Some families can get pretty big. But I doubt you\u2019ll find a family bigger than this one from Illinois.<\/p>\n
This family has so many grandkids that the picture frames can barely fit on their walls!<\/p>\n
Meet Leo and Ruth Zanger of Illinois, who\u2019ve been married for 66 years and have 100 grandkids.<\/p>\n
Yes, 100 grandkids. That\u2019s a lot of kids to keep track of, and I don\u2019t blame you for doing a double-take at that header.<\/p>\n
Their 100th grandchild was born in 2015, after years of anticipation.<\/p>\n
When they realized the number of grandkids they had was 99, it became a bit of a race to see which of their kids would birth number 99.<\/p>\n
Technically, not all of the kids are \u201cGrandchildren\u201d properly. Some of them are great-grandchildren. But when you\u2019re around long enough to have this many, the distinction doesn\u2019t matter as much.<\/p>\n
Baby number 100\u2019s name is Jaxton Leo Zanger. He\u2019s the 46th great-grandchild.
\nIt really begs the question of who\u2019s keeping count.<\/p>\n
In fact, if I was one of the grandparents, I might end up forgetting people\u2019s names.<\/p>\n
At least my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren can\u2019t blame me for that.<\/p>\n
I mean, how many people do you know have 53 grandchildren alone?<\/p>\n
But wait, 53 grandchildren and 46 great-grandchildren only make 99. That other one? That\u2019s a great, great-grandchild. Yeah, it keeps getting crazier, doesn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n
It started when Leo and Ruth had 12 children of their own.<\/p>\n
Already, that\u2019s more than most people ever plan on having. But I suppose they wanted a big family.<\/p>\n
27 years separated their eldest child from the youngest.<\/p>\n
Their eldest child, who\u2019s now over 60, already had kids of his own before his youngest sibling was born. So the youngest sibling was born an uncle already.<\/p>\n
Crazy how that works, huh?<\/p>\n
Needless to say, family gatherings are one heck of an occasion.<\/p>\n
For most gatherings, they have to rent out a building because it\u2019s the only thing that can fit all of them.
\n\u201cWhen we get together, it\u2019s big. It\u2019s really big.\u201d \u2013 said Donna Lane, one of Leo and Ruth\u2019s daughters<\/p>\n
At least with this large of a family, having everyone chip in isn\u2019t an issue.
\nThere\u2019ll hardly be a boring or empty dinner night for the Zangers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are a lot of people \u2014 a lot of kids \u2014 but that\u2019s what it\u2019s all about. We always have a really good time.\u201d \u2013 she continued<\/p>\n
It\u2019d be pretty hard to get everyone to attend if they lived in different states. Thankfully, most of the family lives in Illinois. Could you imagine having hundreds of relatives in different states and trying to invite them all to dinner?<\/p>\n
Leo acknowledges that their family probably isn\u2019t stopping at 100.
\n\u201cI expect there will be more. It wouldn\u2019t surprise me any because there are a lot of young families there yet that are just getting started.\u201d<\/p>\n
He jokes that their family \u201ccould start their own town.\u201d<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t doubt him one bit.<\/p>\n
In the meantime, birthdays, Thanksgivings, and New Year\u2019s are never dull for the Zangers.<\/p>\n
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Some families can get pretty big. But I doubt you\u2019ll find a family bigger than this one from Illinois. This family has so many grandkids that the… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4354,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance"],"yoast_head":"\n