Do what do you think? Do I have pass down ability here? (and I am short 2 kids in this pic) LOL

I love getting a call from a dear friend of mine saying, “Sandy – I have gone through the kids things and I have 2 big bags of clothes for your triplets!” It’s like Christmas time going through the bags to see what will fit and what we can use.

Not everything fits or will work, and if we can’t use it I pass it on. I have a couple girls that I work with that have children who I pass the triplets clothes and toys down to. If it isn’t something they can use, I take it to the Goodwill store that is in my town.

My older boys clothes go into a bin that are labeled and I save those for the triplets. (at least the boys)

Personally, I do not keep most of it for garage sales. I do not want to store things through the year waiting for a garage sale to make .25 off a shirt. I would rather give it to someone that I know who can really use it for free, or second best give it to Goodwill. I know someone has to buy it from there, but it is out of my house and I have my space back. Garage sales aren’t bad, if you have the space to store the things until you have it.

I have no problem looking at garage sales for clothes to fit the kids. I am not too proud to use hand me downs or buy clothing at a garage sale. These kids grow fast and aren’t in them more than a season. I wish I could afford to always buy them new, but I am practical and even if I could afford to buy them the best of clothing….it makes sense to reuse things. Recycle…be green with clothes too.

Keep a Family Calendar To Help Organize Your Family

by Donna
My guest blogger this week is Donna from Stop and Visit the Zoo. This woman is amazing (and sweet!)…amazing that she even has time to get on the computer, let alone maintain a blog. She is the mother of 9 children (and one in heaven). Ok…but she has 2 sets of triplets! Two ladies!!
I have people tell me that I am amazing having 8 children..but 3 of mine are out of the house, and of the 5 I have at home, Dave’s kids (including his triplets) go to their mom’s every other week…so I feel like an impostor!! Be sure to check out how she manages her day….and notice the laundry! (And you thought you had a lot of laundry)

I want to thank Sandy for giving me the opportunity to be a guest blogger. Sandy, you and your site are definitely an inspiration for me on my organizing journey. I hope I can help others along their way too.

First of all hello everyone! I am Donna from Stop and Visit the Zoo. I have a large and unique family, 9 living children which include 2 sets of triplets. My oldest daughter, 17, is a senior in a science and math magnet program. She is currently working on her senior capstone project. This is a year long project that involves working with a local scientist and staying after school to do the required work. My 14 year old is a freshman at the local high school. She is in the International Baccaleurate program. Both of them are on their respective high school speech and debate teams, which also known as the Forensics Team. So they have a weekly practice and tournaments bi-weekly.

My middle four are in elementary school. One is in fifth grade, and other three are in third grade. The two boys are currently in Cub Scouts and the girls are Brownies. My oldest son will be moving up to Boy Scouts soon. Plus I have the three two year olds at home. Since they were born 10 weeks early, the currently have a monthly visit from the Infant and Toddler teacher to monitor their progress.

My husband Richard is a career fire fighter for a local county. He is currently assigned to the training academy, where he works four 10 hour days a week. I am blessed to be able to stay home with the children. Our parental activities include Richard being an officer in one of our church’s men groups. I belong to the affiliated woman’s chapter and also teach Faith Formation to the kindergartners on Monday nights. I am also the treasure of the elementary school’s PTA.

All of this background is to give you an idea that we are definitely a busy family. I am sure by now you are wondering how we manage it. The most important tool is our family calendar. We purchase a large desk blotter size one and hang it on the wall. This becomes our family’s communication center. My favorite saying is: If is not on the calendar it does not exist! So if one of the teens comes up to tell me about something they HAVE to today. If it is not already on the calendar, it is not a high priority. They learned very quickly to mark it on the calendar when they first hear of it.

