Cross Country

The excitement level is high in our house, cross country has started back up. Our oldest five are able to run this season and are in high spirits. They will be competing in their first 5K, so are excited about doing a little longer distance in a race.

Cross country is a great activity for our family. Everyone can participate, even those who are too young to actually compete. We all love heading to the park in the afternoon and walking or running for a couple of miles. Nicholas gets put in the Ergo, Colby walks some then rides in the stroller and I bribe the younger ones with time on the playground in order to get them to run a mile and a half or two so that I can get some exercise. Then we chill on the slide and swing while the bigger kids finish their distance. We also enjoy running in the evenings or around the neighborhood with daddy.

I'm so happy that spring is here coming and we are running again.

Laundry Help - The Family Closet

The family closet is a laundry/storage system that has always interested me. You must click on the link, it's just pictures, go on. If you aren't intrigued after looking at the pictures then you don't have to read anymore, I promise.

Still here? The premise is simple, store all of the clothes or at least all of the children's clothes in one room, preferably the laundry room.

This post has moved to our new site. Read Laundry Help - The Family Closet or visit our homepage and choose the laundry category to read all of my posts about laundry.

Serious.Life Magazine- March Issue

The March issue of Serious.Life magazine just came out. It is available online for free. Check it out for some inspiring articles about faith and family.

Wordless Wednesday - The Wipes

Check out other's "Wordless Wednesday" posts over at 5 Minutes for Mom or enjoy some of my other Wordless Wednesday's.

See my posts on homeschooling or home management.

Laundry Help - Make Your Own Laundry Soap

A few years ago I Googled directions for making laundry detergent, made up a batch and HATED it. We didn't like how it cleaned ( or rather didn't clean) our clothes and so I scrapped the idea.

Several months ago, the economic climate being what it is and the fact that I had run out of our mega bucket of Charlie's Laundry Powder, I decided to rethink the whole homemade laundry soap idea.

The directions for making your own laundry soap have moved to our new blog. Visit the laundry soap post or our new homepage.

Fight Abortion - Spread the Word About CHASK

CHASK (Christian Homes and Special Kids) is a program that is:

"Helping families with an adverse prenatal diagnosis. Today, 80% of
unborn babies with medical concerns are aborted. We want parents to
hear about life choices. CHASK provides family to family support helping
families raise their child with special needs. Loving homes are waiting to
adopt
these children if the birth moms and dads are not able to parent.
"

This post has moved to our new blog. Read Spread the Word about CHASK or visit our new homepage.

Laundry Help - Shrinking Mt. Washmore - Part 1

Our family produces a lot of laundry. We have the normal amount of clothes, towels, and bedding that any group of 12 people would produce and in addition we use cloth napkins, cloth diapers, cloth wipes, and cloth cleaning rags. This saves money and resources, but produces more laundry.

So how do we keep up with it all? Well, sometimes we don't, but I have spent a lot of time thinking about how to make it easier and I've tried several different systems. I plan to share some ideas and plans that have helped us.

This post has moved to the new Raising Olives. Finish reading Shrinking Mt. Washmore or visit our new homepage and click on Home Management- Laundry/Clothes.