The MS Walk Was a HUGE Success!

I was a top fundraiser!

We had such an awesome day for the walk today. It was not sunny and bright but the rain held off and we ALL successfully completed the walk. Here are a few of the highlights from today:

• There were 17 people that walked on my team with me.
• As a team we raised close to $5000.
• I hit a personal fundraising high as I raised $2815 to be exact.
• The MS Society raised over $2M dollars from this event.
• We had fun and everyone that walked said they would walk with me again next year!

Every year that I do this event I always have a lot of anxiety about raising the money and putting the team together! Every year this walk continues to be a success. I have learned that no matter what he weather does (one year it snowed 12") we always seem to finish this walk and people feel great about what they have accomplished.
This walk helps me feel the warmth and love from so many people who donate their money and their time by walking with me.

God has sure blessed me with incredible friendships and support from a tremendous amount of people. I am tired tonight after walking so many miles but I am going to bed feeling fulfilled!

What A Week!

This week has been so busy for us. I actually worked close to 40 hours this week! Yikes. I am sure glad that I do not have to do that every week as it is really hard to manage a house and work that much.
Our week started off with a bang when we discovered that the suspicion that we had about having mice actually became a reality. So this story begins when the other morning after I got home from the gym I was about to get in the shower and I looked down to see a DEAD mouse about 5" from where I was standing. Needless to say at that moment I screamed to Jon who was still in bed that we had a dead mouse in our bedroom. He immediately got up and took care of it. It is important to mention at this point that we have two cats that live in our house and one of them caught this little mouse and played with it until it was no longer alive!!! Thank GOD!
Fast forward a couple mornings later and I woke up to my alarm. I was about to get out of bed and head to the gym but I heard Toby jumping around. At the time I just figured that he was playing with Dexter (the other cat) but then when I looked down and saw that Dexter was no where in sight I just knew Toby was after a mouse. Sure enough before I could even blink a mouse ran out from underneath Jon's dresser! I think my heart stopped and then I started screaming over and over again, "there a mouse in here and it is alive" This of course jerked Jon awake and in the next five minutes I (and Aimee and KJ who happened to walk in on this) watch Jon in his underwear and Toby (the cat) chase this mouse around our bedroom. Jon finally caught it and disposed of it.
So after this incident I declared that it was official...we have a mouse problem. Jon went out and got some traps. We have yet to catch any in the traps and if we don't in the next few days I will be calling some professional help in to get rid of the mice. The last thing I need is to have to deal with a mouse if and when Jon is not around.
So on top of that happening and me working crazy hours, last night we were blessed with the Stomach flu amongst our kids. As a parent of triplets I can say that the hardest thing about having multiples is when they all get sick at the same time. Luckily they are getting old enough now to make it to the toilet or in a bucket so the mess is less but it is still no fun when you have kids that are throwing up.
I am exhausted to say the least as I have had about 7 hours of sleep in two nights. Please pray for us that Jon and I don't get the flu, we are healthy for the big MS Walk on Sunday, that we don't have any more mouse incidents, and most importantly that the kids are back to their happy and fun loving personalities tomorrow.

4 Generations

Today is my Grandma Adele (paternal Grandmother) Birthday! She is now 85 and she does so well. I hope to have a good long life like her. She has more energy that me most days. What a positive attitude she has on life and she is so brave. Her passion in life is playing cards. She loves to play cards and I think she must be in 5-6 card clubs as she goes almost every day to play cards.
Since Great Grandma Adele is hard for the kids to say we call her GG DEL. These kids love their GG DEL. The only problem is that she does not live close to us so we don't get to see her very often. The kids pray for her every night when we pray. We even call her sometimes so they can talk to her.
Grandma Adele helped me with Potty training a few weeks ago too. She would sit with them while they were on the potty. She would sing or tell them stories. It was really sweet.
These kids are so blessed to have a great grandma that they can get to know and remember. She is such a sweet lady and we are all so lucky to have her in our lives. Happy Birthday GG DEL!!!

