Turning Points

Life with these two boys is so ... weird right now! I will try and explain it but I don't know if I can do it justice. They are getting older! More self-reliant. More ... I don't even know how to say it. I think the best way to try and explain what I am trying to say is to give examples.

1. The other night we went to our local outdoor mall. Jaren and I wanted to go into Sunglass Hut to get him a pair of sunglasses. Not an ideal store for kiddos! Nothing but expensive sunglasses for them to terrorize and potentially break. A year ago, even worse, two years ago, I would never have gone in this store with my children! I would never have even thought about buying nice sunglasses, of course they would be broken by little one's. But now we're not just thinking of buying a pair we are actually in the store! And here's the weirdest part ... OUR BOYS WERE ON THE PLAYGROUND! All by themselves! They weren't far from us and I could see them anytime I wanted to. But it was truly a weird feeling for me. To not have them by my side! To not have to worry that they would be breaking sunglasses. And even if they came in they would now know not to touch them. Are we really to tyhat stage? Where I can leave them within eye sight range and go into a store?

2. We were at Ron & Lisa's and all the adults were in the kitchen and Austin, Caleb and Addie were running aroud in the front yard. All the adults, like all of them, were in the house and every now and then one of us would go check on them. Again, CRAZY!

3. We went to the cabin a few weekends ago and we decided to go for a hike. This was an amazing day! One I will probably always remember! It was the first day that the kids outdid us as parents physically. This is not a day I am especially proud of! They wanted to climb more hills than us, they wanted to go longer than us, they simply were outdoing us on a physical level. Really? We are not that old and not that out of shape!

4. We are about to the "No toys at church" stage. Now that one is weird! I don't know exactly when that time will come but it's soon! I personally think that time should be here already but I am just not quit reasy for the fight on that one. But I know, KNOW! They can sit still and listen for an hour and ten minutes. Like I said, it's soon.

Anyways, that's all I can think of right now but do you see what I'm saying? Strange things are happenning! No way I am old enough to have children that are old enough to leave alone for a few minutes while I shop for sunglasses. Oh wait, I am! Old enough in fact to have kids that are outdoing me on a physical level as well. Time to take my stair master level up a notch or two!

Pictures from January:

A day at the playground! Austin was home "sick" that day! They sent him home the day before because he had a 100.2 fever and said he couldn't come back the next day. Looks real sick!

 

Always a fun time when Dad is home! Here the boys are supposed to be calming down for bed. Ha!

The cabin

And the hike begins

In the end Jaren and I were happy we told Austin and Caleb they could go up one more hill. We have been going to Broken Bow for years and we never knew this mine was here. The picture does not do justice on how steep these hills were. It was crazy! And a little freaky to have my boys so close to the edge. See three photos before for the hill.

 I know I have WAY MORE pictures of Caleb than Austin. It's not that he's the favorite, it's that he will let me take pictures of him and Austin refuses. So be it!

Just a little Saturday morning cleaning

Taking the boys to Disney World.

 

And we watched the Super Bowl at this house, you?