Selfish Reasons to Have Kids

1. Because they leave you things like this, which completely crack me up. My two older girls are terrified of spiders and we'll often find upside down cups in random places with warning notes beside them. Last night around 9:15 as I was settling down for the night I heard some terrible shrieking outside in my usually quiet neighborhood. Moments later, my own terrified girls rushed in having returned from their ACT prep class to find another huge nasty spider in the garage where they park! They sat down on my bed and made us giggle for half an hour telling us about the spider, the worst thing they saw at the pep assembly at school that day, and the math-disabled English teacher who is teaching the class they just got home from.

2. Because it is fun to watch them grow up. Willa is done with children sized clothes. She is getting herself up for an early morning pre-algebra class. And she regularly finds me books and TV shows that are fun and worthwhile. (Right now we are watching the pilot show of Psych in small chunks because that is about all I can do.) I'm starting to see what a great person she is going to become--because it seems like she's almost there!

3. Because they are incredibly sweet. With all the girls gone by 7am, Wyatt has me to himself in the mornings. He is great about getting all his chores and homework done in a businesslike way, entertaining himself while I exercise and get ready, and then talking my ear off as we walk Moses to the school together. He often holds my hand as he tells me about the latest invented world he is reading about or the funniest thing he watched on TV.