Aimee's Debut

Here is Aimee's Q & A session.



The Best Friend made my heart flutter.



Also, Jon and I are not sure what the deal is with cars, all we can figure is that they must have been playing with them before the video shoot.

Ella's Debut

Computer Flu

I think my computer is trying to tell me something...it is sick with a virus! I still have not gone to get my flu shot...maybe this would be a good time to do that. It is funny what can remind you of what you need to get done. I might take my computer with me too as it needs a flu shot too!

Anyway, this is my 200th post and I am sending it from Jon's computer because mine is sick right now! BUMMER. My IT expert is working on it to make it feel better but I am not sure how long it will be out of commission.

Here is a cute Video our friend Sue made the other night with the kids. This one is KJ's debut. I also have one for Aimee and one for Ella. I will post their videos later!

Enjoy!

Thankfulness

For me it is hard to believe that we are already at Thanksgiving. This year has flown by and I just told Jon the other night "this has been the fasted one yet"!

I have so much to be thankful for:

My husband that loves me through all my imperfections and craziness. He listens and understands and appropriately disagrees when it is time to bring me back to earth. He balances me out in so many wonderful ways. He is an incredible father and the kids adore him. I am blessed to have him by my side as my partner through life. I am so THANKFUL for him.

My three beautiful children...I was out last night with some friends and I met someone new. He was an older man who has children of his own that are in their late thirties. Someone mentioned to him that I have triplets so he asked me to see some pictures...his reaction was so spectacular to the pictures. All he kept saying was "AWESOME" over and over again. Then he said "wow, triplets, that is a pretty bid deal". What an incredible reminder to me that God has blessed my life with so much and I really do have so much to be THANKFUL for.

My family...(related and not related) the ones that support "The Erickson Five" in all we do. I am so THANKFUL for all of our family. They are so supportive and helpful to us. The kids adore all of you and Jon and I are so grateful for all you do for us.

My girlfriends from all aspects of life, childhood, college, Sorority, work, Triplets, gym...I am so thankful for this network of women who are so supportive, fun, and understanding. Who most of the time know just what advice I need or just what to say to me. I have been struggling with some stuff lately and here is what one of my awesome friends said to me..."You're so special and it's a gift to be your friend. I can't think of many people who put an smile on my face the moment I see them!" This is an awesome reminder to me why I need to be THANKFUL for all my wonderful girlfriends.

My health, I have been thinking a lot lately about my health. I am so blessed to battle a disease like MS and come out on top.

I am so THANKFUL for all the simple (and not so simple) things in my life. My home, car, job, cats, neighbors, health, and most of all my GOD.

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Pilgrims

The kids go to school one day a week. Jon and I both really like this school because it is Christian based and they learn all about God there. They make really fun crafts every week and overall the kids just love to go.

This week at school they had a "feast". Each child brought one cup of a snack type food. We brought Cheerios, Pretzels, and Teddy Grahams. Then they combined with another class and had a Thanksgiving feast. I would have loved to been a mouse in the corner for that.

They also made these cute hats and these centerpiece plates (watch out Grandma Mary because we have three) for the table on Thanksgiving. Last week they made paper turkeys and each of the feathers were what they were thankful for.

Aimee is Thankful for:

Brother Kendrick

Grandma and Grandpa

Mommy and Daddy

Sister Ella

kitty

Ella is Thankful for:

Mommy and Daddy

Cousins

Grandma and Grandpa Erickson

Brother and Sister

Mrs. Lisa and Mrs. Kim (Teachers)

Kendrick is Thankful for:

Grandma and Grandpa

GG Del

When he is taking a nap

Merry Go Rounds

His Play Room

What a cool project. It cracks me up that KJ said he is thankful for his nap because he has been fighting his nap for a few months now! However, I would most likely add his naps to my thankful list!

The Devil has left the building!

I am happy to report that my sweet children have returned and we have order in the house again. It might have something to do with Grandma and Grandpa Erickson arriving on Tuesday. It might have something to do with this mama being at work for the past 2 days and not dealing with the kids very much. It also might have something to do with the fact that this mama has been happy to have some relief with Grandma and Grandpa Erickson around to play with the kids, make dinners, and just help us keep order in the house too! I have a feeling that the Devil has left because once again we have lots of love and laughter that has been restored to the house!

Grandma Mary has been gone on business for almost two weeks now. Since we see Grandma Mary practically EVERYDAY this has been an adjustment for us. Her absence sure makes us realize how much she does for all of us. Grandma Mary will be returning on Saturday and we are all very excited for her return.

We are so thankful for all of the people in our lives that love and appreciate us as much as they do. You know who you are and we love you all!

