Dramatic April

Dear Joshua and Luke,

Dr. Frankenstein talking to Frankenstein

April brought lots of drama to the Litteken house.  Luckily, the kind of drama that you do not mind! Joshua had been working hard in his role of Dr. Frankenstein in the play, “Dr. Evil and the Basket of Kittens.”  It was fun to see him play opposite “Mary Shelly” in a sarcastic role. His comments were hilarious. He did a fantastic job portraying the character!

Dr. Frankenstein & Mary Shelly

Luke as Sher Khan

Luke had been preparing for his role as Sher Khan in Disney’s Jungle Book since October!  Luke played his role so well, too. The role was made for Luke’s deep voice and menacing look!  It was great to see Luke in his first major production. The entire fifth grade class did an awesome job with this play.  On the first evening of the play, Luke played in the chorus as part of the jungle. The second night he starred as Sher Khan in the play.  

Luke is in the center of the picture as the "jungle"

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Joshua competed with his battery buggy at the State competition at the University of Illinois in April, too.  At the state level, Lucas and Joshua placed third. What an accomplishment! There was a lot of competition in this event, but they did an awesome job. Joshua had a great time talking to friends, literally running around the campus, and pretending to be much more grown up than he really is.   

It is certainly fun to see Joshua grow up.  Right now he has decided that he wants to attend the University of Illinois for college.  In fact, Joshua and his friend, Carter, both have plans to attend. One day Joshua talks about being an engineer, one day he talks about being a band teacher, and the next day it is something else.  There are many possibilities for him, for both of you as you grow up.  I expect that you will change your mind many times before a final decision is made.  It is wonderful to have so many possibilities, any possibility, open to you now.

Josh's 3rd place at State

April has also brought a new season of baseball.  Joshua is playing on the same team. Luke is playing with several of the same players on a new team.  They both love to play baseball for the fun of it. Neither of you are super competitive, but you enjoy playing with friends.  I admire how you stick to the practices, go to the games, and try your best each time. I think that when you get older, you will be able to play a good game with friends or maybe on a team with friends.  That is most important - to be able to have fun with friends.

I love you both more today than yesterday.

Love,
Mom

I Can Only Imagine

Joshua, Ethan, Elsa, Luke, Isaac, & Levi - cousins forever

Dearest Joshua and Luke,

March came in like a lion for us this year.  It was very sad with Grandpa Mort’s passing on March 4, 2018.  Hospice called us to visit Grandpa on Thursday, March 2. Grandpa had gotten the flu and was feeling poorly.  A lot worse than his usual pain of Parkinson’s Disease. Mort lived with Parkinson’s for over 20 years, and he finally succumbed to it on March 4.

Cousins having a good time

The entire Litteken family was very sad about what happened.  While our whole family raced to Grandpa’s side, Uncle Luke and Aunt Amy arrived, too.  We prayed for and with Grandpa many times. Luke was determined not to leave Grandpa’s side until he passed.  Luke slept in the room next to Grandpa, staying up at all hours to check on Grandpa and how he was doing.

Five cousins - all on their phones, but at least they are
playing together

It was a long four days.  Hospice was great and offered much support.  Let me tell you about Sunday morning:

Everyone decided to go to church in Highland.  By this time, all of Aunt Amy’s family had arrived and there were quite a few of us surrounding Grandpa.  Luke was determined that he was not going to leave Grandpa to go to church, so I reluctantly stayed with him too.  I did not want to leave Luke alone at Grandpa’s bedside. Everyone left, and I decided to find one of Father Bill’s homilies to play online for Grandpa and I while the others went to church.  Luke closed his eyes, and moved over to the next room to rest a while. As I played the first few minutes of the homily, one of the nice volunteers stopped in to check on Grandpa. We both looked at Grandpa and realized he had stopped breathing.  We called for the nurse who came in and confirmed that Grandpa had taken his last breath. Luke was hysterical at first. He just did not know how to process that Grandpa was completely gone. I texted Daddy, Uncle Luke, and Aunt Amy at church and asked them to come right away.

It took us all an hour or two to say goodbye to Grandpa.  There were a lot of tears shed, but we were also relieved for Grandpa.  FInally, he was with God and at peace again. The next few days were a whirlwind of planning and preparing.  Grandpa had selflessly donated his body to St. Louis University for Parkinson’s research. He very much wanted to be sure that Parkinson’s was cured so that his grandchildren would not have to endure what he endured with the awful disease.  

