Wordless Wednesday ~ A Scary Bunch

A New Hockey Star!

Last week, Jon and I decided to sign K up for Hockey again this year. Although this time it is more of a commitment to get him to practice and he will actually have games. Jon took him to get him all outfitted last week. It is safe to say that K was really PUMPED up about it and so happy to be starting "real" hockey. Jon was pretty excited for him too. It was great to see his smile and feel his excitement. K will have to work really hard this year learning how to skate and play but he assured me again and again that he really wants to do this. I think it is great for him to be so dedicated and with the help of Uncle T, Grandma Mary, Grandpa Al, and both Jon and I, we should be able to conquer "Hockey" this year and years to come if K so chooses to continue to play. So hears to our new Hockey Star!!!! Now I just need a lesson on to how to get all this equipment on and off of him! J

The Age of Trees

Grandpa Al planted three new evergreen trees in his yard awhile ago. The age of these evergreens was 5 years old. We decided that it would be a great idea to take the kids pictures with "their" trees. The kids were really excited about the idea and they now talk about their trees all the time.
It will not only be fun to watch these kids grow but also their trees! Great idea Grandpa Al!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Glitter Girls

Octber 12?

Yesterday morning when I awoke to my little E crawling in bed with me, she exclaimed "Mom is snowed and it stuck to the ground this time! Soon there was a whole lot of excitement with three little kids running around the house all crazy about the inch of snow on the ground outside. As the mother, I replied with "oh yuck" as I cannot believe that our winter is starting so early.
On a positive note, after the kids got home from school we all got "geared" up and ran outside to play in the snow. We spent the next 2 hours outside making a snowman, a huge snow fort, snow angels, and we even had a snowball fight with each other that lead to so many giggles. We had an AWESOME time and I smiled all night and even this morning about how much fun it really had. So as much as I dread the cold weather that has already arrived this season, I can't help but smile and rejoice in the fun that it has brought the kids (even the kid inside of me). Now, here is to a few days of Indian Summer that are hopefully coming our way so we can get a few more games of football, baseball in before we are in for the long hall of snow ball fights and snow angels.

Feeling Loved

Yesterday, as I attended Mass at our new church, I dropped the kids at their first Sunday School class of the year and I marched right down to the front of the church to sit in the front pew. This pew was selected a few weeks ago by our children who as we walked into the church started to run towards the front as they exclaimed "let's sit in the front"! Jon and I were both shy about it as this was a new church with new people and a new priest. However, we feel that if we sit in the front, the kids can see better and pay attention more. We feel that if our kids can demand to sit in the front we should faithfully sit there to even if the kids are not with us. Besides, there are less distractions in front which is always a bonus.
As mass started that morning, it was announced that the Anointing of the Sick was going to take place. This made my heart beat a little faster as I was a little nervous about how this was all going to "work" at the new church. You can imagine how I felt later in the mass when they asked all those who wished to be anointed that morning to please stand. I looked around me and not one person moved but since I live with MS everyday, I definitely wanted to be anointed as I need all the help I can get. So I stood up and then an amazing thing happened to me. As the congregation began to pray, I felt so much energy pumping through my body. At first I thought I was imaging it but then I realized, it was real and that the Holy Spirit was touching me in ways I have never felt before. I know this probably sounds crazy but it was so cool. I LOVED IT and I felt so loved. I just wish Jon could have been with me at this amazing moment. Healing powers and prayers are a very powerful thing. God Bless.

Daddy Our Hero

This past weekend we took some time out to honor our hero...Daddy. Jon has been working really hard for the past few years earning his Masters of Business Administration. We are proud to announce that he was able to finish up the program this past July and he graduated with honors at a 4.0 GPA. What is not to be proud of with that! He worked so hard and I could empathize with all his hard work and then with his relief when he finished the program has I know what it takes to go to school, work outside the home, and save energy to be a good spouse and parent. He never likes to celebrate ANYTHING that has to do with him or his accomplishments or even his Birthday but there was no way I was letting this one slide. He worked hard, earned it, and it is a very BIG deal!

Babe-Thank you for being such a great example to our children, for working so hard to benefit yourself and your family, and for just being an all around strong, faithful, determined, and dedicated Dad, Husband, Son, Brother, and Friend. We are so proud of you and know you are loved and honored. Way to go!

Wordless Wednesday - Grandpas Rock

To Move or Not To Move?

So as I have mentioned in a previous post, Jon and I have put our house on the market. After much debate for the past two years and a lot of house searching, we finally made an offer on a home that we would love to move into. The offer was accepted but it is a short sale situation so now it will be up to the banks to decide if they will accept our offer and sell us the house. This process can take a long time. I have heard sometimes up to 6 or 7 months to go through. We knew making the offer that it was a long shot and a long process.
In the mean time, the past few weeks Jon, myself, and our moms have been working extremely hard and getting our house on the market. I am proud to say that as of last Friday evening the house has been listed. We have some showings coming up this weekend that we are excited about so we will see how they go.
We really love our house and our neighborhood now. We could not ask for better neighbors and the location is great. However, when we purchased our home back in 2003 we had the intention of having two children so we thought the house would be a perfect size/layout for that. Well God gave us three at once and we could not be happier but the house is getting tight. Sure we could live in it forever and be just fine but now the kids are all asking for their own rooms and more space and Jon and I feel we could use the same so we are taking the next step.
This process has been very stressful on us. I am trying to stay calm and level headed about it all but there have been many sleepless/restless nights in the past two weeks. I have come to the conclusion that this is all out of our control and I just need to have faith in God above. We need the timing on some of these things to work out perfectly. I know in my heart that what is supposed to happen will happen. Jon and I view this as a win win situation. If we can sell our house and make the move that is great. If this deal does not go through we are great too.
My good friend T send me the following bible verses that helped her through some sleepless nights or moments of anxiety.

