You know your in a large family when

This morning I was reading one of my favorite blogs. Larger family life is a wonderful true blog. Today she titled her blog post You know you have a large family when… It got me thinking, so I made my own list. What would you add to it? You know you have a large family when: You have to pull tables together at a restraunts You put large quantities of toilet paper in each bathroom You do not have a ton of out grown clothes in storage because someone can always where the size someone just grew out of. You have multiple refrigerators and deep freezers and your pantry looks like a small grocery store, and there is always a list of things waiting to be brought. Your grocery list looks like you are shopping for a party Your daily menu could be more food than a normal restraunts menu You always have at least one bathroom out of commission. You do not need advanced warning when company is coming over because you always cook a large meal When you find something on sale you buy all they have because you know it will not last You do not worry about food going outdated when you shop because it does not You would love to do a blog review for a washer and dryer company You invite extra kids over and then have to count heads because once there they blend in and you forget they are there. A friend comes over and forgot her diaper bag, no big deal you have everything they could need Someone complains about taking 2 kids to the store and you try not to giggle You take up a whole pew at church You do not have to invite friends to birthday parties and it still looks like you have a huge gathering. Turkeys are bought more often than on Thanksgiving because it is cheaper than regular meat and feeds a small crowd. A week does not go by without being asked: do you want more, didn’t someone teach you how to stop this, or they tell you they could never do this. When you go to the zoo, you are your own field trip and are offered a group rate The cell phone company considers you a business because you have so many numbers. When one child is sick there are many people to keep you company and help do what you cannot do. Everything piece of furniture can be used for multi purposes or you do not buy it. You are never lonely because someone is always there. You are constantly stared at in public, either a child is having a bad day or the kids are being so good that they stare. How many children do you have in your family? How do you make it work? I would love for you to add to this blog post and share your ideas. Pamela

Playgrounds

I love taking the kids to the playground. I love watching all the new things they learn to do on the same playground. I love watching them try to climb over one another. Do you look for new playgrounds or do you stick with your favorite one. We love finding new and exciting playgrounds. Pamela

5 Question Friday

1. What is the funniest thing you saw on Facebook/twitter this week? Actually this was my question. I see a ton of funny things on both but what cracks me up the most is people who try to define twitter/facebook. You know the type who says why do people post pictures of animals all the time, no one cares? I always laugh because they use to post pictures before they had kids. Or the ones who correct you’re spelling for you. Because you know facebook is all about getting in a grammar lesson. 2. What is your favorite Olympic event? Gymnastics, so beautiful. 3. Do your kids to chores around the house? If so, what are they and how old are the children? Do they get paid for them? Oh I love this question. Let’s start with paying them. NO NO way, this is a family and we all work together. Now, saying that I do pay extra for things like cleaning up things I do not want to do like animal upchuck, or changing a diaper or if they are trying to earn money I can always find extra chores. Okay so what chores do they do? This could be a whole blog post but here goes Michael (15) sweeps kitchen/laundry room, clean kitchen table and chairs three times a day, takes out trash Faith (12) does dishes and counters three times a day Hope (9) washes and dries clothes and sorts clothes Grace (6) straightens bathrooms, empties trash in bathrooms Jason (4) brings all laundry from hallway and puts in laundry room, will always be found helping one of the other kids with chores James (2) umm, puts things in trash for me. Okay, going to stop and make a whole blog post. This is a AWESOME question. 4. If you get bad service/food do you complain or keep quiet? I use to be the person who complained almost every time I went out to eat. I have changed over the years. I do complain about food if it is totally bad. But I also have called a million times to say the good things. 5. If you could pick ONE frivolous item for your home, what would it be? (Massive room sized closet? swimming pool? greenhouse? etc...) Don’t laugh but I would want two things. First I would want a massive bedroom/closet. Okay imagine this one room that is a family closet with no broken dressers. Then off from that room I would have four/five bedrooms for the kids. Oh to dream of building a house made just for my family. The second would be a major kitchen, almost restraunts style kitchen. I think I will write another blog post about our dream home. Pamela Don’t forget about my amazing give away going on right here.

