Does having Jesus in your heart hurt?

For some reason on the way home from Dance tonight, Alexandra asked if all of us would die. I told her yes. She then asked where we would go. So I told her if she had Jesus in her heart she would go to heaven. "I have him in my heart, but he hurts". I asked, laughing, why he hurts? "Because now he's in my tummy". I laughed out loud. She then asked where we would live in Heaven. I told her God was preparing a place for us. "Will we have a new house?" Yes I told her probably. "Is it done yet?" I told her It's not ready yet. "why not". I responded by telling her that we're not ready to go there yet. "I miss our new house mommy". "Who will live in our old house". I told her I didn't know. "I think some new friends will move into our old house Mommy". I smiled!

What it got me thinking though is that even though Jesus isn't in our tummy, it does hurt sometimes to have him in our heart since we live in a sinful world with lots of loss and hurt. It also made me think that I need to miss my new house more and long for the time when Jesus returns to take us away from this sinful, hurtful world!

Time with Alexandra

I purchased a Leapfrog desk with letters and word cards off of Craigslist and Alexandra was really excited to play with it. I needed to show her how to do it. So she waited patiently and listened as I told her how to play with it. I showed her a couple of times and then started again and she says "I don't need your help anymore mommy, I can do it by myself". I laughed out loud. It was so funny. She grabbed the pad and took it in the play room to have it for rest time.

Sebastian talk

Sebastian has really started to talk and express himself. Today I put him down for a nap and then a little while later I took Atticus up for a nap. I heard Sebastian say, Nite - Nite. In Sebastian talk that meant that he had dropped his nite-nite. I peeked into the room and he had chucked everything out of the bed. He does this sometimes when Alexandra is in there and she'll get all the stuff for him. I picked up some of the things and put them back in the bed. He looks at me and says "Thanks" very happily. As I continue to put things back, he keeps saying thanks. I told him not to throw stuff out anymore cause I'm not coming in to pick them up again. He grabs his doggie, hugs him and says "Sorry". I believe he was talking to the Dog, not me! :) It's just so cool to hear him talk so much since he hasn't been talking hardly at all.

The Power of Routine

I discovered this week after many times of struggle that we have a pretty solid routine set up and the kids (and I) like it that way. We get up, have breakfast, watch a little PBS. Play or read books, eat lunch, play some more. Then we have rest time, wake up and watch dragon tales and george. Eat dinner, play and/or read books. Daddy gets home, he plays with them, brush teeth, head to bed. This is just the basic routine. On Tuesday and Thursday, Alexandra has preschool. Tues is dance, and bookmobile. Wed, they usually go to Meme's, Thursday is my work and and so on. I've noticed that if we are out of routine for too many days we all start getting cranky. Also, Atticus doesn't really have a solid schedule yet but I long for the day when he'll line up. I'm figuring this is just the kind of person I am. It gives me comfort to know what's coming next. I know a lot of mom's who don't have a routine and love it. I try to leave room for sponteinty but the basic needs to stay the basic for the most part or I get really really cranky and what's the old saying, If mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy!

This must be his raisin phase

I have a confession to make for my son, Sebastian, only because he can't put it into words himself. He's addicted to Raisins. He has to have raisins for every meal and he is now asking for them at snack time. Now you might be saying, there are worse things he could be asking for, and you are right. I have told myself that as well. He is eating a few other things but last night the sitter I go said that he would only eat raisins. It's pretty interesting being the mother of a toddler!

Heroes Quiz

It's Monday and that means Heroes and 24 are on tonight. YIPPPEEEE! My fellow Heroes watcher Rick found this quiz to find out which Hero you are. I'm DL Hawkins! Walking through walls sounds fun! If you are a watcher, and you take the quiz post who you are in the comments section!

I've *Stumbled Upon* something addictive

I found something that has become a huge time waster for me. Not a good thing with a part-time job and three small kids. If you use Mozilla firefox as your way to surf the web, you can get an extension called Stumble upon. What this allows you to do is put in a list of interests. Like some of mine are: Parenting, crafts, web design. Then I click on Stumble on my tool bar and it brings up sites I might like. If I like it I click like it and it saves it for me. If I don't, it doesn't bring up sites like that anymore. Pretty cool eh? Beware, It has become addictive for me. :)

Freebie Friday

If you like Rock this Freebie Friday is for you!

It's swimsuit season

There's been a lot of talk lately at the Erbe house about putting on a swimsuit. Now Alexandra has a history of this, wearing clothes that are totally out of season. I have pics of her in the heat of summer with a stocking cap on. Now she's obsessed about having her swimsuit on. I compromised with her and told her she could put it on if she put it on over her clothes. So that's what she did. Here's proof of it as well! Just an aside, she also did a tap dance in this outfit. Wish I would have had the camera rolling!

There's also just been a water theme in general. Here's the kids in a boat. They had two and daddy recycled this one last night much to their dismay. It was cute they used the small brooms as paddles.

Our Valentine

A nightly prayer from the Erbe's

Daddy: Let's pray

Sebastian: Shoes

Alexandra, mommy, daddy: Yes lord thank you for shoes

Sebastian: Socks

A, M, D: Thanks for Socks

Sebastian: ah, Dora

M and D: Thanks for Dora Lord

Sebastian: ah, Boots

M and D: Yes Lord thank you for Boots

Sebastian: garbly gook, mumble mumble

We all look at each other

Alexandra: we have no idea what he's talking about

Paul and I just cracked up! It was so funny!

