Random post

After looking through my pictures I realized I need to take more pictures of Ben, Kallie, and Andrew.  Zack has tons and tons, but the others are sorely lacking.  It’s not that Zack is a favorite or anything (although he takes the cake for being the best baby sleeper) it’s just that Ben and Kal are gone all day and Andrew is normally the one taking the pictures of Zack!  So now that that is cleared up here are some random happenings in our house….

Here is proof it snows in New Mexico….who knew right?  The day before we were in shorts and tee shirts…and the day after.  Just a random snow day in between.

Zack has got to be my easiest baby ever!  He hardly ever cries and when he does it is because he needs something.  He always wakes up with a smile and loves to just talk and talk.  He loves his play mat (we call them his ‘friends’) and can play on there for a good while.  He loves the other kids and being held by them.  Zack is our first baby who likes to be swaddled and it is heaven for me.  To get him to sleep I just swaddle him and he just closes his eyes and off to sleep he goes.  If I swaddle him really well at night so he can’t wake himself up with his hands he will sleep 5 to 6 hours.  Ah-maz-ing!  I wish my other 3 were like that!  He also loves his swing and will patiently wait in that while I get something else done…even if he is really hungry.  He is just so patient!  I guess being the 4th you have to be patient!  Bath time is also a favorite of his and he can stay and kick in the tub forever!  He also loves to stretch and takes it very seriously.  He stretches for a good 5 to 10 minutes every time he wakes up from his nap or gets his diaper changed.  I just can’t tell you how much I love and adore this baby!

I like to take Andrew and Zack for a walk everyday.  One day I was very ambitious and walked to the library and back…about 4 miles round trip.  I wasn’t thinking and let Andrew ride his trike on our walk.  Oh man!  He did really well, but I ended up having to push both boys in the stroller and carry the trike and of course it was on the uphill part of our walk…at the end when I was so tired!  Andrew loved playing at the park and Zack stayed up the whole three hours and hung out in his stroller for the most part.  When I got home I realized I was sunburned (it was a cloudy, cool day) and went to check on Zack.  Thankfully he had been in his jammies, but his face was pretty pink.  He pretty much slept the whole rest of the day and all the next day.  Poor kid, I think he got sun stroke!  Now we lather up pretty good with sunblock and I keep a blanket over his side of the stroller when we face the sun.

I love conference weekend!  Ben was amazing and listened to a lot of conference while doing his activity book.  Andrew and kallie made it through a few talks…but that was about it.  Chris held Zack and listened….so cute I had to take a picture.  On Sunday Ben made an amazing fort for the three of them and they played in that the WHOLE day!  I love when they play together and get along!  There were about 50 pictures the kids took of their fort on my camera…but I’ll only post these for you….you’re welcome   Andrew took the fort down once and that made Ben really mad.  He ran downstairs to his room, really upset.  Kallie went and wrote him a note that was so adorable I had to scan it for our books.  it said “Dear Ben, I’m sorry Andrew took down your tent.  I know you wanted to keep it up longer and I know that tent meant a lot to you.  *picture of a tent* Just for you Benjamin.  Love Kallie”  How cute is this girl!  It made Ben in a better mood and he rebuilt the tent and all was right with the world again.

This is how scripture reading looks every night.  I hold Zack and the other kids pile on top of Christopher.  You would never guess our couch actually holds all them without having to sit on top of Chris.

So I figured out why no one plants flowers here.  With all the dust blowing around plants and planters just end up looking like this….

I have to admit sometimes when I’m driving around and see these mountains I find myself looking for the “Y” on them.  Sometimes I forget I’m not in Provo anymore when I look over the valley.  When I remember where I am it just makes me sad again.  We really miss Provo!

Oh, and I get to see this little gem everyday when I go walking.  This is just on the side of the road in our neighborhood.  I really should just throw it away, but I can’t bring myself to touch it!  But I hate having to walk past it everyday…but there is no other way to go!  So I thought I would share it with all of you.  You’re welcome!  Loving New Mexico and all its charms

Easter and things

 

We decided to celebrate the commercial side of Easter (Easter bunny and baskets) on Saturday and then focus on the true meaning of Easter on Sunday.  It sounded good at the beginning…and I loved it on Saturday, but Sunday didn’t feel so Easter-ish after all.  So who knows what we will do next year. 

The kids were so excited Saturday morning to find their Easter baskets.  In fact Kallie woke up super early on Friday (they didn’t have school) and started looking for her basket!  Friday night they had a sleepover in Ben’s room and work up around 6 to find their baskets on Saturday.  Ben found his first, followed by Andrew, and finally Kallie found hers with lots of help

This year everyone got new squirt guns as part of their basket.  So of course we had to try them out with a water fight in the back yard.  The kids all got the same gun and Christopher got a huge gun.  Andrew started crying when he saw Christopher’s gun and asked why he didn’t get a gun like that.  Andrew was trying to convince Christopher to trade him guns.  It was really cute.

Kallie was the bravest and was the only one who got Christopher wet at all!  Ben kept running inside…little chicken Andrew kept trying to trade guns….he’s a persist little man!

