Genetics--A funny thing!

How is that 2 people can have 4 kids...same gene pool each time and they turn out so differently and yet so much the same?? I look at my kids and they are all so different from each other and yet when you look at the similarities they are so much the same. Amelia and Zach are so similar academically, and yet her temper is like Ben's. It takes a lot to push Ben over the edge, but she has a short dramatic fuse. Nick and Ben are so much a like stubborn, strong willed, opinionated but Nick got the throw yourself down on the ground and scream tantrum gene, and Ben got the walk off shaking your hands and muttering to yourself gene. I am awestruck sometimes at their personalities. I once had a teacher tell me "...and you wonder where he gets it from?.." I had to tell her "I have never wondered where he got it from, I know exactly where it came from." When Nick throws a tantrum, I sometimes think, "man I wish I could do that" but as an adult I guess that is socially unacceptable, at least in public. Their have been times that I have had a complete meltdown and Ben calls them my pschycotic episodes. He hates it when I have them, but I still find his dirty socks balled up in the middle of the living room floor. Thankfully for all involved I don't have to have them often. I look at the parents around me and I think wow I bet they don't have these problems and yet when you talk to them they have problems too some are the same and some are different. I have several mottos "if we are going to pay for therapy we should get our monies worth." or "if we are going to be on Oprah/Dr. Phil we should at least have something to talk about."
I took Ben and Amelia on a bike ride yeterday 4.5 miles today those 2 little bones that sit on your bike seat are sooooooo sore! with the rising price of gas, I am thinking that if they want ice cream this summer we are biking to get it. Of course we biked to my parents and go there just as the rain started. My dad had donuts for the kids--kind of defeats the purpose of exercise. I can't wait to be a grandparent!!
Our quick trip to Colorado is coming together slowly. I have 2 kids packed, realizing that 1 needs new socks and underwear and 1 needs new underwear. Does it ever end? Nick is going to spend 2 weeks in Colorado with his friends Gabriel and Ethan, he is so excited every day he asks is it time to leave yet. He is also excited to fly home all by himself. That ought to be interesting--Zach has flown by himself a lot and Ben a couple of times-- With the price of gas a 1 way ticket is less than a drive half way back to Colorado.
Later