just happened upon the story again and realized they "edited" what they needed too after I told them . . . meaning they had names, spellings and ages wrong which I helped correct. Even still just thought I'd share here. *Please note they do still have the "direction" wrong as it should be from the 'right' and not the 'left' (for those who may not know my kids and who is actually who.)

6 Months Into the Year

One Big Happy Family

So, yesterday I typed out a nice long post updating readers, (Whomever they are, as I don't believe anyone reads this thing.) but the cyber gawds decided that was NOT going to happen. Blogspot even kept faking me out with it's intermittent saving. It wasn't until I was done writing and hit "Publish Post" that I noticed the status bar was reading "error" with it's ominous yellow icon. I KNEW at that point I proooobably lost SOME of my work. Little did I know it stopped saving after the first unfinished paragraph.

Apparently, the magical world of all things internet, decided the time and effort I put into writing wasn't "good enough" to post for the "masses" (You know the piddly 2-3 people who might actually stop by and read 2 words and leave.)

Either way, I'm trying again today, after cussing at my computer and taking a time out . . . bwahahaha, a "time out". Mom's don't take "time outs" from anything. Just typing to this point, I have literally gotten up from the computer about 5+ times, washed laundry, put laundry in dryer now, gotten distracted by thumbing through graphics, photographs and now this HUGE ass bug that keeps flying into the wall like it's the way to Hogwarts if it just smacks into it enough times to find the magical porthole. I've also nursed Adelyn, gone to the bathroom, and yelled at kids to finish the chores they keep thinking I've forgotten about. ("Maaaaaaasoooooon - Do the dishes! I still do NOT hear the water running so I KNOW you aren't doing them!") This of course is just a sampling.

Well, I don't see the bug anymore so hopefully it found it's way to Hogwarts. If not I've got my pad of paper in my lap now waiting for it!

So, it's taken me an hour to write to this point and it will probably take me another 3-4 hours as I gather & edit pictures/graphics as well as finish writing what it is I want to entomb on the internet for the equivalent of digital tumbleweeds.

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Okay, on to what I REALLY wanted to blog about. Answering a mundane question about my family, which is:

What is the greatest part about having a big family?

{{{SIGH}}} Yep, that's the "big" question.

Ok, so maybe you are thinking to yourself "Um, I really didn't want to know that." Which is why you are probably now clicking yourself out of my blog. It's okay. I'm used to it. Won't hurt my feelings any.

So, what is the "greatest part"? . . . . Beats me!

I have 8 children, now. I have been blessed by the "Even Gawds"! Unlike my sisters who had 5 girls in a row and one of them FINALLY had a boy, I've been blessed with 4 girls and 4 boys. Not quite in that order but nice & even, just the same.

Let me back up here and state that I am the oldest of 6 childen, myself. My parents had 4 girls in a row and then a boy and a caboose girl at the end. I wasn't fond of being the "oldest" as I HAD to be and or set the "example". I got picked to do more @#$% stuff around the house first, too. I was THE mistake that basically brought the family together. If it hadn't been for the fact that my parents fooled around in the backseat of a car as teenagers, I, nor my siblings would be here today. Of course neither would my children be here today.

Still, growing up I enjoyed our larger than normal family. I LOVED babysitting, and later on LOVED staying with and helping out an even larger family. I love the CHAOS, energy, love, passion, comradery, friendship, love, joy, excitement, secrets, and more! I KNEW I wanted at least 6 kids of my own by the time I was in middle school. My mother, on the other hand literally laughed at me when I told her this and said "Oh, I don't think you'd be able to handle more than two, let alone one!" But then she never really seemed supportive of anything, I came to her with. I also remember telling her I wanted to become a teacher, and she laughed at me then too. There are other instances, but I'll spare you.

So the "greatest part" . . .