New Sport: Hill Rolling

So last night Jon and I were out in our backyard with the kids just hanging out before it was bath time. Jon started to roll down the hill with the kids and they loved it. He would hold one tight with his arms and then roll and roll and roll down the hill. He would then let them climb up on his back and give them a ride back up the hill.
It was fun to watch them roll and laugh and have a great time. Here are some pictures from the event.

Ladies Man

Tonight Jon and I decided to attempt a different routine for our bed time. We prayed with each child individually. It was really nice to have some one on one time with each kid.
When we got to K's bed we said our nighttime prayer together and then when we finished we asked him if there was anyone he wanted to pray for. He smiled this sheepish smile and said "Carolyn" and "Cora"! Then he smiled again. Jon and I could not help ourselves and we both burst out laughing. We of course told K what a nice little boy he was to pray for his friends but it was just too darn cute. When daddy asked him if he wanted to pray for anyone else tonight he said he wanted to pray for all the mommies too! It was just too darn cute!
We got together with Carolyn and her family on Saturday and Carolyn and K were flirting and playing together most of the night. It was pretty cute. Cora is a friend of K's from school on Fridays. Every week in his updates from his teachers they always write that Cora and K had fun playing with cars, or painting, or drawing. It does not matter what the activity is but they always seem to be doing it together.
I am afraid that I have to report that I have a little ladies man on my hands! At least he is a cute Ladies Man! :)

Pine Cone Party

The kids spent the afternoon at Sue's yesterday. Sue always takes such great pictures. Here is the email she sent to me last night about how it all went. I thought I would share because it was cute.

I just tried to stay out of the way and not be noticed. They were trekking out of the play house over to the bench that was apparently a car. There were big discussions about getting the stroller in the car, because A insisted they needed it at the mall. Finally they sent E to find me (up on the deck) and tell me I was to come and help them. I just told her the stroller could sit on the ground, and that could be the car floor and apparently it solved all the problems. They are so funny.

We went for a walk and they stopped at this cement square and E said they were going to have a party, and they all dumped out their baskets full of pine cones and sang happy birthday to each other.

Ice Cream

I Scream, You Scream, We all Scream for Ice Cream!

So this morning I told the kids that if they stayed dry the whole day at school "daycare" then we would go out for ice cream treats after dinner. Well they all stayed dry the whole day!!! Jon and I were pretty excited for them. So after dinner we loaded everyone up in the van and went to a new little ice cream shop by our house. It was a beautiful spring night here so it was a lot of fun to get out of the house and have a yummy treat.

They all talked about what color ice cream they were going to have. E wanted yellow, K wanted pink, and A wanted blue. When we got to the ice cream shop the girl behind the counter was really nice so she let us try some of the ice cream. K did not like the strawberry but E's eyes lit up when she took a bite so she had a scoop of strawberry. A was set on blue so she ordered what they call superman ice cream. It was bright blue and yellow. K could not decide so I ordered him a scoop of Oreo cookie and he ate every last bite of it. A not only ate her entire scoop but E also fed A some of her strawberry ice cream. A also finished off Daddy's waffle cone and some of mommy's frozen yogurt. At one point A had two spoons and two different cups of ice cream. Then she had a cone in one hand and a spoon in the other so she would lick the cone and then take a spoonful out of her bowl. It was really funny to watch her. She even tipped the bowl up at the end to get the last few drops of ice cream. Daddy told her that she should eat her dinner that way too!

As we were sitting there tonight I thought to myself how nice it is to be able to take the kids out for ice cream and all the other fun stuff we can do with them now that they are a little older. It is bitter sweet to watch the baby years leave us but I know that we have so much fun ahead of us and that is what I look forward to. It was a fun night, a little messy but a whole lot of fun!

