Ready for Summer!

I cannot believe it is already May 28th. This school year has absolutely flown by. It's just wild to me that Kamryn is already finishing up her freshman year of high school. Next year will be Logan's last year of middle school; Kensington's last year of elementary school and Smith will be starting kindergarten!! WHAT?! We have just a few weeks of school left. All the schools get out different days this year which is new for us. Kamryn will get out Monday the 16th, Logan on that Tuesday and finally Kensington and Tenley on Wednesday. We are really looking forward to a packed summer ahead of us! I love having all the kids home with me and we've got a lot of fun stuff planned.

This school year was a big one for us. First year with a high school kid and the first year I had 4 kids at 3 different schools at 3 different start times. It made for really busy (and early) mornings but once we got into the groove, I really enjoyed it. I really stressed over this leading up to it, but it was a lot easier than I anticipated. Most days it did feel like I already lived a full day by the time I waved goodbye to Kensington and Tenley as their bus pulled away but I'm a morning person through and through so truly I do like the hustle and bustle of our school mornings. Although I am looking forward to sleeping in past 5:30, not going to lie. 6:30 will do. 

Archie is 10 months old and is officially crawling on all fours (before he was army crawling for a while), pulling up to stand and slowly starting to cruise around. He's very cautious and taking his time, which mama is thankful for. He is VERY vocal all of the sudden and starting to babble back to us when we talk to him. I love this stage. Archie absolutely thinks he is making sense, and it just cracks us up. Aside from the babble he says "Dada, Mama and Bubba" and those two stubborn bottom teeth are JUST about to pop through. I cannot believe they haven't yet. The poor kid!! He is truly the happiest, most chill, easy going baby. He takes one, sometimes two, really good nap during the day and sleeps at night from 7:30pm to 7:30am. He loves food and his appetite has really picked up lately. He was very picky with puree's when we first started them and now there's not much he refuses. We all just love him so much!! 

We've been counting down the days to the last day of school on our calendar for the last couple of weeks and we are ready. Mike will be opening the pool this week and we'll just impatiently be waiting for it to be officially summer, now that the weather has seemed to catch up. I cannot believe last week we had the heat on!! Gotta love New England!

Well, there's a random assortment of what we've got going on. I'm really trying to get on here more. But we have been so incredible busy! I feel like that's all I say. With the end of the school year craziness (I swear my parents weren't THIS busy when I was in school), Mike seeing a bazillion drs and going to PT and OT for his work accident (yes, we are still dealing with the aftermath of that) and just being a mom to 6 kids I cannot catch my breath. I don't know that our calendar has ever looked so full. Fingers crossed when the kids get out of school things will slow down just a little bit I'll find the time to blog more.

Okay, I'm off..... Have the best day!!

xoxo,

Kristen

Mother's Day 2025

 

I look at this picture and I just cannot wrap my head around how I am a mother of SIX kids! I do this every single day, yet still I don't know how we got here. Sometimes I play a little "what if" game with myself, "What if we listened to everyone and stopped when we had one boy and one girl?" "What if I really did stop having kids once I hit 30 (like I said was my plan) and we didn't have Smith and Archie?" "What if I listened to the statistics and didn't have Archie at 38 because I was too old?" No matter how many times I play that game with myself I cannot imagine it. There are a lot of things in life I'm not good at. I could sit here all day and write you a very extensive list of the things I need to work on. But being a mom to 6 kids, it just comes naturally to me. Somehow some way I can pull myself in 6 different directions and be 6 different versions of myself for these 6 kids, because they are all so different and all need different things. It really feels like a superpower. I will never ever forget the moment they placed Kamryn in my arms after she was born. I was only 23 and it was the first time in my life I felt true contentment. It was like "Oh, yes, this is what I'm meant to do." Nothing and I mean NOTHING came as natural to me as being a mom. That's not to say I've got it all figured out and that I'm perfect in any way because I am not. I screw up daily, I get overwhelmed, I lose my temper and like I said in my how do you do it post some nights I go to bed worried I missed something. But deep down in my bones I know this is what God put me on this earth for. To be a mom to a ton of kids when the whole world told me not to. When I look back at my life, I see God aligned the stars just right. I met Mike at 19, we found this great house that had many more bedrooms than we planned on needing, Mike got a new job at the absolute perfect time. Every single one of these babies came just when we needed them and could care for them in the way they needed. We never tested fate, we never pushed for it, it all just worked out. You'll remember I said I was done having babies many many times and I meant it, and I believed it. Yet here we are. It really is amazing when you have faith how life just works out.

