Friday, February 26, 2010

more kid comments

Ben: "Mom this adventures in oddesy is my favorite. It is about peer pressure and how we can turn Negative peer pressure into positive peer pressure." (really I promise he is only 5 1/2).

Jake watching womens ice skating: "mommy, why that girl not wearing her shirt?"

Ben after learning about the olympics and medals at school. "Mom the first place person get's a yellow one and that is the biggest. The next person get a grey one and that is the second biggest. The next person get's a blond one and that is the smallest"

The night that followed the day

So, I realized I have a lot to add to that awesome post about the big exciting day we had.

I also forgot to mention that I also found cat poop on the couch at one point during the day so I had to clean that up as well. (seriously, if the cats can't go in their potty they are going to need to find a new home)

Anyway, the kids had a super hard time going to bed. Caleb woke up just as I was falling asleep, Ben came running in with "crazy poops", Caleb finally fell back asleep just in time for Jake to wake up, just as Jake was finally asleep again, Caleb was up. When Caleb was finally back in his bed Ben came running back in with more "crazy poops".

Out of all of that it was the crazy poops that sent me into the greatest frenzy. I have realized that I am completely terrified of my children throwing up. I was certain that Ben was sick and that next time he would come running in and throw up all over the place. I am not sure why I am so scared of "the throwups" but it really is one part of being a mom that I don't handle well (that is an understatement). I keep praying that God would take away my fear and that I would rest in him and know that he won't give me more than I can handle. For some reason the stomach bug is one thing I am pretty sure I can't handle. Anyway, Tuesday was a long day. Good thing mom came over to help out.

Thursday, February 25, 2010

Sparks

Ben has become an over achiever this year at Sparks. He finished his book this past week. It is so funny how he responds to making sure things (that he enjoys) are done ontime and are done well. Anway, I have mentioned before how much i love the Awana program but it proved true again this year. Ben loves Awana!!! He learned so many great verses and can even say all the books of the new Testament. For the rest of the year he will continue to review the verses he has already done. Maybe he can make it through his books twice?

Anyway, here is our little Sparky before crazy hair night.


Here are all the books and references that Ben learned this year


John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, That whoever believes in Him shall not perish But have eternal life.

S is for Savior
1 John 4:14
The Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the World.

P is for Power
Pslam 147:5
Great is our Lord and mighty in Power


A is for According to the Scriptures
1 Corinthians 15:3
Christ died for our sins According to the Scriptures

R is for Raised
1 Corinthians 15:4
That He was buried, that He was raised on the third day According to the Scriptures.


K is for Keep
James 2:10
For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point Is guilty of breaking all of it.


S is for Saved
Acts 16:31
"Believe in the Lord Jesus and you will be saved"

John 20:31
These are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God

Psalm 118:1
Give thanks to the Lord for He is good

1 John 4:19
We love because He first loved us

Genesis 1:1
In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth

Genesis 1:31
God saw all that He had made, and it was very good

Romans 3:23
For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God

John 17:17
Sanctify them in the truth; Your word is truth.

1 Peter 1:25
But the word of the Lord Stands forever

John 14:6
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life no one comes to the Father except through Me."

Colossians 1:3
we always thank God the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you.

Books of the New Testament
Matthew
Mark
Luke
John
Acts
Romans
1 Corinthians
2 Corinthians
Galatians
Ephesians
Philippians
Colossians
1 Thessalonians
2 Thessalonians
1 Timothy
2 Timothy
Titus
Philemon
Hebrews
James
1 Peter
2 Peter
1 John
2 John
3 John
Jude
Revelation

John 3:14-16
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up.
That everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.
For God so loved the world that He gave His on and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.

Joshua 1:9
Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous for teh LORD your God will be with you

Joshua 24:24
And the people said to Joshua, "we will serve the LORD our God and obey him."

Ephesians 6:1
Children, obey your parents in eh Lord, for this is right.


Monday, February 22, 2010

oh, what a day!

