behind...

I'm a little behind around here.
It hasn't gone unnoticed.

I'm a little behind in some other areas of life as well.  Those areas have definitely not gone unnoticed.
  There is royal icing still stuck to a few parts of my floor...dated back from gingerbread house cooking
  camp early last week.
  The hall ledges are left unhung after taking them down, painting the whole house, and then as it seems,
  not hanging them back up.
  And there is very precarious trail that leads from the back door through the garage, to arrive outside on
  the driveway to safety.  You might not make it out alive.  We just use the front door.  Not to worry.

The undies and dishes cannot go unwashed.  The dinners must be made...but no guarantees as to what is being served.  And the kids must be bathed and fed as well.  The rest, like the blog here, might just be getting a little less attention!

Tonight, I just ran out of excuses.  The holiday madness is over.  There is nothing on tv.  And my husband has done the dishes every night this week.  take a breath.  it is rarity around here.  a most-appreciated, as good-as-it-gets kind of rarity.  i'm still holding my breath that this lucky streak of mine continues [wink]

So, I blog.  Good things are happening and they must be documented!  My little people refuse to stop growing, so I can't miss a thing.  And, I can't miss capturing it here.

Here's to 2012 and leaving 2011 behind.  And the slovenlyness of my blogging.  All behind.

And it's not even January 1st yet.  The New's Year's Resolutions have not officially begun.  Could I actually be ahead on something?

Dana Point

Aunt Pam came for a visit.

To beautiful Dana Point.  She might have come all the way to California to see my cousin Bobby and get some mother/son time, but we had her all to ourselves this sunny afternoon!  We walked to the ocean and headed toward the Ritz Carlton to see their fabulous gingerbread display for the holidays.

With all the sunshine and catching up, we almost didn't make it indoors.  But, the gingerbread is not outdone by the Ritz, so we went in to take a look.

The lobby was decorated in red florals...and then...

the insane gingerbread scene!  Everything behind Abbey is edible!  An enormous sailboat and sea village behind...all candy and icing and gingerbread!  Pretty incredible!

It was such a beautiful day to walk the trails above the ocean.  And it was such fun to visit with Aunt Pam!

Road Trip

Karen repeated her apologies many times.  She really felt bad that I was the one that got the short end of the stick.

ROAD TRIP!  Short end of the stick?  I really felt like a lottery winner.  4 days without kids or hubby or laundry or dishes or school pick-up or making lunches?  1 day sitting solo on airplanes...reading and napping?  1 day visiting with my brother and sister-in-law in the ATL?  2 days driving cross country with my mom...endless talking hours and road trip snacks?  PRICELESS!!

Am I right here fellow mamas, or am I right?

And, at the end of this fabulous weekend, Mama Karen would be back on the west coast.  Jackpot.

We spent the daylight hours packing and prepping and visiting.
Then we went out for pizza.

In some crazy, authentic Italian pizza dive.  We fought for a seat on wooden benches, squished at a table for 20!  We took a peek in the kitchen and were entertained by screaming chefs and flying pizza dough.

Outstanding pizza.  That jar of fresh basil above says it all.  The day went so fast, but it was great to see Sean and Ashley!

The next morning, we loaded up, said good-byes, and took off driving.

This little puppy hopped in the car a few times.  The jeep was a tad too small for the 3 of us.  And this one has a little drooling problem.  And a snorting problem.  We sure did miss her though!

The trip wen off without a hitch.  We talked as many miles as we drove.  We made minimal stops, and arrived home in 2 days...record-breaking time!

We saw lots of Texas.  Lots and lots of Texas.  I completely understand why you don't mess with Texas.

The last night we were a little weary, but determined to make it home.  We grabbed a couple of Red Bulls and shouted for joy when we got out of Texas!  It was Arizona, then California.  Palm Springs, Rancho Cucamonga...the very last stretch!  We hit San Clemente dog-tired and unable to figure out what time it was, after crossing 3 time zones and driving through daylight savings!  

It was good to be gone.  And always better to be home.  Welcome back Mimi.

Summer Shopping Excursions

I found myself at Walmart at 10pm last night picking up milk and cereal and eggs.  It was worth enduring the "night" crowd and the super-slow checkers just to shop alone.  Having to take 3 kids with you makes your really evaluate how badly you need milk and cereal and eggs.  We got by for a few days with creative breakfasts and lunches, but when the toilet paper was gone, and the paper towels that can be sometimes be used as back-up were gone, we had to venture out to Costco.  Unfortunately their hours do not extend until 10pm.

Costco is do-able.  I can fit the 2 little ones in the shopping cart, and Abbey can walk alongside.  We go at lunchtime...hot dogs on the way in, tons of samples as you walk around, and overall happier campers.  Totally do-able.  I find it even entertaining these days as Layne is quite the character and she keeps Landen and Abbey and I laughing at her antics.  She talks up a storm and has tons of commentary on what's going on around her, in her funny 2 1/2 year old speech.

