Treehouse Museum

Why have I never been here before?  This place is AWESOME!

Our friends invited us on a fun day out!  We took the train up to Ogden, got on a free trolley that took us right to the Treehouse door, we played for a few hours then took the train back home!  Of course the kids were in heaven on the train.  Lydia LOVES trains so this was right up her alley!

 Even though Nate missed his morning nap, he was still the perfect little babe!  I'm so lucky to have such a non fussy baby that smiles ALL the time...at everyone!!

They enjoyed sliding all over the US.

Treehouse was actually on my list of things I made to do between now and the end of the summer so I'm so glad we were invited to go with friends.  It's always more fun with friends right?!!  :)  That's one thing out of the hundred that I can mark off my list!  Yay!  Thanks ladies for having us!  We had so much fun!

Sledding with the Jones'

Our friends invited us to go sledding with them!  Jake was getting sick and Nate was definitely in need of a nap so they stayed home while Lyd's and I headed up to meet them for some sledding on Monday after dance!  The weather was awesome so it was the perfect day to go!  

I didn't go down any hills but Lydia had the BEST time!  She loved pretty much every second of it!

Her and Mckenlie were buds yesterday!  They had so much fun going up and down the hills together!

Every time Lydia went down a hill she would lean back for fear of falling off.  It was hilarious!

I won the mother of the year award for letting the girls' go down a big hill with a jump on it.  The jump didn't look big from where I was standing but after I saw them fly off of it and catch some major air, I realized that was a mistake.  Who would have thought they would hit the target?  It was so far down the hill and let's be honest, they stunk at steering that sled!  :)  I never thought they would actually make it to the jump.

Their landing was hard.  McKenlie landed on her arm and Lydia on her face!  But they were brave and kept going down.  Here are their sad faces after their crash!  Poor things!  Mckenlie clutched her arm the rest of the night!  I felt so bad!

Thanks guys for inviting us!  Lydia had a blast with her buddies!  And thanks Heather for the pictures...you're awesome!

Our Saturday...Lydia Goes to the Dentist!

 I was so nervous about taking Lydia to the Dentist because of her fear of the place.  I took her when she was two and haven't been back since.  She wasn't bad when we went the first time but as time has gone on, she has NOT wanted to go.  I put it off for far too long so I scheduled the appointment and all three of us went in together to get our teeth cleaned (thanks Aimee for helping us out, you're awesome).

Well, I had NOTHING to worry about.  She did AWESOME!  We practiced so many times opening her mouth really big for the dentist so when it came time to perform, she opened her mouth before he even asked!  It was so cute.

And thank goodness for my friend Anabel giving me the idea to have a surprise present waiting for her in the car when she was done.  She knew she could only get it if she did well at the dentist! She was so excited!  Good job Lyd's!  We're so proud of you for being so brave!  And no cavities!  Yay!

Afterward we went shopping, then headed out to dinner with some friends!  Lydia was so excited to go to dinner "with Jordan and Heather"!  Shes really grown to love Heather since she takes her to school a lot so it was fun to see how excited she was to see her!  When they walked in the restaurant, Lydia said, "Hey, there's my friend Jordan from preschool".  I love that she has such cute friends.  Thanks for hanging out Jones'!

After dinner, we headed to Lydia's friend, Madelyn's birthday party!  She had so much fun at the Under the Sea themed party and couldn't believe that she got to bring home a real fish!!  Her and Jordan had fun helping me put it in the fish bowl and feeding it its first meal.

 Meet the newest member of our family:
Cinderella "Hello Sucka's" Johnsen.
Lydia named her all by herself!  I think she's cute!  I just hope she lives longer than a week for Lydia's sake!

Thanks for the invite Watts'!  Lydia had a blast!  What a fun Saturday!

He's Almost There...

Here's a video for my family back home.  Nate's growing so fast.  I can't believe he's almost crawling!

Nate Turns Eight Months...Valentine's 2011

Once again, another month has gone by and my baby boy is now eight months old!  He's finally getting

his knees up under him and rocking back and forth.  He's SO close to crawling! 

I SERIOUSLY CAN'T GET ENOUGH OF THAT SMILE!!!

He absolutely loves bath time.  I busted out the duckie tub even though he still can't sit yet!  He's really lazy when it comes to sitting.  He flails his body about SO much that he doesn't even give himself a chance to learn how to sit.  If you know this kid, you know that he is a wiggly one; has been for as long as I can remember...and I'm talking even when he was in the womb!

 AT EIGHT MONTHS:

*He's getting better at eating solids.  He's still picky but even if he doesn't like it, he'll still open his mouth and eat it!  Funny kid!

*He got two teeth which made his sleeping habits even worse than they already are.  

Story: Because he was teething, he was super cranky.  His teeth came in and he was still not himself and I could tell no other teeth were close to coming in.  So I let about two weeks go by before I finally acted on my motherly instincts to take Nate in and get him checked by a doctor.

I explained to the pediatrician that his personality has totally changed and I thought there was more to it than just his gums hurting and a little runny nose but either way I just needed peace of mind.  She said so many parents bring their children in and usually once they start teething, crawling, going through life changes, etc. their personalities just change.  I was praying this wasn't the case with Nate and that there really was something wrong (sad to say).  