Every night I look at the calendar and plan the next day. Are there appointments, meetings, events? I try to keep errands to Wednesday. For me it limits the time out of the house and makes for a smoother week. I check the menu for day and get the meat out or bring every thing upstairs and put it in the pantry. I do plan my menu out for the month. So anyone can tell what we are having and can fix it if I am not around

My oldest two daughters are out the door very early, high school starts at 7 AM here. My daughter in the magnet program is on the bus at 6:15 AM. They each have one morning chore. The oldest unloads the dishwasher and puts the dishes away. My 14 year old starts the 1st load of laundry.

What follows is the school year schedule. Most of the boy scout meeting are Monday evenings at 6:00 PM and the Girls Scout meetings are on Wednesdays so dinner those nights are a little earlier and quick and simple . During the summer, we are bit more relaxed. Stop laughing please. Yes, I can relax if I have to.

5:00 Oldest High schooler up
5:30 Richard up and off to work
6:00 AM Donna gets up, personal hygiene, devotional time, eat breakfast, computer if time allows, make sure 14 year is up
7:00 Get the middle four up, if they aren’t already up, they get dressed and eat.
7:30 Middle four do their morning chores. Straighten room, trash collected, etc.
7:30 Get the toddlers (the girls) up, dressed and fed
8:00 Finish breakfast clean up, reboot laundry
8:15 Load up the car to take the middle four to school, run errands on Wednesday
8:45 Back from school, if no errands
9:00 Play time with the girls
9:30 Reboot laundry, fold and put away laundry, morning cleaning. Start dinner in crockpot if using. Computer time for Donna.
10:30 More time with the girls, reading, playing, sometimes a video is played
11:15 Lunch time! Reboot laundry, fold, put away when the girls go up for nap
12:00 PM Girls down for nap.

This is when I can get the heavy cleaning I need to get done, done. Wash the floors, scrub the bathrooms. Or if I need to work upstairs, this is when I do it. I will do the pantry cleaning, closet organizing, etc. I may only get one or 2 shelves or drawers done, but it is done. Then I can get on the computer and play for a block of time

2:00 First high schooler home. She will check the laundry and reboot if there is any left, have a snack and then do her homework.
Between 2:30 and 3:00 Girls up from nap. Then weather permitting we will go on a walk or just play inside.
3:00 2nd high schooler home. She will do a laundry check and reboot if necessary. Snack and homework.
3:20 Leave to pick up the middle four. (The older two watch the girls while I do this)
3:45 Home from pick up., snack for the middle four
4:00 Homework. They sit at the kitchen table to do their homework while I start dinner preps. I can help them if they need it and I can get my work done too. After they are done, their book bags go into a basket in the garage. Then they can play for a bit either outside or in the house.
5:15 Evening chores. The children all have a job to do. It rotates through the days. Monday could be feed the pets, Tuesday is wipe down the bathrooms, Wednesday is trash detail, etc. Each day a different child is responsible for a different chore. Everything is posted so no one can say it is not my day.
6:00 Dinner
6:30 Dinner clean up and baths start
7:00 Evening family prayer time for those at home. Final chores for the day. Basement toy room picked up, rooms picked up. Make sure all the laundry is put away, etc
7:30 Girls bathed
8:00 Older set of triplets to bed
8:30 5th grader to bed
9:00 Girls to bed
9:30 High schoolers to their rooms for chill out time, finish up their home work, etc.
10:00 Lights out for High schoolers. Finish up any lingering things that need to get done, start dishwasher
10:30 Time I try to head to bed, some nights are later, much later

So that is our day. Do all days go as planned, heck no! More often than not only the bare minimum gets done. But I have an outline of what needs to get done. I know what I am working on in my house so it will eventually get done.

