Week #7:Back to the Farm

This week...

...we cele-bray-ted Valentine's Day! Emma made airplanes from smarties, lifesavers, and sticks of gum again. Paul sat down and whipped his valentine's out all on his own. He traced hearts on some paper cards and embellished them with buttons and googly eyes. We taped a piece of candy inside each one and he was done. Of course, they loved the spread of treats and cards when they got home. Claire and Benjamin helped themselves to Emma's candy as if it were their own. Claire was a little sad because none of her friends came to the house to deliver any valentines for her. I reassured her that she would have plenty of valentines this coming year when she starts school.

Paul was particularly interested in the smell of some of the candy. Claire thought she would be sneaky and get a thumbs up in where she could and Paul added a silly face for good measure. 

Jason took me out to lunch at New York Ritchie's. He joked that he loves me more today than any other day of the year and I joked that if he didn't take me out today, then I would know that he really didn't love me. We had the white sauce pizza, which was good. I was a little disappointed by the amount of tomatoes because that is all the pizza was-white sauce and tomatoes. Oh well! The fries were good too-thin and crispy.

...we went back to the farm. Grandpa needs his helpers. This time Uncle Corey came out with his kids so we got to play with more of our cousins. He tried to do the feeding himself because he didn't know our arrangement with Grandpa. Yeesh! We also got to go and stack a load of fire wood for Uncle Kirk. It was such a beautiful day to be out in the sun with a job to do. The kids loved riding in the back of the pickup.

...we finished off some decorating touches. 1. Powder Bath-Love this bathroom now. New wall hanging, stand and rug 2. Dining Area - Vinyl above window, new curtains 3. Stairway Wall Collage - I'm still perfecting this one, but it's a start. I want to make sure that I put all the things I want my kids to remember as they grow up; subliminal mom messages I guess. 4. Candy Shop Sign-this is just a makeover. My first attempt didn't work as well as I wanted. So I added the black and white checker border and put new vinyl on it. Love it! 5. Chevron Pennant Banner-I received this in an exchange at a favorites party. I was so happy to get this and found the perfect spot for it. 6. Zone Sign-I've had the letters above the kitchen window for a while now. The C has a hook that was empty all this time because I was going to get around to hanging something there. Well, in honor of our blog, I put a little zone sign to finish the whole thing off. We're officially Erickson Zone.

Week #6: A Trip to King Lasik

This week...

...Jason had the Lasik PRK surgery. He has been so excited to get this done. It took about five days for him to gradually get used to the light again, for the swelling and irritation to go away, and for him to feel like he could go about fairly normal activities. The PRK is a little more intense of a procedure and so takes longer to recover than just the normal Lasik procedure. His eyes will continue to focus and clear up over time. He's got 20/25 vision right now. It should get as good as 20/15.

...we put Lainey in real pig tails. Her hair is finally long enough. And of course, we captured some of her faces that she's so willing to make for the camera.

...Ben and Claire helped me pick out new curtains for the sliding glass door. We had these most annoying blinds before, which I have to admit did the job of covering the window. But 99% of the slats were broken and would fall down ALL the TIME. It was driving me crazy! So with my February decorating budget, I went and picked out some curtains. I have to say: I love them! (See the picture of Lainey on the breakfast table.)

Claire was hiding nearby and Ben...was running around. Of course!

...Lainey redefined eating at the breakfast table. She stood there and ate her whole bowl of cereal. 

Week # 5: Movie Theater Popcorn

This week...

...we ate movie theater popcorn by the bag full. It lasts quite a long time and doesn't go soggy or stale. We know, we've had it for days now. I threw one bag away when I caught Benjamin putting his feet in it and wiggling them around. I said, "Now we have to throw that popcorn away since you put your feet in there." He said, "Me did it before!" I just about slapped my forehead in disbelief. Then I wondered, how many times did we all dip out of that bag after he put his feet in the first time?  

     A member of our ward works down at Fairchild Cinemas as their tech guy. His uncle is the manager. So he brought two big garbage bags full of movie theater popcorn with some specialty salts to taste - white cheddar and BBQ (the two most popular at the theater). The kids thought it was great fun and we all thought it was great popcorn. Somehow, even with Lainey's mishap and trip to the ER, we made it home with both bags of popcorn. We've been eating it, vacuuming it - off the floor and couch, and making it into caramel corn. Yum! I don't recommend going down and buying movie theater popcorn just to make caramel corn. It could be expensive. Tasty, but expensive. If you don't have any on hand, just settle for the microwavable kind. ;)

...we cuddled on Sunday after church. I love Sundays like that - no meetings, no dinner guests, no firesides, nothing. Just me and the kids. (Jason was working.)

