Week 11 A farewell and a few surprises

Saturday, March 12: Memories of playing checkers with Grandpa Olson...We had the pleasure of having Grandma and Grandpa Olson for the weekend so that they could hear Chelsea speak at church.  Well, we have just been teaching Brendan how to play checkers so we broke out the checkers for him to play with Grandpa Olson.  Ryan Jones got a turn, too.  I am just sad that I didn't get to play a game with him for old time's sake.  I really enjoyed having them around.

Sunday, March 13:  Today was Chelsea's farewell at church.  She did an amazing job.  The other speakers were Andrew, who impressed us all and Neil who thanked everyone coming from afar to hear him speak.  They all did wonderful jobs on their talks on following the prophets.

Monday, March 14:  And Amber had puppies on Monday so we got to hold another family home evening around her to help her...well she didn't really need our help and did most of the work after we left to go home.  It was quite the educational experience for the kids.  This was sort of a surprise because we were not expecting Amber to have another litter of puppies, but she got pregnant when we were all busy with Sarah's wedding back in January.  HMMMMM.......

Tuesday, March 15:  The next morning we called over to Grandma's to see how many puppies Amber ended up having.  Lincoln knows and tells everyone who says the word puppies:

Nine.  We were trying to keep Lincoln inside most of the day because he has been having troubles with allergies.  This was pretty hard because he wanted to be out there with the puppies all day.  Well, not as much as Eliza.  This girl LOVES the puppies, but Amber was still being really protective about all of them.

Wednesday, March 16:  Has anyone noticed how long the boys' hair has been.  Well, it was time for a haircut, but I decided that after I had already stripped him for his bath.  So here I gave him a haircut and his bum was just so CUTE!  Whenever I give my boys a haircut, they grow up so much.  They look so much older...and much more handsome!

Thursday, March 17:  Have you ever seen so much laundry?  I have kind of been putting it off since I knew that I was needing to pack.  So I did all of the laundry in one day and then instead of having to put it all away and then packing it, I just packed it after folding it.  WOW! Then I had to get to bed early so that I could drive the next morning. 

Friday, March 18: Well, I didn't get to bed early and Neil never went to bed so he started out driving and dive until he got tired.  We were on our way to surprise Grandma Erickson for her birthday.  A lot of people knew that we were coming, but they had all kept it a secret from her.  We stopped at Wendy's on the way and the boys just had too much fun sharing a frosty.  They would steal the frosty off of each others' spoons and then just laugh and laugh.  We tricked Brendan that someone had stolen the car when Neil had just taken it to get gas.  Traveling is always just too fun.  The kids did really well in the car.  I think they were just too excited to visit Grandma and Grandpa Erickson to worry about anything else.  When we were close, we called Grandpa and drove in a different way so Grandma wouldn't see.  We sneaked into the backyard and let the kids jump on the trampoline and let Grandma "discover" them there.  We were pretty sneaky and were really glad when Grandma said that she enjoyed our surprises.  Thank goodness, because it seems like we have surprised her quite a bit lately.

Week 10

Saturday, March 5:  A miracle happened today.  For the last two days I have made myself sick thinking that I had lost these two cards that have more than a thousand memories captured by our camera.  I looked all over for these and couldn't find them anywhere.  While cleaning out all of the rooms in my house and not finding them and then realizing that I had lost them...I was just sick with worry...

Sunday, March 6:  Brendan gave a talk today in Primary.  He did a really good job.  He helped in the writing of his talk on prophets.

Moses was a prophet in the scriptures.  He used a staff when he walked—just like this one.  This one belongs to my uncle Christopher.  Jesus asked Moses to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. 

The people followed Moses.  They came to the Red Sea.  They were afraid because they could see an army behind them. 

Moses told them not to be afraid.  He raised his hand over the sea.  A strong wind began to blow.  It divided the sea.  The waters went up.  The people walked through on dry land and they got away from the army.  It was a miracle! 

Just like the people in the scriptures we can follow our prophet today. Our prophet today is President Monson.  He teaches us to be nice and to go on a mission.  I want to be nice.  I want to go on a mission.

I will follow the prophet.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Monday, March 7:  Andrew turns 15.  We had so much fun celebrating with Andrew and the family.  We stopped at the dollar store and the kids insisted on getting him a great ball shooter that ended up breaking before it worked.  Gotta love the dollar store.  It was fun to come over and celebrate with the family and then watch the boys dance to double dream hands.  What memories!

