Comments on welcome to my brain . net: If I had six kids ...

We have three, but also have my younger siblings l...

2008-01-14T12:23:00.000-06:00

We have three, but also have my younger siblings living with us most of the year, so that makes six, plus me and DH Stone.

We have a 91 chevy Suburban, which seats nine with seatbelts, and still has enough room for a few coolboxes, tents and a sunshade if we want to go camping. I absolutely love it, and it's a blast to drive. Being mom to the masses shouldn't be mutually exclusive to driving something cool.

We have a maid, a fantastic, loving, happy maid who helps with the laundry, the dishes, finding lost belongings, and keeping the overall attitude around here positive. If you can find a way to afford a maid, a willing congregation member, a European student on a gap year holiday, or a part time cleaner to give you a hand, it makes a huge difference to your own quality of life.

We eat out a lot.

When we don't eat out, and I am preparing anything remotely freezable, I double the recepie and freeze it.

WHen I can get fatty fish on sale, I smoke it myself on the BBQ, with help from the kiddo's and freeze that as well.

Once every six months we make about a million Tamale, and freeze them. We also make about a million garlic breads and freeze them.

Need I add that we have two refigerators and one giant chest freezer. I can stockpile for the apocolypse that way, and buy stuff when it's on sale and freeze it for later.

The big kids do thier own laundry.

Nobody except me and the eldest princess owns anything that needs dry cleaning. Towels are assigned and reused until they stand up and walk.

Taxi's are available here, and the kids use them all the time. A taxi is thier default setting, I only run them around is I am already going there, or if it's really urgent.

Your blog is really refreshing Christine. Thanks so much for showing that not all christians are crazy and bigoted, becuase it's usually only the hatefull ones who speak out. God luck with whatever you decide WRT more addoptive children. You'll do great.

OK, I admit we only have 4 children! We might ado...

2008-01-13T10:29:00.000-06:00

OK, I admit we only have 4 children! We might adopt in the future. For now, I suggest buying some 3M Command Adhesive hooks. Look at the WEIGHT allowed because each hook size and type is different. We use these to hang up coats and towels. On our bathroom wall, we could put 2 rows - 1 up high and 1 lower. (Right now we just have 2 set at a lower level for our 2 oldest.) I'd suggest an over-the-door shoe holder/organizer (material, not hard plastic) for the bathroom. This has helped us tremendously! Anyway, I'd buy the command hooks because it's low-maintenance. Be stocked up so you'll be ready for however many kids you adopt. The hooks are easily removed/moved/re-set-up. Buy good outside mats to scrape feet on and teach the kids to use them! Don Aslett's website cleanreport.com sells the ones we use (the mats are kinda expensive so you might try elsewhere, but his advice is solid). You might set up a cardboard box to put dirty shoes in.

Do you have 2 vehicles that all of you would fit in (you might have to drive 2 vehicles sometimes until you can work out having 1 vehicle that will fit all of you)? HTH.

I'm a volunteer adoption specialist w/ Adopt Ameri...

2008-01-12T22:19:00.000-06:00

I'm a volunteer adoption specialist w/ Adopt America Network and wanted to put in a plug to check us out if you are adopting from foster care.

Angela :-)
arroller @ peoplepc . com

Ah, so many great ideas here :) I read your blog ...

2008-01-11T23:48:00.000-06:00

Ah, so many great ideas here :) I read your blog frequently and thought I would jump in here. I am a mom of 14, 10 birth and 4 adopted (bio sibs). I am also a fellow pastor's wife :) Not that this qualifies me for anything! I got a great tip recently and it is proving to be a good one, so I am passing it on. I blogged about it here: http://thecoldspotfamily.blogspot.com/2008/01/great-idea.html

Many blessings on your adoption journey!

I just found your blog through Owl Haven. I haven...

2008-01-11T17:50:00.000-06:00

I just found your blog through Owl Haven. I haven't had time to read much, but wanted to comment before I zipped away. (I'll come back later to read more!)

A year and a half ago, our kids doubled from 3 to 6, not overnight, but over a period of two months.

You've recieved a lot of great practical advice, so I only have a few things to add:

1) Establish a support network - people you can call to say "I'm falling apart". They may only listen, or may come over with a mop and pail. I have both kinds.
2) Make a plan - routines, rules -and stick to it. I feel really mean sometimes, but more kids require more structure - there isn't as much "down" time and nothing will get done if you don't make it happen.
3) Pray. I ask God to tell me His priorities for our school and our day. I pray against all the garbage that my little ones have experienced in their short lives. I pray for all sorts of goodies for myself to help me be a better mom to my kids. Things like patience, wisdom, and strength to make it past supper. :)

The practical things like towels and boots just need time and experimenting to get things right for you. And the system changes as kids get older, anyway.