...Lainey got her stitches out. We went back to the ER for the removal of the stitches or fuzzy, black hairs as Ben called them. Maybe the three little pigs had stitches in their chin, possible mishaps as they ran from the first two houses, and that's why they tell the wolf they won't open the door by the hairs on their chinny-chin chins. This time our friend was working and she helped us get the stitches out. Then she pulled pink fingernail polish out of her bag of tricks and painted Lainey's nails before we went home. She was showing everyone her pinks.

She was very attached to the boxes of bandages and anti-biotics we bought for her. She set them all out on her bed for the night and played monkey to boot. 

...we helped Grandpa feed the cows. This time all the kids got to help and they were loving it. Grandpa rolled his eyes at me when I cautioned them about getting their tennis shoes all manure-y. I'm sure he was thinking I'd been completely city-fied. In my own defense, when they've only got one pair, you have to be cautious. I probably got carried away taking pictures, but I don't care. I hope that they will look back with fond memories on these times helping Grandpa with the cows.

...Claire pulled her loose tooth out all by herself. That is my kind of teeth pulling. The tooth was barely hanging on to begin with. She kept tugging and stopping, tugging and stopping. Finally, as she was sitting calmly on the couch working at it, the tooth just came out! Yay! This is her very first.

...we've been putting up more vinyl! I caught a little bit more of the vision for our home, and I had a bit of money to spend. That helps! Metal was on sale at Hobby Lobby this week and so I was able to make a few things happen. It was so exciting and Jason was so willing to help with the hanging of everything.

...Jason got his first autographed picture of a celebrity. Alyssa Milano wrote out autographs for all the guys on Jason's squad. The connection is through the wife of one of the deputies on his squad. She knows Milano and manages her twitter account. It's all about who you know. The only thing is that too many people ask us who she is. Come on people! Don't you remember Who's the Boss? Tony Danza? Come on!

Week #4: All Stitched Up

This week...

...Lainey gave her doll a piggy back ride. It looks so cute when she holds her baby this way. It's just so easy to get around. Duh!

...Lainey made her first trip, and our first family trip ever, to the ER for stitches. We went to the church for an Elder's Quorum game night. The kids had fun running around, the teenagers had fun shooting hoops (ok, I did too), and the adults played board games. Jason brought his holy board game (aka Mexican Horseshoes) and we played a couple tournaments, of which I won the first tourney and overall championship. We were cleaning up when we heard that i-really-hurt-myself-bad cry, and I realized that it was Lainey. She was slowly walking towards me as I ran to see what had happened when I noticed the deep, red drop of blood on her chin. Sure enough, she had a big, open gash.

Everyone was so helpful as we calmed Lainey down and made preparations to go. Our neighbor and friend took our van and the rest of our kids home to help them get into bed. They let us drive their car and we were able to leave sooner. We have a friend that works in the ER and she called ahead for us. Our visit didn't seem to take that long. We were out within an hour and a half and home at 11:00 pm. Lainey did great for the stitches, of which there are five. The part she didn't like was how they held her down. At first she thought it was funny because she heard the nurse say they would wrap her up like a burrito. She said, "Like a burrito? with sauce?" It was so funny. We'll go back in seven days to get them out.

 I found a picture of Lainey sitting on the steps that she slipped on. You can see that they are stone steps encased in a metal frame. I'm pretty positive she came down on the metal edge with her chin. She also bit through her tongue pretty good too.

...we went to Costco. I snapped a shot of my Costco Kids. I'm sorry if you think there's nothing spectacular about this one, but Costco is an event for the little ones.

...we made a craft in Young Womens for the new 2013 theme - Stand Ye in Holy Places. The girls were so excited and they turned out really well. I got the frames at Michael's with a mirror insert instead of glass. I used vinyl for my temple template so we could easily do the etching. They painted the frames and then applied the vinyl. I stapled the ribbon onto the back of the frame. I let the girls choose their own paint choices and they turned out so great, and so their own.

...Jason's big toenail finally fell off. It has been purple and blue and barely hanging on for a long time. This is the result of him taking someone to the ground who wouldn't comply and was trying to make a break for it. He knew his toe was in bad shape when his foot slammed into the ground on the way down. It is a beloved war wound despite the pain involved.