Hot Mamas

I has such a wonderful weekend away with all my triplets, quad, and quint mom friends. The weekend was so relaxing and we all learned a bunch from the speakers and such.
Saturday night we went out for a nice dinner and then decided to go out to the bars. We somehow found the bar in town that was having a fashion show for lingerie. So we walked into this bar and there was a handful of people that were almost naked. You can imagine how we all felt at first being that most of us had not been out to a bar in a long time. We actually stayed for the show if you can believe that!
At one point a guy walked up to us and was trying all his moves. I told him that he had really picked the wrong group of ladies to hit on and then we all proceeded to get pictures of our kids out. He was so in shock it was funny. He thought we were all joking. We just smiled and laughed.

Update on Potty Training

I thought that I would give everyone an update on how potty training is going in our house. The above picture is one that Jon took. He thought it was pretty funny to teach K to look at the paper while he was going potty. K wants to be just like daddy so he loved it!

So before we started this potty training business a few weeks ago I told Jon that I thought E would do the best, A would be right behind her, and poor K would take awhile to catch on. These kids have proved me wrong once again.

K is the champ when it comes to potty training. In fact, it is safe to say that he is basically trained and he has not had an accident in about a week or more. He will go pee and poop on the potty no problems and every time he gets off he looks into the toilet bowl and yells "it's a big one" . He also calls his poops snakes and I have no idea where he got that one from.

E is doing well with the peeing on the potty but it is the pooping that she struggles with. I guess this is pretty common for kids to have a fear of pooping on the potty. Last night after she went in her pull up she told us that she doesn't want to go on the big potty because the tigers might get her (I am not sure where this comes from). I explained to her that she was safe but I think it is going to take her some time to start pooping on the potty. It is such a struggle and I feel so bad for her because her tummy gets so upset when she doesn't go.

A, well what can I say about my dear A. She does go pee on the potty but she also struggles with the pooping. She will go in the toilet if I get her there in time but she does not tell me when she has to go so I need to catch her in time and run her to the potty.

Overall, I think we are doing great and we are basically trained for the peeing. Now we just need to work on going poop. These kids have pulled through this transition with flying colors! I did enjoy the diapers as it gave us more freedom but I do like not having to buy or change diapers anymore! I have promised them a trip to build a bear once we are good and trained. It will be fun to take them there but I need the girls to get pooping before that happens. I should make up a poop dance maybe that will help them! :)

This Mama is Out of Here!

Yes, that is right, I am heading out today to spend a weekend with some of my most favorite friends. These women all have triplets, quads, or quints and they have been a life line to me for the past three years! This weekend we are all heading out to the State Wide Multiples Convention and I am so excited!
Last year I went and it was so much fun. Great speakers and topics, food, conversation, a few glasses of wine and fun. This is just what I need from this past week and a half of potty training. Grandma and Grandpa are here to help Daddy out so this mom is going guilt free. Okay so maybe not completely guilt free as I think as a mom there is always some guilt but I am thrilled to get a little break!
I will update on potty training next week but I have to say that my remarkable children have proved themselves again and we have been accident free for three days now! :O)
Here is a picture of us last year at convention!

Oh how we grow!!!

Easter Photo 2005
Easter Photo 2006

Easter Photo 2007

Happy Easter!

We had a wonderful Easter Weekend. We still spent a lot of time on potty training but the kids seem to be picking up on it more and more with very little accidents occurring.
Yesterday we colored our Easter Eggs. I was sure glad to have extra help around with Grandma and Great Grandma there to help. E and A loved it and K liked it but he had no patients for coloring the eggs. He wanted to put the egg in the dye and then take them out right away. He did not understand that it had to sit in the dye for awhile to get it colored. We then made some cookies with bunnies on them. The kids enjoyed helping make them but they really liked being able to eat some right out of the oven.
Easter Day we decided to go to 7:30 AM mass so the Easter Bunny came when we were at church. The kids were angels at church. I could not have asked for them to be any better. It was great and what an overwhelming sense of peace I had sitting in the front pew with my parents, grandmother, and three beautiful and well behaved children. E sat at the end of the pew during communion and said hi to everyone that walked past her. It was pretty cute.
After mass everyone kept asking the kids if the Easter Bunny had come. I told them that the Easter Bunny visited us while we were at church. Since A is really afraid of the Easter Bunny she did not want to go back to Grandma's house to find the eggs and her basket. When we got to the door at Grandmas she just stood there until we all went in to make sure there was no bunny in the house. It was pretty cute.
Daddy got home around 10:30 Easter morning and the kids were really excited to see him! They were so proud of their sticker charts and told daddy all about going on the potty.
We had a big meal after the kids woke up from their afternoon naps and it was really yummy! The kids got lots of fun treats in their Easter Basket and this kept them busy all day long.
We had such a blessed Easter! What a true blessing these children are!
Happy Easter!

