courteous, kind, obedient, thrifty, brave.....

Sabrina has my boys all afternoon. I can't decide WHAT to do with my free time. Lay out by the pool? go shopping? read a book? clean? Honestly, I feel like such a loser because I don't know what to do with myself. What did I used to do before I had kids. I think I will just take a nap.

Last night was a late girls game night. I crawled into bed around 1 am, so a nap should be at the top of my list. But then again, I did sleep in until 10 am. I woke up to Ben saying he had unloaded the dishwasher and made his bed, but was there any other jobs on his list today. The only thing I could think of was cleaning the backyard. He quickly put on his shoes and picked up all the water balloons they spent hours popping yesterday. A few minutes later, Zack was tapping me on the shoulder, holding out a bottle of children's tylenol. He whispered ever so sweetly. "Mom, here is your medicine. If you drink some, it will go down in your tummy and you won't feel sick anymore." I decided it was time to roll out of bed.

I got dressed and Zack led me to a corner in the loft where he announced he had just peed. WHAT? When I scolded him, he said matter- of-factly, "Well, we were playing hide and seek and I really had to go to the bathroom, but if I left my spot, they would find me." Oh brother. Zack continues to live up to his nickname, "The Animal" and makes me feel less guilty about buying the kids a dog.

After I cleaned the carpet, we met Aaron for lunch and then headed to the scout office to buy Ben a uniform. I walked into the office with three little boys in tow (and one on the way) and I couldn't help but laugh to myself. This is the only future I have--- scout shirts, sewing on merit badges, pine wood derby cars, annoying pack-meeting cheers. Shoot me now.


Ben is so excited about starting scouts. He is such a goodie-little-two-shoes. Yesterday morning I watched him eat a bowl of Lucky Charms. He was so particular about leaving all of the marshmallows to the end. Usually kids gobble them up first, but Ben likes to do all the dirty work first and leave the best for last. and I love him for that. Sometimes I am just not sure what to do with him. For instance.....

We brought a couple of friends with us to the park on Monday. The kids were busy splashing around in the water and I was sitting in the shade enjoying a new book. All of the sudden, a crumpled piece of paper was blocking my view. Ben handed me this note--


I read it and instead of asking why he wasn't havEing any fun, I wanted to know why he was writing me a note instead of just saying so. Seriously, do most kids bring writing materials to a splash park? In Ben's case, I am pretty sure he uses a pocket protector so his crayons don't melt in this hot summer heat.