Luke giving one of
Grandpa's eulogies

Luke was determined that he was going to say a eulogy at Grandpa’s funeral and he did.  It was beautiful. As mature as ever, Luke got up and told the large church gathering how important his Grandpa was to him and the other grandchildren.  Each grandchild participated in the funeral. Ethan played music during the funeral. Joshua played, “I Can Only Imagine” during the short visitation. Elsa and Issac read the readings.  At the end of the mass, each grandchild was invited to come up and get a single red rose from the vase in memory of their beloved Grandpa. It was one of the most beautiful services that I have ever been to.  It felt like such a blessing to be there and to have been a part of Grandpa’s life.

Grandpa Mort was an extraordinary man, Grandpa, Dad, and Father-in-law.  He always made me feel like part of the family, and it was always obvious how proud he was of me when I accomplished things.  I very much enjoyed him, and being a part of his family. During the visitation, countless people came through to tell stories about how Mort had helped them during their times of need.  Times when their refrigerator, air conditioning, or something was not working and Mort helped them to fix it. It did not seem to be convenient times either. It seemed to be Christmas Eve or when there was  no extra money to be spared for the family. None of that mattered to Mort. He took care of those things anyway. It was wonderful to share our sadness and grief with so many other people who had such awesome things to say about Grandpa.  

Joshua and Luke - Please remember that Grandpa will always be in our hearts.  The memories of hm and your love for him will always be a part of you.

Grandpa's rainbow - reminding
us that everything will be OK. 

I love you both to infinity and beyond.

Love,

Mom

February Fun

Luke completed the Cub Scout requirements.

 Dearest Joshua and Luke,

Luke has been really busy this month working on his Cub Scout requirements.  At the end of the month, he crosses over from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts. A huge thank you to Mr. Byers and Mr. Harris for helping Luke complete this requirements, and for all of the encouragement along the way.  One of the last things we worked on was helping Luke start a fire with flint and steel. Luke and I were both surprised when it happened, but it did. Despite the rain and wind, Luke did it!

Mr. Harris & Mr. Byers helped Luke
a lot with his achievements.

The crossover ceremony is always a special time for the Scouts.  Just crossing over from one Scout rank to the next is special, but the crossover from Cub Scouts to Boy Scouts is extraordinary.  We started the day with mass at Holy Childhood with the other scouts. Then, onto a breakfast at the school. After breakfast, the fun began.  Achievements, face painting, recognition……

An Indian visited the ceremony, and personally invited each Cub Scout that was ready to cross over to Scouts.  It was great to see the older Boy Scouts receive the newest scouts into the troop. I am not sure what Boy Scouts will bring for Luke, but I hope he continues to do it, and move up through the ranks.

silly Josh

Joshua has been working hard with his good friend, Lucas, to get the battery buggy ready for competition.  They were working on the practice log the night before the regional contest at Lindenwood, but they finally got it done.  It was a long, laborious, and sometimes stressful process to prepare the battery buggy for competition. Joshua and Lucas placed first with the battery buggy at the Regional competition, and the entire team qualified for the State competition in April. The judges gave Lucas and Joshua an idea to improve their buggy for State.  There is not much they have to do, but it will be a fun experience again.

The battery buggy was built to race to an end point.

Luke & The Mortal Krusaders

Luke crocheting

Luke has taken up crocheting at school.  Mrs. Warner, his fifth grade teacher, taught him and others in the class to crochet.  Luke has loved it. We bought him some of his own yarn and needle to use at home to make things.  Luke has spent a lot of time outside of class working on crocheting.

I  love you both more today than I did yesterday.

Love,
Mom

January Ramblings

Dearest Joshua & Luke,

This has been a slower month full of cold weather and the last annual Pinewood Derby.  Mr. Rich, Dad’s friend and "jack-of-all-trades guy” helped Luke get his Pinewood Derby car ready for the last annual race.  Luke has worked on many Pinewood Derby cars over the years, but this year he wanted a nice-looking replica of his favorite car - the Lambourghini Sesta Elemento.  And that is just what he got!

The car was great looking and earned the “Most Patient” award for earning the last spot in the race.  It was a great looking vehicle. It will always be a treasure for Luke. We also spent this month finishing up some Cub Scout requirements as Luke prepares to cross over to Boy Scouts in February.  

Luke & "Grandpa"

 Luke has had a love of animals for a long time.  He has been wanting to volunteer at an animal shelter or dog shelter for a long time.  We did not have a lot of luck at the first animal rescue place we went to. While the wanted volunteers, every time we went there, they already had enough volunteers.  After three attempts, we decided to try the Belleville Humane Society.

