Girls vs Boys

I love being a mom to a boy, the rough housing, wrestling, jumping off the top of the slide, I love it all. It's no secret that I'm hoping the next child we adopt from Russia will be a boy but yesterday I got a glimpse of life with a girl.


I babysat for a friend of mine. She has a 21 month old daughter who is so sweet, petite, and girly. We played together while Artem napped and it was a little strange to see her play gently with the toys. Nothing crashed, nothing exploded, and no Fisher Price Little People fell to their death from the top of the office desk.


The two of us played house together and it was endearing to watch her play with the Little People and make Mommy give the baby her bottle. She had Mommy kiss the baby before she put everyone to bed; it was very sweet.



But wait one steamy, hot minute here...that dainty, gentle, sweet little girl is putting Mommy to bed with the Bus Driver!!



Someone needs to tell Daddy to stop shootin' the breeze with the Pirates and warn him about the shocking little tryst going on upstairs!!




Oh dear! Give me a car crash, a bus full of stuffed animals exploding, a trash truck driving over Kermit the Frog...but not this...this kind of scandal I cannot handle!

Good Clean Fun

I'm always looking for ways to get Artem outside to have some fun in the beautiful Spring weather we are treated to in Central Texas and I love to let him paint outdoors. But lately our home has to be in tip-top condition at all times and I don't want a mess on our driveway. I remembered an activity I used to do with my students where we "painted" with water so I took Artem outside to give it a whirl with him.

"Painting" with water was a huge hit with Artem. We made all our shapes, practiced our letters, drew Bella, Daddy's truck, ants. We traced our hands and feet, wrote our names, anything we could think to create. And the best part of it all...it disappeared in a minute and there was no mess to clean up.

Try it! All you need is a paintbrush and water; it couldn't be simpler!