Our Family

How Do You Cook for a Family of Six? (Part 2)

June 10, 2011 By Erin Crispin 4 Comments

Yesterday I talked about how I cook/plan meals while overseas. Today I will take a look at my meals when we are home in the states.

1. Breakfast. We pretty much do the same things when we are home for breakfast, except there are a few more options added in. We do smoothies and also add in waffles, bagels and English muffins at times. As you’ll see I don’t do breakfast for dinner much while home, so pancakes and french toast may make their way into the breakfast menu at times.

2. Lunch. Again, this meal is very similar to what we do while abroad. The kids still prefer pb&j, but leftovers and turkey sandwiches regularly are served.

3. Dinner. As I do overseas, I have 3 weeks worth of meals that I rotate. One difference is that at home, I don’t cook red meat. I mostly use red meat overseas for steaks before Joe’s game and for ground meat in recipes. In the U.S., I always buy ground turkey. We get our red meat when we are visiting our families or out to eat, since we often have those options in those situations. You may have noticed from yesterday that there was no sea food on the menu. I do cook fish while we are home. Overseas, occasionally I will buy fish, but since it is usually sold with the skin on (and often the head) I do get a little squeamish, so we usually get fish when we eat out overseas. We don’t eat shellfish or pork though. We cut out a lot of dairy (mostly milk) and scavenger animals about 9 years ago and have not gone back since. We will occasionally eat it, but I am usually not comfortable with it unless I know it is from a very good source (ie. farmers who feed their animals quality food). Most of these recipes are not up on Meals with Maria yet, but will make their way up there over the next few months, so make sure to keep checking out all the great things she is posting!

Week 1
Monday- Baked Orange Roughy, Brown Rice and Green Beans
Tuesday- Broccoli Rice and Chicken
Wednesday- American Goulash and Salad
Thursday- Chicken Spaghetti and Salad
Friday- Salmon with Pecan Honey Glaze, Sweet Potato Fries and Peas
Saturday- California Black Bean Burgers and Salad
Sunday- Pizza/Out to Eat/Leftovers

Week 2
Monday- Orange Almond Trout, Brown Rice and Broccoli
Tuesday- Basil Chicken Over Angel Hair Pasta and Salad
Wednesday- Taco Soup
Thursday- Garlic Chicken, Brown Rice and Green Beans
Friday- Broiled Tilapia Parmesan, Baked Potato and Salad
Saturday- Green Lasagna and Salad
Sunday- Pizza/Out to Eat/Leftovers

Week 3
Monday- Orange Chicken, Brown Rice and Broccoli
Tuesday- Salsa Chicken and Black Bean Soup, Tortilla Chips and Hummus
Wednesday- Turkey Meatloaf, Rosemary Roasted Onion Potatoes, Cut-Up Veggies
Thursday- Autumn Turkey Sausage Casserole and Salad
Friday- Sweet-Sour Fish Bake, Oven Fried Potato Wedges, and Salad
Saturday- Spinach-Walnut Pesto Pasta and Salad
Sunday- Pizza/Out to Eat/Leftovers

My baked goods aren’t as scheduled because we have so many other treat options at home. Plus I like to try different things when I have all my cooking materials at home. One thing that is hard about cooking is that when we are home, I have all the options to try different recipes and all my great equipment to do it with, but we eat out, eat over at other people’s places and are away from our home more than overseas. So even though I enjoy cooking more while home, I actually do it less.

So that is my basic cooking. I put each of my dinner meals onto my calendar when I do a weekly prep on Saturday of each week and mark down what I need on my grocery list. All my meals are kept in Mac Gourmet, so that I can easily access them on my computer or iPhone while I am preparing my week.

Please feel free to add any cooking, meal preparation or planning tips you have in the comments.

Filed Under: Our Family

How Do You Cook for a Family of Six? (Part 1)

June 9, 2011 By Erin Crispin 6 Comments

When I asked for suggestions on posts you as readers would like to see for my three year blog post, Jenny asked about cooking for a family of 6 while living overseas. So I thought I would just do a two part series on my cooking in general and how I go about preparing our meals.

Let me first start off by saying that I am not a master chef, nor a great meal planner by any stretch of the imagination. I do post some of my recipes over at Meals with Maria and Friends. I thought I would use two posts to show the way I organize for my cooking both overseas and while at home. When I first posted at Meals with Maria, here is what I said were my goals for my cooking:

1. I want it to be simple.
2. I want it to be as healthy as possible by trying to avoid pre-packaged ingredients.
3. I try to use as little dairy as possible. Many of my recipes will either be of dairy-free foods or substituting dairy with other ingredients. There are some yummy treats you just can’t substitute though, so you will get those too.
4. I cook overseas for the majority of the year, so the ingredients I use are often simple and easy to find.
5. I want it to satisfy the 6 mouths I am currently feeding in our home. One of my biggest challenges is combining this goal with goal #2.

So today, I will start off with what it looks like for our food as a family of 6 overseas.

1. Breakfast. We don’t really do much for breakfast. In fact, we tend to eat bigger breakfast foods for dinner. Our breakfast usually consists of oatmeal or cereal, eggs, fruit and juice (this is the only time of day when the kids get juice and we limit it to 4 ounces). When we are overseas, Saturday morning is usually pancake morning though. And we do eat breakfast every single day, unless we are getting up at 3:45am to catch a flight home!

2. Lunch. Lunch is another meal that is very simple. My kids are absolutely addicted to peanut butter and jelly. And I understand because it would be my choice every day too! So many days are pb&j or turkey sandwich along with a fresh fruit and/or veggie. Lunch will also consist of tuna or leftovers from dinner.

3. Dinner. I know many people will find it odd, but I actually have a dinner schedule (NERD ALERT). I started back in 2007 when I realized that my Mommy brain could never remember if I had just cooked a meal last week or not. So I started doing a dinner rotation, so I knew I was only repeating something every 2-3 weeks. When we are overseas, Joe is typically on the road one week and plays at home the next week. My goal is usually to eat vegetarian at least once a week and to only eat red meat once a week. We usually order pizza or do something else where I don’t have to cook once a week as well. And once a week I bake some sort of treat for us. Here is how my rotation worked this past season (each season may be different depending on what might be available).

