nature walkin...

last week thursday was my only day the whole week where i wasn't in the office. i find myself in here more and more and let me just tell you how over it i am...i am over it! we have had all sorts of taxes stuff to do (we had filed an extension) and bank reconciling and billing and i am hopefully climbing over the mountain of to-dos and can get back to a normal (whatever that means) routine.

anyway - i was trying to get to all the stuff i neglected all week around the house. like picking up the house and the laundry and that sorts of stuff and the boys were fighting and everyone reached epic levels of craziness and i announced...thats it! we are leaving...NOW! and we did...and it was even quiet in the car...which was amazing.

i went to the nature walk because i needed to be outside...i feel so cooped up when i have to work all week...

it was so so so nice to be somewhere and not have the boys fight over toys...or riding their bikes almost into the street and freaking me out...or yell at them for getting into something they shouldn't...or be worried about how dirty they are....i was also renewed a lot...getting fresh air in my lungs and the sunlight on my face and the simple beauty of staring at an orb weaver or the changing leaves instead of a computer screen and my bank register (cause that is just all kinds of depressing)

it was good times for sure...and a funny/ironic thing happened to me while we were there.

bryson and bodie were next to this little stream (like this one below) and i was ahead of them about 10 yards calling for bryson. this old man and woman were walking past and the old man (gruffly) told my boys "be careful of the water!" and "mind your mother, she is calling you"...now this pissed me off for several reasons...1) when someone tells my kids to be careful, i feel like they are really telling me and don't...and i wish they would rather tell me than try to parent my kids themselves and 2) so what if my kids did fall in? its not like a dangerous rushing river...its a freaking stream....they would get muddy...thats it...and then they would learn a valuable lesson on being careful at a river's bed...much easier than me screaming at them every time they are near it...


i was thinking these thoughts as i was waiting for the boys to move along and then, not even twenty minutes later after our little picnic by another stream, while i was nursing bobby, bodie fell in...can you tell by the picture above that he was covered with mud?

i was laughing to myself/at myself. here is that valuable lesson you wanted him to learn, carlee! good thing i keep a change of clothes for bodie with me at (almost) all times!

but you know what? after i changed him he went right back to that stream...and he was a little more cautious...he stayed back a couple feet more than before, so maybe he did learn something?

and here is sweet bobby...he is the calm in the storm...just so content and sweet and oh so quiet compared to these brothers of his!! we are enjoying his little company oh so much!