January Cold.......Brrrrrrrrrr.....

Dearest Joshua and Luke,

January has been a cold month for us. We have spent so much time inside doing projects, crafts, and things.  There is never a dull moment for us.

  One major project was the boy's first annual pinewood derby.  The boys had a lot of fun making their first car out of a solid block of wood.  I have to say that the project was a bit overwhelming at first, but we took advice from other parents and just tried to have some fun with it.  Joshua made a patriotic car.   Luke made a block of cheese with his car.  The race was fun.  Like won two out of three heats in the small races.  Joshua placed second in one of the heats in the small races.  Both boys had lots of fun, but there was room for learning, too.  Besides learning how to build a car, what works to make the car move faster, etc., both boys learned some about winning and losing, too.  Luke had difficulty understanding why he did mot win an overall award since he won two races.  Initially Joshua was bothered by the fact that his car had not placed in any races, but he was quickly happy for his friends and others who were racing. The best part for me was watching you two hug each other and try to comfort each other when you knew the other one was sad.  In fact, one parent came over and asked me what we did with you two boys to make you so loving towards each other.  I am proud of both of you.

     This week starts basketball season.  Joshua will be playing on a 3rd-4th grade team, and Luke will be playing on a 1st-2nd grade team.   Both boys are looking forward to playing.  I really like the leagues they play on.  The leagues are focused on instruction in basketball and good sportsmanship.  That will be good for both of you!

     We are well into writing books for the Young Author's program.  Luke's wrote a make believe story about sharing.  He is working on the illustrations for the book.  Joshua is writing a book about living with food allergies,  I am very proud of both of the stories they area writing.

     We also have our usual Atrium each week.  The boys participated in the Epiphany celebration at church.  Joshua read some bible verses during the program.  Luke had a speaking part as well.  The Atrium enriches their lives so much.  It teaches them so much about Jesus. I feel so blessed that our church offers this program.  Not many churches in the the area offer this program.

     Joshua is still playing piano.  It has been easier for him to practice since his programs at Christmas.  He is learning so much, and he has been practicing more without reminders.  Luke has showed a little interest in playing again, but we will see how much he talks about it, and what he is willing to commit to in terms of practicing.

     I love you both so much - to the moon and back and back again.

Love,
Mama


   

Goodbye 2013!!!!!

Merry Christmas!

Luke - the candy cane deliverer
and crowd control.
 "Merry Christmas!"
 

Dearest Joshua and Luke,

     We have had a lot of fun this Christmas season, including a 16 day break from school!  Our first holiday gathering was at our church in honor of our patron saint, St. Nicholas.  The boys had a lot of fun dancing to the tunes of the band.  We also made our annual trip to our Lady of the Snows Shrine to see the Way of Lights.   This year it was added fun going along with one of our favorite families.   Another annual outing to the Shrine was for Joshua and Luke's performance. For three years in a row, Joshua has been entertaining the crowds with his piano music while Luke maintains the smiles in the crowd by giving out candy canes to the audience and passerbyers.  Luke also gives a resounding, "Merry Christmas" along with every candy cane.  They are quite a team.  Mom and Dad are always happy to talk to other parents about how cute the boys are, how long Joshua has been playing piano, etc.  Yes indeed, we are very proud parents. 





Joshua playing Christmas music on the piano at the Shrine.  Every
once in a while he would turn around to check on the audience!

     Our family was a little sad thinking about Christmas Eve this year.  It would be the first year since the boys have been born that we celebrated Christmas Eve by ourselves.  We have always had so much family around, but this year it just wasn't going to work out.  Then, on Christmas Eve morning, we received a call from Grandma Bonny that she was planning to join us for mass and dinner that evening.  It was extra special having her there.  We certainly missed all of the family that could not join us, but, we also understood that all of the family would be there if they could.

     Here is a special story from church:

We arrived at church about an hour early so that we could get the best seats at church - the front row!  I told both of you that you would have to keep busy for almost an hour before church started.  I suggested that you could write a story, draw a Christmas picture, whatever you wanted to do as long as it had to do with Christmas  So Luke started out writing....."Wants there was a lady names Merry."  (Once there was a lady named Mary.).  Luke would read each sentence as he write it, and I would say, "And then what happened?"  Before I knew it, Luke's story was completed.  I encouraged him to share it with Father Bill before mass if at all possible.  After the opening song, Father Bill mentioned the sweet story that Luke had written about how Joseph was going to marry Mary...spelled Merry.  He mentioned that Luke's story was going to be just like the story from Luke's gospel in the readings.  After his homily, Father Bill mentioned once again that we had heard two gospels written by Luke...one written by St. Luke over 2000 years ago and one written by Luke Litteken from the congregation.  Yes indeed, we were very proud parents!"

The boys made me my own Christmas village, including a
stand up reindeer, North Pole sign, Christmas house (crayon box
with glitter all over it, and a special battery operated candle light!

After mass, Grandma Bonny joined us at McDonald's for the annual Christmas Eve dinner.   On the way back to our house, we spotted Rudolph's red nose, certainly pulling Santa's sleigh from our house.  Both boys were convinced they saw Rudolph's bright nose!  When we got out of the car, Luke ran to the backyard to see if the reindeer ate any of the carrots that we left out for them, and they had!  Then, we all ran into the house to find that the milk was half gone and most of the cookies had been eaten by Santa!  And Santa left each of you four beautifully wrapped presents!  Joshua received the Hogwarts castle Lego set to build, Pokémon cards, a Stereo Radio with ear buds, and the Harry Potter book collection.  Luke received the Crayola Marker Maker, Harry Potter DS game, Hot Wheels, and a Phineas and Ferb radio alarm clock among other things.  There were pajamas, clothes, ornaments, candy, new pieces to the nativity set, Game Stop gift cards, Barnes and Nobles gift cards, bath robes, Minecraft t-shirts and more!  You both have been pretty good this year! 





Merry Christmas Aunt Lisa!

 We spent Christmas Day at Aunt Lisa's house with Nana and our new cousin and nephew, Brennan!  Aunt Lisa cooked a fabulous roast with potatoes, carrots, Caesar salad, and macaroni and cheese of course!  It was awesome to spend Brennan's first Christmas with him!  It was also great getting to spend another holiday with Nana and Aunt Lisa!





The best Christmas present of all!



Our sweet Baby Brennan!

The day after Christmas, Daddy cooked a Thanksgiving-like meal for us!  Grandma Bonny and Grandpa Mort joined us for the meal!  The boys demonstrated how to make markers with the Marker Maker and Grandma even read them some Harry Potter!  This was a great way to extend our Christmas celebration!



Grandpa watching Luke write with his own markers that he made!

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

Love,
Mama