Can You Guess This Riddle?

Luke's 1st day in the Blue Room.

Dear Joshua and Luke,

What do these groups of things have in common?

Group 1

 * an empty roll of scotch tape
 * refrigerator magnet from Children's Hospital
 * purple beaded necklace from homecoming parade
 * green mechanical pencil
 * one quarter and one dime
 * twelve inch American flag





Group 2

 * 1 Oral B and 1 Colgate toothbrush (unopened)
 * one beaded bracelet made at preschool earlier in the day
 * one airplane glider
 * one Hardees Kids Meal toy - motorcycle
 * one McDonald's Happy Meal toy - gingerbread man chain driven watch

I am sure that you are about to guess, but I will tell you.  All of these things were given to me by both of you as presents when I arrived home this week.  As I came home from work on Tuesday, Group 2 was waiting for me as a present.  On Thursday, Group 1 was waiting for me as a present.  Both of you came running up to me ~ so excited to give me this present.  Group two was given to me in a plastic ZipLoc bag with "to mom" written on it with a Sharpie marker.  Group one was given to me in a plastic Wal-Mart bag.  You both were so excited to give me these presents.  It made me so happy to see your smiling faces looking at me as I walked through the door.  You both planted several kisses on my cheek and hugged me until you were so tired you had to let go.  You both made me feel extra happy and loved tonight.  I LOVE these moments.

Joshua - Class of 2022 &
Luke - Class of 2024
at the new high school - AMAZING!!!!

Here are other moments from the week that I LOVED:

Luke had his first week of preschool.  We spent a lot of time mentally preparing Luke.  At the beginning of the summer, he was pretty adamant that he was going to Miss Pam's class again for the next year.  Luke woke up Monday morning so excited to go to school.  He got ready for school fairly quickly, and as ready to go.  Daddy dropped him off at school, and I was very excited to pick him up.  Of course, I arrived early and peeked at him through the window.  He was playing at the sensory table with another sweet girl.  Then, they ended the day by singing, "The Green Grass Grows All Around."  Luke was adorable making the hand motions and singing along.  When I picked Luke up, he was a chatter box about the day.  He told me about the boy who yelled at Miss Vicki.  That really bothered him.  He told me about riding the bikes and trying to play everything at recess. He was most excited to tell me, "Mom, I did not even cry today!"  And I was really proud of him.  He is growing up so much! 

Dr. Mike and Luke - Open wide!

Luke also had his first official dentist visit with Dr. Mike.  Luke's teeth looked great.  In fact, both boys' teeth looked great!  I am so proud of them both.  Both of you are mostly petty good about brushing your teeth.  It paid off with an awesome visit!  It is always good to see Dr. Mike, too.  He is friendly, and super nice to both of you.   You both chose to go to Red Robin for lunch and peach picking in the afternoon to celebrate the good reports!







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

Love,

Mama

Why Can't We Buy This? What Can't We Buy That? - Life Lesson #618

Joshua & Luke watching the Clydesdale competition ~
a must see each year at the Illinois State Fair.

Dear Joshua and Luke,

We had a blast in Branson this summer.  But you both had some questions about the trip...."Why can't we go to Dixie Stampede again?"  "Why can't we see Kirby van Burch?"  "Why can't we play miniature golf?"  "Why can't we?"  "Why can't We?"  "Why can't we?"  I felt compelled to start the lesson by telling you that we took only two big vacations when I was a child - one to Daytona Beach, FL and one to Branson, MO ~ and you can bet these vacations were a big deal to my family!  Every year we went to the Zoo, Grant's Farm, Six Flags, Meramec Caverns, fishing trips, etc., but to go out of town and stay in a hotel was HUGE for my family.

Luke, Grammy, and Joshua on the Sky Lift at the fair.

Daddy further explained  to you both that even though his family took a trip every year, sometimes the vacations were for a weekend or a long weekend, but not for an extended length of time.  Daddy and I have taken great vacations every year since we have known each other.  And I have to tell you that Branson holds a special place in my heart for a few reasons.  First, Branson was the place that we visited the night Daddy proposed to me, but that is for another story, another time.  Also, I always feel a little closer to Grandpa Al when we are in Branson because I remember being there with him and my family.  I remember being at Silver Dollar City and riding Fire in the Hole and watching the blacksmiths ~ very good memories. 

