She’s HOME!!!!

*Warning – Picture overload…but not really considering I took over 200. I’m only posting 30…you’re welcome :)*

The day we’ve been waiting 18 months for finally arrived! Sister Erickson was finally coming home from Brazil! I have to admit, I was so excited. I couldn’t wait to have Ana back home…and stop feeling so guilty for not writing her every week like I had planned. But more than that I just really missed having Ana around and seeing her smiling face and always open arms to all the cute little babies in the family! Not only we were getting Ana home, but Grandma, Papa, and Uncle Nate were coming home from their 2 week stay in Brazil! I couldn’t contain the kids excitement. Ben must have asked me 100 times before going to school yesterday what time I would pull him out so we could get to the airport! There was so much excitement going on at our house!

We made posters, a banner, and Amy had these cute shirts made. They have a picture of Ana on them with “So hot right now” written on the top. Adorable! Here are two cute little models, Miss. Aubrey and Miss. Sierra, modeling them…

This is one of my favorites…Ava with her orange poster she painted holding her orange balloon waiting so patiently

Caden looking for treasure…more on that one later…

Two of the most handsome boys…

And again…

I just really couldn’t stop taking pictures of these cute boys that I love! (no, it had nothing to do with trying to kill time at the airport :))

All the kids patiently waiting…of course the flight got in late and we were finding creative ways of keeping 6 little kids busy in an airport…for 45 minutes!

We finally see her!!!

She got rushed by all the kids wanting hugs, kisses, to show off their poster, their sweatshirts, their balloons, their shoes, their hair-do’s, etc. Ana handled it like a pro and made each one feel very special. We were right in the middle of the walking path of all the other travelers…but they didn’t seem to mind…or we didn’t seem to notice it they did :)

The girls…Megan we missed you!!!! We need to photo shop you in :)

The Welcome Home Banner!!! ( I loved this thing!)

Ana seeing the Welcome Home Banner!!!!

Since Ana missed Christmas and her birthday she had it waiting for her at home! Hailey was itching to open those suckers!

The proud parents :)

These boys missed their Papa!

Ana had lots of little helpers to help open her presents. I think it was a bit overwhelming with all of them trying to open one of her presents and yelling, “Auntie Ana, this one next!” She was a good sport though. Andrew kept trying to make off with the big present. He got caught…and started to cry. Hard. The thinker that I am got an empty box and told Andrew if he closed his eyes I would put a special present in it. I wish I would have gotten a picture of him trying so hard to close his eyes, but being so excited he couldn’t keep them shut! He opened his “gift” and was so excited to see a pixie stick. That stopped the crying and the stealing of presents. Love 2 year olds!

Again, Caden looking for treasure! He had his hands down the back of his pants and we couldn’t stop laughing at him! It was so funny! This kid is a crack up! he he he

You could tell it was starting to get late…and people were starting to get tired. Things started to get a little silly….of course I had to grab my camera and take a few pictures….

Ana, we are so happy you are home! Welcome back! We love you!

Valentine’s Day!!!

I love Valentine’s Day.  I love a day where you focus on telling the people you love that you love them.  I have to admit I always thought it was just a “hallmark holiday” and flat out refused to buy Valentine cards.  I have been reformed by a husband who absolutely loves Valentine’s Day and tries to top himself every year.  I love it even more now that my kids are older and can get excited about it too.  They worked so hard on making sure all their valentines for their friends were perfect and couldn’t wait to give them out.

The kids both had parties at school today so I tried to hit both of them.  Kallie was so excited to wear the Valentine outfit from Nini.  How adorable is she?!?!? 

Since I was the mom helper in Kal’s class today I got to help all the kids frost and decorate these cute sugar cookies.  They had so much fun…but most were covered in pink frosting by the end. 

All the girls in Kallie’s class.  I did take a boy picture too, but Kallie isn’t in it so why post it?!

Can you find Kallie?  For their Valentine’s Day treat Mrs.. Parker let them make up their own centers today which all the kids were so excited about.  They then got to look through all their valentines from each other, decorate cookies, and play valentine’s day games.

