Famous Artist

E came home from school a few weeks ago and was anxious for me to open up an envelope that her teacher had given her.  Inside the envelope, was a letter from the Principal.  Her artwork had been one of two selected for the City Art show for students.  We were invited to the open house and we got tickets and all. 
E was very excited about her artwork being chosen and we were all so proud of her.  What a fun experience for E and one that I am sure she will remember forever. 

Tonight, Grandma, Jane, Aimee and I escorted E to the art show so we could check out her items.  It was fun to see what other art kids have done and to celebrate with E on her success.  She can't wait to take Jon over there tomorrow night to show him her art. 

Steamboat Vacation 2013

I am a few weeks....okay almost a month late with this post but like they say, better late than never.  We returned to Steamboat this year for another wonderful ski vacation.  The Erickson 5 took a different route to Steamboat as we flew into Denver and drove up the mountain.  That proved to be a lot of fun and as challenging as driving in the mountains (especially when snowing) can be, it was beautiful. 

The kids all enjoyed the scenery and it was fun to hang out the five of us in Denver and then on the drive.  We got to Steamboat right after it started to snow so the last half hour of our drive was a little scary on the pass but we made it just fine. 
We stayed at the same house again with Grandma and Grandpa A and Uncle T.  The first night we went out for dinner to the pizza place and then headed back for hot tub and cards. 

The first day of skiing, the girls were in ski school and k took a snowboarding lesson.  They all had a great time.  Uncle T, Grandpa A, Jon and I hit the slopes.  We skied hard that first day and covered a lot of ground.  It was great and when we picked the kids up at ski school, they were ready to head back up to the top to do some skiing with us.  It was fun.  K had a good time snowboarding but we decided to put him back on skis for the remainder of our trip so he could "keep" up with the rest of us. 

The next two days were filled with lots of fun skiing.  The kids LOVED to go through the trees and aside from a few run In's everyone had a great time.  Both Jon and I are impressed with how well they are skiing now.  We have decided that pretty soon we will have a hard time keeping up with them. 

Over all it was a wonderful trip.  So relaxing with skiing during the day and hot tubing and playing cards at night.  It is never easy to leave Steamboat after our vacation there. 

This year we drove back down the mountain in a snow storm for half the way and that was scary.  We Thanked God when we drove out of that snow.  We had some time when we got to Denver so we went to a fun Mexican restaurant called Casa Bonita.  They have a live dive show in the restaurant so it was some fun entertainment.  We had never experienced anything like that before and we all enjoyed it. 

It was a successful vacation and one that we all enjoyed so much! We are already looking forward to 2014! 

Snow Day

 Yesterday, we  blessed with a snow day...or I guess I should say a Snow afternoon.  The kids went outside to play and I believe that they were out there for three or four hours playing in the snow. 

The adventure started with them making a snowman family, three kids and a Mom and Dad.  We all worked hard to finish our family. 

 We then headed over to the neighbors for some sledding fun.  K also took advantage of the rope swing!

 It was fun to relax and hang out together. Our new neighbors came out with their little boy and joined in the fun too. 

It was a lazy Sunday afternoon and we finished our night off with getting Pizza Delivery and playing some board games.  It was the perfect snowy day retreat!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Gymnastic Stars

Wordless Wednesday ~ Happy Birthday Bella

Happy Birthday to our favorite Lil dog Bella!

Wordless Wednesday ~ Tooth Pulling Drama

A Very Loved Pup

Gracie is sure loved by all of us! Even our extended family loves her. I never knew how much she would add to our family and I'm so glad that I said yes to the dog!

Snowboard Dude

This past week, K decided he wanted to start Snowboarding.  It turns out that he LOVES it.  It is fun to watch him and hear him talk about a new love.

 He has done well for it being his first time too.  He spent 8 hours one day over break practicing.  Now he has not interest in the skiing. The other day he told me that he wanted me to drop him off at the ski hill and give him my phone.  He then said that he would just give me a call at home when he was done so I could come and pick him up. I love the way that boy thinks sometimes. I smiled and reminded him that he is 8 not 15!   I think it is official, we have a snowboarding dude on our hands! 

ELF

Every year Grandma and Grandpa A treat all of us to a play and a nice dinner.  This year the play was ELF and we LOVED it.  It was kid friendly and so colorful.  The acting was great and we laughed and laughed.  I give ELF 5 stars. 

 After the play went to Axel's one of our favorite places to celebrate.  We had excellent service and outstanding food.  It was truly an amazing night of celebrating. 

It is such a fun afternoon and evening to spend with family.  We all enjoy going to the play and of course a fancy dinner.  I feel like this exposes the kids to the theater and the arts.  They look forward to it just as much, if not more than Jon and I.  What a wonderful way to kick off our Christmas celebrations.  Thank you Mom and Dad for the wonderful gift year after year.  Love you.

Santa Came to the Hood

This past Sunday, we were blessed enough to have Santa visit us in our own neighborhood for a second year in a row.  It was a fun evening and each child got to sit on Santa's lap and have a 2-3 minute conversations with him about their behavior this past year.  Some had good reports and some had not such good reports but it was fun to hear Santa give all the kids some good advice.

 We feel so blessed to live where we do and to have met such incredible neighbors who are now friends.  I am thrilled that my kids will have such fond memories of their childhood neighborhood.

We are "almost" ready for Christmas.  The kids have been having fun with Sparkle the Elf.  He has been up to some crazy stuff again this year.  The other morning we found him in the Barbie Pink Convertible with the Ken Doll.  We had lots of theories about where they were headed that day and where they had been the night before.  Today he was riding the pink Barbie bike.  So fun.

The count down continues and the kids can't wait to celebrate Baby Jesus Birthday and celebrate the season with our families.

Merry Christmas!