Back from Egypt

Dearest Joshua and Luke,



What an amazing week at Vacation Bible School! Yes, we are back from the land of Egypt. We might have left the land of pharaohs, the Nile River, and the story of Joseph's amazing journey from prison to his palace, but we brought many riches back with us! We learned that God gives us hope, God gives us special abilities, God gives us wisdom, God gives us forgiveness, and God gives us a family. I can not say enough about the wonderful week we had. Joshua was assigned to the four year old classroom while Luke spent time in the nursery with his good friend, Caleb. I was blessed to help with the snacks each day until Friday. I was the substitute teacher in the fourth grade class. What a blast! I really do miss teaching! I had a lot of fun working in the food shop, but I may volunteer as a teacher next year.


On Friday evening, we all gathered in the city park to hear 242 children sing about all they had learned during the week. It was an awesome sight. Three churches came together for this wonderful production. Here is just a glimpse of the tremendous evening. Anyone who has ever wondered about our youth today, would have been inspired by this sight.

I am proud of both of you for all that you learned this week. Luke was great about going to the nursery and being away from his Joshua. I know it was not easy for him, but he did it! Even on Friday when I was not in the food shop, Luke did a great job. Joshua totally got into studying Egypt. He got a book from the library about Egypt. He has asked a million questions about Egypt. He even asked Miss Sarah to cut his hair all off like the Egyptians did. I am happy to say that he got a great hair cut, but did not get it all cut off. :)

In the top picture, Joshua is standing on the far right of the first line that is standing up behind the children that are sitting down. In the video, Joshua is standing behind the second boy from the left that is sitting down. Joshua is standing behind him singing his heart out and showing how he is going to serve God! You are both amazing children. I love you so much!

Love,

Mama

Happy Father's Day!!!!!! #1 DAD

Dear Joshua and Luke,

We spent a great day with your dad today. The day began by all of us letting Dad sleep in. What a treat for Daddy! We went to church together. Then, spent time playing and reading books in the afternoon. After a nice nap, mom and the boys went to see Toy Story 3 while Daddy and Papa Mort stayed home and watched Fox News, one of their favorite TV shows. After the movie, Daddy and I ate dinner at a Mexican restaurant while you ate dinner with Grammy and Papa. Thanks to Grammy for giving us time to eat out and talk about the boys the whole time!

We are so lucky to have all of the dads we have in our lives. I try hard to tell you stories about my dad, Grandpa Al, so that you can know of him through the memories that I share of him. It always amazes me how saying, thoughts, memories of him creep up on me so often when I least expect it. He would have been so proud of you both. I miss him and wish you could have gotten to know him.

Papa Mort is an awesome grandpa. I know it is very difficult for you both to understand his Parkinson's Disease, and how that has affected his body. I do know that you both know how much he loves you. He has been such a part of your short lives, and I know he enjoys every second of his time with you (as we do, too).

Papa Ed is the sweetest, most gentlest man I have known. He has the kindest heart. I know it is difficult for both of you to understand why Papa Ed does not feel well, and why we do not see him, Nana, and Aunt Lisa more often than we do. I also know that you know that they love you very much.

I am officially off work for the summer! Yeah! Earlier this week, Joshua said, "Mommy, are you going to be one of those moms that stay home now?" He is so sweet. I assured him that I would be for the next four weeks.

Here are highlights of last week......

• Joshua talking to Grammy on the telephone. He has so much to say and so little time. :)




• Both of you had so much fun drawing with Grandma Nichols. She is quite an artist. Maybe you got your artistic talents from her?




• Reading with Grammy at her house. You always have so much fun with that. She can never read enough stories for you.


• Papa loves tickling you and hugging you every chance he gets.

I love you both more today than yesterday.

Love,

Mama

Margaritaville........

Dear Joshua and Luke,

Yes, Luke's favorite song of the week is Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville. As soon as the music started, Luke proclaimed in a very loud voice, "This is my favorite song!" Anyone who knows Luke knows that he loves to dance. He dances every time he hears music. He is disappointed when the music is only from a commercial because the music does not last long enough. I am not sure what part of the song was so interesting to Luke as he was dancing - was it the sponge cake? shrimp? Strummin' my six string? Flip flops? Who knows? But he was certainly groovin' to the music. The next song on the radio was Bryan Adam's summer of 69. And you guessed it. Luke proclaimed loudly, "This is my favorite song."