Tuesday, March 8:  Who doesn't love lazy Tuesday mornings where Dad stays in his pjs and plays Candy Land with the kids in the morning?  I absolutely love it when my husband takes the time to play with our kids.  They eat it up, too.  Love it, love it, love it.

Then later on that day we were able to stop by the park on the way home from running errands.  The kids were good for us while we were in the Sprint store getting our new phones.  This was the first picture that I took with my phone.  By the way, we LOVE this park.  My children make friends at it every time that we go.  In the middle, there is a spaceship where they pretend that they are on a mission to mars.  In the summer time there is a little water place here, so I bet it will be a hit then, too.  AGAIN, Neil is such a good dad to his kids.  I'm not sure who has more fun at the parks-Neil or the kids.  One of my favorite things that we have been doing at the park is running races.  Usually it is the last hurrah before we go to the car.  Today's race was starting at the basketball court, running down to the other end, around the hoop, to the tree in the distance, and then along the tennis courts and back to the car.  I believe Brendan was the winner.  He has become such the runner.  Maybe we'll run a half marathon together someday.  :)

Wednesday, March 9: This little stinker named Lincoln kept on getting up after mom had put him to sleep.  This picture was taken at 10:45 at night after he had been asked to get back into bed several times.  He ultimately ended up in our bed and finally falling asleep there.  Bedtimes and naptimes...my favorite times of the day.

 

Thursday, March 10: It was Chelsea's idea for us to take our second trip to the $1 theater this year.  And we loved it! (Except for the fact that the last 2 movies have been shown in 3D and they charge $3 for each ticket.  I don't understand the fad with 3D movies that are not action packed...just cartoons for kids.  It really throws off--triples, really--the budgeted money that I was planning on spending that day.) But we all just fell in love with this movie.  I loved it!  It has a cute little message  :)  Thanks Chelsea for the idea for the fun afternoon.

 

Friday, March 11: Fun day at mom's.  We rearranged some things in the living room and brought out the cedar chest from my mom's room and put it in by the piano.  Of course this means that we needed to open it up and go through it and some memories, too.  The morning was a great one of reminiscing and sometimes I just think that you need those days.  Plus I loved that we were able to do that right before Chelsea getting ready to leave.  Man, I am going to miss that girl so much!

Catching up with Weeks 8 and 9

So after a careful reevaluation, I realized that in week 7 there are 8 days.  Eliza's birthday was actually supposed to be the first day of week 8.  My bad.  I guess I was just really excited to be caught up at one point during this year long project.  But alas, I fell behind AGAIN.  What is it about life that it always takes over all of the really cool things that I want to be doing?
I am very grateful for times like this where I can escape REAL life and go on a little vacation which allows me to catch up again.  Right now we are vacationing in Utah.  We surprised Grandma Erickson for her birthday and are going to be saying good bye to my sister Chelsea at the same time.  Grandma was so surprised yesterday and I'm really glad that she LOVES surprises that involve visits from some grandkids.
Anyway, while my kids are so easily distracted and entertained with their aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandma and grandpa...I can sit down and go through the pictures that I have been taking and continue this ENORMOUS project that I question myself (almost 3 or 5 times a week) for starting.  But I hope that I will enjoy it and appreciate it later on...Here we go.

Week 8

Sunday, February 20: We love our GRANDPARENTS.  Sunday afternoons are usually spent over at Grandma and Grandpa Bedke's house.  They are so good to our children.  We love their good influence in our lives and the lives of our children.  Tonight we were able to come home and chat with Grandma and Grandpa Erickson and the rest of everyone that lives there on the webcam.  We haven't done this in a long time because their laptop with the webcam isn't working anymore and we have missed talking with them, but they were able to use John's laptop (thanks Uncle John) and see them for a little bit.  We got to wish Sara and Eliza a Happy Birthday and sing to both of them all together.  We love our chats with our Erickson Family and wish we could see them more often in person.  My kids ask all of the time if we can go and see them.  We love them!

Monday, February 21:  We love birthdays that just keep on giving.  Eliza got a present from Grandma Erickson in the mail today and LOVED it.  She put on her princess costume and danced around the rest of the day.  Thank you Grandma!

Tuesday, February 22:  Chelsea came over and watched the kids today while I left to go out to the store really quick.  The kids always have so much fun with her and I know that they are going to miss her so much when she leaves on her mission to Argentina in just a few weeks.  Here they were pretending that they were asleep and then waking up and scaring her.  I love the picture of Lincoln.  He just cracks me up!  And then they had a blast making silly faces.  Don't I have the cutest kids?

