April 15, 2025

You Know You're in a Big Family When… (The Chaos Is Real!)

You Know You're in a Big Family When… (The Chaos Is Real!)

In this laugh-out-loud episode of We Are the Hansons, we’re diving into the hilarious, heartwarming, and downright chaotic signs that you’re living life in a big family. From the never-ending laundry mountains to the 12-passenger van that doubles as a snack graveyard, we’re sharing our favorite “you know you’re in a big family when…” moments that only large-family folks truly understand. Whether it’s fighting over the last slice of pizza, realizing you need a spreadsheet to track who showered, or hearing “Mooooom!” shouted 100 times a day—we’re celebrating the wild beauty of having a full house. Perfect for parents, siblings, and anyone who’s ever had to label their leftovers—this episode is packed with laughs, relatable stories, and the kind of family love that fills every room (and car) with noise and joy.

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Hey, Hey, welcome back to We Are the Hands Ends,

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where chaos is just another word for love and there's

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always a missing shoe or three. I'm your host, Maya Hansen,

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mom of a big, wild, wonderful bunch, and today we're

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diving into something near and dear to my heart, the

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cork joy and hilarious realities of life in a big family. Now,

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if you grew up in a big family or you're

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raising one, you already know it's a whole different world.

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I'm talking shared bedroom, constant snack wars, chort charts, and

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a never ending game of who left this mess that

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no one ever wins. So today's episode is called you

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know you're in a big family when? And I've got

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a whole list of moments, stories and little nuggets that

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paint a picture of what it's really like to live

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with a full house, whether that's five kids, ten kids,

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or more. Let's get into it. Every meal feels like

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you're feeding a small army. Forget dinner for four. We

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cook like it's Thanksgiving every day. We've got crock pots

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running different shifts, three pounds of past boiling, and someone

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always yelling is there any more garlic? Bread? Even though

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we made four loaves, and Heaven forbid we run out

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of ketchup or ranch. That's a family crisis. I mean ranch.

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In our house, we can go through a huge bottle

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in three days. Ketchup same way. Ketchup is always gone quick,

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so is mail. So in our family, I try to

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keep that stuff stocked up because God forbid we run out.

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The other thing that we run out of is soy

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sauce or steak sauce. Those two are another thing that

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goes bye bye real quick. In our house. Laundry is

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never done. I swear laundry in the monster that lives

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in the basement. We feed it constantly and it grows.

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There's always a mystery sock always, and tolls. We have

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like thirty of them, but somehow they all disappear. Oh

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and don't even get me started on trying to fold

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close without a young one around and tearing through it,

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making a mess out of it, trying to find a

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different shirt. It's always a nightmare. But like I say,

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I would never trade that for anything. I know some

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parents get aggravated. I don't get aggravated anymore. I just

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make them help refold and clean up the mess, because

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what's the point and getting aggravated. It's going to happen

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over and over again. Eventually they'll get sick of having

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to refold and they won't do it anymore. There could

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be six bathrooms and we'd still have someone banging on

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the door yelling hurry up. It's like an airport runway

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scheduling trying to get everyone showered before school. It is crazy.

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Our house is chaotic, that's all right. Packing for a

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trip imagine playing tetras with duffel bags, coolers and whatever else,

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all before anyone even gets in the car. And someone

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will forget their shoes every single time. One time we

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got halfway down the highway before someone yelled, wait, I

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forgot my toothbrush. Like we didn't pack a dozen. I mean,

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even if they did, we'd go get some more at

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a store. No, biggie, it's a toothbrush. One of the

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beautiful things about a big family is that your kids

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always have someone to play with or argue with, or

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both within a span of five minutes. One minute they're

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giggling under a blanket for it, and the next it's mom.

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He's breathing too loud. But at the end of the day.

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They've got each other's backs fiercely, and that's something I

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wouldn't trade for anything. My kids have always been close,

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and I cherish that, regardless of the bickering and arguing

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and fighting. If anybody says anything bad about them or

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does anything to them, them other kids jump in and

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put an end to it. It's rarely quiet in our house.

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It's never perfectly clean, but it's full of life. There's

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always singing in the kitchen, someone telling a joke that

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makes no sense, and someone climbing furniture they're definitely not

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supposed to be. We've got fingerprints on the fridge, toys

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under the couch, and a family group chat that's ninety

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five percent memes and can someone pick me up? Messages.

