Sleepover at Grammy & Papa's



Ready or not, Grammy & Papa - Here we come!!!!!

 Dearest Joshua and Luke,


This weekend was actually your third sleepover away from mom and dad.  The first one was a couple of weeks ago, and it happened by accident.  Mom and Dad were going to a play and you were both supposed to go to Grammy and Papa's house while we were at the play.  We arrived at the house at about 10:30 pm, and Joshua was very sleepy.  Luke was still awake, and so excited to possibly be sleeping at Grammy's house.  Joshua fell asleep while we were there, and Luke told us to go home without him. So here are a few stories from the sleepover:


At about 4 am, Joshua woke up, and asked Grammy, "Did my mom and dad really leave me here?"  Then, he rolled over and went back to sleep. 


Luke heard something in the kitchen in the middle of the night.  He got up and peaked around the corner.  He watched Papa eating ice cream at the kitchen table.  As soon as Papa heard something and looked over, he heard scurrying footsteps.  So he went into the bedroom where the boys had been sleeping, and both boys appeared to be sound asleep.  The next morning, Luke confessed that he saw Papa eating ice cream in the middle of the night!   Little did Luke know that if he only would have told Papa he was awake, Papa would have invited him in the kitchen for his middle of the night snack!




I don't want to leave Grammy & Papa's yet!!!!!



Both boys were so excited to be going to Grammy and Papa's again this weekend!  Joshua played a basketball game with his friends Friday evening, then, headed to their house!  As soon as Joshua got there, he fell asleep.  Luke transformed into Batman, and Luke and Grammy played Batdog and watched How To Train Your Dragon again.....

The next morning, Grammy took you to see Gnomeo and Juliet at the movie theater.  After lots of popcorn and soda, she took you shopping at the Wild Bird store, and lunch at McDonald's.  It was a great sleepover and Valentine date for both of you!


This was supposed to be part of a Valentine present for both of you.  Unfortunately, you both  have been sick for a few weeks.  You have both been looking forward to this for a while.  Mom and Dad had a good time, too.  We went out to dinner at a Mexican restaurant in the evening.  Then, we went to a movie the next morning, Just Go With It.  It gave us lots of good laughs and another opportunity to eat out - lunch this time. Mom and Dad do not go to many places without you two.  We like it that way, but we also really enjoyed celebrating 22 years of marriage and a little Valentine's ourselves. 


I love you both to the moon and back and back again.


Love,
Mama

Not Feeling So Well

Joshua taking his own picture! 

Dear Joshua and Luke,

This has been a week of both of you feeling not so well.  Luke was home three days last week, and Joshua was home three days this week.  I took Joshua to the doctor on Monday.  Here are just some of the many questions he asked me about.  Some we discussed, and some I did not answer for reasons that you will see.  All that I can say is that it amazes me how much Joshua has on his mind:

** Do you think Sarah Palin will run again in 2012?

** Do you think Sarah Palin will have another series of "Sarah Palin: Alaska"?

** Why do you only celebrate three presidents on President's Day?  (It took a lot of convincing to tell Joshua that Abraham Lincoln was the sixteenth president, not the second.)

** Were you alive when Abraham Lincoln was?  (Me:  No, not even Grandpa Al or Papa Mort were alive.  Probably more like your Great, Great Grandpa!)

** Were you alive when Martin Luther King was around?

**  Why do you have to go to the doctor when you are well?  (This came up as I mentioned that Luke would be going in to the doctor next month for his well check up.) 

** How long do you have to go to college to be a doctor? 

** What grade are you in when you are in college?

**  How many people were presidents before President Obama? 

** What are the names of all of the other presidents? (I named all of the presidents that have been in office since I was born.  Joshua noted that there were a lot of George Bushes in office.)

There are so many questions that I know that I forgot, too.  Joshua and his mind are amazing things.  I can not even imagine some of the things that he thinks about at the young age of five. 

Batman Luke with a shepherd's hook. 

Luke has learned to write his name.  Sometimes he is getting the letters in the wrong order, but he is becoming so aware of letters right now.  He wants to practice writing his letters a lot, but especially when Joshua is sitting down to do some homework.  Luke is very eager to learn.  He loves having books read to him.  I am certain that he could sit for hours listening to books.

Your dad and I are sad when you are sick.  We always wish that we could be sick instead of either of you.  There is one thing you both  like when you are sick - that is watching movies.  No big surprise!  You have watched How To Train Your Dragon about three times this week. 

Please get better.  I love you both more today than I did yesterday.


Love,

Mama

A Visit From the Tooth Fairy

Dear Joshua and Luke,

A visit from the Tooth Fairy is official. He/she (We are still not sure which.) visited our house after Daddy pulled one of Joshua's teeth that had been loose for over a year! Yes, a year! Joshua and the family has had an eye on this tooth since a visit to the dentist last winter. Joshua asked Dr. Mike if any of his teeth were loose, and Dr. Mike pointed out the one on the bottom , middle, on the right side. And it was loose! Well....over a year later, it has decided to come out.

Throughout the last year, Joshua would wiggle the tooth from time to time, eat an apple for the sole purpose of loosening the tooth, and talk about when the tooth may fall out. Last month we visited Dr. Mike, and Joshua asked him again when the tooth might come out. Dr. Mike said anytime from one to three months. So....the wiggling began.

The tooth was getting looser and looser within the last two weeks. Joshua increased the number of apples he ate, consistently wiggled, touched, rubbed, slid, pushed, pulled, mauled...you get the idea.