Transition #3 Potty Training

This has been by far the hardest transition so far! I was told Potty Training was hard but I guess I was still not prepared. We are now at the end of our 2nd day of potty training and we have had lots of success but lots of messes too.

Yesterday, E was the champ at this potty training stuff with no accidents. By the end of the day we did not even worry about asking her because she would just tell us if she had to go and then she would pull her out pants down and go. Last night when it was time to go to bed we were putting pull ups on all of the kids. E threw a fit about having to wear a pull up and went to bed hugging her underware. We thought that she was trained. Then when she got out of bed this morning she refused to sit on the potty chair and then at breakfast she wet all over the place. It has been a struggle with her all day.

A on the other hand has been slow to grasp the concept of potty training. She has gone on the potty but then she will forget and wet all over the place. Poor thing hates to be dirty. When she does have a success she gets really excited about it and it is really cute.

K had a slow start with the potty training. I think at first he simply just did not get it. However, today he has completely turned around with it and tells us when he needs to go. He has had the most success today on the potty chair with no accidents!!

The rules are that if you go potty on the potty chair then you get a sticker and a treat from the treat bucket. The treat bucket contains things like fruit snacks, suckers, M&M's and some crackers. If you go poopy on the potty chair then you get a sticker and a gummy worm (I should say snake because that is what K calls it). K has the most stickers but I think that is because he is the king of a little piddle here and there.

So wish us luck on many more successes and less messes! This has been a draining few days and I just hope that this potty thing clicks with them really soon! We got Elmo goes on the potty DVD tonight and they were really into that so hopefully they will continue to have some interest.

MS WALK

Today I have decided to post a very important message:

On May 6th, 2007 the Erickson 5 (depending on the weather it might be Jon and I) will be participating in the MS Walk. This will be our 9th year participating in the walk. We have a team called The Walkin Maniacs and we all have so much fun. The walk used to be 17 Miles but they have shortened it now to 9 miles. This is a little more realistic for me.

I talked about having my two year MRI done in this post From these tests I found out that the disease has progressed but my health still seems to be fine. This was not great news and I was down and out about it. Jon and I both fear what this disease could mean for not only myself but our family in the future.

This year it feels even more important to raise money for the MS Society. The National Multiple Sclerosis Society is dedicated to ending the devastating effects of MS but they can't do it without our help. It's faster and easier than ever to support this cause that's so important to me and my family. Simply click here. You just need to type in my name Nicole Erickson and make sure you select the Nicole Erickson that goes with the Walkin Maniacs team.

Any amount, great or small, helps to make a difference in the lives of people with MS. Thanks in advance for your support! I really appreciate it.

Next Up....K ERICKSON

In honor of the Twins having their home opener tonight, I thought I would write about K and his obsession with baseball. He LOVES hitting the balls with a bat. He will use anything as a bat, a doll, a cob of corn (play corn that is), an old paper towel roll, the broom, etc.. He also likes to play catch. He will stand with his hands together and catch the ball. He likes to throw the balls too. On Saturday at the Multiples sale I bought him a leather baseball mitt for $.75 I could not believe what a great deal that was. I think we will need to get him a different glove though because it appears as though he is left handed. He bats left handed and wants to wear the glove on his left hand.
Today we were out in the yard playing and we (Grandma, myself, and Daddy) were giving him some batting practice. I was floored at how he could hit the ball. Now, I have no idea if this is a normal thing for a 2 almost 3 year old boy to do but I was pretty impressed.
He keeps talking about going to the baseball game so Jon and I plan on taking him to a baseball game this spring or summer. It will be a lot of fun!
Of course as his mother I naturally think of him as a professional baseball player and I can already hear them announcing his name: Next up is K ERICKSON!!!! How cool would that be!
In the picture above he is using his sisters doll as a bat! It was a good thing the girls did not notice!

