Pirate Greybeard's Treasure Hunt

A piece of ocean near the mazzio's gate

One night at dinner, Jonathan started talking about hidden treasure. And before you know it, we suddenly had a treasure buried in our yard. And that treasure belonged to Captain Greybeard the PIRATE! He sailed in from the Elizabeth River and buried the treasure in our very yard. But the treasure could only be unearthed by a worthy young boy.  The tale grew and grew and Jackson's eyes got wider and wider. He was wiggling in his seat over the idea of buried treasure. JB said that we could have a special night to look for it and I threw in, "yeah, we can camp out afterwards as well" (knowing full well that I would get to stay inside with Rachel!)

near a seat on the porch 

So, two weeks later we made it happen. I searched so hard for a treasure box that I forgot things to go in it. Thankfully we have neighbors with kids who are willing to donate some of their excess toys to our cause!  We gathered some gold doubloons from the Mazzio's and mardi gras beads from the McNabbs and a real life cardboard treasure box from Michael's (spray painted an authentic-looking silver). Jonathan researched how to make a map using a tea bag and he worked late into the night crafting the map and burning the edges. 

learning how to read a map

Then, we got silly and wrote 5 limericks to find the map. It was so fun to create an adventure for our little one. It was fun to be clever and creative with my husband. It was fun to see the boys take off on their treasure-finding adventure, wearing headlamps of course! And since then we have had many, many treasure hunts in our house with our stash of pirate treasure.

Our other adventures have included:

Spending lots of time with BB and Grandad. They are super fun and they happen to live across from the beach and love to watch both of our kids while we run errands or have a date night.  Win Win. 

We had a great mother's day. I am so blessed that these two kids call me mom. I am thankful for such an amazing mother who taught me how to love, how to be selfless and serve others and how to be kind.

I attempted to take a selfie in the dark of Rachel attacking me with kisses before she goes to bed.  She grabs on and really dives in for some open mouth, slobbery wet kisses. I love it despite the fact that I'm all sticky and gross when I put her to bed! 

-Jackson is very concerned with Today and tomorrow. But he doesn't quite understand them. He calls both naps and bedtime 'naps' so he tries to figure out when things will happen based on after nap, or after NAP. Child. They are the different things.  Then, if something happens tomorrow he wants to know when that is. So I explain that it is after breakfast, play time, lunch, nap, play time, dinner and bath. But he asks, "when is breakfast?" Well, it's when you wake up. "When do I wake up?" After bedtime. "You mean, after nap?" No, after bedtime. "When is bedtime". So on and so forth it goes!

-"When I die I am going to be with God." Yes, Lord.

-When all the kids came back from Children's church a few weeks ago, Jackson held the door for all 40 of them. What a gentleman! 

-While talking about how to make new colors like purple and pink over dinner one evening, J suddenly blurted out, "The musical word for loud is FORTE. The musical word for soft is piano." He won't really tell us what he does at school but we manage to find out through moments like these.  

Jackson had his final day of Preschool on May 22nd. His class performed a few songs including 'where is thumb kin' and "zip-a-dee-doo-dah". It was precious.  He was much more animated than he was in the Christmas program (poor guy had only been with his class for 2 weeks so he barely knew any of their names, much less any songs they do in music 1x/week).  

Finally, I am not one for art. I don't really enjoy it or go to art galleries. But my friend, Ann, opened an art gallery on 44th street called the Corner Gallery. She features all local artists from Hampton Roads and Richmond. I went to an opening of one of her new exhibits and fell in love with this painting. I couldn't explain it because I never react to art, even the really famous stuff! We just finished reading a book by Tim Keller for our Community Group Bible study and it was about work and how we are created to cultivate the earth and create beautiful things, including art.  I truly see how art can be beautiful and point towards the Creator of this world (and although the art is beautiful and can produce joy in me, HE is the one who deserves the glory).  I gushed about it to Jonathan when I got home. There is something so simple and elegant about it. Jonathan made arrangements to get it and surprised me with it for our anniversary last week. Husband of the year award. What a thoughtful gesture that has meant so much to me. And now, I can wake up each morning to this beautiful peace hanging on my wall.