Family Bed

When we get these hotel rooms for the overnight stay on a long drive, we try to find hotels that have suites so there are enough spots to sleep for everyone in the family. 3 queens does it (2 in each bed and a pack-n-play for the baby). Not sure what we will do when the baby outgrows the crib. So, we landed at the same hotel on the way home from FL as we did on the way there - a two bedroom suite with 2 queens and a fold out sofa. Perfect. So, we all settle in watching movies and eating pizza etc. Pete and I promptly fall asleeep before most of the kids and what do I find when I wake at 2am? Baby snoozing in the crib. And all 4 other kids snuggled in on the sofa sleeper. I totally should have taken a picture.

I wonder all the time if I am instilling a closeness between the kids. Nice loving sibling relationships. I grew up in a family of 8 children and we are all very close today. Now that I have my own big family I am constantly studying my past to try to mimick whatever it was that kept us close. Here is what I have come up with:

-Share bedrooms as long as it is reasonable. (at some point my boys will be too large for their twin beds - my husband being 6'6" - and we may have to rearrange) One night I heard my boys singing Christmas carols together during the week before Christmas. Another night they were having a great conversation about friends at school.

- Let them fight out their own battles. If we intervene all the time they can't learn that fine art of "getting over a grudge quickly so they could go on to the next thing to play together."

- Pray together at dinner at least. We are often touched when they pray for eachother outloud. (We also aim for night-time and a morning prayer, or at least a Christian rock song on in the car on the way to school.)

- Insist that they must always be on their brother/sister's side when friends are involved in an argument.

- Take family vacations together - no extra friends along - I mean realistically why in the world would we ask along another child not already in our family, too expensive, and plenty of people to hang with right here in our own fam!

- Let them share. We have learned through the years that they don't each need their own Buzz Lightyear and their own Woody - they can each get one and share. And fight, and steal the other's toy...but them working that out is all part of my master plan...Ah! Ah! Ah!

- Cheer eachother on at sporting events - Usually after the games I hear my boys telling eachother what they did that was good in the game, and sometimes they tell eachother what they could have done better, but either way, they actually have a nice conversation about it!

I also think we are just lucky in having a big family. There are just some times that the closeness "happens" without any trying at all....like on a sleeper sofa in an overnight hotel room on our way home from Florida.

also don't want to forget:

-my kids just used all the sheets in the whole hotel room to build a fort in here. my apologies to the cleaning crew.

-Ben just found the $6 bottle of water in the fridge in the hotel room and was ecstatic. He said, "I didn't know there was a nice cold water bottle right there in the fridgerator! I wanted one, and hewe it is!" We had to let him open it after that.

-Ben just jumped out of the hotel room closet singing at the top of his voice "HALELUIA!"

- Ben just walked over to me and said, "hey, I forgot my morning hug!"

- Jack just insisted that the screaming coming from Ben from the room he was in with the other kids had nothing to do with him, all he was doing was "hugging" Ben.