Best Feature #7

Our refrigerator.

Yes, you get to see inside my fridge.
Don't look too closely. :)

We've always had a refrigerator with the freezer above the fridge. Well, here's why I like them side by side:

1. My kids can no longer pull beverages out of the fridge and pour themselves a glass all over the floor.

2. There's a neat little ice cube and water dispenser in the front. I make it sound like some brand new invention on purpose. We've never had one before, therefore, new and wonderful. I love being able to get good tasting cold water and fast. I like that my kids can get themselves a drink when they want one. I thought we'd have a lot of messes in the kitchen, but not really.

3. Number two leads to number three - I threw out our Brita water dispenser. It needed to go and now we don't have to purchase a new one. Who remembered to change the filters on that thing anyway. Now my sisters and mother will actually drink my water when they come visit. Apparently nothing beats Mattawa well water. :)

Now my kids get into the otter pops instead of the drinks. Drives me crazy just the same. They love it!

Holding Hands

I think Paul could hold Lainey's hand all day and be happy. He loves to pry her fingers up, you know the baby death grip, and slip his thumb or fingers into her hand. Paul was helping Jason and I move things in the garage from one end to the other. Lainey was in her bouncer in the middle so we could work and keep an eye on her. Every time Paul passed her he would stoop and hold her hand, then continue on his way. When he comes in from playing, he finds Lainey so he can hold her hand. Sometimes he stays, and other times he holds on for a little and then runs off again. When I'm feeding Lainey, he comes and sits next to me to hold her hand. He'll even search down in her blanket and pull her hand out because she must be in want of someone to hold it. When I'm holding Lainey on my hip, Paul reaches up to hold her hand. In her car seat, in the crib, or lying on the floor Paul is usually there for a second or two at a time holding Lainey's hand. That's why I thought this picture was so funny. Even in the moving swing Paul needed to hold her hand.

Lainey & Podee

Lainey successfully used the podee bottle today. We got these bottles to free up our hands when we had Benjamin and Claire. I realized that Lainey would be old enough to use it now and it saved my life again. I made lunch and Lainey got her bottle. Sigh!

Staining the Fence

We've been working on the backyard fence. Jason stained a portion of it on his own by hand-that took for-e-ver! So he decided to use our paint sprayer for the rest. All I can say is "thank you Jason." It went so much faster with the paint sprayer. We did three quarters of the fence in the time it took him to do less than a quarter of it. I don't need to tell you that the kids had an absolute blast dipping their brushes and painting on the fence. We gave them a spot and let them go at it. Emma got a little frustrated when Paul kept painting her hand in the paint can because he couldn't wait for her to get her hand out.

If you look down the fence line in this photo, you'll see Benjamin crouched in the corner looking at a huge worm we uncovered when moving the wood pile. He didn't much care to help with the fence. He got his gloves on and went to dig up bugs.

An Un-Camp Out

We have Grandma Z, Cousin Katelyn, and Cousin Alex with us for a few days. Somehow the kids got us to agree to s'mores in the backyard. With Jason being off from work, he took care of it all and it was actually really fun. This picture accurately depicts our 20 minutes or so with the fire going-us wandering around in a smokey haze trying to enjoy our sticky treats. The kids absolutely loved it. When Jason declared it was time to put the fire out Emma protested, "No! We have to sit around the fire and tell stories!"

Best Feature #6

A laundry room! Woo! Woo!

It's so nice to have:

~ the washer and dryer side by side

~a place to hang shirts and other hand washable clothes
{Jason rigged this up using one of our shelves and a dowel because I bugged him so much at the last house to do this for me. Before, I was making use of door frames and we were constantly knocking the clothes down}

~a folding table/space
{the utility table that used to be in the kitchen has now been put to good use in here. Never thought I'd have a granite topped folding table}

~a separate room leading into the garage

~a door to close out all the noise

What time is it?

I know...You're asking yourself the same question I am. Why is Benjamin still up at this hour? Jason was helping me hang some things in the front room and Benjamin just couldn't resist coming out to help no matter how many times I put him back in bed.