Luke had Perry the Platypus face painted on his
cheek while Joshua settled on Phineas!

We also explained to you that you have to make choices with your money and how you are going to spend it.  Some people choose to spend money on vacations, and some people spend their money on new cars, fancy houses, eating out often, clothes, collectibles, toys, all sorts of things.  


Daddy and I have made the decision that vacations are important to us and our family.  It is important for us to have time away with you two showing you the beautiful country that we live in.  We think it is essential for you to learn and understand our nation's history, and what better way to do it than visiting the many historic places?  And vacationing gets us away from home and the constant reminders of all the things we should be doing.  It gives us time to relax and spend even more quality time together.  It gives us time to start new traditions as well as honor the old ones.  So vacationing is a priority to us.  And even though we go on vacations, we can not buy everything you want or do everything you want - again, you have to make choices.  I think you both started to understand what we were talking about. 

Joshua was dressed to take down Goliath!

I am sure that we will revisit these questions again, but I do have to say that you have been asking less and less about, "Can I get this?  Or do that?"  I do think you are beginning to understand. 

I love you both more today than yesterday. You are the best!!!!

The butter exhibit in the dairy barn is a must see!  Can you see the
piglet over by the flowers and the teeny tiny mice?

Love,

Mama

Dog Gone Fun!

Joshua & Luke at the School of the Ozarks museum.

Dear Joshua and Luke,

We had another great vacation in Branson, Missouri!  We have been going to Branson for vacations since before you were both born.  I remember many years of swimming with Elsa and Ethan in the baby pools.  And to think of where Elsa is now!!!!! 

Joshua is out of this world!

As usual, we spent time swimming, swimming, and more swimming.  Daddy grilled a fast for us each evening.  We had our famous Branson Potatoes. Joshua adamantly claims that the potatoes that we buy in Branson taste way better than the potatoes that we can buy here.  The BIG secret to these potatoes is that the potatoes are peeled and thinly sliced.  Then, the potatoes are slathered in butter and microwaved until they are cooked.  A little bit of salt, and you have the famous Branson Potatoes!  You both requested root beer floats each night for dessert.  Only on vacation could you get root beer floats every night.  You also managed to watch Lassie, Star Wars I - The Phantom Menace, and Tarzan.  Again, only on vacation do you get to watch this much television.  I should not forget the episodes of Phineas and Ferb.  You watched these for the first time, and found them quite funny.
We spent one half day at the School of the Ozarks.  It is an amazing museum.  It's has many old items in the museum, and tons of taxidermied animals. Tons!  It's biggest attraction is probably the fact that the museum is home to the original car used in the Beverly Hillbillies.  You probably thought we were crazy as we tried to explain the old sitcom to you. 

Luke at the swimming pool at the resort.

We spent two days at Silver Dollar City.  Wow!  Full days with two very energetic boys, but never a dull moment.  There were lots of fun rides and a performance with the Stunt Dog Experience.  In fact, we saw the performance twice!  Luke chose the light up Frisbee as his souvenir from Silver Dollar City.  He was able to go on the stage and throw the Frisbee to one of the dogs.  It was loads of fun.  Luke is practicing for when we get a new dog.  I can not even think about that, but I am pretty sure that we will sometime soon.  The MC of the Stunt Dog Experience asked the audience to shout, "Dog Gone Fun" when he raised his arms during the show.  About ten minutes later Joshua said, "Oh, I get it.  Dog gone fun!  We are having dog gone fun!!!!"  Gotta love six year-olds! 

Inside Marvel Cave

Daddy took the boys into Marvel Cave.  I would like to have gone with you, but with 450 steps going down, I was a little nervous.  We had a great time on Huck Finn's River - we got soaking wet!  Not a bad thing for a one hundred degree plus day!  It was also a blast to squirt everyone with the guns and to play in the HUGE ball pit at Geyser Gulch.

Joshua bought a puppet Lassie dog and a cork gun as his souvenirs.  Luke chose a sword and the light up Frisbee from the Stunt Dog Experience. 

Joshua practicing his golf swing with Wii Golf.

Joshua and his snorkeling gear in the pool at the resort.

There are many of the usual things that we did not do this time, like going to the fish hatchery or Dixie Stampede, but this was definitely one of our best vacations.  It is great to spend time together as a family with no other distractions around us.  And vacations give us the opportunity to experience new things and to do things that we do not usually do at home.  