After Costco, I made a quick detour to Lowe's for a tomato plant cage.  I promised that I just needed one item.  I quickly hear from the back seat, "No!  We are not stopping!  You are never fast!  You are sooo slow!  You always say one thing then it takes forever!!"

They have a point.  As we go into the garden section, I remember a number of things I need to look for.  Of course I pretend like we are still looking for the cages as we go up and down the aisles of plants.

Layne wants down and out of the shopping cart when she sees Abbey and Landen find a bench with an arbor over it.  I lift her out of the shopping cart, she takes one step, catches her foot on the bottom of the arbor and goes face down...flat!  Abbey and Landen giggle at the sight of her, up one minute, then down the next.  I giggle too.  I can't help it.  I have not ever been able to channel that inner-sympathetic mom that runs to the rescue.  If there are no cries of pain, I can't help it, I giggle.

She is completely still, face down on the wooden platform for a minute.  Then we hear Layne say, "Not funny guys.  Not funny guys."  We giggle some more.  She raises her voice a little louder, "I fall down.  I am okay.  Not funny guys."

We pick her up and all sit on the bench laughing.  She is such a character.  I have to think for a minute that I am grateful that we have these moments.  Amid the torture of shopping together, there are funny, happy moments because we are all together and you just never know what's going to happen.  And when the whining and complaining sound, you have to listen carefully to the littlest one.  She always has something funny to say and we love her for it!

Miss Me?

It's been a month.  I know.  I'm aware.  What I'm not aware of is if any of you even miss me?!  I get an occasional word of harassment from a family member who needs photos because he or she can't get close enough to squeeze my kids!  This is why I blog.  Because I want friends and family members far away to get to see what we are doing, how we are growing, and stay connected, especially when the squeezes just don't come frequent enough.  And I blog because I want my kids to see what we have done and how they have grown and know where they came from.  They love it now.  They giggle at pictures of themselves and read the stories that I tell about them.  They will love it even more later on.  When they are older and they have forgotten some things.  And when I have forgotten even more things and we won't be able to put the whole story back together.  I'm excited to be able to look back and see the highlights and have them see.  And remember.  Then we can put stories back together.

It takes a lot these days to build a family.  To keep everyone busy and happy and fed and clothed.  I want to remember what we did that made us happy and close and content.  And I want my little kiddies to see that too.  Not just the big stuff, but the little stuff, the simple stuff.  The little building blocks to this family.  So we plan some stuff.  And I take photos and I try to capture those things we did and said.  And some stuff goes unplanned, and I try to capture it in the moment so I won't forget.  And then, I sit down to this laptop and document and preserve.  And sometimes it's a real treat.  And then you get behind, and it's a real pain in the behind to get caught up.  And I procrastinate the inevitable 8 million hours of uploading photos and writing stories.  Which is a tiny bit of what I'm doing right now.

So, the backblogging begins.  I love it in order, more of a scrapbooking approach.  So look below for new material!  And I'll look below for some comments to show that you might indeed miss me.  (hint hint :)

Another Adventure

Early morning photo session with Linda.  As in early-before the sun gets up and it's still dark, early.

preview...this shot the evening before our early morning session

early morning light

Island Park, Idaho

Linda is amazing with landscapes.  It was such a treat to tag along and get a mini-workshop!

geysers and buffalos

If you ask Layne what we saw on our trip, she can sum it up in 2 words:  buffalos and geysers

waiting for Old Faithful 

This accurately depicts how she felt about the geysers!  Something about them spooked her.  The buffalo on the otherhand were no big deal.  Especially by the time we spotted our 5th or 6th...she would say, "Dad, it's just nother buffalo."  

On this fun family adventure, we spent one full day in Yellowstone, seeing amazing things!  There were quite a few geysers...large, small, spewing, boiling, rainbow-colored, muddy, steaming, smoking...all much more dangerous than they seem.

Old Faithful making its appearance

And then there were buffalo.  And elk.  And deer.  There were bears, and Aunt Lori's car and Aunt Marva's car saw bears.  But we Californians, did not see a bear.  I was pretty disappointed.

We did see Buffalo walking down the road.  The cars backed up, on both sides of the road, and we watched this enormous animal meander back and forth in between traffic.  It was a riot!  We came up right behind him and then took our pass around him.  We could have touched him.  He was walking within inches of the driver's side window, which was open so I could get a shot!  Amazing!

our friend the buffalo...the rim of the car door at the bottom

It really was the "real" version of the tram ride at the Wild Animal Park.  By the end of the day, Layne could tell you what kind of animal she just spotted.  She loved the aminals.