It was a Sunday evening, close to bedtime. We were getting ready for bed, hoping that the Superbowl game would soon end so we could get the boys to bed very soon. (They were awake over an hour past their bedtime in hopes of watching the Packers win!) Joshua was checking the loose tooth in the mirror, and asked me to see how loose it is now! So, I did. I noticed it looked a little more loose than usual, so I asked him if he wanted me to pull it. So I tried pulling it, Daddy tried pulling it - and it did not come out. I suddenly realized that I should get one more picture of Joshua's beautiful smile with his 20 baby teeth!

After a little more maneuvering with the tooth, Daddy unexpectedly pulled it out! At first, Joshua did not realize it. He was walking over to the mirror to look at it again. Daddy showed me the itty bity tooth, and I said, "Is that the tooth?" (I thought it looked like a part of a tooth. It was so small.) At about the same time, Joshua arrived at the mirror and realized that the tooth was gone, and he screamed. "My tooth! My tooth!!! Oww......it really hurts! (WARNING: graphic material next! Not for weak stomachs!) Now by this time, blood is coming out, all over his other teeth and mouth! Joshua is screaming that he wants his tooth back! So I take him in the bathroom to rinse his mouth it, and explain to him that it's OK. Joshua is still crying. (He can be a bit dramatic. He surely gets that from his dad.)

Luke is watching this drama unfold, and is not to sure to think about it all, but he walked into the bathroom and watched Joshua rinse. Then, he put his arm around Joshua and said, "Let me lead you to daddy." By this time, Joshua had thought things through with his tooth, and decided that he did not want to give his first tooth to the tooth fairy. I explained to him that I had written many notes to the Tooth Fairy before, and that we could write a note explaining that you would like to keep the tooth. I made it clear that I could not guarantee that this would work, but I would give it a try. Also, I believed that this Tooth Fairy was a reasonable person to work with in the past.

The note read:

"Dear Tooth Fairy. Please leave me my tooth. It is my first tooth. Love, Joshua"

We cleaned the tooth and placed it in the special Tooth Fairy pillow that Grandma made along with the note. Both items were carefully placed under Joshua's pillow for the night. It only took about two minutes, if that, for Joshua to fall asleep that evening. He woke up to THREE DOLLARS in the pocket of his tooth fairy pillow, and a note from the tooth fairy, saying that he/she understood about Joshua wanting to keep his tooth. The tooth fairy is a reasonable person after all!

The note from the Tooth Fairy said:

"Hi Joshua, I understand about the tooth. No problem. Wow! You have taken good care of your teeth. I even took a picture of it for my records. Keep up the great work with your teeth. See you next time. Love, Tooth Fairy"

On a personal and more serious note, I really was not ready for this milestone in Joshua's life. Even though I had lots of time to prepare for it, I was excited for Joshua, who had wanted this tooth to come out for so long, but so sad for me. I remembered when that very tooth popped through his gums for the first time, and the one next to it, and the two on top.....Even though I do not want Joshua to grow up too fast, I am very proud of the young boy Joshua is becoming.

Now Luke....please do not loose any teeth for a very long time.

I love you both more today than yesterday.

Love,

Mama

20 Fun Things To Do On A Snow/Ice Day

Dear Joshua and Luke,

Snow days have always been special for children. But did you know how much teachers love snow days, too????? Snow days are a gift from above. First of all, you can not plan for a snow day, so when they come, you have no plans - you can do whatever you want!!!!You two are no different. We have had five snow days this year already!

Since I am no longer a full time teacher, my snow days are a little different than no plans at all. I usually go to work for a while. It is amazing how much work I can get done when there is no one else at school (except a skeleton crew). Joshua would always love to come with me and "do paperwork" while I was working. This year Luke has been wanting to come. Daddy has been bringing you both to school to play basketball in the gym while mommy is working. I am certain this will be your memories of snow days.

If you are looking for things to do on a snowy day, here are twenty ideas. Once you get through this list, repeat several more times!

1. Sleep in until 7:16 am or maybe 7:27 am by the second day.

2. Dress up like Batman and Darth Vader and have a duel with an empty wrapping paper tube and a small rubber baseball bat (very soft!).

3. Eat pop tarts and cinni-minis for breakfast.

4. Build a rocket ship with Magna Blocks.

Here is Joshua practicing his photography skills on himself. Gotta love it!
5. Watch Treasure Island, 1 Backyardigans episode and two episodes of Harold and the Purple Crayon - the new favorite show for both of you.

6. Play Leapster, Leapfrog, and all V-Tech games that we have ever had.


7. Get Valentine decorations out and place them around the house.

8. Read books - Batman, Clifford, ............................


9. Make books - books about oranges, crayons, and hands or maybe a book about dinosaurs.

10. Take a long bath with lots of bubbles and squirt water shooters at each other!

11. Start your own restaurant.







12. Make turtles out of large boxes. Then, make up a play starring the turtles.



13. Draw pictures with watercolors, colored pencils, markers, crayons...anything that writes. Then, cut out everything!


14. Discuss the problems in Egypt. Yes, Joshua expressed concern to his dad that "There are some really bad things going on in Egypt right now. The really do not like their president."

15. Look out the back windows for wildlife....especially coyotes.

Here is a coyote we saw on a snow day two weeks ago. This video was taken looking out of Luke's bedroom window. Luke and Joshua spotted it about 8 am on the first snow day of this year.


16. Dance, dance, dance like there is no tomorrow. I love how you both express yourself through your unique dance moves.

17. Practice somersaults - forward and backward.

18. Try to make your tooth a little looser by biting into an apple and brushing your teeth really hard!

19. Call Grandma Nichols, Nana, and Grammy. Check on them and see what they are doing on their snow day.

20. Put puzzles together.


I love you both very much.

Love,

Mama