The One with Thing 24

First off I have to say I am super excited to have my computer back!  Turned out my old monitor just died and Justin was finally able to find the exact same one (because I liked it so much) on eBay for a pretty good price.  Blogging should be much easier and happen more often :)  Back to the list of Things!

Describe your family dynamic of your childhood vs. your family dynamic now.

Well it’s definitely a lot less crazy now.  There are only two of us.  As the youngest of six kids I think it’s safe to say my life started out more chaotic and noisy and got calmer as we all grew up and siblings started moving out on their own.  Not to mention that we added a few rooms to the house when I was about 10 and the extra space meant we weren’t living in such close quarters anymore.  I think it was easier being the youngest because it was fun watching my siblings do their activities and by the time I was old enough to participate in school sports, etc. Mom and Dad had more free time to come watch me.  All six of us kids are very close in age (only 9 years, 10 months separate me from the oldest) and that played a big role in how close we are. 

I can't even remember when we took this but it is the only (professional) picture I have of all 8 and just 8 of us.  I think I might be about 12 years old.

For the most part we all got along very well.  We had family dinner and even breakfast together all the time and played games as one big family most Sunday evenings.  Holidays and birthdays were special events.  Mom and Dad taught us how to work also.  We had chores but didn’t get paid an allowance.  We lived in that house so we had to help out.  My future children may hate it but they'll get the same training :)  We also pitched in as much as we could when the addition to the house was built.  I couldn’t exactly pour concrete or lay bricks but I remember cleaning the excess cement off the bricks with a wire brush and even sandblasting rust off the pool.  Haha, that sounds rough but I really had a happy childhood.  We weren’t handed everything on a silver platter but we definitely weren’t slaves either.  It was a good balance.  I honestly don’t know how my parents did it with 6 kids so close in age.

So let’s see, my family dynamic now.  Well, with respect to my parents and siblings we are still all pretty close.  Holidays are even more special than they used to be because those are the few days throughout the year that we can all get together anymore.  We are all currently married and I have a ton of nieces and nephews.  We’ve always had a big group in our family photos but it’s gigantic now (31 people and counting). 

A little different than the previous "Original 8"!!!

 We kids still get along pretty well, if anything even better than when we were young.

See!!

My personal little family is great.  I’ve mentioned before that I waited a long time to find someone as amazing as Justin (I was 26 and he was 28 when we got married) but it was so worth the wait.  I could hang out with that guy all day, every day and not get sick of him.  That’s not to say that being married is easy, we still have to compromise once in a while but it’s been a really great couple of years.  And yes, we’re hoping to expand our little family soon.  No, we’re not baby hungry but three years alone is a good foundation and we’re almost ready to be parents.