Why so many?

As I am preparing for the day (guzzling coffee and hiding from toddlers) my thoughts turn towards the questions ill be answering as we explore the world. Undoubtedly I will receive 2 or 3 "Are they all yours?" a couple of "Don't U know what causes that" and maybe I'll hear a new one. I get it, people are joking, i take it in stride. I know when I choose to do things a little differently I'm gonna get some comments. Doesn't bother me really. But I thought if I answered some questions before I head out the door today, maybe Ill shop uninterrupted?? or not lol

The first questions is why? Well there is no real answer to that. My dad has a HUGE family. My grandmother gave birth a dozen times or so. But my moms side just had 1 set of twins. Beau and I both have 1 sister , so its not exactly in the family, although I definitely inherited Grandmama Kelly's fertility genes :) Many people assume its because we are religious. Definitely not so, we started working on the Fab 5 long before we were walking with Christ, however it helps for sure. We are able to trust God to provide for us and he always has. We have always had plenty of food, a large enough home, and plenty of wants fulfilled along the way and the Lord has always provided the means for me to stay at home with my Blessings and to homeschool. All births but 1 accompanied a promotion which has been Awesome!

We love our big family and all the challenges that come with it. Our children go everywhere with us. For this purpose, we drive THe Beast! yes big families have amazing benefits but there are some issues to overcome. The vehicle is one of the first. Sure mini vans are great but after 3 kids you realize they are called MINI vans for a reason. We still use ours for most things but when we travel as a pack only The Beast will do. I have a love/hate relationship with him. He is large and definitely in charge. Technically he is a diesel Ford Excursion. He has a few extras that earn him his beastly title. First, he has been lifted, as in high school boy, but it does serve the dual purpose of entertaining both children and dads alike. Second, The Beast came complete with a bling bling grill. This is where my superior rap skillz came from. Other than rap skillz, there really is no purpose for the grill. Kids love climbing into The Beast from the back, Moms love using their inner Hercules to toss a carseat complete with 20lber all the way up in there. I just recently received the license to drive The Beast after almost a year of avoidance. I have to say it is nice and not quite as difficult as I thought. There really is no trick to it, people simple move out of your way. The Beast has his downside though. He gets a whopping 14mpg on a good day and might as well suck hundred dollar bills right into the gas tank. As someone who cares about the environment, its not exactly ideal, but i do cloth diaper, let the yellow mellow, and force the hubster to ride a bike to work. My meager attempt to compensate. He also does not work well for covert operations or drive thrus. He is the correct height but that does no good when the engine roar prevented them from taking your order in the first place.

Our next most common question is typically, How do you afford them all? Well that part is easy. Hand me down clothes, cloth diapers, and an overt lack of spoiling. We probably have as many toys and gadgets for all 5 as the average family has for one (minus baby carriers but i gave up jewelry for those :) . We resupply for holidays and birthdays and thats about it. As for food, just buy healthy stuff that doesn't taste great. This makes you a great mom because you provide only healthy stuff, and trust me, nobody eats as many healthy treats as they would fruit snacks and potato chips. Individually packaged products are also out the window (minus the secret stash of Barbie fruit snacks just for mom). No soda, no juice boxes etc. Warning, This does make your kiddos all super eager to visit the neighborhood angel with a superb pantry stash :) But it also makes the kiddos super appreciative of treats and sweets and a trip to the ice cream shop is soo much more special.

The last question I plan to tackle is of course, the infamous "Are you done yet?" Id lean towards yes but I've said that before. 2 or 3 times actually. We aren't planning on adding another blonde haired blue eyed creature to the world anytime soon, however nothing permanent has been done. It definitely isn't out of the question and The Beast does have room for 1 more :) but things are busy and 5 bdrms are hard to come by (as we have recently learned). So you get no real answer on this one, for now it is up to God. Id like to grow another arm first, but we'll see, bigger miracles have occurred!

And so I'm off to drag 5 children to the dentist! Much more fun than just one dontcha think :)