Sentimental Ramblings about life with a 12 yr old boy

I realized tonight as I looked over my recent blog posts, that they are looking more like a report of vacations and outings. I wanted to take a minute to report on the daily meat of life here at the Dieckman household. My favorite part of the day is when Toby & Arielle swirl in from school, invade the pantry for junk food and mill around the house stalling before doing homework. I remind myself of my mom when I ask "how was your day?". Realizing that doesn't get me many answers, I've resorted to "tell me 3 things about your day". My kids roll their eyes and give me the shortest answers possible, but deep down I believe that if I didn't ask them- they would notice, and miss it. Toby is now taller than me by a few inches, sporting his "skinny" jeans and "skater" T's and is "growing" out his hair into a nice afro-y 70's style. He is on the edge of the preteen cliff about to nosedive into full blow teenagerism. However, he is still the sweetest, most conscientious guy around. I've posted quite a bit lately about Arielle and her horse adventures, but I realized I'd been mum about Tobes, so this post I dedicate to him. He is in between sports at the moment (unless you consider Wii Sports Resort a "sport"), but looking forward to trying out for track in a couple weeks. Just wanted to note that there is more to life around here than daily outings. Lately we enjoy just hunkering down on a winter evening and watching the Olympics together, reading books or watching the Old Testament videos that go along with our church curriculum this year. Yes, the daily downtime with my Tobes and watching my preteens mill around the house is often a highlight of my day.