Name Game - Round #3

As a result of last week's voting, Micah and Simeon will move on to join Marcus and Eli in the Finalist Round. 

Archer and Linus were eliminated. 

Just a reminder, you don't need to vote for names in the finalist round... those are automatically in the pool of names we will make our final selection from. We would still like to hear which of the remaining names you like best. This week we will again promote two names and drop two names.

And now, in order of current popularity among our friends and family, the remaining names are:

Nicolas

Malachi

Caleb

Gideon

Benjamin

Issac

Aaron

Timothy

Josiah

Seth

Reuben

Noah

Philip

Indiana

Ezekiel

Mark

Adam

Zechariah

Hezekiah

Ezra

Asher

Gabriel

Name Game - Round #2

Thank you to everyone who voted last week! Marcus and Eli received the most votes, so those two names will be advancing to the finalist round. Hunter and Deacon were voted off the island. Crazy, we thought, since Hunter is a very popular name in Oregon - it ranked as the #26 most popular name in our state for 2011. But the people have spoken!

Since the 2011 SSA baby name statistics came out last week, we have updated the rankings. So, we're down to 26 names for you to vote on. Which name(s) will make finalist round this week? Let us know! Comment here or on facebook.

The names are now in order of most popular to least popular based on last week's voting. If your favorite name is in the lower half, be sure to vote for it this week!

Trending upward... 
Nicolas   (#168)
Malachi   (#164)
Micah   (#104)
Benjamin   (#19)
Aaron   (#50)
Caleb   (#32)
Simeon   (not in the top 1000)
Gideon   (#412)
Seth   (#185)
Noah   (#5)
Josiah   (#80)
Isaac (#35)
Timothy   (#123)


Trending downward...
Reuben   (#942)
Indiana   (not in the top 1000)
Ezekiel   (#204)
Mark   (#159)
Adam   (#81)

Philip   (#406)

Asher   (#113) 

Zechariah   (#715)
Hezekiah (#887) 

Ezra   (#243)
Gabriel (#24)

Linus   (not in the top 1000)
Archer   (#447)

The New Name Game

If I had to handle this task with a group of my girlfriends, I'm sure we'd have an adorable name picked out in no time.

But naming a baby with my husband--that's a different story.

Due to a decided lack of agreement between his parents, our baby would like YOU, our friends and family, to assist in selecting the perfect name for him. 

Some of you may have participated in our previous "name games" to try to guess what we would name the first two boys. This one will be a bit different. Since reality shows like Survivor, American Idol, and Dancing with the Stars are so popular, we thought you might like to participate in a reality game where YOUR vote really does matter!

Each week, we want YOU to vote for your favorite names (as many as you'd like) and each week we will kick one or two of the lowest scoring names off the list and move one or two of the top choices into the finalist round. Then we'll give you an updated list to vote on in next week's post.

In keeping with the trend we have started, below you will find 30 biblical first names, listed in the order that they first appear in Scripture. Each name includes a link to some additional information regarding meaning, history, popularity, etc., and the rank indicated next to each name is from the 2010 Most Popular Baby Names according to the Social Security Administration.

Some of these are names I like, some of them Matt likes, and some of them we just threw in there to make you say, "Would they REALLY do that?"

(The answer is yes, many of these Matt really would do if I let him.)

So let's get started. To vote, either comment here on the current week's blog post or the facebook post that links to that week's list. 

Full disclaimer: your relationship to us will affect the weight of your vote. If a grandma says, "I really love this name," her vote will count proportionately more than a blog comment left by  "Anonymous" when it comes to making our final choice. However, everyone's feedback is welcome and appreciated in helping us make this decision!

Possible First Names for Baby Boy Jones:

Adam   (#81)

Seth   (#165)

Noah   (#7)

Hunter   (#59)

Archer   (#550)
Isaac (#39)

Reuben   (not in the top 1000)

Simeon   (not in the top 1000)
Asher   (#139)

Benjamin   (#22)

Aaron   (#55)

Caleb   (#33)
Gideon   (#461)

Micah   (#108)
Josiah   (#77)
Eli   (#65)
Zechariah   (#667)
Hezekiah (#930) 

Ezra   (#243)

Ezekiel   (#213)
Gabriel (#21)

Malachi   (#155)

Indiana   (not in the top 1000)
Philip   (#403)

Mark   (#161)
Timothy   (#115)
Nicolas   (#162)

Marcus   (#130)

Deacon   (#698)

Linus   (not in the top 1000)

AgFest & A New Toy

 We began our Sunday by saying goodbye to daddy and a yard that looked like this:

The boys and I took off on our annual trek to the Oregon AgFest, to learn about life on the farm.

They dug for potatoes, held baby chicks, saw lots of farm animals, and generally burned up a bunch of energy!

Milking a cow....

 

Tractor pedal race...

 

Dairy Wives Barn - best ever soft serve ice cream!

Lots of tractors!

 

Meanwhile, back at the house, both grandpas and an uncle were helping daddy construct something special...

And we returned to this:

 The boys were very excited, and have been out there playing nearly every day, sunshine or not!