Better in Bulk - Family photographer with a large family
Daily thoughts on living with a large family; parenting, recipes, entertainment, photography tips, and family-friendly products.
I don’t have many (high) expectations for Mother’s Day. As long as I can get a nap (the height of luxury) and, if possible, avoid cooking all day, then I can end the day relatively satisfied. Why is it, then, that I come to the end of most Mother’s Days feeling like a horrible, unappreciated [...]
My family of seven goes through half a dozen gallons of milk each week. That’s a lot of bowls of cereal, smoothies, recipes, and afternoon or evening snacks. We could survive very long without milk (or should I say…we wouldn’t survive happily without milk). Between full bowls of cold cereal in the morning and tall [...]
For years, when we were in the middle of babies and diapers and not many funds left to pay a babysitter, date night meant movie night at home. Putting the kids to bed, popping some popcorn, and sitting down on the couch together to watch a movie was almost as rejuvenating as getting out of [...]
To Reese, my 10-year-old daughter, Today is the beginning of your first double-digit year. You’re 10! I remember when I found out I was pregnant with you, my 4th baby. I knew it was YOU from the beginning. I had been waiting for you, specifically YOU, for many years (since Dad started calling your older [...]
Today is a snow day. With all 5 kids and both parents home, you’d think that my house would be chaotic, but – incredibly – it’s fairly tame. Now, don’t ask me if my house is CLEAN. Tame, we can handle. Clean? Not so much. And how often does the cleanliness of the house factor [...]
Yesterday afternoon, my family dropped me off at the metro station near our house and I rode into DC for a 3-day Shot@Life Champions Summit. During the 10 minute drive to the metro station, we all listened to my youngest screaming, “Mom, you are NOT going anywhere!” “Mom, I don’t want you to go! Stay!” [...]
With 5 kids who were each in diapers for an average of 3 years (and that doesn’t count the night-time diaper need that extended beyond regular potty training years), you’d better believe I bought my fair share of diapers. I can’t imagine how many rooms I could fill with all of the diapers my babies [...]
Next Saturday, I’ll be waking up early (not my favorite thing to do on a Saturday morning) to drive my oldest daughter to a high school 20 minutes away. I’ll wait around nervously as she takes the ACT for the first time. It doesn’t seem all that long ago that I was taking the ACT [...]
My two youngest kids and I have been enjoying reading a book together called The One and Only Ivan, and were thrilled to find out that “Ivan” was crowned with the 2013 Newbery Medal. What is the Newbery Award? The Newbery Medal was named for eighteenth-century British bookseller John Newbery. It is awarded annually by [...]
Today we woke up to snow on the ground. The last few days have had a single-digit low (when KitKat left for school on Wednesday morning, Weather.com said it was 9° outside). That’s cold. And it means that we’re spending a lot more time indoors. I’m sure you can imagine what 7 people cooped up [...]
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