I'm sure most of you who have more than the average 1.7 children have seen lists like this before, but here is the official Smith list, all of which have happened to us at some point in the last several years. And for the record, I don't consider us a large family. I see us as a medium sized family, but I think the rest of my family would argue that point. Anyway, here goes:
You might have a large family if...
1. It feels really weird to be out with only one or two children. Even more weird to be at home with only that many.
2. When you go grocery shopping, you really need two carts, but instead you just over pile one cart so that you don't stick out. As much.
3. Your Sam's (or Costco) bill is as high as the regular grocer.
4. You laugh at the family packs of ground beef at Sam's, and opt instead to buy it by the case - 80 pounds worth.
5. You have seriously wondered about renting a pod storage unit just to store all the boxes of clothes your children are not wearing at the moment, but which are awaiting their next growth spurt.
6. You realize that you hardly ever make the recipe as is - it is nearly always doubled.
7. Your husband has seriously contemplated moving out of town so that you can raise your own chickens, milk your own cows, and have your own orchard and garden just to feed the kids - even though he has a city wife who wouldn't have a clue about how to do any of that.
8. You have wondered if a 15 passenger van would fit in your garage.
9. You live two blocks from a world famous theme park - but only go once every five years because of how much it costs times 7 people (or more).
10. You mark time by who you were pregnant with or who you were nursing at the time.
11. One of your greatest fantasies is having a second refrigerator.
12. Every time you go to the store with all your children, it is against the law for the clerk to fail to ask, "Are they all yours?" (I so want to say something like, "No this is only half, I left all the babies at home," or something else just as foolish as their questions.)
13. You have to start getting ready to go somewhere at least 30 minutes before you actually need to walk out the door, so that everyone has time to find their shoes, inform you that the shoes are too small, for you to find the right sized pair in the right shoe bucket, for everyone to go potty, to get on their shoes, to comb hair that was neglected this morning, and to put out the inevitable arguments that ensue.
14. When your minivan has four car seats in it - at the same time.
15. The washer and dryer never get a day off.
16. Your definition of a "full dishwasher" is not that all the space is taken up, but whether you can fit another meal's worth of dishes in it.
17. Thus your dishwasher gets run more than once a day.
18. You refuse to keep baby books or scrap books because THERE IS NOT ENOUGH TIME IN THE WORLD to keep up with them all, and if you started, your load of guilt from not finishing or keeping them up would be multiplied by how many children you have.
19. You no longer sew the matching outfits for your children like you did when you only had 2 because, again, THERE IS NOT ENOUGH TIME IN THE WORLD.
20. You and your husband look in on the kids before retiring for the night and are just overwhelmed that God would entrust so many blessings into your care.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
12 comments:
Too good. I had to link to it on my blog :-)
That is great Tami! Although we are not there yet, growing up as 2nd of 8 I can most definitely relate! I laughed when you said you don't consider yourself a big family. Whenever people ask if Ryan came from a big family (4) I used to say no. I started saying "depends on who you ask!"
I agree with the big/medium family thing, Tami. I know too many families that have more kids than us......that's why I have "quasi large" on my blog. Although, I'm sure many would disagree!
Anyway, great post!
I think we are a small family, yet people look at us like we are crazy when they say "you won't have more will you?" and we say "we wish".
I loved what you said about marking time by who you were pregnant with or nursing at the time! That is sooo true for me even though we are still a pretty small family, then again, I know some who disagree.
My answer to #12 is always, "No, they're half my husband's too!" ;D Many a cashier is stumped over that one, leaving me just enough time to escape any more questions or comments.
kenj, I like that one! I'll have to remember that for next time!
Oh Tami, I thought of another one! It's one of my favorites!
You KNOW you have a larger family when your relatives refer to your SUBURBAN as "The Clown Car"!
We got that a lot on vacation!
Candace, that's a good one. Hadn't heard that one before!
So what will they say if this one is TWINS? Then you'll be forced into the 12 or 15 passenger van, and then won't they really think it's a "clown car?!?"
So is there a possibility that Candace will have twins? I hate being out of the loop! ;-)
Have you watched Jon & Kate plus 8? It's on The Learning Channel. This couple had 4 year old twins when they had sextuplets.
Not as far as I know, June. I was just teasing her. ;-)
Although, John Warren always says there is a 50/50 chance of twins: either she is having twins or she isn't!
You don't have a second refrigerator?! Eeeeek! I mean, neither do I, but we only have 3 so far. EVen I could sure use one--I don't know how you do without.
Post a Comment