Usually on Father's day the boys and I would get up and make something delicious to make Phil eat in bed.
We'd give him gifts and loads of hugs and kisses... tell him how much we love and appreciate him. We'd do something really fun and enjoy our day together.
This year will be different.
Weeks ago we already sent a few little gifts and a card. There will be no fun trips or quality time.
Last night when I started thinking about all that, I decided we'd do something to show Phil that even though this Father's day won't be our normal traditions we still love him and are very proud of what he's doing.
So we took some pictures.
We can't do anything to help take away the heat or the flies or make him a yummy breakfast or give him a fun day but...
Well, hopefully this can at least make the day a bit better with the reminder of how much we love him and how much we're proud of him.
Phillipp, the boys wanted to say something to you for Father's Day,
"Happy Father's Day! We wish you were here to play Super Mario Galaxy 2 because you will be a pro. We miss you so much and we love you sooooooooooooo much!"
Jeremiah would also like to add that he loves his alphabet. He wanted to type it to you.
abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Friday I had plans to have lunch with some friends after Josh got out of school. I had been looking forward to this for a while. Then Friday morning Joshua wakes up with a sore throat. Lunch date broken.
Josh has had no other symptoms but he sore throat still persists. So rather than spend a beautiful day inside we took advantage of our zoo membership. It turned out to be a great day!
They let their peacocks roam and this one has put on a little show for us several times now. The boys love it!
This day we were there in time to watch them feed the elephants. It was neat for the boys to see them picking up the apples and oranges to eat them.
Josh's highlight, though, was the water fountains that were on this time.
Joshua and Jeremiah are very different boys. They approach so many things differently. For example, water. Joshua will jump in whole hog without any concern about whether he will end up soaked or not. He has fun with it then worries about asking questions later.
Jeremiah, on the other hand, is very skeptical about things that aren't in his control. The fountains... not his thing.
He likes things within his control. Ask questions before... and then maybe have some fun after we know it can be trusted.
So... in review...
Jeremiah: safe.
Joshua: wet.
They both have positives and negatives. Hopefully they will learn how to handle these traits of theirs as they get older and use them to their benefit.
Alright I have no real reason for sharing this particular picture other than the fact that I really love the picture. Snakes really creep me out but there's something really neat about them... when they're behind glass... in a place where they could never possibly reach me or hurt me. It's amazing to see Gods' beauty even in the dangerous things.
Blackberries are in season these days around here so we headed out to bring some home.
Blackberries are some of Phil's favorite berries so yes, we picked some for us, but there is now also a bag of frozen blackberries in the freezer waiting for him as well.
Josh did a great job picking them without hurting himself on the thorns.
What did Jeremiah do? He picked them... and ate them. All of the ones he picked!
He ate every single one!
Josh ate some too... notice the black around the mouth area...
Me? There is no photographic evidence... so I guess you'll just never know.
Our neighborhood pool is officially open so we took a little trip over there today. I was amazed! Last year Jeremiah couldn't touch anywhere and this year he could walk around the entire shallow end without any help at all! Freedom. Yes!!
I got to really swim by myself for the first time in a long time (with my eye on the boys and not too far out of reach, of course). It was such a relief! Yet... at the same time... the boys are getting so big!
The sun was pretty bright, but I wanted to show Phil just how much taller they've gotten.
Now I really need to get serious about getting them in swimming lessons. Anyone have any ideas??
The boys' new favorite brain-wasting past time is Mario Brothers. We limit their time playing and all... but even at their tender young ages they're amazing! Both of them have me beat! Joshua was particularly proud at finding out that he had maxed out his lives reserve. Apparently 99 is the highest you can get! Who knew?? Certainly not me. I do know what "continues used" means, that's for sure!
Today we took the crib both boys used as babies back to Walmart because after a little researching I found it had been recalled. With some of the money we got from that we bought a couple little toys. Jeremiah picked out this color changing Hotwheel. It's a little bumblebee.
I know he'd be upset at me saying this (he is, after all a very tough and dangerous guy), but is that not the cutest thing ever??
And we recently located a toy that I can honestly say is what taught Joshua how to read clocks. I can't find a place to buy it anywhere online. We bought it at Target but it was a long time ago. We just brought it out again for Jeremiah to learn with it. Believe it or not, apparently it's still a fun toy for Joshua too!
