More things for my daughters...

A few more gems for my children from their father...

11.  It is okay to sleep past 5 am.  This one is for Riley specifically.  My dear, I love you very much but you have to end the mistaken belief that your mother and I need no sleep to function and enjoy waking up prior to sunlight.  Yes you are cute and it is funny when you inform us using sign language that you want to eat.  But not at 5am.  You get a full night sleep each night and it is only fair that you allow your parents, who love you and support you, to do the same.

12.  Take up a hobby.  I use to have one of those, but someone stole my golf clubs.  If I was still a kid there is one thing I would try...mutton busting.  From an adult's perspective it is hilarious.  I would imagine it would be a combination of exhilaration and terror for the 6 seconds you are attached to the back of that animal.  It is true that if I wanted to experience those feelings now I could go to the rodeo and climb on the back of some bull and hope to walk out of the arena on my own power instead of leave in an ambulance.  Of course, I would only be on the back of the bull until it left the gate.  I am sure your mother has no desire to see me flung into the air by a large animal and tumbling back to the earth.  Luckily for all of you, I am older and wiser and have no such desires...well, today anyway.

13.  Be nice to your baby sister.  Just as you are growing taller and stronger, remember this...Riley will probably outgrow you both.  It may seem funny now to tease her with toys and take her stuff.  She may be chuckling on the outside but on the inside...she is storing that memory away for a later day of retribution.  One day she will be bigger and stronger than you both and you will pay for your teasing and stealing.  Remember...daddy warned you.

14.  Getting a driver's license is a privilege.  Yes when each of you turn 16 you are going to want a driver's license.  No we don't have to let you.  However, we can be swayed by cash so start saving now.  And, when you start dating and bring some thug around remember that there will be no driver's license to be had as long as he is around.  What is more important...chasing around little punk boys who don't love you or driving at 16?  Think about it...

15.  Go to college...and graduate.  When your mother and I are old you will need to take care of us.  No, that does not mean to put us into a home so stop laughing.  You will all need to go to college and graduate so you can all earn a good living to support us later.  By the time you graduate college you will each owe us somewhere in the neighborhood of $402,683 for raising you.  Hey, the cost of diapers and wipes add up.  There will be a time to repay us and we don't take checks.  Start choosing your graduate school programs early.