Jude turns 3

Jude turned three on Monday and we were excited to celebrate him being a member of our family. He can be challenging at times because I don't think he takes anything I say seriously. That is probably a product of me never being serious--except when I want him to brush his teeth, get dressed, walk faster, etc.--so I totally understand where he is coming from. The only time he is quick to "obey" and not give me a hard time is when I yell, "Jude, get out of the parking lot. You could get run over by a car." So, the other 99% of the time, Jude spends his time joking around, entertaining us all with his shenanigans and doing his own thing as much as possible.

For those that know him well, I should inform you that he has switched up his breakfast routine; as a substitute for pancakes, which he has insisted on eating every morning for the last 18 months or so, he has been requesting french toast and scones. Again, this is extremely unusual because the kid has probably consumed 5,000 pounds of pancakes since he first fell in love with them. It didn't matter if we were camping in the middle of a forest, or spending the night in a hotel, we found a way to deliver pancakes in the morning because Jude would have it no other way. Also, we have cut his blanket in half and will continue to do so until it is gone. We tried to go cold turkey and take it away one night, but he threw a fit. So, he is down to half a blanket. The reason for taking the blanket away is that I can almost brush every surface of his upper teeth with him biting down at the same time (i.e. His blanket sucking habits have pulled his teeth out like crazy!).

Below are responses to a Q&A I had with Jude in the car. I thought it would be a good idea to see where he stands now that he is three and share it with everyone.

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: light blue
Q: What is your favorite toy?
A: All the toys. I just like all the toys the most.
Q: What is your thing to do outside?
A: I don't know (This is Jude's new favorite response to questions)
Q: What is your favorite thing to do with your brothers?
A: I don't know
Q: Who is your best friend?
A: Bennett, Jack, Debbie, Abe, Darla, .....
Q: What makes you happiest?
A: Not crying
Q: If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
A: a tiger
Q: What is your favorite book?
A: Jungle Book
Q: What is your favorite shirt?
A: the green one with the guitar
Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: a purple superhero
Q: What is your favorite bird?
A: red wing black bird
Q: What is your favorite movie?
A: Cars2
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: chicken nuggies
Q: What is your favorite place to visit?
A: Choo Choo Bobs
Q: If you could travel to Las Vegas, how would you want to get there?
A: Plane
Q: What is your favorite song?
A: Baby (by Justin Bieber)


Of course, Jack wanted me to ask him the same questions so here are his responses. Based on a few of his answers, I think God might take him straight to heaven.

Q: What is your favorite color?
A: green
Q: What is your favorite toy?
A: green guys from McDonalds
Q: What is your thing to do outside?
A: play with friends at the playground
Q: Who is your best friend?
A: Ike, Edmund, Ivy, Breelle, Grace, Audrey, Darla,....all those guys (I don't know how to spell:)
Q: What makes you happiest?
A: When I share with people
Q: If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
A: a tarantula
Q: What is your favorite book?
A: Lion King
Q: What is your favorite shirt?
A: my black skeleton shirt
Q: What do you want to be when you grow up?
A: Help people and share with them and give them money if they need it
Q: What is your favorite bird?
A: bald eagle
Q: What is your favorite movie?
A: Cars2
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: I like healthy food
Q: What is your favorite place to visit?
A: Mall of America (Indoor theme park)
Q: If you could travel to Las Vegas, how would you want to get there?
A: train
Q: What is your favorite song?
A: My Hearts a Stereo

 Jude followed Jack's example of picking out cakes at Costco. He chose the "Over the Hill" cake and said, "I want the volcano cake." This might normally be a problem because the "Over the Hill" cake says "Over the Hill" and looks nothing like a volcano, but the nice people at Costco were happy to make modifications.

Playing one of our favorite games: wolf and pigs.

Ezra is in to everything. He is chasing Jack and Jude around so no more board games as long as "baby monster" is trying to eat them.

This is becoming a regular thing

Our boys miss their naps on Sunday because of Church, so they are usually holding on by a thread come afternoon. Jude passed out in themiddle of the living room today, sucking on his toxic smelling blanket. We are going to celebrate his third birthday this Saturday, marking the day when he says goodbye to his blanket. I know that sounds harsh but the kid has a horrible overbight as a result of sucking that thing night and day.

Jack and Jude (mostly Jude) are often found at the bottom of the stairs pretending to sleep.

Lindsey wants a girl. Need I say more.

Jack's hair is so long! For some reason we can't bare to cut it which means we are always trying to keep it out of his face.

Jude in the bath.

Jack's creation: Finn McMissile with under water capabilities

A Random Video

Easter Weekend

Jack and Jude (especially Jack) are at a funny stage where they love to hear stories. Without fail, Jack will ask for a story within 30 seconds of getting in the car because he knows he has us trapped for at least a few minutes. So after you tell your thousandth story, it becomes challenging to think of new stories or twists to old stories that will keep the kids satisfied. To deal with this I hyped up church today like it was going to be "story time". I told the kids to listen hard so they could catch all the fun stories they love about Jesus. Well, all this hype kind of worked for about 5 seconds as I reminded Jude to pay attention. A speaker was reading the account that led up to Jesus' Crucifixion to which Jude replied, "Dad, there talking about me!" He heard the name Judas Iscariot and thought he was getting some air time. While Jude might be difficult at times, he is no Judas! Jack on the other hand probably got a little more out of church but was quick to pull the trigger once we got in the car to drive home.
These are Jude's shoes from Saturday. They are a symbol of Jude's craziness, as well as the craziness of the day. Our neighbor was baptized, Austin Enoch, so we tried to have a BBQ and celebrate. At one point, I was grilling for three families and trying to keep track of our three boys while Lindsey went to pick up another friend. Jude--realizing I was vulnerable--found the nearby mud puddle and went to work.

