Except for six months of her life, 5-year-old Mauren has always lived at her grandparents' house. Her brother, Michael, 3, has never known any other home.

"I say I'm a recycled mother," smiled their grandmother, Terrie Lunn of Center Township.

The redbrick home where Lunn and her husband, Francis, brought up their own two offspring had to be child-proofed again, repainted, and converted for a second set of babies as the Lunns began to raise their daughter's two children three years ago.

Matchbox cars came out of the attic, and small riding toys once again crisscross the yard where there's a playhouse and, in the same spot as before, an aboveground pool for kids.

No matter how children end up in the permanent care of their grandparents - whether it's because of the maturity, health, addiction or criminal issues of the parents - the fact is some middle-aged couples reconfigure their lives to parent all over again.

Never guessing they'd go around twice on the carousel of parenthood, some grandparents have climbed aboard for another ride.

PART OF THE CHALLENGE is physical. "I don't have the same energy I used to," said Lunn, 55. "When I come home, they want to play. Sometimes I just want to sit down, but Mauren will say, 'Let's play princess.' "That's when Lunn usually ends up becoming one of the characters in "Sleeping Beauty," such as Prince Phillip. Michael likes Thomas the Tank Engine.

"They do music camp in the summer; they like to go shopping and to the 'purple park' (Alameda)," Lunn said. "We like to go on nature trails, do enriching things. We give them that opportunity."Lunn works full time as a preschool teacher at LifeSteps in Butler, as she has for 17 years. Fortunately, her husband is at home full time now."We try to give them some stability," Lunn said.Last year, the Lunns decided they wanted some say in the children's lives. So they got temporary physical custody and legal guardianship in May 2004."I'm feeling there are more and more people in my situation. I'm sure there's a group I could meet with, but I'm too busy to join a support group!" she chuckled. "If you don't laugh about this, you'll get really weepy."Jo Donaldson at the Area Agency on Aging in Butler said statistics from the state Department of Aging show, at the time of the last census in 2000, that more than 750 grandparents in Butler County had the responsibility of raising their grandchildren."I think you have to take it from the perspective that there are times in our children's lives that they're not ready to parent, and a relative has to," said Elan Welter Lewis, executive director of Family Pathways in Butler. "Thank God grandparents step in then."Support groups for grandparents raising their grandchildren can serve as more than a friendly setting for people with something in common. "With these groups, there are resources because it's a whole new world out there," Welter Lewis said.Resources can include respite care, or help for middle-aged grandparents who are parenting for the second time and also facing caring for their elderly parents.Emotionally, the roller coaster ride seems to have leveled out for Lunn."I felt guilty for a while," she said. "After all the craziness, I know I did what I could, but these kids deserve the opportunities."Mauren is just starting dance lessons and goes to preschool at LifeSteps, though not in the same room as her grandma. Michael will start in the fall.

One benefit to parenting again is the experience she's already gained. "You try to do the things that were right again and avoid doing the wrong," Lunn said.Lunn, too, has her experience as a preschool teacher to help her; she's starting from scratch, but knows about evaluating child development.She also can rely on her friend, Kathi Rodgers, who happens to work as supervisor for the children's intensive case management department at Irene Stacy Community Mental Health Center in Butler. She runs Parents Forever, sponsored by LifeSteps, a group originally designed for divorcing parents but addresses custody issues in general. "It's about how not to put the kids in the middle," Rodgers said."I can give her resources that could specifically target her needs," Rodgers said. "I let her know that Butler County has a wealth of social service agencies. It's just helping the grandparents figure out where they are."At the time Betty Blystone of Petrolia stepped in to care for her middle child's three kids, the trio would have been placed in foster care otherwise, she recalled. "You do what you have to do," she said.Melinda, Brandie and Jody Jr. are all teenagers now, cutting grass and doing homework while their grandmother looked through pictures from when they were babies."It's been rough sometimes but we're making it," Blystone said of the past 13 years. During that time, she and the kids' grandfather divorced, something that was "a long time coming," Blystone said.At 56, she and her new husband, who raised 10 kids beforehand, have been married for 10 months. "I'm happier now than I've ever been," she said.She works full time, and they receive no support from the children's parents. "I'm sure sometimes the kids wish they were somewhere else, especially when things don't go their way," she said. "I don't ever wish they were somewhere else. Things have changed, but we're still together and that's the important thing."

The Lunns are the sole financial support for their grandchildren as well. "These were supposed to be our golden years. We were supposed to just sit back," Lunn said with only a hint of resentment.On the plus side, however, "I just saw we can get child AND senior discounts at Kennywood!"The Lunns' 25-year-old son, the children's uncle, is not married and he takes the kids to the movies and for ice cream, she said."He gets to spoil them a bit," she said. "I'd have to say that is the hardest thing ... I naturally want to be a grandmother and spoil them, but then you have to be the disciplinarian."The children's other grandfather is involved in their lives, too, Lunn said. "He diligently every Wednesday comes to take them to lunch, and that's something they can depend on. They call him Pepsi, because that's what he brought the first time he came," she said."There are lots of people in the family who have ... changed their schedules to contribute."Many things these days are new and challenging for Francis. "Washing clothes, cooking meals. I'm not used to doing those things," he said.He worked as a long-haul truck driver before retiring. "Having to stay at home after always being on the move has been hard for me.""It's hard to keep up with them," said the 58-year-old. "I don't have the energy I used to. You should be young when you have young kids.""We don't have the same connections," Terrie Lunn said of first-time parents. "I can't call up one of my friends and say, 'Let's take the kids to the park.' I'm 55. We're usually more conservative, too, but I try to be open."

Still, being a "recycled" parent is more a positive than a negative, Lunn said. "You're not as nervous; you're a little more laid back about it," she noted.Despite the adjustments and, yes, some sacrifices, Lunn said she knows they're doing the right thing. "The kids are cute and smart and healthy. I think they have great potential."Future plans include, "Take care of every day as it comes," Terrie said."And try not to get scared," Francis added."I'll be 65 when Mauren starts to drive," Terrie said."I'll be 78 when they are graduating from college," Francis added."It's not what we planned for retirement," Francis said in a low voice. "But look at them. They're great. When you look in on them when they're sleeping… Whenever Michael says, 'I love you, Papa…"It might not always be a walk in the park, but anyone can see it's worth it.