Then off to Ben’s class.  Ben with his best buddy from birth, T—.  These two are trouble.  Can you tell? 

He is such a handsome kid!  He was so excited to go to school today and give out his Valentines.  He was going to give 2 to the boys and only 1 to the girls.  It took a lot of convincing to change his mind…and the fact that he was running late for school today :)

Aren’t these pictures AH-maz-ing!  Yes, the kids in the pictures are always cute..that’s a given…but haven’t you noticed how crisp and clean the pictures are now?!?!?  Next blog post will explain why!!!!

The newest member of our family….Jazzabell.  Yes, Jazz (like dance class Kallie says) A – Bell.  Not Jezebel.  Kallie and Jazzabell have matching outfits and matching jammies.  They are the best of friends!

Valentine’s day dinner.  For special occasions I let the kids drink out of our “special glass cups” as they call them.  They look like wine glasses and the kids feel so grown up to use such nice glassware (everything in our house is plastic…out of necessity…we do have 3 kids…well and Andrew…’nuff said!)  So I put up balloons, a table cloth, confetti with hearts and things and the kids are in heaven.  They love these special dinners!  We also put special notes and treats in their valentine mailboxes that we have had out all month.  For FHE one night we had them decorate these cute heart boxes and they would find little notes or treats from us or each other in them.  I loved this!

 

My cute kids.  Aren’t they adorable!?!? 

For dinner they had Jell-O with whipped topping and sprinkles in a glass cup and Andrew found them a little early.  He transferred all his Jell-O into his drinking glass cup and tried to drink it up.  Good thing everything around him was red (the tablecloth, his shirt) because he was covered in Jell-O!

My handsome husband who  is so adorable.

We even got a family shot!  I love camera timers!!!

I made dinner and Chris did dessert.  He bought them their favorite Macey’s chocolate cake donuts.  They were in heaven! 

We hope you all had an amazing Valentine’s day! 

A weekend full of Blessings!

Here are some pictures from Lily and Zenith’s blessings.  Lily was blessed on Saturday and Zenith (Brittany’s sister’s baby) was blessed on Sunday.  It was really fun to have these two cute babies blessed the same weekend! 

Since everyone at my house had been sick in the last 2 weeks we decided it was safer for Lily if we held her blessing at our ward building instead of our house.  My mom put it very kindly…my house was contaminated.  So we had the blessing at the church and it was amazing.  Mike did a marvelous job on the blessing and it was fun to have both sides get together!

After Mike gave Lily a name and a blessing Ella wanted to sing a song for all of us…and we all joined in.  We sang I am a Child of God.  It was so cute to see her up there leading the way.

 

Lily with Koko (Brittany’s mom Kathy).  Isn’t her dress stunning!  I couldn’t get enough of it!  As Kathy said, I need another baby girl!

Lily can give kisses!  Mike asked for a kiss and she planted a big one on his cheek!  It was so adorable to see her give kisses.  I think I have 10 pictures or so of this!

The guys who helped bless her

The proud Grandpas!  Bebe and Tatu

Lily with her grandparents

Cute little family!

The proud parents

 

The Ericksen side

Lily with Ahma (Lily’s Great Grandmother) and Auntie Joy

Lily and Joy

Lily was fascinated by Joy!  Joy had her smiling and cooing and laughing!  Lily would stick out her tongue and toss back her head to laugh.  It was adorable!

Lily sticking her tongue out!  Isn’t she the cutest little baby!

The next day we headed over to McKinley and Gian’s ward to be there for when they blessed little Zen.  I’m sure Gian gave him an amazing blessing, but since the microphone wasn’t working I couldn’t hear it :(  I was so sad!  After the blessing the kids had a great time playing on the swing set in their backyard!

Sadly this is the only picture I got of baby Zen!  Go to their blog for super cute pictures! 

Isn’t she the cutest little girl ever!?!?!

Thank you Brittany and McKinley for bringing these cute babies into the world!  Mike and Gian you guys are amazing dads to these adorable babies!