One family is living their own version of the movie, “Cheaper by the Dozen.” They recently welcomed their twelfth child into their already massive family. Many parents, who are struggling with two or three children, are awe-inspired by this heroine of a mom who has four times as many to care for. That is a lot of bandaids and meal plans to worry about.
First Comes Love, Then Comes Marriage, Then…
Some people know they are going to be parents from a young age. They feel it intrinsically inside of them, waiting for the day they find their match to create a family with. When Courtney and Chris rogers from New Mexico met, they knew they would start a family one day. However, neither of them predicted the number of children they would create. When they first started trying to conceive, Courtney had a miscarriage which dampened their spirits. But fast forward to today, and they have twelve children.
Within the first ten years of their marriage, Courtney was pregnant for most of it. The most time she spent not pregnant was nine months. During those ten years, she gave birth to 11 children. Clint, 12, Clay, 11; Cade, 10; Callie, 9, Cash, 8, Colt and Case, 7, Calena, 5, Caydie, 4, Caralee, 3, and Caris, 2. Finally, they recently welcomed their newest baby, and twelfth addition, to the mix. Little Cambria just celebrated her first birthday.
A Day in the Life
Courtney and Chris are raising their larger-than-average family on a 12-acre farm in Santa Fe County, New Mexico. The family farm is riddled with life. Not only do they have more children than most could fathom, but they have around 200 animals as well. This includes chickens, pigs, and sheep.
They do not attend regular school, but Courtney homeschools them herself. This was the norm for the Rogers family because Chris and Courtney were also homeschooled as kids. “I love having them with me all the time and seeing them learn and knowing what they are learning,” said Courtney. “I can adapt the lessons to each child and I don’t have to make them sit for hours all day. I love how it’s flexible and the kids can run around outside or feed the lambs between lessons.”
For breakfast, the family finishes off an entire box of cereal every day. They can also eat up to 24 eggs per meal. At 11:30 am, Courtney serves lunch to her little ones which is usually a sandwich. After that, they go down for their nap. Thankfully for Courtney, the older children can make their lunch themselves. Their lessons include arts and languages, and occasionally, a zoom piano lesson. Dinner is at five o’clock when they all sit down to eat together.
Budgeting is a Real Activity
The rise in food costs is sure to put some strain on a family as large as this. Thankfully, Courtney is a mean budgeter, who only buys the bare minimum for her brood. This year, they tried out a concept called “no spend January.” This was inspired by the exorbitant costs of the holiday season. Chris and Courtney have to save at least $100 per child for presents.
Courtney also enforces “meatless Mondays.” So, they eat healthy vegetarian meals every Monday as a means to save some money on groceries. This super mom’s nifty money-saving tricks even enabled them to invite a few strangers for a home-cooked meal during the holidays.
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