Memorial Day

Popsicles with the cousins!

Dear Joshua and Luke,

This has been an especially good Memorial Day weekend for so many reasons.  First, the most important thing about Memorial Day is remembering the reason why we celebrate Memorial Day.  There are so many men and women who have served or currently serve in the military.  This is the day set aside to honor them and thank them for their efforts.  This is also a day that we honor the men and women who paid the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms that we enjoy today.  You must always remember these brave soldiers. One of the biggest truths that you need to understand early is that Freedom is not free.  You will hear people say this from time to time, but it is so true.  The freedoms that we enjoy every day are the very things that our brave soldiers fought for and continue to fight for.  We must always support our soldiers by praying for them and thanking them each time that you have an opportunity.  I am so proud of both of you for doing this almost every time you see someone in uniform.

Levi & Joshua playing their DS's side by side!

Memorial Day meant for us that we were blessed with time with Aunt Amy's family!  They visited us for a short trip, but it was loaded with fun.  We spent a lot of time visiting and watching the boys play at the house.  They played zombies, chased each other with toy guns and other weapons, played on the Slip and Slide and with the wiggle sprinkler, caught fire flies,  played multiplayers on the DS games, watched the movie Avatar the Last Airbender and Cheaper By the Dozen......the list could go on and on.  We also visited the local waterpark.  The boys had a blast running around in their swim trunks getting wet and playing on the playground equipment in between.  The boys also played at Monkey Joes for a few hours to beat the HOT sun in the middle of the day.

Luke & Isaac sharing Daddy's IPAD

Daddy grilled a feast for our dinner today.  Everyone enjoyed eating their favorites and we shared homemade strawberry ice cream for dessert.  It is always sad to see our cousins and aunt go home.  The visits always make us wish that we lived so much closer to them that we could spend a lot more time with them.  But.....we had a great fun filled weekend and we are looking forward to seeing them again soon.

Onyx trying to beat the heat under a shade tree

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

Love,
Mama

The Luckiest Mom In The World!!!

Dearest Joshua and Luke,

Most moms will tell you that that they are the luckiest and that they are blessed. I am certainly no different! But I do think I am THE luckiest mom in the whole world! You two boys mean the world to me, and I love being your mom more than anything in the whole world! And I mean that from the bottom of my heart.

There are an infinite number of reasons why I love you being you mom, but here are five off the top of my head.

Two cuties with new haircuts ~

Thanks, Miss Sara!

1. You give the best Mother's Day gifts. This year Luke gave me a drawing, listing three reasons why I am the best mom. 1. I take you to guitar lessons. 2. I put you to sleep with your bear. 3. I take you on special dates. Joshua made a beautiful card for me. He also gave me a darling flower that I will be able to keep forever.

2. I love the joy you have added to our family. You two are so much fun! You both add love, laughter, life, sweetness, etc. to our family. There is always magic and life in our home.

3. You two love the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit. You seek to learn more about Him every day. I am so proud of you and all that you already know about our church.

4. I love watching you two while you sleep. Just as I did when you were babies, I still like to watch you sleep. Joshua usually falls asleep in about one minute (sometimes less) from the time that your head hits the pillow.  Luke usually takes two to three minutes. He lays still for about one minute. He flips over to the other side, and falls asleep in the next minute or two. Both of you play hard and work each day. You are always tired at night. You definitely need your sleep. I love watching you both, looking like sweet angels.

Joshua in action!

5. I love when you ask me to tell you stories...Some of your favorites are Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Snow White, the story of the Star Spangled Banner, the sinking of the Titanic... You both like to hear these stories over and over again.  And you are always asking to add more stories to your list.  I love how you look at me with intent eyes and you always do your best job of listening when I am storytelling.
 
Thank you both very much For the most wonderful Mother's Day! We went to church Saturday evening at the church where Daddy and I were married and where both of Aunt Amy's children (your cousins Isaac and Levi) were baptized. Daddy was baptized, and attended school and church there.  It is where Daddy attended church there as a child. It was a nice mass. This church always has a special place in our heart. Both of you love being home and playing. You could stay home and play all day every day if you were able to.



We had a lazy morning. Joshua got up first and was anxious to pray the rosary together. I was so honored that he asked me to do this! Of course, I had to look up the mysteries before we started. Thank goodness for the Internet! It gave information about the mysteries and the prayers. What great way to spend Mother's Day! We watched TV and ate a late breakfast. You both went outside and rode bikes. Neighborhood friends came over for popsicles and to ride bikes. Later in the day Grammy and Papa came over and had dinner with us. Daddy grilled chicken for us, and Grammy made the best strawberry pie ever. Strawberry pie is my favorite! We ended the day with a baseball game at the city park.  Joshua did a great job slamming the ball for his team!  Luke had fun playing Avatar and running around with his good friend, Levi. A good day was had by all!  :) 

Friends Levi & Luke

I love you both more today than I did yesterday.

