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.

This little piggie. . .

It's so much fun to watch Elizabeth grow! Recently she has discovered her toes. Pretty much every time I lay her on the ground she grabs her toes and rolls back and forth. One night after I had put her in footed pajamas, she seemed quite annoyed that her toes were gone. She kept trying to grab them to no avail.

Another one of Elizabeth's favorite pastimes is having Erik entertain her. Erik is a good big brother to help, but I am always worried that he is a little too rough. Of course it is hard to convince him of that because he often has Elizabeth laughing at the same time I am trying to tell him to be gentle. They really are cute together though, and I guess Elizabeth will be a tough girl. :-)

Cooking, Spelling, and Temple Going

Ever since I decided to start blogging, it seems that Erik's goal has been to make sure that I don't have the excuse of "I don't have anything to write about." It's only been a couple days since I posted, but oh, the fun we have had. :-)

After Erik saw the last post of himself in the kitchen, he got really excited and ran into his room to set the table. As you can see, he really laid out a feast for us.
He even gave a pot holder to Elizabeth so that she could "help cook".













On Monday Erik made me proud. :-) He was in the kitchen playing with his Word Whammer which he received for Easter. Admittedly it was trying to get him to spell the word "cod". . . kind of a weird word for a child's toy. . . but other than that. . . . Erik very deliberately picked up the letters M, then O, then M and put them in.

Then he said "mama, look. . . M, O, M (as he pushed the letters). . . that says mom. . . that's you!" Yeah! I could hardly believe it. It's kind of fun that Erik said "dada" as his first word, but the first word he learned to spell was "mom".



And last but not least, yesterday I walk into the room to find that Erik has built a sidewalk. Nothing terribly unusual about this as it is one of his favorite activities to line up cars, books, couch cushions, or what ever else he thinks of and call it either a sidewalk or a gate. Erik says "look mama a sidewalk. . . go to temple . . . get married!" How sweet--Erik built a sidewalk to the temple. :-) Apparently Erik had actually listened to our Family Home Evening lesson about temples and families the night before. Of course he is a little young to be thinking about marriage!

Anyway, lest you think that Erik is a boy who only spends his days talking about going to the temple and spelling words. . . If you look at the picture of the sidewalk you may wonder "Where did Erik get those nice boards for his sidewalk?" Good question. Well, it turns out that there is a bookcase in Erik's room with all of his toys. Or, at least it used to have toys, and shelves, on it. . . The next question that may come to mind is "where was I during all of this?" Another good question. I was in the other room feeding Elizabeth thinking "Isn't it nice when Erik plays quietly by himself?" Obviously my first red flag should have been "quietly". How quickly I forget that QUIET = TROUBLE. It is actually quite amazing how quietly and efficiently Erik emptied and dismantled the bookshelf. We are sill looking for 3 of the pegs that hold up the shelfs. But at least the shelves went to a good (temple) cause. . .

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?

First Try

Ok, so here goes my first try at a blog post with a picture. Yeah, I know I'm really behind the times. . . :-) I'm hoping this blog will be a sort of journal for our family. Anyway, here is a picture of Elizabeth that was taken last week (3 months old). Elizabeth is such a happy baby and always has a smile for anyone. She also loves attention and 'talks' to you. She is actually becoming quite a chatter box--which is really cute. Maybe my next blogging adventure will be to figure out how to do video. . . .

We're Blogging!

We've decided to finally join the blogging world!