Have you entered my latest give away? It is one you will love? And you can enter right here. Pamela

Playdough

I love homemade play dough. I refuse to buy something that I can make so easily. I have been making it for years. I have learned to make it a bunch of different ways. Sometimes I had unsweetened kool-aid for scent. I have also learned to only make one color at a time. It bugs me when they mix colors so now I just make one color at a time. 4 cups flour 1 cup salt 1 3/4 cup warm water food coloring or paint powder I mix mine in the mixer now. For years I would mix it by hand and one day while making bread that I could use it for making play dough. What other fun things do you do with your kids during the summer to keep them busy? Pamela

Feeling Beachie

WOW Do I feel honored to help this week. I guess I better come up with some amazing answers. First of all I would love if you would link up and answer these fun questions with me. It is a great way to get to know one another. Oh, you do not know me. Well let me introduce myself. I am Pam, Pamela if you ask my mom, Gypsy Dawn if it was up to my dad. I am a stay at home mom although there are few days we end up staying home. I have six amazing children, ages 2-15. Ha, my 1 key is messed up so it just wrote 6 kids ages 2-5. Man I think it is hard now, that would be hard. My husband is a soldier and has been for 19 years. We are in the middle of our eighth deployment. I enjoy blogging but hate editing so you will always find lots of mistakes. I enjoy sewing and scrap booking but those things do not happen often any more. okay, let's get to these amazing questions, you know since I came up with them. The statements are: 1. I learned how to make _sew____ in _my friends kitchen, I wish we lived closer because she has so much more to teach and I have so much more to learn. ___ 2. I have always wanted to _learn to swim under water but am totally scared of drowning. ___ 3. My purse always has a __chapstick________and _my daughters first diaper, she was a preemie and it reminds me of how far we have come______________. 4. One day when I am _a adult___________I am going to _stop stressing about what everyone else things and says about me.______________________. Pamela The code is:

Wordless Wednesday

I love my son. A couple of weeks ago he went to summer camp. Right before he left he tied a rope around my wrist to remind me to pick him up. I told him the counselors would never let me forget him. This child cracks me up. Pamela

They are growing up too fast

Can I ask a question? How long was I asleep last night? Because all the sudden my children are HUGE, when did I give them permission to grow up? Pamela

Miscellany Monday

I am so excited about this week. My girls come home from visiting grandma, my son comes home from his last summer camp. I have missed having everyone home. I am so excited to get back on schedule. This week my husband and I have been married for 17 years. I cannot believe it. We have been together for much longer. For our anniversary I got him a new gun. I only wish he was here to enjoy it. How do you know you have cool friends? When you get a package and get a bag like this in it. I love Becky for sending this to me. Just for the fun of it. And this is me. Hope drew it of me a couple of weeks ago. I love this child. I am also excited because I am having a fun give away right now, one that makes me want to snuggle up in bed and think about my hero. You can check it out here. Pamela

Military Apparel Company Give Away

Have you heard of militaryapparelcompany.com? My friend Kristy is a consultant. When I first saw the website I knew this was the place for me. They have everything from purses to blankets to bags to little teddy bears. Too much to chose from. Kristy offered to let me review one of her products. When I first received this darling blanket I was so excited. First I was excited because anything that comes from this friend must be amazing. Then I opened the box and saw the blanket and was in love. Then I picked up the blanket and well here is where I got a little weird. I know this blanket was sent for my boy but oh man, it is so soft and so snuggly. I was not expecting it to be so soft. I am having a hard time not sleeping with it. I have two little boys and am amazed at how well put together this blanket it. Did I mention that not only does this blanket feel like daddy’s uniform on one side but has the snuggliest (is that a word) on the other side. I love how it is chocolate brown so does not show all the little kids stuff. All this talk makes me want to borrow the blanket back from the baby and go to bed. Is that wrong? Would you like to see what all Military Apparel Company has to offer? Would you like to tell my friend Kristy thank you for helping my children have something that feels good and reminds them of daddy all at the same time? Would you like a chance to win a gift certificate to Military Apparel? There are several ways for you to enter: First you can visit Military Apparel Company and tell me what you like the most and if it would be for you or for your child? Second, you can like Kristy’s facebook page Third, you can like my facebook page, Trooppetrie Fourth share this contest on facebook, twitter or on your blog and leave a comment saying where you shared. You can share daily. And for double entries you can order something from Kristy (simply send her a message on her facebook page). I could give you a shopping list for me if you need to shop for someone else. I will keep entries open until next Monday. Pamela

