Crazy For Cousins



The cousins all together watching old Scooby Doo episodes on
Elsa's I-Phone~ Joshua, Elsa, Luke, Ethan, Isaac, & Levi
at the house at Hilton Head.

Dear Joshua and Luke,

We have been blessed with another visit with the cousins from South Dakota.  What a treat!  They arrived just a few days after Joshua's birthday party, but just in time to celebrate your "real" birthday day.  There is something about cousins coming for a visit ~ maybe it is seeing your Aunts and Uncles, getting to stay up later, seeing Grammy and Papa more when other family is here, non-stop playing from dawn until a much later bedtime, plus there is so much more.  But needless to say, it is very exciting each and every time the cousins come!  The boys start counting down weeks, days, then hours before they arrive. 

Grammy drawing with Luke on the patio in the backyard.

During this visit, the cousins and both of you spent an afternoon at Monkey Joes, a place we usually go to only for birthday parties.  We also spent one evening making smores in the fire pit, catching lightening bugs, frogs, toads, food for the frogs and toads, so much fun!  A highlight of this time was realizing that when a frog swallowed a lightening bug, his whole body lit up as the lightening bug was flashing his light!  Very exciting for four young boys! 

Isaac showing Luke the "tricks" to hunting or at least how to
be successful with the hunting game!

 
From previous posts, you already know that the cousins spent Joshua's birthday with us at the Science Center and of course, the traditional Old Spaghetti Factory. Grammy invited the boys to attend the frog jumping contest with them.  That was a ton of fun, too. The cousins enjoyed swimming in the city pool with us.  Another highlight of the trip was daddy taking Isaac frog gigging.  It was hard for you to understand why Isaac was the only one that got to go, but daddy assured you that you would all get a turn to go when you are just a little older. Grammy was such a thoughtful Grandma by frying up the frogs at our house for everyone to enjoy (not me of course!).  On the fourth of July, we watched fireworks together at the park and enjoyed one of Daddy's fabulous BBQ's.

Joshua getting ready to enter his frog into the frog jumping
contest. Isaac was very close to being a winner!

It is always difficult to say goodbye to the cousins.  It is almost always difficult for you to understand why the cousins can not spend every day here with us.  All of you are so lucky to have some of the best grandparents out there.  They love you so much.  They spend quality time with you ~ and let's face it - They are tons of fun!  Even though we live the closest to your grandparents, we do not see them as often as you would like to (or that we would like you to!).  But keep in mind, that sometimes your Grammy and Papa are able to come and see special things that you do like a soccer game, Vacation Bible School performances, etc.  Those are things that they can not do for other cousins.  I am glad that most of the time, you are both understanding.  And this is not to mention how much you love your grandparents and spending time with them. 

Levi showing Joshua how to use his DS. 
There is nothing better than having your big cousin show
you how to use the DS!!!!

We love spending time with the family, too.  It is always great to catch up on how life has been going, what has been happening, hopes and dreams for the future and just the day to day stuff.  It is really fun to watch the cousins play together, get up early and begin playing early in the day, sharing feasts together, and sometimes showing them around where we live.




You will certainly always be cousins, but I also hope that you are all life long friends.  I hope you visit each other, get to know and spend time with each other's families, and maybe even travel together.  I believe that each of your cousins is a very special person that will grow up to be a good person living a life as Jesus's disciples. We were able to spend special time with each of them before you both came along.  We were able to spend special time with each of them before you both came along.  They are all great children with lots of promise for the world. 

The boys posing at the frog jumping contest.

Hmmmm.....Being with cousins and family sounds very important to me, doesn't it?  I have thought long and hard about it, and come up with a few things.  First, Daddy loves having his family here too.  He loves to have them stay at our house.  Then, for me, I love having a house full of family.  It is one of the happiest times in my life (next to being just with my family!). When I was very young, we had Aunt Jean and Uncle Lloyd's family, including my cousins, over every year on Christmas Eve and a few other times throughout the year.  I remember Sunday afternoons where Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Dorothy's family, Aunt Pat and Uncle Art's family, Aunt Dora and Uncle Mike's family, and cousins ~ many other cousins.  Those were fun times.  We would go swimming at our house, my dad would BBQ, and my family would prepare a feast for the families.  It was a blast.  We did not do that as much as I got older, but I have many fond memories of these cousins and families from when I was very young.  Growing up, I did not feel like we had a lot of family around.  Everyone had grown up and moved away, started their own families, etc. and we did not do a good job keeping in touch, except for weddings, funerals, and now Facebook! So yes, I do love having family here. 

Isaac, Levi, Joshua, & Luke at the Science Center.

Daddy's family is very special for so many reasons.   I hope we continue to get together with them, even as our children grow up and start families of their own.  I hope the nieces and nephews think of us, and still want to visit us with their families. In the meantime, I look forward to many visits.  I think we may just have to get a bigger house so that they can all stay here together!  We will work on that!  :) 

Luke, Joshua, Daddy, Isaac, Levi, & Aunt Amy
at the fireworks.

I love you both more today than yesterday.

Love,

Mama

Happy 6th birthday, Joshua!

Joshua & his friends at the bowling alley.

Dear Joshua and Luke,

You both love to hear your birth stories....so here you go.  My due date was July 5.  July 2nd was a Saturday.  We spent the morning at the baptism class at St. Nicholas Church.  Then, we did some last minute baby things around the house.  Daddy went to pick up the new van that we just bought, and was gone for two or more hours.   I thought my water had broke, but I really was not sure since this never happened before.  I looked up "about-to-give-birth" symptoms on the Internet, then finally decided to call Debbie the doula.  We had hired Debbie to help me through natural child birth.  She was also the instructor for our birthing classes.  I called Debbie, and explained to her what was going on.  She told me to get to the hospital.  I asked her if I had time to go to church and out to dinner before I went to the hospital, and she told me, "Absolutely not!!!!"  So onto the hospital we went. 

Joshua & friend at the hockey table.

We settled into a nice room, and the contractions began.  The contractions came and came and came, but 23 hours later, we were only half way there.  After much deliberation and a phone call from my doctor, we scheduled a c-section for thirty minutes from the time of the phone call. The next thing I knew, the doctors were carrying this little bundle all wrapped up in blankets over to the scale - 8 pounds and 15 ounces!  I will never forget the first time I saw you.  You were so bright-eyed and beautiful.  Seconds later you were in my arms and we smiled for our first family picture.  The rest is history......

Sitting around with his friends discussing
what it is like to be six years old.

Fast forward to six years later, and you had a fun birthday celebration!  We celebrated a week early with your friends from school at the bowling alley.  It was a blast.  Your friends played at least one game of bowling, video games, and ate lots of pizza.  It was so much fun!

Native Americans Joshua & Luke
in the Discovery Room at the Science Center.

The cousins building things at the Science Center.

On your actual birthday, you spent the day with your cousins at the Science Center.  You wanted to see the Brain and Body exhibition, but that was expensive and not everyone was as interested as you were in it. Daddy and I will take Joshua to the exhibit one day by himself very soon.  Everyone had fun at the Science Center on your birthday.  We visited the Discovery Room for the first time.  It was loads of fun.  We wished we could have stayed longer....there was so much to see.  The Old Spaghetti Factory was a huge treat for dinner.  We ended the evening with watching Part I of Star Wars.

Happy 6th birthday, Joshua!  I am really proud of the little man you are becoming! 

Love,

Mama

Dr. Luke getting ready to perform surgery on the skeleton. 
Isaac seeks a 2nd opinion from Dr. Luke.