Signs That You Live In a House With Boys

-You see this when you go to the bathroom.


Because all men need to take a potty break when they're in the middle of using the chain saw. Then they wander the house wondering where their chain saw is. Umm, you left it hanging on the bathroom door.

-You also open the bathroom drawer to get out toothpaste and find a gun.

You thought I meant a real gun, didn't you? We do have those around here too, but they're safely locked up in the gun safe.

You actually see a lot of things when you go to the bathroom in a house with boys. I refrained from taking pictures of the toilet seat left up or the puddles on the seat (that wasn't lifted prior to pottying) or the puddles on the floor. I was informed that since I'm in the minority I should put the seat up when I'm done in the bathroom. I politely said no.

But I do refrain from any toilet seat nagging. It's not a big deal to check to be sure the seat is in the down position before sitting. I grew up with 2 brothers so it's second nature.

-Toy Story reenactments are routine. Especially after seeing Toy Story 1 & 2 in the theater last week. In 3D. (Woody #1's pull-string broke. When Garrett got money for his birthday, he immediately requested to buy Woody #2. I was impressed with his dedication to the movie that he would rather buy a new toy to replace a broken one than to just buy something entirely different.)

-You do photo shoots with a Tonka truck. And evoke the ire of big brother who was "Using that! And he better not slobber or poop on it!!"

-Bugs and other creatures are pretty regular around here. Garrett found this (dead) butterfly in the garage. He told Keith it was sick so Keith told him to bring it inside and show me. He brought it in and I said "I'm sorry your butterfly is sick." He said "It's not sick! It's dead! You ran over it in the car." OK.

-We are pretty clueless when it comes to girl movie characters. Garrett insists that Tinkerbell is actually called Jingle Bell. And he won't be persuaded otherwise.

-Burps and farts are a huge crowd pleaser. If you want to get a laugh out of someone in a house with boys, you do one or the other and everyone laughs. Unless the person doing one of these is a girl. It's apparently gross when a girl burps or farts, but hilarious when it's a boy. Hello double standard.

-Bedtime prayers can be amusing. Here are a few of Garrett's recent prayers:
"God, thank you for going to the beach. We played golf, but not baseball. I hope we can play baseball next time."
"God, I need more sand for my sand box."
"God, can we please not have more rain? I want to play on my swingset and ride on my mower." (It's not a tractor, it's a mower. I've been informed of this correction many times.)
"God, thank you for Thomas." (the train.)

I know that I will only have many many more things to share the older that my boys get. But that's what is fun about raising boys. They're hilarious, sweet, fun, energetic, exciting, exhausting, loveable, and crazy. Plus many many more adjectives. (And yes, I know girls are the same...)