A renewal of faith....

What is the definition of insanity?? I have never actually looked it up but as the saying goes "its repeating the same action expecting a different reaction of outcome". And so the insanity begins. I am going to blog, often... and this is a big deal because other than cook, change diapers and do laundry there is not a lot i do get to do often...especially for me.

BUT, I have heard people call there blogging time "ME time" and i like it! Its cheap... dont have to leave home and i can do it whenever i feel the need.... Not many things in this life hold true to that!

Now if I can just put my pictures on here that would be great.... priorities... priorities..... I have two laptops (macs ) and a pc that all have pictures on them... i need to organize things!

So it begins...

Updates...

I need to think of "Stage names" for my children.. I think the little guy.. deffinately J Bear (compliments to the eldest for coming up with that one) and the rest hmmmmm...

Starting our garden in the spring will be fun it is planned to be over an acre this year... thats a lot of weeds! But hopefully that will be a lot of preserves and will bring down the grochery bill substantially.

I think that we do pretty well budget wise...but i know there are many families with more kids that do a lot better.

For a winter month though...
AFIX JAW FIRMLY IF YOU DONT HAVE MANY KIDS!!!

1300.00 on grocheries, toiletries, etc... (I cloth diaper and use cloth wipes)
400.00 on gas for our F-150 ( We are looking to buy a 15 seater!! wooo hooo!)
Hydro runs us about 9000.00 a year.. they only bill us once a year but we PRE pay so we dont get a 5000.00 bill at the year end. (wont let that happen again). oh and keep in mind EVERYTHING we have is electric including all appliances and furnace. so say 750.00monthly
200.00 on cell phones (no land line)
lord only knows how much on Mr. Riggers travel and accomidations/food.
200.00 dental payments ( braces, braces, braces )
300.00 debt repayment
1000.00 debt repayment
200.00 insurances
50.00 hauled water

and i think thats it...

is that a lot ?

4400.00 / 8 people = 550.00 month per person

126.92 per week per person.

I think thats pretty good... but i think if we halved the food bill it would save us 7800.00 per year! we could support three more babies or a soon to retire mum for that... (well maybe not my mums a little lavish )

more to come.... i promise

Its been a while...

A new year and a new set of goals! It seems almost impossible these days to be a blogger. I whine I harp... but really i just love my sleep time... I want to blog... I do.. I feel that with practice i will be worth reading. I love certain blogs .. to be continued

Our newest has arrived

On January 11th the newest member of our family arrived. Miss Robin Gail Elizabeth AKA Birdie Gail weighed in the lightest in the clan at 6lbs 12oz and a length of 19inches. Labour was calm and it was definately a positive birth experience. It seems that my boys are always rough to be born but the girls come quick and calmly. I used hypnobirthing CDs and they got me to 6cms I decided to have an epideral at that point not because they were awfully painful but i feared they would get awfully painful and I needed to stay calm. Yet again the doctor didn't make it which makes 3 out of 6 caught by nurses. Always fun! I had great nurses and the outcome was this beautiful healthy baby girl.

Her brothers and sisters are very happy and they are all adjusting well. James, who is 15 months is having the hardest time. I'm trying my best to meet everyones needs but at one and with a newborn as well its hard to be everywhere all the time. We are making it work though, James has started climbing on chairs, table, counters and all sorts of other furniture and is definately giving me a run for me money. But on the up side he has also started giving kisses and hugs, he actually squeezes when you hug him. I love that. He is getting in the routine of brushing his teeth everynight and makes big goofy grins and shreiks to get his point across that thats what he wants to do. But at least he is starting with good oral hygiene early right?

The other kids, Nathan (10), Grace (6), Jacob (5), and Catherine (4) are in love with her. Nathan likes to hold and burp her and asks to hold her every chance he can. Grace is always up for a photo op so when the camera comes out she definately want to help out, Jacob is a little offended by my breastfeeding i think. He came to sit with me while i was feeding Robin and said, " Can you um... cover that up i dont really want it to touch me!" What a boy. He obviously doesnt remember being breastfed or his brothers and sisters since being breastfed. Catherine is my mother hen. She is the fashion coordinator and the deligator. She informs us who can hold the baby, when the baby should be fed and picks out all her outfits. She is in charge. or at least thats what she will tell you.