Jack gave me a lesson on teeth today in the bath. He said, "See these K-9 teeth; they're the best. They are super sharp." He learned about teeth this week from one of his preschool teachers, Melissa, who was a dental hygenist.

Below are some pictures from one of our camping trips last summer. I'm pretty sure Lindsey didn't make it because she was 8 months pregnant. We went with the Nelson and Colt Family. We stayed by a lake that we ended up swimming in the next day. Jack was excited to use his bug sucking gun that he got from his grandma. Jude loved the flashlights and junk food. One of the tragedies of the trip was when Erik got out of the van and was bit on the back of the neck by a wasp. He was pretty upset about it, of course, but I had to take a walk because I was laughing so hard. That sounds really mean and it probably is but maybe you just had to be there.

Two in two weeks!!!

Ezra is all but jumping around now. Well, he is starting to get up on his knees and rock back and forth. This picture doesn't make it appear as if the kid is very mobile (he is a chunk), but he can roll his way around the room. He loves Jack and Jude because they are always trying to make him laugh.

Yes!! Jude is 3 days accident free. Here he showing off his muscles and cool underwear.

We watched Lion King for FHE (for the first time) to celebrate Jude's success. Of course, he comes down stairs, makes the above face and says, "I'm Scar." Those that really know Jude would not be surprised by that statement.

Jack had an interesting week. He was sick on Friday, spending most of the day on the couch. That just happened to be the day we scheduled to have the missionaries over for dinner. So, before dinner was over we had done a pretty good job of grossing the Elders out. First, Jude had snot dangling down from his lip and then Jack started puking from the couch. One of the Elders almost lost it.

On another note, Jack has started taking an interest in girls. He is four years old so nothing serious. But, he has been banned from being upstairs with another female without parent supervision indefinitely.

Jack is always sneaking into Jude's crib after we put them to bed. If we don't dig Jack out then they both become this intertwined ball of sweaty boys.

Oh yea. I almost forgot that Jude got a lego stuck up his nose. We should have saw this coming because he has been sticking legos in his ears for some time (the long skinny ones). It finally caught up with him and resulted in a visit to the ENT. I was actually out of town which is kind of nice because I don't usually like dealing with children who have legos stuck in their bodies, but Lindsey handled it well and said Jude was very brave.

And here is a link to a show I want to share http://byutv.org/watch/813b9c30-40ee-4048-ba40-8e54d0c0e1d0/turning-point-the-clarks-eagle-eyes If this post hasn't inspired you then this should.

It has been a while

I almost didn't post tonight because it has been so long since the last post and I assumed just let this blog die. But, I figured I'd take a shot at getting back into this and post a few picks. Quick update: I graduate in May and will be starting a job in Fargo, ND. Lindsey has hopefully found us a house and we are excited about picking up the ND accent.


Jack is 4 and has started soccer classes at the YMCA. He loves green, riding his bike, wrestling with Jude, and he always is saying "excuse me".

Lindsey left town to go check out Fargo so it was just me and the boys. We busted out the skateboards while she was gone. I couldn't talk Jude into standing up but he like to ride on his belly.

This is our first time bowling as a family of 5. We went with the Nelsons because Erik N. has his own bowling ball which he calls "red furry" and is known as "white trash" on the lanes. They are also one of our favorite families to hang out.

Here are the three boys. Ezra is a chunk and will probably surpass Jude soon in body weight. He is 7 months here and has just started getting into solid foods. Jude has started potty training and hasn't had an accident in three days! Jack is one of the sweetest kids you'll ever meet. He has been praying for one of my classmates who broke his collar bone, and he takes great care of all of us.

Snow Snow Snow

I know a lot of people can't help but think about the weather when we mention Minneapolis, so here is the weather report. Saturday Minneapolis was hit with a huge snow storm. From what I gathered, they haven't seen a storm like this since 1854. As a result, the Metrodome stadium collapsed, UofM shut down, and our church was cancelled. But the most interesting part has been watching the ongoing circus in our parking lot. We have a great view and have watched our neighbors all day as they attempted to free their cars (see pic below).
This in my friends bike. Snow depth varied with location.

This all came down in one day.

This is what people were dealing with in the parking lot. What most people did was move the snow behind their own cars to the adjacent cars, leaving some with twice as much snow to shovel.

This is Jude getting into Christmas. I swear he did this to himself.

Jack was also excited to be a Christmas tree. This year he is getting into Christmas and has asked for a Handy Manny motorcycle.

These kids don't last long outside, but it has been below 20 degrees consistently for the past few weeks.