Wonder-FULL Wednesday: The Basics

So, today, as I was doing one of the many things I do many times a day, one of my girls asked,

"I wonder how many pizzas the Duggar family has to order for pizza night."


I thought about it for a minute, & then figured they would order 6 or 7, probably. As I continued about my business, I began thinking about large families & how, in today's world, they are an oddity. Although the Duggars are UBER-large, we are considered large in our own right. However, where the Duggars have been very public about their lives, we are not, unless asked.

Which we are.


A. Lot.

For instance, last night, I took the kiddos to grab a bite to eat at a place that was cooler than home, and the waitress asked, "Are you the mom?" To which I replied, "No, the red-head is". ROFLOL

No, I didn't (but I did chuckle while writing that).

I actually said, "Yes." (duh)

She then began asking some of the same questions we hear sometimes daily.

If you know me personally, you probably know that I am not a forward person. Hopefully, I am not unfriendly, I just don't usually put myself out there, if you know what I mean. My hubby & pretty much ALL of my kids are forward enough for the entire family! LOL

One thing I have had to deal with, emotionally, as my family has grown in number, has been the amount of attention we draw when we go out & about. I don't enjoy being in the spotlight. I don't like to feel scrutinized. As I have mentioned before, I have perfectionist (read: pride) issues, so if the kids don't look, act, behave just right, I become somewhat panicky.

I know...it's a personal problem.

The really funny thing is: when the kiddos are really acting up (in my book), is when someone will compliment us on our well-behaved kids! HA!! I think that may be God's way of telling me to lighten up sometimes.

Having said all of that, it occurs to me that there may possibly be someone out there in blog-land that has a question or curiosity about something pertaining to large families. I am, by no means, saying that I have ALL the answers, but I AM willing to answer according to what we do or how we work, and, if necessary will point you in the direction of the source of my answer...as I usually do NOT have original ideas!

So, I have come up with a few tidbits of information that you may *or may not* find interesting about our life...

The Basics

We have 8 children, 5 girls & 3 boys.

Ages: 17, 15, 11, 8, 6, 5, 3, & 2

I spend between $400 & $500 every two weeks or so at Wal*Mart, & 98% of that purchase is food.

I spend $120 or so every month with a company called Melaleuca for all of our cleaning & personal care products. This company has safe, highly concentrated products which last me a long time.

We enjoy eating out, but that is pretty much our main form of entertainment.

Our bill is usually between $30 & $35 at a place like McDonald's.

We love Mexican food, & frequently go for fajitas, which costs us about $60.

*we tend to choose our restaurants based on ease of getting a table for 10...

having "call-ahead seating" is a great plus!!!*

Our home has 5 bedrooms & 3 baths.

The 3 oldest girls share a room which has one twin & one set of bunks in it.

The 2 youngest girls share the smallest room.

All the boys share & have 2 sets of bunks, although we have removed the lower bed from one of the bunks & put dressers under that bed to save space.

I have to share a room, too.

The 5th room is kind of an all-purpose room. It has our rather extensive library,the family computer, and ALL of my sewing machines/supplies in it.

We won't talk about closets :/

I do not currently homeschool, although I did for 8 years. We have access to a wonderful private school where 6 (SIX!!!) of our kiddos attend. This year, we will have 3 graduates! One from High School & 2 from Kindergarten!!! :D

This may be enough for now. I cannot anticipate what things

others may be curious about as this is just our normal life & therefore

hard to see as unusual. (ok, maybe a little bit)

I would like to begin having a post on this topic every Wednesday...maybe calling it "Wonder-FULL Wednesday" or something cheesy like that. So, I would like to hear from you! You can ask me pretty much anything, and I'll probably answer it, too! Please sign your question with your name & an alias you'd like me to use when responding on my blog. I look forward to hearing from you guys!

You may contact me at:

photographer (at) kidshots (dot) net