Spring and Summer

Okay . . . I guess it has been quite a while since I blogged because this is a completely new format!

I once heard a mother with lots of kids say that with each new kid she had to let go of something to make extra time in her life.  I think blogging has been the thing that I've let go lately.  I don't think my blogs are really encouraging to anyone, but then I find myself reading the blogs of moms with more children than I have (now that is amazing to think about, isn't it), and just seeing how the Lord sustains them in everyday life is a real encouragement to me.  So, here is what is going on in Gollnerworld this spring/summer and how the Lord is sustaining me in my everyday life.

School is finally (for the most part . . . I tried to throw some 4-H project into the school formula, and it didn't go so well) out.  It just seemed like a very long year.  I schooled all through my mono in November and December, and the realization that I just don't have enough hours to keep on top of schooling all five the way Steve and I want them to be taught, it all just seemed to make the year really hard.  We looked into several options for school next year for our high school girls, and ended up enrolling them in the Abeka video school.  I felt terrible asking Steve to pay for that, because it means extra time on the mortgage, but I couldn't figure out how to stretch myself as much as would be needed next year (mainly with Spanish, Biology and Algebra).  But, a godly education for our kids is something we are willing to sacrifice a lot for, and we now have the budget to prove it!  :)

The most amazing thing that has happened this spring is that Steve has started running.  He still hates it, but he is doing it.  Hannah, Nathan and I are doing the Trojan Trot next Saturday.  I was really hoping to hit my 27-28 minute "New Years Goal" for the race, but I'm just not keeping up a 9 minute mile pace for all three miles yet.  Maybe by the end of the summer!  My college roomie is planning to run a 5K with me in August, so maybe I will be in better shape by then.  I really like running with the family.  Most of the little kids just play in the middle of the track with minimal running, but we have always been very family centered, so this fits us well.  Much better than dragging seven kids to the ballpark 20 times a season to watch one sibling play games, in my opinion.

This is our last week of babysitting.  It has been fun having a few more boys in the house (did I really say that).  It wasn't something I really searched out doing, but it has worked out really well for our family.  I've had other babysitting experiences that just didn't work out so well.  The boys have been good playmates for my little ones.

Well, time to go make some dishes for our Singspiration tonight.  I love my church, and I love eating with my church family!!

2012 so far

Update on my goal to go as long as I could into the new year before spending money: Well, I made it 13 days before Steve had to pick up some groceries for me. :( That sounds pathetic to me, since I used to go three weeks between shopping trips, but the amount of food that this family goes through is somewhat unbelievable at times! We haven't made any more grocery runs since then, but while making breakfast for church this morning I used up my butter and brown sugar and I'm down to one egg. I've learned to make cream of chicken and mushroom soup, enchilada sauce and I can grind wheat or use powdered milk, but I'm lost on the egg and butter thing! On a positive note, I really like the pecan rolls I made this morning. Hmm, that would answer everyones question about how I'm doing about cutting back on my sugar intake, eh?!

For my praying friends, I'd like to ask special prayer for my little Noah's behavior. Now, I don't want you to think the poor guy is a monster. Quite the contrary, he is a very loving little guy, and I think most people would see him as mostly obedient. I'll take a little pause in the story to say, I think homeschooling is the best way to disciple ones children. You can argue about the education they are getting or whatever else, but really, to spend all day, every day, with ones child is, in my mind, the best way to teach them all I want them to learn. However . . . it is exhausting work!
Noah has an interesting character. He is super smart, super active, and like all the Gollner boys, super stubborn. I guess I should just make a long story short and say that I really need to focus on following through with his obedience. For example: I took a toy away from him yesterday because he did not obey me the first time I asked (good for me, I'm often too lazy to follow through with doing that), but when I walked out of the room I heard him say, "That's okay, I know where she hides my toys." *sigh* So that is the kind of thing I need to deal with. The follow-up on the follow-up punishment! I know he is only six, but I firmly believe the Lord lays particular children on my heart at particular times because of specific sins I need to deal with in their hearts. I felt really burdened for Hannah and Sarah about a year ago. I am really burdened right now for Nathan and Noah, but I'm sending Nathan to Steve for some one-on-one study now. That leaves me with Noah, so please pray! :)

Well, I've been thinking of things for days that I wanted to blog about, but now my mind is empty. I guess I'll just say that our family is doing well so far this year. Algebra was a struggle for a while, but since they are only 8th grade, and Sarah is only 12, I have time to re-do the whole year. Noah is getting close to completing his first grade books. Reading is starting to click with him, but he still has a hard time sitting in one place for the 10 minutes I require him to read each day. He likes to read, but his little body just can't stay in a chair. One day he ended up on my desk while he was reading. I told him to get down, and I really think he was surprised to see that he had climbed up there. I can't help but think of all the kids I had when I was subbing 14 years ago that I couldn't understand because they couldn't stay in one place for more than a minute. :) I sure hope his energy holds out so he can use it for the glory of God some day.
Miss Mary is growing way too quickly. I saw her take two steps backwards tonight! Really? I don't think 10 month old babies are allowed to do that yet. My mom always said I never walked, I just started running. That is pretty much my Mary!
Speaking of Mary, I've been on here a long time. I better go check in with her!