Well there is a great abundance of laundry to be had. It even multiplies! Just this past week somehow the neighbor girl's sundress ended up in my laundry cycle. I pulled it out to fold and did not recognize it. I asked the kids whose it was, and they announced to me it was Kira's. {{{SIGH}}}

With lots of kids comes LOTS of donations of clothes too. Joe the other day brought home a bag of boy clothes; which would have been fine but they came from a home of smokers, which meant I couldn't just go through the "clean" clothes and sort through them. Nope . . . instead it added 2 extra loads to my chore list before I would even go through them. (I can NOT stand cigarette smell! *blech*)
Don't get me wrong I was grateful since they were Evan's size and he needs more clothes, especially shorts and this "donation" took care of that! It's so hard to find his & Jaylen's sizes in the thrift stores around here. But like I said, the laundry multiplies!! Which is quite odd because the socks still are always disappearing!

Also, with lots of laundry comes, expensive laundry detergent! Well . . . not anymore! I thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for the Duggar family who did an episode on their thriftiness and showed how they save $$ by making their own laundry detergent! I now make my own and save over $200 a year!
Now, with a large family also comes a GREAT number of dishes. Dishes are the bane of my existence. I seriously LONG for the day I live in place with a dishwasher - and if another @#$%^&ing person says "You do have a dishwasher! It's you!" I'm gonna punch them in the #*$%^&ing mouth!

*I'll seriously take whatever drug this guy is on, please!
NO ONE is ever this happy doing dishes!*

It's an endless parade of dirty dishes, used dishes, dishes some kid decided to play in the toilet with or dig in the dirt with or gawd only knows what!

I know many think "But you have 'helpers'?" Sure if by 'helpers' you mean whining, complaining little people who fight over who did them last, or who will HIDE the dirty dishes in places they think will magically make the dirty dishes NOT mold and breed insects, never to be found or SMELLED again! Then yeah sure, then I have a couple of those laying around the house! (Seriously that hideous bug disappeared! Perhaps it did find Hogwarts! I hope for his sake if he comes back here he needs to do so with a wizard in tow to LITERALLY make these dishes disappear!) But seriously I hate dishes, and I know my mother is probably laughing at me now, knowing my kids are probably pulling the same antics I did as a kid, even though I have absolutely NO memory of being THIS way as a child. None what so ever!

***

Another "great" part about having a large family is the GREAT LARGE QUANITIES OF FOOD!


Well, we TRY to coupon, but we're nowhere near those extreme couponers out there. Although Rachel has now decided she'd like to aspire to their level of savings one day. I say "Good Luck!" to her, cause it's a LOT of work!

But the food is never ending and it is a comodity and sometimes privilege, although it seems that the kids under the age of 9 around here believe it is something to be stolen and eaten in their closets, behind the bathroom door, under the bathroom sink . . . basically anywhere MOM might not find the wrappers, empty pudding cups, sticky popscicle sticks, chocolate finger prints . . . Oh gawd, please tell me it's chocolate finger prints! You know what?! I DON'T want to know! *scrub scrub scrub*
I seriously have no #$%^&ing clue how my mother kept food in the house. I'd ask her, but in the past whenever, and I mean WHENEVER, I asked how she did something, the only answer I got was "I don't remember!" I leanred to quit asking her for advice, quickly. I just hope this means I'll have parenting amnesia when I get older too. Seriously, this "raising" stage is the pits!

Anyways, I remember having stacks and stacks of soda in the house, as a kid. Chips & Ice cream were abundant. I freely made cookies, brownies, cakes, and more! People in the house had self control and it didn't become a locust fest like it does in my house!

If we allowed the kids free range of food it'd go a little something like this:
Kaden: "Sariah. Who said you could have ice cream?"
Sariah: "Mom, said I could have some."
Kaden would the run off yelling: "Hey guys! Mom said WE could have ice cream!"

Pitter, patter, clomping, stumbling, knocking each other out of the way until someone starts screaming 'so & so' hurt them. Then the ice cream hoarding begins as bowls would fill up, as the carton's contents shrank into an unwanted pool of melted ice cream gruel at the bottom of a now beaten up container. Each child would be hugging their bowl close to their face as their spoon shoveled in their ice cold creamy contents into their mouths not caring about the brain freeze they are enduring, for fear that if they uncovered their bowl someone MIGHT think they are done and start eating THEIR ice cream before they were actually finished!

1 hour later parent walks into the dining room/kitchen area to see the mass murder of the ice cream.