We learned that you have to be older to volunteer for the Humane Society, but anyone can read to the dogs.  Yes, read to the dogs! What a great idea! We went the first time and met many dogs, but “Grandpa” held a special place in Luke’s heart.  Grandpa was a five year old small dog that was brought to the shelter earlier in the week. He was a sweet, cute little thing with some health issues.  We read to him a little, and brought him to the play room to read and play with for a while. Of course, Luke wanted to take him home, but that was not the idea of us going to the shelter.  We met many dogs, and learned that they did like to be read to. It also got pretty noisy as the dogs barked a lot. Once one dog started barking, the others joined in as if they were each trying to outdo the other.

We also made a short visit to the “Cat Room.”  This is a place where you can read to the cats.  It was very interesting, but not as exciting for Luke since he is allergic to cats.  The funniest part of the visit to the cat room was Luke hearing a cat say, “Meow” for the first time.  We have not been around cats much, and it was the first time that Luke ever heard a cat. He said, “Mom, cats really say ‘Meow” when they make noises!”  I never thought about that before, but it was very true, Luke. You continue to teach me more every day.

Luke playing with Molly

We went back the next week to find out that Grandpa had been adopted by a nice family, but we met another dog that stole our hearts.  There were definitely lots of dogs there, but what a great way to spend our January days.

Joshua has been busy working on the battery buggy for the Science Olympiad Regional competition.  More on that next time.

Josh & Lucas working on the battery buggy

I love you both more today than I did yesterday.

Love,

Mom

End-of-the-School-Year/Memorial Day Fun 2018

Dearest Joshua and Luke,

It has been a great ending to seventh and eighth grade this year!

Look out, Middle School!

 Luke ended the year with the news that he will be pursuing percussion in the 6th grade band at Middle School.  I am not ready for drums, but I think I can get used to bells, mallets….. Look out Middle School!

Josh looks excited to receive his award!

Joshua ended seventh grade with recognition for his participation in Band, Science Olympiad, Jr. Beta, Recycling, Dr. Evil and the Basket of Kittens play, and High Honor Roll.  I am so proud of his accomplishments this year. He has maintained good grades despite the fact that he does little homework at home. He claims to use his school time wisely so that he does not have much to do at home.  I can not complain with good grades and great participation in so many activities.

Summer should be busy, but fun.  Joshua started Tae Kwon Do again, and is enjoying it alot.  He tried Tae Kwon Do when he was much younger, but it gave way to other activities.  Both boys are playing baseball which I love watching. It is probably my favorite sport to watch.  I am glad that both boys play for fun.

Miss you, Grandpa!

Luke has been having a lot of fun playing Fort Nite at home.  While Josh enjoys playing, too, Luke plays a lot with friends from school.  I have been talking to Luke a lot about playing video games for too long. I must say that he plays too much during each day, so we are working on weaning him off so much time online little by little.  It is difficult as he has a lot of fun with it. It has been more difficult to push him outside to do things because of his allergies and cough. In addition, I have been talking to Luke a lot about what screen time does to his precious brain.  While I know he does not like to hear me talk about it, I also know he understands at some level and needs to change. We will keep at it. We have to.

Both boys will be going to Boy Scout Camp for a month in June.  It will be one week. Their week will be full of swimming, earning merit badges, and time with friends.  It will be a long week without them at home, but I worked it at that I will work most of that week at school.  I am able to take off some other days when I can be home with them.

Miss you, Grandma Nichols!

Memorial Day was a nice way to start off the summer break.  We went to Jefferson Barracks in the morning and visited Grandpa Al and Grandma Nichols’s grave.  I miss them both so much, even more than I missed them. I still miss them both very much. I miss that they do not get to see both of you and all of your activities.  They would be so proud of you. I know they are in your heart, and watching over you as your guardian angels. The rest of the day was spent making dinner and movies. Joshua started the fire in the grill, and Dad grilled pork steaks.  Mom worked on the rest. We ended the evening watching the original Shrek movie. Joshua was excited to watch it with me as he explained that he gets the adult humor in the movie now. I am sure he did get some of it, but I also saw him sit through and say nothing in some parts, so I am glad to know there are still some things he does not know about being an adult.  Take your time, Joshua and Luke, no hurry to you.

I love you both more today than I did yesterday.  

Love,

Mama