Kamryn, Logan, Kensington, Tenley, Smith and Archie; YOU are my greatest joy, my life's purpose and the reason that I breathe. You've saved me more times than I can count when I was down and out and the only thing I could bring myself to do was care for you. You kept me going when I didn't think I had it in me and without even knowing. I am truly without a shadow of a doubt the luckiest mama on the planet. Every single one of you brings out the best in me every single day. You've taught me what real love is, patience, understanding, and even when I screw up royally you all still love me without fault. I don't know why God chose me to be your mama, but I can promise you one thing. I will always be here, I will never stop showing up for you and every single day of your life you will have the biggest cheerleader in your corner, no matter what you choose to do. I am so incredibly proud to be your mom. All 6 of you are so unique and amazing and leave me in awe every single day. Mama loves you! 

xoxo,

Kristen

My (silly) Rules for Naming a Baby

 This one is just for fun. You know I love myself baby names and I've been asked just about a bazillion times for help (suggestions, advice, my opinion, etc.) from friends and family when they were naming their babies. I'm not always the best at suggestions (unless your style is similar to mine), but I do have some "rules" I've always stuck to that I think, and have been told, are pretty useful.

Let's review. We have Kamryn Alexis, Logan Michael, Kensington Bree, Tenley James, Smith Joseph and Archer "Archie" Edward. 

For us, not on purpose but ended up that way, all of our kids have first names that are technically last names. By the time we got to naming our 6th baby all I had on our list was last names that could work at first names. Kamryn & Logan are both Scottish last names (although yes, we changed the spelling for Kamryn) and Kensington, Tenley, Smith and Archer are all English last names. For their middle names we used names to honor people who are important to us. 

Naming these babies wasn't exactly easy (mostly because I'm so picky) and for most of the kids it took the whole 9 months I was pregnant for us to settle on a name. But I figure someone out there may be like me. Maybe? So, I thought it might be fun to share some of the rules we stuck to when naming our kids. 

1. Find your name style

Write down a list of names and have your husband do the same. Figure out what types of names you like. I for example like names that lean more to the unique side but aren't unheard of. Mike tends to like a more traditional name, so we tried to combine those in the first and middle names.  

2. Be flexible 

Unfortunately, you need to be ready for a name you absolutely love to be shot down by your spouse. I had so many that Mike told me "Absolutely not" and vice versa. Most recently, I really liked the names Easton and Crew when I was pregnant with Archie and Mike did not. There were even a few names over the years I may have shed a tear or two over, but I understood. These weren't just my babies; they were his too and he deserves just as much say in their names. Although! I did put my foot down about Smith's name. He wasn't so sure but when that kid came out at a record pace just 25 minutes after we pulled up to the hospital, he gave in.

3. Remember you are naming an adult, not just a baby. 

This is something I think people forget. These babies are going to be adults much longer than they are babies and kids. A fun little game I always used to play in my head was could I personally introduce myself as a name and feel comfortable as a grown woman and would I take a grown man seriously if they introduced themselves to me with a particular name? It sounds silly but it worked. There were a few names I knocked off my list for that alone. When it came to the boys, I asked Mike if he would take a grown man seriously on a construction site if they came up to him and introduced themselves as Logan, Smith or Archer, he answered yes so those were good enough for me. I also really wanted Archie's full name to be Archie. Mike insisted he needed a full name to fall back on when he's an adult, so we went with Archer. Is there a chance he will always go by Archie? Yes. But almost 10 months out I now agree with Mike we made the right choice...just in case.

