From One Season to the Next

Soccer season is over. The busy season has come to an end.  It's crazy; it's busy; it's non-stop, but we all enjoy the excitement of it. Rehashing the games over a supper of crock-pot chili, cheering loudly when a good play is executed, feeling the rush of pride when our little one scores a hat trick and immediately looks for his mama on the sidelines, nervously sitting in the emergency room after an injury, tears and triumphs...all part of the memories we created this past fall.  It takes an immense amount of effort to keep a family of twelve running smoothly when we are all on the go at such an intense pace...babies and toddlers, gardens, animals, laundry, meals, homeschooling, appointments...so much to stay on top of.  We persevere because our little ones enjoy it; this is their time of year; this is their thing; they love it, and, consequently, so do Mom and Dad. 

Now that it is over we can take a breath and get back to focusing on the homestead and the simple life that we know and love.  We can begin preparing for the long winter that lies ahead of us.  The other day we found ourselves all at home (finally) with nowhere to go, so we took the opportunity to start working on things that were left on the back burner while in the midst of running back and forth to practices and games.

While the littlest ones napped, Hubby snagged as many of the older kids as he could to help with splitting and stacking this year's firewood.

Some were more interested in playing on the trailer than helping and soon found themselves in a bit of a predicament.

Phew...Big Sister to the rescue!

While most of my family was outside, I was content to stay in the house and do some "fall" cleaning. I was itching to get at the pesky cobwebs that seem to have appeared overnight.

I started in one room (and I will continue to work through each room, one at a time) giving it a deep cleaning, vacuuming, mopping, moving furniture, washing curtains, sorting and organizing. During the craziness of soccer season, we kept things picked up and generally clean, but now I look forward to getting things back in order.

I know...ewwwww!

I sorted through the toddlers' toys, sending a few items to the attic and some to the donation pile.  I brought an old armoire downstairs (it wasn't very useful where it was) and gave it a new home in the living room, housing the toys that we chose to keep. I focused on keeping only the items that would be educational and/or inspire imagination.  It felt so good to do a bit of purging, and I find that the Littles play better and keep themselves entertained longer when they aren't overwhelmed by too many, disorganized toys.

Our eldest daughter remained in the house with me and baked a Flourless Chocolate Cake, a chocolate lover's dream.  Both of us felt the need for some serious chocolate, and this dessert fit the bill perfectly.

It was a good day...a day that we spent at home, together, getting some things done that both Hubby and I have felt pulled to do but put aside during our busy season.  At the end of the day we rewarded ourselves with flourless chocolate cake and a crackling fire, the first of many. Life is always busy here at Front Forty Farm, but it is a good busy, a simple busy, a busy that we wouldn't trade for anything else.