Wednesday, February 23:  Today's picture is brought to you by Lincoln.  He took a picture of all of the dishes in the sink this morning...somewhat embarrassing, but our life.  Also, on the counter is Brendan's chart that he is keeping track of the days that he makes his bed so that he can earn a DVD about the Universe that I picked up at Costco the other day.  He has this obsession with the universe and galaxies right now and the History Channel has a TV series about The Universe and I thought he would like it.  I don't know how much he will get from it, but at least it might educate me a little bit more so that when he asks me questions I will maybe know something.  Hmmm....did I buy this one for me or for him?

Thursday, February 24:  Happy Birthday Chelsea!  Where are you today to help me with this mess in the office?  The office has looked like this for a LONG time and I want to get to it.  Taking a picture of it is just capturing my REAL life and not my picture perfect one.  :)  I worked on the office most of the day...and it is looking better.

Friday, February 25:  Chelsea came over today and brought the kids a present from Disneyland.  Each one of them got a PEZ dispenser.  Can you guess whose this one is?  Brendan and Lincoln got Mickey Mouse and Stinky Pete, respectively.  When she came over, she invited me to go out to lunch with mom and pops.  I was still in my pj's when they came over, but Neil wasn't working today and he said that I could go and he would stay home and watch the kids.  He really is an AMAZING husband and I appreciate him letting me go.  Because he didn't go I got the garlic lover's stir fry dish at the Orchid (Tai food).  He wasn't very happy with me for the rest of the day because I stunk, but it sure tasted good.  Thanks for letting me go.

Week 9:

Saturday, February 26:  Doesn't Eliza look so excited to be getting her blood pressure read.  We didn't get to find out what it was because she didn't like how tight it was getting on her arm.  This was a girl's trip to RiteAid to fill a prescription that our insurance said it wouldn't cover anyway...so a wasted trip there...plus they don't even carry shower caps, but we did find some hot pink fingernail polish that Eliza just couldn't live without...so was it really wasted?
p.s. Eliza doesn't let the fingernail polish stay on for longer than one day....more like 3o minutes.  She picks it off.

Sunday, February 27:  Getting her blood pressure read + Church + listening to instrumental music on Pandora = Eliza falling asleep on the floor while coloring Curious George with a red Crayola marker.  Thankfully she decided to rest her arm out just enough that the marker was resting on the edge of the newspaper so that it would soak through those 6 pages instead of bleed out onto the carpet.  The poor thing was just tuckered out.  The Family came over for dinner and we celebrated Chelsea's birthday with cake and ice cream.  I am happy to report that Chelsea knows how to blow out candles now and that she blew all of them out on the first try.  We hope her wish comes true!  :)

Monday, February 28:  This kid just cracks us up!  This morning he made his dad so proud by pointing out the window and grunting when a cat came into our backyard and then pointing up to the air soft gun that Neil keeps close by and grunting and then pointing at the cat again and grunting to shoot it.  He doesn't use very many words still, but he sure does communicate just fine.  I might add that this all happened during our morning scripture study.  Way to pay attention, Lincoln!

Tuesday, March 1:  Bedtime stories only come when we are getting to bed at a decent hour.  Gratefully we were able to do that tonight.  Life is good when we get our sleep.

Wednesday, March 2:  Chelsea has been going through ALL of her STUFF before she leaves.  She brought over a precious relic of hers to share.  This was the first time that Neil had ever learned of the Cat Club or its rules.  It is just a classic!

Thursday, March 3:  I love to snuggle with my kids in the morning and today we did it on the living room couch with the Superman blanket.  Sometimes we read books or just talk about our dreams.  Mornings tend to be pretty lazy around here...and I love that!

Friday, March 4:  Today was a day of learning.  Christopher stopped by and took the time to look at the Dictionary with Lincoln.  All of my kids love looking at the dictionary and it can occupy their time for hours.  This is probably attributed to the fact that it has a lot of pictures.  But I love the dictionary and all of the questions that come when we look something up.

Weeks 10 and 11 to come later on this week...  :)  Thanks for reading!

Week 7 ... Eliza turned 4!