Weeks Joe is Home:
Monday- Pizza
Tuesday- Chicken Wild Rice Soup and Fudge Brownies or Nutella Cheesecake Brownies or Wacky Cake
Wednesday- Herb Chicken Pasta and Salad
Thursday-Chili, Carrots and Sliced Peppers and Cornbread
Friday- Crunchy Garlic Chicken or President’s Chicken, Brown Rice and Peas
Saturday- Steak, Baked Potatoes, Parmesan Rice and Green Beans
Sunday- Macaroni and Tomatoes

Weeks Joe is Gone:
Monday- Pizza
Tuesday- Chicken and Corn Chili or Enchilada Casserole
Wednesday- Rice and Lentils and Chocolate Chip Bars or Carrot Cake
Thursday- Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes
Friday- Pesto Pasta w/ Tomatoes and Parmesan, Bresaola, Bread
Saturday- Pancakes or German Pancakes with fruit
Sunday- Baked Chicken Strips, Carrots and Baked Basil Fries

Monday- Pizza
Tuesday- Stuffed Peppers or Span. Rice Casserole
Wednesday- Lentil Soup and Banana Bread or Apple Crisp
Thursday- Blonde Chicken Chili or White Chicken Chili
Friday- Chicken Parmesan, Pasta and Salad
Saturday- French Toast (Regular or Overnight Casserole) with fruit
Sunday- Crustless Spinach Quiche with fruit

A couple of notes about the dinner menu:

1. Joe is a man of habit and likes to eat steak before pretty much the night before every game, so that is why we ate steak on Saturday nights when he was home.
2. Joe was gone on Saturday and Sunday evenings when he had an away week, which is why both of those nights on his away weeks were very simple meals. I barely cook when he is gone!
3. I am a big fan of soups and casseroles. I had a friend once tell me she wasn’t into making casseroles and/or combining food, which I love in theory, but I don’t think I could survive if I couldn’t have a few meals a week where everything is in one pot or dish! Maybe once the kids are older I will do more meals with lots of courses and fresher foods.

So that is what I do while overseas. Tomorrow I will show you what we do in the U.S.

Filed Under: Living Abroad, Our Family

A Day in the Life of MTAB: May 12, 2011

May 20, 2011 By Erin Crispin 8 Comments

After my posts on Wednesday and Thursday, I got a few comments about my day being full. Although I do feel like my days are busy for the most part, I certainly don’t view myself as a Super Mom or doing anything out of the ordinary…and that certainly wasn’t my point to these posts either. The more kids I have had, the more I fit into my day. It is like working out where I have slowly built up more and more of a tolerance. I also have a few other things in my favor:

1. I think I am naturally a high energy person. I have a hard time sitting still and that is not a good thing. When it comes to really just sitting and being at rest, I have had to work at being able to just stop. That translates into a huge battle for my trust in God because I tend to like to work and get credit, rather than trust and rest in Jesus.

2. I come from a line of efficient, hard-working women and had really good habits instilled in me. My mom and her mom (and even my mom’s sister that I saw operate a home growing up) are both extremely organized, efficient, “get-it-done” kind of women. I can’t remember ever seeing either of their houses ever messy. Sure there were messy times with kids, but those were cleaned up quickly after the fact. I can’t remember either of them sitting around “relaxing” much, but I also don’t remember complaints about the work they had to do. They worked hard at their jobs outside the home and at their jobs keeping a home. They were both early risers and early to bed. My mom instilled good habits in me like writing everything down, doing what I like least first, working in increments (working for 50 minutes and taking a 10 minute break), keeping a calendar, etc. I knew my dad and brother weren’t like us, but I thought maybe they were the weirdo’s! It wasn’t until I went off to school that I realized not everyone in the world operated like us.

So here is the following day and as you will see, a much more relaxed day for us.

2:33am: Abby awake with wet bed, soaked through all sheets
More of the bed wetting scenario here, but not a topic for now. Anyway, I got up, stripped the two sets of sheets she went through, put another sheet down and fell back in bed.

6:12am: Wake up
I knew as soon as I opened my eyes that it was much to bright and that I had overslept! The alarm was clearly not loud enough because I had slept through it. This happens at times and I make sure the ringer is up on my cell phone alarm for the next morning.

6:15am: Get dressed, make bed
This was a morning where exercise and a shower weren’t going to happen. I don’t find this a huge deal, although I used to let it ruin my day!

6:22am: Time with the Lord

6:40am: Isaiah and Elijah awake, Isaiah fed, Elijah sent back to bed, fold clothes
This morning I sent Elijah back to bed while I fed Isaiah and got some more Bible reading time in on the Kindle. Then I folded the clothes that were still in the dryer from the day before.

7am: Elijah comes out again
Elijah came out to check again if it was time for him to get up (mental note: need to get a clock for his room) and Elijah got dressed and made his bed while I got Isaiah dressed. I also finally decided it was time to break out the cloth diapers. I had been giving myself a break while I got settled in at home, but it was time to resume or I would just go all summer without using them!

7:10am: Wake girls up, start laundry, kids put away clothes
Then we got Abby and Naomi up. Elijah had dressed in his bathing suit because he remembered I said if it was sunny on Thursday morning they could play with the water squirters after Abby was done with her school work. So both girls made their beds, put away their clothes and got their swimsuits on while I started a load of laundry (wet sheets needed washed!)

7:31am: Downstairs, dishwasher emptied, breakfast ready
I was going to go with cereal and eggs for the morning, but there weren’t enough eggs and since Abby and Elijah had already started to gt their cereal bowels ready, we just went with cereal and fruit.

7:51am: Eat breakfast, bless kids

8:07am: Clean Up breakfast, Abby’s school ready
After loading dishes, wiping tables, and sweeping up, I sat down at the computer downstairs to check over Abby’s school for the day and turn in assignments from the day before. Then I got her set up with her first work of the day.

8:22am: Facetime with Joe

8:35am: Check Abby’s school work

8:52am: Isaiah upstairs for nap, change diaper, cuddle, rock, laundry in dryer, second load of laundry in washer

9:08am: Check Abby’s school work and computer time
After making sure Abby was moving along on her school work, I added events into my calendar that were sitting on my desk, responded to blog comments, responded to my husband’s “blowing up” of my e-mail (just kidding Joe!), and we made a video for Naomi’s friend for her birthday.

10am: Snack time
I also had a phone call with Abby’s teacher at this time. I pulled the dining room chairs out to the deck while I talked to Abby’s teacher and had the kids finish their chores once they finished their snacks. Then I scrubbed down the dining room chairs out on the deck.

10:30am: Outside Time
We then headed outside so the kids could run around in their swim suits and squirt each other. I took pictures for awhile while. After about 15 minutes, I put sunscreen on them as well. From what I have been reading, I am now giving them some time to get a little vitamin D before I put the sunscreen on. Then I sat and read 2 chapters of a book while they played.

11:15am: Upstairs to check on things
Isaiah was still sleeping (I let him go a little longer after the day he had on Wednesday), so I pulled the clean sheets out of the dryer and quickly made Abby’s bed, checked on the kids outside and put the wet load in the dryer.

11:25am: Isaiah awake, make lunch
Then I woke Isaiah up and took him downstairs and put him in his highchair while I made lunch. The kids were playing right outside the kitchen, which is one of the nice things about our house (I can easily fix a meal and watch them when they are out back)

11:38am: Lunch
The older three wanted to eat their lunch outside, so they sat out back and I sat down with Isaiah to eat. Once I was finished, I brought the dining room chairs inside. Then after the kids finished eating, we spent our family worship time outside in the grass.

12pm: More Outside Time
The kids now wanted to “wash” the car with the squirters. Although it mean them shooting water on a relatively clean car and actually making it look worse, they had a blast doing it. So Isaiah and I sat in the grass and watched them. Since he was only outside for 20 minutes, I didn’t do any sunscreen.

