100 Things We Learned the Hard Way

51. Mud driveways and carpeting are a bad combination.

52. When you're getting rid of the carpeting, go with tile or save up for hardwood. Laminate flooring is not nearly as "bomb-proof" as advertised.

53. Never teach a two year old to go down a slide unless you're really ready for him to go down the slide.

54. It's a rhetorical question asking a preteen with raccoon eyes if she's been trying out your mascara.

55. The bathroom will never be perfectly clean until you move out of the house.

56. The traditions that have staying power are the ones that are meaningful to all age groups, simple enough to accomplish year after year, and involve food of some kind. (Food is key here.)

57. Just accept that GI Joes are meant to be skewered, decapitated, burned with magnifying glasses and thrown out of the tops of trees.

58. Never threaten a punishment you cannot follow through on.

59. Little boys, for the most part are transparently ornery, little girls are sweetly sneaky.

60. Lent stinks.

*My husband said it was ok to say that last one and still be a good Catholic because "Lent's supposed to stink." And I really am smiling as I type this. It stinks, but we're muscling through it.

*Three days without coffee and I'm still alive, folks!

(So are the kids!)