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But when we all pile into the living room to

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watch a movie, or when the younger ones crawl into

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bed for snuggles, you realize this madness it's magic. There's

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something incredibly grounding about life in a big family. Yes,

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it's a circus, but it's our circus. And even in

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the chaos, there's a rhythm, a love that runs through

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the middle of it, and you learn to let go

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of perfection. To laugh at the unexpected to see the

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beauty in a full table, even if half the cups

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are mismatched and someone spilled the juice. Again, that's normal here.

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When something gets spilt, we just clean it up, no biggie.

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You also know you're in a big family when you

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call roll like a teacher just to get everyone in

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a car, or you buy milk and bulk and it

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still disappears in two days. My kids love milk. Our

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milk goes through our house like water quick. Another thing

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you know when you're in a big family, you hear

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not it and instinctively know someone's avoiding a chour. There

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is always a waiting list for our bathroom because we

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have two, and just about the time you go in

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and shut the door, somebody's pounding to get in to

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use the bathroom never ends. I usually try to take

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a shower late at night or early in the morning

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because if I do it late at night, everyone's in

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bed and I don't get disturbed and I can get in,

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take a shower and get out without someone banging on

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the door that they need to use the bathroom. You

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say things like who's underwear is in the ceiling fan?

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And it feels normal. You need a group chat just

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to keep track of what's going on this week that happens.

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People have asked us if we are a daycare because

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of how many kids we have. No, we're not a daycare.

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These are our crazy bunch of kids. Family game night

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turns into full on chaos. Someone is always singing, someone

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is always yelling, and someone is always napping, usually not

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the same person. You've had a serious debate over who

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gets the last chicken nugget. That happens quite often here.

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You need a calendar just for birthdays, and you still

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tend to forget until that morning, and you're rushing around

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trying to make sure that you have dinner for that

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child that night and a birthday cake and a gift

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because things get chaotic in a big family and lose

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track of what day it is. You can tell which

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kid is crying by how they sound. Always know which

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little is crying when they cry. We have assigned seats

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in our car and having help anyone who breaks that

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order the kids. No clean means just not a biohazard.

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You've used laundry baskets as playpens, toy boxes, or even

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a sled someone always has a science fair project due

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the next day and forgot to mention it until bedtime.

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That has happened so many times in our home. I

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don't know how many times I am getting up bright

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and early to run to the store to get the

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supplies and get the project done before my child goes

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to school. You know, I've had to do that multiple times,

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where I've ran to the store, got the supplies, came

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back and let the child do the work, but I

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helped him glue everything down because it just was a rush.

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When Walmart was open late. I used to go super

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late at night get the stuff, and we'd wake up

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bright and early and do the projects so that they

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were done. And my share of help was gluing everything down,

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or you know, telling them where to lay the stuff

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on the science board. You can cook for twenty without

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breaking a sweat. Hand me downs are practically a family hairloom.

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I mean that's a dead giveaway our kids. From the boys,

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it would go from the oldest all the way down

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to the youngest boy. Same with the girls, from the

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oldest all the way down to the youngest. Needless to say,

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some of the stuff has turned holy and we'd just

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pitch it out. It's not worth keeping, you've said, because

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I said so seventy three times today and it's only noon.

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Someone is always grounded, someone is always losing a tooth,

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and someone is always hungry. I'm gonna tell you that

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is a never ending battle at our house. The whole

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hungry thing. My girls can eat and ten minutes later

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they're scavenging for more. They eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner,

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and it's within ten minutes after they eat they're hungry.

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I always tell them that they're eating me out of house.

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At home, someone is always grounded because of not listening,

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and it's usually the little ones. They either don't listen

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or they go outside before cleaning up their mess, and

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they usually get grounded for that and then losing a tooth.

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That has been quite often in our house, and the

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tooth fairy has mistakenly left quite a bit of money

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under a few pillows because it's usually very late when

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the tooth fairy comes, or very super early in the morning,

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and so the tooth fairy in our house accidentally has

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left a twenty under a pillow, and the needless say,

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the kids were super happy when they woke up to

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a twenty dollars bill under their pillow because the tooth

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Fairy has left them a good chunk of money. So

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that is what. So if you're listening to this and

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your knee deep in laundry, stepping over toys, or trying

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to answer three questions at once, know that you are

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definitely not alone. There's joy in this noise, there's grace

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in the mess, and there's a whole lot of love

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in the middle of it all. Thanks for hanging out

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with me today. If this episode made you smile, laugh,

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or just feel a little more seen, do me a favor.

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Go subscribe to our YouTube channel We Are the Hansens.

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You can also send us a Facebook message on our

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We are the Hanson's Facebook page, or you can send

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us an email at We arethe Hanson's Show at gmail

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dot com. Until next time, I'm Maya Hanson and this

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has been We Are the Hansens, where big families make

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for big stories.