New Pictures

A month ago, my really great friend Jessica Moody and her son Sam came to visit the us. Jessica is one of my dearest friends. We met under really funny circumstances and God choose to bind our hearts together. Our friendship is a precious gift and I was thankful that she was able to come visit.

Before she left to go home she took some pictures of all of us. I really like them and I wanted to share them. It was freezing and Judd and Anna Kate were crying that is why they have red faces.

Really?? At Four!

Jake's newest thing is to tell me he doesn't want to wear something because he doesn't want anyone to see him in "that." In the past few days, he has said the following...

"Mom, I don't want to wear those pants they are too short." (In his defense, quite a few of his pants are too short)
"Jake, they are not too short. These blue jeans are perfect. The bottom of the jean is on your foot."
"But,(with tears in his eyes) mommy, they are too short and I don't want people to see me wearing them. They will say "hey look at that short man."" (What! Where did that come from?)
"Jake, mommy has asked you to wear them and now you need to put them on."

I was also told in another instance that his clothes weren't "cool". Cool, seriously?? I know that this is something we have to deal with but what in the world does a four year old know about being cool.

I guess we will get uniforms in the Perdue home. This will eliminate the need for a choice.:-)

Interview with a Four Year Old and a Two Year Old

Interview with a Four year old

1. How old are you?
Four
2. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A nascar driver
3. What is your favorite thing that God made?
Our house
4. What is your favorite activity?
Go to church
5. What is your favorite color?
Green
6. What is your favorite animal?
Elephant
7. What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?
Play the Wii
8. What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy?
Get on top of your face-hence wrestling in the floor
9. Who is your best friend?
Judd
10. Who is your second favorite friend?
Cooper
11. What do you not like?
Hmmm…..
12. What's your favorite song?
Oh No You Never Let Go
13. What do you want for your birthday?
A car
14. What's your favorite snack?
Pretzels
15. What is your favorite thing to do with Judd and Anna Kate?
Wrestle, knock him down on the floor and get on top of him
Tickle her neck and make her laugh
16. What is your favorite Bible Verse?
Children obey your parents…Ephesians 6:1
17. What is your favorite story in the Bible?
About Jesus dying on the cross

Interview with a two year old

1. How old are you?
Four-no really you are only two
2. What do you want to be when you grow up?
Get bubble gum
3. What is your favorite thing that God made?
couches
4. What is your favorite activity?
nothing
5. What is your favorite color?
Nothing-blue
6. What is your favorite animal?
Mooooo-I am assuming that is a cow
7. What is your favorite thing to do with Daddy?
Wrestle, go high
8. What is your favorite thing to do with Mommy?
wrestle
9. Who is your best friend?
Jacob
10. Who is your second favorite friend?
Brice
11. What do you not like? (What do you think is yucky?)
Apple Cidar Vinegar
12. What's your favorite song?
Hallelujah (Before the Throne)
13. What do you want for your birthday?
Cake
14. What's your favorite snack?
Pizza
15. What is your favorite thing to do with Jake and Anna Kate?
Play
16. What is your favorite Bible Verse?
Christ loved us and gave himself up for us… Ephesians 5:2
17. What is your favorite story in the Bible?
Christ loved us and gave himself up for us… Ephesians 5:2

Mo' Snow!

Ok! To be quite honest, I am tired of the snow. Isn't it time for Spring? But, I have to admit that I did get some cute pictures of Jim and I in the snow today. I hope to get some more tomorrow without the snow falling.


Also, for the first time I made snow cream. It was yummy! I must say that I don't think anyone enjoyed it as much as Judd.




If you would like to try snow cream here is the recipe.

Gather 2 cups of clean snow
Mix the following in a bowl:
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tbsp vanilla
2 cups of milk
Add snow until you get the consistency of ice cream.

My First Born turns Four

Jake,

Four years ago on this day, my life changed forever and I was given a new name because of you. I was a mommy. I was your mommy. At 8:38 a.m. you entered our lives with a cry to let us all know that you were here and ready to take over. We didn’t sleep much the first night, not because we were nervous as first time parents it was because you felt the need to be awake every 30 minutes to eat and cry. It was from that moment we should have known that our prayers had been answered.

You need people. I must say that this is a blessing and a curse; you never want to be alone. Your love for Judd continues to grow and your bond is tighter with each day. He is your best friend. You don’t always agree but he is the one you want to play with you all the time. He makes you laugh and cry. He is your “dusting” partner, your wrestling partner, he is the one you want to be near.

