One (Birth)Day More!

If I were to try to catch up on all that's happened this week, it would totally take over this post, so I'll save that for later and finally share about EG's 14th birthday.

The kids all love the story and the music of Les Miserables. Several have read the book. We've watched the screen version starring Liam Neeson. And the movie soundtrack: beyond memorized. Even BH, with his very inarticulate speech, goes around singing, Ooo DOOOW, Ooo DOOOW! He means, Look down! Look down! (You'll always be afraid...), of course. So funny.

So when she woke up on her birthday, EG found France and Les Mis themed decorations. My parents had come in for the weekend as a surprise, so they got to enjoy the day with all of us.

We all wore buttons with famous lines from the songs and story...

We decorated with a bit of French flag, French red-white-and-blue...

 My beautiful mom

(It was a Providential blessing my parents were here, since multiple kids got sick; we had a home-shopping outing; I wasn't feeling great myself; AND there was birthday fun to accomplish. So thankful for their help and support that weekend!!)

Baby ME was even in on our Les Mis day: see, she's dreamin' the dream!

Thoughtful presents from siblings and parents and loved ones

Downstairs, we decorated with red and black, to commemorate the song of that name, of course. She asked for a bombe cake and couldn't decide on flavors, so I made it neapolitan - three kinds of ice cream, three kinds of cake, fluffy white icing, red sprinkles, black candles.

Happy Birthday to you! 

My mom saved the day by providing these awesome silver candlesticks - to remember the silver (the grace!) that helped change Jean Valjean's life.

And, who'd have thought we'd have a tiny baby whilst celebrating 14th and 15th birthdays in our family?!

One of the biggest surprises for EG and all these Les Mis loving kids was that we all watched the newest screen rendition of the story. We'd been saying no to that for very good reasons, when it hit me that we could easily edit out the unnecessary yuck that was included in the film. It is a beautiful gospel story at its core, and the music is heart-wrenchingly lovely, emotional, and deeply touching all at once.

And so we watched! And most certainly, a good time was had by all, including the musical-nay-saying men in the house and the rest of us womenfolk, who were in various stages of sniffling/weeping when it was all said and done.

We finished the day with a French-themed supper at something like 10pm. There was Perrier to mix with white grape juice (does anyone really drink Perrier straight? No thanks!) and sip from fancy glasses, fruit, meats, cheeses, and baguettes.

It was a special day for EG and for the whole family!

Praying for EG in the coming year - for closeness to the Lord, for growth in faith and love, for love of His Word. Thanking God for her and for each of our eight kid-blessings

Thanksgiving

I am wishing for thoughtful and useful things to say here today, but I fear that late-pregnancy-brain is getting the better of me! Nighttime sleep has become pretty unrestful, to say the least. It's crazy how the baby really takes over in these last days.

After days of writing myself little reminders to do so, I finally snapped a belly shot of myself at 38 weeks, just for the record, on Thanksgiving Day.

BB and the kids and I enjoyed a nice, slow morning together, including a big breakfast of very ugly, messy, but tasty, pancakes, along with sausage.

Then we started in on food preparations while the Macy's Parade marched by on the tv screen. It's really the Rockettes that I like to see, but my mama always turned on the Parade on Thanksgiving Day, so I do, too.

BB sat down with the little ones and made a Pilgrim hat craft with them. He's done a little something like this with them for the past few years. BH wore his hat proudly for a lot of the day, usually backwards.

LC made the pumpkin pies and MK made the pecan ones. Both were excellent. I had them make double, but in the end we only ate 2, so I've frozen the extra for a Christmas treat.

BB snapped this panoramic of Thanksgiving Dinner. Our turkey took forever to roast, so it really did turn into a supper-meal, rather than the late lunch we usually enjoy. It was worth the wait! Oh, hey - there's BH in his backwards Pilgrim hat.

I'm not sure what had CJ so despondent at the table, but that turkey! BB did a great job preparing and roasting it. All the kids pitched in on food prep and everything was delicious, truly.

MK and AH at the buffet line. Mashed potatoes were a huge favorite among all. AH was in charge of the homemade macaroni and cheese, which also turned out beautifully.