GG Del Has Got Some Moves

GG Del (great grandma Adele) arrived this past Thursday. The kids could not be more excited to see her. This morning at breakfast K insisted that he get to sit by GG Del. Then again after dinner tonight K had to sit on her lap. They love for her to watch their shows with them too.Their new favorite DVD is the Laurie Berkner band. They love to dance and sing along with Laurie and her band. They now have GG Del dancing with them too. E even lets GG Del know when she is not doing the moves right! Here are some pictures of all the fun entertainment we had tonight. GG Del is amazingly young for going on 85! I hope to be as lucky someday.


Grandpa and E making some moves!


The Audience!

Little People

I know most of you will think of the toys little people when you see the title of this post but I am thinking of how fast my trio is turning into little people. It is amazing to watch them grow and change right before my eyes.
Tonight when Jon got them home from Grandma's house here is what he heard A say from the living room: "OH MY GOSH, YOU MADE A REALLY BIG MESS AND YOU BETTER START PICKING IT UP NOW" The reason this is in all caps is because she said this very slowly and dramatically. At least she said Gosh and not GOD!
Tonight we called Aunt L and so K wanted to get on the phone. He then proceeded to start walking around the living room as he was speaking and then he would stop look up at the ceiling like he was thinking really hard and then answer the questions they were asking. TOO FUNNY!
E likes to pretend that she is like mommy. The other day she came downstairs with a pair of my flip flops. She insisted that I help her put them. Her little toes looked so uncomfortable. I had to take a picture. She walked around like this for a good half hour!

Dumbster Diving

I have been crazy busy this week getting all of our old toys and clothes priced for the multiples sale this Saturday. I have already had two triplet moms that have two girls and boy over to buy our clothes. So far I have sold 2/3 of our stuff and I have made $183. I still have two bins of clothes and about 4 boxes of toys, shoes, socks, hats, and tights to sell. It provides me great satisfaction to sell all of our old stuff. I like getting the big check of money and I like seeing the stuff go to other families that can use it.
However, it is a lot of work to get everything priced and ready to sell. All of the clothes have to be on hangers and my problem is that I am always running out of hangers. Yesterday at MOPS we created 63 gift bags for new moms that were in need. There were a few hangers left on the table so I asked if I could have them. One of the moms said that if I was really in need there were some in the garbage can. So I took the lid off the can and began digging. As a result I ended up with a whole bag full of hangers! I was very proud and when I got home I told Jon about my find. He responded to me like this "Great, so we have hit a new low and now you are into dumpster diving"! He laughed the whole way back to his office. I just shook my head. I was thrilled about the hangers!!!
I will let you know the results of the sale once I get them. Last spring I made close to $500! I hope to do about the same this time!

Triplet Cats & Dogs?

Tonight the children turned into Cats and Dogs. They decided to eat their bed time snack like animals! Goof Balls!

E's Day at the MOA

Today it was E's turn to go to the Mall with just Jon and I. She really enjoyed all of the attention and she got to go on a ton of rides. Once again, it amazed me how her little personality changed once she had our full attention. After the mall we headed home and picked up McDonald's for lunch. She ate all of her chicken nuggets and wanted more. She also took a 2.5 hour nap today. Amazing what they will do with no distractions.

