Thanksgiving

We had a good Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. At the top of our list is family, friends, home, Bible, and salvation.
We stretched our celebration out over three days. Wednesday I cooked a big meal while the guys (Gabe and Rueben) were at work, and the kids were coloring turkeys or playing computer games (after finishing their chores). We ate our thanksgiving meal Wednesday evening before going to church. We have done it this way for several years, and I really like it. In past years we have done different projects or gone hiking, if the weather is good.
Thursday we had a nice home cooked breakfast and then headed out to the Bisti Wilderness to go hiking. The weather was cool, but when hiking in the wilderness that is a very good thing. The sun was very bright and the kids soon took off their coats. The kids hiked for about two hours, and Gabe and Rueben went a little further before returning to the van. We had dinner at Gabe's mom's house, then came home and played games like Dutch blitz.
Friday we went in to town to check out some of the black Friday deals, but soon gave up, too many people for my liking. After lunch of turkey sandwiches we went to the Four Corners. We had read about it in a library book, and the kids wanted to see it.

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Elisabeth with potatoes all over her face.Starting our hike in Bisti WildernessBeth enjoyed the ride!

Nice photo of Rueben!This is what we went to see.Exploring the badlandsThe kids found a bit of snow on the northside of the hills.Four Corners

I hope you all had a good Thanksgiving as well. We set up our Christmas tree and the kids are now all excited about Christmas.

Organizing and controling the toys

Have you ever noticed that toys seem to multiply as the children grow. The toys get smaller and have more pieces, too.
A few months ago my husband pointed out that the toys were taking over the house. He was right. They would take out all their toys at the beginning of each day and then whine and complain when it came time to clean up. My husband wanted to get rid of the toys. That thought crossed my mind a few times, but I resisted the urge to throw everything away. I do purge the toys from time to time. I also have noticed the most popular toy is usually new or the one that they haven't played with for a long time.
I attacked the problem with an idea I got from “Managers of their Home” by Steve and Teri Maxwell, which I purchased from Titus2.com. It was suggested to get out only one kind of toy for a certain length of time. I sorted all the toys one day during nap/quiet time, and then put the containers up high, very high – Abby likes to climb up to get things.
I get down one box for them to play with at a time. Sometimes I let the one who finished his/her chores first chose the toy for the day. If they come and say they want a different toy, I make them clean up all the pieces to what they have out, then I put it up and get a different one down. They learn quickly. They now come and tell me, “We picked up all the cars. Can we have the people?”
This has greatly cut back on the toy clutter. We still have some toys through out the house, but it is much easier to pick up since they are not ALL out.
I am constantly looking for ideas to better organize my home and my life. I get so much more done when things are in order.

Let all things be done decently and in order. - 1 Corinthians 14:40