Changing Seasons

I’m seeing the realities of a new season in life – new seasons, really, because seasons are constantly changing. But, the reality right now is, my baby is 6, and, my oldest just earned his Bachelor’s degree. One thing about having a big family is that my kids cover a large span on the developmental spectrum of early childhood to young adulthood. 

  

Some seasons seem longer than others. Sometimes we feel like certain seasons will never end.  I spent many years in the newborn and baby season. That season where just when you’re ready to walk out the door, the baby poops, where someone needs your help to get dressed, to find their shoes, to take a bath, to have a snack, to wipe their nose, to open a door, to buckle their car seat, to go potty, to get a drink of water, to wipe their little rear end.  You never get a good night’s sleep – for years on end. You are always being touched and climbed on. Your body isn’t your own. You barely find time to take a shower. You don’t get to go to the bathroom by yourself. Even now, I only sometimes get to go to the bathroom by myself and I rarely get to shower uninterrupted. But, it's all worth it.

My season of having a baby did come to an end, and I actually sold my stroller! I had a stroller for 22 years! I mean, not the same stroller, but a stroller. That was a little weird for me. It actually sat in the garage for quite some time before I sold it. I couldn't bring myself to do it. It came in handy on day trips to a zoo or amusement park. But, I found it very freeing the first time we went to an amusement park without a stroller. We put what we needed in a backpack and got around very easily.

Baby season is over in our house. Even toddler and preschooler season is over. I’m disappointed with that and OK with it, all at the same time. I now have 6 self-sufficient (to one degree or another) kids at home and one who has been on his own for several years.  I love seeing them grow up and become responsible adults. I love seeing their different personalities and strengths.

As the seasons change, some things are easier and some things are harder. It’s all just different. Before I know it, my kids will be married and out on their own. (And, I’ll have grandkids!  Woohoo!) It doesn't make me sad that they’ll be moving on. I look at my adult kids and feel like they've grown up into awesome adults – adults I’d like to hang out with, adults that will make society a better place. My goal is to work myself out of a job as my kids become adults and embark on their own life. I see my relationship with my two oldest daughters transitioning from mom to friend. I will always be their mom, but they’re adults, and I want to be their friend - when they live in my house and when they move out. Before I know it, they will all be adults ready to conquer the world.

  

I still have years of little ones, and not-so-little ones filling my house with laughter and fighting and silliness and joy and arguing and … you get the picture. I do my best to enjoy the good times. We never know how long we have with anyone in this world, so I strive to make the most of the relationships I have. That’s what’s important. Relationship. Relationship with our Father and our Savior. Relationship with our Family. Relationship with our Friends. That’s what makes life worth living.

Making Butter

Going through the Little House series, we read about Ma making butter. I realized it had been a while since we made butter, when none of the littles remembered doing it. So, we decided to make some ourselves. We don’t have a butter churn, so, we got some cream and a jar, and started shaking.

You can see that the kids are wearing the required homeschool uniform – PJs.

They took turns shaking. I helped a little. And, when they got that solid clump of butter floating in the buttermilk, just like the Little House description, they were really excited!

There it is. Beautiful homemade butter floating in buttermilk.

Next step was to strain off the buttermilk. We just poured it in a colander over a glass bowl. Look at those proud faces.

And, look at that lovely lump of butter.

They rinsed the butter until the water ran clear, just like Ma.

 Time to drink the buttermilk. They weren’t too impressed with that.

 Time to mix in the salt.

We packed the finished product in the butter bell. That’s as close as we get to butter molds.

What better way to enjoy freshly made butter, than on a piece of toast. Yum!

The only improvement on that would be to read Little House on the Prairie while eating toast with homemade butter.

Family Closet

For years, we have had a family closet. I got this idea from the MOMYS list. I mentioned this in my post on laundry. Our family closet has varied depending on the space available and the number of children using it. We use it only for the youngest children. Right now, it’s the 3 youngest. It was the 4 youngest,  but when we rearranged recently, our 14 year old moved her clothes upstairs.

I like the family closet for a couple of reasons. When I kept clothes in the kids’ rooms, they didn’t take very good care of them. Instead of putting clean clothes away properly, they often ended up on the floor. Then, they got mixed up with the dirty clothes and I ended up getting unworn, clean clothes back in the laundry. I get really irritated when clean clothes end up in the laundry pile. And, it seems that clothes in the kids’ bedrooms are just a recipe for a mess. So, we keep the bedrooms for beds, the kids’ personal belongings and a few toys.

After I’ve washed and sorted the laundry, the big folks take their laundry to their bedroom. The littles put their clothes away in the family closet. We have an alcove in our garage that we are using for the family closet now. I will admit it doesn’t always stay clean. My wonderful husband helped the little guys clean up the area the other day. So, I took advantage of the cleaning job to take pictures for this post.

Each kid has two shelves to put their clothes on.  Or, at least they have the space of two shelves. One of them has bins on the floor in place of one shelf. Another has a basket/shelf combo area. As you can see, the shelves are also used for storing other household items, Costco paper goods, stuffed animals (finally, a place for the stuffed animals!), clothes to grow into, etc.

We have carabiners to hold the tzitzit collection. This works well because it’s easy to get the set they want, but, it closes so they don’t end up falling all over the floor. In case you’re wondering what I’m talking about, they wear these on their clothes – usually their belt loops. Numbers 15:39 says “you shall have the tzitzit that you may look upon it and remember all the commandments of Yahweh and do them.”  

We also have a hanging rack for their hanging clothes.

I love this black shelf. My husband got it for me when Borders Books was going out of business. It’s very sturdy and it rolls. We had it in the school room for a long time to hold school supplies. We didn’t need it in there anymore when we added built-in bookshelves. (That’s another blog post for another day.) So, now we’re using it for the baby doll and dress up clothes collection.

And, last, but not least, we have the baby dolls. Lots and lots of well loved baby dolls. 

We have mostly had our family closet in a varying configurations in the garage. Some people have it in their laundry room. Others have made a bedroom into the family closet. If you like the idea, be creative. You'll find a way to do it.