Zumba

I like to walk during boy scouts.It keeps the kids busy. While we walk I watch Zumba. Grace decided she wanted to try Zumba. She was so cute. The track we walk is above the gym. I love that she was doing Zumba in dress shoes. Pamela

5 Question Friday

1. What do you call them –flip flops, sandals, thongs, or slippers? Flip flops if they are flip flops and sandals if they are sandals. 2. 2. Are you a “my kids can do no wrong” kind of mom or a “Johnny punched you? Well what did you do to him first? Kind of mom? I am mega protective but I am definitely the mom who thinks her kids did something wrong. I need to be better about giving them credit. 3. Would you confront a good friend that looked/looks down on your husband? Oh man, that is my hero. Several months ago I had a friend (or so I thought) tell me that all these soldiers should not have PTSD and they are trained for this. That they are all put on crazy people medicine. WOOOOOOOOOO, I have never hit anyone in my life and that day it took all I had to control myself. I have seriously never been so mad. If my husband is wrong I will admit he is wrong but talk ill of him without reason and it is on. He works too hard to ever be talked down about. Only I get that right, haha. 4. Biggest pet peeve? Looking down on someone because of their weight, how much money they have (rather it is a lot of money or no money), what rank they are or how they clean their house. I promise if you look close enough there are things people can look down at you for. 5. Favorite take out meal? Chicken from KFC or pizza from Papa John’s. Pamela

Wordless Wednesday

Yep it's summer which means everyone has banged up knees. Actually to me it means they are having fun and being kids so it is worth it. My question is how do I prevent these little knees from getting scars. Pamela

Dear Mr. President

Dear Mr. President, I have been very patient. I have survived 7 deployments. I have survived moving; I have survived 19 years with my husband in the Army. I rarely complain. I rarely whine. I never neglect my kids; I never call his command and lose my temper. And believe me I have had reason to. I have served my time with the FRG and other groups. So now I have a favor. Could you please send my soldier home from his eighth deployment for about 48 hours? You see in the last week I have unclogged my bathtub, replaced windshield wiper blades and replaced the light in my range hood, explained to a child that daddy will be home soon. So if you do not mind could you send him home long enough to fix the broken toilet, install the new systems for my children to use for school, mow the grass, install the new dish receiver (so I do not have to pay $65 to have it done). And it may not seem like a big deal but he is the one that cleans the bathrooms and scrubs the kitchen floor. If you would let him come home for 48 hours he could take care of all of these things for me and then you could have him back for a little while longer and I promise you will not hear from me for another 19 years. Thanks, a women with dirty floor and a broken toilet. Okay, seriously would never write the president. Just being silly and getting frustrations out. I am pretty sure I can live through the rest of the deployment. Well as long as the toilet gets fixed