12:20pm: Inside, dried off and clothes changed

12:30pm: Read books

1pm: Isaiah down for nap, Abby and Elijah start quiet time
We have Abby and Elijah do a “quiet time” each day even though they are done with their naps. This is just basically a time of 30-40 minutes where they sit and look at/read books.

1:15pm: Naomi down for nap

1:20pm: Wipe down bathrooms with Eco-Me kit
I am not a huge cleaner. I try to keep things decent, but honestly, I am more of an “upkeep” cleaner (just try not to let things get really bad in other words) than a deep cleaner. The Eco-Me kit I got from Maria as a prize from her blog is a great way to just keep things on the surface clean quickly.

1:35pm: Computer time
I used the time to upload pictures, update the family blog, and send my parents directions to Saturday’s t-ball game they were coming to (this took longer than normal because the computer and/or internet was moving a bit slowly).

2:45pm: Watch stats of Joe’s game
Joe had his first playoff game, so I turned on the stats of the game and checked Facebook and Twitter while I checked out what was going on in the game.

3pm: Isaiah awake and Snack time
I got Isaiah up from his nap and got everyone a snack and then we went down to the basement to play so I could keep checking in on Joe’s game for a bit.

3:40pm: Ready for gymnastics
Elijah was already in shorts and a t-shirt, so Abby and Naomi got in their leotards and we got water bottles ready.

3:47pm: Leave for gymnastics

3:52pm: Arrive at gymnastics
This was the last week of the end of the fall session of gymnastics classes for the kids, but this Thursday slot time was great because Abby had class at the same time as Elijah and Naomi’s class.

3:57pm: Abby to class

4:12pm: Elijah and Naomi to class

4:16pm: Go for walk with Isaiah
Since I missed my morning workout, I used Elijah and Naomi’s 45 minute class as a time to take Isaiah for a walk. I hardly ever get to take walks with Isaiah (or even when Naomi was a baby for that matter). It was something I enjoyed so much when Abby and Elijah were babies. And the weather was gorgeous this day and I got to just look at the beautiful mountains and smell the fresh air. it was a wonderful time of thankfulness.

4:52pm: Back from walk with Isaiah

5pm: Elijah and Naomi done with class
Abby’s class runs 30 minutes longer (15 minutes on each end), so while we waited for Abby, we read a few books.

5:15pm: Abby done with class

5:21pm: Leave gymnastics

5:26pm: Arrive home, start dinner, feed Isaiah
I am going to do a post more on my cooking, but as you can see, breakfast and lunch is pretty simple. And when Joe is not with us, even dinner is very basic. This night it was California black bean burgers, clementines and sweet peppers.

5:45pm: Isaiah up to bed

6:03pm: Eat dinner

6:32pm: Clean up dinner, run dishwasher

6:38pm: Facetime with Joe
We caught up quickly and got to congratulate him on the win.

7:05pm: Clean up basement, run Roomba in the basement, pajamas on

7:29pm: Reading Time

8:02pm: Snack time
While the kids ate their snack, I emptied the dishwasher, set out dishes and vitamins for breakfast and set up the Scooba to clean the kitchen floor.

8:19pm: Girls in bed

8:21pm: Elijah in bed

8:22pm: Down to the basement to return a few e-mails

8:38pm: Have to go up and tell Naomi to be quiet after Abby’s complaints

8:40pm: Back down to finish Elijah’s birthday update ( a few weeks late) and a family blog post

9:35pm: Clean out Scooba and set it back in its charger and set up rice cooker for oatmeal in the morning

9:50pm: Brush teeth, wash face

10pm: Lights out

So as you can see, not every day is quite so full as the day before. And there are plenty of days where we are stuck inside on a rainy day coloring and playing card games. But each day always brings along some learning opportunity for me. If this is something that was helpful, entertaining or interesting, I will try and share one of our days every few months. Maybe next season, once we are set up in Europe again (Lord-willing) and I am teaching two children at home, I will show how much life has changed again!

For everything there is a season…

Filed Under: A Day in the Life of MTAB

A Day in the Life of MTAB: May 11, 2011

May 19, 2011 By Erin Crispin 13 Comments

So this is the first of my posts on “A Day in the Life of MTAB“. Basically all I did was record my life minute-by-minute to give you a little glimpse into how my day goes. And in this post, I will add some commentary, along with some tips that have helped me along the way or just random thoughts. So without further adieu, here we go!

4:55am: Alarm, Make bed, workout clothes, check Naomi
I have always been a morning person for as long as I can remember. I was not a teenager who could sleep until noon. My best work has always been done in the morning and by 9pm, I am ready to turn in. Being up before the family has been a wonderful habit for me. For others, being up after the family might be their time. From what I have read on sleep though, the hours you get before midnight are supposed to be more restorative, so I am sticking with going to bed early and waking up early!

As far as checking on Naomi, we just switched her into a regular bed (I was hesitant to do this while I was on my own, but it has been going well). She has fallen out a few times though (we chose not to do guard rails since her bed is right by the wall. We did with Abby and all it taught her was to sleep right up against the rails and we ended up with broken rails and a child who still didn’t understand how to stay on her bed, so since then we have not used them). Anyway,Ii check her before I go to bed and when I wake up to adjust her a little if I need to.

5:10am: Workout
As you will find out, I am a huge list maker. My workouts are planned out to rotate on a 3 week basis. This morning it was a workout from Core Performance, so between sets I did e-mail, Facbook and Twitter. I also picked up a few books in the basement that hadn’t been put away. I am a big “picker-upper”. If there is something lying around, I put it back. I know I can be a little too uptight at times, but I am from the school of thought of “a place for everything and everything in its place”. And if it doesn’t have a place, we don’t need to have it (my kids just “LOVE” this about me!)

5:45am: Shower and Dressed
In general, I am pretty to get ready in the morning. I shower in about 5 minutes, pull on some clothes and usually go with very little make-up.

6am: Time with the Lord
My goal used to be to get an hour with the Lord every day, but since kids, if I can get 45 minutes I am feeling really good. Most days it is more like 30 minutes. I have switched to a two year Bible reading program also so I am not feeling rushed to get my reading in for the day. I also keep prayer requests and my Bible memory verse on my iPhone, so if I have extra time throughout the day these can be reviewed.

6:23am: Hear Isaiah
Isaiah had been up early the last week, as he was this day, so my time was cut short. Since he now shares a room with Elijah, I don’t like to let him go too long, although Elijah has slept through pretty much anything so far.

6:23am: Dry Hair
I don’t dry my hair right after getting out of the shower, but put the Diva Towel on while I spend time with the Lord and it cuts my blow drying time in half.

6:30am: Get Isaiah and Feed Him
I try to use nursing time for reading, but often will catch up on Words with Friends. This day I read Tim Keller’s King’s Cross. My reading has really diminished over the last few months and I am trying to squeeze in any time I can at this point.