Here are some pics of the day:

100th Post

This is my 100th post and there is a tradition in the blogsphere that when you reach your 100th post you are supposed to list 100 things about you. I know most of you prefer to read about the kids so feel free to skip over this and visit the archives. Here is my attempt:

1. My name is Nicole
2. This is the number of children I always planned to have
3. This is the number of children I have
4. Most of my friends call me Nik or Niki
5. I have blue eyes
6. My hubby Jon has brown eyes
7. All of my children have blue eyes
8. I am half French, ¼ Irish, ¼ Norwegian
9. I am a cat person
10. I have two cats:
11. Toby and
12. Dexter
13. Dexter sleeps on my head most nights
14. Growing up we had cats
15. There names were: Tigger I
16. Tigger II
17. Oreo
18. Patches
19. Cleo
20. I like to exercise
21. I get up early most mornings to fit exercise in my day
22. My first attempt at joining the Cheerleader Squad in H.S. failed
23. My second attempt was successful
24. My first job was at a concession stand
25. I burned my leg (2nd degree burns) on the hot dog cooker
26. My Second job was at the local pool as a locker room attendant
27. I like to play softball
28. 2nd base is my favorite position
29. I met my husband at a bar
30. He was wearing cowboy boots
31. I dislike cowboy boots
32. He has not wore them since
33. I love to be spoiled
34. Jon spoils me
35. Bluetooth is my new best friend
36. My youth group leader in High School is now my new best triplet mommy friend
37. It is hard for me to sit still
38. I am a doer
39. I have often been called and overachiever
40. I dislike school
41. I went as far as obtaining a Master’s degree
42. Starting to plan for PhD (just kidding Ronnie)
43. I like to sing
44. I have sung at one wedding
45. and one funeral
46. My kids and I sing all the time in the car
47. We all take turns singing individually
48. If I had more time I would join the church choir
49. I color my hair
50. If I did not I would have lots of grey
51. One of my best friends cuts my hair
52. I have at least 4 very best friends
53. I like to camp
54. We have a big tent but have yet to take the kids
55. This summer might be our first camping trip as a family
56. Kids who can’t share make me crazy
57. Parents that don’t encourage their children to share make me even more crazy
58. I can be a spitfire
59. Especially after a drink
60. I really like red wine
61. I am sensitive
62. but very forgiving
63. sometimes too forgiving
64. I hate confrontation
65. I avoid it at all costs
66. I would love to be pregnant one more time with just one baby to experience it “normally”
67. I do not want to go through the early baby stages again
68. I like to travel
69. I have had my gall bladder out
70. and my appendix
71. I have done laser eye surgery
72. I highly recommend this surgery
73. I love to watch television series on DVD
74. Right now I am watching the Gilmore Girls
75. When I have time
76. I like Black Cherry Diet Coke over ice
77. I like Peanut Butter
78. Often eating it right off of a spoon
79. I like to see a good movie the kind that you don’t want to end
80. I love listening to the Harry Potter books on CD
81. I Love Pillows!
82. I hold the record for the most pillows used by a pregnant person at the Hospital (18)
83. Gifts is my love language
84. I love to give gifts
85. I like to get gifts
86. My husband hates to give or get gifts
87. I like the internet, email, and blogging
88. I can’t remember what life was like before email
89. Pizza is my favorite casual food
90. Blue Cheese Crusted Filet Mignon is my favorite fancy food
91. I don’t mind doing laundry
92. I hate cleaning house
93. Dusting is my least favorite activity
94. I love tootsie rolls
95. I gave up chocolate for lent
96. I confess that I cheated simply as I forgot I gave it up
97. My true love in life is my best friend Jon
98. and my three beautiful children
99. A, E & K
100. And God for giving me such a wonderful family and circle of friends.

I can’t believe that I got through that list. If you are still with me I hope you enjoyed this bio about “ME”!

Moons & Bananas

Tonight when Daddy picked up the kids from Grandma's house he told me that when they went outside to get in the van they were all looking at the moon together. Once he got all of them strapped in the van he was driving away and A said "I see the moon daddy and it looks like a banana"!

Bed Full of Snuggle Buggers!

This morning the kids got up early again (6 AM)! The girls wanted to climb in bed with me so we were all snuggling. It was a lot of fun to just wake up and snuggle with my girls. We all took turns being in the middle. A wanted the middle at all times! I just laughed at this because if you talked to my girlfriends they would tell you that when we had sleep overs I ALWAYS had to be in the middle.