Boys

Wren and I are outnumbered.  3 to 2 (or 4 to 2 if you count our cat Checker).  Boys to girls, that is.  That simply means that there are at least a few things that a lady must accustom herself to when living in a household the majority of which is male.  There are the usual suspects:  loud belching, roughhousing, and toilet seats not being put down.  Then there's bringing live animals into the house.  Of course, Checker has brought his fair share of birds, mice, lizards, and rabbits into the garage, but this was never really an issue with Caleb.  Apparently Judson will not follow in the footsteps of his older brother but rather will choose to follow after our pet cat instead.
Tonight Judson had stepped onto the front porch for less than a minute and was shortly thereafter ushered back in for bath time.  I continued to finish cleaning up the kitchen, while Tony and the boys went upstairs to start the bath routine.  Then I heard Tony say, "Judson, why are you carrying around a dead frog?!" (And, if they were listening, they would have heard me say, "Ewwww!")  Then I heard Tony say, "Wait...It's alive!"  (And I have no doubt that they heard my shrieks from downstairs.)  Judson had apparently had no problem scooping up the little guy in the brief thirty seconds that he was on the front porch.  Thankfully, Tony had no problem capturing him and returning him to his home - outside.
Here was Judson as he was jumping up and down shouting, "I caught a frog!  I caught a frog!"

And here's our little captive being returned to his home:

Aside from wild animals being brought into the house, we, being the girls of the house, also have to contend with practical jokes.  Well our recent example is either a practical joke or some weird torture treatment.  Last week when I went to wake Wren up, she told me, very matter-of-factly, that she didn't want her alarm to go off.  OK...what alarm?  We never even set an alarm for her.  Caleb, however, had another idea.  I guess since he had to wake up to an alarm now, she should have to as well.  So he set her alarm for her...for 2:00 a.m.  I have no idea how long the alarm went off for before it just turned off completely, but I'm guessing it's a fairly significant amount of time.  I also don't know how many nights of this she endured.  Maybe she told us after the first night, but I also know that she has said several mornings since (after I made sure the alarm, should it be turned on again, was set for a time when we all would be awake), "I not hear my alarm last night!" (with great joy).  She's also remarked several times since at bedtime, "I not want my alarm on."  Poor girl.

I guess this just goes with the territory of having brothers.  

We may have many years of frogs in the house and practical joking, but by golly, they will at least learn to put the toilet seat down!
Speaking of Caleb and setting his alarm for school, I guess the saying that it takes 30 days to make a new habit is true.  He's been waking up to his alarm and getting ready for school for over a month now, but getting him to school was a different story.  I was worried that we were setting a very bad habit (him crying as we drug him into the school each morning), but, by some miracle, one day last week, out of the blue, he said he wanted to ride the school bus to school.  And you know the real shocker?  He actually went to the school bus stop and just walked onto the school bus with no fanfare whatsoever!  Then he repeated that for the rest of the week!  Hallelujah!  Now let's just hope that Fall Break in a few weeks won't completely set us back...