Happy Homemaker Monday

The weather- hot hot and double hot. Maybe not 105 this week but H-O-T and I do not like hot. On my reading pile On my TV- nothing, I cannot find anything worth watching On the menu for the week- making baked chicken tonight for a friend so I will make extra to have for the week. On my to do list- Someone is coming today to repair my kitchen cabinets and replace my ceiling fan so I had to empty cabinets which means I will be putting everything away tonight What I am sewing- nothing now but I am determined to pull out my quilt stuff and get it going. I have material to make two quilts this summer. I just hate cutting it by myself Homemaking tip- take a day and walk through each room and pick 5 things out that are not being used and donate them. Make it a regular habit. It is amazing what you can give away. Looking around the house- I see emptiness, four of my children are away this week and while they are having fun I am missing them terribly. From the camera On my prayer request- there are several 5 day clubs going on right now , which means lots of little hearts being reached Bible verse-Jeremiah 29:11 New International Version (NIV) 11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future Pamela

Feeling Beachie

So this week I thought I would share pictures from my phone. First a picture of a Tudors cup. Tudors is a biscuit shop in my home town. I cannot go home without stopping there. Okay the feeding children always makes me giggle because honestly why do you even give it as a option. Especially after you have been walking in 90 degree weather with 7 children for a hour. My son loves PB&J. He is 15 and literally has had it no less than 10 times a week for the last 10 years. Oh man how many sandwiches is that? WOW if I am correct that is over 420 THOUSAND. ooh ooh ooh, the picture of the pizza place is awesome. So I have been going to this Little Ceasars since high school. LOVE it, ate there all the time. So I went in and instead of a half broken video game and $5 pizzas. It is this fancy place to get $5 pizzas. They said there is only three of them. Man, you feel like your getting a gourmet pizza using coupons. Pamela

Rain Rain go away

Do you let your kids play in the rain? I love to let my kids play in the rain but recently we had extra kids over and I did not want them picked up dripping wet. So we just sat on the porch and watched the rain. They loved it. Actually they loved trying to sneak down the stairs without me noticing. Pamela

5 Question Friday

1. What's your view on men wearing sandals (yay or nay)? Yucko, yucko and double yucko. Okay, I will fess up. My husband wears those ugly sandals. Well when he left his dog kept finding one and chewing on it at night. Poor dog was missing her daddy and she does not chew on other shoes. So how could I stop her? I do not mind flip flops on guys but sandals kind of creep me out. Sorry hon, please forgive me. Really it is the dogs fault. 2. What song do you love but are embarrassed to admit? Sexy and I know it, not listen to it daily but when we walk the track and I hear someone playing that song it is encouraging and makes me want to move it, move it. So I guess that is the other song. 3. What summer camp should they make for moms? For me it would be like many other summer camps. It would involve classes like: parenting with love, sewing 101, reading 101, napping 201, blogging 101 and 201, relaxing 201, growing in your faith 301, and of course on the last day they would have a scrapbooking class and have all the weeks pictures printed so we can have the week scrapbooked before leaving. It would have camp food only it would be yummy food that we order as we go, it would have a spa and individual air conditioned cabins with king size beds. Someone else would be responsible for making the bed and cleaning up. I think I would learn a lot. I would be able come home rested and ready to face a new school year. 4. What is the most romantic song? (Not necessarily your favorite or your wedding song...) hmm, I know I have them, let me think. SHOOT, can you tell there has been no romance in my life in a LONG time (yep I am romance deprived for your freedom”). Oh wait I remember, which is good because I was worried I had lost it. I am a huge Michael Bolton fan. So I would say when a man loves a woman”. Oh man that son. Okay, I will finish writing this soon; I have to go listen to Michael Bolton. 5. Do you have an embarrassing pregnancy story? Well not about me but my son. I had a high risk pregnancy with my first daughter and went into preterm labor. I was released from the hospital and went straight to a promotion ceremony for my husband. I was setting in the back of the hanger with my son (age 3). The commander and first sergeant walked back to say hi and check on me. As they walked away my son said “mom are those boys” I answered yes and reminded him he needed to be quiet. There were probably 200 soldiers in formation and the hanger was silent. Then he says in his loudest voice “does he have a penis”. Okay, that is when I tried to slink under the chair. Pamela

