Friday, October 9, 2009

Boy Heaven

I'm pretty sure we live in "boy heaven".

I was calling our life here "Mayberry" for a while, but it almost isn't a strong enough image.

I of course grew up many moons ago when kids roamed the streets, "ruled" the neighborhood, and stayed out until dinner. It has been all I've ever wanted for my kids growing up years. I've wanted them to ride their bikes until their little legs were too tired to ride any longer. I've wanted them to catch little creatures, keep and name them. To play in the mud and climb trees, explore creeks and come home worn out, tired from play.

Well, we've got it.

Ivan was so dirty yesterday that I didn't want to carry him in! It is a shame I missed the early photos which showed the leftovers of him TASTING the mud soup he and his buddy Gage were cooking. There has been a lot of rain here (which I LOVE) and so there is a lot of mud. I am done trying to keep little boys out of the mud and puddles. After all, I'm pretty sure they are a staple in "boy heaven".

Part of the blessing for Barrett has been that there are oodles of boys living on our street and around this corner and that one. They invade our home in droves and wait eagerly outside our door until we finish dinner. They build forts near the creek and have secret clubs. They have caught more frogs and lizards than Barrett even knew existed. (We even had a frog in our playroom. Yes, playroom. Boy heaven, not Mommy heaven!) They play flashlight tag, ride bikes in the rain, and love every messy minute of it.

We had a hard time narrowing down our invite list for Barrett's 9th birthday party a few weeks ago...Boy heaven I tell you.

Soccer games have been canceled for the weekend because the fields are under water. We have a long, gray, chilly, damp weekend ahead. Sounds like the makings of some good boy heaven fun!