Little Mechanics

Today Jon was in charge and he decided it was time to get the kids "jeep's" out for them to drive around. They had a blast and all night long they have been begging to go out and drive their jeep's again. He snapped these great pictures of the kids "working" on their jeep's and Jon said he took them for our friend Denny! It was nice to see that the kids are finally getting the hang of driving these jeep's. Last year when we got them out they had no idea how to steer so they kept banging into the curb and each other. Needless to say we put them away until this year. I am really looking forward to summer (if it ever gets here). These kids are getting so much bigger everyday. We laugh a lot around here and that is good for the soul.

Oh and tonight as we were walking into the house I said "phew, why does it stink in here" to which KJ replied "because you have the toots mommy". Jon spent a good 2-3 minutes laughing so hard he could not talk. The things he teaches them when I am at work!!!!

A is telling it on the mountain

Here is a video clip from a few weeks back that Sue took of A singing. Since I am so slow at posting these days I thought this would be a great treat for all of our fans at The Erickson Five!

Enjoy!

Grandma's and Nightgowns!

Edited to add these photos from Grandma Carol: Here are my superheros Batman Kendrick and Spiderwoman Ella! Too cute. Check below for a vacuuming Batman!!!

I can't believe it has been over a week since I have updated this blog. Life has been busy like usual but in this past weeks time I have accomplished a lot. We headed up north so I could attend my annual Mothers of Multiples Convention and Grandma and Grandpa Erickson volunteered to watch the kids. One of my good friends (a fellow Triplet Mom) volunteered to ride up with me so I did not have to be alone in the car with the kids for 4 hours. It was such a blessing as she was able to crawl in back and help the kids out whenever they needed something. Grandma Erickson rode back home with me and we just dropped her at the airport tonight so she could go back home.

There have been a few silly things said these past few weeks that I wanted to document and share with all of you.

The kids have been really into doing puzzles so last week when we were running errands, we picked up a couple of puzzles for the kids at Target. When we got home we had to get them opened up right away so they could start working on them. A little while later, KJ came into the kitchen and wanted to let me know that he only had one piece left and asked me to come in the living room. When I walked in there I realized that the puzzle was complete but there must have been an extra piece in the box. I explained that they sent an extra piece and that it did not fit into the puzzle because it was extra. KJ shouts out "Silly Targets, they gave us an extra piece"!

A few weekends ago the kids stayed over night at Sue's house because we had a wedding to go to. Here is what Sue sent to me in an email: After dinner, the kids are usually anxious to take turns with dishrags and brooms to help clean up. However this time Ella as was casually sauntering away, Kristin stopped her and asked if she was going to help clean up. Ella informed her "I am NOT the cleaning lady" and left.

Last night, Aimee put on her nightgown when it was time to get ready for bed. To give all of you a little history, Aimee loves to wear nightgowns (just like Dora's Grandma does) and Ella HATES nightgowns. So Aimee decided to ask Grandma Carol if she wears nightgowns and Grandma responded "yes". Aimee then asked "do you have Dora on your nightgown to, Grandma?" Grandma replied "No" so then Aimee asked "So do you have Grown Ups on your nightgown then Grandma?"

Ella was going to have a sleep over with Grandma Carol last night so when they were getting ready for bed she said "and whatever you do Grandma don't let your nightgown touch me in the night because I don't like nightgowns"!

Here is a quote that Grandma Carol sent over last night:

I forgot to tell you another KJ quote - the second time when he put on the batman costume he was asking where the "wings" were, if his cape was the wings. I told him "no, he didn't have any wings." He then asked "if you push me, will I fly?"

Good Ole Furnace...

Last week our furnace decided it was time to die. We knew that the furnace was on it's way out but we thought we could to summer and replace when there was not a dire need for it. We were wrong. We spend last Tuesday through Friday with out any heat in our house. This was not good since it has been an unusually cold April around here.The temperature in our house was between 58-61 Degrees. Yikes it was COLD!

Thank goodness we have a fireplace that kept us somewhat warm. The kids seemed to do okay with it. Jon said on Thursday that Ella and him were putting together a puzzle and she got up, went to the closet and put on a pair of mittens. Of course, don't feel too bad for her as when I got home she was running around the house without socks on!

Here are some pictures of us all by the fireplace trying to keep warm. As you can see even the cats were cold!
The good news is that we have a new furnace and A/C unit so we are set for this summer and the heat! Our old A/C was almost 40 years old and the A/C guy could not believe that it was still running. Let's hope for those kind of results with this new Furnace and A/C!

Dancing Cooks

My Friend Sue captured these videos at her house this weekend when the kids were helping her cook! Sooo cute!



I love the way that KJ twists in this next video. Sooo cute!

Oh and Aimee (my curly hair girl) insisted that Sue put curlers in her hair. That is why she is wearing them. Too funny!

Little Bakers

As I have mentioned before, our good friends Sue and Denny like to have play dates with the triplets. This past Sunday was one of those play dates. This is such a blessing for all of us as Sue and Denny have the patients to do things with the triplets such as baking. They are always making cookies, bars, their own lunch, dinner, and lots of fun stuff.

When I went to pick the kids up on Sunday they had baked some bread. Sue said they all did a great job and when she turned around after they were done and it was time to clean up, Aimee was licking all of her fingers. She has learned that dough tastes soooo good. Hopefully she won't get any worms! With the influence of Sue with her baking and Grandma Mary with her cooking maybe I will have some chefs some day. I need to spend some more time in the kitchen doing some cooking. Although, from the looks of it these kids will be able to make Jon and I dinner in no time!
Both Jon and I are happy that these guys get the exposure to these kinds of things. I know the kids really enjoy it as just tonight Ella came up to look at these pictures and she told me all about her bread making experience. She said it was fun and that her fingers got all sticky! Oh and Sue, if you are reading this, we ate the bread with dinner the other night and it was yummy! Thanks a bunch!

Blast From The Past in Photos

Grandma Mary just got a new computer so I was helping her get it all set up the other day. We downloaded a bunch of pictures from her camera onto her new computer and she had some photos from about 3 years ago. These pictures really brought back some memories.

I decided to share a few on my blog because it is so amazing to look back at these. For me it is hard to remember my three "babies" as they are getting so big now. In some ways I miss this stage and it is bittersweet to know that my kids are not babies anymore. In some ways, I don't miss these days because life is so much easier with the kids helping themselves a little more now.
Before I had kids, I always used to ask my friends and family who were parents what their favorite age group was with their kids. Now that I have my kids I realize that there is not really an easy answer to this question. So far I have loved every stage and with each new stage it brings new joys and new concerns.
I would say that so far the most challenging stage for us aside from newborn, has been the threes. What an incredibly awesome but challenging age three can be. It is the age where your kids turn into little people but yet they still need a lot of direction that they don't think they need.
I have come to discover that parenting at every stage is challenging but always very rewarding. What an awesome gift to have children and raise them in this wild and crazy world.
Just as I tell all my family, friends, and even strangers, if I were given the chance to go back and change anything...I would not change a thing. God blessed me more than I ever could have hoped for with these amazing children. Yes, I lose my cool and think I suck at parenting at least once or twice a day but in the end as I lay my head down on the pillow at night my heart is full and I Thank God for this amazing experience.

Trike Season

Today has been the warmest day yet this spring! When Grandpa got home from work he got the kids trikes out of the rafters of the garage so they could ride them around the driveway. Then Grandpa took the kids for a walk/trike ride around the block. It feels great to finally get some weather that is nice enough to do that kind of stuff. It has been a very long winter.

I thought the above picture was great of Grandpa with his grandkids. I had to post it.