Happy Birthday, Girls

Today is our youngest daughter, Sarah's birthday. She turns three. Her arrival back in 2006 was the reason I started this blog in the first place.

It was the easiest way to provide an outlet for listeners -- along with family and friends -- to keep updated on how things were going with our newest member of the family.

Today is also the day of our annual family birthday party. In addition to Sarah's birthday today, our oldest daughter, Megan recently had a birthday of her own, turning nine on July 10th.

So, the last few days my wife and I have been doing our best to get our house -- inside and outside -- in, at least presentable condition for our guests (we think we'll have about 30).

If you have young kids, you know it's near impossible to keep the house as clean as you'd like it to be on a regular basis. Not that I'm a neat freak or anything, but a cluttered, messy house is something that drives me a smidge crazy. I'm always picking up this toy, or cleaning off that table, or picking something off the floor, only to have that same location get cluttered again, seemingly, within minutes.

As the party approaches each year, we do our best to get most of the cleaning done during that week. However, most of the cleaning really needs to take place on Saturday -- the day of the party -- so that there ends up being the least amount of possibility that the floor, the tables, the yard, will get messy again before the guests arrive.

Every parent reading this is shaking their head right now.

But these are minor complaints. In the end, the day is always a fun one, filled with lots of laughs, and lots of love.

Happy birthday, girls!