Don't Blink

Today, as the boys and I were loading groceries into the back of Ryan's truck, a gentleman in the parking lot told me, "Those boys look like they're almost a big help to you!" I had to disagree. They already are! When I got in the truck, I bragged on the boys big time, because what the man had said took me back to a time in our life when they almost drove me insane at the grocery store. We've come a long way, baby! Yes, they still loudly ask embarrassing questions, and I still threaten to run them over when they don't get out of my stinkin' way, but when we're at the grocery store now, they're mostly a help. I send them on a mission and off they go. Sure, they rarely resist the urge to run and they're a little loud, but they're out of my hair and haven't knocked over any little old ladies yet, so I roll with it. Today, I'll bet they rustled up almost half of the items on our list. Several of those items were ones they wrote down for their upcoming "boys cook night." And they bargain hunt, too! Mama still loves sales, and they know how to sniff one out. When we load the car, they're the first to create a "cold zone" and to leave "squishables" out until they can be put on the top. When we get home, they unload more than one bag at a time. The number of trips I have to take has decreased proportionally to the age of our boys. Today, I only made two trips to the truck. And as soon as everything was unloaded, it was almost put away. They finally learned where things go in the pantry!

When did this happen? I stopped blogging regularly when I switched schools mainly because of the time crunch. But I've had a hard time getting back into it because the boys are either too old to do cute things or too socially conscience to let me blog about it. My life has become the cliche' - "you blink and they're grown." Further evidence that I have babies no longer:

- They have things other than Legos on their Christmas list. This includes accessories (watches, wallets) and CLOTHES.
- Max resisted tattling while I was in the shower because of the death threat warning he received the last time he did it.
- Reed knocked on the door when I was using the bathroom. When I asked who it was, he said, "Oh! Sorry, Mom. I'll come back later."
- All three were very interested in the recent election and ate up whatever political conversations we would have with them. One of them was en-rapt with the live election coverage. When a bar graph showed the candidate he had picked had a lower percentage, he was distraught.  He thought the election was decided already. We had to explain that the graph was just one of many showing polling data from some obscure category (Alabaman, biracial, college-educated grandmas who knit on Fridays - or something like that). He woke up early the next morning desperate to find out the results.
- One of them has saved up $84.75 (on a very modest allowance income).
- Two of them have "girlfriends" (the quotes are necessary because one of the Casanovas  never talks to his gal and the other one informed us that his love is unaware of their relationship status)
- After he spit on his brother (hey - I didn't say we're ALL the way grown up), one unnamed middle child took his punishment like a man without arguing and asked if he could apologize without any prompting from me.

Sure, we've got a ways to go until they're out of the house, but we're over halfway there with two of them (sob! That just hit home as I typed this!)

And now, for a totally unrelated, just for old times' sake, Kodak moment that makes me feel like my boys are still just little kids... I hope they never outgrow this old pastime: