Raising Girls vs. Boys

Let me start off by saying....God gave me two girls first for a reason. To show me how much easier they are than boys at this age. In the beginning I am sure they are very similar, but from age 1 to ??, they are completly different. I am sure come the teen years I will NOT say that girls are easier than boys, but right now my hat goes off to ALL the mothers of boys! And that is after one week with one boy...can you imagine 3, 4 or more....wow! I have NEVER cleaned up so much urine in my life. I still don't understand how you can completely miss the toilet and get it everywhere (trashcan, bathtub, floor, etc)...sorry that just blows my mind. Yep, I am kind of a germ freak when it comes to certain things and the smell of urine is definitely one of them!

Cousin Cole (who is almost exactly a year younger than the girls) stayed a week with us and the kids had a blast. They played pretty good together and the girls really enjoyed having Cole stay all week. I am glad he is here too, but the three of them really wore me out. Proabably didn't help that I was 19 weeks prego! He did really well here until the last couple of days...a full week was too long to be away from home! He missed mom and dad, but he only cried for them when he got in trouble or when he got hurt! Both of the girls were very patient with him and didn't mind letting Cole choose the activity most of the time. Actually they had more trouble with letting the other sister join in on the activity than letting Cole pick the game. I have found this out with the neighbors as well. Two kids typically play better together than 3. If there is an even number it just works out better. Good thing brother/sister will be so much younger that it won't make that much of difference, they won't be interested in the same things anyway!

We mostly stayed home since it was so hot. They went swimming a few days, but honestly none of us tolerate the heat very well...especially when it was that hot! So they played downstairs A LOT. My kids can destroy the basement in nothing flat, but nothing makes it happen faster than adding another child to the fun. They had toys everywhere and I am not sure that we found all their hiding spots. I am pretty sure we are missing a few things. Oh well, it will be a mess again soon. I can shut the door on the basement and it doesn't bother me that the mess is down there!

Dad was home Saturday, so we ventured out to go fishing. We didn't catch anything, but we managed to find a shady spot under a tree with a picnic table and we "fished" for a couple of hours. Grandma joined us for fishing and then hung out all day. The dog even got to join us. Actually, Apollo was in the house almost that whole week, as it is too hot for him to be outside all day. I hate all the dog hair that I have to clean up, but I can't stand to watch him pant all day long....poor dog! So he was inside (mostly downstairs) for 4-8 hours a day.

Enjoy pictures....

An attempt to get a good picture in the house...they were being goofy, but cute none the less!








Fishing pictures....