Dragon Tales Parents

One of Alexandra's favorite shows is Dragon Tales on PBS. This is a show about two siblings who find a dragon scale in their playroom, wish on it and go a magical land of Dragons. They talk a lot about sharing and caring in this show. What gets me is the kids, Max and Emmy, are gone for most of a day on their adventures. When they get back to their playroom, sometimes you hear their parents which tells me they are in the house but why are they not checking on them? They just leave their kids for hours on end without checking on them. Just the other day, I found out Emmy was 6 and Max is 4, those parents should be checking on them, don't you think. Or do you think I've been locked up in this house too long with three little kids and my mind is wandering way too much! :)

A weekend of much sickness

Before I get to the sickness a few shout outs! Happy Birthday to my Sister-in-law Wendy, Congrats to my long time friend Jen who got engaged this weekend and As a church we moved into a newer larger space.

Atticus, Alexandra, Sebastian and I were all Sick this weekend with the stomach flu. I couldn't believe how many diapers Atticus went through. Alexandra, Atticus and I are all feeling better but Sebastian has been sleeping like 15 hours every 24 for the past two days. Not such a bad thing. Hopefully by the end of this week we'll all be healthy. Also, Praise God, Paul didn't get it!

If you have a weak stomach or are eating, don't read this post

I am in way over my head. I decided to finish up our taxes last night so I was up late after being at work for 2 hours last night. I got to bed about midnight. About 45 minutes later, a little girl wandered to my bed side telling me she's all wet. I'm figuring its that she's wet the bed since she's not wearing pull up's any more. Then I smell something. She starts to explain that she didn't pee pee, she says shes all wet and her bed is too. So I get up and realize, she's thrown up. I assure her that she's ok and that it happens. I strip her bed and her blankets, take them downstairs and get new sheets and put them on the bed. She continues to complain about her stomach and I pray she doesn't vomit on me. I get everything back to normal and get her back to bed and then I hear a cry. It's Atticus. Paul told me that he threw up while I was gone, so I'm not surprised he's awake and acting like he hungry. He takes 6 oz and smells horrible. He's has about 6 dirty diapers a day and is sleeping a lot. I thought maybe it was teething but now that Alexandra is sick I'm not sure. Atticus is not interested in eating which is really weird for him. The funniest part of this whole thing, Alexandra turns on the light last night so we can change her bed, Sebastian didn't stir. He also slept through the whole bed change and all the converstation about sickness. You got to love that!

Oh no she didn't

I'm in the bathroom this morning and Alexandra is at the table with our craft stuff. That includes glue, paper, sparklies and scissors. She comes into the bathroom with a clump of hair in her hand. I thought she pulled it out. I said where did that come from, she says from my head. I said how did you do it. She said I just did it. Then I see that part of the side of her hair is cut. I asked if she used the scissors and she said yes. I couldn't believe it. Of course she's too young to tell me why she did it. The spot is right next to her face. We'll see today when I put her hair up today for Dance if it causes any problems. I was so surprised. Needless to say there was much crying when I took the scissors away from her today and told her she couldn't get them back until tomorrow. I also told her we only use the scissors to cut paper.

A new tradition

It seems that there aren't that many people that we know that like or care anything about football. So, for the last 2 years we've just watched the super bowl at home. Last night I made some special snacks for "dinner" and then made some monkey bread for dessert. Alexandra questioned why we were doing it but Sebastian just enjoyed the treats. While the money bread was cooking, Sebastian said cookies please! Paul had to slow him down from eating his whole plate full of bread! The kids really didn't get into the game and Paul tried to keep them out of my way so that I could enjoy the game and the commercials. I loved the Doritos commerical that was made by an amateur. Funny!

Cuddle Buddies

These two decided to cuddle up on the couch in the playroom to keep warm on this snowy and very cold day in Michigan. Too Cute!

Dinner table antics

We all sat down to dinner tonight. Crescent rolls with hot dogs rolled in, broccoli, and tater tots. Sebastian got raisins just tide him over until all the food was ready. We gave Sebastian and Alexandra ketchup. Sebastian decided to dip his raisins in the ketchup. Paul and I waited to see what his response to it would be. I would try to describe his facial expression but I couldn't do it justice. Paul and I cracked up. Then a loud "YUK" came out of his mouth. It was too funny. Alexandra was focused on getting all her dinner finished so she could have candy. She choose a Candy cane from Christmas. She then proceeded to ask when Christmas would be again. It's so hard to explain in time to a 3 year old. OH, Sebastian got new light up Spider man boots today. They were 50% off. He had a ton of fun stomping around in his new boots. Now he'll stop yelling at me when we are outside that his feet are cold and wet!

Free Music Friday

Here's another Free Music Friday offering!

It has to be a hollow leg.

That's the only explanation for why Atticus is eating all the time. He doesn't really want to sleep during the day and that means he's eating every 3 hours and taking a lot of food either in the bottle or via spoon. He's also wanting to stay up a long time during the day. Today I had him up for almost 2 1/2 hours and he was just starting to get cranky. None of the other two have been like that. He just rolls around on the floor and grabs things, chews on them and grabs something else. He's also into making a lot of noise. At first I thought he was cranky but that's just him talking away. It really is true that each and every baby is different!