Six of Lacey Fairgood's eight adopted kids are already home for the afternoon. They sit on stools along the breakfast bar, doing their homework while she supervises. Here, in this cozy, five-bedroom home, a Norman Rockwell painting is colliding with a 21st century version of "Eight Is Enough." An apple pie even bakes in the oven.

Sonja, who's 17, helped Fairgood roll out the dough and sprinkle the apples with cinnamon. She loves to cook.

"Especially for a lot of people," says Sonja.

Good thing.

At 42, Fairgood is a single mother by deliberate and repeated choice. Since 2001, she's adopted eight kids in the categories that social workers label "hard to place": teens, sibling sets and children with disabilities.

Several of her kids were born addicted to drugs or alcohol. The family now ranges in age from 7 to 17. This, on top of her two biological sons, Thomas and Joseph, now in their 20s, whose photos hang in her front hallway.

How did all this start?

"My sons wanted a sister," says Fairgood, who lives with her family in a large home in Sacramento's Vineyard neighborhood. "It was 1992, and they were in grade school. I was divorced from their father, and I did not want to have a child out of wedlock. So I said, 'Let's look at foster care.' "

And so she found her calling, first as a foster mother, then as an adoptive mom. Her motivation is simple enough. Her heart, as she puts it, is with the kids.

"Lacey is a really loving person," says Child Protective Services adoption social worker Jessica Karadsheh. "I went to her home. It's lovely. There were kids running around. This kid's helping that kid with homework, and this kid's doing that kid's hair. They're playing.

"Wow, what a great family."

Imagine all those kids, all that chaos.

Clearly, adoption isn't for everyone, nor is adopting a houseful of kids. But the need is tremendous. According to CPS spokeswoman Laurie Slothower, more than 1,200 children in Sacramento County are in permanent placement, or long-term foster care, and about 400 are adopted each year.

Hang on. Fairgood's first adopted son – Isaac, 8, who's been with her since he was 5 months old – has something he'd like to tell us.

"I like doing my pluses at school," he says. "And I helped my friend. He's blind."

"Isaac is in a special day class," his mother says. "He likes school."

"I don't like staying there really long," Isaac says. "Sometimes, I draw and color in my coloring book."

"I like recess," says Isaiah, who's 7.

Time for the family roster. Besides Isaac and Isaiah, Fairgood adopted three more of her kids in 2001: Aaliyah, now 11; Jamal, now 9; and Miya, now 7. In 2005, along came Elijah, who's 9 now. Sonja joined the family in 2007, and her sister, Christina, 16, came early in 2008.

The kids attend four different schools. And that's not even counting Sonja, an Elk Grove High School senior on independent-study home schooling.

Such a big family requires a lot of organization. Let's ask Fairgood to describe her day.

"I have calendars and a really thick schedule," she says. "I get their clothes ready for school the night before.

"In the morning, Jamal is picked up by 7, so I get him up first. Then I get Elijah and Isaac up for their bus at 7:30. Then I wake up Aaliyah, Isaiah and Miya and drop them off by 8. Christina wakes up on her own.

"When they're gone, I'm still busy. Tomorrow morning, two kids go to the dentist. Three of my children go to a neurologist every six months. Some children have to see the psychiatrist every other month, some every three months. There are eye appointments. Hearing aid appointments.

"We have homework every day and laundry every day. With my special-ed students, I hear from their teachers every day."

On top of all that, three of her girls are interested in modeling and acting, so Fairgood takes them to auditions in Los Angeles every month.

"I see Miya before the camera, and I think, 'She's perfect,' " says Fairgood. "All my kids are perfect."

"Yes, but can I get a snack?" says Miya.

Frankly, family life sounds exhausting. Fairgood worked for the state for years but resigned in the late '90s. Now she does consulting work and receives adoptive parent assistance funds from the county.

Her ex-husband, Thomas, a state auditor who lives in Sacramento, remains close to her and her large brood.

"When we were married, I didn't know she wanted that many kids," he says. "We were young. We were struggling. But then she started doing foster care, and she even had me certified to do respite care.

"I'd go over and help out with her foster kids every now and again. That's when I realized how much she liked all these kids around her. She's like a little wonder woman with kids."

CPS' Karadsheh was so impressed with Lacey Fairgood's knack for helping turn around her kids' lives that she nominated her for the 2008 Congressional Angels in Adoption Award, which U.S. Rep. Doris Matsui presented to Fairgood in August.

"Lacey takes these kids and she creates this great family," says Karadsheh.

"When they get into Lacey's home, they stabilize – not that they don't have their problems – but suddenly, they're happy kids."

Kids know when they're loved and wanted. And Fairgood insists that they rely on structure. She's big on tradition, too.

"It helps them learn that the same thing will happen the next day and the next holiday," she says.

And so she'll bundle up the kids soon for the Fairgood annual holiday lights tour. They'll hop in her 12-passenger van and see the twinkling decorations. Then they'll come home and have hot chocolate and popcorn, and watch a movie.

It's Christmas. And they're family.

Call The Bee's Anita Creamer, (916) 321-1136.