...we went out for some good old fashioned running around. Before video games, computer games, wiis and xboxes, before ipods, iphones, and ipads...there was the art and fun of running around for entertainment. We met our friends, the Harris', at the Parley Building for some running, racing, shooting, and visiting. It was so great! The kids really worked up a sweat and we shot hoops for a bit. We ate ice cream and homemade bread with jam. I raced Jason and sadly, I lost. I'm not as quick on my feet as I used to be apparently. :) (Notice Paul's shoes. He wore his church shoes because we were going to the church. What a good kid!)

Week #3: A Bed Off the Floor

This week...

...we put Emma's new bed frame together. Jason finally got to paint the new frame he made for Emma. She's had a new mattress since September, but has been sleeping on the floor. Jason built Emma's bed frame this winter with the help of the propane heater he got for his birthday. He usually doesn't build much during the winter just because it's so cold and no fun to be out working in the garage. I'm glad we spent the money on the heater for two reasons - 1. He has something to keep himself busy and 2. He can build me things all year round. He also found plans for a spray booth so that he can spray in the garage, not make a mess on everything else, and paint all year round. Yay!

He went to our favorite site, ana-white.com, to find plans for a loft bed. We thought that would be the best way to use space and make things fun for Emma on top of that. Emma loves her bed. So do all the other kids, Lainey especially. We'll make a cool spot for Emma to hang out, read, or do homework under the bed. 

...we added some organization to the laundry room. A small laundry room is really no fun to work in. Why do I refer to laundry room business as fun you wonder? Because it is fun for me. I actually like to start loads of laundry in the wahser and drier both. I like to fold the laundry and stack it up for the kids to put away. I even like putting it away if I decide to just be a nice mom and do it for them (That happens often...I'm a nice mom.) 

You can imagine how thrilled I was then when Jason agreed to build me this cubby for my laundry room. I can put the laundry to be folded on top and it doesn't pile up on the drier. I have a cubby for each of the kids, one for lost socks, one for clothes that need to be stored or given away, and one for towels. My dirty laundry baskets fit nicely underneath and aren't an eye sore when you first look or walk into the room. And did I mention that my drier stays nice and clean?

Lainey was so excited to have a cubby all her own that she went into her room and brought her laundry basket back in. She proceeded to stuff all of her folded laundry in her cubby.

...we made a trip to Shakey's Pizza Parlor for dinner. Jason has been wanting to go for a while now. Some of the guys from work really talked it up and they all went there for lunch on a training day. We decided to surprise the kids and go out for dinner. It is set up like Chuck E. Cheese's. You can get tables for dinner and the kids can play arcade games using tokens. They get tickets and then redeem them for prizes that do not last long and cause a lot of fighting and tears. Yep! Just like Chuck E. Cheese's. Only, with our dinner package at Shakey's, we could pay $20 and get 100 tokens, instead of the meager amount you get at the Cheese. 


We liked that toys are back in their own area, not all around. We liked the pizza, chicken, mojo combos. The mojos are thinly sliced potatoes (they look like a potato chip) that are deep fried. They were by far my favorite. The kids really liked the chicken; I might venture to say better than the pizza. The sauce on the pizza was slightly sweet, which was throwing me off. I really liked the cheese pizza the next day, but all pizza is better the next day...for breakfast. :) Overall great atmosphere and fun. Claire scored 250 tickets on one game and Emma collected 500 on one of hers. It seemed that the machines really ate up tokens the night we were there. Even when we thought the game had restarted, it took our token and then showed 0 of 1 inserted. Not cool, Shakeys. Not cool.  My mom went with us and Grandma and Grandpa Erickson brought cousins Warren and Quin. They were having a lot of fun taking everything in. The toy cash in counter was crazy and we don't have any of the toys we won that night. I guess that's the nature of the beast.

...we attended Emma's Martin Luther King Jr. Assembly at her school. It was a great assembly with fifth grade actors and third grade singers and speakers. You could tell that they had all been coached on how to properly hold the microphone and project their voice. Emma had a speaking part - it was fun to watch her do everything just right. Her cousin Ethan is also in the third grade, different class, at her school and they were not far from each other on the risers.

:: Emma down front :: Ethan is second row, far right ::

Week #2: Cabin Camping and the Sick Room

This week...