New Year (part 2)

I'm starting to think of some things I would like to accomplish or improve in the new year.

1. Memorize chapters 3-5 of Ephesians.

2. Take pictures with my friends. In 2010 I lost two friends, and I realized I didn't have any pictures of myself alone with either of them. I decided last year I would try to get pictures of myself with my friends, but I didn't get a single picture last year, so it's going down as an official goal this year.

3. Start running again. The last day I ran was October 31st, so I'm sure it will be like starting all over again! :( I'd like to run a 5K in the 27-28 min range.

4. Start preschool with Joshua.

5. Do more individual discipleship with Nathan and Noah.

6. Do more personal Bible study - possibly make a study book for the kids on the book of Ephesians.

New Year

Time to evaluate my goals from last year:
1. The family is reading through the New Testament together this year. Seems a bit whimpy after reading the whole Bible last year, but this way we can work on other things as well.
We did it. Steve also did a little Old Testament reading toward the end of the year. He is reading in the morning during breakfast now as well as at night, so we can get through a lot more in a day.

2. Memorize the book of Ephesians with the kids. I only got through about two or three verses before our Christmas break from school, but I really want to try to memorize two or three verses a week.
Failed! :( Things were okay until Mary came, then summer break, and my mono . . . We learned two chapters and were starting on the third when I got sick. This will have to be a repeat goal for next year.

3. Well, this will have to wait a few months, but I'm really determined to get in shape after the baby is born and run a 5K. I've wanted to do the Raptor Run at the Creation Museum for several years now, so maybe this will be the year!
Completed! I finally got to run the Raptor Run this year. I would love to do it again next year with my little sister (as long as she promises not to beat me)!

4. I have got to do a better job of grading Hannah and Sarah's books! I grade as I go with the three little ones, but I am way too far behind on the older girls' work!
Well, I'm doing really well keeping up with what needs to be recorded for a high school transcript. I can't say I do well grading other things, but I'm okay with what we are doing now.

5. I'm trying to think of how I can incorporate an exercise program into our day (PACL memories abound- for my Cedarville friends). I haven't really figured out how I will find time for it yet!
We did really well running in the spring and summer. I haven't done anything with the kids since fall hit though.

A day in the life . . .

I can't imagine this will be very exciting for most people, unless the "large family" is something you find fascinating. I have an online friend that asked me months ago how we do what we do, and I figured this would be the best way to do that, just writing down my schedule. So, consider yourself warned if you are just here browsing! :)

7am - wake up call. I usually try to get a few of my chores done (I'll list those later) before I start breakfast around 7:40 or so. They rest of the kids work on their chores. I make breakfast on the weekdays; we usually have pancakes or waffles but sometimes cinnamon rolls, monkey bread, french toast, biscuits and gravy, or (my newest find) homemade hot pockets.

8am - breakfast / Bible reading by daddy - we catch up on our through the Bible reading or read from Proverbs

8:20 - Steve teaches geography to Hannah and Sarah. The rest of the kids diligently work on chores (hope that didn't sound TOO sarcastic).

8:45 - I nurse Mary and usually she goes to sleep (I just cry if she doesn't, jk, she joins us for school if she doesn't)

9:00 - School starts. I start with Bible memorization with all the kids (we are finally getting to the end of Eph. 2 - yes, I was hoping to memorize the whole book of Eph. this year, but it looks to be more of a two or three year project at our pace) as well as character study and catechism work.

I start individual schooling with Noah then work my way up through the kids. I usually only get about half way done with Nathan before it is time for lunch.

12:00 lunch - Steve makes it home most days, although his schedule is very erratic, so nothing is for sure around here.

1:00 naps - Yes, I'm a die hard nap momma! I've found that my kids require much more discipline in the evenings when they don't get naps. Early bed is not really an option with our schedule, so I'm serious about naps. I nurse Mary first, then read to Ruth and Josh. If Noah is too noisy, I even make him come in for nap time. The older kids can work on chores or do school work.

Whenever the young ones go to sleep! - more school. I try to work with Hannah and Sarah by this time, but they really end up doing most of their work on their own. I spend time on Spelling and Algebra mostly.