Hope to have helped you.

God bless.

(I'll be back!)

We have just added our sixth child, our daughter w...

2008-01-11T13:22:00.000-06:00

We have just added our sixth child, our daughter who turned 12 four days after we returned from China. We each addition I have lowered my standards of housekeeping - that helps alot, lol.

My biggest challenge is keeping everyone fed since our newest child eats as much as our teenage son! Bye, bye leftovers!

I try to cut myself some slack and make at least a few very easy meals a week - like scrambled eggs, grilled cheese and Campbell's soup.

Also, I have lots of veggies, fruits,etc... sidedishes, so if the main meal doesn't stretch as far we have plenty of options to fill up on. I also often double a recipe but do not double the meat - like in a pasta dish, or even hamburger helper meals. Saves a little money.

Life is exciting with a housefull! My eldest graduates this year and it will be quite strange without him. I cannot imagine if we had only had two kids and now half of them were flying the coop.

I have four and would love more so I will have to ...

2008-01-10T14:51:00.000-06:00

I have four and would love more so I will have to take the time to read all of these great ideas! What a fabulous question!

For mittens, hats etc we have one of those shoe organizers that hangs over a door.

Towels- Each child has their own color towel- they always use their color, hang it on their hook and use it for a few days

Cups- each child has their own color so I can put the cup on the counter and they can use the same cup all day and I always know which one belongs to which child.

Shoes- we stacked some inexpensive shoe shelves in the garage- shoes don't even come into the house (helps with clutter AND dirt).

shopping- Sam's and Walmart twice a month. milk and fresh stuff at the store close to home. Is there any easy way to get groceries with many children? Delivery anyone?

ps great blog!
pss i buy coffee at Sam's (the Members Mark stuff)- it says Fair Trade on the package.

We bought a car last year- a 2007 suburban- nice c...

2008-01-10T13:48:00.000-06:00

We bought a car last year- a 2007 suburban- nice car, but very tight and squishy inside. I knew we should have gone for a big, very uncool, but roomy scout van. We are looking into buying a new car- one of the big vanx that have 12 seatbelts. We have enough seatbelts right now, but with all the carseats, it is very uncomfortable. I say, the bigger the better! If we get a new van, I can take my whole family somewhere and 3 of the kids friends! I can finally help with carpools!

We have hooks in the garage for wet jackets and coats and if we have snowey wet boats, they leave them right outside the door in the garage- to dry off.

we are a dry and reuse towels family too. My older kids take them to their rooms to dry on the back of there desk chair and then use them again the next day.

you can do it! It's a lot of work, but a lot of fun too!

You have many suggestions up there--looks awesome!...

2008-01-10T10:28:00.000-06:00

You have many suggestions up there--looks awesome!
We have five: ages 2,4,8,10,12.
God provided our (oldish- '90) Suburban; with a rumble seat installed in the back, it seats 10! We remove it for trips, so we can seat 8 plus luggage.
I'm going to check out all the links up there because we went from three kids to five last December (Ethiopian adoption) & I'm still trying to catch my breath!

Hi, I just found your blog this morning. I look f...

2008-01-10T07:39:00.000-06:00

Hi, I just found your blog this morning. I look forward to reading about the journey that God has put before you. :)

We are blessed with 2 girls and are going to adopt 2 babies from Ethiopia. Our oldest has weird food allergies/food intolerances (I haven't read what allergies your kid(s) have yet.

What great suggestions you had in your comments.

Abby

while I had 6 at home we had a couple different id...

2008-01-10T07:20:00.000-06:00

while I had 6 at home we had a couple different ideas we used to keep the peace mostly. Because noone would ever claim their socks (constantly claiming that they were tthe other fellows) we had one kind of socks for one kid and another kind for the other. The same with underwear. For jeans that got handed down I marked with a permanent marker the size, written large, on the white of the inside pocket, so it was easier to get them in the right basket. I hung NO towels in the bathroom, again because some did not care if they used someone else's towel and some cared passionately, they had hooks in their bedrooms and no extra towels were kept in the bathroom either. I rotated bedtime so each night a different child got to stay up an extra 1/2 hour. I rotated 'helping mom in the kitchen to make a treat on Sunday afternoons' for years. We did lots of big jobs together; like make ravioli, put in a garden, clean the garage.

My sister that has six kids has a 12 passenger van...

2008-01-10T00:07:00.000-06:00

My sister that has six kids has a 12 passenger van, which makes it nice, particularly now that several of them are teenagers (and a couple of them are tall!).

