Facts of Five.

Last night, Michelle and I were talking about the "right" number of kids.
What exactly is the "right" number?
Do we ever, as young married people, anticipate what our number of children will end up?

When I began to date Dave, I surely never said, "WOW! I want five kids!" But now, I wouldn't have it any other way. Sometimes, God has plans for us that we can't comprehend; ten years ago, if you would have told me that I would have five kids, I would have laughed hysterically and ran away. (I only had one child at the time :) )

Here are a few facts on what it is like to have five children - things I never thought of before....

• Five sets of school forms to fill out.
• Five report cards to view and sign.
• Five parent teacher conferences to attend... at the same time! This takes several hours.
• Five people with Christmas wishes!
• Five sets of gifts to wrap - I usually wait until the day before, but it is just not possible. So I started shopping early, wrapping early. I am even anticipating the amount of paper in the living room floor on Christmas morning :)

Household facts:

• We use three rolls of toilet paper PER DAY.
• We use FOUR tubes of toothpaste per month.
• We use a 96 load bottle of laundry detergent every two weeks.
• We use 3 bottles of fabric softener per month.
• Two gallons of milk per week. (If they are in school!) This goes with the six boxes of cereal. Also... two gallons of OJ, two pounds of bread, two pounds of sandwich meat... it goes on and on...
• I now buy in bulk.
• The girls start getting ready for school at 5 a.m. Thankfully, the girls ride the bus, most of the time. If they miss, or are late, we have three stops at three different schools by 7:30. Eli almost never rides the bus, so I always have two stops. What is one more?
• Dave and I have to figure out where five kids are after school and who is getting home and how. Since he drives the bus, and I have class until 4:30 (most days), Emma and Tripp go to afterschool, Annie stays at afterschool and Eli and Michelle do different things everyday.
• If someone gets sick, the system is crazy.
• That is where Dave steps in and saves me.