A busy day

Yesterday I spent much of the day with all four grand children.  They're ages 8, 5, 4 and a recently turned 3. 

As I was running around after them, settling little spats, dealing with some sharing issues, taking them outside to play and later getting lunch organized I thought about the many families that have four kids about those ages.  It must be very challenging. 

For the most part everyone got along very well and as expected Brooke helped out a great deal with the younger ones but by 5:30 I was home relaxing.  Their parents still had  to get dinner ready, give baths and have some family time. 

Of course a huge part of coping with large families is to establish a routine and a set of expectations.  After that, things pretty much fall into place.

In fact the only thing I thought was going to be a problem was when I was fixing lunch.  I assembled them in the family room to watch a show so they wouldn't be underfoot in the kitchen.  My dilemma was finding something that would appeal to all of them.   Incredibly enough, they immediately agreed on Max & Ruby!

I could never figure out the appeal of that show.  It's about two rabbits.  Ruby is Max's big sister.  I have never seen their parents but they do have a grandmother.  On top of that the animation is very primitive.

Anyway that's what they watched until the pizza was ready.  Which brings me to the topic of food.  They were bottomless pits.  Imagine feeding a family of four children these days?  I do the grocery shopping for my wife and me every week.  We are not big eaters by any stretch yet I can't get out of the store for less than $100 and it's often more.

And feeding them is just the tip of the iceberg where it comes to the cost of raising a family. It's no wonder both parents have to work.

All in all it was a great day with four great kids.  I look forward to more like this.