Elliot and the boys.

Nathan Golfing

Where the Summer Really Went.

1. Stand-up Diaper Changes

2.  Cooling Off Cheese Burgers with Vents in the Car

3.  "You can have an M&M if you eat your chicken"

4.  "Wow you ate a whole Dinosaur Tree!"

5.  "Don't sit on your brother"

6.   Rolling down the windows in the car while going 60 mph to drown out two-year-old chatter or screams. 

7.  Telling myself I am "letting them work it out"  when they fight, when really I am tired and lazy. 

8.  Loving the phrase "boys will be boys"

9.  "Don't pee on your brother"

10.  "Don't touch your brother's pee pee"

11.  Mommy does not have a pee pee.

12.   "Go ask your father"

13.   Never underestimate the power of a Barney or Elmo DVD. 

14.  Hiding my chocolate donuts. 

15.   Going out of the house after making sure the boys' look cute, realizing I forgot to even look in the mirror. 

16. Picking up pizza off the floor and putting it back on the plate (at a restaurant no less) 

17. Doing the Hokey Pokey at Borders Book Store during story time. 

18. Endless numbers of "time outs"

19.  Being outsmarted by 2-year-olds. 

20.  Speed grocery shopping. 

Where did the summer go?

Ellie, Audrey, Adam, and Nathan

Petting Zoo fun, I kissed this pony multiple times to try and get the boys to kiss her, but all I got was a dirty mouth 

Elliot teaching the boys how to golf. 

The boys and Elliot at the pool in Lake Geneva. 

Adam, Nathan, and Steve climbing the steps at the Arch. 

Where did the summer go (cont.)

Adam petting the baby frog. 

Four little frogs swimming in the water....Four little frogs doing what they oughta...

Nathan and Adam at The Lincoln Park Zoo.  I am pretty sure there was a sign that said no climbing on the rails...

Great-Grandpa giving us a tractor ride.

Adam, Mommy, and Nathan at the Mississippi River in St. Louis.  

Spilled Milk (Okay Dumped Milk)

Amazing is the only word to describe my boys.   Amazing.   I was driving home with them after a long day at work, and there was no room in the car for silence.   The boys alternated from screaming at each other to laughing all in one breath it seamed.  I had a headache.   I was tired.   I need some Excedrin and a nice soft bed.  

Then I look in my little handy dandy built in child view mirror (love you Toyota Sienna)  and I  see it.  I see the two little bubbles of life in my back seat.  I see the billions of times that those cells had to divide to get everything just right.   I see my brown eyes, I see Steve's dimples, I see my moodiness, I see Steve's amazing concentration, I see my empathy, I see perfectly formed fingers and hearts, and yes I hear those amazingly strong vocal cords.  

I get a lump in my throat as I think of my patient who so politely told me he had had brain cancer, although he had used a long technical name with such ease my jaw dropped.   As this beautiful  little 10 year-old-boy told me about his illness,  I felt a tear on my cheek.    He was so strong and wise.   Bless him.   Bless him for telling me his story so today I am a better mom.  

Life is not fair.  Life is unfair.  But boy is it an amazing gift.   Millions of things can go wrong, and sure hundreds of things have gone wrong in mine, if not thousands.  But just today as I see Adam with tears in his eyes from laughing so hard at Nathan pouring milk in his brand new shoe...and then on to my freshly shampooed car  mats....and I do realize that millions of things are going right.  

Summer Fun.

Nathan trying to get at least one drop out. 

Adam trying to entice the frog into playing with the ball. 

Nathan after a long day of playing outside

Adam's big cheese for the camera