HI! First time here but I wanted to comment. I ...

2008-01-09T23:25:00.000-06:00

HI! First time here but I wanted to comment. I wrote a post over on my blog telling you a bit about how we handle things.

Mary, mom to 10 (6 adopted)

I'm currently pregnant with my fifth, but I do...

2008-01-09T17:43:00.000-06:00

I'm currently pregnant with my fifth, but I do qualify here. I'm number six of eight, my sister had nine, my brother's wife is pregnant with their eleventh...I've seen some organizing. :>) My biggest advice: kick the car out of the garage and improvise a mudroom. We used to only enter the house from the garage door. Coats, shoes, bikes, etc had their hooks and places in the garage. The garage was also a fun place to play when it was raining. Mom let us be as loud as we wanted in the garage.
My sister-in-law assigns one bin of toys per child. If bin starts to overflow, purging is to be done. She also uses bunkbeds and mats for the bedrooms. No toys or clothing are in the sleeping rooms. They have a small four bedroom house. One room is for the parents and baby, one is for girls, one is for the boys, and the other is for the toys and family closet.
My sister bought different colored towels for each child so she'd know who left them on the floor. She also bought varying socks so pairing would be easier: one child had solid white, one had white with a yellow stripe on the toes, one had white with a gray heel, etc.

It seems like the main things to remember are: ho...

2008-01-09T15:51:00.000-06:00

It seems like the main things to remember are: hooks and color codes! I will pray with y'all as you consider when and whom to adopt.

I have 7 children. We drive a Dodge Grand Caravan...

2008-01-09T11:37:00.000-06:00

I have 7 children. We drive a Dodge Grand Caravan. We replaced the middle bench (had two seatbelts) with a three seater from the junkyard. We've got 3 carseats and a booster so it can be crowded. The children learn to deal with it.

Entry way - I have a teeny closet right behind the front door. I got one of those laminate shoe cubbies and wrote each kid's initial on their cubby. I have a wicker laundry basket that they throw their jackets in. Fancier sweaters/heavy winter coats Mom hangs up. When we lived in Denver, I have over the door hooks on the outside to hang wet jackets and snowsuits.

I totally go by the color coding system. For three boys and three girls we have Red, blue, green, yellow, pink and purple. You can find most dishes, toothbrushes, etc. in these colors. The baby doesn't have a color yet though! Also, this way I know who left their plate on the table/cup in the living room etc.

Towels - hooks are the way to go. For the little ones, we use the same towel over and over. The 3, 2, and 1 yo take baths together, so we'll get the 3 yo out, dry her; use the same towel and get the 2 yo out, dry her, etc.

We also have benches, not chairs, at out kitchen table. We put the kids on three to a bench (as opposed to only two chairs that would fit in the same space.)

You might enjoy this blog:
www.mommylife.net

She has 12 children, some adopted, including a total of 4 special needs children. Lots of info in her articles and categories! She's a writer too with books on mothering, teaching children, etc.

P.S. I have LOTS of friends with more than five c...

2008-01-09T10:58:00.000-06:00

P.S. I have LOTS of friends with more than five children, so I've learned lots from them.

One of my friends is pregnant with her tenth. Here are some tips from her:

--Clothes and shoes for the entire family are stored in their second living room (den), which is closed off by french doors w/ curtains on them. This is their family closet and it's next door to the washer and dryer, so it's EASY to put away clothes.
--THINGS belong to the person holding it (including clothes), so there's never a fight over posession AND everything is easy to put away.
--They, obviously, drive a 15-passenger van...I don't know that there's a way around that.
--Everyone brushes their teeth together at the kitchen sink, so that's where they keep their toothbrushes.

She homeschools, too. She's amazing!

We only have one right now (daughter, six years ol...

2008-01-09T10:52:00.000-06:00

We only have one right now (daughter, six years old), but we are adopting and hopefully having more biological children (we don't use birth control), so I've thought about the car issue, as well.

I'm in Norman, OK. I can't wait to read more on your blog! It's fun to read people who live around here!

As the oldest of 5, I can give you some of the kid...

2008-01-09T10:08:00.000-06:00

As the oldest of 5, I can give you some of the kid's perspective of what worked. We had a coat chair, so I doubt that's really what you want to have (all the coats piled in the chair, sort through the coats to find yours). We worked on a turn based system. Each week it was one kid's turn to do several things: say grace at meals, sit up front with Mom (or choose seats in the car to get the 'best' seat), etc. We rotated through the kids so that it seemed fair to everyone. Also, there was a day of the week assigned to each person for laundry. If your laundry wasn't organized (in the laundry basket ready to go) on laundry day, it was your responsibility to get it done. It stayed that way until Mom broke her ankle and the youngest had to learn how to do laundry themselves. Now she only does her laundry, Dad's laundry, and sheets&towels. Hope that helps.