Abbey loved the geysers.  She took Royal's camera and took her own shots of everything she found interesting.  She was her own little field guide.

Landen loved the cousins.  He always wanted to know where Canyon was and when we were going to stop next and play.  

I highly recommend a visit to Yellowstone.  There are a million amazing things to see.  The geysers and the buffalos do rank high up there on the list.  If you get close enough, even though you may be tempted, you would be better off not touching either.  

FAMILY reunion

So, the best part of a family reunion is the FAMILY!  The cousins, the brothers and sisters, grandma and grandpa...all out on one big adventure together.

This is the Lantzy clan...just missing Ted!  Overlooking a beautiful Yellowstone waterfall.

The girls...Morgan and Abbey loved getting to hang out with their cute college cousin Kaitlyn!

The Jones kiddos.  Marva and I have the littlest people, so they are instant buddies for the trip.
They hot-tubbed.

High Adventure

YW River Rafting Trip!

I was recently released from my all-time favorite calling and put into what I always dreamed of as being my all time favorite calling.  It isn't quite measuring up.  I traded in a fantastic group of 35 young women for playing piano in a primary of 200 kids.  I get to work with some amazing gals and keep my piano skills sharp, but I miss the adventures of young women!

This was one adventure I couldn't miss.  I was grandfathered in.  I was one of the few leaders that was crazy enough to sign up for class 4 rapids, so I packed my Tevas and put on the "I'm a tough leader who will never let anything happen to you cute girls" face!  A few rapids made me a little nervous though.  I'm not gonna lie.

This was serious business.  Serious fun, too.  We spent two days on the river.  In these awesome life jackets and helmets.  The first time you put them on, back at the ranch, before boarding the bus that takes you up river some 30 miles, you don't really love them.  A few hours in, and a few serious rapids later, you LOVE them!  You tighten them up and make sure that they aren't going anywhere!

We lunched alongside the river.  We camped alongside the river.  Dinner, games, skits, campfire, testimonies.  Then we slept alongside the river.  We woke up the next day, had breakfast, and headed back out on the river for day 2.  It was amazing!

I shed a few tears when I had to say goodbye to these girls and take a seat in primary.  Spending the weekend on rubber boats with all of them was such a treat.  They are amazing examples to me.  I loved seeing them take on new challenges, paddle hard, jump cliffs, and take care of one another.  My favorite part of being with these girls is to see how they navigate life.  They each know who they are and they know where they are headed.  Their actions, their words, their good choices in all they do exemplifies this.  And they are huge examples to me.

They took on this river just like they have to take on life.  Fearless!

For the record, I did some cliff jumping myself.  And, I looked really tough in my helmet and life jacket.

Pink is the New Green

in goggles that is.  for this little swimmer.

First Lost Tooth!

This little boy lost a tooth!  His first one.  Sometime during cooking camp, Landen told me his tooth was wiggly.  WIGGLY!  I looked at him closely and asked him how old he was.  He told me 5 1/2.  How in the world is he old enough to lose a tooth?  How is he 5 1/2?  As a mom, I am still struggling to understand where the time goes.  In a flash his tooth was wiggly.  In another flash, it was out of his mouth!  I think Dad helped it along a little.  I really was in no hurry to see a hole in his mouth.  He is a whole new boy.  Those baby-teeth smiles are gone forever.

He was having a hard time smiling...with that big hole in the front and all!  He is talking with a lisp!  His tongue goes right through that hole and a few sounds just won't come out right!

We sent a special note to the toothfairy.

Dear toothfairy,
You have not been to the Erickson house in quite some time.  The lost-tooth business slowed a bit here.  But, vacation is over!  Somehow Landen is 5 1/2 and somehow his teeth are loosening and dropping right out!  There is one lost tooth headed under his pillow tonight.  Your attention to this matter is greatly appreciated.  To be fair to Abbey, I think your payment rates should remain the same.  


Thank you!


P.S. The children would appreciate it if you came the same night that the tooth goes under the pillow.  Rather than a day or 2 or 3 later.  I know it is hard to remember sometimes.  Really hard to remember sometimes!  Do your best!

CHINA vs ITALY

CHINA

most intriguing cookie to make

the most fun you can have with a food processor


ITALY

best aroma of the week:  homemade marinara

most fun making lunch

most crowd-pleasing entree

prettiest cookie dough

prettiest cookies

It wasn't hard to pick a winner...we love ITALY!  It doesn't get any tastier!  But, experiencing a new country each day made for a great variety of flavors and ingredients to learn about and cook with.  Cooking Around the World made for a great week!

Alright cooking campers, who had fun?

We had a blast cooking with you!  

Who's coming back in August??  We hope to see you right back in the kitchen with us!