Mr. Fix-it Ephraim

Today was a busy day at our house, thought Saturdays usually are. Joe was out in the garage working on getting the new hitch put on the van. Ephraim got to be Daddy's helper this time because Jacob got invited to go play at the Esplin's house.

 

Usually when Ephraim is out in the garage with Daddy, I get to be there to "supervise". Otherwise who knows that Ephraim might get into?

  

As you can see, Ephraim will do exactly what Daddy does. It totally looks like Ephraim is working on the van, doesn't it?

  

Ephraim LOVES tools. Any kind of tool. This is why the garage is not a place you can let him wander. Who knows what tool he will bring you. This time it was actually a tool that Daddy was already using.

 

Ephraim also tried to be useful and "give" Daddy tools, whether he wanted them or not! What a cute little helper!

I had to help Joe hold the hitch in place so he could get it bolted on to the van. It didn't take too long and it was all done! Now we can put our bike trailer on the back of the van, which will be great!

Pajama Boys

My goal this year has been to take a picture every day. Sometimes I forget until it is late at night, so a few times I have gone to take a picture of the boys in bed. They are awfully cute when they are sleeping.


 I tood this picture after the boys and I were had a challenging evening last night. I was trying to finish  cleaning the dishwasher, which was pretty nasty inside. I was also trying to cook dinner... and all Ephraim wanted when he woke up was me. To make things even more challenging, Joe got home from work late. So Ephraim did quite a bit of clinging and whining. When I did get him to play with Jacob for a while, there was a lot of screaming.

So Mommy had to take a time out after dinner. Later as I looked in on Ephraim asleep, I couldn't help but think how adorable he is. Even when he is doing things he probably shouldn't (like crawling on the arms of the couches!) I love this little guy.

This morning I was just thinking about how cute my boys are in their pajamas with their morning faces on. Jacob usually comes to find me in the morning (with Teddy) and tell me good morning.


Then we go and get Ephraim from his room. The boys are usually so happy to see me in the morning so even when I don't really want to climb out of bed (sometimes it's EARLY), it is always nice to be loved and wanted.
What a cute pair of pajama boys!

Second Round of Snow

We got quite a bit more snow overnight, and the boys were excited to see it. So we got to go outside while Daddy was at work and shovel the driveway.  We got part of it done before aerobics, and then we had to finish up afterward. Of course I let the boys play in the snow too.


I told Jacob that he had to clap his hands to get the snow off his mittens. So if you look closely you can see all the snow around his hands.


Of course we had to get out the tractors again. They are fun to push around in the snow.



I got some nice headshots of the boys in their cute hats too. I think the white of the snow makes a nice backdrop.



Plus these boys are awfully cute!

Chinese New Year with the Smiths

The last Monday in January for FHE we went to the Smiths house for a Chinese New Year's Celebration. We ate some yummy Chinese food and had a short FHE lesson. Then all the kids got to participate in a dragon dance.


It was pretty funny to watch the kids try to work together to make the dragon move. Sometimes the head and body of the dragon did not quite go the same way!

Of course while we were there we also let the kids just play for a while. Jacob and Ephraim both really like to play with Ty's vacuum. I find that pretty funny because at home they like to run away screaming from mommy when she is vacuuming.


Jacob and Alyssa were being pretty silly that evening. They kept wanting me to take their pictures so they could look at them. So I told them to make a silly face. Here is Alyssa's silly face:


Pretty silly, huh? What really cracked me up was Jacob's silly face.


We had a great time at the Smiths house. It was fun to celebrate Chinese New Year at their house and let our kids expend some excess energy.

Snowy Weekend

It started to snow heavily around 10 p.m. friday night and I told Joe that it looked really cool outside. He told me to go out and take a picture. I have never really tried to take pictures at night since getting my Canon XSi... apparently I should do it more often because I LOVE this photo! Can you believe this picture was taken at about 10:50 p.m.?!?!


I was so excited about the pictures I had taken, I had a hard time getting to sleep! All the snow that fell overnight made for a fun, frosty morning.


The boys had a great time playing in the snow. They were all excited to help daddy shovel, but that didn't last too long! So we got out the sandbox toys for the boys to play with while Joe and I shoveled the driveway.


I thought the boys would have fun with their shovels, but they actually enjoyed the tractors and construction equipment the most.


I had a great time watching the boys play. It was so cute because Ephraim wanted to do exactly what his older brother was doing. So he would watch Jacob carefully, and then do what he was doing.


See how Ephraim is watching Jacob with the tractor? Then check out the picture below.


Do as I'm doing! It was really cute to watch them playing together. They would even trade tractors every once in a while. The boys had a great time in all the snow.


They even managed to help Mommy and Daddy a little bit. Of course, Ephraim wants to use the biggest shovel he can find!


The boys also loved climbing up the mountains of snow. here they are on top of our biggest snow pile.



The snow pile isn't as big as it has been in years past, but the boys still had a blast.



I even had Joe take a picture of me with the boys, since I am usually behind the camera all the time.




