Friday, November 22, 2019

all mine

We had a rare day when all the kids were home.  We sat around our ever growing dining table and celebrated a couple birthdays.  It was fulfilling in the most ordinary way. Though too much time passes between each get together I love how the kids just pick up right where they left off during their adolescent years.  It makes my heart warm to hear their laughter and snide comments.  They recount stories that I never knew happened under my watch.  Where was I?  Maybe folding 5 loads of laundry????  While the older kids have achieved celebrity status with their younger siblings, it is interesting to watch the younger ones interact with their adult siblings.  What they choose to share with them will always be a fascination to me.
We decided to attempt a picture with everyone, husbands and kids and the grandbaby.  Then a few with all six kids together.  It is nice for the younger ones to see themselves in the line up, kind of like where they stand in this family.  Of course the pictures didn't really come out.  It's hard with so many people, it is never possible to have everyone not blink at the same time the camera clicks.  In this case these quick pictures I took as they were trying to line up are just as wonderful to me as if they were all standing perfect.  I love their love for each other.  I love their craziness, their jokes, their happiness, their fierce determination.  My cup overflows.