Love,
Mama

The Body & Blood of Christ...according to Luke

Dearest Joshua and Luke,

Things have been quite busy, but I have to tell you that writing these blog entries for you two is one of my most favorite things to do for so many reasons.  I love the fact that these entries will be here for you and your children and other generations to come if they are interested.  (How can they NOT be?) I love that this process forces me to share so many of the things you are doing in your lives ~ and our lives.  They are so many things that happen in a week.  Daddy and I often say, "Oh!   I need to blog about that!"  One thing for sure is that I never sit down at the keyboard and wonder what I am going to write.  You two provide me with so many ideas! 

Luke's story of the week:

Luke is holding up the body and blood of Jesus.  The orange
container had a lot ore water in it.  Luke used the big container to
pour the wine into the smaller cup.  Notice the white cloth he
put over the wine. 

I came home from work one afternoon and Luke came running out of the house to say that he had Jesus's blood in a small flowered  cup.  Luke said, "Don't you want some of Jesus's blood, mom?"  Of course I did. (Of course, I probably did not look as excited as I was wondering where the water had come from.  You never know!)   Luke said, "Don't worry, mom, it's really just water."  He led me into the house to show me that he had been mixing water and "wine" (more water) together to make Jesus's blood for communion.  He had the small flower cup of wine and an old McDonald's pumpkin Happy Meal container full or water or more wine to mix together. 

Of course Joshua had to give it a try, too!  :) 

He lifted both hands over the water to give it a special blessing that went something like, "Thissssssss is the bloooooood of Jesussssss."  Then, Luke had found an old jelly lid in the kitchen drawer about two inches around.  He had gotten a wheat four tortilla shell from the refrigerator and tore it into very small pieces.  He put all of the pieces in the jelly lid and held it up as the body of Jesus.  Once again he put his hands over it and blessed it with, "Thisssssss is the bodyyyyy of Jesussssss."  He did this over and over again offering neighbors and anyone he could the body and blood of Christ.  Joshua realized how much fun Luke was having and begged for a turn to try blessing it and passing out the "communion."  When it was time to go to Joshua's piano lessons a few minutes later, Luke insisted on taking Jesus's body with him.  I let him take it.  He was trying to pass it out to anyone that would take it.  Most of the people he showed it to took a piece, although I am certain they were wondering how safe it was, too! Maybe even what it actually was!

I have to tell you that I was a  really proud mom.  We often talk about telling others about Jesus.  I think this was a creative way for Luke to share his faith with others.  I know his playing today had to make at least a few people and kids think about what he was doing.  It was clear that this was a very important project to Luke.  Luke has spent the last two years going to the Atrium at church where he is actively learning about Jesus and our church.  He has many opportunities to play, act out, and just be in the presence of God's works.   I know this has been a big part of his faith and learning.  Luke is full of questions about Jesus, heaven, God ~ and today even the devil.  I have learned to say, "I don't know.  What do you think?"  I do try to emphasize all of the wonderful things to be thankful for and that we are all here to be disciples of Jesus.  We need to be doing Jesus's work while we are here." 

Joshua's story:

Happy Easter!  Notice the two guys in suits!

This is from almost a month ago, but it was too good to forget.  I had to write about it.  A few weeks ago, you heard about what a fun filled Easter break we had ~ full of cousins, playing, swimming, more playing, etc.  On the first day back to school, I asked Joshua what his favorite part of the Easter vacation was....he said, "Dad and I wearing our suits to church on Easter!"  No hesitation.  He knew that was the highlight.  Now I must tell you that the day before Easter, Dad was getting his clothes ready for Easter mass the next day.  I told him that he could wear his khaki pants with almost any nice shirt he had.  Eric said, "Yeah, but Joshua really wants me to wear my suit when he wears his suit tomorrow."  I basically told him good luck with that because I knew that your dad had not worn a suit in a very long time.  I did not think the pants would even fit him because he has lost some weight.  But....your dad worked diligently to get his suit and tie together so that he could wear a suit with Joshua. 

Joshua was beaming when he saw his dad in a suit the next morning. I also have to tell you that we have one good looking family when everyone goes out the door, Elsa, Ethan, Uncle Luke, Aunt Lisa, Grammy, Papa and of course our family, but Daddy and Joshua were looking THE sharpest that day! Daddy knew exactly what you needed him to do that day.  It is funny how dads and moms often figure out what is really important and come through with it for you.

I love you both more today than I did yesterday!

Love,
Mama