CT's first Sunday Sermon

Meg and CT were in town for the weekend which was great to see them. The campus pastor called my Dad mid day on Saturday and informed him that the guy that was suppose to preach on Sunday had the stomach flu. Dad instantly thought CT can do this :) So it was off to sermon prep for CT. In case you want to see his sermon here it is:

Ben's Show

Ben had a little performance at school today. They called it an informance because they were in their music room. It was super cute. I taped most of it but if you are dying to watch the whole thing you can. It will be on the local stations on March 7 and 9th at 10:00 am as well as 5:00 pm. So you can come over and watch them on our DVR.

Rock Climbing

We took the boys up to REI today to try out the rock wall. It is something that they have been wanting to do for awhile now but we never seem to have enough time. The waited "patiently" for their turn and then got all suited up.

Ben went first as Jake posed for some pic's

Ben had a few moments of uncertainty but he really did quite well considering his typical apprehensions about new things.



He made it all the way to the bell. Way to go monkey boy I knew you had it in you.
Next it was Jake's turn. He was certain that he could make it to the top since he got his muscles from God and Daddy.




Jake didn't quite get the coordination of placing his feet stretching up and finding a place for his hands. If he was a bit taller and a bit more coordinated I am sure he could have made it. Maybe next time he will make it a bit further. Poor Jake cried when we told him it was time to come down. He wanted so badly to make it all the way up.

Surprise Adventure

Josh, being the amazing husband that he is, realized that to help ward off some of my depression issues, i need a change of pace during January though April while he is working so much. He is insistent that I take a break and do something different and fun during the months of February, March and April.

For February, Josh rented us a hotel room at the sterling inn that has a water park attached. It is only about 15 minutes away from our house but it was so nice to get away for a night and spend some fun time with my big boys.

Caleb stayed with my parents since it would have been a little difficult for me to handle all three of the boys in a pool by myself (and not as much fun for the big boys). Anyway, it was worth every penny.

I didn't tell the boys what were were doing before hand. Thursday morning I told them if they had extra good behavior there would be a surprise for them over the weekend.

Friday morning I told Ben had an a fun appointment and I would be picking him up at 2:30 from school. (all he missed was a movie which is pretty much all I thought he would miss)

When they got in the car I had a list of clues for Ben to read.

1. The clues just in case you didn't hear (1. You won’t sleep in your bed, 2. Caleb is on his own adventure. 3. you won't stay dry 4. You will have to have something on your eyes 5. It is something mommy does for work 6. It is somewhere you have never been 7. You may make a splash 8. Your arms maybe tired 9. You won’t need a coat or hat to keep you warm 10. The word park is in the name)

They didn't quite get what we were doing but the excitement did grow.


Right before this picture was taken Ben told me that this was the best day of his life!!
(I was not able to take many pictures because I was in the water most of the time and I didn't want to bring the camera down to the pool and risk water on it).

The first night someone had told Ben he was not tall enough for the slide. I knew that he was tall enough as well as a strong enough swimmer (thanks Goldfish Swim school) to go down the slide. He had a momentary freak out when he learned he was not allowed to wear his goggles down the slide but after he conquered his fear I couldn't keep him away.

We had a great time swimming and getting away. The boys had a blast and want to go back already. It will definitely be something we do again.

As much as it doesn't seem like a break it was nice to be out of the house and somewhere fun. I am pretty sure that I will have to plan something in April for just Josh and I :)

Valentines Day

Valentines Day fell on a Monday this year which means Josh is at work. The boys and I had a great day together however. (Josh also spoiled me the Friday before with a great date night). I was happy to be able to spend some time with my three little men. I was trying to teach them how to treat a lady but I am pretty sure all the sugar they had during the day made those things fly through their brain pretty fast.

Anyway, we had a heart shaped pancake candlelight dinner for four to try and increase our sugar intake a bit. It was a great date and I wouldn't trade a second of it.