Zirker Family Reunion

My mom got in on the fun in a "Minute to Win It" game. These were a lot of fun. (Mom, Aunt Merrilyn, Aunt Pam, Aunt Ardis, Aunt Jacki)

Sad to say that I don't have more pictures to show for the best two days we spent at my cousin Christa Lee's in Royal for the reunion. Jason's side, the Erickson side, has exceptional reunions. My side not so much. But this was a great one. Score one for the Zirker side.

We had a talent show and program yesterday. There were tons of things to do at my cousins' house - slip-n-slide down a nice steep hill, a ground level trampoline, a huge back yard toy (Claire stayed in the play kitchen just about the whole time), and a nice patio area with a sidewalk going all the way around the house (you had to watch out for bikers flying by or else). So much fun!

Best Feature #5

Best Feature #5: We didn't have to leave Othello with this move. So we're still close to so many wonderful friends we've made over the last two years.

Best Feature #4

Yes, this home has a built in wall shelf unit (it's just at the beginning of the hall to the bedrooms). Only this one does not have glass doors as our last one did. I'm obviously not done filling the spaces, but I'm loving it already. The white is so bright and cheerful and makes everything stand out nicely. My brain is just working a mile a minute to think of what else I can put in each little space.

Best Feature #3

This amazing play set is best feature #3. Actually it should have been best feature #1 as my sister pointed out because it keeps the kids occupied...all day long. They go out early before breakfast and stay out late past bedtime. We need to do a little sanding on it because they come away with quite a few slivers, but that doesn't seem to keep them away long. How amazing is that? A swing for everyone!

Swimming Par-tay

Back Row: Cousin Jordan, Cousin Christian, Grandma Z,
Jason and Ben, Me and Lainey
Middle Row: Cousin Brennan, Cousin Austin, Claire
Front: Paul and Emma

We went swimming together on this the last day of Jason's vacation days. It was a lot of fun. Lainey even got in and got wet. I think she liked it! Benjamin was having a hard time so we didn't get to stay long. Bummer! Even Grandma got in and enjoyed the water with us.

Best Feature #2

The dishwasher is best feature #2. We have not had a built in dishwasher since we were first married eight years ago-ahhh! Those were the days. (Don't worry I'm laughing at how silly I am too.) We did have a portable dishwasher at our last house that hooked up to the sink, and I was grateful to have it. However, it is nice not to have a dishwasher in the middle of our kitchen and hoses hooked up to the faucet now. Yep! Loving the dishwasher.

On Leave

Wade (oldest), Kelvin(#3), Travis(#5), Jason(#7),
Dad E, Warren(Heidi's boy)

Jason's brother Travis is home on leave from Afghanistan. He is in the National Guard, but went active duty at the first of the year. The family gathered to welcome him home and hear his experiences. We're glad he is safe and grateful for the service he gives for freedom.

Lainey gave Uncle Trav a smile

Best Feature #1

This house has several best features that I will capture over the next few days.

So...Best Feature #1: Built in closet organizers-each room has one.

There are no doors on the closets which is nice. I find that closet doors can get in the way in little kids' rooms. It's so nice to have enough room for their clothes and some for storage.

Girls Room

Boys Room

How did we...

fit all this into a house with no garage?

We're on our way to organization

Creative Sayings wood shop

Home Sweet Home

We're in our new home, but we're far from really organized. Four bedrooms, two car garage, a shop in the back for Jason, a huge swing set and slide for the kids - we're in Heaven with all the space.

Lainey in the Morning

Lainey is starting to smile. This is how she greeted me this morning.

We moved today. It actually went pretty well. We're so grateful for the people who came and helped us out moving boxes and watching our kids. We're tired and our kids were very tired.

This is what lunch looked like. We used cardboard for paper plates and had quite a few spills. Oh well! Ben is upset because we made him sit on the floor.

Rocks in her boots

This has become Claire's favorite thing to do, carry around rocks in her boots. Not a big fan because they end up all over my house.

Office Help

Look who came to help me shred some old files. What good little helpers.

Growing Feet

Several weeks ago we went and bought new shoes for the kids. Emma needed church shoes because she was complaining about them hurting her feet. Ben and Paul needed new summer wear and Claire needed some new sandals also. Well when we went to put the shoes on the kids, they were all a size too small. So we took them back and exchanged them. All was well except Emma's church shoes. The new pair was too big (yeah, we didn't do the trying on thing very well with her).

