the rest of August...

-Monday the 15th & Tuesday the 16th the boys got to spend some time at Aunt Morgan's for a few hours while I worked and got lots done around the house which benefited all of us.  The boys LOVE their youngest Aunts because they still have much energy to play play play with them.  Morgan is no exception and spoils them rotten with imaginative play.  I'm so grateful for this.  Monday night was spent doing payroll with Zac after the boys were in bed.  We always have some funny conversations during payroll processing.  Tuesday after I picked the boys up, we went to Ontario and ran errands.  They were so good & Grayson got to play for a bit at Grandma Linda's-one of his favorite Ontario treats. (:  Zac had a staff meeting that night and can't hold them till the stores close at 7:30, so they always make for late nights.  I enjoyed myself by reading, chilling on pinterest, and going to bed early!

-Wednesday the 17th I couldn't help take note of the way Grayson always turns his character underwear around backwards so he can see the picture and his little bum cheeks are so adorable.  He is being SO amazing at wearing his patch and we've had four consecutive weeks of 14 hours a week, so the problem really was the mom...per usual. (:  He is adorable and I'm just completely amazed at how quickly he is growing up.  Beckham continues to make me laugh as he is perfectly content to tag along with his big brother and is an absolute tank.  That is his most recent nickname and fits him perfectly.  He plows over/through/around/under everything to do what he wants and to get where he wants to go.  He is so dang cute too, that it is amazingly hard to get frustrated with him.


 

That night Zac was helping with some computer issues at one of the stores and wasn't home to help get the boys in bed.  After I got them down, Grayson called out that he needed to go potty.  I told him to go.  He asked me to come in there-always his ploy to stall and chat with me to distract me from remembering he needs to be in bed-and I sighed, but went in there.  I sat down on the edge of the tub and he said, "don't yell at me, k."  I said I wouldn't.  He said, "okay."  I asked if he thought I yelled at him a lot.  He said, "Um, yeah, I fink that.  When I be naughty you yell at me.  Next time I'm naughty don't yell at me, k?"  I said, "Okay, you work on not being naughty and I'll work on not yelling at you."  When he was done, I pulled him into a tight hug and told him I was sorry I yell a lot and I'll try to be better.  Wow.  Nothing like being put in your place by a sweet spirit who I swear sees the big picture so much more often than I do.  I was thankful for his reminder to me though-and I am trying hard to be better and to control my tone of voice & the words I use.

-We had a great treat Thursday the 18th-Sunday the 21st because we got to ride in Zac's new Bimmer all the way to McCall for the weekend!  We were all pretty excited-Grayson had been looking forward to and talking about the trip for weeks-and just ready to get away for a few days.  So thankful to the Pete's for letting us use the house again.  We had a mini family reunion with Zac's family {minus Em & Layne's clan who we missed terribly} and it was a completely blissful time.  The trip there was incredible.  Great car, music, company, and the boys both slept almost the entire ride.  Love when it works out to go at naptime. (:  Upon waking Grayson stretched and said, "Man I don't like monsters & aliens, they always sneak up on me!"  Haha!  We got to the house about the same time as Ryan, Alicia, Connor, and Lexie.  It was our first time spending time with Lexie for an extended period since they'd adopted her and it was good to get to know her.  She attached herself fairly quickly to Grayson and they played super well.  Connor is great with both the boys and helped a ton.  They played lincoln logs, chased outside & played tag, wrote outside with chalk, and ran around a ton.  They were great.  I had lots of quality time to talk with Alicia about their transitioning period and Zac and Ryan took a trip to town for a pizza & had some quality time together as well.  The evening was spent watching fishing shows and Beckham adored Ry & Alicia, so he climbed all over them while Grayson played memory and musical games on my iphone.  We finally all went to bed around 11 and it was a long night for everyone.  I'm glad we got there a night before everyone else so the kids could get used to the new place.  Beckham went down perfectly, but Gray went down with us and talked our ears off in the big bed for about half an hour.  He fell asleep and so did we, but Bex woke up in the middle of the night for a few minute and I just didn't sleep super well after that.  Lexie had a long night too, so we were all sorta tired Friday morning.