Feeling Beachie

This week’s statements: 1. My day always starts by _waking before the kids and enjoying a few minutes of quiet and checking to see if my hero wrote me.___ 2. I prefer fly rather than___ to _drive, all those other cars close by and all the time is crazy. ___ 3. I never thought I’d _love having teenage children___ until I _had one, now I know how awesome it is to have a child who I can talk to___ 4. I wish I could _lock myself in my room_______ for ___a few days and sew until I was tired and then sleep until I was ready to sew some more__. Pamela

Wordless Wednesday

We have a new toy in our back yard and the kids love it. I found it at a yard sale a couple of weeks ago. Anything that keeps the kids busy and helps them play is great with me. How do you encourage your kids to play outside? I bribe mine with homemade Popsicle and

frozen grapes. Pamela

Deployments are hard

Sometimes I feel like this deployment is dragging. For several reasons this deployment has been more mental than one. We (well me) are struggling to stay close as a couple. This is weird, because we normally get along great when he is deployed. Some days I remind myself that we are closer than even I can know. We see the same moon and the same sun. He does everything he can to stay close.     So how do we stay close, how does anyone stay close during a deployment? First, I make time for his phone calls. I send him short e-mails all the time. Telling him the silliness of life.  When he calls it is normally during nap time which is his bed time. So I am tired from a morning of life and he is tired from a long work day. Which means that I forget about the things going on. Even when he cannot check e-mail for a few days he still gets them. Then he has a running list of things to talk about.      How do you stay in touch with your hero when he is deployed or even in the middle of a big deal and working a lot of hours? Pamela

Blog Update

I was so excited when Kathryn from Singing in the Rain offered to give me a new header. I have wanted a new header for a while. I expected it to take a while with lots of re do’s. I am very picky and always have a ton of questions. I sent her two pictures to choose and told her the one I liked the most. I told her I needed it to match the rest of the colors on the page. Within minutes she had sent me my new header. I put it in (which surprised me that I could figure out). And BAM, it was done. Not only was it done but it matched perfectly. She used my favorite scripture verse. Everything lined up perfectly and not only that the colors were perfect. I did not have to wait for days or re arrange it. I am so impressed with her work and how easy she made things for me. She can also do blog buttons, face book headers, quotes and lots of other things. If you like Kathryn’s work you can find her on face book or on her amazing blog. Thanks Kathryn for a wonderful job. Pamela

Donuts

So this morning I decided to make donuts for a pot luck at church. I decided to make something different. First I made a strawberry cake and baked it in my donut pan. Then I made a chocolate cake mix and did the same thing. Reminding myself that I only have one donut pan and this could turn out to be a long day. When the chocolate was done I decided I needed something for me. So I made pumpkin donuts. YUMMY. Chocolate or Strawberry or any flavor donut 1 box cake mix + ingredients to make cake mix cake mix pour into donut pan bake at 350 for 9 minutes. For the pumpkin donuts I used 1 box yellow cake mix 1 (15oz) can of pumpkin mix together and pour in donuts pan and bake for 9 minutes I did mix powder sugar and milk together to make a glaze. So SO yummy! I bought 45 cake mixes the other day after promising myself I would only use homemade cake mixes from now on. They were on sale for .62 cents so I could not stop myself. I am seeing lemon donuts and spice donuts in my future. Okay I have to shut up or I am going to start baking again. Pamela

Summer Camp

This has been the summer for camps at my house. My son is going to three summer camps and my older girls went to church camp. All three girls were suppose to go to summer camp with my mother in law. Sadly the weekend before they were suppose to go a storm damaged the camp and it was cancelled. The girls still got to go to mommals for a short time. I cannot wait to hear all the stories that come out of summer camp. Michael has already completed his first week of summer camp. On the second night they had to go under cover because of storms. I heard stories of him shooting a rifle. The girls came home talking about the food and about how funny the pastor was. I love that they are having a wonderful summer and not concentrating on dad not being here. Pamela

