Freedom is not free

Chris has had a few fun trips lately. We look forward to joining him on one someday soon hopefully! We sure miss him when he’s gone but it makes being all together as a family that much sweeter.  His most exciting trip was going to Germany. He got to see his brother Curt and family, see the Porsche factory (one of his dreams come true!), go skiing, see a hockey game, see many castles and ruins, go swimming, sled with his nephew, see Dachau, and enjoyed the German culture and sights.

Faith like to play dress up any chance she can get and frequently has a princess dress on. Then she acts like a princess by ordering me to sit down so she can have an audience for her dancing. She asks for mugets (music) or makes her own if I’m too slow. Some days this eats up a big chunk of my time. And… speaking of eating, that girl can eat! If I’m feeling really productive at some point during the day its usually because Faith has disappeared into the kitchen to fix herself some food.  While I am lost in my feelings of accomplishment reality eventually hits me and I know that Faith has been up to no good.  I started hollering for her and her response this time was, “MESS, MESS, MOM!”  As I rounded the corner I saw that she dumped an entire box of cereal in and around her bowl, covered that with at least one cup of sugar and was enjoying her “nack.”  Ethan is my expert in all things that have to do with cleaning up his sister’s messes and quickly started to vacuum the cereal and sugar. There is no picture to depict her other food experiment but she was delighted to have figured out that she can unscrew the top of the honey.  I was at the cook top and she was on my blind side and when I turned I saw her drinking the honey right out of the bear!! She is busy and smart… and did I mention, hungry?

Channing is now 6 months old and is cuter with each passing day.  He is full of personality and we are all in love with it.  

Dylan had a piece of his art featured at the local high school’s art fair. We had such a nice outing looking at all the fun creations and were proud that Dylan was able to be featured among them.  Dylan gave a speech as George Washington in class this month. He had it memorized to perfection and had so much fun acting like our first president. Unfortunately parents weren’t encouraged to come but we heard it so many times around the house, whether spoken or sang, that we didn’t feel too short changed.

We had another outing to DC on Saturday and thought we’d walk around the memorials. It was so touching, as all trips to our nation’s capital are, and the boys continued to wonder why I had tears welling up in my eyes as I tried to teach them about the things we were looking at.  Freedom is not free and if it weren’t for so many brave, courageous and smart men, like their dad, we wouldn’t have freedom at all. It is so rewarding to be here and hope the kids not only remember the things they are learning but also how they feel while they are learning it.