4:00-4:30 - I try to start supper around this time, but it all depends on the activities of the day.

Weekly activities (for this sports season anyway):

Monday: piano, volleyball

Tuesday: choir

Wednesday: flute, Word of Life clubs

Thursday: piano, volleyball

My chores:

1. I'm in charge of the baby.

2. I cook all of the meals, although lunch is usually leftovers or something very simple. I do a lot of from scratch cooking, which means I'm going through about 20 pounds of flour a week at this point.

3. I clean up the breakfast mess.

4. I put away all of my clothes as well as Steve's clothes.

Monday: laundry day - I do three or four loads of laundry

Okay, Steve is home, so I'll just have to continue another time. Don't hold your breath! :)

I really try not to do this too often because I think it may overwhelm some dear friends, but I've had such a good day, and I'm just so thankful for the strength the Lord gives me to complete tasks that I want to share.

My day included these activities:
1. Getting seven of the kids ready for church (Steve always takes one of the olders out at 7:00am)
2. Teaching Sunday School
3. Worship service - almost got to sit through the whole sermon before Mary got chatty
4. Lunch and nap (short one)!
5. Running 3.1 miles - next Sat. is my race at the Creation Museum. I keep thinking that I ran 2.5 in high school in the 18-19 min range, so 25 min should be realistic. But the true reality is 20 years, 20 pounds and 8 kids in 13 years may make that UNrealistic.
6. Making supper for the youth group.
7. Making coloring sheets of China for Esther's International Night project (I'm just including that to see the "shock and awe" I get from my KASH friends.
8. Making a skirt with Esther (all but putting the elastic in the waistband because I don't have any).
9. Now I'm blogging . . . something I've wanted to do for months, but just haven't had a chance.

Now, here is a funny that I know I've already shared with several of you, but it just cracks me up every time I think of it! I have felt the last few weeks (well, since the start of school), that I'm running constantly and just not able to get everything done. This really isn't a new thing for me to feel; I have bouts of this quite often. But recently, it has just been every day for six weeks now. One day last week I had rushed around getting supper for Steve and the kids to take with them to a volleyball game and choir. After they left I was rushing around trying to get dishes ready for a Mom's Night Out that I had. As I often do when I'm rushing like that, I ask myself what I could eliminate in my life and why I'm so busy. I was going through the list of activities we are in compared to last fall. We had two girls playing volleyball last year as well, Steve was working on the construction at church last year (yes, it is the project that never ends), I'm doing a high school class with the girls, but it doesn't take much more time than 7th grade math did, I'm running, but I've compensated for that time by cutting back on facebook. So, I was going through all of this in my head while rushing to get out the door, and I bent over and picked up Mary in her carseat . . . Ever have one of those lightbulb moments?! :) Okay, I may be a semi-professional mom by now, but having a baby in the house still takes time! LOL! Just nursing her takes an hour of my day. And there we have it! The reason I just can't seem to get it all done this year . . .and that is why I was so glad to check a few things off my "need to do" list today.

Well, Odyssey is over, so I need to go do Bible reading with the family!
BTW: Serene Lim, I have NOT forgotten about your request! Some day I will write that blog just for you!

Vacation recap (part 1, I'm sure)

I'm trying to type with Mary on my lap, so I'm not sure how this is going to work out. :) This for everyone really interested in the Gollner's life, really bored, or just wanting to vacation vicariously through our family.

This wasn't a typical vacation for us because we didn't go very far this year, but as you will see, we still managed to do a lot of things, and the kids all had a really good time. We had planned to go to Colorado, but when the gas prices were so high in April / May, we just decided to stay close to home.

Sunday: We finally pulled out of town on Sunday afternoon around 3 and drove to McCormick's Creek State Park. We got a very nice campsite next to the playground and the restroom - two very important things for us! The kids spent a lot of time riding scooters and playing at the playground. We had a campfire with s'mores at night. :)

Monday: We took a hike down to a waterfall. The hike was labeled as moderate on one paper and hard on another paper. Hmmmm . . . it was only moderate until the last part when we had to go up 146 steps to the top. After Steve recovered, we went swimming at the pool in the park. The oldest four kids were very excited to see diving boards.

Tuesday: The kids used some of their vacation savings for horse and pony rides in the park. We went swimming at the pool again in the afternoon. Hannah finally got me to dive off the diving board at around 5:30, then she could do it too. Unfortunately, the pool closed at 6, so she didn't get too much diving practice.

Wednesday: We packed up and went to the George Rogers Clark memorial then to Lincoln State Park. They had a nice beach, so we went swimming at the beach in the evening.