Let's see if I can recount my day.
Everything seemed to be starting off great!! I got a text around 6:00 saying that there was no school today. Pretty fun news for a kindergartner who has plans for anytime there is a snow day with the neighbor friend Jack. I had a new organization plan for my household chores. (maybe more on that another time) Ben slept in until 7:20 (which really is quite late for him) but then it started going down hill. Ben came in my room and said, Mom you better go look at Jake's room there is poop everywhere. Any by everywhere he was not exaggerating one bit!!! It seems that Jake discovered a way to finger paint all over his walls and carpet.

After throwing Jacob in the shower changing a load of laundry and nursing Caleb it was time to hit the carpets and walls. I threw Caleb in his crib (which he was not so fond of), took all the sheets off of Jakes bed and threw everything in the hallway (including all 50 elephants and pillows he likes to sleep with). I then got to work with Clorox wipes and the little green machine. While I was in the room cleaning the beautiful mess, Ben and Jake thought that pile would be fun to throw themselves into but only after they added more pillows and sheets from the other beds to it. About an hour later (or so it seemed), I came out of the stinky room to find 600 loads of laundry waiting for me in the hallway and lots of beds to be remade.

When we finally made our way downstairs Caleb was REALLY MAD and wanted lots of attention, Ben and Jake were starving and I really needed coffee. Oh, sometime in this process Jacob decided that he really wanted to wear underwear today. So, on went the underwear as well as the timer. Well, when the timer went off after 20 min Jake peed but on the chair not in the potty. Another floor to clean and no more big boy underwear for him today! As I was cleaning the floor Caleb saw some cheeroes that had fallen (into the pee) and made a b-line for them.

Well things started looking up at this point (for awhile anyway)

Jack called and wanted to come over. The boys had a blast. They played wii, played Indiana Jones, Played legos, back to wii, back to Indiana Jones maybe some starwars and some Toy Story thrown in there as well.

Something happened to my sweet Ben however when Jack was here because for some reason he had a complete meltdown when Jack left causing at least an hours of screaming and yelling and lots of discipline happening.

After that was resolved, all the kids wanted to do was to play in the snow. I was secretly hoping that the snow removal fairy (aka our neighbor Bill) would shovel for me if I didn't go outside too early (too bad I am pretty sure they are in Florida). Anyway, after much begging and pleeding we headed outside. I was sure I could figure out how to start the snow blower. I mean I had written directions from Josh. That didn't seem to work so well however. So I called him. Somehow I still couldn't make it work. Fortunately my shovel worked just fine. It was a lot of work to shovel all 20 (ok 6ish) inches of snow but I did it. The only problem was that as soon as I was just about done the snow plow came by and covered the end of the driveway. I didn't happen to finish that part (sorry babe)


My little snow bunnies loved the snow and got good and tired. I have almost finished all 5000 loeds of laundry that the kids created for me.

Oh, one other very importat thing that I forgot to mention. while I was using the little green machine I saw how dirty it was so I decided to clean it. I thought that the most effective way to clean it would be to sitck it in a pot of boiling water and let the hot water work it's majic. well, the problem with that theory was that it melted the plastic and the little green machine seems to not work so well anymore.

The boys are almost ready for bed and are clean and the carpet in Jake's room looks great.

All in a day's work I guess.

Some quotes from the past few weeks

We really need to potty train Jacob. He is pretty stubborn about it and I kind of think that it is something that cannot be forced upon a child. Anyway, yesterday Ben let Jake use some of his underwear. Ben somewhere in that conversation told Jake that they were super special underware and that God lived in them. When Jake then proceeded to pee all over the underwear Ben said: "Oh, great Jake you just peed on God"

Ben and I were playing Indiana Jones on Wii. Jake wanted to play. Ben told Jake he couldn't play because it was a very hard level. Jake said "no it is a soft one"

Last night watching Woman's speed skating with Ben and Jake, Ben said "I really hope a boy wins this one"

Ben has a very good use of English language lately. He will be asking me a question and say "am't me going to sparks tonight?" So proud!!