After the kids dried off we had our Easter egg hunt.  We took mostly video and the few pictures we did take came out blurry.  Go figure.  I should tell you about our Easter egg hunts so this all makes sense. In our family we follow the Erickson Easter egg hunt ways. Inside the eggs are candy, money, coupons for items (new book, new shoes), coupons for time (ice cream date with mom , walk with dad) and coupons that just say ‘I love you’. Whoever gets the most ‘I love you’s’ gets the I love you prize. In our big family Easter Egg hunt Andrew was so cute and would pull out his paper and “read'” them by “his own self”. He came up with some pretty funny stuff….things like “Andrew is my favorite child” “good for watching clifford” and “I love mom and dad”. It was so cute to see what he wanted them to say. Kallie was the big I Love you winner and got the big prize.

Thankfully the kids decided to put on their own Easter egg hunt the next day….a few of them…like 10 - so I got pictures of those. Then they were so cute and put on a few for me and Christopher. They even included coupons for us like “day of doing nothing” “day off your diets” “walk with Ben” “I’ll clean your bathroom” “shoe shopping with Kallie” and tons of I Love You.  Ben also came up with new I Love You’s that have x'2 on them which count for two I love yous.  Kallie changed hers to ‘I LIKE you’ so we wouldn’t get confused they were from her.  Silly kids.

Ben put on one for Kallie and Andrew and made up his own coupons for them.  Some of his included sleep over in his room, ripstik lessons, borrow a book, and play a game.  Kallie and Andrew then put on a few for Ben but I can’t remember what their coupons said.  Needless to say we have little coupon papers everywhere in our house!

All in all it was a great Easter.  We really missed having Easter with the big family though.  It just isn’t the same.  We will get used to this crazy life of living so far away from everyone…but it takes time.  A year says my brother Mike.  I hope he’s right…it took me two years to get used to Provo!  We hope you all had a wonderful Easter as well!

Pine Wood Derby

Ben finally got to participate in his first Pine Wood Derby!  We found out on Sunday that it was to be held on Tuesday.  So Chris and Ben built this car in one night.  I picked up the package on Monday and when Chris got home at 6:30 Monday night we hurried and had dinner then the boys went off to the store to get what they needed to make the car.  Ben, Chris, and Andrew worked till 10pm on this car….then Chris worked till 1am on it alone.  I’m shocked they finished it in time!  Since school gets out so late here there was no time to work on it after school on Tuesday.

 

Ben was so excited to race his car and Chris was even more excited I think. Ben took 4th place (although Chris thinks he actually got higher than that….but Ben didn’t care) and got the award for “most fierce”.  I’m not sure who had more fun at the race – Chris, Ben, Kallie or Andrew!  Now Ben wants me to go and get another car kit so he can use all the big cutting tools and make his own 100%.  I’m sure Chris is loving the thought of having to share his toys

New Mexican April Fool's Day

The kids continue to be super silly. The last time we had hamburgers I put one to my mouth and started the tradition of the hamburger harmonica. It was crazy, but the kids loved it. So we had hamburgers again tonight. It was too soon. We hadn't been at dinner for more than a couple of minutes before all the kids were playing hamburger harmonicas.

Since it was April fool's day today I decided to put a rubber band around the handle of the spray tool next the sink. I sprayed myself twice accidentally waiting for Katie to pick up the stupid thing. We were laughing so hard. We decided the kids should get to be in on it too. I started calling the kids in while Katie got the video camera ready, but the camera actually happened to be in the middle of another clip. While she tried to get it in place I told the kids to pick numbers.

Kallie was first so when Katie had the camera ready I told her to go wash her hands in the kitchen sink. Well the sprayer was actually pointed just to the side of where she stood. As soon as she turned on the sink it went shooting across the whole kitchen onto the opposite cabinetry. She backed up, so I started yelling, "KALLIE TURN IT OFF!" It was probably on for a good 15 seconds with all the commotion. Of course, when I yelled "turn it off" Katie took that as the command to turn off the camera. Oh my goddness we are such a nut house.

Well, Kallie went outside immediately and started telling Ben and Andrew about it without thinking that we might want to get them too. So I had to hold Ben in front of the sink and soak him. Andrew was a little more trusting and naive. Katie asked him if he liked it to which he replied, "Not so much." But then he went and took his shirt off and wanted to sit and play with the sink sprayer.

Last Sunday in sacrament meeting Andrew stood up on the pew next to me and whispered in my ear, "Sacrament meeting is bad right?" I told him it wasn't to which he asked, "but some of them are right?"

Andrew also seems to know how to maximize his profits. He is consistently the only kid who gets a dessert because he ate all of his dinner. So he'll take his popsicle outside and Ben and Kallie will follow. He'll sit and eat it until one of them offers him something he wants in exchange for it. Then he'll come in and say, "Mom, can I have a popsicle? I ate a really good dinner right?" He'll go out and eat that one until the other child will offer him something good enough for it. Then he'll come back in and repeat the same line. After that he'll come in and claim that he's 'full'. As if Katie doesn't know what is going on.

April