Carrying On The Goode Family Name

I love these guys.  They make me laugh, make me think and make me want to scream at least once every day.

Brian, Will and Bri with Davin on the boat.
Why is it that my grandchildren cover their faces with their hands when you are trying to take a picture of them. But then they sneak into frame when you are taking pictures of everyone else?  Am I alone on this one?

As much as I miss my girls (and boy, do I ever miss having someone to have a REAL conversation with), I love having these two around.

Goofy brothers self portrait.

As most of you know, I did not grow up around boys.  They are strange and confusing creatures to this momma who grew up with a sister and mostly female cousins.  When they were young, I read Dr. James Dobson's book (Bringing Up Boys) in hopes of finding a key to the inner workings of their minds.  It helped a little...as did Wild At Heart by John Eldredge.  But they are still a complete mystery to me.

Take this one right here as a case in point.

Brian looks so much like pictures of my dad when he was the same age that you could swap out their Junior year photographs.  If it weren't for the hairstyles, it would be very difficult to tell them apart.  And yet, he is so much like Jim Goode that I just shake my head and walk out of the room when they are 'debating'. 

He has taught himself how to play guitar...and has a keen eye of observation.  We tell him all of the time that he should be a lawyer.  He is that smart, and that stubborn.  He could argue that the sky is purple and eventually win.

Instead he is majoring in Secondary Education.  He wants to teach high school History and coach basketball or tennis.  He has an artists heart and eye.  He has painted pictures and made pencil drawings that amaze me. 

We call him the Hipster, though he denies it ferociously.  Not because he has anything against Hipsters, he just doesn't like being labeled AT. ALL.


Then there is this fellow.

William definitely has some Jenkins genes.  But as pertains to looks, he is more a mixture of his dad and several of my male cousins.  The hair?  Totally his dad's.

Yet his personality is much like my dad's...mostly laid back and accommodating.  If you need anything done around the house, this boy will do it.  He has been using power tools for years and can drive the tractor ALMOST as well as his dad. 

However, neither of us know where he got his aversion to shirts in the summer.  I don't know if anyone notices but us.  (And we tell him constantly to put a shirt on!)

He is an outdoor enthusiast for sure.  When he was about four years old, he announced to Jim and I that when he grew up he wanted to have a hunting and fishing show on Outdoor Network with his dad as his partner.  He is also quite tenderhearted when it comes to animals...especially our pug, Pib.

As for arguing with him, only his brother and sisters can do that.  For the rest of us he refuses to give an opinion to argue with.  Just the other day we were out back-to-school shopping, just the two of us, and I had to threaten to just drive until he told me where he wanted to have lunch.  His answer is always, "what do you want?"

I can hardly believe my "baby" is now a Senior.  These days he talks more of opening a restaurant than of being on television.   Where that came from I may never know, because he hardly ever talks.  He always asks me how my day was as he gets in the car, but after that it is one word responses from him all the way home.

Boys!  I don't know what to do with them.  Nor do I know what to do without them.  I guess I'll just keep them around a little while longer.

This post is longer than I intended, but I rarely ever get pictures of the boys like this.  They seem to disappear when the cameras come out.  I thought I would take adavntage of it while I had the chance.