Family Friday

My boys are out frogging right now... together. They are 8 and 9 years old.

I had 4 kids in 5 1/2 years.

That was God's plan, not mine, however I am seeing now that this is the perfect little family for our lives. My kids have friends in their siblings and prefer to be together. The WORST thing I can do to any of my children is isolate them from their brothers/ sister. They are so incredibly close.... all of them, different combinations, different ways.

Grace is at a sleepover tonight. The dynamics around here are totally different and as we sat down to dinner out on the back porch, no one said it, but we missed her. It's not the same without all my ducks, but I think it's interesting that the other kids noticed it too. Lucas doesn't know where to sleep tonight, because every non-school night Grace makes him a bed on her floor and they play house until they crash. I love that my kids love each other.

This particular subject popped into my mind after an hour long phone conversation I had today with one of my brothers. I hung up, after he filled me in on his life, school, son, etc. and thought 'I hope my kids do this with each other'... I hope they grow up to mean as much to each other as they do now.

That is my job as a parent... to bond them together, teach them to love and respect one another and yes, there are times they want to rip each others heads off, but I am quick to remind them that I had much younger brothers and that was it... I had NO ONE with shared interests and even to this day, there are sibs I can go MONTHS without seeing or talking to. I am responsible for making sure that isn't the case with my kids. It is my job and I take it very seriously.

This post is brought to you by the letter 'R' for RANDOM RAMBLINGS!