Emily is 2 weeks old today!  She is a sweet baby and doing well. 

 

Erik and Emily:

 

Elizabeth and  Emily:  

First Day of School!

. . . . of pre-K preschool that is! Erik is attending a program just down the road at our local Baptist Church. (Texas is much different than LA was in terms of preschools. . . . basically all of the preschools down here are associated with a church and have a Christian-based curriculum.) Looks like it will be a great program though, and after one day of school Erik seems to think it is great! His teachers are Miss Andrea and Miss Marci. (Another apparently Southern thing that we are getting used to. . . adult women are all 'miss' and then their first name.)

Anyway, I can't believe how handsome this guy is. :-) Elizabeth and I sure miss him when he is at school!

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!

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. :-)

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.

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?