Pinewood Derby Champion!

This past weekend, our ward had an Elder's Quorum Pinewood Derby! It was a really fun activity, and I think Erik enjoyed making his first pinewood derby car.

The making of the car was a family event. Ben did the body work on the car. . . with his drill and pocket knife! I'll admit I was a little nervous that we were going to end up with all fingers still intact, but Ben did a good job. Erik was the artist and painted the logging truck all by himself! (Well, other than the "E".) My job was to disguise the weights (ie three rolls of quarters) as logs. And for all you hard-core Pinewood Derby-ers out there--this was a no rules race. Anything goes as long as it doesn't involve fire/combustion. :-) Hence the quarters. . . .Here are a few pictures from the races.Between races, Erik was happy to help himself to a few cookies. . . . And the championship race. . . . Yeah!! Erik's car won first place!! Congrats to Ben and Erik. :-)

Yay for Elizabeth!

This past week has been an exciting one for Elizabeth!  Although she had been scooting around for several months, she is now officially crawling.  She is already fast and is having a great time exploring and getting into everything.  

This afternoon I was trying to get some good pictures of her crawling.  I enlisted Erik's help hoping that she would crawl to him while I got some pictures.  Elizabeth wasn't very cooperative, but she sure thought we were playing a great game.  :-)  We did finally get a few pictures though.  After I loaded them on the computer I noticed she was sticking her tongue out in most of them.  Silly girl!  

A Girl-Man?

Lately Erik has been very interested in trying to figure out all the gender-related words. . . Man, woman, boy, girl, lady, sir, etc. We had been talking about how mommy was a woman since I was a 'grown up girl'. A few hours later, Erik came up to me and said "Biffis a girl, mommy a girl. . . . man?" He was obviously thinking very hard and trying to remember what I had told him before. It was very cute. :-)

Oh, and yes, Erik calls Elizabeth, Biffis. . . Elizabeth is just a little bit too much of a mouthful for him. . .

Happy Labor Day everyone!

Yellowstone

A couple weeks ago we were able to go to Yellowstone for an Ohran Family reunion. Erik had tons of fun camping. He loved staying in a tent with Ben, and Elizabeth and I were just happy that we could stay in a cabin with Meredith and Zander. While we were there we got to see Old Faithful, the Paint Pots, some great waterfalls, some elk, and one bison. We even had matching t-shirts!


At the Paint Pots, Erik was much more excited about the signs than anything else.


Eight of the grand kids enjoying lunch together.

Trip to Utah

I need to play a little catch up, so today we're going to post some pictures of our trip to Utah that we took a couple weeks ago.

While we were in Utah, we attended the Hillier family reunion. The first day we spent in the canyon. This included a hike where Erik found pinecones. As you can see, Erik LOVES pinecones!

The second day of the reunion we went to Heritage Park in Salt Lake City (This is the Place Monument). I would highly recommend this park to anyone. It was a lot of fun!

Some of the activities we did were the pony ride, arrowhead necklaces, leather embossing, print shop, and the train ride. There were tons of other activites too, but we ran out of time.

Another highlight of the trip was Erik's new friend Jackson.

And finally, the plane ride home. Erik found the Safety Information packet quite captivating. Apparently if you read it upside down it is more interesting. :-)

Happy Birthday Erik!

Last Friday we celebrated Erik's birthday. I can hardly believe that he is already 3 years old! Time really does fly.

We went up to Thousand Oaks so that we could celebrate with Erik's cousins. First we had a yummy BBQ thanks to Grandma Maralee, Ema, and John. Next we had a pinata. We decided to do a pinata after Erik got to do one while we were in Utah. He loved the idea that not only could he beat something with a stick, but then you get candy for your effforts! Life doesn't get much better for Erik. :-)


Anyway, then we opened presents and had cupcakes. Happy Birthday Erik!

Congrats Ben!

First, I want to say Happy Father's Day to Ben and both of our wonderful Dads!