Running a Large Family

by Stesha
I have decided to have some guest bloggers do some postings on my site. These are ladies that I think are fantastic and I love following their blogs, but I also want you to meet the bloggers behind the blogs.
Stesha is like super mom!! Not only does she have 5 children, she is pregnant with twins and on bed rest. Hello out there….how many of us could handle that? But she keeps her sanity, her family and her blog; Hot Chocolate Caramel Mocha in tack and takes us along with her into her world. Plus the fact that she has been soooo nice in the blogging world to me!
As mom’s we all handle our routines differently. Notice some of the things that help Stesha to keep her world working. She keeps her cool (not easy to do), she has a routine planned out. Everyone knows their roles and how they need to fit together in the piece of world. The kids take on responsibility and are able to handle help out. (Don’t miss that she or her hubby irons their kids clothes!!! Oh my gosh…I am like on my knees!! Just unbelievable to me!!) She is blessed with what must be an amazing husband and sounds like she handles it all with some humor. You go girl!
Thank you for being my first Guest Blogger!

When Sandy asked me to be a guest blogger on her blog I was so honored. Then reality set in and I began to ask myself several questions. Where do I begin? Do they really want to read about another large family? Of course, all of this was utter nonsense. Today I will give you a glimpse of a typical morning with our family of 7 soon to be 9.

My husband Michael and I have 5 children. We have 2 girls ages 3 and 1, and 3 boys ages 11, 4 and 5. Also, I am currently pregnant with twins due in several more weeks. As you can imagine life for us can be hectic, but very manageable.

If I could use two word to describe my family, they would be laid back. People ask me all the time how am I so calm with such a large family, and I always say trial and error. You make the biggest mistakes with the first and then as more children are added to your family you begin to realize that children, like life are very unpredictable.

A typical morning for us begins at 5:30 AM. The alarm sounds and no one moves. The snooze button is hit more often than not. Around 5:45 AM I will finally wake myself and our oldest son and point him in the direction of the bathroom. After he is finished in the bathroom, I will wake the younger 2 boys. One needs to get ready for kindergarten and the other for daycare. Around this time my husband is waking up also. Since I am currently on bed rest, the bulk of the work is done by him.

Around 6:00 AM the younger boys have finished brushing their teeth and washing their little faces, so now it is time to wake the girls. The girls both attend daycare. The oldest girl goes to the bathroom to do her girly things and the 1 year old is placed in the bed with me so I can comb her hair. After combing her hair, my husband will take her into the bathroom to brush her teeth and wash her face. Then she comes back to the bed with me, where I get her dressed.

It is around 6:30 AM now. The boys are dressed at this point because all clothing is ironed by either my husband or myself the night before. The boys will then come into the room so I can look them over and make sure everyone has on their belts, no toothpaste is left on their faces, lotion is applied and they have their jackets, backpack, etc.

At 7:00 AM the hubby will go outside to warm up the car, because it is still cold here most mornings. This also lets the children know that they have about 15 more minutes before it is time to load up. The girls are now both dressed. Our oldest daughter dresses herself, so after I comb her hair she is ready to go, usually she likes to wear her hair in a bun with a ribbon. Pretty easy and simple for me to do.

On the weekdays the children don’t eat breakfast at home, they like to eat with their friends at school or the daycare.

Around 7:15 my husband will give the 2 oldest boys their lunch money and make sure that the youngest children each have their bags for daycare. At this time we are saying our goodbyes and telling each other to have a wonderful day as hubby begins to load them into the car.

My husband or myself will scan the house to make sure that nothing is left behind before he leaves. Off they go. We only live 5 minutes away from the daycare so they usually have a smooth drive. All the children are unloaded at the daycare, even the oldest who attend school. The bus will pick them up from the daycare in the morning and drop them off in the afternoon. Don’t you just love small town benefits?

It should be around 7:30 AM because my husband has to be at work for 8:00 AM. He only works 20 minutes aways, so he has plenty of time to get to work.

On a typical weekday morning I would say it takes our family 1.5 to 2 hours to have everyone up and dressed and at their destinations on time. You have to remember every morning is not typical, but for the most part they are.

So there you have it. A morning with us!

Stesha Sims

http://hotchocolatecaramelmocha.com

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