That is all I can think of right now. My kids are crazy. Good thing they keep me laughing or else I think I would go more insane than I already am :)

Sunday, February 14, 2010

Jacob's Birthday #3

We had a valentines day/birthday party bash for Jacob today. I made spaghetti (can you tell?)



I guess Jake enjoyed it
Opening the gifts. So sweet and so cute. Wanting to play with each one after it was opened.

Caleb and Grandpa hanging out
I would like to take a quick break and read this book
My attempt at an elephant cake which I now see i forgot to frost completely.
Jake thought it was great and the color was perfect.
Jake also sang the birthday song to hismelf the entire time (very cute)
Blowing out the candles. (adding lots of spit to the cake)
Just should try this one little part in the trunk.
Yum, tastes good (yes I do tend to strip Jake when we are eating messy foods. Makes for less clean up of clothing later on)
Look a mess again (an elephant colored mess)
Caleb's first taste of ice cream. I think that he liked it but he really did not like the coldness that went with it.

All the birthday parties were a success. I am so thankful that everyone loves Jake so much. I am pretty sure that Ben is thankful that the birthday celebrations are over. Just one more brother's birthday to go and then it is his.

Valentines Day Party

Ben's Valentines day party was super fun and very cute. I just love the innocence of a kindergartner.

I am amazed that one teacher can make 18 kids most of which are boys stay quiet. Mrs. Gadladge is amazing with the kids and they all love her very much.

When the mom's came in Mrs. Gadladge had all the kids on the rug opening her valentines day bag. She was shoing the children what everyone got from each person. They then all took their bags back to their desks and made place mats with their valentines. Cute project huh?


The craft in process
Look how cute they are wouldn't it be cute to be in kindergarten again?
His cute class (look at all the red)
Ben concentrating very hard on bingo (I am pretty sure he was pondering which candy he should eat first)

At the end of the day there was an announcement made that there was no school until Wednesday because of Midwinter break. The entire class moaned because they are sad. I will have to remind Ben of this in a few years I am sure.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Birthday Party #2

Birthday Party #2 was on Sunday at Omi and Opi's house. An amazing elephant cake was ordered and it looked Perfect. Jake loved it.

And on to the good part, the blowing out of the candles.


(I am pretty sure this is what was going through his head in this progression: 1. Ok, ready go . . . 2. Hum, that didn't work, I will try again . . . 3. Maybe I will try from this position. 4. Finally they are out, the cake tastes amazing!)


And onto the gifts


So, Jake got this cool airplane track for his geo tracks system. It his huge and Jake loves it. He screams when the plane goes upside down and through the barn doors. It is pretty cute to watch him be a 3 year old instead of watching him try to be a 5 year old.


Ben's comments on the way home.

Ben: "When is going to be a day that is all about me?"
Me: "On August 14th"
Ben: "oh how long until then"
Me: "6 months"
Ben: "are you kidding me?"

I guess someone is a little jealous

Birthday party #1

Our little family party was kind of lame. I mean I am sure Jake was thrilled to be the center of attention for awhile but there was not a lot of big ordeal that went into it. Our poor two little boys will have to wait to celebrate there birthday's around their Dad's schedule for the next several years. Oh well, Jake was happy with his gifts.




Jacob is 3

Look how far Jacob has come :)
(Left: birth, blue bib: 1, cake face: 2, elephant cake: 3)






Jacob lives life to the fullest in everything he does. He is a complete sweetheart. He is lovey and cuddly. He has been through a lot in his little life. It takes a lot for him to really be hurt. He keeps us on our toes. He is an amazing blessing and gift from our Heavenly Father. I am so blessed to be his mom and to have the responsibility to teach him about Christ.

A little review of Jake's life.
Weight: Birth 7lbs 12 oz
3 years 37 lbs 90%

Surgeries: Tubes - May 2009
Tonsilectomy/Adenoidectomy January 2010

Speech development: greatly increased after speech therapy Summer 2009

Sleeping: Finally starting to sleep through the night at 3 years old.

Poor kid has been through a lot but he is still completely amazing.