I'm Thankful For . . .

I had a photo shoot this afternoon and I took Neal with me. The shoot involved a family of four--the parents and one-year-old twin boys. When I told Neal that I would need him to help to get the babies to look at me. He surprised me by responding, "I love to help little kids." I suppose I hadn't really noticed this about him but then I started to think about how sweet he is with Molly and even Lilly. He regularly invites them to snuggle with him on the couch while they watch a movie and he talks to them in a sweet little voice. He often reads books to them. They both adore him.

After the photo shoot, Neal and I went to see Toy Story 3 at the theater. Sadly, this is only the second movie Neal has seen in a theater. We took him to Madagascar when he was just three. He remembers the experience as "the longest movie ever". We enjoyed this movie. He ate popcorn. I sucked on cough drops. He's finally at an age to really just sit and watch the movie without making comments and he only wiggled a little at the end when he clearly needed a bathroom break. I imagine we'll have to start going to the movies more often.

When the movie was over and we'd stopped at the restroom, we went to the new frozen yogurt place in Provo--EarthFruits Frozen Yogurt. I won a few gift certificates the other day from The Mom Nerd Blog and so we enjoyed it tonight. Neal loaded his chocolate yogurt up with sprinkles and crushed Butterfinger. I opted for a smaller portion of the blueberry acai yogurt sans toppings. They were both really good.

All the way home, Neal told me the story of the third Percy Jackson book in detail. In fact, he laughed at himself and replied, "you don't need to read that book now." He pretty much talked non-stop about school, this year's Knowledge Bowl, his friends, the books he's reading, future vacations we need to take, the dog, and the family. It's not often that I get a lot of one-on-one time with Neal so I really enjoyed listening to him tonight.

Tonight, I'm thankful for my oldest son.

He's growing up to be a really sweet, sometimes mischevious, piano-playing, whiz kid.