Happy Mother's Day!

Dear Joshua and Luke,

It is cliche to say, but I believe I am the luckiest mom in the world. Mother's Day was so much fun!  You both were so excited to give me my Mother's Day gifts that you worked so hard on at school.  The gifts were worth the wait.  They each had a white paper bag, decorated beautifully, with many lovely treasures inside.

Luke dressed up for cowboy day at school!

Luke's white paper bag said, "I love you"on it, and he put many tally marks on it to show the number of times he loved me.  It was adorable.  Inside were coupons for breakfast in bed, taking out the trash, doing dishes, cleaning his room, and more.  There was also a beautiful framed magnet made with Popsicle sticks and a darling picture of Luke in it.

Joshua had a beautiful drawing of him and me on it.  It was so detailed and sweet. He does not always take time when drawing pictures anymore, but I could tell this picture took him a while and it was done with careful thought. On the other side of the bag, he write a poem that said,

Roses are red.
Violets are blue.
You're the best mom
That I ever knew.


 Inside was a sugar cookie mix that we could bake together, and a picture of Joshua holding a sign that said, "I love you because you are loving and considerate."  These gifts and their full hearts and precious smiles as they gave me these items were priceless. 

Joshua reading a bible verse at Atrium.

We went to church together.  The boys walked in with other friends from the Atrium, along with Father Bill and other leaders of the mass.  The boys sang, "The Lord Is My Shepherd," and "The Color Song" which describes the four colors that priests wear throughout the church year.  These are special songs that we have sang a lot during the last several years.

The Lord Is My Shepherd.

The Lord is my shepherd.
He will walk with me always.
He knows me and he loves me.
He will walk with me always.

Always.  Always.
He will walk with me always.
Always.  Always.
He will walk with me always.
(Repeat many times.)

I used to sing this to the boys over and over as one of their many lullabies before bed, or to help them fall asleep.

The Color Song

Purple and green, red and white
Are the colors of the year.
Purple and green, red and white
Remind us of the Light.
Purple's for Preparation, White is for Celebration
Green is for the Growing Time, Red is for Pentecost........
(This can be sung over and over as well.)

After church, we ate lunch and went home.  Mom got a GREAT nap, which is always a special treat and especially on Mother's Day.  Later in the afternoon, we went to the park for a walk and to collect some tad poles.  We like to watch the tad poles as they grow into frogs.  We ended the evening with a fun dinner and ice cream at Dairy Queen.  Every day my boys help me to feel loved, but today was an even more special day. 

Don't fall in, Dad!  The tad poles are not worth it!

 

I know I have told you many times before, but being a mom is the best thing I have ever done in my life.  It has given me more fulfillment and made my heart so much bigger than I have ever imagined.  It has taught me to be a much better person that I ever would have dreamt to be possible.

I love you Joshua and Luke.  I love you more today than I did yesterday.

Love,
Mama

One Proud Mom!

Introducing the new Wolves! (Luke is second from the right.)

Dear Joshua and Luke,

One right of every mom is to brag.....at least once in a while.  Yes, this will be one post about bragging.  I do not think I do it very often, except with your Dad of course.  And Dad might be a tiny bit biased as well!

Introducing the new Wueblos I!   (Joshua is on the far right.)

Last week was the bridging ceremony or crossing over to the next level in Cub Scouts.  I was so proud to watch you both complete your first year of Cub Scouts.  Before the ceremony, you both reflected on the first year of Scouts.  Luke chose the walking on hikes as the Scout activity that he loved the most!  Both boys are excited about earning a walking stick.  Luke especially loves the outdoors and learning new things about almost everything!






Joshua chose the Pinewood Derby as his favorite Scout activity so far this year.  Joshua made a car out of a block of wood.  He turned the block of wood into a patriotic racing machine!  He wanted to do every part of himself.  He designed the car, painted it, and put it together with the wheels and other parts!  Both boys had a great experience with their first Pinewood Derby even though neither of then won a prize at the Derby.

Joshua and his den showing off their Pinewood Derby cars!

What I was most proud of was the way you both hugged and encouraged each other through the many races.  Another parent asked me how we got our boys to be so loving and sweet to each other.  That made me very proud because I want you two to always depend on each other for love and encouragement now and throughout your life.  I must admit you two do not always reflect this sentiment, but I am certain that in your hearts you love each other very much and always will.

Howdy partner!

There are so many day -to-day things that make me smile and feel so proud.  For example, the other day we were walking into 54th Street Bar and Grill to eat dinner.  Luke saw a circular from the newspaper flying on the ground through the parking lot.  Luke ran to grab the circular (safely of course). He enthusiastically announced, "I picked this up because I care about the Earth!"  And he truly means that!  Another example is how Luke comes over and opens my van door each time we get out of the van.  Luke is a sweetheart!




I love you both more today than I did yesterday.

Love,
Mom

The Golden Rule ~ Lesson #191

Dear Joshua and Luke,

This has been a great week with friends.  You are both blessed to have so many friends.  You are also both very good at making friends, being friends, and keeping friends.

Friends are essential to life.  You will find many kinds of friends as you go through life ~ school friends, neighbors, friends that are teammates or are involved in an activity with you, etc.  As adults, you will also have many different groups of friends ~ work friends, old friends from high school and the neighborhood, friends that are parents of your children's friends and the list goes on and on.

Right now friends are very important to both of you.  You are both learning a lot about the difference between friends.  There are friends in your class at school.  There are friends that live close to you in the neighborhood.  There are friends on your baseball, basketball and sports teams, etc.  There are friends in many places.  I have noticed that you are both having to choose a little more about whom you spend your time with.

Preschool friends

Here are some things to keep in mind as you are choosing friends:

~ Friends should show respect to you (and you to them).,

~ Friends should usually make you feel better after being around them.

~ Friends should play things that you like to sometimes and you should play things they like to sometimes.

~  Friends should treat others respectfully, including your family and other friends. 

~ Friends should be honest. 

Karate friends

~ Friends stop doing or saying things to you when you ask them to stop. 

Here are some things that good friends do not do:

~ Good friends do not make fun of you.

~ Good friends do not insist that you only play with them.
 
~ Good friends do not ask you to do things that you know are wrong or things that make you uncomfortable.
~ Good friends do not hurt you or do not stand by when others hurt you.

As you go through school and your young lives, you will find that there are kids that make really good friends, other kids that make OK friends, and other kids that you know and treat respectfully, but you usually do not play with.  You must know that both of you are really good kids (and I am not biased at all!)  But you must do all of these things to be a good friend, too. I expect that both of you are good friends to others.  I expect that you follow the golden rule - to treat others like you want to be treated.  I expect that you treat other children just as you would if Dad and I were playing right next to you.  I know that you both are good friends to many other children.  I am proud of the friend that you are to others.

More school friends

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

Love,
Mom