A Day in the Life...

 

The banks!!

Since I'm apparently so great at keeping up on here and writing entire dissertations about life right now here's yet....more pics! Oneday I'll write again. Someday.

7 weeks

The forbidden...

The "almost twins". Garrett is now closer in height to Grant than Grant is to his own twin. People are being constantly corrected as to who Grant's twin really is.

Kids are so gross. Not only did she pick it up...she brought it in the house...alive! Found in the dog food can. We had cats for a reason. It took Grayson merely one shot for him to rid the world of the Bubonic carrying, sewage loving creature. Not bad for a mouse on the run. And the next morning.....they got up and did it all over again. The dog food can now has a lid on it.

Sweet, sweet, kissable, lovable boy of mine.

In case you ever wonder..... This would be how you haul stuff in a van already maxed out with kids.

11 kids and 2 shelving units successfully crammed into 3 square feet of space! How is it that when it's being treated for ticks it's as big as Grand Central Station but when fitting shelving in it's no bigger than the silverware drawer? The floor regularly pukes up all forms of petrified substances.....so yeah....let's not go there.

Grayson discovered this on a bundle of boxes in Home Depot. I'm  thinking somebody is in need of some remedial math. No...it's not wrong....but umm.....head math, anyone? Even our worst at math can figure this one out.....most days.

Yes....we eat healthy on station nights. But that's not the point. The decision of the day....tie up the microwave for an hour....6 x's 9 = an hour...or close enough.....or put them all in the oven for an hour. Either way....it's gonna take an hour....and they didn't get started until 7. Soooo.....they ate waffles.

Bubble baby. Seeing as how Gavin poured the entire dispenser of hand soap into the bottom of the tub Gates got an unexpected spa day.

Beach day celebrating the end of a pretty trying season in life. 9 very happy kids

.....and little #10. Apparently the 64 degrees and windy conditions were a little colder for him than everybody else. His teeth were chattering. It didn't seem to stop everybody else from diving in though! How amazing it is to be here in 64 degree windiness while our west Texas hometown is seeing highs above 100. I find it funny that this beach had NO footprints or tracks in the sand, other than tire tracks from an ATV beach ranger, before we arrived. That's a whole lot of little feet running around. I love looking at the different sized feet our family has imprinted in the sand. The little things in life that amuse the mind and heart.

When everybody takes care of the one missing out on the fun.

The Whalehead Club. Some pretty amazing OBX history.

Currituck....again!

Barefoot and happy at the base of the light.

Helping daddy put together the grill.

I am pretty certain they never....ever....stop making messes.

I have found our new bunkbed solution.

sand eating boy

Before he froze.

gas station stops

Blurry but sweet.

As his dark newborn hair falls out it's growing in red. Yet another red headed boy. We seem to be fairly good at making those.

When they're supposed to be napping....

A pushing, B swinging...the forbidden swing. The duo that never stops moving....or getting into stuff.

Running errands. I had the privilege of driving this load home. We actually had to measure to make sure we'd fit under the bridges. 

I never worried about forgetting where I parked that day.

35 miles later....home.

Some pretty excited, bike loving kids. I really love craigslist.

Since the basement closet was a dismal failure. Trying again one more time.  Children were blessed abundantly with clothes while husband's visiting parents were here all last week. As grateful as we are for children's needs being so abundantly met.....entire wardrobes for 11 children have the potential to be very amazingly overwhelming to the head. If anything has the ability to make me crazy....it's clothes. And people think I'm joking when I say I'm a day away from joining a nudist colony. The everybody closet has made life easier in every regard....but we lost it here for a few months. The walk in closet of our last home proved to be amazing for the everybody closet purpose. The basement here....not so much. With only 1500 sq ft to work with within the entire house finding a spot for anything has proved challenging. Clothes have been the reason for tears on more than one occasion....as it proved to be yet again last week....even as minimally as I require wardrobes to be for everyone. Even just 1 pair of shorts, 1 pair of jeans and 3 t-shirts for everyone quickly adds up.....to 56 articles of clothing to be exact. And given the excessive daily use of just 1 pair of shorts and the holes that wore in them in a mere week's matter of time it didn't take a genius to quickly surmise one pair of shorts for each person would never work. But when we have a more reasonable 3 pair per person that's already just 39 pair of jeans alone. That doesn't even begin to include the 2 loads of towels per day, underwear, shirts and everything else. Patient husband had great mercy and compassion on my overwhelmed self and made room within the budget for cheap, plastic sturdy shelving, as the huge commercial metal shelving we put in basement proved to be too huge for the inside of house. It's now serving as a place for water laden boxes that no longer have any strength to be stacked. I moved entertainment center out of office area, as it was only serving as kitchen pantry storage, and put the shelves together to create our new everybody closet. Located in the office right off the kitchen where washer/dryer closet is located, this is proving to be quite amazing. It's easy to keep organized and put away, clothes can be put up even during naps, and when anything is out of order or strung out it's seen quickly and easily picked up....and washer/dryer are right around the corner! I really really love this.

All clean clothes located on left shelves. Shelves on right side of room contain dirty clothes.

Shelves on left of room containing clean clothes from left to right:
Bottom row - boot basket, Grayson's shoes (he's in a 14 so gets his own basket), all girls shoes, little boy shoes
2nd row - Ivye's clothes, little boys' pjs/underwear, little boys shorts, little boys jeans
3rd row - everybody sock basket, older girls pj's/underclothing, older girls jeans and shorts, Gates' clothes
4th row - Grayson's jeans, Grayson's pj's/underwear, little twins' clothes, Sunday basket (church jeans, belts, and clothes to be worn - we put those in Sat night so they can just grab and go on Sun morning)
Top row - baskets still in basement due to stuff within needing to be washed from dust, mud and flood. They will be pillowcases, extra blankets, twin sheets, king sheets.

Shelves on right side of room containing dirty clothes:
bottom row - towels
2nd row - jeans
3rd row - darks
4th row - lights
Top row - extra baskets waiting for clean loads from dryer.

We now have a hanging rack located in between two shelving units so all hang ups are now in closet area too. Pics to come. Rule is that all shirts are hung up...even t-shirts. They are much easier to locate that way and no longer are lost in massive wadded up messes. Small house closets are now used for sleeping bag storage and rods are used for girls long dresses and skirts. I. am. happy.

His newest accomplishment.

Garrett taking care of his babies.

He wasn't a fan of being man handled.

...but he is definitely loved by these two