Summer is well on it's way for you two. Mama is still working for another 7 or so days, but the time is getting closer for me. This week you started t-ball and swimming lessons. T-Ball was a lot of fun to watch. Luke had a very difficult time adjusting to playing without Joshua at his side, but I think this experience will be good for both of you in the end. Joshua needs an opportunity to play with his age level friends without Luke being at his side. In turn, Luke needs to venture out once in a while to work on making friends without Joshua always at his side. And there really is a huge difference between 3 year old and 4 year old t-ball. I know that you will both grow so much this summer. And as much as I would like to stop it, I know it is going to keep happening. I have to admit, though, that I love how close you both are. Even though they are squabbles over favorite toys, and you both can be good at pushing each other's buttons, in the end you are the best of friends. You truly care about each other and love each other.

Swimming has been fun, too. Sarah has been taking you to the pool each morning this week for your lessons. You have done very well for the first week. Joshua is even playing hide and seek under the water! I can't wait to take you swimming this weekend!

I love you both so very much.

Love,

Mama

We Remember.......

Dearest Joshua and Luke,

This last weekend was Memorial Day weekend, and what a fun-filled weekend it was. Before I go on about the highlights of our weekend, I want to remind you that it is extremely important to me that you take the time to remember that our freedom is not free. Please remember that when you are doing every day things like going to church, deciding where to get the groceries from, which religion to follow (Catholic, I hope, but someday the decision will be yours), whom to be friends with and to play with, freedoms to speak your mind, etc. etc, that a heavy price has been paid by a lot of men and women in our country. I am definitely proud of Joshua and Luke when each time they see a military person in uniform, they go up to them and say, "Thank you for protecting our country." I am also proud of the fact that Joshua knows the words to the Star Spangled Banner and Proud to Be An American, and he understands that patriotism and freedom are two very important virtues in our family. Joshua will often ask me to tell him the story of how Francis Key wrote the Star Spangled Banner, and how the men were looking up at the sky trying to catch a glimpse of the American flag when the enemy's bombs lit the sky for just a few seconds over Fort McHenry - and the injured and imprisoned men kept asking, "Is it (the flag) still there?. Please keep learning and asking, and appreciating that freedom. I know there is a lot more to learn about our freedoms, but I will teach you.

Memorial Day weekend began fishing in town at the reservoir. It was so much fun. Joshua caught three blue gill and Luke caught two crappie. It was a blast watching Daddy bait the hooks for you. We also picnicked at the lake. Tons of fun, except for the water snakes that liked to come up and hiss at us on the way to the bridge. Both boys really liked the bridge, and it inspired lots of songs like the one below. The fish tales grew bigger and bigger, too!

Sunday greeted us with an early start to the Zoo with Aunt Roxanne and Uncle Robert. We saw lots of animals, and it was extra special going with our Aunt and Uncle. We also took a picnic lunch to the Zoo.

On Monday, we began the day with breakfast at Cracker Barrel and a visit to Jefferson Barracks with Grandma Nichols. It is always such a beautiful place to visit. We always remember Grandpa Al especially on this day. Grandpa Al was a soldier in World War II for the United States Army Air Core. He was stationed in Iceland for a long time. He refueled the planes that came over from the United States on their way over to France. Afterwards, he also helped in France by cleaning up the beaches at Normandy and other battlefields and trying to return his fellow friends home where they belonged. Thank you, Dad, for teaching me so much about the price of freedom. The weekend ended perfectly with a barbecue at our old neighbor's house. Our boys love getting together with their boys and we love getting together with the parents. They are a very special family.

Joshua enjoyed a birthday party at a tennis club with several boys from his class. Be sure to check out the new pictures on the slide show on the upper right corner of the blog. You can click on the pictures to make the pictures full screen.

Boys - I love you more today than I did yesterday.

Love,

Mama