Fossils and Monkeys

I really do love boys, mine of course : )  I used to think I had a preference for girls, but I gotta say, Boys Rock.  They are so sweet, and creative, and love almost everything ugly, and give good hugs, and only want time.  I love it!

Today I went Fossil Hunting with Clay.  He was so upset that Ches hadn't taken him down to the creek yet (at the back of our neighborhood, there's a park/creek/covered bridge-and he loves to hunt for stuff!).  After dinner, I took him down there.  So fun!

 This is on the east side of the bridge-but then I realized we'd have to walk through HIGH grass to get to the dry creek bed, so we crossed the street, and went down the west side.  Much better.

 Doesn't it look steep?  It is!  And I had worn flip-flops.  Not really planning ahead.

 He started looking right away.  He was also carrying his bug jar, Just In Case!  He's still looking for bugs every chance he gets as research for boy scouts.

Checking things out..

The sun began to set, and I took notice of everything around me-just beautiful.  The trees "upstream" were framing the sunset.  The sun is at the very bottom-can you see it?

 This is our covered bridge-so pretty.  We'd originally planned to build right across from it, but they took so long finishing the road, we settled for a house up closer to the front of the neighborhood!  And now, they are building on the old lot we loved. (but they cut down the trees, and it's lots less amazing now!)

Fossils.

Looking west up the dry creek (silently thankful it's dry-I was worried about falling in on the steep banks, getting my shoes wet, snakes, and the fossils were WAY better on the bottom!)

This was a pretty tree (overgrown bush-thing?), I'm sure it's poisonous, but so beautiful with all it's bright red berries.

Then we came home, and it was still kinda light outside.  Clay's been wanting to show me how he can climb our trees (that our builder cut all the low branches off of!), and I just had to see it.  He throws up his soccer ball until it gets stuck, then he has to climb up to get it.  It's about 20 feet up in the air (or more!) so it really worried me!

Here he gets started shimming up the trees.  (I used to do this in my doorways at home!  I had to leave my socks/shoes off to get traction, but he is doing fine!)

 Almost there..

My other monkey!  He is up there, getting the ball down.

Then he slide/climbs back down the other tree! (only some bark was lost, Ches!)

He's so happy-Victory!

I love my sweet boys-they are just precious!  And they love time alone with us.  Today Ethan and I did a puzzle, and he just wanted me to watch him play on the driveway.  It is seriously the little things that matter to them.

Tonight I took soup to church for the RCIA (Rite of Christian Initiation for Adults-people who are converting to Catholicism)-I love to cook (when I can!), and to have people to eat it-*Bonus*!  I'd made brownies (with mini-chocolate chips and pecans) yesterday, and I made some chocolate chip cookies to take with the soup.  Not hard, but when someone lets you help out, it really does bless you.

We talked at Bible study yesterday about people who are nice, but won't let you help-that robs us of a blessing!  When you let us help-think of the joy we get too! : )  Don't be selfish, let us help.  That's my slogan, hahaha! : )

My baby is asleep under my bed, again.  At least he's asleep, unlike last night.  He kept waking up at all hours yelling that he wanted to read a book-so funny (and frustrating!).

Love on your boys, and hug on your girls-they all need love just like we do!