4. Flow 

First, middle and last. Write it out, say it out loud. Make sure nothing runs together or sounds too sing songy or rhymes. For Example: We almost named Tenley "Tinsley". That was the name we went into the hospital with but when I kept saying "Tinsley James Sass" it just felt like there were too many s's and it was a mouthful. So that brought us to Tenley. It sounded a lot better to me. I also am a fan of mixing up the number of syllables. For example: Smith Joseph Sass. So, while his first and last names are both one syllable, we break it up with a 2-syllable middle name. Same with Kensington Bree Sass. Her middle and last name are just 1 syllable but her first name is 3. I hope this makes sense. 

5. Initials 

I think it's important to write out your kid's initials. While you may never monogram something for them, they might someday. My husband was adamant on this rule because poor Mike's initials are MRS and MS. He hates it. 

6. You don't have to stick to a trend

When it came to my girls we ended up with Kamryn, Kensington and Tenley. I really struggled because while I was pregnant with Tenley I wondered if she needed a "K" name too like me and the girls. I wasn't sure if I started a trend I couldn't get out of. I liked a few names that started with C, Collins being one of them, but I didn't like it spelt Kollins. It felt like we were trying too hard to give her a K name. The only K name we threw around in the hospital was Kingsley, and if I'm being honest, I'm so happy we didn't use it. As you know we ended up not giving her a K name and it turned out just fine. So don't feel stuck. 

7. Remember it's your baby, not anyone else's

This one is so very important. Not everyone is going to love the name you've chosen. I don't care if you named your kid super traditional John or mega unique Cruz. You will never ever ever have every single person look at you and admire your name choice. I had multiple people tell me not to name my son Smith. Even til this day we get some looks and people ask, "Is that his first name?" I've talked about this before, but the same thing happened with Archie. Even after he was born someone looked at me and said, "You really named him Archie, huh?" You need to remember this is your baby, not anyone else's. Don't get too crazy but just remember most people get their chance to name their kid what they want; this is your chance so go with what you love. 

8. Go with what you love

When all else fails, go with what you love. As I said people have opinions. For us, Archie is definitely more "traditional" than our other kids' names but we both really loved it, so we used it. This "rule" contradicts every other "rule" on this list. When all else fails, you throw every single rule out the window and name your baby a name you and your spouse love.

 

I know a lot of people who kept the names to themselves the entire pregnancy and I do like this, although so not me. I'm a sharer and love to talk baby names. But I do think this a good rule as well. I will say I was never a fan of naming a child one name with the intent to call him/her something else, and then I did that with Archie. We only call him Archie, aside from when I bring him to the doctors and call him Archer. So, sometimes rules are dumb! LOL!

Here are some names I liked but we didn't use (a lot of these Mike vetoed):

Boys 

Weston, Crew, Brady, Easton, Grant, Braeden, Landon, Brody, Cal, Harrison, Jones

Girls

Collins, Elliot, Mackenna, Mackinley, Britton, Addison, Locklyn, Quinn, Tess, Anderson "Andie"

That was fun right? Again, these rules are silly and not all that serious. But if you're like me these "rules" might be useful. As I got to my 6th child I was running out of names I liked, names I thought sounded good with my other kids' names and certainly/mostly running out of names Mike and I agreed on. I threw all the rules out the window. 

I'll see you all back here in a couple days!

xoxo, Kristen

Our Back Yard

 This post has been a long time coming! 2 years ago, I said to Mike, "Let's knock down the deck and put in a patio." This one sentence would turn into a major backyard renovation before I knew it. 

Our deck was such a headache. We kept having issues with it rotting and we'd replace the rotting wood in the spring/summer, and another spot would pop up the following spring after the damage over the winter. It was very very frustrating. I kept throwing around the idea of a patio instead of a deck and it always sat on the "someday" list. 