The Devils Inside...

...our children. WOW. These kids have been a challenge these last few days. It is like a light switch went off inside of them and they are now possessed by the Devil himself. Yikes.

Kendrick has started to say "NO" to us when we ask him to do something. As I am sure you can imagine that this does not go over well with Jon or me. Then when we discipline him he then grunts at us. We knew the day would come when our sweet babies would become small children, however, I have to admit that at this point in time, I miss my sweet babies.

Our friend Jane bought these shirts for the kids!

These shirts say "I still live with my Parents". These shirts crack me up but I have to admit that after the past few days, I long for a peaceful home again!

The Christian Fair

This weekend we went to something called The Christian Fair. It was a religious Fair that had a ton of activities for kids and there was also music and live entertainment. We really had a fun time.

There was a petting zoo there and the kids got to feed the goats. Santa and Mrs. Claus was there too. There was no line and they were taking pictures for the fee of $4 but our kids were too afraid to sit on his lap.

However, Ella decided she wanted to go and tell him what she wanted for Christmas. She said she wanted a car to go with her doll house. Then Kendrick walked up and he was so nervous he told Santa "I want what Ella said". We all laughed at that one.

Poor Aimee was so shy that she could not even look at Santa or Mrs. Claus. She just clung to her daddy's neck the whole time.
They really enjoyed the bouncy house and the bouncy house slide. We met our good friends the Clarks there. They have triplets that are exactly 6 months younger than our kids. Everyone had a great time.

After we all went out for dinner and if you can believe all 6 kids were angels. It was such a fun night. We will definitely be heading back there next year

Crabby Pants

Yesterday, I had a case of the crabbies! I think it had to do with our house being such a disaster! I mean there was stuff everywhere. I know that had to do with the fact that I worked everyday last week and life was just really busy around here.


We are also trying to get things organized around our house. We just built a large shed in our yard to help with the storage of some things. We also have decided to take our living room back and move the toy room downstairs. We just have a lot of stuff that needs to be given away or put away. So as you can imagine, I got a little crabby until.....


My husband came upstairs looking like this:

Jon had been cleaning out his old sports equipment and decided to try a few things on. I laughed so hard that I think I even surprised Jon. What a goof ball. A few things to note about this picture are, one, the weight belt hardly fit...it was from high school but I still had to tease him. Two, he found and put on the cowboy boots he was wearing the night I met him. The night I met him, I told him that I don't date men that wear cowboy boots! (What a snob I must have been :) ) Boy, do I not only date them but I married one too!

Anyway, it felt good to have a good laugh. It always amazes me how Jon knows just how to make me laugh. I really love that about him. Thanks Babe!

Nose Necklaces?

I had such a fun day today with the kids. I think a lot of it had to do with the fact that we really did not have a set schedule so it was very relaxing. The only thing we had scheduled was to go to swimming lessons. We even stayed after the lessons and swam for an extra 45 minutes and everyone had a great time.
After they woke up from their naps we got all bundled up and we walked up to the school so I could vote. We were surprised at how many people were there to vote. We actually had to wait in line for about 20 minutes so I could place my vote. The kids behaved so well. The man standing behind me in line asked me if they were always so well behaved. I told him that I thought he had just jinxed me but overall they are good kids. Once I placed my vote I gave everyone a "I Voted" sticker for their jackets and we started to head out. Aimee started to cry because she wanted to vote. It was cute and then I had to explain to her that she was not old enough to vote but that she helped me vote today. She seemed to be fine with that answer.
After voting we played at the new park (I just realized it was there this afternoon when we walked up to the school). The kids had a blast but it is very cold here today so we could not stay long as we were all cold.
We walked back home and we had dinner together. It was very nice. After dinner I let all of the kids pick out a piece of candy from their Trick and Treat baskets. Ella selected a candy necklace. I then started to clean up the dishes from the table as I left the kid to eat their candy. A few minutes later I heard Aimee say "Ella why did you put that in there"? Then Ella replied "Cause I wanted to Aimee" . Then they really caught my attention when Aimee said "Ella why did you stick that up your nose"? I immediately ran into the dining room and asked Ella if she stuck something up her nose. She did not really reply to me so I told her to tip her head back so I could take a look. I did not see anything in her nose so I thought it must have fallen out or she really did not stick anything up her nose. I kept asking her what happened and then she started to get upset. Aimee kept saying that Ella stuck candy up her nose. I then told Ella that if she stuck something up her nose we were going to need to go to the ER to have them get it out. At this point she started crying her eyes out and then she told me that her nose hurt really bad. I looked again at her nose and did not see anything in there. Then I told her to blow out of her nose really hard. She did this a few times and then on the third time the candy came flying out of her nose! THANK GOD!
I was panicked that we were going to have to go to the ER to have her nose taken care of. I then warned all of them that we NEVER stick anything up our noses or in our ears. I have no idea what they would have done if the candy would not have come out but it really spooked me and even more it scared the wits right out of Ella.
I would have never thought that my kids could get something stuck up their noses. So please take this as a warning if you have small kids, tell them not to stick anything up their noses or ears!!!