This past week has been an exciting one for Ben. He traveled to Seattle where he presented two talks at a conference. He also got the great news that he recived the Dissertation Year Fellowsip! And, last but certainly not least, the students voted him as the TA of the year!

We're proud of you!

Erik's Car, ABCs and Counting

Today was a marathon Stampin' Up! workshop, so me and Erik and Elizabeth had a fun day together. I figured I'd do a blog post too since I was playing Mr. mom at home (Allison says I can't call it "babysitting" since they are my own kids) .

Here are a couple video clips I took of Erik so I could test out the video posting feature.



Erik had fun driving his "car" to Grandpa's house. Also has Erik singing his ABCs.




Erik showing off his counting skills.

Sleepy Time

Sleep is one of those things that doesn't happen enough in our house! Although I suppose most people would say that. :-) I had some pictures of the kids sleeping so I thought that could be the topic for today's post. Fortunately Erik hasn't had too many problems rolling off his toddler bed, but he does occasionally get into some funny positions. One of the most common ways for me to find him during the middle of the night is with his feet off the side of the bed.

Elizabeth is still sleeping in her little bassinet, and although she does still have a few inches, she will grow out of it soon. I'm not sure what we are going to do at that point. I keep hoping that Erik's and Elizabeth's sleep schedules will become a little more synchronized. Elizabeth likes to stay up late and Erik likes to get up early. . . and Elizabeth hasn't been sleeping through the night lately so that also adds an interesting twist to having the two kids in the same room together. I'm sure it will work out somehow, but I can imagine all sorts of late night parties with Erik (very light sleeper) waking up because Elizabeth wants to eat and then no one wanting to go back to sleep. :-) I guess we will cross that bridge when we get there. . .

The last picture is of Elizabeth and Erik both on Erik's bed. This is more remarkable than it may initially seem. If Ben or I try to touch Erik's bed he quickly reminds us that it is his bed and he doesn't want us to touch it. We aren't sure why he is so protective of his bed, but fortunately Elizabeth seems to be immune to the 'rules'. Erik is actually excited for Elizabeth to share his room, and I try to convince him that he needs to sleep more (i.e. sleep in later) before she can sleep in the crib in his room. . . But so far I can't convince him. :-)

Elizabeth

I figure it is about time that I do an update for Elizabeth :-) . . . At her 4 month check up she was 12 lbs 4 oz and 25 inches long. Although hopefully those are outdated stats as she will be 5 months this week!

Elizabeth is still happy as can be and has found that she can manipulate her way around the room a little by doing a combination of rolling and scooting. She will now roll tummy to back and back to tummy. She also 'scoots'. When she is laying on her back she arches her back and pushes off with her legs so that she can move up a bit. As you can see, she has a spot on the back of her head where she is rubbing all the hair off! A few days she has even given herself a little rug burn. :-( Although she thinks its great that she can get to items that she wants. :-)

Camping

Well, obviously it has been a while since I've posted anything. . . I can't believe that a month can pass so quickly!

So, here's one of the things we've been up to in the past month. Erik and Ben went on the Father and Son's camp out up in Decker Canyon. Erik even had fun getting ready to go. . . While we were packing, I left the room to find some new batteries for his flashlight and came back to find his backpack stuffed to the brim with toys. Apparently he was worried that he would be bored. :-) Fortunately it was easy to convince him that one toy was sufficient since he needed room for his pajamas, blanket, etc.


Here is the 'before' picture and a picture of Erik in front of the tent. I don't think Ben and Erik got a ton of sleep, but they did have fun! Erik liked 'hiking'-- walking up the hill to the tents -- and was insistent that he hike by himself. He also had fun looking everywhere for spiders and insisting that he have both flashlights. Apparently Erik thought Ben couldn't be trusted with one. :-)

Park Time

The other day I decided it would be fun to take some pictures of Erik playing at the little playground that is just down the stairs from our apartment. It is a pretty small playground--two swings, a perpetual motion thing, and a small play structure with a slide. But, we are glad it is there since it is our substitute for a backyard. It was harder than I anticipated to take pictures since I was working with a moving target, so this is the only one that really turned out at all.