Then came spring 2023 and we were throwing my sister a baby shower in June. I then said the time is now! Let's knock down the deck and lay some pavers. Welllllll..... this job turned into much more than we could handle. 

Here is our patio today! It's perfect for our family of 8 and we now have more than enough room when we entertain! It's just gorgeous and more than we ever imagined!! 

Let me take you back. Below is Mike in April of 2023.

This is pretty much the best before picture I can find. On a whim Mike started knocking down the railings and took down the stairs. There was no turning back now...

Andddd then it sat like this. For months. We did not get it done in time for the baby shower. Honestly it wouldn't have mattered. It was freezing and raining the day of Lexi's baby shower. But that's a story for another day. I got a few astronomical quotes for a patio the same size as our deck, which we turned down and finally we hired my sister in laws brother, Justin to do it for us. And I'm so thankful we did! This backyard is all Justin. I gave him a small idea of what I wanted, and he ran with it and made it even better! What started out as "laying some pavers" turned into knocking down a ton of trees, 2 retaining walls, 2 patios, gorgeous flower beds (complete with my favorite flowers, hydrangeas), landscaping, stairs, replacing some shingles, lots and lots of lighting, irrigation and a gorgeous firepit! Oh, and we threw an above ground pool in there too! We have big dreams of someday doing an inground pool, not sure if we'll ever get there but for now this above ground is great for the kids.

Before.... After!

This after picture is so us! There's stuff everywhere. Towels, toys, drinks. I just snapped this one night while we were outside enjoying our backyard. No perfectly styled pictures here! LOL!

Remember how I said it turned into a major backyard renovation? Well, in the midst of doing the patio we decided to throw in a propane firepit. Go big or go home?! I guess that was our motto with this yard! 

When we decided to do this, I felt a little silly. Not going to lie. I kept saying we aren't fancy enough for this. But honestly, it's the best part of the yard! We use it ALL THE TIME!

We finally got our irrigation system up and running and the only thing that's left is to grow some grass in the back yard and re-mulch the beds/swing set area! I'll make sure to share even more after pictures once we are completely done! 

This post is long overdue. I just had to remind myself to do it! I wanted to get outside and take more pictures, but I had all these in my phone and none of the plants are in full bloom right now, so I figured I'll use what I have. Like I said I'll share more when we are completely done. This backyard is a great reminder to me, and anyone else, that Rome was not built in a day. But it was so so worth it! I know we will enjoy it for years to come!!

And yes, your eyes are not deceiving you...that's 3 posts 3 days in a row!!

Have the best weekend and Happy Mother's Day! I'll be home with my crew trying to relax and probably having a high noon at that firepit! 

xoxo,

Kristen

How do you do it?

"How do you do it?" A question that I've been asked more times than I can count.

As a family of 8, I understand why people ask me this over and over again. My answer is usually "you just do what you've gotta do". But I think sometimes it's interesting to people on how we manage day to day. So, here's a list of things I do daily to keep us on track and keep our sanity intact. I'm sure you do a lot of this stuff too, even if you don't have 6 kids.

First thing to note is I don't have any help aside from the occasional babysitter. I don't have someone who helps me with anything around the house. It's all me, Mike and the kids. Can it be overwhelming? Yes. Do I wish I could afford some help with laundry and cleaning? Yes. But I can't so this is what we do to try to keep things somewhat manageable.

Second is to remember aside from Archie my kids are all at ages where they can do a lot for themselves. I don't have 6 babies; I have 5 kids and 1 baby. It was a lot harder when they were all small. 

I may turn this into a series because I could really dive more into these but for today, this will do. You asked, I answered, this is how we do it...

1. I write a list of to-dos every single day. Monday-Sunday. I sit at my kitchen table every morning while I sip my coffee, and I write down everything I need to do that day. From my daily walk on my walking pad to errands I need to run to which bathroom needs to be cleaned to who's laundry needs to be thrown in. I take pen to paper and jot it all down. There is a certain level of productivity that needs to go into every single day to make our lives run just a little smoother. At the end of the day, I see what didn't get crossed out and I add that to tomorrows to-dos.

