5 things that happen when you are in a large family

Have you ever wondered how large families live?  Or ever think how do they afford all those children? Maybe you scratch your head and think, why do they have all those children anyways?

In my new blog (largefamilyarrows.com), I hope to answer these questions and more.

Hi, I’m Wendy Muse and I’m a busy but blessed Mom of 8 children. Their ages are  24, 22,17, 15, 13,10 and 9.  (Happy birthday to you Daniel) and our youngest is 6 years old.  I am also Mimi to a cute little 2-year fella and a new baby boy due in June. 

As a family of any size there are always things to keep us hopping.  I am a wife to a great husband of 28 years, a Pastor’s wife, a stay at home Mom and a homeschooling Mom for about 19 years and counting.   Besides being bigger than normal size family, our family is basically just like any other family.

As we dive into some of the things about larger families. Just keep in mind.  I am not some kind of super mom.  I am not terribly organized.  I have to work at it.  I also read or watch video’s on how other moms do it.  I don’t consider myself to be an expert.  I do enjoy my family though and being a mom.  I feel along the way however I have picked up some tips and tricks to help my family run more efficiently and possibly give ideas to help yours.

5 things that happen when you are in a large family

• Number One- Everyone enjoys the birthday parties of each family member as they come around.  You can never have to much cake, can you? My kids always enjoy whatever new toy, gismo or gadget that comes into the house during birthdays or Christmas. It makes a great time that all my family gets to share.  We just had a birthday party in our family, and my youngest declared that he wanted the same gifts for his birthday which isn’t till June.  It just goes to show that you can have your cake and eat it too.

• Number Two- The kids never get lonely in a large family. There is always someone around, and they never lack having playmates to play with.  When I had just my 1^st little boy, we would go on walks around the neighborhood. He would want to go up to a stranger’s house, where he saw other children playing.  That’s when I knew it was time to expand our family. I feel very blessed with the children God has blessed us with, though  I surely couldn’t have imagined back then, just how it would expand. Our children always have someone to either share in the fun with or someone to fuss with.  Either way, they always have plenty of siblings to entertain them.

• Number Three-  Our family table is a conference table.  Right after moving into our new home we didn’t have a kitchen table.   My oldest son William came home from work one day and asked, ” if I would like a conference table they were no longer using”. Currently, we were using an 8-foot white folding table and the price was right. (FREE)  I gladly proclaimed Yes! After all, a conference table would be a lot bigger than what we were using. Furthermore, we didn’t have finances to purchase another dinette set after our big out of state move.  I guess in a large family you don’t have to have a conference table, however, we find it important to sit around the table and share meals together and talk about our day. So you will definitely need a big one.  We have had 14 people at that table at once and we have been enjoying that table for years.

• Number Four- Vehicle shopping is fun to accommodate 10 people and sometimes more.  Our family car has been a 15 passenger van for many years.  You will be surprised at just what all you can carry in these vans.  Packing is really cool. Clothes, camping gear, musical instruments etc.  There is always plenty of room plus people.  We recently just down sized on our 15 passenger van to a 8 seat Honda Odyssey. Our 17 year old has his own vehicle and doesn’t ride with us much anymore, except vacations or long trips.

• Number Five- I think one of the fun things about having several family members is the perks of doing activities.  When going to places with my (little) large family as it doesn’t seem unusual to me, (that is the size of my family), is the discounts you can receive.  Did you know you can get group rates sometimes with just 8 or more people?  That’s right we had our Christmas vacation last year and was able to receive the group rate which saved us a bunch of money.  Furthermore, there are places that you can purchase an annual pass, such as museums or a zoo for a discount.  Upon buying these annual passes,  a family of our size can save money getting the yearly pass rather than purchasing daily tickets.  Also, if it’s a close enough place. We can use those passes several times a year for day trips, and save money for family outings.

There you have it. 

1. Everyone has lots of birthday celebrations throughout the year.
2. No one has a reason to not be entertained.
3. Large table please, table for nine, ten or more.
4. Bring on the 15 passenger. We have places to go and need lots of room.
5. Everyone loves a bargain. Let’s go save some money.

Each week I plan to upload a post about large families.  Here we will discuss everything pertaining to families with several little ones, and not so little ones anymore.  Such things as, meal planning on a budget, money, health and more.

So these are 5 things that maybe you didn’t know or maybe just didn’t think about with big families. 

If you enjoy this content please consider following me as we go on this adventure together, as I get to know you and you get to know me.  Feel free to comment or ask questions.  I will do my best to answer them.