We will figure this out. It seems no different at this point just a week in. Its when babe starts staying awake and we have to coordinate naps and homeschool and getting the older ones to public school and helping daddy work on the house and keeping everything clean and the baby that just wants to breastfeed all day becomes a juggling act. More pictures soon i have some crafty things my mom and I made for baby and I was hoping to get some pictures and put them on here. Bear with me I am lacking sleep but am highly motivated.

Thats all for this installment

Christmas time makes one ponder...

So in the last six months or so things have certainly changed, been revisited, and progress, inevitable progress has been made. I am 35 days to my due date, 6 sleeps to Christmas and so much more settled than we were in the summer. Things are better now. Things are coming together. We have decided to stay in Saskatchewan and turn this place into... something. I will post about our progress and let you all know of our failures and victories

A few things we are looking into are:

Housing chickens and (ugh..) butchering them ourselves.

Growing a garden that proves to be cost effective.

Lowering our bills

Getting completely out of debt (luckily we aren't that far in.. but we have a ton of unfinished business on our house)

Will post again soon.

How much is land worth!

So it would seem that anywhere you look a decent or not so decent homested is in the area of 450,000 CDN. Thats crazy! A property 5kms from here on 6acres is asking 469,000. Thats... laughable. they obviously think they live somewhere nice.. thats a hard sell! Anything on Vancouver Island is... well a little out of our range. 

The "ideal" would be off the island but near the ferry on an acerage 10 acres or more with whatever kind of house (we can build) for around.... ready to laugh 100,000 as long as its serviced. Hmm... now that i read that its pretty specific. 

I want the kids to be able to swim in the ocean, fish, and be off the island so Dan can get to and from work without the added hassle of ferries, fog, and planes. Maybe in the Kamloops area? Creston, Hope, or such... There are tons of properties but with there beautiful 80s houses they are asking 500k+ just crazy the mortgage payment on that is like 4200.00 a month WHO CAN AFFORD THAT! 

So please feel free to keep an eye out for us. I am sooooo done with southern Saskatchewan. Its cold and through the whole winter you just keep looking forward to spring and summer... Then in JUNE when it gets here you have to strip search the kids for ticks on a daily basis, fight off flies and mosquitos. the Thunderstorms, all 5 kids and mum in a queensize bed in 30 degree heat. So much FUN!, 2 openable windows of the 15 in our house (argh....) , and I have to say I am looking forward to winter because then at least there are no bugs and its controllable. WHAT! ..... I am "LOOKING FORWARD" to WINTER!!! I think I have finally lost it.. or its just time to depart... I have booked my heart and mind in for one more nasty winter but as soon as the snow melts off those west bound highways and we can pack the enormous truck we will need to move without freezing to the furniture as we move it, WE ARE WEST BOUND! I will rent until we find something and hopefully our place sells quick. We wont be asking a jaw dropping 450k of course a more likely and quick sale price will be settled upon. But thats the plan. 

We have a few things to do until then:

Finish the exterior insulation and siding. (Glad your coming to visit this summer uncle jimmy)

Get a vehicle that will hold us all... hmm.... econoline ( 2 carseats, 3 boosters, Nate, me, dad, and gramma, and gonzo and polly.... hmmmm...... anyone wanna travel with us? I'm sure we can make room!

Have a baby due January 25th. 

Pack... it makes me light headed thinking about it.  oh my we will need a very large truck indeed. 

So please keep your eye out and if you hear of anything NOT in prince George or so far from anything that we couldn't get to a hospital if we needed too. Please let us know. We are looking.

Much love to my peeps,

CAT

The new blog.

So we cancelled our typepad account because it was costing us some money and we weren't really using it. To be totally honest I an a lot less literate of the computer than I thought I was. I was afraid to change things on the blog because other things would dissapear. So here we are with the hopes that blogger will suit us better and that I will use it more. :) The free part helps to... I am a good friend of free. And so with out further ado our blog. Now an intro for those who don't know the crew.

 

Papa Bear, 30 ish.... hubba hubba.... workin' man

Mum, formerly known as Cat, 27 (I think....) My body isn't really shaped like that. I just thought i'd put that in there.

Here is the youngest as of yet James, 8 months.

From Left to Right we have Jacob, 4, Catherine, 3, Nathan, 9 (10 next month), and Grace, 6. 

So mum, daddeo, and five, going on six kidlets. Somewhere in the middle ish of the Canadian Prairies on a quest back to BC. Sounds exciting..... If only the morning sickness would give a little...

Will post again soon

Cat