Joshua, winner of the coloring contest at the resort, next
to his winning picture. The root beer float was his prize!

Go speed racers at the Go Cart tracks!

Luke and Joshua with Diggy the Dog.

Joshua & Luke meet Tom & Jerry.

Luke & Greg with the Stunt dogs.

These are memories that I will treasure! I love you both more today than yesterday. 

Love,

Mama

More Summer Fun........

Joshua, Luke & Grandma Nichols

Dear Joshua and Luke,

Summer has been so much fun! The best news is that Grandma Nichols is feeling better each day. Thank goodness. She is home, and back to her apartment and all of her friends. During one of the visits to her in the rehab center, we went to the lunchroom with her. Not surprisingly, Joshua immediately spotted a piano. Daddy got permission for him to play, and the audience loved it! He played several rounds of Love Somebody and Red Balloons. He also played the Star Wars theme song which he mostly learned to play by himself, with a little help from his cousin, Ethan. These are the first songs he has learned to play with two hands. We are so proud of his interest and talent with piano. It is difficult to get him to practice sometimes, but he loves to play the piano most of the time. I think there is an upgraded piano in his future. Not the baby grand piano that he has been asking for, but something bigger and better.

Grammy, Joshua, & Luke at the Amtrak Train Depot

Last week both boys finally got their birthday presents from Grammy and Papa. While you may be thinking, it was a really late present for Luke who turned 4 in March, it was actually very good timing. Luke and Joshua both got an IOU for an Amtrak ride to Chicago with Grammy. Your day started at 4:15 am in order to pick up Grammy and make it to the train station by your 7:15 am departure time. You had lunch in Chicago, a fun afternoon at the Lincoln Park Zoo, dinner in the train car, and a 10:30 pm arrival time back. And you got to visit with Uncle Jose, too. What a fun day for all of you. I know that neither of you will forget this birthday present firm Grammy and Papa. It was very special for both of you.

Uncle Jose, Daddy, Dakota, Joshua, & Luke
at the Lincoln Park Zoo

You have been having playmates, and swimming most every day at the pool. I am amazed at your pool skills. You both have grown so much with swimming this year.

Lunch at Fitz's after a check up with the
allergist and pulmonologist!

A funny Luke story of the week: I was getting after Luke a little seriously because he was not helping to pick up toys in the loft. So.....Luke looks at me very seriously, and says, "Mom, would you be wanting to do all this if you were a kid?". In which I promptly replied that if I was a kid, I would not have gotten the help that he is getting to pick up the toys! Yes, he got a little reaction out of me! What a turkey! I did laugh later on as I was retelling the story to Eric. Gotta love these boys!

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

Love,

Mama

Crazy For Cousins



The cousins all together watching old Scooby Doo episodes on
Elsa's I-Phone~ Joshua, Elsa, Luke, Ethan, Isaac, & Levi
at the house at Hilton Head.

Dear Joshua and Luke,

We have been blessed with another visit with the cousins from South Dakota.  What a treat!  They arrived just a few days after Joshua's birthday party, but just in time to celebrate your "real" birthday day.  There is something about cousins coming for a visit ~ maybe it is seeing your Aunts and Uncles, getting to stay up later, seeing Grammy and Papa more when other family is here, non-stop playing from dawn until a much later bedtime, plus there is so much more.  But needless to say, it is very exciting each and every time the cousins come!  The boys start counting down weeks, days, then hours before they arrive. 

Grammy drawing with Luke on the patio in the backyard.

During this visit, the cousins and both of you spent an afternoon at Monkey Joes, a place we usually go to only for birthday parties.  We also spent one evening making smores in the fire pit, catching lightening bugs, frogs, toads, food for the frogs and toads, so much fun!  A highlight of this time was realizing that when a frog swallowed a lightening bug, his whole body lit up as the lightening bug was flashing his light!  Very exciting for four young boys! 

Isaac showing Luke the "tricks" to hunting or at least how to
be successful with the hunting game!