6:40am: Put Away Clothes
After Isaiah nursed, I used the time before the other kids wake-up time to quickly put away my clean clothes. It is easy for my own to pile up.

6:45am: Elijah comes in the room
My boys have always been my earlier risers and the ones who are quick to fall asleep. They have their Mama’s genes. I usually make the older 3 wait until 7am to get up, but this day I let Elijah sit and play with Isaiah on the floor as I finished putting away my clothes.

6:55am: Get Naomi and Dress Isaiah
I try to set a wake-up time for the kids as I think it helps with the entire day if there is a consistent wake-up time. When we live overseas, that wake-up time is usually later because we are dealing with Joe getting home late from practice at night. In the States we usually all wake up earlier. So right now, I am getting the kids up at 7am (usually Elijah and Naomi are already awake but Abby takes some rousing…she has her Daddy’s genes).

7:00am: Wake Up Abby, Clothes Put Away, Everyone Dressed, Load of Laundry started
One of my habits is to always put a load of laundry in first thing in the morning. That way at least I get one done per day. The kids also do two chores first thing upon waking: make their bed and put away their clean clothes. Abby and Elijah dress themselves, Naomi needs help and Isaiah is still fully needy. They all love to pull books out in the morning too, so Naomi talked me into one before breakfast.

7:12am: Downstairs for Breakfast, Dishwasher Emptied
I usually try to empty the dishwasher and set out the breakfast dishes the night before (another habit I have is always running the dishwasher right after dinner). But I did not do it the night before (we didn’t get home until almost 8pm from t-ball and I was tired, so I don’t think I even made it back downstairs after putting the kids to bed).

Breakfast is usually pretty simple. We usually do oatmeal (sometimes cereal and eggs) and often add a smoothie. My smoothies aren’t as cool as my friend Maria’s though. They usually consist of OJ, banana, frozen fruit, Amazing Grass and flaxseed.

7:31am: Sit Down for Breakfast, Bless the kids
It usually takes about 15 minutes to get breakfast ready and in that time the kids are checking their chore charts and often helping to keep Isaiah occupied. This day Isaiah was already sucking his thumb by the time we sat down for breakfast, so I could tell he was really tired from the night before.

I would prefer to have breakfast time as the time we do our family worship, but with Joe’s schedule, he is usually not up to eat breakfast with us, so we do family worship at lunch time. In order to keep things consistent, I just stick with this same schedule even when he is gone. But I do like to start the day off with some prayer or something, so I bless the kids at breakfast. They all love this and actually ask for it a few times a day.

7:53am: Clean Up Breakfast Dishes
I like to make sure things are cleaned up immediately. So the older three kids take their dishes to the counter and Abby and Elijah rinse them off and put them in the dishwasher. Then I wipe up the table and each of the older three kids is responsible for sweeping up after a meal. Abby has breakfast, Naomi has lunch and Elijah has dinner.

8:00am: Downstairs for computer time
This is typically around the time we chat with Joe during the day (well, the first of a few). Joe wasn’t around though, so I published my blog post on Facebook and Twitter, returned a few Facebook messages and checked Abby’s school schedule for the day. I made sure I had all her materials gathered and ready to go. Abby, Elijah and Naomi were all playing upstairs together at this point.

8:08am: Naomi needs discipline
It only took about 8 minutes of the older three playing together before I needed to discipline Naomi.

8:13am: Isaiah crying
At this point Isaiah was pretty tired and fussy, so I held him while I finished the above tasks.

8:40am: Reading time
Elijah had come downstairs and asked me to read a book to him about 4 times int eh time I was doing the above tasks, so I sat down to read it to him once I was done plus another Naomi pulled out.

8:47am: Get ready to leave for Women’s Fellowship
This was the first week I had gone to Wednesday morning women’s fellowship meeting at our church and was the last one for the school year long meeting. So this was a different kind of Wednesday and as I was getting the kids ready I was questioning whether I should go with everyone being so tired (and Isaiah was going to miss his morning nap). But this was ONE time we were going to something for me and I felt like it was a good chance to meet some women at our new church.

8:53am: Everyone is ready
I am usually ready early. I was thinking it would take a little more time to get ready, but since everyone was ready and I didn’t need to be there until 9:30am (although I like to be early), I decided to set up the new stroller that had just arrived the night before.

9:11am: Leave the house

9:21am: Arrive at church
We got there and I got the older three kids set up in their child care room. I brought some school work for Abby to do, but told her she could play a little first and then go out to the table with the other girls who would be there doing school work. I kept Isaiah with me since he was already tired and had not been a fan of the nursery for the past 3 Sundays.

11:19am: Leave church
The fellowship time was great. I was so glad I went and got to meet some other women. The kids did well in the child care, although Abby “forgot” to do any of her work.

11:27am: Arrive home
Drove a little quicker home since Isaiah was really finished at this point!

11:31am: Lunch ready and feed Isaiah
I started lunch and my phone rang. It was my friend Michele who is currently babysitting a 3 month old and had some questions. So I put the blue tooth on and got lunch ready and fed Isaiah while I talked to her.

Lunch is not gourmet either. Most days it is PB&J (if it is natural peanut butter and whole fruit jelly on sprouted bread, does that make it any better? No? Huh, oh well!) with fruit, veggies and some tortilla/sun chips or other crackers. Other times it is leftovers from the night before.

11:51am: Lunch, Isaiah down for nap, put laundry in dryer
Once Isaiah was fed and the rest of the lunches were ready, I had the other three kids sit down at the table, pray and let them eat while I went and laid Isaiah down. I put the wet laundry into the dryer while I was up there too.

11:58am: Back down to eat my lunch

12:13pm: Family Worship Time
We have been doing our family worship time after lunch during this last basketball season and that was the time Joe felt would work best with his summer schedule once he is back too, so we are keeping it at that time. It is pretty simple. We usually sing a hymn, go over our weekly Bible memory verse, read through a section of Scripture (we are slowly making our way through reading and discussing Romans right now), read a story from one of our children’s Bibles and then pray.

12:31pm: Lunch clean-up
One thing I think does make life a lot easier is always just cleaning up messes immediately. Whether it is the kids putting the toys away when they are done and before they get anything else out or clearing the table, loading dishes in the dishwasher and washing anything that needs to be washed after a meal, when you take a little time to stay on top of things I think it saves spending a lot of time to catch-up later.

12:35pm: Naomi and Elijah down for nap/quiet time and set Abby up with school
Elijah doesn’t usually take a nap anymore, but he had been acting tired, so I had him lay down in my bed and he did fall asleep for a bit. I also got Abby set up with school work before I headed up to put Elijah and Naomi down.

12:43pm: Computer and task time
This is when I scanned a bunch of Abby’s work to send in to her teacher, caught up on Facebook and Twitter and charged up my camera. I also finished setting up the stroller, took out the trash and checked on Naomi and Elijah.

1:30pm: Help Abby with School
Abby had completed a good amount of her school, so at this point I sat down and went over her math with her and checked out any other issues she is having. She continued on with the rest of her work then. This was a pretty light school day because she only had three days of school left. We worked through almost all her vacation days this year and saved them up so that she is ending the year with three straight weeks of vacation.

