Family Blog

Thursday, March 28, 2013

Weekend away

A couple of weeks ago we took a long weekend away to Minnesota. Zach's sister flew into Des Moines on a Wednesday afternoon and we took off for Austin Thursday. We spent Friday going through items in the house as Zach's dad is thinking about selling soon. We visited family and friends and even spent the evening watching the Austin boys basketball team play for a spot in the state tournament. Saturday afternoon we took off for the cities to stay in a hotel with a waterpark. This was Isaac and Caleb's highlight! They spent time playing in the smaller section of the park and also played a little basketball with Grandpa & Daddy in the bigger pool. Caleb must have jumped into the pool 100 times with his little life jacket on. There is one thing for sure, our boys love the water.

Our hotel stay had a deal where we got a free pizza and some tokens to the arcade above the water park. We were thinking we would get maybe 10 for each boy but we got way more than we bargained for. We didn't officially count but I'm sure we had almost 50 tokens. That gave us a lot of time in the arcade and a lot of opportunities to win lots of tickets. Isaac spent most of his tokens on a motorcycle racing game while Caleb tried some Skee-ball. Aunt Lacy & I used quite a few on the Wheel of Fortune until we came across the most addicting game ever. The object of the game was to drop a ball into the hole with JACKPOT on it. Timing was everything and we didn't win Saturday night although we did get a few 75's. Sunday morning we came back to finish using our tickets & Lacy dropped the ball into the JACKPOT on her first try! We have never earned so many tickets at an arcade and the boys were able to get some really nice cars with their winnings.

On St Patrick's Day we went to Zach's cousin's for a big meal. We really enjoyed ourselves and hated that time passed so quickly. We got back in the car around 3 PM to drive back to Indianola. By the time we got home it was bedtime and the boys needed the sleep. Such a fun little get away with family!

Isaac trying out the most addictive game ever

This is basically where Isaac spent all of his tokens

Going down the slide in the little people area of the water park

Caleb's turn

This is an adorable picture of my boys

My boys

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Snow Fun

More and more in the last few days I have heard many people say "I am ready for spring." I agree with this statement but the ground does not reflect the same sentiment. Last week we received 11 inches of snow in a snow storm that was only supposed to leave a trace. Isaac and Caleb loved it and helped me do a little shoveling one afternoon. Isaac was a great help, Caleb not so much!

On Saturday we decided to take the boys sledding on one of the more popular hills in Indianola. They had a blast and each one braved the hills by themselves which neither Zach or I thought would happen. I guess our boys are fearless. After getting home from sledding, Zach & Isaac stayed outside to build a snow fort in the yard. Isaac wasn't a lot of help in this project and actually quit in the middle to come inside but Zach finished it and both boys enjoyed walking around in it the next morning. Good Job Zach!

Zach doing the work while Isaac watches

Finished product!

Warmer temps are coming our way this weekend with some rain so a lot of our snow will melt and the ground will start to look more like the agreed upon statement of "I'm ready for spring!"

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Big Boy

The Erickson's have been dealing with sickness the last 2 weeks. First Zach got a nasty sinus infection and then gifted Caleb and I with it this week. Zach spent a day home from work and I...well there has been no rest for this mommy! All of us have had antibiotics and I feel much better and I think Caleb is better too.

Caleb has been doing great without his pacifier and we are seeing more full nights of sleep! I got a little excited about this transition going so well that I decided to try out potty training too...didn't go as well. Caleb loves his pullups and I even let him wear some training underwear a couple of times. He is so proud of them that he won't wear pants when he's wearing them, which is pretty cute. While we aren't officially potty training yet, we are still allowing Caleb to try when he wants to. I don't want to push him before he is ready, I learned that lesson with Isaac. He seems interested but we will need to wait for his body to be physically ready.

Caleb in his training underwear

My boys love to wrestle and Caleb LOVES to sit on Isaac

This last picture is Isaac's handiwork. He really wanted to take a picture of Caleb and me so I let him. It didn't turn out half bad!

Mommy & Caleb, picture by Isaac

Thursday, February 7, 2013

ABC's

This week we had Isaac's preschool parent/teacher conferences. We were so proud to hear Isaac's teachers tell us how well he is doing. They said he's a good listener, great participator, and a good friend. We wondered a little if they were talking about our Isaac when telling us about the listening but extremely glad he listens at school even when he doesn't always at home. People have told me that children are usually better for other adults than their own parents & Isaac is no different. Thank God it's not the other way around! Isaac's teachers told us he was definitely ready for kindergarten so we will continue making preparations for the fall. Mostly this mommy needs to get used to the idea!

