Our sons friends were always at our house. We have 6 kids of our own but now we have "our other kids" too. Some of them still stop in form time to time even though our son is on his own. We have been invited to graduations and weddings. One of the girls even asked for pictures with us because we were her "other parents". The house is too quiet now that they are all grown.

Yes, we took one in at two years old and it really changed our life in many ways, one of which was financial. She is 23 now and back after graduating from an Ivy League college and living with me until summer taking some post bach biology courses before grad school. Lost my husband last year so enjoy her but it was hard for many years. Wouldn't take anything for her though. Don"t know where she would be if we hadn't taken her as her situation was dangerous.

I had our oldest granddaughter until she was 4 1/2 ys old. Her mother just couldn't get her life straightened out. We dearly enjoyed her, but yes, sometimes I was wanting to have more freedom. Then her mother married a nice young man who adopted our GD. When she left it was awful. For a while my husband and I had a terrible time dealing with it. She is now 27 yrs old and has a daughter of her own. (our Great GD.) But we still have that close bond even though there are 9 other grands to love also.

Mic-pa, you are so rite about the close bonds. Our DD, DSIL and oldest GS lived with us the first 5 years of his life. When they bought a house and moved across town, he begged for them to "go home". Even though they were close, I think I cried every day for a month. He is now 12 and we are still very, very close. We have 4 other DGS's and I love them all dearly, but the bonds that were forged with him will always be strong. I see him everyday after school and we are both so happy to have "our" time.

We babysit our 2 Grandchildren twice a week.

I don't get to see my grandaughter at all. She is on the east coast. My daughter is in the airforce.

When my granddaughter was born and released from the hospital, she came to my house. My daughter had a C section, and her husband was too lazy to help her. She moved back to the in-laws house when she went back to work. Her husband couldn't understand all of the time and attention a baby requires, eventually the rocky marriage failed and the two girls returned home. My granddaughter has grown very fond of her Papa and me, and us in turn with her. She considers our home her home, which it is. Thank the dear Lord, my daughter is a wonderful mother and always puts her daughter first in her life. She takes good care of her, physically and emotionally. We plan the roles of parents sometimes rather than grandparents because we need to teach her manners, sharing, responsibility, etc. We can spoil her when we take her out, or baby sit while mom gets out. But it's a fine line to walk. I love hearing her voice in the morning, and receiving her sweet kisses every day. Both my husband and I like having the two of them there. Yes, sometimes we remember when our house was ALWAYS CLEAN, not littered with toys, books, and play dough. But the love and joy that we experience from out little Rilee, far outweigh any inconveniences she might bring with her.