2pm: Rest Time
I put my feet up on the couch for a bit at this point. Elijah was playing some computer games (they get 30 minutes per weekday if we have time), so I did some reading, played some moves on Words with Friends and ended up falling asleep for about 10 minutes.

2:30pm: More E-mail
I was very backed up on e-mail at this point, so I returned a few more messages and finally had none left!

3:00pm: Wake-Up And Snack
Then it was wake-up time for Naomi and Isaiah, so I went and got them up and got everyone a snack. I was going to then head right out the door to go get haircuts and have dinner downtown, but Joe called.

3:30pm: Facetime with Joe
We talked with Joe for about 30 minutes. It must have been so hard for families to be apart before all these technological advances!

4:00pm: Leave for haircuts
At this point, I should have heeded my instinct from the morning where I felt like the kids were tired, but I pushed on ahead and decided to go downtown to get the kids all haircuts and then eat dinner at Panera Bread.

4:11pm: Arrive at Super Cuts
We got downtown to Super Cuts, although I had to dodge some interesting bar tours along the way. The kids were especially interested in some of the outfits. It was one of those moments where living in a college town gives me ample opportunity to be reminded of what God saved me from and to give lots of thanks!

4:13pm: Inside waiting for haircuts
We get to Super Cuts and I decided if it was too long of a wait we wouldn’t do it. The woman there said it would only be about a 10 minute wait. So we sat down and waited and it was even less time. First up was Abby and then Naomi who had never had a haircut. As I was talking to the woman about Noami’s hair, Elijah pulled Isaiah’s leg up and with the new stroller that is not as heavy as the old one, he almost put Isaiah straight on his head! I caught the stroller and Isaiah with one hand and gave Elijah a look that did not display the patience I want to have with him! Then Elijah needed to go to the bathroom, so I found the bathroom for him and about 5 minutes later Isaiah had a stinky diaper, so I made my way back there again.

Naomi did great with her first haircut, Abby was quick and Elijah was easy becuase he just got another buzz. Then it was my turn to sit down with Isaiah and he was NOT a happy camper. I wasn’t expecting him to be as laid back as Elijah had been for his first cut, but I think he was a little more fiery due to the fact that he had been up late the night before and had missed his morning nap due to being at church.

4:52pm: Done with haircuts
We got done with the haircuts and Isaiah was calmed down and so I thought we could just run over to Panera Bread quickly for some dinner. This again was not smart thinking. Running home and having a bowl of cereal would have been better at this point.

4:58pm: Inside Panera
We got to Panera and Isaiah started fussing again. By the time I had ordered the fussing had turned into an all-out scream fest like I had not seen since he was a few weeks old. As I tried to get the kids some water to drink, I finally made a good decision for the evening: I was going to take the food home! So I changed the order to take out and got the kids loaded up. I asked Abby to carry her smoothie and not to drink from it.

5:05pm: Head back to car
We walked back to the car with Isaiah screaming, me pulling the other three along quickly and everyone staring at us when all of the sudden I hear Abby say “uh oh”. She had taken a drink from her smoothie and the built up air pressure caused it to explode all over her. After another look that I had to repent of later, I told her sharply to move quickly and get to the car.

5:08pm: Back at car, get smoothie cleaned up and everyone loaded up
When we got there, Abby was also in tears and I told Elijah and Naomi to get in quickly. I mopped Abby up with some baby wipes and then hugged her and apologized for speaking harshly and not being patient. I loaded the screaming Isaiah in and apologized to everyone for my impatience and also just trying to do too much.

5:20pm: Back home, dinner ready
We got home and everyone unloaded there stuff and I dumped the dinner onto plates.

5:30pm: Eat dinner

5:51pm: Take Isaiah up to bed
If I could have just put Isaiah right to bed, I would have but he needed to eat dinner, so once he was finished, I took him upstairs right away.

6:03pm: Back down to finish my dinner
I came back downstairs. We were all feeling better and got our dinner finished.

6:10pm: Clean up, start Roomba
We then cleared our places, wiped up the table and counters, put dishes in the dishwasher and started the dishwasher. The habits of running a load of laundry first thing in the morning and always running the dishwasher after dinner assures us we will have at least a few clean clothes and clean dishes to eat off of!

I also take advantage of my robot cleaners (I own a Roomba and Scooba). These things put their work in during the summer. The Roomba gets run down in the finished basement (where we spend more of our time) almost every day and the Scooba is run in the kitchen about every other day. Then the rest of the rooms get rotated in as well. They were both well worth the investment (I think the Roomba has been a little more so as I have run into less problems with it).

6:25pm: Outside time
Another complete disaster for the day. I thought it would be good to just get out of the house and play a little baseball. Elijah melted into a tempter tantrum about 2 minutes in because I told him I was going to just pitch. I dropped everything and just called it a night!

6:30pm: Bath time
This is honestly one of my least favorite times of the day. All the kids still need help (Isaiah was already in bed, so no bath for him) and it is like one big wet, loud, crazy time! I got Naomi set up in our bath tub and then got the shower going for Abby and Elijah in their bathroom (usually they go separately, but I just needed to get the night over with at this point). I checked on Naomi again and then went in to soothe Isaiah as he was totally fried and struggling to settle down. Then I got my pajamas on because I know I was done for the day.

6:45pm: Kids out of baths and in pajamas

6:55pm: Reading time
Then it was reading time on my bed. The kids love all piling on our bed and snuggling together to read. We had extra cuddle time this night (really just everyone laying on me and squeezing me).

7:25pm: Snack time
Then we went down to the kitchen for a snack. Most nights it is a piece of fruit (this night was an apple). We then went back to my room, called my mom and sang “Happy Birthday” (got the answering machine). I then got Abby and Naomi tucked into bed.

8pm: Elijah in bed
After a few extra minutes of cuddles with me, it was time to get Elijah tucked into bed. Having him share a room with Isaiah has been seamless so far. Elijah is very chill and will go in quietly and go right to sleep.

8:10pm: Brush teeth, wash face

8:23pm: Talk with parents
My mom got our message and she and my dad called back, so they got to talk to a tired daughter for a bit.

8:30pm: Read in bed

9:15pm: Take Elijah to the potty, Check Naomi and Abby, Lights out
We are going through some bed wetting issues (maybe more about that in another post), but I take Elijah to the bathroom before I go to bed. He is basically just sleep walking and never remembers it in the morning.

This was an early night to bed for me. Although I would like to be asleep by 9-9:30pm, that doesn’t happen very often. I usually need about 7 hours of sleep to function without a nap though so my goal is not later than 10pm. But in my day there is usually time for a quick 15 minute power nap if I didn’t get to bed by 10pm.