EG was my deviled egg producer - again, success! There was no waste, I assure you. These were gobbled up over the next two days. We didn't finish all the dressing or macaroni, both of which I also froze for a future festive meal (or just an easy post-baby supper).

One thing I'm really thankful for here at the end of pregnancy is that I'm...here. Last time, by this point, I'd given birth to BH at 35 weeks after the 6 or so weeks of living in the hospital before he was born. I am just glad that God's allowed me to be here - doing homemaking-wife-mom things: the school and errands and cooking and conversations and training and a great date with BB this week. It's also been fun to get ready for the holidays earlier than normal.

As the discomfort increases and the sleep decreases, I am also grateful for such a normal pregnancy, with this growing, vigorous baby girl.

I hope this finds you having enjoyed God's goodness and blessings over Thanksgiving and that Christmas is a beautiful time of understanding His kindness and gospel better and better!

Ten Years Old

LC, hard at work on her own birthday treat. She asked for Key Lime pie. BB found Key Limes and she went to town, juicing.

Love the light we get in this house - evening sun in the back, morning sun in the front.

LC turned 10 last Friday, our Independence Day baby.

She got the special treat of a family party, as this is the first time we've been near enough to our families in over nine years for us to share an event with them. And they were gracious enough to day-trip our way to celebrate her big day. There were grandparents, great-grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins!

And the pie was fabulous.

Small Big Happy Things and Summer Goal Number Two

BB planting lantana and another pretty, drought/heat tolerant flowering plant whose name escapes me. We were both so happy to put some color in the front yard!

Life is a funny mixture of feelings and events, isn't it?

Sometimes the learning and the growing and the changing feel heavy and overwhelming. But then there's the small big happy things that help lighten my heart...

Like yesterday, I went out front and noticed that our newly bedded lantana plants looked very, umm, dead: limp, dry leaves and such. Groan. I was really, really sad. We put them in on Saturday. I told the Lord how sad it made me that they were dead and asked Him to revive them if it was His will. I watered them moderately three times throughout the day. When last I checked, all of them were very much alive. Thanks be to God.

I'm also really happy to be learning ideas and attitudes that help me to better relate with the kids, most especially the teenage ones (wink!). I see God at work and am so encouraged, and at the same time just a wee bit wiped out by the mental labor it takes to operate differently than comes natural to me. It's exercise, right? Exercise is tiring and builds strength. It's all good in the end!

Another thing that's making me smile? The fact that Baby H likes tuna salad. I offered him some the other day on his tray. He grabbed little handfuls (yeah, gross on that part) and gobbled up quite the hearty serving! Ha!

I also love the way he lays his little head down on my shoulder sometimes. Sweet, sweet. He also rests his head in the most endearing way on the couches as he cruises along them.

CJ came home from church on Father's Day with this cup of dirt and no explanation. What a cute little homemade chia-thing!

Last night it made me smile to watch my girls having a good time with two friends (sisters) from school who came to sleepover. They were loud and silly and what a different summer this is!

Yet another happy thing (when I'm able to keep proper perspective and appreciate growing pains), is the massive mental and emotional changes I'm experiencing. Some of this is my finally starting to become aware of myself (yep, have lived most of my life rather oblivious to my own...self); another part of the big change is rewiring - learning completely new ways of thinking, relating, and processing life. It feels rather like being born, if you want to know the truth. Hard work, exciting, draining, necessary, and good. God-work. God working.

On a much lighter note, I'm very pleased to be making one little shift in my kitchen: reducing the quantity of paper towels we use! This is not primarily because I'm feelin' green. It's mostly cheapness. I've not done a study, but I am pretty sure that the number of paper towels the 9 of us have been using daily is just plain sinful. And expensive.

I think my friend Margo would be pleased along with me, as it was she who gave me the idea to use good old fashioned rags as paper towel replacements. And since we are in the process of purging, I've found lots of worn out and unloved fabric to use for my rag-stash: mostly old shirts. It's been kind of fun to cut them up and quite rewarding to cut down significantly on paper towel use/dependence. The kids are even catching on!

I realized after my River post that there were no photos of BB's sweet sister. Here she is, along with Gramma, my 6 girls and R's two littles. This was the morning they left for home, so Baby H was not yet awake to join the photo.

