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house, school is over by noon. Lunches are also fairly simple. I usually let the older children fend for themselves, since they all seem to like different things for lunch. I try and keep a supply of tortillas and plenty of cheese and hot sauce. In cold weather, a lot of times there will be a pot of homemade soup on the stove if anyone wants it, and usually someone does. I like to keep cut up chicken in the fridge, and hamburger meat already cooked, too, and seasoned for tacos, but it gets eaten very fast with big boys in the house. Lunches that don't take a lot of preparation are the most popular.

Since we don't have a dishwasher, we also keep large amounts of Dollar Store paper plates on hand, so clean up is usually quick. As I said before, a child is usually in charge of doing the dishes after lunch, while I get the current baby laid down for a nap.

Afternoons are free time for the children, and I tackle computer work, laundry, animals and handwork. Going outside for the animals is nice because it will usually perk me up for a while. I really like keeping a handwork project going, because that's something I enjoy, and it keeps being home a lot more interesting.

Laundry is usually the largest ongoing job for a mother of a big family, and I have learned a few tricks to keep it from becoming a mountain.

First, I keep a large supply of Dollar Store laundry baskets around. I had my husband install wire shelves across the wall of my laundry room. I place these baskets on these shelves, one basket for each person, or if two people share a room, sometimes there is one basket for a bedroom. As clothes come out of the dryer, I put them straight into each person's basket. Then it's up to the owner of the basket to put their own clothes away, unless they are young, then I put the clothes away when the basket is full. If a person's basket overflows, I call them to come empty it. Many of my children seem to just live out of their baskets in the laundry room, but that's fine with me if that's what they want to do. I have them hang up their towels after each bath, so I only have to wash towels once or twice a week. On the rare occasions that my back feels well enough for me to lug clothes to the clothes line, I take the individual baskets outside and put the clothes in them as they come off the line. Then in the evening, I have everyone go outside and retrieve their baskets.

Speaking of laundry, dressing your children in clean, cute clothes goes a long way also in

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