That didn't stop the guys from heading out with the boys to go fishing.  They had a great time and enjoyed the relaxation.  Ryan was the house cook all weekend and is AMAZING.  It was so nice to have someone do all the meals and hopefully we compensated him enough because I know it was a lot of work & grocery shopping he did!  He made us a great breakfast and soon other family members began trickling in.  First up was Mom & Dad Cleaver and Morgan.  Next was Brad, Rosie, and kids.  Then Chris, Chels & Lyla got there in the evening.  We even got a surprise visit from the Rock/Julie Hartley & Brent Wagstaff families.  They'd driven up on their 4wheelers!  They were completely covered in dust & dirt and had gone 13 miles to find us.  That was fun!  We spent the rest of the weekend seriously enjoying each other's company.  I can't say enough how much I love my in laws and feel completely comfortable with them.  We laughed so much and so hard that I almost wet my pants, did lots of walking, eating, hot tubbing {adults only-Ryan told the kids that the ph level in the hot tub was off & it wasn't safe for kids-ha!}, deeply conversing, "cleaning" up the weeds, taking pictures, making amazing memories with cousins, reading {the Help-so good!}, ice skating, napping, building puzzles, and Z&I even took the boys out for ice cream one afternoon.  I think that may have been the only time I saw my kids-they were so well taken care of and entertained by their cousins and the other adults.  I LOVE that our families love each other and that our siblings and parents are some of our best friends.  It was a perfect weekend other than missing the Cook family.  So glad we were able to go. 

-We spent several hours Sunday morning packing, cleaning, eating oreos, and doing all the laundry in the house.  Ryan deep cleaned all the windows, we did the deck, and just pitched in and all helped make the house look as good as we could.  Everyone left except Chels & Chris who stayed to help finish laundry & beds with us.  The boys were spoiled by Chels who played with them for a while and then we all rested a bit while the last load was going.  Got it all done and headed home.

The drive home was smooth {love when they like each other!} until Weiser when Grayson woke up {we shouldn't have let him sleep so late anyway} and needed to pee.  We couldn't pull over right then and usually he's great at holding it, but he ended up having an accident and then being totally distraught about it.  Z and I were both irritated because we'd just taken apart his entire carseat and washed/cleaned it before our trip, but it wasn't his fault and by the time we got home we were all just ready to be out of the car.  We stripped his seat and got back in the car to go eat at Pete's with my mom's extended family.  It was a good time and fun to see everyone.  We were happy to see T&T who'd made it home from Hawaii safely and of course showered the boys with new jammies and our family with a pineapple.  DELICIOUS!  You'd have thought they'd given Gray a thousand bucks with how excited he was about his firetruck jammies.  He showed everyone and said thank you many times.  Then Grami Tami took him aside to give him something...a new Toy Story back pack for preschool.  I wish I'd caught his reaction on camera.  His mouth dropped open about a foot and he was in awe.  He kept thanking her, put it right on, and kept saying, "oh my dear!"  It came with a school box and she'd put some other supplies in it as well as a tin Toy Story luchbox.  Oh man, he was in Heaven!  The kicker was that she'd also put in some new socks for him.  He was just as excited about the socks as everything else!  I love it. 

He didn't take the backpack off the rest of the time we were there {which was about an hour} and jumped with Doll wearing it-totally made me nostalgic to think he's going to preschool!  We headed for home after a while and took pics in the new jammies & with his backpack and then they went to bed. 

He-of course-slept with his backpack and I was writing my goals for the week in the living room and I overheard the following & quickly jotted it down:
"Hey you guys, {speaking to his 13 stuffed animals} look at this new backpack my Grami Tami and Grandpa Alan gave me."
A little while later.  "I'm taking this to preschool at Miss Krissy's and I'm gonna miss you guys SO much.  But don't worry, I'll come back."
LOVE it!