So as you can see my day doesn’t run exactly as I would plan it. But I try to remember the wise words of Nancy Leigh DeMoss who once said in a message I listened to: put the big rocks in the jar first. In other words, the things that are most important in your day, schedule those in and make sure they get done. So there are many things I would like to do that don’t always happen, but if I can get the big rocks done (for me that includes time with the Lord, three meals, connecting with my husband, if even for 10 minutes, family worship time and reading to my children) then I am ok with that. And at the end of the day, I can lay my head to rest know that as C.J. Mahaney says, “Only God gets His to-do list done each day.” Tomorrow I will share how the next day went and you can see how two consecutive days can look in many ways very different.

Filed Under: A Day in the Life of MTAB

A Day in the Life of MTAB

May 18, 2011 By Erin Crispin 4 Comments

Days with these 4 are always full and exciting!

One of the suggestions I got when I asked on my Three Years of Blogging post was from my fellow basket wife Ally. She said:

I would love to see you do a post about what a typical day is like in your household, if there is such a thing. I know with four kids there are many needs and schedules to balance so I’m just curious how it all fits together.

If there is one question/comment I get more than anything else in life this is it. People are often curious “how I do it” with 4 kids. And although I don’t feel like I am “getting it done” very often, I do understand the curiosity because I often wonder the same about other people: women with more children or single moms or missionary families or really just anyone whose life is different than mine. I really enjoy reading other people’s blogs for this very reason because I think in everyone’s life you can often find a little gem that will be of use to incorporate in your own life. Or to just simply be encouraged that God grants us all grace in the different situations He places us in.

So I thought I would periodic posts called “A Day in the Life of MTAB (Married to a Baller)”. I will pick 102 random days where I will record my entire day so you can see our ups and downs. Right after I got Ally’s comment I decided I would record last Wednesday and Thursday. I wouldn’t have necessarily picked one of those days with how it turned out, but I think that will be the good part of this,: it will give you a glimpse into our days. I will try and do 1-2 of these every couple of months.

Before I got started on the two posts (coming tomorrow and Friday), I thought I would share a little bit about how I organize my days. For the most part I try to keep a general rhythm to the day. I don’t think I could get anything done (or done well or maybe only the things I like done or only the things that “scream” the loudest)) if I didn’t have some sort of general outline. I am a “top-down” sort of person. I like to work from a big broad vision and then slowly work down until I have the particulars nailed down. So in everything I function out of my overall vision for my life. From there, I set resolutions (sort of reminders of what I want my life to be about). Then each year, I set goals for the year. Then every time we have a “season” change (for example a new basketball season starting, a basketball season ending, a pregnancy, a new baby, etc.), beforehand I carve out time to go through a quiet time of reflection to set out priorities for the new season in light of my vision, resolutions and goals. Then, once my priorities are laid out, I come up with a general daily outline for my day. So a few weeks before we headed home, I sat and had a time of praying through priorities and then establishing a loose, ideal schedule (ie. it doesn’t have every single action in the day and I know it won’t happen this way on almost any day). For more on how I approach daily life, check out my Living Effective Lives series.

But here is my daily schedule for now:

5am: Wake-up
5:15-5:45am: Workout
6-6:30am: Read, Pray, Journal
6:30-7am: Shower and Dressed
7-7:30am: Kids Up and Dressed, Make Beds, Put Away Clothes, Start Laundry
7:30-8am: Breakfast
8-9:30am: School or Other Activity/Playtime, Isaiah Down for Nap
9:30-11am: Snack and Outside Time
11am-12pm: Lunch Ready and Eaten
12-12:30pm:Cleaning and Switch Laundry
12:30-1pm: Family Time
1-3pm: Naomi and Isaiah Down for Naps, More School Work/Reading Time, Blog, Internet Tasks
3-3:30pm: Snack
3:30-5pm: Outside Time/Gymnastics/Errands/Other Activities
5-5:30pm: Dinner Ready
5:30-6pm: Dinner, Isaiah to Bed
6-6:45pm: Bath Time
7-7:45pm Reading, Snack and Bed Time for Older 3 Kids, Empty Dishwasher, Breakfast Things Set Out
8-9pm: Time with Joe (when he is home)
9:30pm: Bedtime

So that is the general plan for my days. Of course, only about 1-2 days a week actually end up like that. There are all sorts of “divine” interruptions that come and make our day what God wants it to be and so I am learning by His grace to flow with those things. So tomorrow and Friday I will show you the specifics of what last Wednesday and Thursday looked like.

Filed Under: A Day in the Life of MTAB

Happy 1st Birthday, Isaiah!

May 16, 2011 By Erin Crispin 1 Comment

It is hard to believe that one year ago (yesterday), we welcomed our fourth blessing into the world. Isaiah Sean has brought us joy the whole year:

2 Months

4 Months

6 Months

8 Months

10 Months

12 Months

He is a blessing and joy to us and has shown me once again that a Mommy’s heart is big enough to keep loving all the children God would give her. Thank You, Lord for Isaiah,

Filed Under: Our Family, The Kids

Emergency Plan

May 9, 2011 By Erin Crispin 5 Comments

I have shared before that one of my biggest fears is having something happen to me while I am alone with the kids. This past season we finally put an emergency plan in action since Abby is old enough (and has been actually for awhile) to follow an emergency plan and understand what to do if something happens to me. So what I do now is to keep a document on my computer that I can adjust depending on where we are. When we were in Barcellona, the plan looked different than what it does now that we are back in the U.S. But the basics of it are that it has step-by-step instructions for Abby instructing her what to do if something should ever happen to me (she can’t wake me, I have fallen and can’t move, etc.). After posting it, we then spend some time going through it and practicing what she would do. Who knows how she might react if she is ever presented with this type of situation, but we wanted to try and be as prepared as possible.

How about you? Do you have an emergency plan or something else in plan for your kids if you/your spouse spend significant amounts of time alone with them?

Filed Under: Our Family, Parenting, The Basket Wife

Happy Mother’s Day 2011

May 6, 2011 By Erin Crispin 4 Comments

Am I the only one that get caught off guard by Mother’s Day already being this Sunday? I am used to it being closer to my mom’s birthday I guess, so May 8 seems a few days early to me.

Last Sunday I had Naomi and Isaiah dressed in the same outfits that Abby and Elijah had worn four years prior.

It made me realize that I could have never imagined the life I have now 4 years ago. I felt like I already had my hands full with the two children that I had. But of course, now I look back on those years and think I had it easy! But if I could go back and talk to myself 4 years ago, I don’t think I would have said, “Hey, this is easy! Just wait until you have 4 children.” So I tried to think about what I would say to a 27-year-old me. And the first thing that came to mind was:

“It’s all good.”

What I mean by “it’s all good” is that the biggest struggle I had as a young mom (and still have) is that I got so caught up in my own little “young children” world. That is why when asked about how to pray for mothers when I was a mom of two children, none of my prayer requests included the thing I now pray more often for myself and other young moms more than anything else: the grace to see outside of our own 4 walls.

