Water Boys

As the boys are taking swimming lessons all week, I thought I'd post some recent pool pics of my little fish... although most of the pics are out of the water...

Awesome Day

It was a day like any other day - hot, humid, frequent arguments between the boys... and I, well, I was just plain tired.  Tired of Evan's whining, tired of customer issue calls on my day off with my family, and just plain physically tired!  But, I got to spend some quality time with the boys while Laura went off to get herself pampered at the salon.  When she returned, we all helped dig up a tree/bush that had died from several winter freezes.  After I chopped the root ball free from the soil and hauled it off to the street, I heard Nathan over my shoulder declare, "Mom! Did you SEE DADDY DO THAT?! He's SUPER STRONG!! That was AWESOME!"

Later, we returned from some errands when I noticed a small dead branch caught in the gutter just over the front door of the house.  I had Nathan hold the bag in my hand while I launched myself to the roof's edge and yanked the branch down.  I'll admit, I was a little surprised I got it on the first try.  Or at all, without a stool or ladder.  But, Nathan just stood there with a big smile and eyes alight with pride as he declared, "DAD! You're AWESOME! That was COOL!  Mom, did you SEE that?!"

One day, a few years from now, none of that will impress my sons, but shhhhh... Allow me to bask in my Awesome Day for a little while longer!

No Hurray for Hollywood

We checked out The Muppet Movie from the library recently, along with some other older videos.  Personally, I never got into the Muppets as a kid, but I figured the boys might enjoy them.  They apparently share my lack of interest in Kermit, Ms. Piggy and company.  We watched, waiting for something funny to happen, and wondered if we should have just enjoyed our popcorn watching paint dry somewhere instead.  For those who have been spared the story, blah blah blah... the Muppets go to Hollywood. So, it was no real surprise when, a week after the viewing, Nathan said (out of nowhere), "Mom, are we ever going to go to Hollywood?"  Laura: "I don't know, honey, why do you ask?"  Nathan: "I don't want to ever go to Hollywood, because I might run into some of those Muppets!!" And, little does he realize just how many "Muppets" there really are in Hollywood!  8D

Nathan's "MySpace"

Driving in the car, I wanted to find a phone number for a local business.  I have a small business-only phone book that I keep in the back pouch of the passenger seat for just such occasions.  When I reached for it, there was no phone book, only several legos, a book, and the most recent kid's meal whatchamathingy.  "Nathan, do you know where the phone book is that was in that pocket?"  "I took it out." "Son, I want to keep that in there for when I need it."  "But, Dad, can't you find another place to keep it?!"  "Nathan.  I have a place for it.  Why did you move it?"  "Because I've got toys in there and some of them are breakable!"  Really.  Needless to say, we had a discussion about having discussions about these sort of things before he just decides on his own how things should be as the world revolves around him.  These are great opportunities to examine the sin of selfishness - for both of us!

Dumb Music

Both of our boys love music. They enjoy a variety of styles, from rock to kid's pop to worship to jazz... Although, I have to admit there are some styles that are just not very common in our home.  Though we will give an occasional listen to some clean hip-hop samplings (Toby Mac, for example), we rarely if ever listen to country music.  Not that there's anything wrong with those who do - we're just rockers and worshipers at heart, so country music has pretty limited air time in our home or car.  That might explain why, when a young girl drove by the house with windows down and cheesy country song blaring out, Nathan made a face and exclaimed, "Man! Why's that girl playing that dumb music so loud?!" 

Rock on, little brother!

Nature Boy

Both of our boys like the outdoors. They both enjoy playing outside, exploring nature and digging in the dirt.  But Nathan is not a fan of bugs.  Or snakes.  He thinks lizards are cool, but he's not that big on trying to catch them.  Evan, on the other hand, is a "hands-on" kind of guy.  He catches lizards, love bugs, roly-polys, june bugs, flowers, snakes... Yes, snakes.  Just this Saturday, the boys were helping me lay down some fresh mulch on top of the flowerbeds when Nathan started yelling, "DADDY!  Come see, QUICK!  Evan's got a snake!!"  I walked over to where they were standing as Evan excitedly held up the skinny little 1-1/2 foot garden snake he'd captured.  "Look, Dad! I found a SNAKE!"  I congratulated him and reminded him not to pick up snakes unless he asks me first because some snakes are poisonous and can hurt us.  We then placed his new friend back under the tree to help keep the bugs away from the flowers.  Unfortunately, Evan's grip on the poor guy had been a little too firm.  I'm trying to instill in my son that he can appreciate nature through observation.  Otherwise, we're going to run out of flowers, lizards and friendly snakes before June!

Snap to it!

Our church had planned a family fun day for today with games and crawfish boil after the service.  The boys were outside checking things out during setup while I was rehearsing with the worship team inside.  A short while later, Evan came into the sanctuary looking upset and made his way to me on stage.  We were between songs and I knelt down to see why he had such a sad face.  He said, "Daddy, I was outside trying to catch a crawfish... and... he snapped my finger! (bwaaaa...) He was so tough as he came all the way inside to tell me what happened, and then collapsed into me with tearful sobs.  I told him I was proud of him for being so brave and pointed out that he wasn't even bleeding (though I knew how much that hurts). I sent him back out with a caution, "Now you know to be careful with those critters!"  I figured he was done with catching any of them, but I was wrong.  He caught one, alright.  He just managed to find one without any claws!