Then this morning before church I had to take the boys out in their Sunday clothes to get a picture. Aren't they cute?

Shoveling the skiff

Oh how the boys love to shovel!

We have not had much snow this week, but every time the snow starts to fall Jacob wants to go outside and shovel. Yesterday morning we had about an inch of snow on the driveway. We did not go outside to shovel because Jacob's playschool was at our house. So I told Jacob we would go shovel after.

Wouldn't you know it, the snow all melted by the time Jacob's friends left! Jacob was so sad that he actually cried. Poor guy!

So this morning when we had a little bit of snow, I told Jacob we would come home and shovel right after aerobics. Luckily the snow had not quite melted by the time we got home!

So Jacob got to shovel after all! Of course Ephraim helped too.


They both had a great time pushing the snow around. I didn't really even help because I knew that by afternoon the snow would be gone anyway. I just had fun taking their pictures.

Ephraim likes the little shovels, but will still often go back to the garage and get the big shovels. I guess in his eyes bigger really is better.


Hopefully the boys will still be willing to shovel in the years to come! I can already imagine how nice it will be to send the boys out to shovel... while I stay warm and cozy inside! :o)

What great helpers I have!

Minivan Mommy

So have you seen my new wheels?

Yep! I am now a minivan mommy. After checking out vans several nights this week and spending oodles of hours on the internet, Joe went and bought our van at the dealership yesterday.

What precipitated this change in transportation? No, I am not pregnant, thanks for asking!

Actually Joe's car was acting up and we figured it was on a slow decline... but what can you expect from a 1993 car with nearly 200,000 miles on it? It was a great car, but we decided it was time for us to move on. Since we plan to have more kids, a van seemed like the wise choice.


I wasn't quite sure how I would feel about driving a minivan, but I have to say that I actually love it! We got several recommendations for Chrysler Town and Country vans from friends and family. So we checked out their twin, the Dodge Grand Caravan. We found a great 2008 van that was in our price range, and boy does it have features! The sliding doors are motorized so they open and close at the push of a button. My boys think that is just magic! Plus the windows in the sliding doors actually roll down!

I could go on, but you probably don't need to know all the cool things my van does. The best part is that I am not the only one that approves of the van.


My boys just love it! When we looked at vans, Jacob was upset every time we didn't take a van home with us, which cracked me up! He loves all the room and having his own chair. Ephraim loves being able to see everything outside. It will be nice to be able to go places with friends during the day and not necessarily needing to ride in separate vehicles.

Another good thing is now I can take ANYTHING with me wherever I need to go. I will have no problems fitting my double stroller in here! Plus I can always put the seats down and carry whatever I need to. It is going to be great.


We tend to baby our vehicles, so hopefully the van will be good to us for many years to come!

FIsh and Haircuts

The boys have been feeling a bit stir crazy lately. The weather has been terrible and the air quality has been really poor. So mostly we have been stuck inside. So on Saturday I decided that we should take a trip to Cabellas to check out the fish.

Sounds like something the boys would enjoy, right?

It is so cute the way that Ephraim says "fish". He can even do the sign for fish. The boys had a great time watching the fish. Can you tell?


We even got to see the fish being fed getting fed. They threw in worms, bugs and even goldfish. Then the big fish would all dart around, trying to catch the little goldfish. Jacob thought that was pretty cool.

We also went and looked at all the stuffed deer, elk and other animals. The boys had a great time. I was amazed at how crowded Cabellas was. But then again, there is not too much to do on a cloudly, grey day.

We headed home to see what Daddy had been working on while we were gone. Then all the boys got to have haircuts. After I cut Joe's hair, Ephraim went next. He doesn't think haircuts are a big deal.

Jacob on the other hand still doesn't really like them. He is better than he used to be, but he still cries nearly every time.

Almost makes you feel bad for him, doesn't it... except for the fact that he has had tons of haircuts and never once has it hurt him!

By the end of the haircut we managed to get him smiling.

I am sure that eventually Jacob will get over it. Especially since it's not very likely that we will let him grow his hair long in the near future!

Playdates with Micah

One good thing about coming home from vacation was getting to see all of our friends. Lately we have been exchanging playdates with Jacob's friend Micah. One day a week Jacob will go play at Micah's house, and then later in the week Micah will come play at our house.

The boys have a great time, and it works out nicely for the Mom's too! The boys keep busy playing and we are free to get other stuff done while our youngest kids nap.

Here are Jacob and Micah playing with the trains in the basement. Looks like fun, huh?


I love this picture of Jacob's little boy hands... probably because they won't be little for long. They grow up so fast!

It has been so nice having our trains. The boys keep entertained for quite a while. They are even getting better at building the tracks by themselves. I still help most of the time, but soon they will be able to do it!

Ephraim is getting a little better at playing with Jacob too. Even though he doesn't get to play with Micah and Jacob for too long since he is asleep most of the time, he does get to play with the trains and tracks. He is getting better at walking over the tracks and driving the trains on them.

Pretty soon I imagine that Jacob and Ephraim will be playing together almost as well as Jacob and Micah. Won't that be fun?