It's Not Stressful Having Eight Kids

I'm serious, it's not stressful having, loving, and caring for eight kids. The stressful part comes when you try to treat each child as if they were the only child -- giving them all the same opportunities, attention, and experiences that they would have if they didn't have seven siblings. Some would say that's impossible to do, but I'm sure trying! I don't want any of my kids to grow up resenting being in a big family. I want them to have happy memories of their childhood - always a friend to play with, never being lonely, an instant football team, soccer team, baseball team, and basketball team. Always an audience for a spontaneous dance recital.

Some of my kids want to participate in lots and lots of activities. Others are content to stay at home and play or relax. Summer activities is the perfect example of these preferences. Micah has signed up for swimming, track, tennis, and volleyball in addition to his guitar lessons and scouts. Teancum, on the other hand, only signed up for swimming lessons, and that was with persuasion from me (he needs to do SOMETHING to be active!). So, the kids' summer activities are as follows:

Cameron: swimming, volleyball, scouts, summer lawn business, scout camp

Micah: swimming, volleyball, track, tennis, guitar, scouts, summer lawn business, scout camp

Ethan: swimming, scouts

Ian: swimming, scouts, rock climbing, baseball, track, summer school (he does get to go on to 5th grade. There was some threat of him having to take 4th grade again, but he pulled it together and squeaked out of 4th grade)

Jamey: swimming, scouts, tennis, baseball

Teancum: swimming

Rebecca: swimming, t-ball, violin, dance classes

Lizzie: swimming (the mother/baby class -- scary! I am actually going to put on a swimsuit...maybe)

Additionally, we are signed up for summer movies and library activities. And, of course, there's piano, reading (there's prizes for the library's summer reading program), and summer homework. And, for the first summer ever, I decided to assign the kids a job to do each day. Generally I don't make the kids do chores other than their own bedrooms, or if they want to earn money, or if they're in trouble for something, because I feel like I already ask enough of them by making them do piano, learn songs for our cd's, homework, and reading. If I added a chore on top of that during the school year, they would not have any time left to play. But during the summer, they're bound to be bored without at least one chore to do, and when all the kids are home, our house is a serious wreck. I think this will help them be more conscious about the messes they make, although Lizzie is quite a big mess-maker, and not much of a picker-upper.

I love being busy so these summer activities are fun for me (but I'm also relieved when the activity schedule ends and we get to just be lazy for the rest of the summer -- being unscheduled is fun too), but I am going to Woodbadge Scout Camp for all of this week. My mom has come out and is going to take care of my Kiddos and our crazy summer schedule all of this week. I am sad to miss out on the first week of summer, but I'm grateful that my mom is willing to take over being Miss Chauffeur and doing piano & violin lessons and practicing, etc. Luckily some of the kids are old enough to ride their bikes to their various activities, but others will need to be driven around. I won't have cell service out at Buffalo Bill Boy Scout Camp, and will miss my kids terribly, I'm sure! This will be the longest I have ever been away from them. Maybe they'll appreciate me more? Or maybe they'll just want Grandma to be here all the time instead of me. :)