...Paul turned seven years old on the seventh. I can't believe he's already just one year away from baptism! He's just always been my fuzzy headed two year old in my mind-still fuzzy headed, just not two years old anymore. He wanted donuts for his birthday in like fashion as Emma. We all gathered to share in the treats and watch him open gifts. Lainey was really worried that Paul might blow the candles out prematurely and did her best to stop him.

...Emma had her first piano lesson. She absolutely LOVED it! All week she has been playing songs on the piano, practicing counting, and learning the names of the keys. I'm so excited for her to learn and develop this talent. I stopped piano lessons (maybe my freshman year) because I wasn't practicing and thought I needed to spend more time on sports. There have been so many times since that I have wished that I would have stuck with it. Lainey liked to sit next to Emma to watch...or play along.

...I left Jason with a house full of sick kids and went sledding with my young women group. The flu bug really hit us, moving through each kid in turn; Lainey first, then Paul, then Benjamin, then Emma. Claire is the only one that wasn't really effected. Jason even watched them all on Sunday so that I could go to church. I had to teach and then have a meeting. I don't know that he was too sad because he got to see the Seahawks game (too bad they lost).

For our sledding trip, we went up White Pass to Camp Zarahemla that is owned by our church. The cabin was supposed to be heated, but space heaters aren't my idea of heat. The girls didn't seem to be bothered. They ran around, went sledding without complaint, and stocked the firewood like champs. Our Bishop's wife came along with him and we stayed up late playing games, even after lights out for everyone. She introduced us to this game, Spot it, and it was so fun. It was so easy to play a round and it moved fast. Check amazon - I'm totally going to buy it.

Here are some pics from the trip...

1. Miriam, Egla/Karely, Kaitlyn, Savannah, Tess (exchange student from India), Sis. Nicole King, Livi (newly baptized), Sis. Shelly Norman, Isabell 2. Perla, Mya, Alicia, Maribel (newly baptized), Candy (newly baptized and injured in a train attempt down the sledding hill) 3. Lisabeth (recetly returned to activity), Bishop and Sis. Pierce, Sis. Ruvine Jimenez (recently returned to activity), Sis. Kuniko Votaw, Emily (newly baptized), Emma, Noreen, Sis. Ginnette Holmbo (newly baptized and also a nurse, helped with Candy), Melissa (newly baptized), Me.

Pasco is on fire with missionary work. If you noticed from the list of names, we had five young women and one leader baptized last year. Livi is the only member of her family so far and she is just 15. Melissa and Maribel are sisters that joined early on last year. Candy, their close friend, joined later in the year and helped bring the two sisters back to church. Candy is so sweet tempered and is always offering her help. Even with an injured leg on the ride home from sledding, she sat uncomfortably in the middle seat because the girl in the front seat WOULD NOT give up her spot. Candy didn't want to cause bad feelings. I was so impressed.

...I attended the reception of my good friend Erin Garner, now Erin Solas. We really haven't had much time to really catch up about her "story," but I'm excited to one day have more time to visit. It goes something like this...Erin served her mission in Brazil where she met Gilmar (now her husband). She came home and they stayed in contact as really good friends. She was almost engaged to someone else, over the course of the years, and it was hard for her to not go through with it. Time passed and her she realized her relationship with Gilmar was more than friends. I think they had to wait a long time for his visa as well. Well, they were finally married on January 12th, 2012 in the Columbia River Temple. He doesn't speak English, yet, so I wasn't able to talk much with him. But you can tell just by looking at him and being around him that he is wonderful for Erin. It was so great to be able to make it there that night to share with them on their special occasion.(I do not know why I have such a large, crazy smile on my face.)

Week #1: Starting all over again

This week we...

...enjoyed doing nothing at all. The break was just that-a nice break from school and holiday rush. Here we are with cousins slurping applesauce through straws. I told you. We did nothing, really.

...had some hula hoop fun. Aunt Lara gave us her hula hoop and the kids had a blast playing with it. Emma, Danica, and Claire were pretty good at keeping it going. Everyone else just enjoyed jumping through it.

...made red velvet cupcakes with Emma's easy bake oven. Emma finally got what she's wanted for Christmas for the past two years. She really enjoys using it. The other kids really enjoy eating the treats. We all wish each recipe package made more than it does.

...found the 'best seat in the house' for movie time. Lainey claimed this spot on the TV stand as her favorite spot. Of course, we just took a picture and then got her down.

:: movie ::

Tinker Bell and The Secret of the Wings