Anyway, she checked his ears and it turns out he has an ear infection.  Poor guy has been in pain and cranky for two weeks due to his poor ears (left ear to be exact).  He never grabbed them and as long as he was being held he was totally happy so I didn't think about it!  But as time went on, I felt I had to take him in.  Thank goodness I did (I just wish I had followed my instinct earlier)!  He's on meds now so hopefully I'll get my happy baby back.  Since he's not teething anymore, maybe he'll actually start sleeping through the night once the ear infection goes away!  Love you bud!  Happy eight months!

Valentine's Day Events

As a child, one of Jake's traditions was making a valentine's box to take to school.  I thought I'd keep that tradition alive with Lyd's.  We had so much fun making it together!  When she took it to preschool, she was actually the only one that made one (I guess that tradition has died because Jake said that was the thing everyone did when he was young)!

 Lydia is definitely in the stage of "silly face pictures"!!!  Gotta love the personalities of children!

 Valentine's morning, Lydia woke up to some goodies from mom and dad!  Again with the face!

 Poor little Nate.  I bought him his bucket but never found anything to put in it; then I just forgot about it until V-day morning! Whoops!  At least he doesn't haven't a clue!

 Lydia and Nate got the cutest shirts for V-day!  Thanks so much for getting them for us!

We love our little "Eligible Bachelor"!

 Lydia also got this adorable Hello Kitty mirror that lights up!  She thinks it's the coolest thing ever!

My mom sent Lydia the coolest toothbrush.  You push a  button on it and it flashes on and off for one minute and you brush your teeth until it stops flashing.  So Lydia's new ritual is turning off the bathroom light and brushing her teeth in the dark for one minute, then pushing it again and brushing one more time.  Hey, two minutes of brushing is AWESOME!  Perfect gift mama!  Thanks!

I signed up to volunteer for Valentine's Day at Lydia's preschool.  I just love going there and seeing her all grown up and independent!  They played some fun games, iced cookies and made valentine's with me!

Here's Lydia with her buddies Sophie and Brock!  She talks about Sophie all the time so it was fun to see them play together!

Jake has been so supportive of me and my choice to be a six month vegan.  For V-day he got me a few different vegan chocolates from a bakery shop in SL and he made me a card that said "Happy Vegantine's Day"!  So funny!  Such a sweetheart!  And those chocolates were A-MA-ZING!  Who would have thought!  There was this heart shaped chocolate that was filled with a Peanut Butter filling....mmmm!  So yummy!  Thanks honey for making my Vegantine's such a yummy one when I thought it wasn't possible!!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

We have our good moments and our bad;

Our happy and our sad,

But I wouldn't want to share them with anyone else but you!

I love you honey!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Love, Erin

Lydia Writes Her Name...Preschool Field Trip...The Pehrson's!

My friend Kristin told me once that if you want your child to learn, you need to teach them yourself and you can't rely on others to do it for you.  Duh!  Why didn't I think of that?!  I was so worried that she couldn't write her name yet and most of her friends could.  Since Nate, I stopped our mommy/daughter preschool so I wasn't teaching her anything.

So I finally decided to take the time each day to teach her the letters of her name and within a few days she did it!  She learned her letters and wrote her own name all by herself with NO help from anyone!  Yay Lyd's!!!

 When we started, all she could write was the letter L.  We love you Lydia and we're so proud of your accomplishment!

Last Wednesday I was able to tag along with Lydia and her friends on their second field trip of the school year.  We went to Sweet's Candy Factory to see how candy was made!

Here's Lydia with best buds Brock and Jordan getting ready for the tour to start!

 Don't they look so cute in their hair nets?  Love Jordan's face!

It was pretty cool how they made some of the candy!  We even got to try some fresh off the conveyor belt!  Since Nate is such a good baby, I figured it wouldn't be a big deal to take him along.  He even had to wear a hair net!  Once I got it out of his peripheral vision, he didn't bother it at all.  I love this age (out of sight, out of mind)!!!

 Last Thursday night, our good friends the Pehrson's invited us out to celebrate Ben's birthday!  We just love the Pehrson's so much and are so glad that even though we live a couple hours apart and hardly ever get to see each other, we have the best time when we hang out!

Even though we took a "proper" picture, I still had to put this one.  It wouldn't be Ben without the pulled faces!

 Then on Sunday, we got to witness the blessing of the newest member of their family, little Lawson Alma Pehrson!  Due to illness, we couldn't have our sleepover, so we drove out on Sunday, spent a few hours, then headed back home.

Their adorable, little family is now complete.  What a miracle it was to have Lawson join their family.  Their story is such a story of faith, patience and trust in the Lord and if you knew the Pehrson's, you would know that those words describe them perfectly.  They've been through a lot and what a blessing to have Lawson as a result of their faithfulness.

 We love you guys so much and without getting too mushy, you honestly do make us better people for knowing you.  You are so much fun to hang out with; it's always nonstop laughs with you guys.  I love that our girls' have fun together and now our boys can grow up and be buds!

 You know, there are just those people you click with and get along with perfectly, and you guys are definitely that for us!  Congrats on your baby boy!  So glad we could make it for such a special day!!!