So she went to church with the too small church shoes on and couldn't bear it. They were really pinching her toes. Well, you'd think we could have made it to a store to get some different ones, but another Sunday rolled around and we had no shoe remedy for her. Or did we...

I found these shoes that we received a long, long time ago as we've been cleaning and packing. Emma wore them a couple of times and then the strap broke. Well I had picked up some of this amazing glue that my friend told me about and decided that I would finally put it to the test. Last night I fixed the strap and Emma had a brand new, hand me down pair of shoes to wear to church. Thank you Cynthia!

Diving In!

Our neighbors were kind enough to invite us to share in the fun of their pool today. It was definitely hot enough. The kids absolutely loved it.


Emma was not afraid to get in. She found that she could touch the bottom and soon was moving all around the shallow end, jumping in and kicking about.

Claire was the next one to decide she would try out the floaty inter-tubes and get her feet wet. Our neighbor Jim was so very helpful and soon Claire was kicking around on her own as well.

Paul was reluctant for quite a while. We coaxed him over to the stairs and then into a tube. He got scared when he was too far away from the stairs with no one around to push him back.

Benjamin was content to just throw in all of the pool toys. He gave us many scares because he would reach down in the water from the side to grab a ball or floaty. For the last 20 minutes we were there, he did finally get in and play on the steps. Once again our good neighbor was right there to help him and make him feel comfortable in the water. It was so cute to see him when he first got in. He let one leg dangle in the water and kept the other extended along the side of the pool. Then he got this look on his face like, "I'm cool!"

What wonderful neighbors! We had so much fun. Jason started off swimming with us but he had to leave because he was called out. Today was one of those days that something actually happened during his on call time. Darn!

Library Book Stowaway

We decided to go to the library and check out some books the same day that we finished packing up some of the kids' books. Well, Paul and Emma got involved and before we knew it we'd packed them all plus some of the library books. We didn't realize that we were missing a library book until today. Luckily, thankfully, we remembered which box contained the books. We found the missing book in no time at all.

Cheerios in the Toilet

This is not my original idea. I know someone passed the idea along to me. It works great however with Benjamin and using the toilet (the times that he's not just going outside). All I have to say is,"Let's go shoot some cheerios," and he comes willingly. He used to fight me before bedtime, not anymore. It's great!

Stacking

And so the stacking madness begins once again. We have found another place to rent here in Othello. We won't be moving far, but we'll be in a different ward. Sniff, sniff! On to new opportunities!

Sock 'em

I returned from some errands to find the kids clad in socks on their hands having a good natured fight. It was so funny. I have no idea where they got the idea.

Muddy Buddies

Summer Sleepover

There's nothing better than a sleepover in the summer with cousins or friends. Cousin Katelyn is our guest of honor for a few days.

Paul, Ben, and Claire were camera shy

Cutie-Patooties

Being Silly

Baby Blessing & Chubby Bunny

We blessed Lainey today in our home. It just worked better that way with Jason's current schedule. Plus, we celebrated the 4th of July today here in Othello, so we were going to invite the whole family any way.



After we ate, we had a few games in the back yard. We started off with I'm a chubby bunny. This is an Erickson tradition to play at their family reunions. Jason and his cousins talk about the fun times had playing this game. So naturally I thought it would be a big hit. Notice that there are only a few from my side and all the others are brave Ericksons. I was so thrilled that they played. It was fun! The idea is to see how many marshmallows you can get in your mouth and still say, "I'm a chubby bunny."

Alex and Ethan

The final three - Shelly, Wade, and Dad E. I was surprised that Shelly played, but she won the event with a whopping nine marshmallows in her mouth. Crazy! They were really stuffing them in.

Marble Hop

The kids had to grab marbles out of the buckets of water with their toes and then hop back and drop them in their bowls. Very fun! Thank you Molly

Wheelbarrow Race

Three Legged Race

Parade Fun

On our way

Fireworks Show
The show was amazing this year. Way to go Othello!