Ice cream crime scenes are NOT pretty. The ice cream scoop weapon is usually still in it's victim or laying near it with the melted massacre covering it and half the table. Bowls & spoons are sprawled NOT just on the table, but the benches and even the floors (since some bigger kids wouldn't move over for the little kids) with the vanilla or chocolately mess in places you never thought you'd find it!

Parent cautiously walks towards to carton in the hopes that there is at LEAST half a scoop of semi frozen ice cream left, but alas . . . it is no more!



R.I.P Ice Cream
b-6.6.2011 @ 3:45pm
d-6.6.2011 @ 5:45pm
You were loved by some, but not everyone got a taste of you!

So yeah, food does NOT last long in a large family household, and I don't even officially have TEENS yet! Perhaps I SHOULD start to learn how to make a stockpile of food using coupons!

With that being said, I do LOVE cooking for a LOT of people. I often joke it IS one reason I had a larger family, because I didn't know how to cook for less than 12 people!
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Okay, so let's see here . . . I've covered the GREAT amount of laundry, dishes, and food (or lack there of). I have NOT even touched upon the GREAT amount of destruction a large family can produce . . .

Another 2 hours have passed since that Hogwart bug went to wizard school. PLUS, my laundry is dry now and waiting for me to fold it and put it away.

My blog was probably very incoherent and now I see I've written half a book. I guess I'll post this and try finishing up another day!

"Hey Maaaaaaaaaasooooooooon! The dishes STILL aren't done!"

2010 Is Almost Over - Thank Gawd!

Aside from being blessed with our beautiful Miss Adelyn, visiting friends and family in Utah, and maybe even the Lilith Fair (which I still have some complaints over) this year absolutely SUCKED for me.

I've read blogs, statuses, and threads of friends when they moved while pregnant or around a major holiday. Each time I thought "I am so glad that's not me. That would suck." Of course this year life made it so we got to move 4 days after I gave birth and 3 days before Christmas. You want to talk about stressed?! I think my picture was added to the definition in the dictionary this year.

Each time we moved it felt surreal. I think I feel absolutely numb from everything that has gone on this year. I just want the year to be over with and next year to begin and to begin fresh and hopefully more prosperous too.

I know we aren't settled either. I doubt we'll ever be settled and I really hate that. I want the kids to have roots and we've just been unable to provide that recently. We were doing absolutely wonderfully until the economy tanked and then 3 places back the home owner defaulted on his mortgage and went into foreclosure leaving us scrambling and since then in this huge mess.

Mixed blessings with Joe getting a job this year. Yes it's a job and we are off unemployment, but unemployment actually paid better. How shitty is that?! You want people off unemployment or even government assistance?! Maybe create jobs that give living wages. Even when the tax cuts happen so few people noticed them because insurance companies took it as an opportunity to crank up the premiums on insurance so the extra money you were supposed to have in your pocket went into your insurance providers pockets instead. {{{SIGH}}}

Ok, that was a little off topic. Joe and I just want to earn a living and be able to provide for our family. We were doing just that until misfortune struck. Now Joe is still looking for a second job or a better paying job and even I have been looking for a job as well.

Adelyn is doing well and growing like a weed, just like the rest of them. As it is I can hardly believe this will be the last year I will officially NOT have a teenager. Sariah turns 12 tomorrow and this time next year we will be entering *GASP* the teenage years.

Hormones are flying now and I don't know if I am going to make it out alive.

Any ways, there are Christmas pics up on my facebook page now and current pics of Ady there too. I updated the kids pics on here as you can see, but I won't have time to bother with the family site or the blog for a while. So until then I hope this is a good enough update.

Adelyn Grace Has Arrived

Adelyn Grace Morales has arrived!

She made her appearance on July 8th, 2010. 7/8/10 or We had 7 kids, now we have 8; which makes us a family of 10 now! (7/8/10)

My water broke just after 2pm and Adelyn entered the world at 5:17pm. It was a long labor for me. ;) LOL

She weighed 8lbs 4oz and was 21½" long.

I'll get around to a birth story when I have the time. ;)