February 12: So we had a little bit of an emergency on Saturday: Lincoln got his foot stuck in the bathroom stool that we had my cousin Trevor make for us.  We love this stool because it has saved me from having to break up any more fights at brushing teeth time.  But last week it was not Lincoln's favorite place as he was contemplating having to live with it for the rest of his life.  In all seriousness, it was STUCK!  Neil was working and there really isn't any way that I could get a hold of him, so I called over to my parent's house.  I just wanted someone to help me, walk me through different ideas because whenever I would get close to pulling it out, Lincoln would scream and just loose control.  So Dad said that he would come over...well, not only Dad, but Mom (who was told to get off of the phone because of an emergency), Chelsea and Christopher all came over.  We carried Lincoln out of the bathroom so that everyone could fit around him better and we went out to the kitchen.  Mom put some lubricating oil to help it slide out.  Still, it wasn't working and Lincoln just was starting to get really scared about having this appendage on his leg.  Finally, Christopher suggested that Lincoln lay down on his back and that we maneuver the stool instead of maneuvering Lincoln.  And that was the ticket!  His leg came right out.  After that was all said and done, the boys started teasing Brendan and Eliza and asking if they wanted a turn.  They were playing along and saying sure...and Lincoln was the traumatized one and was so worried for anyone else who would have to endure what he had just endured.  Even now, Lincoln is still scared of this picture.  We may have to hide it from him for awhile.

February 13: Sunday night games at our house.  Tonight we played Blockus and had fun along with Lincoln who had taken a late nap.  It seems more and more like he is taking late naps just so he can stay up later to party with us.

February 14: HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!  It would appear that Neil wasn't too excited about my Valentine's kiss....hmmm....
And can I just say CUTE about these heart raviolis that I found at Costco.  Super easy, super yummy, supper CUTE!
Usually Brendan is really anti-kissing about anything, but today he gave me a Valentine card and a kisss and when we watched Joseph Smith Prophet of the Restoration for Family Night tonight he confessed that he could watch 2 true love kisses a day...but only 2.  Maybe he is coming around...   :)

February 15:  My favorite part of the day was listening to Neil work with the boys to put together an office chair.  He was so cute with them and they were just really excited to be able to work with their dad.  They love our growing collection of allen wrenches.

February 16:  Middle of the day, Brendan announces:  "Mom, I need to go and make a surprise for you.  Stay out of the kitchen.  I'll be right back."  A few minutes later he ran in and handed me this flower.  How cute is this!  WOW he just really made my day!  I love it when my kids do this!

February 17: OK, I loved walking into my closet this morning.  (Sorry, I would not be caught dead showing a before picture).  Chelsea came over last night and helped me pull everything out of my closet.  I tried on clothes all night for her.  If they didn't fit or if they were just really frumpy or if I hadn't worn them in a long time...we put them aside.  I have been wanting to do this for SO long.  If the clothes were acceptable, they were put back in the closet...in a very organized fashion.  I love the way it looks and functions.  Neil got home at 1:30 am and walked in on an almost cleared bed.  He was quite impressed, but stayed out of the way until it was all done.  He warned me that just because there was room in my closet, I didn't need to go out and buy more stuff to go in there.  Thanks honey...THANKS CHELSEA!

February 18:  Blake, Madison, and Trey Bedke (our cousins) and aunt Chelsea came and played at our house all day today.  We loved it!  Brendan has been obsessed with Star Wars as of late.  He is trying to understand how Anakin turns into Darth Vader.  We have explained  that he turned bad because of bad choices.  He is still trying to make sense of it...and sense of all of the buttons on the front of Darth's costume.   He asked Chelsea today: "So did those people switch him to bad?"  And she answered, "Yes."  And he asked, "like with a button?"

February 19: HAPPY BIRTHDAY #4 ELIZA!This little girl was grinning from ear to ear ALL DAY LONG on Saturday.  We took her out to PF Changs and she loved everything about it...especially the ice cream.  We talked about all of the things that she did when she was a baby and when she was one, two, and three.  Then we asked her what she wants to do when she is four.  She told us that she wants to try ballet.  Where that came from is unbeknown to us!

Here is her birthday cake.  She wanted a Sleeping Beauty birthday cake, so I tried my best.  I worked on it on Friday night and had it ready for her when she woke up on Saturday.  She beat me out to the kitchen and then came running back into my room with her eyes wide and said, "I love it, mom!"  If that didn't make my day, the hug that followed sure did.  Eliza gives the best hugs and this one included her legs wrapped around my waist.  Loved it.  Love her!

  

Brendan got her a CTR ring for her birthday.  Before this she didn't believe that she could make good choices because she didn't have a ring.  So now that she has one, we will be holding her to the good choices part.  We love Eliza and love that she makes us all smile so much.