A little bit about me…
Hi there and welcome to mamaextra! I am so thrilled that you are stopping by!
The intention of this space is to be a resource for you…whether you need a perfect margarita recipe, tips on how to strategically plan life with your spouse or inspiration on how to incorporate homeschool ish activities into daily life for your kids…l promise to share all the good stuff that I find as I navigate life with 5 kids, working a full-time corporate America jobby job and trying to stay connected to my roots.
My hope is that you will find valuable tips, ideas and motivation to do the things that make you feel accomplished!
So let’s get acquainted….
My family…
My husband, Chris, and I have 5 kids ages 12, 9, 6, 3 and 9 months. They are a laugh a minute…but also lunatically insane at times. Like most families, there is arguing and tattling and chaos, but there is also fun, laughs and lots of love. Chris and I started dating our freshman year of college and then continued to date for over 10 years before getting married. We traveled a bit, moved a little, but ended up back in the Midwest to settle down and raise our family.
We both have full time corporate jobs, but with what happened in 2020 we found ourselves homeschooling our 3 oldest kids while working at the same time. It was an eye-opening experience and one that I will always treasure, but also probably associate with extreme exhaustion. I found that my once super organized way of life went out the window as I tried to keep all of the proverbial balls in the air. Let me say that I dropped many on the regular and just had to adjust and recover each time. While we did return to in person school for the fall of 2021, I did keep many of the homeschool lessons that I learned along the way active in our home when before, I didn’t know that was even possible!
What you will find on this blog…
Over time, as I build this blog, you will find homeschool-ish tips all from our journey into homeschool that year. I use the term homeschool-ish because here’s the deal…I am by no means an expert in homeschool, however I learned that you don’t have to be to benefit from it. We learned that there is a way to be understanding and involved in your child’s learning process while also using the traditional school system. Being involved and engaged in our kids’ learning has given us more to connect on and more ways to understand their perspective on things. Plus….it helps keep our lines of communication open so that those little and super big conversations become normal things to talk about with mom and dad.
Do the kids make fun of some of my homeschool-ish ways? Um, yes…Do I care? Nope.
A bit about me…
Growing up, I knew that I wanted a large family….I thought that meant 4 kids, but it looks like 5 is the number for us! My friend took this picture (—>) when we just had 3 kids and it was sort of a joke at the time, but whoa nelly…who knew what else was coming….
As a kid, I grew up on 40 acres in a small town in Missouri. It was pretty much perfection. It was 40 acres of gorgeousness…..full of trees, walking trails and hills. Wild berry bushes and all the wildlife a kid could need.
This is where I learned to use my imagination and be creative in order to fill the time. There were no sidewalks to take me to a friend’s house or a bike path to ride my bike down. However there was an incredible river that was just 30 minutes from our house that we got to float down quite often.
I was the youngest of 4, but the others were 11, 13 and 15 years older than I was. My parents divorced when I was around the age of 4 and my siblings all started to go off in their own directions around the same time…..my oldest brother enlisted in the Navy, my sister eloped at age 17 (that was a bit messy and probably illegal, but more on that later), my other brother actually went to live with my Dad and they relocated to Arkansas so that was a bummer.
It was honestly a bit lonely, but I used my imagination to the utmost and spent a lot of time outside with the berry bushes, the birds, squirrels and deer. I entertained myself with the help of the woods, a rain fed creek and a few animals that taught me more than I ever realized. I miss the simplicity and I find myself searching for ways to bring that part of my life into my world today. In reality I was in a magical land…oh friend what I would give to have that back in my life today. When my siblings were all still home and in high school, they were members of FFA (Future Farmers of America) so we often had one or two of their animal projects at home such as goats, pigs, cows and horses.
We had the most amazing neighbors who really became family. They had horses and cows, so I loved spending time at their house and I jumped at any chance to ride the horses. They also had a few muddy ponds where I spent many a summer day with my toes squishing through the mud and trying to catch tadpoles.
Growing up and making changes…
My mom got divorced from my step dad and she left her job at the local small town hospital so we left that little town when I was 16. I was pretty devastated to leave all that I had ever known….
I finished my sophomore year at a small high school in northern illinois and then we moved to a town nearby to be closer to my mom’s new job…..that high school was a ginormously large building that intimidated me from day 1….it was so scary…so many people….so many classrooms….so many lockers….gah….I can still remember that pit in my stomach when I walked in the doors.
It helped that I got a job right away at the local Baskin Robbins ice cream shop…that place partially saved my life. It kept me busy and I actually met my best friend there. I needed money for flights back to see friends in Missouri and to pay my phone bill as I was making many a phone call back to my friends and boyfriend at the time. So, when I walked in and applied and soon got the job I didn’t realize how life changing that would be for me. I learned how to scoop ice cream, make some damn good malts and how to create and decorate ice cream cakes…skills I still dazzle my family with today!
More importantly I met a girl named Kristin. That meeting sealed my fate. We became the kind of friends who do everything together, went everywhere together (including family vacations)…her family became my family and my family became hers. Her parents became my second parents…her Dad really filled a void for me. My Dad wasn’t really an active part of my life and what Kristin’s Dad did for me….unknowingly…..was to become a strong male figure that I didn’t know I was missing. To this day I still call him for advice and things. And now my husband is also super close to her Dad…oh all the things. It is a lovely way of life to add friends to your family circle.
Ice cream saved me….
Yes….I am forever grateful.
I went on to college not far from this cute little town and ended up dating a guy that I went to highschool with….however because the school was so big (in my eyes) I didn’t really know who he was in highschool. Turns out…he was my soulmate….and the man that I am now parenting 5 beautiful children with! Full circle friends…..full circle!
Ok….moving on….
Random facts about me…
I make my own Vanilla Extract, gluten free bread, chia pudding, cashew/almond milk and butter, however my kids will tell you that I typically burn the Saturday morning pancakes…can’t win ‘em all can we now?!
I am always looking for ways to incorporate natural living into my home, but also appreciate the benefits of modern day living…and the occasional Chick-Fil-A sweet tea!
I am currently working on a project to open a fully licensed and staffed foster home campus in my community. (Deerhaven Home) I learned a few years ago that up to 50% of the kids in the foster system in our county are sent to live outside of the county…so not only are we taking them from mom and or dad, but also from school and all things familiar. I felt compelled to fix that in some way…. Starting a 501c3 has been interesting and more difficult than I expected….but I’m so glad I found a team of people to help me as we work through this project plan. More to come on this….
Some of my loves…
- Vegan food
- Ding Dongs
- Nutella on white bread
- Grain bowls with sweet potatoes
- Being pregnant
- Being in the hospital to deliver a baby…I love OB nurses and techs!
- Winter! Oh do I love winter….fires and candles and hot tea and baked goods and snuggles on the couch and snowmobiling! I love it all!
- Fall! The leaves and pumpkins and decorating and hot apple cider and donuts and trips to Door County Wi!
- Spring! The newness of life….planting flowers and food and getting my rosebushes ready for summer!
- Summer! Camping and vacations and sun and heat and swimming and seeing my kids run and scream in the fresh air!
- Traveling in Europe!
- Holding my babies
- My husband. <3
- Door County, WI
- The wineries in Hermann, MO
- Dove milk chocolate
- My friends and family
This space…
I hope you explore this site and find fun and valuable things such as
What to pack in the Ultimate Hospital bag when delivering a baby
I appreciate you being here and I will do my darndest to earn your loyalty. Please comment and share on my posts and let me know what you love and want to see more of. Take care mama and I can’t wait to get to know you!
Lots of love and all the things,
Marcy