 
From previous posts, you already know that the cousins spent Joshua's birthday with us at the Science Center and of course, the traditional Old Spaghetti Factory. Grammy invited the boys to attend the frog jumping contest with them.  That was a ton of fun, too. The cousins enjoyed swimming in the city pool with us.  Another highlight of the trip was daddy taking Isaac frog gigging.  It was hard for you to understand why Isaac was the only one that got to go, but daddy assured you that you would all get a turn to go when you are just a little older. Grammy was such a thoughtful Grandma by frying up the frogs at our house for everyone to enjoy (not me of course!).  On the fourth of July, we watched fireworks together at the park and enjoyed one of Daddy's fabulous BBQ's.

Joshua getting ready to enter his frog into the frog jumping
contest. Isaac was very close to being a winner!

It is always difficult to say goodbye to the cousins.  It is almost always difficult for you to understand why the cousins can not spend every day here with us.  All of you are so lucky to have some of the best grandparents out there.  They love you so much.  They spend quality time with you ~ and let's face it - They are tons of fun!  Even though we live the closest to your grandparents, we do not see them as often as you would like to (or that we would like you to!).  But keep in mind, that sometimes your Grammy and Papa are able to come and see special things that you do like a soccer game, Vacation Bible School performances, etc.  Those are things that they can not do for other cousins.  I am glad that most of the time, you are both understanding.  And this is not to mention how much you love your grandparents and spending time with them. 

Levi showing Joshua how to use his DS. 
There is nothing better than having your big cousin show
you how to use the DS!!!!

We love spending time with the family, too.  It is always great to catch up on how life has been going, what has been happening, hopes and dreams for the future and just the day to day stuff.  It is really fun to watch the cousins play together, get up early and begin playing early in the day, sharing feasts together, and sometimes showing them around where we live.




You will certainly always be cousins, but I also hope that you are all life long friends.  I hope you visit each other, get to know and spend time with each other's families, and maybe even travel together.  I believe that each of your cousins is a very special person that will grow up to be a good person living a life as Jesus's disciples. We were able to spend special time with each of them before you both came along.  We were able to spend special time with each of them before you both came along.  They are all great children with lots of promise for the world. 

The boys posing at the frog jumping contest.

Hmmmm.....Being with cousins and family sounds very important to me, doesn't it?  I have thought long and hard about it, and come up with a few things.  First, Daddy loves having his family here too.  He loves to have them stay at our house.  Then, for me, I love having a house full of family.  It is one of the happiest times in my life (next to being just with my family!). When I was very young, we had Aunt Jean and Uncle Lloyd's family, including my cousins, over every year on Christmas Eve and a few other times throughout the year.  I remember Sunday afternoons where Uncle Jimmy and Aunt Dorothy's family, Aunt Pat and Uncle Art's family, Aunt Dora and Uncle Mike's family, and cousins ~ many other cousins.  Those were fun times.  We would go swimming at our house, my dad would BBQ, and my family would prepare a feast for the families.  It was a blast.  We did not do that as much as I got older, but I have many fond memories of these cousins and families from when I was very young.  Growing up, I did not feel like we had a lot of family around.  Everyone had grown up and moved away, started their own families, etc. and we did not do a good job keeping in touch, except for weddings, funerals, and now Facebook! So yes, I do love having family here. 

Isaac, Levi, Joshua, & Luke at the Science Center.

Daddy's family is very special for so many reasons.   I hope we continue to get together with them, even as our children grow up and start families of their own.  I hope the nieces and nephews think of us, and still want to visit us with their families. In the meantime, I look forward to many visits.  I think we may just have to get a bigger house so that they can all stay here together!  We will work on that!  :) 

Luke, Joshua, Daddy, Isaac, Levi, & Aunt Amy
at the fireworks.

I love you both more today than yesterday.

Love,

Mama

Happy 6th birthday, Joshua!

Joshua & his friends at the bowling alley.

Dear Joshua and Luke,

You both love to hear your birth stories....so here you go.  My due date was July 5.  July 2nd was a Saturday.  We spent the morning at the baptism class at St. Nicholas Church.  Then, we did some last minute baby things around the house.  Daddy went to pick up the new van that we just bought, and was gone for two or more hours.   I thought my water had broke, but I really was not sure since this never happened before.  I looked up "about-to-give-birth" symptoms on the Internet, then finally decided to call Debbie the doula.  We had hired Debbie to help me through natural child birth.  She was also the instructor for our birthing classes.  I called Debbie, and explained to her what was going on.  She told me to get to the hospital.  I asked her if I had time to go to church and out to dinner before I went to the hospital, and she told me, "Absolutely not!!!!"  So onto the hospital we went. 