Caleb loves to sing and has recently "learned" his ABC's...at least through letter P. He makes up the rest of the song so he can sing the ending of "Now I know my ABC's, next time won't you sing with me?" He does a little better when Isaac sings along. I got a video of it today, one of just Caleb & one of the both of them.

A trade...

Tuesday I convinced Caleb to trade me his pacifier for a new Buzz Lightyear with wings. He went to daycare Tuesday afternoon without it. He didn't cry or ask for it but he also didn't sleep. That's not completely abnormal for Caleb as he is getting closer to not needing his afternoon nap. So we tried again at bedtime. He fell asleep quickly, because he didn't nap, but woke up numerous times during the night. I laid with him and succeeded at never giving him the pacifier back. Wednesday morning we drove to Des Moines and found a Buzz Lightyear with wings to seal the deal. He took a good nap yesterday afternoon without it and only woke up once last night! This mommy is hopeful that in a few weeks we will all be enjoying full nights of sleep! :)

Our new dishwasher

I haven't posted in a couple of weeks so I will post a couple this morning while I have time...

Our dishwasher broke in October and with the busyness of the holiday season, Zach & I just didn't have time to look for a new one. Finally, the first weekend in January, after months of doing dishes by hand, we went to Des Moines to purchase a new one. After a morning of shopping around we found a great deal complete with free installation. We were thrilled because we could schedule the installation for a weekday and not use any of our weekend up with this project! However, as we've learned before, no project goes exactly as expected.

When we remodeled a couple of years ago we put down a laminate "floating" floor that went right over our previous floor. The floor added less than an inch of height but the installers couldn't get the old dishwasher out and we ended up pulling almost the entire floor back up. The floor snaps together in rows but the contractor started at the dishwasher and worked his way across the room so the entire floor had to come up. We were thankful for help from my dad on Saturday morning (so much for our weekend!) and within 2 hours we had the floor up. We lived in chaos for about 48 before the dishwasher was installed on Monday. Zach & my dad laid the floor again on Tuesday evening. What a project but I am happy to have my dishwasher back!

Here are some pictures of the project:

Our old dishwasher

Zach & my dad in the process of removing the floor

The new dishwasher installed, floor still out

New dishwasher installed and floor laid again

Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Holidays

We have been busy over the past month preparing for the holidays. This week we are back to a "normal" schedule and I thought I'd give an update on our holidays. Christmas was pretty low key this year. We stayed here in Indianola for the first time in 8 years. Zach's dad and Grandparents came to visit us the Sunday before Christmas. We had an enjoyable time watching the boys unwrap their presents and play with everything. Memorable gifts include the wooden rocking horses that Grandpa Leif and Grandpa Don built and the Cars blankets made with love by Grandma Mary before she died. Both boys use those blankets to sleep with now and Isaac specifically asks for the special tag to be at the top. The tag says "made with love by Grandma". Isaac also got his first set of golf clubs and can't wait to try them out with dad this spring!

Christmas Eve we went to our church's Christmas Eve service for the 1st time in our married life. It was a traditional candlelight service which I haven't done since college. We all enjoyed it, especially Caleb who was fascinated by the lit candle at the end. When we got home we made preparations for Santa to come by leaving him some milk and cookies. Then the boys headed off to bed with excitement for the next day.

We opened presents Christmas morning, including the awesome car tracks that Santa brought the boys. Each boy did very well in Christmas presents this year, no shortage of anything! Isaac and Caleb both got figurines from the movie Toy Story and some more cars from the movie Cars 2. We were planning to go out to my parents for lunch but my mom wasn't feeling well so we went to my brothers instead. Christmas day was quiet but enjoyable.

My family got together the weekend after Christmas. The boys had a lot of fun sledding down Grandpa and Grandma's hills. It was freezing outside but they didn't care! Again we were blessed with wonderful presents and no one can complain they didn't get anything. We stayed out at my parents through New Year's Eve so we could watch the Iowa State bowl game. It was on ESPN and we don't have cable. Iowa State did not pull off the win but we had an enjoyable time with my family anyway. We came back home that night and celebrated New Year's early and went to bed.

That pretty much sums up our holiday season. This week we are back in the swing of things with Isaac going back to preschool and Zach working a full week. Here are some pictures from our holidays for you to enjoy!