Cub Scouts

Well, unfortunately Joel's wireless card is broken so I am posting from my computer, which means no photos. So I will just have to be very vivid with my words!

Josh joined Cub Scouts this year. He absolutely loves it. He has worked hard and will receive a badge tomorrow at his pack meeting. He is currently working on his Wolf badge. He has a book and there are several items that he works on to receive his badge.

Josh and Joel went camping a couple of weeks ago for Cub Scouts. Josh had a blast, shooting a BB gun and a bow and arrow. The Boy Scouts set up a rope bridge. Both Josh and Joel were able to do that. Josh with much encouragement. Joel went on it and almost fell off (I know you are wishing you could see that picture, me too! Joel had the camera in his pocket). I knew I should have gone. Next month they will be in Tunica for Base Camp. They are estimating that 10,000 people will be there. This has been great bonding time for Josh and Joel. Now if I could just figure out how to smuggle Belle in it would be great mom alone time!

Growing Up Witucki

For all of you that don't know my maiden name is Witucki(Wa-too-key)and I was raised about a mile from Lake Michigan. Most of you hear the word lake and images of a small body of water come to mind, but this is not true of the Great Lakes. I have a lot of great memories. We used to spend hours at the beach swimming when we were little, sledding on the dunes in the winter, tanning as teenagers, camping and star gazing. Many events happened there, homecoming, post prom parties, and senior pictures. That is the one thing I miss about growing up in Michigan and it is sad to me that my children will not have these same experiences. The town I grew up in was located across the lake from Chicago. On very clear nights you could see the glow of the Chicago skyline. I do not ever remember seeing such a clear view of Chicago as the one below. If you look at the sun you will see small buildings lining the horizon. It may not seem like a big deal, but believe me this is a rare shot. If you can get a full page picture you can really see the buildings.

Mean Brothers

This is just a side note to my last post... Growing up I had a fish, that of course died. When I went to my room I noticed it was gone. So I went to my brother Chris, he came and looked and confirmed that it was no longer in the bowl. He started looking around on the floor. He told me it must have jumped out and sent me on a wild chase looking for the fish. After several minutes of looking my mom came in and told me that the fish had gone down the sink when they were cleaning the bowl. Gee, don't you love brothers. I am sure he did that to keep me busy so I would not bug him.

He's Going to be a Priest

Oh how proud I am of my son. On Friday, Belle won a fish at the fair. She was so proud of it and named it Nemo. Well, today it died. She was absolutely devastated! Josh, in his short life, has had to deal with a lot of death in his 7 years, he's lost 2 grandparents, a hamster, some fish, and of course the beloved Bobo Fett action figure from Star Wars (read on to hear this story). After I spent several minutes holding and trying to comfort her, Josh took charge of the situation. He put his arm around her and was try to comfort her. After about ten minutes of crying, Belle decided to paint. So they both were painting, Belle of course was still crying, the next thing I knew Josh was sitting on the chair with her. I ducked behind the corner to watch and listen This is how the conversation went:

Belle, I know you are sad about Nemo, it is ok because he is in RIP. Do you know what that means? (At this point she had stopped crying because he voice was so soothing he was rubbing her bac too). Sometime you see these stones that have RIP on them. That means rest in peace. Nemo is in peace now and he does not hurt. Do you know where peace is? It is heaven. Good guys go up to heaven. Nemo is with Grandpa and Ed(the hamster) and he does not hurt anymore. The bad guys go down, like the robbers. And that was it, no more crying.

I was so proud of him. Yesterday, we were reading about your attitude and how Jesus wants you to act as He would, when he was done talking to Belle I told him how proud I was of him and how Jesus would be proud that his actions were very Christ like. Josh knew Belle's pain and could relate and console her. He has always had this understanding of death and can speak about it with an eloquence that is odd for a child of his age. A few years ago he had the action figure that I discussed earlier. It had lost a leg or something and he was so upset, he wanted to bury it. The next thing we know he is conducting a funeral in the backyard, with me, Joel, my dad and a few neighbors. We all had to say some words, he made a cross and put flowers on the grave. My dad was very impressed with this makeshift funeral. By the end of the night he was calling Josh, Father Josh. Hmm...Fr. Josh, oh but what about the girls. I guess time will tell.

Following in Her Brothers Footsteps-Well, Sort Of

Belle followed in her brothers footsteps today by starting school. Unlike Josh, she loves school. I picked her up in car rider line from Pre-K and she was just glowing. She would not stop talking about her teacher Mrs. Kelly, the book about chickens that they ready and the balls they bounced at recess. What a relief! I prayed that she would enjoy it. In a very Josh like moment she looked in her book bag and did not see her folder. She freaked out and was very dramatic about having homework and needing to do it. Lets hope she will enjoy doing it better than big brother. We found the folder and she was very happy. When Josh arrived home from school he went right to Belle and asked how school was. When she said good he looked shocked. I think he was hoping she would hate it just like he claims he does!

Typical 1st day photo.

Belle's teacher Mrs. Kelly

Oh and did I tell you we had to play school the rest of the afternoon. She got to be Mrs. Kelly, except she kept having to ask what her name was. By the end of the night she had it down!