GOD Shakes Hands

I had a wonderful weekend. It started on Friday night when Jon and I went to a Wine Tasting Charity event for my work. We had a lot of fun tasting different wines and getting to know some of my co-workers. The kids slept over at Grandma's house so it was nice to get a good solid 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep.

Saturday, our friend Sue asked if she could have the kids all day so I spent the day doing some Christmas shopping (a little shopping for me too!) and then I actually got to watch a movie. It was really cute too. The title of the movie was "Because I Said So" and it was showed a mom with her grown daughters. It was a good glimpse into my future with my own girls. I have to say that watching that mom shop with her adult daughters made me smile and it was nice for once to look into the future and see what potential I have with my own girls.

Of course I should have been doing something productive around my house like getting the new toy room all set up or cleaning some stuff up but I NEVER get a few hours to myself now to watch a movie so I opted to spoil myself.

Today, my mom and I took the kids to church. At our church there is no nursery offered to us and the kids are still to young for the Sunday School so we take them with us to mass. They sit in the front pew. This started when they were babies and we just always sat in the front so now they know exactly what pew we sit in. They are also very well behaved in church. We are often told by the people sitting around us that they cannot believe how well behaved the kids are. As a mother I take pride in that but I have a feeling that I just jinxed myself. Anyway, when it was time to give peace, I was focusing on the kids and getting them settled down, I did not notice that the priest was approaching us to give us peace. He said to me "I would like to give some peace to the mother with the well behaved children" It was very sweet. As he walked away, KJ loudly said to me "Mommy, why did God shake your hand"? As you can imagine this made everyone around us laugh. It was pretty cute. Just before this happened, Ella leaned over and whispered "Mommy, where is God"? I whispered back that he was up in the sky. She then pointed to the choir loft and said "Does he live up there"?

After church, we went to the grocery store and then over to IKEA to buy a new rug for our dining room. The old rug had been destroyed by spilled milk and nasty food. Hopefully, this new rug will be easier to clean and see less action from these kids. Jon and I have been slowly working on taking our house back. We moved the furniture back into our living room and it is amazing to us how great that feels. Now we are going to paint and do some other improvements in our house. We are on the road to take back control of our home. It feels GREAT!

It was a wonderful weekend. Now if my Fantasy Football team could just pull out a win tomorrow night that would be AWESOME! We will have to see how the numbers fall.

Happy Halloween 2007!

We had so much fun this Halloween. It all started with our good friend Jane coming over with a pumpkin shaped pizza for dinner. After dinner we got the kids all ready to go in our "Barnyard" themed costumes. The kids loved being the animals and if you asked them to do a trick them would make the animal sounds. It was pretty cute.

We were lucky enough to have daddy home with us this year. Since our good friend Jane came over both Jon and I were able to go trick or treating with the kids. We left the house with out a plan and we ended up going all the way down the block and back up trick or treating. The kids loved it. We were out until 8:20 PM!!! Both Jon and I had no idea that it was so late.

Holidays with the kids are getting to be more fun every year. It was a blast to watch them get so excited and run from house to house. They also loved to hand out candy to the kids that came to our house.

Favorite memories...

Last night at dinner, the kids were talking about sharing their candy with each other. Then KJ pipes up from the end of the table and says:

"Aimee and Ella, You can't share your candy with me because I am a grumpy old troll"!

We all had a good laugh about that one.

There were a few houses that we went to and the person answering the door would say "oh you are the best costumes yet, I have to go get my husband/wife to have them see this"! This always makes a mother feel good!

Another house we went to the lady went crazy over the kids. It was a lot of fun!

The kids have been talking about the big blow up pumpkin and ghost that the neighbors have in their yard. They have been up for a few weeks now. Last night all three of them ran right up to them and gave the blow ups big hugs! KJ announced "These are our friends"

Now I just need to figure out what to do with all of the candy....

Fun in the Leaves!

Kendrick in a Kilt

Tonight the kids had fun dancing around. I was trying some clothes on the girls to see how they fit and the girls were having fun twirling in their skirts. KJ then asked me if he could wear a skirt. His dad protested but I put on on him too. KJ just loved it. He was twirling and laughing right along with the girls. We have some great pictures for when he is older so we can show him.

