Questions We Get Having 9 Children…

I love having a big family but it’s a LOT OF WORK!! It’s also a lot of fun, never boring, and full of challenges.

Having such a big family sparks conversations wherever we go and I thought I would share some of the questions we receive:

1. Do you have them all the time? Yes. Matt came to the marriage with 5 children, I had 3, we have had one together. Since both of our previous spouses are deceased we have them all the time.

2. WHY do you have NINE children? Refer to question one. I cannot tell you how hurtful this question is, I hate it. I feel like I have to explain the whole story “I married a man whose wife died, we combined our children,l”…blah blah blah. Actually, I want to just tell people BECAUSE I LOVE CHILDREN THATS WHY! To the people that have been downright rude to me about the size of our family: you need a hug.

3. Your house must be crazy! Sometimes. But whose house isn’t? Our home has three levels. The top level has a huge playroom with a slide so that is where all of the little children tend to play and make noise. The main level has the kitchen and living room space and toys are NOT ALLOWED on this level. The basement has the video game console, pool table, dart board, so the big kids tend to hang out here. Basically, I’m always on the main level and all I ask for is peace on this floor, and I get it. When people come over they always say “your home is so quiet, how?!”. Might be a different story if they go on a different level hahaha!

4. How much food do you go through?! I buy everything in bulk and make food in large quantities. Food is a HUGE issue in our home and I cannot count the times food has caused contention. Providing food that everyone agrees on is HARD! Combining two families with different tastes is tricky. I currently have 3 teenagers (2 of them athletes) so the amount of food is higher right now. When sports are over it will go down a bit and then back UP because school will be over and all of the kids will be home for the summer. To answer the question, my grocery bill is always high🤣

5. Your house must be a disaster all the time! Not really. Beds must be made everyday, room kept clean, food put away if you made something, and I do everyones laundry. As a family we do chores almost every Saturday morning and each child has one thing to do. Many hands make light work!

6. Ohhhhh, you have the older ones to take care of the younger ones. I always want to laugh when I hear this. The big kids are just as much work as the little kids. I am the mother, my older children DO NOT do my job. I realize some large families operate this way, but I don’t. My children are children, not parents. Do they babysit? Sure, if they aren’t at their friends house, sport event, etc. They need to be children, just my opinion.

7. Do you believe in birth control? Yes, stop asking!

9. Have you started college funds? Yes, and our children have all been warned that they need to work hard for scholarships, so grades are important!

10. How do you give each child attention? Honestly, sometimes I am not the greatest and occasionally feel mom guilt. However, I do work at making a connection with each child, everyday. We eat a homemade dinner together everyday and either Matt or I tuck the kids in bed every night. The kids all LOVE to talk talk talk until we finally have to say “GOODNIGHT”!!

11. So…which kids are YOURS and which ones are HIS. Ha! All of the kids look as though they are all related so I get asked this A LOT! Matt’s children are: Madilyn, Katelyn, Ashlyn, Brendan, and Quinton

My children are: Maverick (currently serving a two year church mission in Santiago, Chile), Corbin, and Maggie

Matt and I have had one sweet baby boy together and this is Weston!

12. Are you having any more children? I think we are good with nine. I’ve always wanted ten but this last baby is a handful!!

Anymore questions? Feel free to ask away!