2. I meal plan. I do not buy a single grocery item without planning out what we are eating for dinner every night. I am very regimented in this way because I got sick and tired of asking my family what they want for dinner only for every single one of them to look at me and say, "I don't know" and/or complain about what I was making. So now when I do my weekly grocery shop, it's all planned out.

3. I get my groceries delivered. I started doing this when Kensington and Tenley were babies and have gone back and forth between going to the grocery store and getting them delivered and I've realized ordering my groceries online helps keep me on budget. When I go to the grocery store, I tend to grab for things I don't need. Doing this also free's up a lot of time in my day. 

4. I do laundry every. single. day. My brother and I have this ongoing joke. Whenever he calls me, he's driving and I'm doing laundry. Even doing laundry daily, I never catch up. But! We always have clean clothes! I consider that a win. 

5. I have a calendar on my kitchen wall with everything we have going on that month. At the beginning of every month, I write it all down. That way all of us can keep track of what's coming, if mom or dad won't be home, who's got an appointment where and when. Could I do this on an app on our phones? Sure. But my younger kids don't have phones and this way I know it's right there in front of all of us.

6. Mike and I sit and have an afternoon snack and coffee every afternoon when he gets home from work. It's a nice time for us to catch up. We are so busy that date nights never happen, but we take this time to check in and see how each other are doing. We also do our nightly walks. With 6 kids I think two times a day for just us is really good considering. Lucky for us we really enjoy each other's company so carving out this time daily is easy.

7. Now you might be curious as to if our kids ever get one on one time with us. While it's rare, we do try. Kamryn and I watch a tv show a few nights a week just us. Logan and Mike box together. If the kids have an appointment, I make sure to get them a little treat afterwards and just sit and talk with them. For example, Mike took Kensington to the orthodontist yesterday and stopped at Dunks to get her a refresher on the way home. She was thrilled! If anyone has an event at school, open house, play, banquet, etc etc. Mike and I go with just that kid. We could take the whole crew, but this gives that specific kid the chance to have us all to themselves. These little moments really make the kids feel special and it's essential when you have this many kids to carve out this time.

8. Drown out the noise. There is not a person out there who doesn't have an opinion on our family size. Whether it's positive or negative, people have thoughts about it. I have to remind myself sometimes that this is my life, not anyone else's. My kids all get more than enough attention, they love all their siblings, my husband works his ass off to provide for our family, I'm here with them every single day and we do it all ourselves. Mike and I are a team, and we tackle everything together. That doesn't mean we are perfect, but we both try every single day. If someone has a negative opinion on our family, there's nothing I can do it about it. So, I let it go in one ear and out the other.

9. A big way I "do it" is I don't have much of a social life. Having a big family means I dedicate my life to my family. It's a choice that goes into having so many kids. Do I miss time with my friends? Yes, very much so. I'm envious of moms who get girls nights and have a core group of friends they see on the regular. But right now, I just don't have the time for it. I'm hopeful as my kids grow and have a little more independence, I'll be able to give a little more to that part of my life.

10. This is probably the most important one. I've come to the realization; I cannot do it all. It's impossible. It'll never ever happen. Our kids are happy, fed, clean, clothed, loved and healthy? We're doing okay. I give myself grace. Lots of grace. Sometimes I go to bed with dishes in the sink and load the dishwasher in the morning. Or I'll have a bunch of laundry that still needs to be folded. I know when I've hit the wall and my sanity and getting enough sleep is higher on the priority list than dishes or laundry. Somedays I go to bed at the end of the night and realize I forgot to remind/ask the kids if they have homework because the day got away from me. I really have learned to be much more laid back as my family has grown bigger and bigger. I'm not perfect, I'll never ever be perfect, and I'll never try to be perfect. Perfect is boring anyways. Giving myself grace is essential.

