Hoppy Easter! Happy Spring!

Happy Easter from the Litteken's

Dear Joshua and Luke,

Yes, I am very behind on blogging.  Things have been super busy at home as well as at school.  There are so many wonderful stories and things I think of sharing here, but I have not been able to sit down and blog for a while.  So here you go.  I am going to go back a few weeks to Easter.  Easter was a special time for us this year. We were blessed with more time with family. Uncle Luke and his family visited with us and we were able to spend time with friends, too. 


On the first day of our Easter break, I took both of you to the Magic House for fun.  It had been a long time since we had been there so it was great.  We spent time doing a lot of things.  It was truly an awesome day.  On Friday Uncle Luke's family arrived and it was a long day of playing around the house.  The weather was great so we had lots of outside time as well.  We made time to attend the Good Friday service at the Cathedral.  It was a little long, but special to spend time at church with our cousins.  It is so delightful for me to hear you playing with your cousins.  They are so good to both of you.  Saturday was spent fishing and swimming at the hotel with your cousins.  Wow!  You are both great swimmers.  And your cousins are great too.  Elsa is especially an amazing swimmer.  We are so proud of her.

Luke & Joshua outside church before
the Easer service.

Easter was awesome!  We all attended church in a small town about ten minutes from us.  This was the first time that Mort had been to church with us for a long time.  It was wonderful and meant a lot to all of us.  We were the first to arrive at the church for the Easter mass.  One of the adult servers stopped and talked to us.  Then, as Father Elmar pulled into the church, he stopped and talked to us.  He told both Joshua and Luke about Joshua and Luke from the bible.  It made it an extra special morning for them. 










I think I can reach it!

The Easter egg hunt was fun!  The Easter bunny hid eggs in the house, in our yard, and near the walking trail behind our house.  Your Easter eggs were filled with cash, change, jelly beans, and other candies.  What treasures!  The Easter Bunny brought you both baskets filled with your favorite candies, and gift cards to Wal-Mart!  You both had a blast on Monday spending your gift card at Wal-Mart.  Luke bought his first guitar and Joshua bought a Lego set, a Nerf gun, and a bow and arrow set.  Both of you were so proud of your purchases!










Joshua is determined to reach it, too!

Daddy and I prepared a special dinner for the family. It is important for me to cook holiday dinners at home for us. I know that you both really enjoy when we cook at home because it means more time to play with your cousins. I hope that when you remember the holidays some day you remember spending time with our family and sharing a special meal on the holidays. We were also very blessed to spend time with some friends. They came over and shared the holiday with us. This made it especially nice.

Uncle Luke, Aunt Lisa, Elsa & Ethan

A reflection on Easter......For Lent, you both gave up soda.  I am very proud of both of you.  There was a tiny bit of complaining in the beginning, but you both voiced why you made this sacrifice, and I could not be more proud of both of you.  I bought Root Beer for you to enjoy on Easter with our meal.  I know you enjoyed it, but Joshua said that he did not need to have soda very much anymore.  And amazingly, he has stuck to it.  In fact, neither one of you ask for soda very much anymore.  I am positive that you both know the significance of Easter and what it means to everyone. 

I love you both more today than yesterday,

Love,
Mama

Happy 5th Birthday, Luke!

Happy 5th birthday, Luke!

Dearest Joshua and Luke,

Yes, our sweet Luke has turned five years old! I will not retell your birth story today for the millionth time, although it is very tempting because it is one of my favorite stories to tell you.  In fact, you love to hear your birth story and often ask me to tell it to you over and over again.  But for today, let's talk about how you spent your very special 5th birthday. 

There is nothing better than a
chocolate-on-chocolate ice cream cone.

Earlier in the week, I delivered cupcakes to Luke's school for his birthday celebration.  Also, I read a Dr. Seuss book with lots of forgotten Dr. Seuss stories to his class.  It was a blast spending a little time with all of these sweet little children.  It was especially fun for me to figure out who was who that Luke always talks about in the class.

