"Vive la difference!"

Okay, I know this may be an obvious statement, but boys are definitely different than girls! It used to be that when the weather warmed up & the girls went outside to play, I was greeted with weed bouquets & cakes made of sand; there were houses constructed of construction scraps & frolicking barefoot in the grass. My boys went outside this morning & were instantly industrious. They got into Phil's tools & soon were building a "kingdom". Noah had the auger & was methodically drilling a deep hole to his kingdom, while Daniel collected Noah's dirt & tossed it into a new pile. It was so cute to see them imitating their dad, and I love to hear them talk in their "manly" voices. Noah informed me that Daniel was his soldier helper. I wanted to squeeze them & kiss them & tell them how cute they looked. But being that they are boys, I respected their space & kept my "oohs" and "ahs" to myself. It wasn't until later when Phil stopped in and pointed out that the underground electric & phone lines posed a potential danger, that I felt bad. Usually I'm the protective one, worrying about them getting hurt & all, but I was distracted by how adorable they looked and thankful that they were working together & not fighting (for once!). The other day they were driving around in the pink Barbie car. :) Noah was driving @ top speed while Daniel was doing all sorts of stunts. So I had to have the "Do NOT hang out of the car & touch the grass OR sit on the hood OR stand up OR be dragged behind the Barbie car while it is MOVING!" talk with my sons. The twinkle in their eyes told me they will eventually think of some other stunt that doesn't fall under any of those stipulations.

Things are changing around here as my girls grow up and my boys become more independent. Abbie still frolics around the yard, but soon she has her nose in a book & is too busy to bring me weed bouquets. Plus, she knows they're weeds now & they just don't cut it anymore. Grace would rather be in the dirt with her brothers or chasing a soccer ball, and isn't too interested in having her mom squeeze & kiss her anymore. The days of bugs & dirt & death-defying stunts are before me & I wonder if I'm fully prepared for this adventure. But at least it will be an adventure & hopefully I can keep laughing at the crazy ideas they come up with!