by Jess Connell · April 22, 2015 First. Why am I talking about this? Don’t I normally talk about mom stuff? Dear Mom in the throes of raising little ones, here’s the thing: YOU’VE GOTTA FIGURE THIS STUFF OUT. Our culture is ramming gender-sameness down our throats. Male and female are exactly the same. You’re […]

This morning, we’re starting our 2015-16 school year. In our homeschool this year, we have 8th, 6th, 4th, and 2nd graders (and a kindergartner). Phew! Just writing that makes me tired. But let’s talk about grade levels. When people ask my kids what grades they’re in, my homeschooled kids (mostly) know what to tell them… […]

by Jess Connell · March 2, 2015 You know what we had this morning? We had the perfect homeschooling day. Well… …perfect *for us.* Probably not anything close to what you’re imagining in your head right now. You DO know that the “perfect homeschool” doesn’t exist, right? But here’s what our perfect homeschooling day looks […]

Exciting news! Baby #8 is on the way. (Which you already know if you read last Monday’s post about Doug’s tremors. By the way- he ended up hospitalized and it became obvious it was his narcolepsy medicines causing his tremors. Thankfully, now that he’s off the meds, it’s all but stopped.) We are all thrilled, […]

Q: Is there a point where it gets difficult to care for the children’s emotional and spiritual health and actually KNOW each of them individually? Our second child is just a year old, so some of my question may be due to our recent/ongoing transition between “I can focus on just you” with our first to […]

by Jess Connell · March 2, 2015 You know what we had this morning? We had the perfect homeschooling day. Well… …perfect *for us.* Probably not anything close to what you’re imagining in your head right now. You DO know that the “perfect homeschool” doesn’t exist, right? But here’s what our perfect homeschooling day looks […]

by Jess Connell · September 12, 2016 Well, this year we had a long summer. Longer than normal. And it was fabulous. Here are some highlights: Our family of 9 spent 12 days on a backpacking trip around Mt. Rainier. We were completely phone/internet disconnected during those days, and lived off of (1) what we could carry, and […]

by Jess Connell · February 13, 2015 Our 7th child, Luke Ebenezer entered the world Wednesday night (2/11) at 7:19 pm. It was my fastest labor yet (4 hours, start to finish), and he’s our biggest baby yet (9 pounds, 8 ounces & 22.5 inches long). He is sweet and strong and much-adored. We’re all […]

by Jess Connell · February 13, 2015 Our 7th child, Luke Ebenezer entered the world Wednesday night (2/11) at 7:19 pm. It was my fastest labor yet (4 hours, start to finish), and he’s our biggest baby yet (9 pounds, 8 ounces & 22.5 inches long). He is sweet and strong and much-adored. We’re all […]

by Jess Connell · December 5, 2016 Two days after having my precious new son, I shared a picture on Facebook with the following comments: I love the sleepy quiet snuggled-in days after a baby arrives, in general… and I love this quiet day, in particular.  Seeing my babies love on my babies… and getting […]

by Jess Connell · May 27, 2015 In parenting, not everything can be in bold print. We can’t emphasize EVERYTHING and have our children “get it” all. We just can’t. IF YOU’VE EVER SEEN SOMEONE WHO TYPES EVERY MESSAGE ON FACEBOOK IN ALL CAPS, you know it’s true. After a few sentences, your eyes glaze over. […]

Have you been in this place? In between sizes In between hormone swings In between “normals” in your daily routine In between feelings of competence & incompetence In between very little sleep and normal amounts of sleep In between a variety of very STRONG feelings My precious little man is 8 weeks old today, and I’m there. The […]

Have you seen the images on Facebook, trumpeting the amazing, lifelong, unbreakable bond between mothers and sons? Here are some quotes I’ve seen on these photos: “There has never been, nor will there ever be, anything quite so special as the love between a mother and son.” “The bond between mother and son… remains unchanged […]

by Jess Connell · February 13, 2015 Our 7th child, Luke Ebenezer entered the world Wednesday night (2/11) at 7:19 pm. It was my fastest labor yet (4 hours, start to finish), and he’s our biggest baby yet (9 pounds, 8 ounces & 22.5 inches long). He is sweet and strong and much-adored. We’re all […]