We get so caught up in “kid world”. We talk, think, dream and act on all issues that have to do with being a parent. And being good stewards of our children is a great thing. But the older, wiser mothers that I have seen or read thoughts from are all much more relaxed and humble about life. When I say “it’s all good”, I would love to tell my 27-year-old self to just relax and enjoy the kids. Don’t worry so much about sleep schedules and vaccinations and breastfeeding and television watching and homeschool curriculums and etc., etc. Those things are all good and important, but they aren’t the end of the world.

Sure there are parents out there who are pretty lax when it comes to parenting, but many of the young moms I know (along with myself) are on the other extreme where it comes to being so wrapped up in our “young children” world. So my prayer for all of us mothers on Mother’s Day is that we would have eyes to see beyond sippy cups, dirty diapers, loads of laundry, doctor’s appointments, little league games and music lessons. I pray we would continually move back from our own world and expand our horizon larger and larger to see the world and all that God is doing in it. I pray we would work faithfully at home with a view towards the greater good of spreading the love of Jesus and storing up treasures for heaven. Even if you don’t think that is what you need in your life, please pray that for me this Mother’s Day.

Filed Under: Christianity, Our Family, Parenting, The Basket Wife, The Kids

Settling in at Home

May 5, 2011 By Erin Crispin 6 Comments

After our trip home on Friday, we had until Monday to spend with Joe until he had to go back to Barcellona to finish out the season. The first few days were pretty busy. On Saturday, Joe had a massage, my parents came up for the afternoon and stayed for an early dinner and we did trips to the grocery store and sporting good store (for t-ball equipment). Abby and Elijah were also supposed to have their first t-ball game, but it was probably a blessing that it was canceled due to rain. We went to church on Easter, the kids played outside more with Joe and we had a low key dinner. On Monday, Joe had an appointment with the chiropractor and his trainer and then his parents came for the day. I then took Joe to the airport, had some tears and came back to have him call 15 minutes later to say that his flight was delayed at least an hour, so he wouldn’t make his connection in Philadelphia. So his dad drove back out and picked him up and we had dinner out before they headed home. That night was a blessing to have one more evening together since the time had been crazy, but the next day he had to leave again and scheduled the earlier flight just to make sure he made his connection even if there was a delay.

So after dropping Joe off for a second time, I came home to the four kids who were at the house with a babysitter. It was nap time, so I got them down for naps and did some schoolwork with Abby. After they woke, I decided I would walk them to the park in our development. It was at that point that all of the sudden I felt very alone. It started to dawn on me that I was REALLY going to do this one my own for at least a month. I had 2 weeks before we had any more visitors coming to see us. And at this point, the kids were still all pretty jet-lagged. The three older ones were whiny and picky at one another. And Isaiah just wanted to be held the whole time. So when getting ready for and walking to the park included:

- about 10 requests from the kids for me to do something for them,
- Naomi tripping over her feet and skinning her knee,
- Elijah landing right in a puddle and soaking himself,
- Abby crying because she missed Italy and Daddy,
- and Isaiah doing one of his tired baby freak outs and scratching me on the face and making me bleed,

I broke down in tears right there at the park. Thankfully no one else was around so only my kids thought I was a crazy lunatic! I was still tired and fighting against the feeling that I was NOT going to be able to make it on my own. We spent a quick time at the park and headed home to take baths before dinner. As I put Isaiah down for bed, I called Joe crying (who was about to get on the plane). Aren’t I a nice wife? Nothing like sending you husband off on his 8 hour flight by hysterically crying that you won’t be able to do it!

The funny thing was, I knew those first days on my own would be hard. But I had spent so much time being excited for arriving home, that I didn’t prepare myself enough for the hard stuff I would encounter. I think a lot of us do this often in life. We get so excited about the wedding, that we forget that after that lies a marriage that will be hard work. We are so anxious for our baby to arrive, that we crumble once that baby is here and giving us sleepless nights and making us feel like we know NOTHING about being a parent. We get so jazzed up to start a new job, that we forget the newness will wear off and the day-to-day grind will be back once again at some point.

I don’t want to be a person who is always expecting the worst, but I do want to be someone who is prepared for trials. That is why this verse from the mouth of Jesus is always so encouraging to me:

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world. John 16:33

Jesus doesn’t tell us things will be smooth sailing, so we don’t see life with unrealistic rose-colored glasses. But he also tells us that we posess the power that He had to conquer death, so we don’t need to despair.

I am now 9 days into being on my own and we have already settled into a routine. The kids are adjusted to the time zone and we are full into activities and life here. So now the challenge is to remember that I still need the power of Jesus just the same as I felt I needed it that day in the park. I can’t do anything on my own, but sometimes it is easier to remember that when you have been brought to tears.

Filed Under: Bible Verses, Christianity, Our Family, The Basket Wife

Travel Home 2011

May 4, 2011 By Erin Crispin 5 Comments

I am finally getting around to writing up about our trip home that happened 1.5 weeks ago. The trip overall went as well as we could have expected. Here is the rundown of the preparation and trip itself.

Preparation: The packing really went relatively smoothly. We had the team pay for extra bags this year, so I wasn’t worried about trying to fit all of our things into 6 bags. Joe took a bag of things home so he wouldn’t have any more than 1 bag to bring back when he is done. Then I fit the rest of our things into 8 other bags (plus a box for the computer). The kids’ carry-ons were each equipped with a plastic bag filled with food, an extra outfit, and a few things to do. Add in our double stroller and two car seats we were bringing home and it was no wonder we needed one of the team’s smaller buses to take us to the airport!

Friday, April 22, 2011: Travel Day

3:15am: I woke up after about 5.5 hours of sleep and started to put the finishing touches on our things. We had decided not to eat breakfast before leaving, but to just eat what was packed and then get something more at the airport. After I got ready and had our things prepared to go, I started to get the kids ready at 3:40am. Elijah was first and was pretty easy because he was super excited. Abby who is usually harder to rouse was excited too and was dressed and ready to go quickly. Naomi had been pretty confused in the days leading up to the trip about why we needed to leave our house (“Is this house broke?” she would ask). But she was excited to get back to a toy microphone she had seen on her birthday video, so she kept talking about that. I woke Isaiah up at the last possible minute and planted him in his car seat before we headed down to the bus. Joe had taken a few bags down the night before, so while I got the kids ready he had been carrying bags down and loading them on the bus.

4am: We pulled away from the apartment and started the 1.5 hour drive to the Catania airport.

4:10am: Elijah asked how much longer until we get there. I was concerned about how they would all hold up for the trip at that point!

5:30am: We arrived at the Catania airport. The drive was pretty uneventful. Isaiah fussed a bit, but after eating some banana he fell back asleep. Naomi was already tired and wanting me to hold her. Abby and Elijah were still happy and running on adrenaline. When we got to the airport, we realized we only had 1 Euro for a cart, so we piled all we could on the one cart and then found a way to drag the rest of it inside.

