Was Jacob a bad guy?

Two days ago we were driving home from running errands and we had a CD of children's music, that was given to us at church, playing in the van. We were listening to a song about prophets and one of the verses said, "Abraham the prophet prayed to have a son, So the Lord sent Isaac as the chosen one. Isaac begat Jacob, known as Israel; Jacob's sons were twelve tribes, so the Bible tells." After hearing that verse Owen asked, "Mom, was Jacob a bad guy?" I said, "No, he was a good guy. Why do you ask?" He said, "Well then why did Isaac beat up Jacob?" I thought that was so FUNNY!!!! I wondered how many times he had wondered what Jacob had done to get beat up!

The ABCs of Erica

A- Attached or Single: Happily Attached
B- Best Friend: Jed
C- Cake or Pie: Pie! Unless it’s Mom’s mint cake or our favorite Black Velvet Cake from a local shop—Yum!!
D- Day of Choice: Saturday

E- Essential Item: my camera—just can’t resist the photos of our babies!
F- Favorite Color: I am still on a Red kick, so I’ll go with that

G- Gummi Bears or Worms: Bears
H- Hometown: Oakdale
I- Indulgence(s): There are two things that Jed and I say are worth the money, good toilet paper and good ice cream
J- January or July: July - I love the sunshine.
K- Kids: Owen (4), Davis (2), Kate (almost 8 months)
L- Life is Incomplete Without: my family (and chocolate)

M- Marriage Date: May 13
N- Number of Siblings: 1 sister, 2 brothers
O- Oranges or Apples: Oranges
P- Phobias or Fears: Loss of or harm to my husband or kids, fire
Q- Quote(s): Growing up I was always kind of the wacky one in my family, so my siblings and parents all mastered this rolling of the eyes thing while saying, “OH ERICA!”

R- Reason to Smile: tiny toes, Owen declaring that it is “froggy” outside in the morning, the boys “steam rollering” us to wake us up, Kate’s piercing blue eyes (that was for you Nila!), the show “Jon and Kate Plus Eight” (it cracks me up!)

S- Season: Summer
T- Tag Six Friends: Why only 6?
U- Unknown Fact About Me: I am a pretty open book, there aren’t too many secrets….um, I sucked my thumb until I was 8?

V- Vegetarian or Oppressor of Animal: Oppressor of Animal

W- Worst Habit: worrying about things I can’t control
X- X-Ray or Ultrasound: ultrasound when I am pregnant, X-Ray for the superheroes in our house
Y- Your Favorite Food: ice cream, homemade rolls, fresh peaches
Z- Zodiac: Gemini

Here's one for the Grandparents!

Since Kate changes the most from week to week, I thought I would just post a pic I took yesterday. Enjoy!

"I sleep in my big boy all night!"

As most of you know our family has had a problem with getting a good night's sleep in the past. To protect the innocent, I am not going to name any names here, but I will say that it is not Davis or Kate who has sleeping issues. :) We had tried lots of different methods to eliminate
night terrors and had finally gotten those under control, for the most part, but we still weren't getting a good solid night's sleep....ever. Until that is, Jed came up with a plan that can be called nothing less than BRILLIANT! We gave the boys two painter's sticks each to sleep with. Each stick represents one TV show, part of a movie or time on the computer. That means at the most they are watching no more than an hour a day, which is plenty of motivation for them and is still acceptable to us. Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself....if they come out of their room or wake us up (unless it is an emergency of course), then they lose a stick. Can I tell you that this has worked like a charm! I cringe each time we have had to take a stick away, but those nights have become fewer and fewer. YIPEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One more thing…I can't tell you about the sticks without adding that Davis has reveled in his ability to sleep through the night in his "big boy bed". He just completely relishes the praise that we give him for his achievements and has even learned to use this to his advantage. Now when he does something naughty and we say something like, "Davis, that makes Mommy sad when you act like that." He will turn on his smile/dimples and say, "I sleep in my big boy all night. That makes Mommy so happy?" Smart kid.

Future College Roommates?

Last weekend was Jed’s birthday (Happy Birthday to our AMAZING Daddy and husband!). We thought that it might be fun to get away for a few days, so we went up to the Portland area to spend a few days with our dear friends from college, Ezra and Lisa. We love visiting with them because we enjoy their company, of course, AND they have kids the same age as ours and a dream “older” daughter. Basically that means that we get a break while they entertain each other…Yippee! We had a great time eating good food, visiting, shopping for me and Lisa (thanks to EZ and Jed for holding down the fort!), game playing, etc. Thanks for a fun weekend Lisa and Ezra! We are grateful for our good friends everywhere.

Frosty, the Transformer?

We just came in from lots of outside snow fun! I thought we better go make a snowman before it all melts away again. The boys loved the snowman process and Owen sang “Frosty the Snowman” over and over and over. They really seemed to love Frosty, but…as soon as this picture had been taken both Owen and Davis immediately went into “DESTROY” mode. They said, “Frosty is a Transformer! Let’s make him into a car now.” So, that my friends is how Frosty became a Transformer. To be exact, he transforms into a Herbie car (you’ll notice his number is 42 since Owen is 4 and Davis is 2). Please tell me mine are not the only boys who love to destroy things, almost as soon as they are created!

Now you see it, Now you don't!

So Monday we woke up to this view from our back porch...beautiful! I love the look of everything covered in fresh, white, clean snow. By yesterday afternoon it had all melted away, but again this morning we are a winter wonderland. While there was snow on the ground we did take advantage of it with some good old American fun (some may call it redneck fun...we choose to call it "good old American fun"). Our great neighbor, Dallas, tied a tube to the back of his tractor and pulled us around the field behind our house. The giggles from the boys were priceless. Thank you Dallas for taking the time to make a memory for our family!