Today.

It has admittedly been a ridiculously long time since I posted on this blog.  Long story short, life is busy.

But there were 2 things that happened to me today that inspired me to come back.  2 moments that I thought, "I don't ever want to forget this happening" because they (a) Made me so proud of my boys and (b) Made me proud of Phil and myself as parents.

We went to Tyler Arboretum for a quick hike before dinner. As we were walking back to the car Charlie said, "Mommy, after dinner tonight can we sit as a family and hug together? Even the grown ups?"

He said it with such sincerity that it literally stopped me in my tracks.  I mean, seriously?!?

To get out of the arboretum you have to walk through their tiny gift shop.  Cole had been clutching his $5 allowance the whole time (including when he was climbing up and down the tree house exhibits - grounds for a mommy heart attack).  He had been talking the whole time about the $2.50 quartz sample that he was planning on buying at the end.

When he went up to the counter he had 2.  He told the cashier that he had just enough to buy one for his brother Ryan and one for himself.

A $2.50 gesture but so telling of our Coley.

In other news - we're deep into potty training Dean.  Apologies to any of the patrons who witnessed a 3 year old squatting on a mini toilet in the trunk of our van.  A kid's gotta do what a kid's gotta do.