Jacob had to decorate a treat bag for his party on Tuesday. I tried to figure out something he could do but would still look cute. I gave him a bunch of pieces of red, white and pink paper to cut as he wished. I cut out the letters in his name as well as the hearts to make the elephant. Jake glued on the papers he cute, glued the elephant together and stuck the letters of his name on the bag. I think it turned out super cute.



In other notes, I asked the boys who there valentines were:

Ben: Hannah
Mom: why Hannah Ben?
Ben: Because she is cute and people pick on her sometimes so I wanted to be nice to her.
Mom: oh that is nice of you Ben, Jacob who is your valentine?
Jacob: you are mom
Mom: that's so nice Jake
Ben: I thought of that but then I remembered you were already married
Jake: mom you are the cutest.

Oh, how I love my boys!!

Another Party

As always we had a million birthday parties for Jacob. His last one featured Chocolate cake which he loves. He sang happy birthday to himself and then somehow got more cake/frosting on himself rather than in his mouth I think.

Sparks verses 2011

Ben has completed another sparks book. He has said all of the verses in this years book already. This means he is onto the review. Just in case you were wondering the following are all the verses 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

Psalm 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.

Romans 6:23

For the wages of sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

New Testament Books

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

Deuteronomy 6:5

Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.

Psalm 96:2

Sing to the LORD, praise His name; proclaim His salvation day after day.

Jeremiah 32:27

I am the LORD, the God of all mankind is anything too hard for Me?

Leviticus 19:2

Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.

Proverbs 20:11

Even a child is known by his actions; by weather his conduct is pure and right.

Psalm 23:1-6

The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not be in want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quite waters.

He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

1 Peter 5:7

Cast all your anxiety on Him because He cares for you.

Mark 16:15

He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.”

1 Peter 1:25

But the word of the Lord stands forever

1 Thessalonians 5:17-18

Pray continually

Give thanks in all circumstances for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus

Colossians 3:23

Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men.

Old Testament Books

Genesis

Exodus

Leviticus

Numbers

Deuteronomy

Joshua

Judges

Ruth

1 Samuel

2 Samuel

1 Kings

2 Kings

1 Chronicles

2 Chronicles

Ezra

Nehemiah

Esther

Job

Psalms

Proverbs

Ecclesiastes

Song of Solomon

Isaiah

Jeremiah

Lamentations

Ezekiel

Daniel

Hosea

Joel

Amos

Obadiah

Jonah

Micah

Nahum

Habakkuk

Zephaniah

Haggai

Zechariah

Malachi

John 1:1-3

In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

He was with God in the beginning.

Through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made.

Ephesians 4:32

Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Philippians 2:14

Do everything without complaining or arguing.

Jacob is 4

Sweet Jacob turned 4 yesterday. He is a sweet, loving, funny, affectionate, cuddly, sensitive, loving, adorable 4 year old boy. I am so thankful that God gave him to us. He bring such joy to our days and a complete new perspective on life for me. I am not sure how he is already 4. I would love to stop time right now and have him stay just the way he is but I know God has big things in store for him so Ii guess I will have to let him grow up.

His day was filled with excitement and lots of sugar! Pretty sure he is still coming off the sugar high today.

We have a tradition to decorate the door of the birthday kids room. Here is a (sideways) picture of Jacob's door when he woke up. I decided to get really creative and sew circles and elephants together to make streamers. They looked pretty cute. Ben made a sign for the door.

After he woke up (way too early) Josh took him out for Donuts for an early morning breakfast. Josh also saved a present for him to open in the morning that he was pretty excited about.

It was then off to school, Since it was his birthday Jake brought in elephant shaped rice krispy treats. (I made a ton and sent some with Ben to celebrate his 1/2 birthday as well). Jake was pretty excited that he got to spend his day with lots of friends.

While Jake was at school I got a little birthday cake for him to have on his real birthday as well as decorated downstairs.

He requested Wendy's for lunch and I am pretty sure all he ate was the frosty.

After all the sugar we spent the afternoon playing games and working on his sticker book.

I had to work in the evening and obviously Josh was busy so Karen took the boys to Chuckie Cheese where they had lots of fun and pizza and more cake. If I was four I think that I would gladly have a Day like Jacob had yesterday.