 -Monday the 22nd, Zac talked me into watching an old b-rated movie from the 80's.  I was laughing so hard and it was actually quite entertaining.  More than anything, I loved laughing & making fun of it with him throughout its entirety.  He is so fun to watch movies with.

-Zac and I had a meeting in Boise Tuesday the 23rd, so the boys played at Grami's for a few hours and then Morgan picked them up and took them home with her for a while.  Zac and I had a good meeting and then ran Costco errands-my favorite.  It was Layne's birthday, so we took him his gift and a Jumbo muffin and said hi to the family for a few minutes.  On our way home we got a phone call from Wendy saying Beckham had fallen on a toy firetruck and hurt his eye but that he was okay and she didn't think he needed stitches because he wasn't crying and it wasn't bleeding anymore.  I was kinda sick/frantic feeling the rest of the way even though I knew he was fine {seriously nothing phases that kid-he was more ticked that he had to stop playing for a few minutes than hurt}, I got sick thinking about stitches...and I know this won't be the last incident with that kid!

We got home and Morgan had brought them both over and gotten them in their jammies.  They were contentedly playing.  I looked at it and the gash looked kinda deep to me so I texted a picture to Dr. Page to see if I needed to take him in that night.  He said it could wait till morning, so we just put a butterfly bandage on it and they went to bed.

-Early Wednesday the 24th, I got Beckham up and took him into Dr. Matt's office.  They got us right in and the nurses fawned over him and he flirted back, of course.  Dr. Matt slipped in and looked at it and Beckham was so good to sit so great.  Because it was right through his eyebrow and the hair, he couldn't use the glue and because it was in the second stage of healing already, he would have to reopen it to put a couple stitches in.  His recommendation was to steri strip it and let it heal on its own.  I was all for that-didn't want him opening it again!  I asked if I should have taken him in the night before {you just never know!} and he said whether we'd taken him in the night before and gotten 2 or 3 stitches or done what he did that morning, we'd probably get the same result, so I was happy with that.  He always makes me feel better about my lack of great parenting skills! (:  Rebecca gave Beckham lots of hugs and loves and two stickers to take home.  He was babbling and waving all over the place.  Oh, and he weighed in at 24 lbs.  He is flipping cute, seriously.  He never stops smiling at people and is just an easygoing {for the most part} kid.

We got home and Grayson was glad to hear Beckham was okay.  We got a few things done and then Max came over to spend the day with us.  His new baby sister Peyton had to spend the night in the hospital because of a breathing episode and Troy was going to pick Courtney and baby up.  Grayson and Max play super well together and rarely get on each others nerves or get upset with each other.  Beckham just wants to be right where they are and that bothers the "big" boys sometimes, but Grayson is getting better at including him sometimes.  We looked outside soon after Max got there and noticed two of Sharon's baby goats had made a trip over to see us.  Surprisingly, Grayson was ecstatic and completely unafraid.  He ran right over to them, didn't mind that they jumped on him, and hugged them around their necks.  He followed them around the yard petting them and asking if we could please keep them because they'd "actually come to live at our house now!"  Haha, no thanks, kiddo!  Beckham loved them too and laughed his funny/evil laugh all over the yard chasing them.  The more hyper goat kept trying to lick him and knock him over and Beckham would just laugh harder.  Totally funny!  Max wasn't quite as fond of them at first but warmed up quickly and they all had fun following them around. 

 Amber & girls pulled up after a while and we got the kids ready to go swimming.  My mom dropped off some lunches for the kids-special treat-and ended up taking Beckham home to nap at her house so I could keep a closer eye on the big kids.  Thanks Mom!  We had a fun time at Karena's pool-thanks Karena!-and chatted as much as we could-felt like forever since Amber and I had had quality time-and the kids had fun.  Max is a complete fish and Grayson wouldn't get past the stairs, but next year I'll do swim lessons with him for sure and hopefully that will help.  Ella was so adorable as usual and I just love seeing her and Grayson's little friendship.  We stayed for a bit over an hour and then the Fischer's headed home and I took the boys home for lunch and more play.  They were absolute angels after the pool.  They ate well, played together perfectly, and watched an episode of Pink Panther on the couch.  I think they were both played out, but they are just so sweet.  Max was sad to leave & Gray was sad to see him go!  They are good little buddies.