5:45am: Joe made it to the front of the check-in line while I waited with the kids on the side. Abby reviewed our travel map that we had made, while I tried to keep a tired Naomi happy. They informed us as we were putting our bags through that they could not send our computer box. After explaining that this was the second half of our ticket and we had been told nothing about not being able to check it on the way over, the man helping us called over his supervisor. She still insisted that they could not send it because they could not guarantee it would not get damaged, so we would have to send it cargo, which they did not do there. After we convinced them we weren’t going to hold them responsible for any damage to it, they brought out a paper so that Joe could sign away any responsibility of the airline to damage to our computer.

6am: Then Joe found out that since we had four extra pieces of luggage, he had to go to another part of the airport to pay for them. Usually you just hand your credit card over, they swipe it and charge you and you move on. But he told me to stay put and he would go quickly take care of it. After 10 minutes of waiting, I decided to do a bathroom break with the kids since it didn’t look like we were going to have much time before our 7am flight. We had thought 1.5 hours beforehand would be plenty, but as it was creeping closer and closer to 6:30am, I started to get worried.

6:35am: Joe came running down and said to get in the security line so we would be able to make the flight. I got the kids in line while he went back to get our boarding passes (he couldn’t get these until our extra baggage had been paid for). He later told me that they had to fill out (by hand) a separate form for every extra bag we had. Thankfully we got through security quickly and we ran to catch the plane they were holding for us! This was not the start I had been envisioning.

7:05am: The flight from Catania to Rome took off shortly after we got on. As we had run onto the plane, I knew from flying Alitalia before that I was not going to be able to use Isaiah’s car seat. So we had given the car seat and double stroller to be put under the plane. So Isaiah was on my lap (he isn’t big enough for a CARES harness yet), along with Naomi on one side of the aisle. And Joe had Abby and Elijah on the other side of the aisle. The flight was only 1.5 hours, so there wasn’t too much time. The kids were looking forward to watching movies on the plane, so I had to keep explaining to Naomi that the movies weren’t on this plane. Isaiah started to get fidgety and when they brought drinks around, we got water for Naomi and me and put them on Naomi’s tray. Naomi then moved her water to the other side of the tray (closest to Isaiah and me) and we had our first spill of the day. Isaiah grabbed that cup as quick as lightening and Naomi ended up with water all over her seat. Thankfully, it was just water, so we mopped it up and I told Naomi her pants would dry. Thankfully at this point in the trip, she accepted that solution.

8:25am: We touched down in Rome and waited until everyone else had gotten off to make our exit. When we got down to the bottom of the stairwell (this was a little plane so you entered and exited from the ground via stairs), we found out we now had no car seat or stroller. I was kicking myself for not SPECIFICALLY saying that we needed them back after the flight. So they went ahead and checked them through to Philadelphia because they said there was no room underneath. So at that point, I knew Isaiah was pretty much going to spend the next 16 hours in my arms. We boarded the bus to take us to the terminal and had some nice people around us (we squished in last so were all standing) who helped the kids not to fall as we turned corners.

8:45am: Rome is a big airport and where you come in on a flight within Italy is a long way from where the international flights take off, so we decided to first do a bathroom break and then stop at MacDonald’s. That is when the first whining started. Abby wanted to know how long until we got home and let us know she was tired of traveling. Then she spilled her orange juice all over herself. So she and I made the trip to the bathroom for a clothing change. It was at this point that Joe and I decided I would not be doing this trip on my own for a few years. I was semi-crazy to think about doing it on my own this time and if I had no stroller, I really would have been in trouble since Isaiah is not standing or walking yet. But we got Abby changed, finished eating and then headed to our gate.

9:45am: Joe went to check in and figure out our seats at the desk, while I hung with the kids. At that point, I needed a break from holding Isaiah, so I let him crawl around the floor. Gross, I know, but I wiped him down good afterwards! We had about an hour and a half to wait until they started the pre-boarding, so the kids played on Abby’s Leapster and then sat by the window watching the planes. We then did one more bathroom break before getting ready to board the Rome to Philadelphia flight.

11:20am: We boarded the plane and got settled. We had decided since Joe’s ticket was booked separately and he would most likely not have a seat next to us, that I would take his ticket. They had blocked out a seat next to him, since it wasn’t a full flight, so that I could have extra room with Isaiah (never hurts to ask for this when you are traveling). We didn’t have the extra room of the bulkhead row, so it was nice to have an extra seat. Joe was two rows behind me with the other three kids. He had not traveled with Naomi since our trip in 2009, so I think he underestimated the effort she was going to take. But even if he had known, I think he still would have taken the three so I could handle Isaiah on my own because he is sweet like that.

12pm: The flight took off and the kids were itching for their movies. Isaiah was pretty tired by this point, but was more interested in looking around at everyone. After about 45 minutes, the older 3 kids were into the on demand movies and things were pretty quiet back there. This was an 8.5 hour flight, so I won’t recount too much of it, but after a lot of standing and swaying, I finally got Isaiah to fall asleep and laid him down next to me, but he only stayed asleep for 45 minutes. Amazingly enough, with such little sleep, he never really made a peep. He was about as good as you could hope a baby to be. We had one more spill (Abby again) and a lot of bathroom breaks. By the end, Elijah was tired and came up and fell asleep with his head on my lap as he sat in the seat next to me.

3:30pm (now Eastern Standard Time, which is -6 hours of where we were in Italy): We touched down in Philadelphia and I think we all kind of sighed. We were back in the U.S.! We did know that we needed to move quickly though because we only had 2 hours until our connecting flight. And we needed to get through customs, get our baggage, go through declarations and re-check our baggage again for our flight to State College. Thankfully it was not crowded at all. Naomi was totally pooped by this time and once we got the stroller, we dumped her in and she promptly fell asleep and pretty much went in and out of sleep for the rest of the trip, until we were in the car heading home. And when she was out of sleep, it was not pretty! We had about 30 minutes before boarding our State College flight and Joe went to get something for us to eat (Philly pretzels..yum!) while I sat with the kids. At this point, I was really feeling like we were almost there and thankful for the trip we had had.

5:15pm: We boarded the State College flight. It was a tiny plane and there was almost no one on there, so we spread out and Isaiah slept on me while Naomi slept on Joe. Abby and Elijah anxiously awaited for the plane to touch down.

6:30pm: We touched down in State College where we met the cold, rainy weather. That was a bit of a shock for us, but we got our stroller and car seat and then went to get our baggage. Our friend, Tyler Smith, was there to pick us up and he and Joe got all the bags loaded as I tried to help Naomi and Isaiah, who at this point hit meltdown. Abby and Elijah got a burst of adrenaline again and were running around, waiting to get home. We got two cars loaded up (our neighbors had dropped our car off at the airport for us and Tyler had brought the keys) and headed home. It was a 10-15 minute drive home and once we got there, the 3 older kids all took off to find their favorite things, while Joe and Tyler unloaded the car. I got Isaiah ready for bed and then crashed pretty early that night.

So that was our trip. It was long (it was about 21 hours total from start to finish), but God definitely was gracious throughout. We all had our moments of weakness, but we made it and can put another notch on our travel belts. Tomorrow, I will share a little about settling in at home.

Filed Under: Living Abroad, Our Family