(oh, yeah, random comment... Found your blog through MaryBeth... I really like it!)

Well, fine then... does a cat count as our fifth? ...

2008-01-09T09:34:00.000-06:00

Well, fine then... does a cat count as our fifth? LOL I am excited for you guys on another adoption. :)

Looks like a lot of good tips!
We have eight - ...

2008-01-09T09:28:00.000-06:00

Looks like a lot of good tips!
We have eight - 9 mon.-12yrs. We drove a Ford Expedition when we had six. Loved it. With #7 we jumped to a 12 passenger van. It's great.
We have four sets of five hooks (two rows) by our garage door for coats and backpacks. With bins underneath for shoes. I let each child have one coat and one pair of shoes (school) there. The rest go in their closets. Muddy shoes stay in the garage. Each of my eight have their own towel (all different colors, most with their names on them) and we have hooks/towel bars for each one in the bathroom.
Most of all, we just do with less STUFF. It piles up quickly with a houseful, and most of it isn't necessary.
We do have an extra fridge/freezer in the garage so I don't have to shop quite as often. It takes a lot of food to feed 10!
Helps to have dishes that the kids can handle and load/unload easily. We broke quite a few before I wised up! And the kids have rotating kitchen/house jobs. That way they don't get bored. They do a lot of the cleaning/folding laundry, etc. I do like my BIG washer and dryer. I do a load in the AM and a load in the PM EVERY DAY. That way it doesn't pile up, and I have during the day to do sheets and towels.
My husband is one of ten kids, so it's been great to have a mother-in-law to ASK about things.
May the Lord bless your family and your heart for His children!

We have 5, the oldest is 9. We still drive a Chev...

2008-01-09T09:12:00.000-06:00

We have 5, the oldest is 9. We still drive a Chevy Venture that seats 8 but we will soon get a church van ; ) I think we'll get a 12 seater and take the back seat out for storage.

For boots and stuff see if you can get a shoe shelf to put in the garage. I keep snow boots in a rubbermaid container.

Invest in a good clothes dryer - you can usually get a good deal on craigslist.org

The main thing I've noticed in having a bunch of kids is that the big kids HAVE to help and they usually WANT to. Jobs like cracking eggs, sorting the DVDs, sorting laundry, putting up their own laundry, vacuuming the van, taking the garbage in/out can easily be done by them.

Have fun!

We have a Dodge Durango with seating for seven. Bu...

2008-01-09T08:29:00.000-06:00

We have a Dodge Durango with seating for seven. But mostly we drive my husbands business's vehicle, a Dodge Sprinter. They are, uh, big (understatement), but REALLY REALLY good fuel mileage. For coats, we took an old window frame, bought hooks (heavy duty) from the dollar store, and mounted it to the back of our coat closet door. Kids coats go there, freeing the ENTIRE rod for the adults. We have a shoe rack at the bottom of our coat closet, as well as a deacon's bench for all dry footwear, hats, mitts, etc. Towels, well when you figure that out, let me know, though we have hooks in the bathroom as well. I know some families colour-code, and I may start doing that as well. Same colour towel, toothbrush, hat/mitts, bathrobes, pencils, cups, etc. for each child. A pastor's wife with a nose stud - awesome!

Congratulations!! Get ready for a great ride!
...

2008-01-09T08:24:00.000-06:00

Congratulations!! Get ready for a great ride!

I am a mom of 7- 11 to 1yr.

My number one tip (I need to take myself) teach them to put it away!! Things are not nearly as overwhelming when the children put away their own stuff. Because you're right 12 shoes and 12 pairs of socks are overwhelming to say the least!!

We have color coated towels on a cheap wooden peg rack in the bathroom. A coat tree in the garage for snow suits. Each child has a under the bed storage to keep their own "special" stuff. We use dressers only for pjs and underwear (I got tired of them pulling everything out looking for a shirt) . Instead we use hanging dividers in the closet (Mon, Tues..) This has been a lifesaver on space and sanity.

Oh, there's so much more!! Feel free to visit my blog under WFMW posts or "Only My life" posts. There's some pictures and lots more about the life with so many kids:)

Blessings.

I'll be back to see how your family is growing:)

I only have two, but I read a blog of a mom who we...

2008-01-09T07:33:00.000-06:00

I only have two, but I read a blog of a mom who went from three to six this year (all under 6 btw) and she talks a lot about how to keep your eyes on the most important stuff in the midst of the chaos. It's a good read.
(www.tuiningaadoption.blogspot.com)