Feeling Beachie

This week’s statements: 1. I always___ wear_sunglasses, even if it is not sunny. __ 2. I have had a lot of _things that I want to learn to cook and bake. I just need someone to try it out on. __ 3. Public speaking makes me_realize how bad my grammar skills are. I did speak several years ago and it went better than I thought but not something I would want to do normally._________. 4. My car always has_smells like a skunk with roto virus______because__I have 7 kids in it almost daily and I let them eat in it and I am not good about cleaning it out daily, okay I am horrible about cleaning it out. _____. Pamela

5 Question Friday

1. Is love at 1st sight possible? I cannot imagine it being that way. Maybe because I am hyper critical. I think you need to take time to get to know them, know what they believe in, know what they want in life. I think falling in love takes time but staying in love takes alot of work. I do not think anyone warned me that I would have to work to stay in love. 2. How did you choose your pet's name? The kids chose the dog and the cat looks just like my husband’s uniform. We always said we would never name our kids or animals after anything in the Army but she changed us. Our cat’s name is A.C.U.. When we took Abby to the vet the first day they insisted it end with a E (I know how weird mama m)that is makes it easier to hear for her. So that helped break the tie and she was Abby. 3. What are you considering giving up (cable, home phone)? I would love to give up cable and our home phone. Although, I like our cable more than I admit. I think I could get use to not having it. I think the one thing I could not give up was internet. That scares me. I think I could give it up for a couple of days but not for long. How would I know what to cook. And it has been forever since I walked into a bank to deposit a check. I can deposit checks using my phone now. 4. How much do you pay your babysitter? My sitter charges $6 an hour. OUCH! She earns every penny of it so I cannot complain. I remember when I started babysitting at 12 I made $1.25 and many years later I got paid $2.50. Oh those were the days. WAIT, I babysit for a friend right now and if you calculate it out I make $2.70 a hour. I would not change it because she is precious. I never know what to charge. I want to pay enough that they want to come back but I also do not want to pay so much that I can not go and do anything. Then there is the issue that sometimes they will keep 3 kids and sometimes 6. So then what do I charge. Oh paying for sitters is so crazy. 5. How "young" is old enough to babysit? Oh man I was 12 but that seems so young. I think it totally depends upon the child. I think my 12 year old could care for her siblings while I ran to the store but I would not leave her for very long with the baby. Pamela

Military Spouse Fill in Friday

1. What’s one thing in the past month you would have changed? Maybe I would have taken more naps, read more books to the kids. Maybe spent more time to get mail sent to my hero. I am horrible about going to the post office. 2. What was your favorite thing that happened in June? My mom visited and we spent the whole week running around. The kids loved it and I loved time not focusing on school and chores. 3. What did you do to celebrate Independence Day? For the first time I went on post to watch the fireworks. It was nice because the weather was perfect. Not too hot and I was with friends who had similar age kids. 4. When you PCS, what items do you take with you and not let the movers pack (and if you do a DITY, what do you take with you and not box up) (thanks to Sespi at And You Never Did Think for inspiring this question)? We carry our safe and hard drive with pictures and our children and pets. I do not understand why they will not pack up the animals and kids. 5. What are you looking forward to in July? That it is one month closer to my hero being home. That my girls are going to spend time with there grandmother. I cannot wait to hear the stories they come home with. This is a big deal to let them be gone this long. Would you like to join in and answer these same questions with us. I would love to read your answers. Head on over to Wife of a Sailor to join in. Pamela

Cushy Office Job

Some days I imagine my hero is at some far off luxury vacation spot. You know one of those TDY training events. It makes it easier when I do not think about the heat he is in, or the yucky office he works in. But reality is reality. He will not be here with me to celebrate 4th of July with me. Praying he does not see any fireworks for on the fourth. Sometimes I imagine this is our last deployment or our last move and then I get a reality check. Rob does not share many pictures with me when he is deployed so everyone is special even if it is of a yucky looking office. I think they should at least let me come and paint and decorate for a couple of days. What do you think? Pamela