Watching the clouds go by....

Even though we had a heat index today of 112+ degrees, the boys and I were able to survived 2 hours playing in the backyard. They are loving that the sandbox is FINALLY open for them to play with and don't seem to notice the heat at all.

The highlight of the day was having Cooper lay beside me in the grass on our backs watching the clouds go by and figuring out what they look like. Cooper actually laid there for 10 minutes with me discussing shapes of clouds and telling stories behind it. For anyone that knows Cooper or has experienced him being around knows that 10 minutes is an extreme amount of time for him to actually sit still without anything occupying his hands or feet!

There was one cloud that turned out to be a T-rex dragon (according to Cooper) that was chasing a red bird and the bird was trying to get away. He could hear it "tweeting" as it was blowing across the sky. He was cheering for the bird to get away from the T-rex......unfortunately, the T-rex won:(.......now if only we could have had a personal photographer to catch that......

Big"ger" Boys

Today the boys were arguing about whether or not they were "big" boys. Please don't ask which one was which, but one kept saying "we are big boys" and they other kept saying "no, we are growing boys". As usual, even once I tried to explain to them that they were growing into big boys and Chris continued to explain they would keep growing until they were his size, they found it more entertaining to continue the argument.

As sad as it is, they are becoming "big" boys. It led me to reflect on all the things lately that are proving that to be true:

1. We just finished reading our first "chapter" book 'The Secret Garden'. I didn't know how the boys would react to reading a chapter or two at a time and then waiting for the next day to hear more on a story, but they loved it. Carson seemed to take to it a little better than Cooper. Cooper would lose interest for a little bit in the middle of the chapter (due to the lack of pictures).

2. The boys spent all day Saturday "painting" their fort, the sidewalk, front door and driveway with water. They do so much better at staying focused on "projects".

3. I witnessed Carson have a complete conversation with Gaga Margaret on the phone this weekend. He clearly told her what they had done, what he was in the middle of doing and his plans for the rest of the weekend. It is amazing to think that he used to just slobber on the phone.

4. After Sunday School each week I always ask the boys what their lesson was about and who their teacher was (the teacher changes quite often). I usually get a limited amount of information from them and piece the info together. However, today when I asked Carson what he learned in Sunday School today he replied: "Mrs. Wilding was our teacher. We learned about Joshua walking around walls at Jericho and the walls fell down." (pretty clear to me)

5. They love helping me get meals ready at the island. They count out pieces of different food onto each plate, organize the food on the plate, set the table and carry all of the food to the table.

To people that don't have young kids, this may not seem like much. However, to a mom with 2 toddler boys, this is HUGE!!! These little things make a world of difference in our day to day lives. I am making an effort to try and enjoy every little change and to be prepared for more.