Joshua & friend at the hockey table.

We settled into a nice room, and the contractions began.  The contractions came and came and came, but 23 hours later, we were only half way there.  After much deliberation and a phone call from my doctor, we scheduled a c-section for thirty minutes from the time of the phone call. The next thing I knew, the doctors were carrying this little bundle all wrapped up in blankets over to the scale - 8 pounds and 15 ounces!  I will never forget the first time I saw you.  You were so bright-eyed and beautiful.  Seconds later you were in my arms and we smiled for our first family picture.  The rest is history......

Sitting around with his friends discussing
what it is like to be six years old.

Fast forward to six years later, and you had a fun birthday celebration!  We celebrated a week early with your friends from school at the bowling alley.  It was a blast.  Your friends played at least one game of bowling, video games, and ate lots of pizza.  It was so much fun!

Native Americans Joshua & Luke
in the Discovery Room at the Science Center.

The cousins building things at the Science Center.

On your actual birthday, you spent the day with your cousins at the Science Center.  You wanted to see the Brain and Body exhibition, but that was expensive and not everyone was as interested as you were in it. Daddy and I will take Joshua to the exhibit one day by himself very soon.  Everyone had fun at the Science Center on your birthday.  We visited the Discovery Room for the first time.  It was loads of fun.  We wished we could have stayed longer....there was so much to see.  The Old Spaghetti Factory was a huge treat for dinner.  We ended the evening with watching Part I of Star Wars.

Happy 6th birthday, Joshua!  I am really proud of the little man you are becoming! 

Love,

Mama

Dr. Luke getting ready to perform surgery on the skeleton. 
Isaac seeks a 2nd opinion from Dr. Luke.

Back From Vacation!

Joshua, Luke, and Kennedi - best buds -
at the Friday night performance!

Dear Joshua and Luke,

We are back from vacation and right into Vacation Bible School.  This is our second year going, and it was unbelievably better than last year - which was hard to beat!  This year I volunteered to be a teacher leader.  I was assigned to a multi-age group of four and five year olds, and children that just finished kindergarten.  It was a busy group, but the best part was being the teacher for both of you.  I am so pleased about how proud you both were to have me as your teacher. I am sure that neither of you realized how proud I was of saying that you were both my sons!  The week ended with the celebration in the park.  It gave me goosebumps to see you both along with 270 other young children in our city, singing and praising God.  It was quite an experience! 

Even better was hearing both of you talk about God sightings all week or things that reminded you of God outside of Vacation Bible School.   We spent a great deal of time talking about the daily lessons and the scriptures.  Here are a couple of examples that make me so proud.

A portion of the 272 children  from Vacation Bible School!

I asked Joshua to help his brother strap in his booster seat.  Joshua said, "Well, I don't really want to, but if Jesus was here, then he would do it so I will do it, mom."  WOW!  I have been teaching both of you to think about what Jesus would do in certain situations and here you did it without any prompting from us!  I was so proud.

Just Joshua!

Luke was drawing at the desk in his room two nights after Vacation Bible School ended.  He was very serious about this drawing, and looked quite intent on completing it.  So we asked him what he was drawing and he said, "My Father's house.  It's a big house with lots of windows."  We had been singing a song called, "My Father's House" all week at bible school.  How cool that he was dreaming of how wonderful God's house was going to be. 

Then,  there were at least four times this week, that Luke has reminded us that, "Nothing is Impossible With God," - another song that we learned this week.  One time Daddy was fixing the toilet leak, and Dad said, "This is impossible!!!! (Luckily, that is all the kids heard!)  Luke walked over to the bathroom, and said, "Nothing is impossible with God."  How could you not smile at that? There was a time this week where I said, "That is just not possible." and Luke reminded me again that nothing is impossible with God.  Just tonight he was singing in the bathroom...Nothing is impossible with God!

Luke!

We sang happy birthday to Grandma Nichols this week.  She was 81 years old on Sunday.  Unfortunately, she needs lots of extra prayers this week.  She had a heart attack on Monday, and is now in the hospital.  The doctors have diagnosed her with congestive heart failure.  Her dementia is so much worse now, too.  Please keep her in your prayers.

I love you both more today than yesterday.

Love,
Mama