The Package

This came in the mail for me yesterday among other things.
Be still my heart!
I know.
I'm a lucky girl.
Oh yeah!
The boys got some things too.

 I was actually a good Mom and let them open the box. It was for Jeremiah's birthday, after all.
Jeremiah found this little guy in there for him:

A while ago I sent a couple books to Phil and this box contained those couple of books being returned with a thumb drive with videos of him. So tonight Daddy did storytime with the boys.

They loved it! The questions about when Daddy is coming home came up all over again but you could tell they felt like Daddy had been around in a way they hadn't felt in a while. It was a really special treat on an evening when Mommy was struggling.
One more day is done. One more day closer to homecoming.

Jeremiah's Big Day

Today was Jeremiah's birthday. It was quite a day!

 It started with pancakes in bed for breakfast. Then we were off to the toy storeto buy a toy. He picked light sabers for both him and his brother.

Then we were visiting the zoo. We just learned about elephants yesterday then noticed they had plans to do something special with them at the zoo today. On top of that elephants are Jeremiah's favorite animals at the zoo!

They had made a 15 foot banana shaped pinata of sorts so we were able to watch them tear it apart to see what was inside.

We even took a train ride! Now that's how you know it's a special occasion! Jeremiah said, "Mom, that train ride was awesome!" Mission: accomplished.

If that wasn't enough, we made a trip to Chuck E Cheese for lunch. Jeremiah is finally figuring out skeeball!

Then after opening presents with Daddy on the phone we headed to a bounce house place here. Believe it or not, 6 months ago, Jeremiah wouldn't have much to do with bounce houses. He refused to go down even the smallest slide. You would never know it from how he was today! He was so impressed with his own bravery. Apparently now that he's 4 he is not worried about the bounce houses anymore (according to Jeremiah).
It was definitely a long day but also a really fun one! we couldn't have asked for a better birthday for Jeremiah. And to think... there's still a party to anticipate this weekend!

Our Homeschooling Group

We've been a part of a nearby homeschooling group since before the end of the school year last year. I thought it would be valuable to have others in the same boat to talk to and bounce ideas off of. Last night we finally got around to going to our first event with them. It was a "Not going back to school picnic."

It was at a beautiful park. Joshua was even able to get in a short game of kickball with the older boys.

I sat and visited with other parents who feel my new found "pain".

 It was a good night. I can't wait to meet up with them again!

Soccer Game #1

This Saturday we had the first games of the season. The boys were both really looking forward to it this season. It was so cute to see them all geared up and ready.

 The boys both played hard and had great first games.

There was a rough moment when I realized their games were going to overlap and I'd have to miss part of both of their games while I tried to balance them. It's days like that when I really miss having Phil around to help out with these every day things.
In the end, I couldn't be happier with the new organization we decided to go with for soccer. Josh played goalie for part of his game and blocked every shot!
I can't wait to see what else awaits us this season.

A Story

One of the things we've done to help the boys feel connected to Daddy when he's gone is to write a story back and forth. Each will add a bit then we'll send it along and wait to get a new piece back from Daddy. We finally decided to bring it to a close the other day. Here is their story all finished:

There once were two little boys, brothers in fact that loved to have adventures. The brother's liked to run and to play all day long. One day, a very hot and sunny day, the two boys decided to do something really, really special. And so, they built a rocket ship in their backyard.

The rocket ship was sooo big! It was bigger than both brothers together, it was bigger than a car, it was bigger than their house, it was 19 feet tall! And can you guess what the boys named the rocket ship?
They named it Cranky. They painted it blue with red, yellow and black spots. Because they loved having adventures so much they decided to take a ride in their blue, red, yellow and black rocket.


It flew high, high, high into the air when they realized they forgot to put a steering wheel in the rocket. So it went down, down, down straight into a volcano! Fortunately the boys made the rocket fire proof.

Cranky crashed into the volcano so fast that the volcano erupted shooting the rocket and the boys back high in to the air. It was then that the brother's remembered that they had made Cranky and they could make something to make the rocket steer so they made a steering wheel and were able to fly the rocket anywhere they wanted to go.

But, the boys decided that they needed to stop at home to get their dog and some ice cream so they landed the rocket right back in the back yard.

The boys ate their chocolate ice cream with M&M's on it. They put their dog in the blue, red, yellow and black rocket ship.

When they were back on the rocket they decided that it would be fun to fly in to space.
They flew so high that they met an astronaut and an alien. Actually, they met a LOT of aliens! 19 of them.
They took their seat belts off and were able to float all over inside of Cranky. They had a lot of fun doing that!

After they were done floating around, one of the aliens asked if the boys would like to come to their planet that was covered in slides and swings and stuff. Their planet was one GIANT playground.
The boys went and played and saw that there were also houses there and each house had a backyard. The aliens in the houses had horseshoes and fireplaces and kitchens with ovens and bedrooms and beds in the bedrooms and hallways and some had stairs and computers.

The boys even had fun letting their dog and the alien's dogs play together and run around.

The aliens and the boys got hungry so the aliens got out their Halloween candy and they all had a piece.

After they all had a piece of candy the boys thought that maybe they should get home before their mom started to get sad that they were gone. So, they got back in to Cranky with their dog and headed home. On the way home though, they had to find a place to get some gas for Cranky.

So they stopped at a gas station. But not a earth gas station. A space gas station. It was an outer space Quick Trip. Then they decided that they had to go home but they went a little too fast so they had to stop a second time to get gas!

After stopping to get gas one more time, the two boys and their dog finally got home where their mom had dinner waiting for them.

After they had dinner and took a bath, they sat with mommy for a story and then went off to bed. Sleep well boys. Daddy loves you both!