I am not quite sure you know how to be quiet. Even when you are winding down in your bed at night we hear you talking. “Daddy, does rug rhyme with hug? Does cat start with a C? Duh Duh- D makes the Duh sound. Etc…” Speaking of sleep, oh how I wish you would sleep. Everyday almost without fail you are bouncing through the house saying, “There is a 7 on my clock. I am awake.”

You are very friendly especially when we are in public. You love to speak to people in stores and you don’t understand why they are not talking back to you. But I guess this doesn’t surprise me since the first person you waved to was a man in the Chili’s restaurant when you were 10 months old. You are a very verbal child who isn’t shy and isn’t afraid to speak your mind. People give you energy. Opinion. If there is one thing you have it is an opinion.

The days of long three hour naps are slowly slipping away which are now being replaced with “quiet times.” You are becoming a boy. A real boy. Sniff…Sniff…

You are so close to reading and I am anxious to help you unlock this whole new world. You can write your name and you love to do projects with Mommy and Judd. You do enjoy learning but independent study isn’t your thing. (Remember, you need people.)

As of this week you want oatmeal for breakfast and pb&j for lunch everyday. As of last week, you thought cutting your own hair would be a fun thing to try. Needless to say, you now have a cute little buzz cut.

You can wiggle your ears, which is really cool.

You make me proud. You are the next generation. You have so many questions about God and Jesus. You memory is amazing and your scripture memory would put many adults to shame.

This has been an amazing four years. We have had days where we want to cry and pull our hair out but by God’s grace we are given 8 hours of sleep and a brand new day to build wonderful memories together. Some of our sweetest moments of late are when you randomly say "Hey mommy, I love you." "Jake I love you the most" "Mommy, I love you to Pluto and back." Two years ago, I didn't know if I would ever hear those words come out of your mouth. Thanks for loving me.

I thank God that He chose me to be your mommy and that you, my Jake, are my first-born. I wouldn’t trade being your mommy for anything in the world. Thanks for teaching me love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

#4 For Jake

We are very blessed to have a couple, Judd's Sunday School teachers, in our church we own a hotel with an indoor pool. This year for Jake's birthday we asked if we could have a pool party for Jake. He was very excited about being able to swim in February.

Just as in previous years, he was able to invite the same number of kids as the year in age he was celebrating. This year he invited four kids which included their families.

He also wanted a cake that spelled his name. J-A-K-E.

The Many Faces of Judd

One night recently, Jim and I had the pleasure of spending some alone time with Judd. The other kiddos were asleep so we just played with Judd and of course he wanted to eat. He asked "me strawberries, that's fine?"

As the three of us were sitting at the table Judd starts making all of these funny faces. I ran to get my camera so that I could capture the moment. He was hysterical. Jim and I just laughed at him which made him perform even more. It was a fun night with lots of good memories. Without further ado, here are the many faces of Judd...

Round 2

Where do they find this stuff?





I think I have found all of the baby powder left in my house. If not, I am sure I will be posting a round 3.

40 weeks and counting

This post is long overdue. My poor little third child. No I haven't forgotten about her how could I she is always near me.

My little girl, it is hard to believe you have been apart of our lives for 10 months. For 40 weeks, you have brought us joy unspeakable. You are our sunshine. You are loved. You are precious. You light up our life. You are the sweet calm baby your daddy prayed for, however, I do believe your activity level is increasing daily.

1. You are saying baba, dada, cracker and mama.
2. You love to stick out her tongue
3. You are crawling, pulling up, standing alone, and close to walking although I think it will be a month or two.
4. You think your brothers are very funny and often we find you laughing at them. They think it is really neat when you chuckle at there boyish ways.
5. Playing peek a boo is one of your favorite games. You have now started to enjoy us chasing you as you crawl away.
6. Eating paper and any other small object that can be detected by your microscope eyes
eating paper is also an Anna Kate favorite.
7. You are attached to mommy's hip and nothing would make you happier than for mommy to carry you 24/7 (mommy doesn't mind actually she loves holding you and your brothers too)
8. You weigh 18 lbs and you are approximately 27 inches long.
9. Girl, you have teeth, 8 to be exact with two more trying to break through, and you know how to use them. You love to bite my shoulders when I am holding you.
10. You love to squeal at the cat when you see her through the door.
11. You have started signing "more" and clapping when we say "yay Anna Kate." Both are too cute.
12 Your favorite foods are pizza, blue berries, broccoli, black beans, bananas and pasta. I must say that yogurt is your favorite and tops them all.
13. You love to grab mommy's face and give her big open mouth kisses and rest assured if I am on the floor you are climbing on me and anyone else that may get in your way.
14. You climbed four stairs today without mommies permission.
15. Speaking of climbing, you are constantly being put in "jail" at church, which is a baby bed. This helps protect the other babies from your mobility and climbing skills.
16. You are not a cuddler but nothing will calm you faster than a warm 4oz bottle.

