Thanksgiving

I am finding it a little shocking that this is my 7th year cooking our Thanksgiving meal. It just seems like yesterday, it was my first. The year after my grandma died, it became my job to cook Thanksgiving. Thank goodness Adam barely remembers that Thanksgiving because it was rough. Not that my cooking was the problem but my sisters were just insane. Things have calmed a lot since that first Thanksgiving. I still do most things exactly like my grandma did. We always eat at 11am on Thanksgiving Day like we did when she was alive. This works out good for us because the kids usually nap around 12:30. I cook most of the same foods-turkey, her dressing recipe, green beans, corn, her pumpkin pie recipe, and mashed potatoes. I have added a few new things-sweet potato caserole, usually something chocolate because I hate pie, and we eat yeast rolls instead of the traditional rolls she used to serve. For the most part, I like cooking. I like that now my sisters and kids have the same memories of Thanksgiving that I had as a kid. It also works out nicely with Adam's family. They always celebrate the weekend after Thanksgiving. I am thankful that we don't have to travel to see our family.

For those who read about my little homeschooling breakdown last week, I am reworking our schedule. Unfortunately, with 6 "Littles", I don't think it will be smooth sailing for awhile. We will get through it though and even on the crazy days, I am thankful for the chaos.

I got a fabulous new book called "Large Family Logistics". I know many people like Fly Lady but her ideas are just not realistic for a big family. I can clean each room for 5 minutes every hour of the day and the kids are like mini-tornadoes right behind me. I found that stressful. I also never really got into the "shine your sink" philosphy. To be honest, if the rest of the house looks upside down (which, no matter how clean it is before we go to bed, the kids mess it up in 5 minutes MAX), having the sink shine doesn't make me feel any better at all. The LFL book seems to focus on specific things on specific days-adding in the "4 by 4" which means 4 loads of laundry by 4 everyday. I am going to change up the days a bit because our "Town Day" will vary depending on what kind of doctor we need to go to.

Here is their idea of how the days should go:
Monday-Laundry day (mending, ironing, hanging-etc)
Tuesday-Kitchen Day (to make bread for the week, meals for the week, clean our fridge, and clean the kitchen)
Wednesday-Office Day (to pay bills, balance the checkbook, organize your menu plan, blog, etc)
Thursday-Town Day (dr appointments, grocery shopping, etc)
Friday-Deep Cleaning Day (massive decluttering, wash and change sheets, rotate around which room to deep clean-dining room, school bookshelves, bathrooms, bedrooms, living room, playroom, etc).
Saturday-Gardening Day (all things outdoors)
Sunday-Rest Day


Bathroom cleaning is also everyday. If you see the sea of water that 6 kids baths produce, cleaning the bathroom is really not even considered a chore. Bath mats are not for us! I use a giant towel and use it to mop up all of the water that our little darlings leave me. While they bathe, I wipe down everything I can in the bathroom and occasionally scrub the toilet.

1 thing that the book really stresses that we already do is to not allow toys in the kids bedrooms. They become a distraction and after I slid across the living room while pregnant this summer while trying to rush to Weston, I feel completely ok with this decision. Toys are dangerous! If you don't believe me, let me know and I will let you borrow a handful of matchbox cars.

I am not even halfway done with the LFL book but I will post more about it after I get finshed and read through my journal. So far, it has some really fabulous ideas.