10 tidbits and some blatant Mommy babble.

Some things I've learned about parenting:

1. Invest in the mattress covers, even if your child is potty trained. Trust me.

2. Never ever ever let them start playing video games if you don't want it to become an addiction.

3. Letting them voice their own opinions about food isn't a good idea. I now have the 2 pickiest eaters in the universe. "Yay! You tried a banana! I'm so proud of you." I'm thinking the whole "finish your plate" method isn't so bad after all...

4. Boys will play with guns, no matter what toys you give them. Blah blah blah on the whole it's nurture vs. nature. My sons have played with "guns" that are made out of the following: golf clubs, Chicken Limbo sticks, car tracks that are assembled appropriately, sticks, toy drills, and did you know that a t-ball stand is a GREAT bazooka? Seriously, you load it on your shoulder. It's perfect.

5. Keep your relationship up with your spouse. The children WILL grow up, and they'll leave, and suddenly, you'll be living with just each other. It'd be awful to find out that you don't know each other anymore.

6. Don't teach them how to talk too soon! There'll be plenty of time for talking. Enjoy the babbles while you can.

7. ALWAYS check the pockets before washing.

8. Bubblegum does NOT wash out of sweaters once they've been washed and dried and left in the dryer for the weekend.

9. If it's quiet and peaceful, it's time to check on the kids.

10. Diaper rash and sandboxes don't equal in a happy baby's butt later on...

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I have more, but I'm tired and I wanted to comment on how DAMN CUTE my 2 youngest were in the sandbox today...

Kay. Well, we finally go outside around 5ish as it was GORGEOUS today. Corinne makes a beeline to the sandbox, so I grabbed her, stripped her to her diaper, and let her have at it. She and Evan were totally covered in sandy goo as the box had gotten rained in, covered up and allowed to bake in the hot sun for a few days. Patrick thought that this might be a bit nasty and unsanitary but really? Come on, we let them play in the lake sand. This has GOT to be cleaner (or at least as dirty) right?

Well, to hear them laugh together was awesome. Usually, Evan is all over her in a not-so-wonderful way. More of a "I'm really jealous of you, but I love you and I get in trouble if I hurt you so I'll overlove you and get the attention that way." But today he was actually playing with her! Well, mostly. Barring the times he took sand and rubbed it ALL OVER HER head, back and belly and then shoved it into her diaper. But honestly, she was laughing the whole time, so I didn't rag on him too much.

After a hose down in the ICY water (which, surprisingly, didn't elicit the screams I'd been expecting. Who's child IS this, anyway?) we went inside and played Clue for the 6th time today. LITERALLY. I am ready to shred the cards for that freakin game. We borrowed it from my mom's house and I am reallllly ready to say bye bye to it.

Oh, and Patrick is back from New Orleans with many many Cajun goodies. We had gumbo and jambalaya tonight and then he made Beignet doughnuts afterwards. Don't we sound all gourmet? Well, we do to me. That's like, THREE things for dinner! Holy crap. We've been known to be overly thrilled to have 1 item, like hamburgers, or spaghetti and praise ourselves over our abilities to cook. So, 3? Well. Damn.