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!