How do you do it?

Probably the question I get asked the most, with a few different variations, so I'll try to take some time over the next few days to address it.

Today's version: how do you care for 5 kids, especially with a husband in the Navy?

I'm always a bit taken back by this question, as it's nothing I ever really think about. It's just something I do, and I've adapted to as our family has grown. I've been called to this vocation as mother and wife, God has blessed us with 5 beautiful children, and I intend to fulfill my role to the best of my ability and I pray daily for wisdom and strength in how to handle things.

Along the way I've come to a few realizations that help immensely:

1) Discipline: I admit, I hate discipline. But discipline is there as a tool for us to grow and us much as I hate to admit it, it works. If I don't sit and force myself to do certain things, they'll never get done, so I come up with a schedule to ensure they do.
For example, I set aside Tuesday for laundry. I know this sounds odd, because I thought it did too before I started. I find if I spread laundry out, it never seems done and I end up with a pile of clothes that never goes away on the couch. If I set aside one day to focus on it, everything gets done and put away and I don't have to think about it for another week. As a bonus, if a kid pukes at 3am and I need to do an emergency load of laundry, there's no risk that there will be a load sitting in the washer that I have to mess with too.
Cloth diapers are the one exception to the Tuesday rule, for good reason, but since all the other laundry is already done it doesn't interfere with it (or vice versa)
2) Organization: I find this one closely tied to the above. It's a pain in many ways to sit and plan a weeks worth of meals and organize grocery shopping lists, but the benefit gained is well worth the time spent organizing it all.
To be clear: organization to me does not necessarily mean holding on to and putting loads of crap into neat little boxes. While that can help, the bigger help is getting rid of the stuff in the house. Kids don't need 50 outfits a piece, kids don't need thousands of toys, and I don't need tons of  stuff I don't use. Organizing the stuff means assessing needs as well. Since we move every few years, this is especially important. I'm not selling pieces of furniture right before I move to come in under our weight limit so my kids can keep 500 more pounds of toys that will end up driving me nuts on the other end as I fight to keep my house clean.
3) Knowing when to let go, and never underestimating what my children are capable of handling on their own.

That's really about it. Nothing too extraordinary I don't think.