That night Zac had a Cricket Corporate party at BSU and I didn't want to be out late, so stayed home with the boys.  He is so cute because he calls just to chat several times while he's gone. In the car on the way there, while at the party, and again to talk the whole drive home.  I sure like that guy.

T&T stopped by right as I was about to put the boys to bed.  They knocked on the window and Bex was in his highchair but could see them.  He about threw himself out onto the tile trying to get to them.  Both boys adore both Taylor and Talon, but Beckham especially has a thing for Talon.  It is absolutely adorable and endearing and kinda jealous-making. (:  Just teasing, I'm glad he loves him so much.  Anyway, they came in and I had to fight him to clean his hands.  He finally got into Taylor's arms only to almost fall out of them trying to reach Talon.  Finally he got to him and just loved him for a bit.  Then he got on the floor and played with him, tickled him, sat on him, chased him, and incessantly brought the nerf gun/bullet over to be shot around.  Then he'd retrieve the bullet and start the process again.  All the while Grayson is serenading us with stories and antics and being cute.
Finally it was time for the boys to go to bed and I told Beckham it was night night.  He grabbed desperately onto Talon and wouldn't let go.  I got him away and he just bawled the saddest cry ever.  He watched them leave and cried again when he saw their car out the window!  Holy cow, kid, you've never done that when I've left the room! (:  They both went to bed great.

-On Thursday the 25th, we had our friend Justin {with Freedom Carpet Care} clean our carpets & couch, so Zac worked from home and I took the boys to my mom's house.  She and my dad were going to Twin Falls to the temple, so we got to visit for a few minutes, see them off in Dad's sweet car, and then we had the house to ourselves.  Aren't my parents so dang cute?  I love them.  The boys were so good.  Beckham took a great three hour nap downstairs and Grayson quietly played preschool games on my phone beside me while I slept for an hour on the couch.  He is so grown up!  When I woke up, we played together for a bit and then after Beckham woke up, we spent time outside under the shade trees playing with the cozy couple and eating popsicles.  Then we went around back and put the sprinkler under the trampoline for a bit.  Grayson got underneath and started digging a trench and Beckham started helping.  They looked so cute in their undie/diaper combo and just getting super muddy.  They were playing so well together-I should have gotten some pictures!

-Morgan watched the boys Friday the 26th while Wendy and I drove over and worked at the Western Idaho Fair in the TSFL booth.  It was a good time and I also picked up our team's packets for the Dirty Dash race that weekend.  Mo had the boys at our house and she also had Lyla.  She hadn't taken a nap and I could tell Mo was pretty frazzled-poor thing.  Hopefully she wasn't completely scared away from having kids.  the boys and I cleaned up, had dinner, and got ready for bed.  Zac got home and we crashed.

-Saturday the 27th was the big dirty dash 10k I'd been kinda preparing for. (:  I say kinda very loosely as I hadn't really worked out at all in August, but before that, I'd been running a few times a week and was fairly certain I could run 4.5 miles without stopping {I did do it Monday of this week}, so what was two more miles, right?!  It wasn't just a run though.  It was a mud obstacle course, as well.  I was nervous.  Could barely eat a small bowl of cereal and down 32 ounces of water.  This is what I posted over on my Health Confessions site about the experience: {a couple things added for our personal blog}

"Confession: I was super unprepared for the Dirty Dash.

 In more ways than one.  Here’s a little synopsis of the day.
 
Woke up nervous, but excited for the race.  Dressed up in my team duds {We were “Rosie’s Runners”} and kissed my boys goodbye on my way out the door.  Picked up a couple of my teammates Sara & Becca {and S’s 2 kiddos who were doing the piglet plunge}.  We had about an hour drive from our houses and then a half hour or so up a steep winding road to Bogus Basin, the ski resort where the DD was being held.  It was a fun drive getting pumped up, laughing, and needing to go to the bathroom from being nervous.  Sara was getting a bit car sick too, but I was driving, so wasn’t too bothered and we kept her talking which helped.

