Little Brothers

Morning, Mommy.

Looks like they are plotting something.

Nate still looks sleepy with the bags under his eyes. Or maybe it is not still sleepy but sleepy again. Sometimes the boys get up pretty darn early.

These little boys make my days, even though they don't always get along perfectly. In fact this week has been a tough one for fighting among my kids. The heat and humidity have felt suffocating lately. The pool in our neighborhood has been closed because the pool house is being re-roofed and my boys are a little bored and restless. It is too miserable to just play outside. We are in pretty close quarters here, so consequently there has been more bickering than usual and I am finding myself with a shorter fuse these days too. I am hearing a lot of  "get out of my room"s from the older boys and a lot of "he won't let me. . ."s from the younger ones. I know little brothers can be pesky. I had a couple myself (though I love them both dearly now. Besides, I'm sure they would be more than happy to tell you what a rotten older sister I was).

 So, yes, they can be pesky, but they can also be sweet and darling. I was working in my attic today (see yesterday's post) and Nate really wanted to help. I didn't want him up there. It was sweltering and he would just be in the way, but he was persistent. He found a way to make himself welcome. He went to the kitchen and filled a ziploc bag with ice cubes and brought it up to me and told me that we could share it. He also ventured back down to bring me a glass of ice water. I have to say that that ice pack made working in the heat much more bearable. At one point he held it on my back for me while I boxed up books. I even stayed up there longer than I had planned and got a lot done. Clever Nate.