Sometimes having my boys so far apart in age makes mornings a catastrophe. It is hard to find things that cover the age span from 12 to 5. The 5 year old is not necessarily cool in the 12 year olds eyes, unless said 12 yo wants something or is bored.

We planned them. Some people wonder because Jack was born when Keegan was nearly 7 and Konley had just turned 5. I always wanted 3 kids, Jeff just took a little longer to come around. When he did come around I really had to think about whether I wanted to "start over". The other 2 were pretty independent: could do their car seat buckles, put on shoes, help around the house, yada yada. But my desire won out. And now we have Jack. Whose name is really John,, but like his great-grandpa we call him Jack.

It is hard trying to walk the thin line between giving Keegan some independence and making sure that he includes his brother. There are times when he is allowed to play without Jack, but there are time when he is not. This morning they got in a big to-do playing the new Mario. I do understand that playing the new"remade" Mario game is hard with 3 people. It's even harder with a 5 year old. But that's what compromise is about. So I took away the compromise and said, "Turn it off". You can't argue about your guy getting run into by a mushroom if its off right?

So we turned it off and we are headed out to buy baseball cleats and tennis shoes....when will anyone make a pair of boys shoes that actually last and don't cost an arm & a leg? But that's an thought for another day.