Oh Snow!

Two times in the past few weeks we have woke up to a winter wonderland. The first time the snow was still falling so neither one of the boys really liked being outside. Judd kept saying mommy it told (cold), I told mommy. Needless to say, our time in the snow was very short.

This past week when it snowed our neighbors were home so the boys were able to go outside and ride the four-wheeler and for the first time they were introduced to snow cream and hot chocolate. Oh how my Judd loved snow cream. I just wish I had a picture of him using his hands to get it out of the bowl.

Below are a few pictures from our snow days. The first four were taken a week ago when the first snow fell.





This picture was taken on Wednesday. Doesn't he look like the abominable snowman?

I think the snow made him a little tired.

I just have one question, where is spring?

Dusting

This morning I sent the boys to the playroom to play so that I could take a quick shower. I told them to be sweet and not to argue while they were upstairs. Showering hasn't been the highest on my priority list the last few days.(Yes, I know that you moms have those days when go to bed in the same pj's you woke up in.) Anyway, the boys were playing so nicely together. I didn't hear any fighting and I was just thinking ahhhhh how sweet. BUT, just as soon as those sweet thoughts entered my mind the more realistic ones did also....quiet+boys=mischief

At that moment I heard Jake say, I will get more as he is running down the stairs. I called out "Jake, come here." "Yes, mam." He came running into my room.

And to my surprise my child was covered from head to toe, and I could smell the sweet aroma of baby powder wafting down the stairs.

"Mommy, look I have baby powder all over me. I put it in my hair and we DUSTED Judd's room." Mommy, we made DUST."

I just grabbed my camera and started laughing. What else could I do? After being inside for 5 days, we just needed to laugh! By the way,this is where I found my joy today!

Here is a picture of my dust bunnies. This picture doesn't capture the amount of baby powder Jake really put in his hair. They used three trial size bottles to DUST themselves, Judd's room, and parts of the playroom.


This one is a little better.


Let me know if you would like for my boys to come DUST your house. It is a FREE service. :-)

My Life-This is my season!

In the past three days, I (or Jim and I) have been at the doctor with all three kids.

Sunday- Anna Kate has pneumonia and double ear infections. She was given a shot of Rocephin and 10 days of Augmentin.
Monday-Jake severe ear infection and they can't tell if his tube is still in there.(too much wax) We are praying that it is and is still working properly. If it is still in, right now it is clogged and the ear drops should clear it out so we can have a better look in a few weeks. He also has to take 10 days of Augmentin.
Judd has a sinus infection and pneumonia. He was given two shots of Rocephin and 10 days of Augmentin.

I am praying that the Lord will heal them and that we stay some what healthy the rest of this season. I really don't mind colds and runny noses. I know they are little and they will be sick, but I REALLY don't like putting them on antibiotics all the time.

Here is a picture of my counter. And yes, this is my picture for the day!

Project 365

I have decided to accept this challenge. My second “New Year Resolution.”

Ashley Jansen and Megan Greiner are two girls’ blogs that I like to follow. They both took this challenge last year. It is called Project 366 or Project 365-this year is not a leap year. The rules: take a picture each day of the 365 days of the year. My plan is to take pictures of many different persons, places and things.

I will probably not post them each day, but post them in groups. This will be a huge challenge for me, but I really want to commit to doing this everyday. At the end of 2009, I would like to have 365 pictures to look back on remember what went on each day. This will be my 2009 photo journey-the year I turned 30.:-)

Does anyone want to join me this year?

Word for the Year ~ 2009

I was reading this blog and I thought I would use the idea as a type of "new year resolution." The basic idea is to have a "word for the year."

What you do is pray about the direction God is leading...think about an area of your life that is an especially needed focus, and chose a word based on those things. This would could be something that you want to work on, something that the Lord is nudging you to do, something you want to dedicate yourself to doing.

Some examples of the words are restoration, patience, kindness, devotion, perseverance, reconciliation, fellowship.

I really believe that I am going to choose the word JOY as my "word of the year." My hope is to find joy in everyday. I do believe that I can find 365 places of joy in my life. Even as I find my self overwhelmed and frustrated I want to choose to find joy in every circumstance.

Periodically, I plan to share the different ways in which the Lord has revealed joy to me through the experiences of my daily life.

"Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great." Psalm 126:2