We pulled up & saw people already taking off-in every outfit you can imagine-and some people were already done!  Lots of loud music, vendor and swag booths, people, and MUD!  We all used the bathroom and on my way there I tripped over someone’s half filled beer cup & it splattered all over my legs/socks/shoes.  That was lovely.  I have never had a sip of alcohol, nor have any desire to do so, and yet am ALWAYS the one who gets beer spilled on her at concerts, events, etc.  Yuck!  Also, I was completely nervous about the obstacles.  I’m not in the greatest shape ever right now and was worried I’d break my ankle or something. On the car ride I was emphasizing how awful it’d be if I jumped over a hay-bale and broke something, or tried climbing one of the walls and couldn’t do it.  Anyway, before we started this guy hobbles over on crutches with a makeshift knee brace/cast on his leg.  We asked if he got it doing the DD and he said yes…Guess how?  Trying to get over a hay bale!  I decided I’d go around if I had any misgivings about the obstacles because I’d rather have fun & finish unhurt than try to show everyone else up and hurt myself.

We got the kids situated, took a couple before pics, and got in our wave {11:40}. We took off and started on our way.  Becca set the fast pace for our team and took off right at the beginning.  Sara & I stayed pretty close to each other and were next up.  The rest of our team, Meg, Whitney, and Marlenee, weren’t far behind.

It was tough, I’m not gonna lie.  {Read: really hard}.  I ran as much as I could and went around the hay bales when I came to them.  The tire course was at the top part of a steep hill and it was rough, but fun.  I was unprepared for the course.  I just hadn’t conditioned myself or trained well enough for what I was up against.  I wasn’t worried about running 6 miles because I have before and I’ve been running around 4.5 recently, so it wasn’t a huge fear & I knew I could do it.  The thing I didn’t expect?
FOUR MILES of running UPHILL.  Yeah, it was held at a ski resort so I might should have thought about that.  But I didn’t.  And I was unprepared.  Those hills kicked my butt!  I fought it and S would run ahead when she was feeling it and I’d walk a bit and then catch up to her.  It was awesome having her as my buddy and my motivator to pace myself.  At one point around the steepest point I thought I just wanted to stop.  Then I thought, “I have to keep going or I won’t finish.”  So I did.  There was mud, obstacles, fun, and lots of laughing and encouraging everyone around.  Each person was at a different stage and many people walked the whole course.  I figured the worst time it would take me was 90 minutes and I was hoping for around 80, so I just kept trucking along.  When we were almost to the top, we thought we’d gone about 2.5 miles and we saw a girl holding a sign that said 4.2 mile mark!  I wanted to hug her! (:

After that it was pretty cake-ish.  The surprise obstacle was a beer/root-beer chug.  I don’t drink either beverage and honestly couldn’t imagine putting anything in my stomach at that point, so we kept on going.  The last two miles were mostly downhill and we kept a steady pace and good conversation going.  We headed up the last hill and waited in line for the last obstacle: a running/slip & slide into a mud pit.  Another team member, W, met up with us and we all three did it together.  The mud pit was awesome and felt nice after the run and we met up with B who finished 10-15 minutes ahead of us & got some pictures at that point.

I was pleasantly unprepared for how casual the race was, how laid back everyone there would be, how kind perfect strangers would be, and how much bare skin I would see.  I found myself thinking at first, “Some people should be wearing more clothing.”  Then I mentally slapped myself and thought, “Good for them for being so dang confident in where they’re at.”  That is my goal and obviously something I struggle with.

It felt awesome to be done and to have accomplished something hard and crazy that I was so nervous about.  A few of my favorite things: the weather.  It was supposed to be super hot but stayed around 72-75 the whole race, with cloud cover, a nice breeze, and even a couple rain drops.  Lovely.  My teammate and friend, Sara.  She was a lifesaver.  It was just the push I needed to have her there.  I know she could have left me in the dust and finished ten minutes ahead of me, but she stuck close and kept me going.  And, my body.  I don’t give it enough credit.  I haven’t been treating it well enough.  But it was able.  It performed amazingly well and I felt great when we finished.  I was inspired to be better from this point forward.

