Its Been a While

Well, I am back. It has been a while. Brody thinks that he needs to throw a fit everytime I sit at the computer so I really only use it to pay bills and then I am off. I do everything else through my phone, but blogging is just not possible through the phone, for me anyways. So I thought I would do a little update on the family. Clayton finished kindergarten, and he got to get out of two weeks of school, which he was very excited about. Although if he knew the party that he was missing at the end he would probably have been sad. We did not talk about it. We have moved to Washington again for the summer. This time we are in Maple Valley, which is awesome. We also live a few blocks from a beautiful lake (pictures to come) that has a park surrounding it with toys for the kids, and some fun hikes. Ryan is doing great at Boeing again, he is with the same team and the same place and they put him right back to work without delay.  Brody is our busy body, and is slowly getting used to the fact that he only has mom to follow and that what I do is not that exciting.  So a little about the boys.
Clayton is very creative. He is always creating stories to go along with the toys that he just built that they are very involved. He is a total boy, and everything battles! He is beginning to love to draw and create elaborate stories to go with the pictures. He is getting pretty good at reading, but is not really interested in doing it so we have to set aside time. He does however, love math. He is constantly adding things up and counting them, and he always wants to do extra pages in his workbook on the math section. He has a very similar mind to Ryan and I can see him loving engineering just like him. He is also my little problem solver, he will listen to something I say and then give me a solution. My favorite thing is how simple his answers always are, and sometimes is makes me wish things were really that simple. But I am always happy to have his suggestions. He is getting used to his little brother and they have been doing well playing together.  We also just started him back in gymnastics and he is sooo excited about it. He loves to do tricks on the trampoline, bars, balance beam and everything else. They have a really nice place hear that is just around the corner from us which makes it very nice and convenient. He loves to build anything and everything. One of his favorites is building traps, and they are pretty good sometimes and we have to scale them back so we don't actually get hurt. Clayton is my very sensitive boy, you cannot get to upset with him or he will hide and cry. He is very good as listening as long as he has the reasoning behind why he has to do something, another way his mind works. I love him sooo much he is such a great blessing in our family.
Brody is our little entertainer. He loves to have the attention from us and will do everything in his power to get it. He is also my curious one, and is always asking questions. "What you doing?" is the first thing that comes out of his mouth everytime he walks into the room. Next question is "why?". And that continues until he gets bored or you stop answering. He loves to do what you are doing and always wants to see what is going on. The thing he misses most here is Grandpa. He follows grandpa everywhere and is always doing what he does. He loves to help grandpa do everything and anything. Grandpa is number one on his list. He is very independent, he wants to do everything himself. Walking across parking lots is our biggest struggle, and lots of times I end up chasing him down. He loves to dress himself, but also is my stripper and I can turn around in the store and have him half naked in the cart. He would be outside all day everyday, naked, if he had things his way. He is our outdoor boy, just like his dad. He loves to camp and hike. I can tell him we are going hiking and he will instantly let me get him ready to go because he loves it.  He also loves water, from the sink or outside. He will spend hours throwing rocks in water and everytime we go on a hike if he sees water he HAS to throw a rock in. He can reach the faucet in the bathroom and that is where I find him a lot of the time. Filling up whatever bottle or container he can find. He is a very messy boy and is a VERY messy eater, but also does not like his hands to get dirty. It is the most interesting thing to watch because he always colors on his hands with markers and then gets upset that his hands are dirty. One day I imagine he will figure it out, although I think he likes to wash his hands, so maybe he already has. He also is going through a hitting phase, but he always immediately says sorry and gives you a kiss better. I always say he hits me just so he can give me kisses better. He is very sweet though and will share anything that he has as long as you ask. He loves to snuggle and read books.
Both of my boys are sooo snuggly and I absolutely love it. It is so fun to snuggle up and read a book or watch a movie with them. They are so loving and so fun. They really make my life complete.