*
Summer Goals
Part 2: Kitchen Help

Before school let out, it occurred to me that while my girls are excellent sous chefs, very skilled at various elements of food preparation, that none of them really had the knowledge or experience to prepare an entire meal/recipe. Lightbulb moment!

Let's do a little summer Home Economics! I looked over the calendar and chose 4 weeks that appeared fairly free of extra busy-ness, and assigned each of the four oldest girls to be in charge of meal preparation for one week.

Here's what our Home Ec course includes:

-inventory our refrigerator, freezer, and pantry to see what can be used in the week's meals, and also to take note of things that are running low, need replacing.

-sit down with the family calendar to figure out what the week holds: are there nights that necessitate a super-quick supper? Is there a meal during which the Head Chef won't be present? Which meals are best to double up so that we eat it for two night? How does one handle Sunday, when we really need an easy, fast meal, but aren't here to prep it?

-each girl is responsible for creating a menu that covers breakfast, lunch, and supper for one week.

-sit down together to come up with a grocery list, which entails reviewing the suggested menu, comparing it with our inventory, then adding things to the little grocery list app on my phone. Sometimes it means pulling out a recipe or two, just to make sure we know what we need.

-kid-of-the-week goes shopping with me (and sometimes Baby H accompanies :-), then helps put the groceries away.

-as the week progresses, Kitchen Helper is expected to prepare all the meals with little or no help. Of course, questions are welcome. This step means learning to anticipate food preparation needs and keeping an eye on the menu and one's available work time. Two big things to be aware of are pulling meat from the freezer to thaw and allowing time for soaking/cooking dried beans.

Progress:
We are in the middle of our second go around with this goal. MK did the first turn. EG is halfway through hers.

Observations - It's fun to work with each of them one on one, and see how they think and handle things. EG and MK have done things very differently.

I think the "let's look at the calendar" element irritated MK. But it's totally necessary. She was raring to go on the food, food, food part!

I enjoyed having them at the store with me for three reasons: 1) one on one time, 2) they can run here and there and grab things, which saves time, and 3) they got to hear the reasoning behind certain purchases or decisions not to purchase, and the thinking behind different quantity and brand choices.

One of the coolest things was getting all that food home and having an ally in the kitchen and food prep world who also knew what we have on hand and why. Yes, there is a very good reason you call can't tear into those blueberries! They are for this meal and that meal. Hands off! Haha!

It's been good to see the gaps in their knowledge and confidence in the kitchen and begin to fill those holes.

It is fun to see what they chose to make in their week. MK did lots of variety and EG planned lots of Mexican. She also oversaw two meals while their friends were here and did a great job of choosing things that were fun, easy, and appealing to guests.

This has been a rewarding and interesting endeavor!

Thinking Ahead:
Two more kids to go! I think once the school year is underway, I'll assign one girl to a meal or two each week, one child per week, to keep them in practice and lighten my kitchen load a bit.

CJ is learning to help, too! We sat down together to work on chopping. She first cleaned the mushrooms, then broke off the stems, and then chopped the 'shrooms. I worked on celery and carrots across from her. Kept her very happily occupied for a long time and helped me for real. She was insistent on finishing it all and was quite methodical.

Home-Work and The Recipe

This photo feels peaceful to me. Lilypads just have a serene calmness about them, don't you think? Recently, BB and I took a daytrip to San Antonio. We drove there to explore some vehicle possibilities for our family, and after our research and question asking and talking were done, we still had some time remaining, as our babysitters gave us all day away!

BB suggested we go to the San Antonio Botanical Gardens. Oh, wow. First of all, I just love it that he'd choose something like that, knowing how happy I am surrounded by flowers. Secondly, the fact that he enjoys that kind of outing with me is really special. We have a long history of time spent in gardens, actually - he proposed to me in the botanical gardens Back Home!

Lastly, we were both fried mentally after several hours at a car dealership. Like staring at each other blankly fried. So a quiet walk was just the thing. Good call, my man, good call.

I have to say, though, that the San Antonio Garden was the most impressive one I've ever visited. Never seen so many things in bloom all at once, and such variety of flower types and landscape planning. Just breathtaking. And if all that wasn't blessing enough, there was cloud cover, which made strolling about quite comfortable. San Antone can be quite the sauna, so we were extra thankful for the clouds.