There are ten things I like to do regularly to keep things running semi-smoothly. Not to be repetitive, but I cannot stress enough how much I've had to chill out as I've gotten older and our family has grown. I am so much more laid back than I was in my 20's. It's not that I used to run myself ragged to get everything done, but I used to beat myself up when I didn't get everything done and now, I really just don't care. I'll get to it, eventually. Someday my kids are all going to be grown and out of my house and that'll be the season where I'm caught up on everything. Spending quality time with my kids and husband is number one for me. We don't have this wildly huge expendable income, so we don't go out to eat much and vacations are few and far. We cannot afford to have the kids in a bunch of activities', but we do our best to lean into their interests. Mike and I both agree we'd rather all these kids than any of that and I think the kids would rather that too. We don't have a "village" per-say, our family of 8 is our village. Our kids do chores, once a month we do a huge family clean up around the house and we all pitch in as much as we can. We keep things scheduled and as organized as possible, even if it's more like organized chaos. We go without a lot of the extras that others really enjoy, but that's a choice we made when we decided to have so many kids. Our lifestyle isn't for everyone, but it works for us.

2 blog posts 2 days in a row?!? Who's this girl??? Gosh I could've kept going on this topic. Life as a family of 8 is definitely a trip at times but it's normal for us. I always joke and say, "I don't think life is supposed to be this overwhelming." LOL! Because there are moments where my head is spinning and I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to be in 3 places at once. Somehow, we always figure it out.

What topics do you think I should talk about next? Let me know in the comments!

xoxo,

Kristen

Wednesday.

 Hello friends!

Happy Wednesday!

I've got to be honest; the creative side of my brain just seems to be stagnant. I've been over here trying to figure out what to blog about and I just can't seem to come up with anything that seems worth it. We've had so many appointments these last few weeks and just lots to do ourselves and with the kids that the blog has been the last thing on my mind. But it's there and ever present, and it weighs on me to get on here and write but for whatever reason I can't seem to feel like anything is worth it to share. 

I really really want to start sharing our routines on my Instagram. It's something I've been wanting to do forever but whenever I get the urge I just look around at my house and can't help but feel self-conscious. Every content creator I see who does what I want to do have these beautiful houses and mine well, it needs a lot of renovating. Renovating that is not in the budget. Sometimes I prop my phone up on my tripod and hit record and all I can see is the imperfections in my house and then I delete delete delete. I don't know, I'm second guessing this whole thing. However, this has weighed heavy on my heart as something I want to do for years and years so I'm not really sure what to do with that. I just cannot shake that "I'm not good enough" feeling no matter how hard I try. Do I keep doing this? Do I just do the videos even though my house isn't perfect? I don't know. I often wonder if this is how everyone feels when putting themselves out there? But they just seem so confident. It's hard for me to find that confidence in myself. That's a whole other post for a different day. At the end of the day, I really do like doing THIS. It's fun for me and gives me something that's solely mine when majority of my days are dedicated to everyone else. Maybe that's it? Maybe just keep doing what I like, stop over thinking it and hope the creative juices start flowing and forget about all the other stuff. We shall see....

But for now, here are a few pics of life lately...

Kensington got her braces on last week! If you've been keeping track, yes, she's the 4th person in a row in our house to have braces. We're going on 5 years of someone consistently having braces here!!

We've had great weather and spent lots of time out by the firepit!

You all know I love a good striped tee. I grabbed this one when it was on sale and it's going to be perfect all spring and summer! It's only $8 right now and comes in a bunch of colors! 

I got my true size medium.

We got our new inground sprinklers hooked up and even though it was a bit chilly the kids needed to test them out!

Kamryn had her cheer banquet on Monday night. Here she is with a couple of the girls. We're so proud of her and grateful she's made such great friends.

Well, that'll do it for today. The kids have a half day from school so I've gotta get my walk in, clean up and do some laundry before they start to trickle back in. I have a love/hate relationship with half days. 

I hope you all have a great day! xoxo