After we got done & had muddy photos taken, we grabbed some fruit & waited in the line for showers.  I was unprepared for this portion.  It was totally how I imagine Hell.  We were standing with a throng of super muddy, half dressed people.  We could see the showers in front of us and people getting clean, but we weren’t getting any closer.  And, the mud?  It was making us super cold.  We waited for about 40 minutes in line. The showers?  Even colder. Lots of shaking & trembling going on. (:  It was all good though & we had fun laughing at ourselves and the fact that we’d voluntarily put ourselves in this crazy situation.  We got cleaned off as well as we could and all donated our shoes to be cleaned and given to less fortunate.  Goodbye beautiful Adidas’.  You’ve been good to me.

Another unprepared moment was when we realized we hadn’t brought extra shoes, towels, or extra clothes with us, so had to walk, dripping wet, another mile or so on the rocky road to the car.  I have a new respect for my littles who walk around barefoot outside all the time.  Ouch!  We laughed and talked about the race and had fun.  We all got changed by the car into fresh warm clothes and headed down the mountain.  Sara really felt car sick on the way down, but the kiddos slept and we all felt better once we had some lunch in us.

All in all, it was a great time and a super fun experience.  If I was to do it again, I would definitely do a few things differently.  Like feed & exercise my body properly the weeks leading up to the race.  Train on hills and flat ground.  Lift weights and obstacle train.  Take more pictures, get more muddy, pack an extra pair of shoes, and stress about it way less.  So glad Meg encouraged us all to do it though.  It definitely put me out of my comfort zone and allowed me to cross something off my list of 28 things to do in my 28th year.  Number 13: Run a 10k.

Oh yeah, guess what the best unprepared moment was?  Finding out our time from start to finish was 66 minutes!  We found out the course was cut a bit short, 5.8 miles, but I was pretty dang proud of that time.  Not too shabby, especially for how unprepared I was! Thanks Dirty Dash and Rosie’s Runners for a great and memorable Saturday!

My challenge to each of you: go do something out of your comfort zone. Today, tomorrow, sometime soon.  Push yourself and do something you get a bit nervous about.  I guarantee you'll feel better for doing it.

*Sidenote: I have become progressively more sore since arriving home.  Last night was up for three hours with Beckham and very sore.  Woke this morning even more sore.  Each time I sit for any length of time, it’s harder to get back up.  I think tomorrow will be the worst of it.  (:  Totally worth it."

Upon arriving home and dropping off my friends, I went to our local bakery to pick up a pizza for dinner.  Finding it hard to walk at this point because my ankles hurt quite a bit.   Got home and finished baking pizza {FYI peeps who get pizzas from Rodriguez bakery.  Ask them to only mostly cook your pizza and you'll cook it the remaining time at home.  SO much better.  When they fully cooked ours in the past, they seemed to usually be too overcooked.  This time I just popped it in for an additional five minutes when I got home and it was perfect and soft yet crispy, delcious}...or it could have been I was just starving. (:

T&T came over and we got the boys to bed-after heart wrenchingly pulling Beckham away from Talon-and we watched Adjustment Bureau, which was phenomenal.  Loved it.  After they left we got into bed and I fell asleep within minutes.   Unfortunately Beckham had a rough night {teething} and I spent a very sore three hours on the couch with him before finally getting him back in his bed for the remainder of the night.  Ouch!  Still pretty dang proud of myself and was reminded yet again that I can do hard things.

-Sunday the 28th was a good day.  Had a presidency meeting after church with some of our stake primary presidency and it went well.  Made me remember how many things I want to be doing that I am not right now. (:  Annette is a lifesaver and is constantly calling with ideas, saying she'll do things for me, and reporting on something she's done for some child in our primary.  Grateful for amazing women to work with up there!
We had lunch at Pete's and came home for naptime.  I was super tired so Zac put Beckham down and hung out on the couch with Grayson while I was out for two hours.  It was so nice.   Later, Lance, Kelsey and Jaeger came over to chill for a while.