The girls' theatre camp was fun and intense. The big three performed in Little Women, and LC was in The Secret Garden. It was a stretching and rewarding experience. I think we can all say, though, that we're glad it's done. Now school's really out!

I love it when the kids do little kid things, especially when they play together like this: AH, LC, and EG here.

We are looking ahead into the summer and into the rest of life and we are thinking. We are planning and praying and talking. It's the first time in so long that we've felt able to start being intentional about life. It's both overwhelming and exciting.

There are big, deep things: What is the purpose of my life? How do we best disciple our kids? And there are other important considerations such as how to manage our home and possessions and money and time?

The littles and I had a mini-picnic one day while the girls were at theatre camp. This was after we sat in a drive-through lane during my errands for way longer than the little ones thought was appropriate. I got them water and a cakepop at Starbucks and we had a sweet time in the back yard!

I think I've mentioned here that we have a vision for simplifying our life as much as possible. I gained a lot of ideas and inspiration from the book Organized Simplicity by Tsh Oxenreider. I have not even finished it. The first half was enough to get me going! The goal at our house is to do what I'm calling a harsh purge of the whole place. It's ambitious. I'm praying for strength from the Lord and looking for that right balance of persevering and resting when the process has become exhausting. Living reactively for years has resulted in a big stuff problem and we're all weary of the clutter and disorganization.

Each girl has a tub or box of special things I'd been saving from babyhood. I decided which things were really most precious to me and would survive more years of being boxed up. We took pictures of the rest and even though it was a bit emotional, I let many things go. This was MK's coming-home-from-the-hospital outfit.

The first phase of our home-work was to purge and empty two of the kids' bedrooms (the six kids are in three total bedrooms right now, and H is still in our bedroom), clean the carpets ourselves, do a deep clean of every inch of the rooms while they were empty, then purge the possessions again before moving the girls back into their new, fresh spaces. AH and EG switched rooms with LC and MK. Whew. It was a big job. The children were very helpful and hardworking and seem relieved to be reducing our volume of things.

MK had this large and comical collection of characters that she always wanted in bed with her when she was a toddler. We decided to repurpose these - let Mr. and Miss Dimple Wimple enjoy them for a while.

At present, we've been attacking our gameroom and dining room. We decided to make the dining room a more formal schoolroom/study area and that the gameroom's real purpose will be storing art supplies, games, and books, as well as being a place to work on art projects and Legos and such. The goal is to spend little to nothing, but rather to repurpose stuff we already have for storage and furniture needs.

We basically have two bags with us at all times in this process: a Get Rid Of bag and a Trash bag. You wouldn't believe the amount we've produced of both since starting on our home-work! It's both a bit shameful and very relieving all at once.

 I took their picture because they had the ribbons in their hair. They're standing in front of our wildflower bed, where all the photos from the last post originated. Sweet CA and CJ!

My prayer is that in all this work, which is certainly not overtly spiritual in nature, that Jesus will reveal Himself to us more and more, and that we will be like Him, grow like Him in the process.

It's very much a starting over for our family. A clean slate. A new season.

This is how our gameroom looks right now, as I sort our books, curriculums, audiobooks, and old schoolwork (most of that I've ditched, with the exception of a few special items from the big girls' past). There is definite order in this pile of chaos, but I've got to whip it into further shape, obviously.

All of this is also an exercise in perseverance and endurance, things I am sure the Lord wants to grow in my heart and life. When you live in survival mode, reactively, you don't work up endurance. Mine's low, but it's growing. It's good to be aware of these things and to be making changes.

Our next project will be the garage, Lord willing, before BB starts back to taking classes.

How about you? You've slogged through my long descriptions of projects and change. Do you have any summer goals or ambitions? What are you learning?
*

And last but not LEAST:

Italian Cream Cake

from Cook's Country

Toast the coconut and nuts in a 350 degree oven until golden brown, about 10-12 minutes. Watch carefully and stir occasionally to prevent burning.

