22 people on a couch (plus a bun in the oven) is never a good idea.
Christmas Eve at the Artherton house is nothing less than a 3-ring circus. Complete with a chocolate fountain, 50 plus people ranging from old folks to tiny babies, marshmallow guns, and presents. Lots and lots of presents.
Lilian May
This past Christmas, Grandma decided to make handmade pajamas for all the grandkids. After all, what else do you get for your 26 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren. She started sewing and cutting out the pjs in early fall and worked nearly every weekend until every last pair was complete, including a little night gown for our new baby girl Lily May.
After what seemed like hours of begging from the kiddos, Grandma and Grandpa finally announced it was time to open presents. It had taken her months of construction and sewing, but in just 2 short minutes, the kids had ripped open their gifts to find matching pjs and a marshmallow gun made from PVC pipe.
In no time flat, the kids were all running around in their new jammies shooting each other with sticky peppermint marshmallows. It didn’t take long for the 6 brothers, who are now grown men with kids of their own, to confiscate the guns and battle it out for themselves in the living room.
Grandma didn’t bat an eye in spite of the flying marshmallows and dozens of boxes and discarded wrapping paper strung all over her house. I guess raising 9 kids will do that to you.
Of course, the mommas needed pictures of our cuties in their Christmas jammies. Somebody had the great idea of putting all the grandkids, keep in mind they range from a 24 year old newly pregnant momma to a week old baby, on the couch. Well, more like a love seat if you will.
After quickly posing everyone and handing over the baby to the oldest cousin, the dads start acting ridiculous trying to get the attention of their own kid in hopes that they will maybe crack a smile, or at minimum at least look at the camera. Flashes are going off as if these kids are walking the red carpet.
CRACK! The dads stop with their silly noises and faces. Kids all look at their parents with wide eyes and an “I didn’t do it look.” We quickly realize our little darlings had just broken Grandma’s couch!
All heads quickly look to Grandma and she breaks the silence with a chuckle. Whew! After Grandma gives the go ahead, the room breaks into laughter and the kids come tumbling off the broken couch.
That is just a tiny glimpse of the chaos that is the Artherton house! With 9, now adult children, 26 grandkids, and 10 great-grandkids, there is a never a dull moment when this crew is together!
Jake, Brooklyn, Kelli, Mindi, & Robbie
Kelli and I married brothers. She married number 6 in the line-up and I am married to the baby. I think I can speak for both of us when I say the day I said “I do” I didn’t really realize just what I was signing up for. I knew I had a fantastic man standing in front of me that I would no doubt love forever, but I did not also realize I would gain one crazy, large, and ever growing, group of family members that would add endless love and entertainment to my already full heart.
That is us. The A-team. I hope you will follow along as we share our fun adventures and experiences as an Artherton!
And yes. Grandpa was able to fix the couch. Just took some grumblings, a nail gun, and a couple of squirts of wood glue.
JOE: Once upon a time we had to physically visit people, write letters or call them on the phone. If your husband picked up the phone and talked with his friends for hours instead of spending time with you that would be ok? Right? Especially if he did it every…single…night? Well, would it?
“So what” you say? No worse than sitting on the couch in front of the television? Yeah, I’d have to agree. And to ask you to not log in at all every night sounds unreasonable to me. I suspect there’s some kind of compromise to be struck. If you’re really glued to your computer for hours each night it would probably do you some good to take a break.
MICHAEL: How about you find out what’s going on with your husband? If you want to catch up with your friends then give them a call. Facebook has made it so easy to watch our “friends” that it’s become a form of entertainment. I wouldn’t have as much trouble with it if you were only friends with people you were truly your friends. That wouldn’t take very long at all.
RICHARD: If he wants you to stay off Facebook entirely, then he is being unreasonable. If he’d like you to spend a moderate amount of time on social media, mostly so you can spend some time together in the evening and you don’t want to, you’re being unreasonable.
No matter how much fun you’re having, would you think it was reasonable for him to, say, spend a couple of hours every evening in the bar or at the gym? What if every evening he got up and simply walked outside for a half-hour at a time a couple of times a night?
