Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day Lindsey!!! Wow! Doesn't she look amazing!

The boys and I tried to make Mother's Day special for Lindsey. Jack insisted that we make her crepes for breakfast, and he also chose the dinner that we threw together. All in all, it turned out a lot better than the year I actually forgot Mother's Day. That happened only a couple years ago. It took going to church for me to realize what was going on and by that time it was to late.

Lindsey simply deserves the best. She has worked so hard ever since we were married to get the most out of life and help other people. She worked through her undergrad at BYU while raising two children. She actually completed a lot of my application materials for grad school and helped me get into the program I just graduated from. Lindsey has been extremely supportive on the nights and weekends where I've had to put hours into school. Lindsey is always watching someones children or making a meal to give away. She pays the bills and handles the finances. In a couple weeks we will be moving to Fargo, and she has been the one to work out all the details and make all the arrangements for us to move into a great home. She "pumps" religiously (about 3 hours a day) in order to feed Ezra and is also using her milk to feed another baby in our ward. She is okay with her children rocking mullets. Recently, she has taught Jack to read and potty trained Jude. It's true that Lindsey receives all the inspiration for our family; thanks to her, we were able to realize that we should have a child while in grad school and now we get to enjoy Ezra every day. She makes sure we provide our children with great experiences like soccer and swimming lessons. Costco trips just wouldn't be the same without her. She responds to my stupid comments when they should be ignored. In December, I bailed on her last minute to interview for a job, leaving her to fly by herself with three boys to Vegas which she handled extremely well. She is optimistic and has proven time and time and again that she will make the most out of any situation. Lindsey is always quick to give Jude his "mommy love" when he asks for it. She makes sure that peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are cut into fun shapes. She recognizes the importance of family and was the stimulus for planning our trips out west this year for family reunions. Lindsey is just amazing.     

May 11 2012

For about the past 10 days our family has been dealing with the effects of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease. All three of our children came down with it. At first, they get a fever which can last for more than 24 hours. Then they get sores in their throat and mouth. The sores then move to other parts of the body. The above picture and the one following are of Ezra's hands. He got it the worst and ended up with sores all over his body. The poor kid was miserable for about 3 days, after which he seemed to become his normal self again.

With being sick comes "special privileges". This is Jack and Jude crashing in our bed. Lindsey and I start to put all sorts of fun options on the table when their sick in hopes that it will make things more pleasant in the home. Since Hand, Foot, and Mouth is so contagious, we have been avoiding all friends, making it more necessary to find new, fun ways to pass the time.

Jack and Jude are best friends. Lately, they have been setting up their cars in the bookshelf, reenacting scenes from the movie Cars2. It is great to have them only 18 months apart. Lindsey and I are so glad we made it through those initial hard months where they both needed so much time and attention because now they will sit and play and entertain each other.

This is what happens every time Jude starts to paint. He is a pro at making "muddy swamps"--both on paper and up his arms.

 Based on what I said previously, you should be able to figure out which of these are Jude's and which are Jack's.

 Jack's hair 3 days ago. Way to long! What were his parents thinking!

 Jack's hair currently! Yes, I finally got to cut Jack a sweet mullet! Business on top, party in the back! Lindsey reluctantly let me do this and I still can't believe she did. Usually she does a really good job of protecting our family from any crazy ideas I might have (like when I tried to convince her to live in a tent in the mountains shortly after we were married) but she really let her guard down this time. As it goes, the deal was to cut the mullet and then shave the rest of it off the next day. Why does he still have it? Well, I don't really know but he loves it! The downside to the mullet is that it is causing Lindsey a lot of anxiety. Not sure why. The plan going forward is to let him keep it through Sunday and then wack it off.

The boys and I started digging outside our apartment in search of worms for our fishing trip on the Mississippi. Surprisingly, it is not hard to find worms here. Jack and Jude loved this part of the fishing process. Since we had to wait some time between digging up the worms and actually going fishing, Jude kept asking, "Dad, can we take the worms fishing". I think he thought they were our new friends and didn't realize they were actually the bait.

The trip ended up being a lot of fun. I pulled Jack and Jude in our bike trailer down to the river. The University of Minnesota is located right on the river, so we rode through my campus and down the hill to the water. We found a sandy beach and fished a little with no success. Most of the time was spent playing with trucks in the sand and sitting on a log eating Wheat Thins. Jack's favorite part was watching a hug barge go down the river; Jude's was eating Wheat Thins.

Ezra is a happy little baby. He is all over the place, wanting to do whatever Jack and Jude are doing. He can sit himself up now and prefers to ride on turtles where ever he goes.

Jack and Jude watched Sid the Science Kid today. The episode was on "pulleys" and how they are used. So, Lindsey picked up a $5 pulley at Home Depot and we rigged it up in the tree outside our apartment. We started out by hoisting up a bucket filled with sticks and then a small bike. Then we got out one of the boys rings and started lifting people. Maybe this is an example of bad parenting but they had a good time.

We checked out a drawing book from the library which Jack took a liking to. I thought he did a great job with this picture. (Sorry this picture was taken before the mullet!)

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.