Ingredients - 

Cake:
1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut, toasted
1 cup buttermilk, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups (10 oz) cake flour (he used King Arthur cake flour...we were impressed)
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
12 tbs unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces and softened
4 tbs vegetable shortening, cut into 4 pieces
1 3/4 cups (12 1/4 oz) sugar
5 large egg, room temperature
2 cups (8 oz) pecans, toasted and chopped

Frosting:
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
2 1/4 cups (9 oz) confectioners' sugar
1/2  cup cream of coconut
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
16 oz cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces and softened

1-For the cake: adjust the oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans, line with parchment paper, grease parchment, then flour pans. Process coconut in food processor until finely ground, about 1 minute. Combine coconut, buttermilk, and vanilla in a 2-cup liquid measuring cup and let sit until coconut is slightly softened, about 10 minutes; reserve.

2-Combine flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. Using stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter, shortening, and sugar on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat until combined. Reduce speed to low and add flower mixture in 3 additions, alternating with 2 additions of reserved coconut-buttermilk mixture, scraping down bowl as needed. Add 3/4 cup pecans, and give batter a final stir by hand.

3-Scrape equal amounts of batter into prepared pans and bake until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 28-32 minutes. Cook cakes in pans on wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove cakes from pans, discarding parchment, and cool completely, about 2 hours. (Cooled cakes can be wrapped with plastic wrap and stored at room temperature for up to 2 days.)

4-For the frosting: using stand mixer fitted with paddle, mix butter and sugar on low speed until combined, about 30 seconds. INcrease speed to medium-high and beat until pale and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add cream of coconut, vanilla, and salt and beat until smooth, about 30 seconds. Add cream cheese, on piece at a time, and beat until incorporated, about 1 minute. Refrigerate until ready to use.

5-When cakes are cooled, spread 1 1/2 cups frosting over 1 cake round. Top with second cake round and spread remaining frosting evenly over top and sides of cake. Press remaining pecans onto sides of cake. Serve.

Not So Deep Thoughts...

I've gotten a little...feedback here lately pointing out my bloggy silence. I don't really know how to explain it. Of course life is always full in our house of nine. But I feel a bit dumb of late. As in, not able to speak. Writing is how I process life best and I'm not sure how to do that here. I want to. I think it'll come, and probably soon. The kids finish their school year in two tiny little weeks and that fact will likely free up some moments for writing and thinking...

But until then, it's update-y stuff!
*

Now isn't that a cute little smiling stone there in that rock wall?

We took a school field trip to Sea World recently for a special educational day they were having.

It was FREEZING. It was windy, cloudy, wet, and so.cold. CA and the other children were very sweet about not complaining, but the next picture shows how she/we really felt, out there in the elements!

I helped with the kindergarten class, while BB walked with the 5th graders. The children were delighted to learn about different sea animals and see a few simple shows. It really was cool to see the killer whales do their thing! And the sea lion show was fun to watch:

Life here is a bit random, and so my photo choices today are too. Awhile back, LC did some food prep for me. It was all so pretty and colorful, I couldn't help but take a picture - especially after someone walked by and snitched a bite!

We have a smattering of spring birthdays in our family. BB's is in April. We celebrated with breakfast for supper, then the banana splits he requested.

I decided to make cupcakes to go with the ice cream fun, mostly because I like cake better than bananas, but also because I wanted to light lots of candles. I knew we had a bunch of random leftover candles from different birthdays, so I didn't buy any (but nor did I count what we had on hand ahead of time).

Imagine my delight and thankfulness when I counted the miscellaneous, mismatched candles and came up with exactly 37! What fun! What an inferno!

Baby H looks a little concerned...

We had all the fixin's. Yum: whipped cream, ganache, berries, nuts. The sugar-feast ended with my flinging a spoonful of whipped cream at one of kids, much to their shocked delight. They flung back and I took a shower an hour or two later, to wash the clump of cream out of my hair.

On a more serious note, we've had science experimentation in the house. The sixth graders have been working on science fair projects for the past few weeks and just this week they turned them in and presented their research and findings at school.

We had a nice, quiet Easter. After their sugar-fast through most of Lent, the kids were pretty happy to find some surprises waiting on the table that morning. I made bunny trail mix too, using little cheese bunny crackers and Eastery M&M's, dried fruits and more.

