Getting Ready to Go

The boys and I are heading out on a road trip tomorrow. After the boys made a few comments yesterday about wishing "we could be 4" and missing Daddy I decided to bring "Daddy" along. I found this at Target around Christmas time. It's a Mighty World toy.

It reminded me so much of Phil I bought it for his stocking. I bought another one the other day on sale at Target so we're going to take him with us. The boys are excited! Hopefully we'll get some cute pictures along the way.

Maybe it will feel a little more like Daddy is getting to enjoy the adventure along with us.

Goals and Reading!

Phil and I are doing our best to raise our boys in a way that is somewhat counter-cultural. I'm sure this is no big surprise after having read so much about us. I think this weekend was the first time I really saw clearly how we are different.
Joshua has been wanting this one game for his DS. We found it for $28 used. It wasn't that long ago that the boys had just saved up their allowance and raided their piggy banks to buy themselves a new game for the Wii so I wasn't real hip on the idea of putting out that much more for this game that only one of them can really play. I told him to save up his allowance again for it but since he only gets $3 a week that would make for a very long wait for a 6 year old. Since I don't want him spending every single penny in his piggy bank he started practically begging to put up a lemonade stand. After talking with Phil about it we decided to go ahead and let him.

We bought lemons and squeezed until we couldn't feel our wrists anymore. We found a recipe and mixed it all up. It was delicious! Sunday after church we set it up. It was sunny and super hot! I hung out with a book in the shade beside the house while Josh sat out by the street... by choice! He wanted to be where the action was! Even Jeremiah helped. They waved at just about every car that went by!

Enough people stopped and bought Josh's lemonade that he was able to go out and buy his game today. We did have to drop the price which brought in more customers but hurt his profit. Phil and I decided that the amount of work he put into this was worth putting in some of the supplies to make it happen for him.

Today I let him play for a little bit. Jeremiah watched over his shoulder. I had no idea how much they'd enjoy this together. Josh is so proud of himself. His first real goal accomplished. He is quite the little businessman!

Jeremiah is making his own improvements as well! The other day he looked up on the counter at the pharmacy and read to me the word, "on." So today we brought out one of our favorite learning tools we got for Joshua, the Bob books.

Today he read his first book! We sounded out the words he couldn't figure out and he did way better than I expected! Looks like both our boys can say they started reading before they were 4 years old!
On a side note, the Bob books are great for very beginning readers! The stories are a little funny if you point that out and the words start out with 3 letters each so they're easy to sound out. We only bought the first set with Joshua because once he started reading he didn't really need much more guidance. He pushed forward on his own and quickly outgrew them. They make several levels so we'll have to see how it goes with Jeremiah.

One Summer Day

Yesterday was pretty fun! It was cow appreciation day at Chick Fil A. You have to dress like a cow so we used their thing on their website and cut out some cow accessories.

We make pretty good looking cows, no?

Then later we went to a dinosaur storytime at the library. They had a guest speaker from the Virginia Living Museum come talk about dinosaurs and he brought some animals to show around. He did a great job! Josh touched everything he brought (a snake, an opossum, and a skink). Jeremiah shied away at the snake but touched the others. 

He was on my lap which made him feel a little braver, I think. Not sure what he was talking about in that picture, but it must have been dinosaur related.
All of these were a perfect way to distract us from the mess going on at home... and the financial burden it will inevitably place on us once we get the final bill.

With all this going on, I'm always on the lookout for some free summer fun!

Legos

I love legos! The boys love them too. Sometimes I wonder if I love them more than they do. Is that weird?
The last couple days we've been on a build it/make it kick.
The legos have been out, our craft box has been out, my kitchen is a wreck! It's all good inexpensive fun for the summer, though.

The boys both asked me to take a picture so they could show these particular projects to Daddy.

Josh built a sailboat from a project thing in Lego Club Jr magazine that we got for free with some lego pack we got sometime.

Jeremiah's was one he created himself. He was particularly impressed with the propeller in front.
We also all agreed this morning that we miss Daddy quite a bit today. Maybe all this making projects and all is just our way of distracting ourselves. I'm good with whatever works.

Phil Being Awesome

I thought you'd like to know a bit about what Phil has accomplished this deployment.
Phil earned 2 new ensignias for his uniform. He already had 2 from his first command. They symbolize a specialty in a certain area. He already earned a Surface Warfare Pin (ESWS) and an Air Warfare pin (EAWS) while he was on his first ship. It was an aircraft carrier.

Now he's at a different kind of command and so eligible for different specialist pins. He earned his Boat Captain pin first. It's something he's always wanted but was afraid he wouldn't have the opportunity to get it, so it's pretty cool. In it's metal form it looks like this:

His is the silver one. He couldn't put that one on, though, until he earned his Expeditionary Warfare pin. For this one you have a "board" as well as a test where you're asked a bunch of questions orally. He thought he'd have a few more weeks to study for the board after he passed the test but they surprised him and a couple others by scheduling him for the next day. He passed! I'm so proud of him! Now he gets to wear this one as well:

The picture at the top and below you can see these new patches in their embroidered version on his desert uniform.

I'm so proud of how Phil has been handling this deployment. He's been keeping his chin up and continuing to push himself even in difficult circumstances. I can't wait for him to come home!

Toothbrushes, a Painting and a Quandry

I need your help. Why is it I have 2 children and 8 toothbrushes in their bathroom?

Like any thrifty Mom would I bought the mulitpack of superhero toothbrushes to last us a while. I put the extras under the kids sink to get when we needed them. Apparently Jeremiah had other plans.
That's not really what I need help with. The painting is dry. I decided to go ahead and hang it even though it still smells some. I'm impatient. Ask Phil. It's a problem. I'm pretty sure I get it from my Mom.

 Anyway. I don't know how to hang it!

 The boys noticed right away a smile that was completely unintended and now I'm not sure how to put it up there.

Do I turn it and try to hide the fact that it's there or just leave it exposed unabashedly?

What do you think??

Morning in the Country

This morning we headed out to Pungo again. We had plans to pick blueberries which turned out to be not ripe yet.

We did find more blackberries to pick... and a million dragonflies! They were beautiful in a weird buggy way.

 These berries were huge! A mouthful in each berry.

 Blackberry pie is on the list for this week. We'll see what else can figure out to make with these ones.

We also stopped by a couple farm stands to get some fresh produce for our meals this weekend. These peaches are delicious!! I bought 4 on a whim. They weren't on the list. I only have 3 more. They're from North Carolina and the boys and I will be driving down there later this month to hang out with family for a while. I might just eat my entire weight in peaches while I'm there.

This is a little farm playhouse they have set up at one of the stands for the kiddos to play in.

They also had this. The Californian in me has to call it a bean bag toss. Sorry rest of the world who calls it something else. I just can't think of what it's really called right now.

Joshua also bought me flowers. They were a buck. I couldn't resist!

In closing, happy 4th of  July.
A special thank you to all the military men and their families for the sacrifices made to enable us all to live in such a country. As much as we would all prefer peace, sometimes it's worth it to stir the pot and all the policies and papers in the world could never have won us our freedom by itself.

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.  
~Elmer Davis