Fall is in the air...

Okay I just LOVE this time of year. It is always so beautiful and for some reason I just seem to be noticing all of the beautiful colors around her more than ever this year. The kids are really excited about Halloween and they ask me everyday when we get to go Trick or Treating. They are excited to dress up. It is so much fun to watch them get so excited. Every night after dinner we have been playing with our flashlights after dinner. We will turn all of the lights off and then they can flash different images on walls and ceilings. They love this and we can play this for 45 minutes straight with out losing interest in it. The kids have been into Apples a lot this fall too. We have a special slicer that Grandma Erickson gave us and they love to turn the crank and watch the apple slice. Today they were cutting up their own Apples at Grandma Mary's today too. These pictures are from Sue's house where they helped her make some Apple Pies.
We have a busy weekend with some trick or treating and a pumpkin carving party to go too. I am sure I will have a lot to blog about.

Swimming Lessons

At the end of the summer I suddenly realized that I had not signed up my kids for any activities. I spent an entire day looking into ECFE classes, Gymnastics, Dance, Sports, etc.. At that time I called the local YMCA to see what they could offer my kids at the age of 3. I was thrilled when I found out that we could start swimming lessons and Jon and I did not have to be in the water with them. We had not started swimming lessons before this time because we needed to have one on one in the water and we did not have that. Today we finished the first session of swimming lessons and it was picture day so I brought the camera. The kids did very well for their first session. We saw the biggest difference in Aimee as she was willing to take the noodle, kick across the pool and come back with out the teacher holding on to her. All three of them came a long way in the first session. They are all getting more comfortable with the water and although they have to repeat the same level I am confident they will be able to move up to the next level by the Holidays.
Their teacher was so sweet today when she came up to me and told me that the class she taught with our kids was her favorite of all her classes. She said she just loved teaching the kids and she really looks forward to seeing them every week. That makes Jon and I feel great.

We are so happy that we have found a great swimming program for our kids. They will be pros by next summer.

Earthworms and Birds Feet

A few weeks ago we headed out to the pumpkin patch with our dear friends the Swanson's. It was a great time had by all and the best news is that we selected our pumpkins for Halloween that we will have the utmost fun decorating next weekend. When we got home from the pumpkin patch we threw some pizzas in the oven and headed out to the patio to hang out. The kids were all playing with their trikes and stuff. All of a sudden Ella came up to me and said "Look what I found Mommy" and then she threw her fist right into my face. It was an earthworm. I was not expecting that so I screamed and jumped. Of course this was not the right reaction to have and everyone was laughing at me.

So the other night when I was checking my email, Ella walked in and said look what daddy just gave me as she shoved a Pheasants Foot into my face. Again, I screamed and jumped and I could hear Daddy laughing all the way from the kitchen. He had just returned from his annual hunting trip and he was cleaning up the birds. I could not believe that he let the kids have some of the feet. I was really grossed out but they LOVED it. Of course, I made them wash their hands a few times when they were done playing with the bird feet!

Now I just need to learn to be cautious when Ella walks in and says something like "Mommy look what I found".

Ella's Prayers

My sweet baby girl Ella said some amazing prayers the other night.

"Dear God, Please pray for the baby that is in my mommy's Tummy!"

You can imagine my surprise when I heard her say this and then I asked her "What did you just say?" She just smiled at me. As far as I know there is no "baby" in my tummy! Now if she knows something I don't that would be a different story.

She then said, "Please let my sister Aimee be good tonight, God, so we can fall asleep together"

Normally, if the girls are mis-behaving at bed time, one of them gets removed from the room so they will fall asleep. Apparently, Ella just assumes that it is Aimee fooling around...it couldn't be her!

Better Together

Gymnastics

We started Gymnastics last month and the kids LOVE it. They really like their Teacher, Ms. Ann, a lot and I think KJ has a crush on her. He likes to talk about Ms. Ann a lot.

We are in Gymnastics with the Boland triplets. It works out perfect because there are only 6 kids in the class so we fill the class up with our two sets of triplets. The kids have been the best of friends since they were 12 months old so they are really good about taking turns and being nice to each other.

Ms. Ann was surprised at how good the kids were to each other considering the sibling issues she was dealing with. The kids are really doing good with the gymnastics too. They have come a long way in just the 4 weeks we have been taking classes. I have decided today that we are going to sign up again for next session when this one ends.

Mommy Kate and I are surprised at how well Ms. Ann handles the kids. She manages to keep them all under control and focused which is amazing! We are so blessed to have found such an awesome teacher. She is really good with the kids and the kids like her. It is a win win situation.