We're always trying different ways to get things done around here. One Saturday recently, the Frigidaire was Bare, so I headed out for an early grocery shopping run with little H, so that BB could get some work done at home. Oh my, was the grocery cart full. The baby was a well-mannered trooper through our long outing! I was really thanking the Lord for that and for the groceries, and for His help.

Our baby son is now NINE MONTHS old. He had his first Cheerios a few weeks ago, and has two-going-on-six teeth!

Do you love the fat wrist? Or does he even have one?!

I'm not minding one bit that H is later than everyone with his milestones. He's not crawling or trying to talk, and honestly he doesn't love food. He eats two small meals a day but mostly he loves his milk and is doing great with that. Our once tiny boy is over 20 pounds now!

Don't tell him he's sitting in a girly high chair, ok?

Well. The rest of life...

At church the other day, someone asked how we are doing, and I told them We're transitioning. She asked if it was taking a long time to get used to having a boy. No, that's no different than the other babies so far. I told her that it's taking a long time to get used to having seven kids!

We are transitioning in so many ways - learning better ways to parent, adapting to the changes that adolescence is bringing to our relationships with the girls, still moving out of survival mode, and so on.

I hope to be able to share about a lot of those things in coming days.

For now, have a great weekend, friends and family!

I'm kidnapping my guy for two just-us nights away. Hooray!!!!!!

A Birthday, Some Mercies, and an Aside

We have a teenager now.

For. Real.

We celebrated (somewhat) quietly, taking AH out for a special date - just her with the two of us, then on her real birthday, the lot of us enjoyed our traditional birthday treats, plus opening presents.

I usually try to make the kids' choice of birthday cake...

As I shopped for candles, all the packs I was seeing had 12 candles. That doesn't work this time! I was delighted and thankful to spy the little Happy Birthday candles. Count 'em!

Pretty glow on her pretty smile...

Earlier in the day...life does go on, even when you have a birthday, doesn't it? But she got to wear her birthday ribbon all day. We all had a laugh over that.

And now the cake reveal: she asked for white cake with rocky road ice cream inside. And I made up the rest: fluffy white icing with dark chocolate curls and toasted almonds. Fun and Yum!

Call out the paparazzi! They crack me up with their cameras...

She got a special Lamplighter Publishing book called A Peep Behind the Scenes for her birthday, as well as a couple of pens she requested.

We thank God for granting us the desire of our hearts in sending AH to our family. We praise Him that she is healthy and strong and for the memories we are all building together.

And now, with Valentine's and AH's birthday behind us, I'm putting the family on a sugar fast! For real.
*
Mercies from Jesus:

-that JESUS LOVES ME

-that some kind person turned my keys in to lost and found at Costco

-God's guidance, so that I know what to do each day - without it, I'm frozen - too many possible "to-do's." I'm amazed at how He orders my days.

-encouragement for my heart at church yesterday, reminders to persevere, to embrace this season of living

-someone brought us supper tonight!

-the fire hydrant of information and help that is therapy these days...

-a really nice Sunday afternoon talk with BB during the kids' rest time

-watching CJ watch the clouds today...she was standing in the back yard alone, looking up, hands out by her sides, feeling the breeze, and those blonde curls wafting...sweet

-a short nap today

-getting some here, there, and everywhere errands done on Saturday with LC, MK, and BH in tow
*
An aside: We went to the library two weeks ago. It had been like 3 years, because it became so hard to take everyone there. Picture it: I roll down the aisles with child in stroller whilst child pulls books off the shelves on both sides. That's only one of many adventures we've had that made library visits no fun. Anyway, we ventured out two weekends ago...I had the baby and the four oldest girls with me. I renewed my card, got each of them a card, then the big two went about finding books for a science project they're doing. The younger ones just browsed. And I was in information heaven. I.Love.Books. Art, history, religion, science, novels...and we were only in the intermediate kids' section. But oh happy day, to be looking at all the free information again! LC was hesitant to choose books in the beginning. I realized the cause of her hesitancy when she asked me how much each book cost to rent. Wink.

So, the library run was a big accomplishment for me. A step in moving on toward the new normal.

I got this book, though, for myself and am loving it.(I checked out five books and two audio books...I think we came home with a total of 40 or so total.)