What a Difference a Girl Makes

Yesterday my dear friend Shelley let me borrow her three lovely girls for a few hours. She thinks I was doing here a favor but in reality I was totally in it for the thrill of having some pink in my car. And these girls did not disappoint! Within the first few minutes of the ride over to Amy's house we had discussed the ever so important details of an upcoming birthday party (which boys could care less about), the fact that all three had matching boots, even though they did not have them all on (boys would not notice if they had matching boots or shirts or underwear but if they had the same fishing rod...look out) and who was in their class at school and which one of those girls was the most bossy (sometimes I am not sure my boys notice that there are other people in the class since they think the world revolves around them). I decided to make a list of the differences I noticed between the boys and girls last night because not only were the Squires boys there but also our friend's twin boys (just a side note that her name is also Shelley...please note that they are both spelled with an ey on the end) had come over to hang out and watch the Gamecocks. So hang on to your tights or mud boots (depending if you are a boy family or a girl family) because it was a wild and crazy night!

1. When riding in the car, the girls were able to sit right next to each other without a single "She's touching me" or "Can you tell her that I get to ride next to the window next time". When I had only two children I had to buy a car with three rows of seats because the boys could not sit on the same row much less next to each other. You wonder why so many people drive those big cars? I know it's so the kids can be separated.
2. When walking into Amy's house the girls took off their jackets and handed them to an adult to be hung up. When my boys walk into a house there is a trail of clothes that starts at the door, goes to the refrigerator, then straight to the bathroom, then to the tv and then back to the refrigerator. It is just one big long line of dirty socks, jackets, shoes, shirts and believe it or not sometimes underwear, which is odd not in the underwear themselves but in the fact that most of the time the pants are still on the body of whichever boy is stripping at the time. It is a great boy mystery.
3. When Clara took the 10 cent rubber band out of her hair, she asked me to please hold on to it so she would not loose it. When we could not find it later she asked me to look for it and if I found it could I please return it to her.When Noah takes off his $10,000.00 cochlear implant processor, he puts it on the back of a truck and when it gets run over because it fell off the back of that truck, he gets mad at me.
4. When the girls sat down to eat dinner they sat down to eat dinner. They did not get up and down 8 times to get water and a napkin and a bag of chips and another napkin and the Parmesan cheese and another piece of pizza and another napkin and more water.
5. When the girls finished dinner they sat and talked to us. Really talked. They talked about their day. They talked about their family. They talked about each other. It was lovely, like a tea party. The boys in the meantime have eaten standing up in the kitchen and have gone back to watching football.

****Editors note...I forgot to mention that when those sweet Kolb girls played with Gabe's nativity NOT once did cheesus Jesus go flying through the air. The wise men did not arrive by matchbox car and the Shepard's did not have a mixed martial arts extreme fight match.

Now there were a few more differences but the more I list the more it looks like I am a terrible mother so I think I will end it there and get on with the things that I noticed were very similar in the girls and boys.

1. These sweet children all have very good manners. They all pretty much said yes m'am and no sir, please and thank you and excuse me (cause boys and girls both burp a lot...and please do not think that Carter is "just burping because she is hanging around the boys...she is a tomboy and that's what tomboys do"). I love living in the deep south.
2. If there is a queen size mattress in the floor of the living room boys and girls will both jump and roll and wrestle and giggle and scream just for the fun of it.
3. If there is a rope hanging from a tree boys and girls will both want to swing on it. (However just a note, if in that same yard there is a ramp by a little pool of water and it is 52 degrees outside girls will not try to jump it-on foot , or on a bike, or on a scooter...and I can only say thank you for that)
4. A flashlight, a football, a place to run and the dark will keep boys or girls occupied for a good 30 minutes at least.
5. A good fishing hole and good friends can overcome gnats and heartache most of the time for girls or boys!



We had a good time and I can't wait to get my hands on their heads and do some french braiding and bow placing but I didn't want to press my luck.Next time girls...next time. Just wait until I get out the poodle skirt and have a fashion show! Godd times good times!

We went to the Christmas parade today and I took this really cute shot of Gabey Baby. I'm a proud momma so of course I put it on my facebook and I am going to put it here. Feel free to comment how precious he is!

And speaking of parades...whatever happened to floats? Since when does a boat being pulled by a tow truck constitute an entry into a parade? Most of the parade I couldn't tell who was on the trailer being pulled by a truck  float until it had passed. I'm a little bitter with nostalgia when it comes to the floats but I had better keep my mouth shut or next year I'll be asked to make a float and I will throw a couple of hay bales onto a trailer and call it a float and then this rant certainly come back to bite me.