I was looking forward to summertime and Taylor being out of school so much. I figured we’d have a lot of lazy days, and days spent home playing in the sandbox or running through the sprinklers. In actuality, we haven’t stopped and have only become more busy! It’s been fun though. I love having Taylor all to myself and not having to share her with school! We actually took the kids to Cracker Barrel this week because it’s the one thing Taylor requested to celebrate her graduation. She enjoys that place more for the country store than the pancakes, but whatever keeps her happy.

On our walk the other night, we heard wind chimes. Her little face lit up and she said “Mommy! Is that Santa coming? I hear Jingle Bells!” The poor kid was so excited, so I let her down gently and told her Christmas was still a while away. She said “Aww man; I really miss Christmas.” This year should be even more interesting because Santa has to get more creative and sneaky. I only hope that we are all healthy this Christmas. Every year, the boys have croup. It even required a hospital visit at 2am one Christmas morning. We are hoping their preemie lungs are maturing. They sure are giving those little lungs a run for their money with all the *adorable* screaming they do.

Yesterday, we visited Todd and my Dad at work. They work for the same company, but in different departments on different floors. We all visited my dad and then went upstairs to see Todd’s coworkers (and my former coworkers). For those that don’t know, we met at work many years ago. Scandalous. While we were standing around talking and people were interacting with the kids, Taylor ran into someone’s cubicle, jumped on him and said “Hey Brampy. Can I write my name on your computer?” She was so exited to see “him” although it was the wrong guy. She saw the same color blue shirt and the same hair coloring as my dad’s and just went in. She didn’t even think that my dad was downstairs where we just were. Thankfully, the guy was a good sport about it. We all cracked up, and poor Taylor was mortified. I think this was the first time she was actually embarrassed by anything and it was actually adorable. She bounced back quickly and had a great time. The kids had so much fun at the office. They fielded some calls and Taylor made sure to make note of every pony’s birthday in my dad’s calendar for him!

Later in the day, we were getting back in the car. I started to open the garage door, and Jackson, who decided to purposely leave his glasses behind, walked straight into the door. He smacked his forehead hard, bounced back and said “Oww! I have a boo boo!” Taylor looked at him, and without missing a beat she said: “Well Jack, that hurt! I bet you won’t forget to wear your glasses again, will ya?” She’s so fresh, but she was right, so I’ll give her credit.

Aside from growing a few inches and being able to stand on their beds and pull at their window shade (again), the boys have been fairly decent lately. I got a lot of compliments this week from people at work, the grocery store, the hospital, etc. about how well behaved everyone is and how well-spoken and polite Taylor is. Hearing comments like those really makes me a happy Mom. Even with T’s wise ass remarks, I know I’m doing right by her, and am so pleased that other people notice how awesome she is.

Apparently, I spoke too soon. Since I can’t sit down and simply write a blog post, I often have to do it in stages. Since I’ve started this particular post, the boys have gotten a handful of timeouts each, they’ve lost their beloved “dogs” for the day, and they’ve given me new grey hairs. Awesome. I wish I could somehow make the phrase “No, mama!” automatically turn into “Mom, you’re so pretty and we are so lucky to have you.” One day. We just put the boys to bed after an evening of fun in the sun, swimming, and a pizza party. I figured they’d be tired and fall right asleep. Wrong. I heard giggles and since I knew they weren’t telling knock knock jokes in there, I walked in to find them chewing something. They ripped the collar off of Joseph’s stuffed dog and were eating it. I’m thankful I caught them before someone choked on it, but I’d be even more thankful if they would sleep and act like humans.