“Don’t worry about anything, but pray about everything. With thankful hearts, offer up your prayers and requests to God”

Phil. 4:5

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight”.

Proverbs 3:5-6

Thanks T for the strength and love. This is exciting times for the Erickson Five. If anyone knows of someone who is looking for an awesome updated home let us know! For now, I am going to trust in the Lord. God Bless.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Triplet Moms Rock

Word Wednesday ~ Happy Anniversary Babe!

A Moonie

Jon and I celebrated our 9th Wedding anniversary today! We spent the day getting our house ready to put it on the market so it was not so romantic. However, this past weekend we were able get away down in Orlando for 3 nights and 4 days all to ourselves.
We had awesome accomodations on the Hilton Grand Getaway resort. We really did not do to much but we did laugh and just plain old spent time together catching up and focusing on our life together and how awesome it is.
We both really needed the time away. Grandma C and Grandpa R took the kids for us so we could take our trip so big thanks to them. The kids had fun too because they got to see their cousins and spend time with family that we just don't get to see all that much.
Last week as I described to my Massage Therapist what we were going to do, she said "oh you get to have a moonie"! I loved that! We called it a moonie all weekend.
I still can't believe how fast 9 years has gone by and I am sure that the next 9 will go even faster. Life is flying by but I am happy to report that I am loving EVERY minute of it. Love you babe, and thanks for an awesome weekend and all the laughs. You're the best and I love you more and more everyday!

Wordless Wednesday ~ First Love

First Day of School 2009

Today was the first day of school for A, E, and K. They are in a half day preschool program for 5 year olds this year. This is there first formal "school" experience and they are so excited. We are in the afternoon program but from the minute they woke up yesterday, they were pumped up and ready to go. K asked me every five minutes if it was time to go to school yet. Then he finally said "Mom, are you sure we won't be late?"!
Grandma Mary came with to drop them off and the nice thing about drop off and pick up is that you just pull up to the door, they get out of the car and then you drive away and it is the same for pick up. So slick. When I went back to pick them up from school. They all climbed in the car and K announced "Mom, it was not enough time, we did not get to do everything"! Yahooo, they like school. I am thrilled.
Here are some pictures of them going off to their first day.

The Erickson Fruit Basket

This year for the Church Fall Festival and Children's parade, we decided to be "The Erickson Fruit Basket" our motto was Shining in '09 with God's Love. The kids always have so much fun with the parade and they love to throw the candy out to everyone. I was the apple w/ worm, K was the banana, E was grapes, and A was a lemon. It was really fun and it always makes a lot of people smile and that is the part I love. I am sure that one of these years the kids will not think it is so cool to be apart of the parade and a costume theme but it sure has brought so many smiles to the people that anticipate our costumes and smile and applaud us as we greet them in the parade route. Here's to another year of costume and parade fun!

Firework Fun

One of our favorite things about where we live in the annual "city" fun event. We live very close to the festivities and both Friday and Saturday night they have fireworks that we can literally see right from our upstairs windows. We have the perfect spot for these fireworks.
This year we decided to do a repeat of last year and invite our friends the Clarks over. We decided it would be fun to walk up to the park and experience all the festivities. There was fire truck water demonstrations, spooky characters the kids loved, RIDES-which Momma Clark was so great at getting all 6 kids on with less amount of tickets, then of course there was the food, and since we ate so much food we decided it was important to dance the night away too. The kids LOVED it.
Just as we were heading home to watch the fireworks from the comforts of our yard/house, they started! So this year we sat right underneath them. It was great and so much fun to see them from a different location.
Only bummer was that we had to walk in the woods in the dark as we forgot to bring a flashlight with us. It was a fun adventure and when we got home, we took some time to have a bonfire and we always enjoy that.
The hardest part for Jon and I is that this weekend always falls on the same weekend and our church fall festival. We spend the entire day at the fall festival work, playing, and visiting with friends and it wears all of us out. So Saturday night when we got home, we showered the kids up and then the five of us watched the fireworks from the upstairs windows. That was nice too and the kids LOVED it. Fireworks ROCK!
Oh and I did not have my camera but you can check out photos of the event here.

Wordless Wednesday ~ Only 11 More Years

Backyard S'mores and Fun

A few weeks ago after dinner one night, we thought it would be fun to go out to our firepit and have some S'mores. As we sat around the fire and the kids talked about their day I just had so much overwhelming happiness and love for my family and I told each of them that I LOVED them. It was so much fun to just hang out.
It was a busy week for the Erickson Five with both parents working a lot and Grandma Mary, Jane, and Grandma's friends Rebecca and Dan entertaining the kiddos. We were supposed to go camping this coming weekend but due to the busy week and the weather not being so great, we decided to postpone our camping trip and do some other fun stuff. I think we kicked it off right with the S'mores. However, Ella prefers her S'mores with just a plain old Marshmallow. Hmmm wonder where she got that from...Grandma Mary!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Little Gentleman

Happy Birthday

Today is a big day because three members of our family have a Birthday!!!!!

So Happy Birthday to:

Our Uncle T
Our Janie
Our Cousin Emmy

We love you guys!