Tred Lightly

Late into the night the squeals of Caleb can be heard from the bottom of the the bunk bed that he and Jonas share. They make secret plans to sneak strawberries and cheetos into their beds and have a feast late into the wee hours of the morning. They hide their DSs under their pillows and battle each other way past their bed time.
And they are convinced we have no idea.
We let them think it.
But after a few nights of late partying, I end up with cranky children.
Then I start to crack down.
A few nights ago, Brian and I could hear the laughter and the whisper yelling still going strong at 10:30. Brian decided to be the enforcer.
He swung open their door in a hurry, surprising them. They fumbled to stuff their DSs under their pillows, thinking they were still hiding something from us at this point.
Brian handed down his most stern look, and used his "I mean business" voice and he said,
"Boys. Do I look stupid to you?"
Caleb sat up in bed, squinted hard to examine his father and proudly declared,
"Yep."
Jonas, myself and Brian did our best to stifle the laughter. We are always doing our best to stifle our laughter at the expense of Caleb.
This time we failed miserably.
Next time though, we will know better than to ask Caleb for a truth we aren't ready to hear.
The boy has no filter after all.

Lucky Number Thirteen

Thirteen years ago today, I made a decision. I walked into the biggest commitment of my life.
Marriage.
I was a baby. Just barely 20.
I don't know how that baby made such a wise decision.
I thank her for it all the time.
Here I am, thirteen years and almost 5 children later,
 and I know.
I know it was the most rewarding decision I have ever made.
I thought I knew thirteen years ago. I was sure I knew everything about that man. I thought I knew how great of a father, how great of a husband, how great of a friend he would be to me and to our future children.
I had no idea.
Most of life doesn't turn out the way we plan. Most of the time that hurts until it doesn't.
But being married to Brian has turned out so much better than I ever planned.
All our dreams haven't come true.
We aren't rich.
We don't have it easy.
We don't live a fairy tale romance.
But we still dream together.
We laugh together...
 and at each other.
We band together through the hard stuff.
We are still best friends.
And even though I desperately want to kick him out of bed for snoring, I have yet to do so. Even in my current 9 month pregnant, sleep deprived state.
We are still in this life together.
And every day I am grateful for that.
Except for those days I'm not.
But those days are few and far between.
And the Xbox is usually involved.
You know how it is.