This little piggie. . .

It's so much fun to watch Elizabeth grow! Recently she has discovered her toes. Pretty much every time I lay her on the ground she grabs her toes and rolls back and forth. One night after I had put her in footed pajamas, she seemed quite annoyed that her toes were gone. She kept trying to grab them to no avail.

Another one of Elizabeth's favorite pastimes is having Erik entertain her. Erik is a good big brother to help, but I am always worried that he is a little too rough. Of course it is hard to convince him of that because he often has Elizabeth laughing at the same time I am trying to tell him to be gentle. They really are cute together though, and I guess Elizabeth will be a tough girl. :-)

Cooking, Spelling, and Temple Going

Ever since I decided to start blogging, it seems that Erik's goal has been to make sure that I don't have the excuse of "I don't have anything to write about." It's only been a couple days since I posted, but oh, the fun we have had. :-)

After Erik saw the last post of himself in the kitchen, he got really excited and ran into his room to set the table. As you can see, he really laid out a feast for us.
He even gave a pot holder to Elizabeth so that she could "help cook".













On Monday Erik made me proud. :-) He was in the kitchen playing with his Word Whammer which he received for Easter. Admittedly it was trying to get him to spell the word "cod". . . kind of a weird word for a child's toy. . . but other than that. . . . Erik very deliberately picked up the letters M, then O, then M and put them in.

Then he said "mama, look. . . M, O, M (as he pushed the letters). . . that says mom. . . that's you!" Yeah! I could hardly believe it. It's kind of fun that Erik said "dada" as his first word, but the first word he learned to spell was "mom".



And last but not least, yesterday I walk into the room to find that Erik has built a sidewalk. Nothing terribly unusual about this as it is one of his favorite activities to line up cars, books, couch cushions, or what ever else he thinks of and call it either a sidewalk or a gate. Erik says "look mama a sidewalk. . . go to temple . . . get married!" How sweet--Erik built a sidewalk to the temple. :-) Apparently Erik had actually listened to our Family Home Evening lesson about temples and families the night before. Of course he is a little young to be thinking about marriage!

Anyway, lest you think that Erik is a boy who only spends his days talking about going to the temple and spelling words. . . If you look at the picture of the sidewalk you may wonder "Where did Erik get those nice boards for his sidewalk?" Good question. Well, it turns out that there is a bookcase in Erik's room with all of his toys. Or, at least it used to have toys, and shelves, on it. . . The next question that may come to mind is "where was I during all of this?" Another good question. I was in the other room feeding Elizabeth thinking "Isn't it nice when Erik plays quietly by himself?" Obviously my first red flag should have been "quietly". How quickly I forget that QUIET = TROUBLE. It is actually quite amazing how quietly and efficiently Erik emptied and dismantled the bookshelf. We are sill looking for 3 of the pegs that hold up the shelfs. But at least the shelves went to a good (temple) cause. . .

Chef Erik

While I'm on a roll, I thought I would add a picture of Erik. I was lucky enough to wake up Friday morning to pancakes that Erik and Daddy had made. Yummy! Erik has always loved cooking and still loves to play with his kitchen and play food. Of course, we do joke that he loves everything about food except eating it. . .

Erik also loves to take whatever he can from the kitchen so that he can cook in his little kitchen. Before I start cooking, I often have to go on a scavenger hunt to find measuring cups, pans, utensils, etc. Perhaps we have a future chef on our hands?

First Try

Ok, so here goes my first try at a blog post with a picture. Yeah, I know I'm really behind the times. . . :-) I'm hoping this blog will be a sort of journal for our family. Anyway, here is a picture of Elizabeth that was taken last week (3 months old). Elizabeth is such a happy baby and always has a smile for anyone. She also loves attention and 'talks' to you. She is actually becoming quite a chatter box--which is really cute. Maybe my next blogging adventure will be to figure out how to do video. . . .

We're Blogging!

We've decided to finally join the blogging world!