Fun at Penguin Cove

To begin with, I took the day off so that we could spend it doing whatever you wanted to do.  We had a lazy morning getting out of bed a little later than Daddy and Joshua.  Joshua had to go to school this day, so we waited for him to go to start the day.  Daddy was busy with Uncle John, replacing the hot water heater in the house.  Luke wanted to start the day watching a few Avatars on Apple TV.  So he did that while I took a shower and got ready for the day.  Soon enough we were off to the zoo.  Luke's only request was to make sure that we rode the train.

Meet "Swinger" the monkey from the zoo.

On the carousel at the zoo.

So the first thing that we did was ride the train around the whole zoo.  We walked through the penguin and puffin house two times, saw the tigers, orangutans, bears and much more.  We took our time going though each exhibit.  I tried my best to answer the 437 questions that you posed while at the zoo.  I very much enjoyed Luke's keen sense of curiosity and desire to know...why, why, why.  We also enjoyed a ride on the carousel together.  Lunch was at a cafe at the zoo.  After quickly munching down a pizza, Luke seemed to enjoy the chocolate on chocolate ice cream cone that he casually ate while watching others at the zoo.  For me it was an awesome way to spend Luke's 5th birthday.  Although my greatest joy is spending time with both of you, I really enjoyed getting to spend time with Luke, special birthday time with just Luke.  :)

All the gang at Luke's birthday party!

Later on Luke had a birthday party with friends at the Little Gym.  Fifteen preschool friends and neighbors joined him for a fun evening of celebration.  Luke and the others had so much fun.  Luke received so many generous presents from friends.  Luke completely enjoyed playing with all of the kids at the Little Gym, and eating pizza, cupcakes, and ice cream with them.  It was definitely a birthday to remember. 

Fun with preschool friends!

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

Love,
Mama

"Drawing a Picture of Your Blood"

Batman Joshua and Luke the Avatar

Dear Joshua and Luke,

Life has been keeping us pretty busy.  You two had fun dressing up for the next door neighbor's birthday party.  Can you recognize Batman Joshua ~ yes Joshua ~ and Aang the Avatar (also known as Luke the Avatar)?  We realized that you two have a lot of dress up options at home.  All day you both switched back and forth for what you wanted to dress up at Davis's party.  One of the other parents at the party actually recognized our mighty Avatar!  It was a fun birthday party!

Luke is a proud fishermen.  He used his new
Batman fishing hole to catch the first
fish of the day!

All three boys in the house have gone fishing the last three Sundays.  Luckily, you both caught fish - yellow belly cat fish and some other things like logs, very tall and thick strands of grass and weeds, etc. .  Luke enjoyed fishing with his new Batman fishing pole and tackle box.  We have the best place to fish.  It is quiet, about five minutes from the house, and the fish are almost always biting!  You both waited so patiently for the fishing line to move and for the fish to bite. In between casting the reel, you both made time to swing on the swings for a little while.  It was beautiful weather and tons of fun for all of us. It was a very relaxing way to spend some Sunday afternoons. 

Joshua is chillaxin by the side of the lake,
waiting for the fish to bite.

Funny Story from Luke:

The other day Luke was in the kitchen making a dessert for himself.  He made a sweet dessert to use complete with 1/2 banana, strawberry syrup, and peppermint shavings.  Luke was very serious about wanting to try this creation.  He never did actually eat it, and I am not sure why, but I can tell you that Luke completely enjoyed making it!  It was very funny!






Another Funny Story From Luke:

Somehow a conversation started about the next trip to the doctor and getting shots.  I am not even sure why the discussion started.  But Joshua said that shots were not as bad as getting blood drawn from your veins.  Luke insisted that the four shots that he was going to have to get at Dr. Arter's office the next time he went was way worse than getting blood drawn.  So Joshua went out to explain that getting blood drawn was way worse than four shots.  Joshua explained that he had to get his blood drawn every year in order to check on how bad or how much better his food allergies were doing.  Luke listened very intently and waited for Joshua to stop explaining.  Luke very simply responded to Joshua that getting your blood drawn could not be thaaat bad because all they were doing was drawing a picture of your blood.  I have to say that the comment went past me very quickly because I started to explain to Luke how the collection of blood was different, when I burst out laughing.  Drawing a picture of blood!  If I have not said it lately, I absolutely love and adore my kids.  They are the best!

I love you more today than yesterday.

Love,
Mama