-The week started out crazy as ever, of course, as Monday's {the 29th} always do.  That's the worst day for me not to have someone to babysit, but the boys were good and helpful, as well as patient with me.  Grayson got to go play at Grami's for a couple hour during & after Beckham's nap.  We picked him up and came home to play for a while.  One thing Grayson LOVES is my iphone.  He has three folders worth of PBS & other learning games.  He is better on it than I am!  He gets half an hour a day or so to play and it's a lifesaver in doctor's offices and on long road trips.  However, I love my phone and don't want it accidentally broken, so I'm thinking about giving him our ipod touch with just games-only for special occasions.  No judgments please. (:  Zac was Mr. Mom for the evening while I went and met Kelsey at the movies.  We saw The Help and LOVED it.  It was one of the best book-to-movie adaptations I've seen.  I still loved the book most, but that's a given.  It was wonderful and sweet and emotional, and fun to go with Kelsey.

-Tuesday the 30th, the boys chilled at Grandma Wendy's with her and Morgan and Lyla while I ran to get groceries.  We were down to the bare minimum and it was an expensive trip for things that will just get eaten in a few weeks.  The cost of food has increased so much!  Picked up the boys-who both adored playing in the twirly swirly sprinkler-and we got lots of playing done at home.  That evening Zac and I watched I am Number Four.  Super intense and good.  Definitely excited for the sequel to come out.

-Grayson woke up on Wednesday the 31st telling me he was going to Grami's to play.  He said she was going to come pick him up and if she couldn't, he would walk there.  He had his backpack on and was ready to go.  I told him he could call and ask her.  So he did.  He asked if he could come play and told her maybe they could make delicious cookie dough {like last time he was there}.  She obliged him and picked him up an hour or so later.  He LOVES playing at Grami and Grandpa's by himself.  It's like Heaven for a kid whose primary love language is quality time.  Thanks Mom for loving my kids so well. (:  Beckham & I had some one on one time-which he gets far too rarely-and then he went down for his nap.  I got lots done with the unexpected alone time.  Gray came home after a couple hours and told me Grami was picking him up again on her way home.  I figured he had made this up, but just humored him and said we'd see.  Later she did come back over for something and he finagled his way back into her car and over to her house again.  He's so darn persuasive and cute.  Beckham was so bummed he couldn't go, but we had fun together making dinner.  We went and picked Grayson up and then took an impromptu trip to visit Grandpa Farrell and Grandma Marge.  It was good to see them, but man my boys were wound up!  Grayson was completely excited to show them his "poster card" that he'd made at Grami's {8 or so sheets of paper lined up & taped at the seems to keep them together-he'd colored them}.  They oohed & awed over it and he loved that.  Beckham immediately started playing their piano, found Grandpa's walking stick, both canes, and his walker, and then pushed it into and around everything.  I finally had to take it away from him and he threw a royal fit on the floor-which was quite entertaining and hilarious-and then we decided it was time to go.  They are such sweeties and I wish my kids could know them like I do.  When we left, Grandma walked us to the door and Beckham tried to spring out of my arms into hers.  She just let him hug her while I held him and said, "I can't hold you.  I wish I could."  I wish she could, too.

It was just me and the littles tonight because Zac had a staff meeting at the stores.  I got the boys to the table for dinner and sat beside Grayson and he said, "You're sitting by me!  My favorite!"  the little joys.  We had an eventful bathtime as Beckham pooped not once, but three times in the tub & I cleaned & emptied it each time.  He laughed and laughed and Gray was totally grossed out.  Got them bathed finally and Taylor stopped by for a few minutes.  We chatted & I got the boys to bed.  After they were asleep, I blogged and watched a couple shows on Netflix.  Pure relaxation.  Even thought it was all pretty much condensed into two {incredibly long} posts, August 2011 was a really great month!