He Made It!!

Joshua Scott Erickson turned five years old today!!! He arrived in this world 3 weeks ahead of schedule and has sort of been that way ever since! :-)

Josh is so full of energy and spirit! He occasionally finds it difficult to contain all that energy into his little (well not so little) body!

He can have the cutest smile ever and the next minute.....not so much.....

He is so excited to go to Kindergarten! He loves to ride his bike, play in water, play video games, and tease his sisters! He eats the strangest combinations of food and drinks and has managed to survive this far. :-)

His most recent accomplishment - he lost his first tooth! He pulled it out all by himself on the 4th of July!

We love you Joshua and are so grateful for you in our family!

The Man Jeep

A few years ago, we are able to find a Barbie Jeep at DI for really cheap. It has served us well and we've enjoyed it. However, the time has come that the girls have out grown it and we were not all that thrilled with the boys driving around in a pink jeep or buying a new one. Here was our solution:

Before:

After: Spider-Man!!!

I also painted Alivia's too-small bike "Man-style" for Josh too.

Just a side note - in the future, do not paint the seat or the hand grips - spray paint will not dry. Both are now covered with duct tape so it's still like a man! :-)

What a Joy!!

So today my Alivia Joy turns 8 years old!

I know that I am no great writer. I like to read other peoples blog and awe at their ability to make the most simple things seem so meaningful. Having said that, how do I describe Alivia?!

She is beautiful, fun, sassy, brilliant, whiny, silly, a wonderful pianist, poser, and a great sister, daughter and friend!

She is so excited to turn 8 and be Baptized! She always says such sincere prayers. She prays that we can all have a good time while we are here on Earth, that we can make good choices and remember Jesus. Such simple requests but what tremendous faith!

She is also the best poser for pictures you have ever seen!! I think it takes more effort on her part to not pose like a super model than to just hold still! :-)

Happy Birthday Alivia Joy Erickson! We love you more than more than more than more!!

Fire Station

For our summer entertainment, our good friend put together Field Trip Fridays. For the first one, we were able to go on a tour of the fire station. The kids had a blast!

Sliding down the pole!

They loved getting to use the hose!

A natural-born Firefighter!!

Looking forward to the rest of the field trips! :-)

Rulers are Evil!!

So last week I had just left the house to attend a RS Stake Conf. (for several well-deserved hours of spiritual upliftedness), when right after the opening song and prayer had finished, my phone rang. Scott was frantic, telling me that Kaleb had stabbed himself in the mouth with a ruler and was bleeding really bad. So I ran home to find Kaleb still screaming and crying, and still bleeding. We decided to leave the older older kids home by themselves for a minute while we took Kaleb to the Urgent Care. He had stopped bleeding by this time. The Dr. checked in his mouth and said he hadn't punctured it, but had lacerated it really bad. So, off we went to the Emergency room.

At the ER, we were informed that he had a "gaping" wound that would require an oral surgeon to repair but they wouldn't be able to get him in for another 3-4 hours. During which time, we were not allowed to let him eat or drink anything. They knew he was going to have to be sedated for the surgery, so they needed to put an IV in. I don't know who it was more traumatic for, me or him?! It was awful! Due to his chubbiness, they were having trouble finding a vein. They eventually put one in on the top of his foot, which he then proceeded to flex and popped it out! So they had to put it back in and put a splint on his foot so he couldn't move it.

Luckily, we did not have to wait the 3-4 hours to get into surgery. And Scott got to ride on the gurney with Kaleb up to the OR. :) I don't think they should be able to take your baby away from you to preform surgery on him, without being able to watch some way. It was hard to let him go! The surgery, which ended up being 6 stitches, took only about 30 minutes, but the recovery was much longer!! He was soooo tired and kept getting woken up!

He was only given Tylenol for the pain and he was very unhappy. I started to feel bad for the nurses who kept coming in to check on him, if they got within 5 feet of him, he would start crying. :( The Dr. wouldn't release him until he would eat or drink enough to stay hydrated all by himself. Well, he wouldn't drink at all. Not his bottle, his sippy cup, or out of a straw. He did eat a little yogurt but not enough. So, he and I got to spend the night in the hospital while he was hydrated through his IV. He slept pretty well, even when the nurses had to come in to check his vitals, but I did not! Finally around 6am the next morning, he drank a whole bottle. At about 8am, the Dr. came back to check him and decided he was okay to go home. We were finally able to leave around 10:30am. Not fun!!

And what was going on with our other 3 children during all of this you may wonder??? Well, we just might have the best possible neighbors/Home Teacher in the world! They came over and watched all 3 of ours, along with their 4, plus a cousin too! All during the hours of 11am to 10pm!! We are so grateful to them for doing that for us! Thank you Julie and Tristan!!

Kaleb had his post-op check up a couple days ago and passed with flying colors. All but one of the stitches has dissolved and there was no sign of infection. He is eating and drinking fine now and is back to his happy chubby self!

Kaleb Turns #1!!!

Since Scott was going to be down in Salt Lake for the week of Kaleb's birthday, the kids and I decided to go down and join him!

On Tuesday, we went to the Children's Treehouse Museum in Ogden. It's a great place for kids of all ages! Unfortunately Kaleb missed it by taking a nap. :-)

The Cowgirl!

The Pioneers!

The Fireman that apparently needed a bigger steering wheel. :-)

On Wednesday, (the one day it didn't rain), we went to the Hogle Zoo. It was a perfect day for the zoo - not too hot or crowded! I even got to have a bird take money out of my hand! Kind of freaky!!

Getting captured by a Gorilla!!!

Kaleb love getting all wet by the water ball!

After the zoo we got lost in downtown SLC for awhile, but eventually got to go swimming in Scott's hotel!

After swimming, it was mad dash up to Layton to have a combined birthday party for Kaleb and Aunt Kris!

Kaleb playing with his new book from Gma!

And not to be out done by Kaleb's frosting face, Joshua needed some on his face too!

Overall, it was a really fun trip! Happy Birthday to my baby boy! We love you Kaleb!!

And we're walking, we're walking...

I cannot believe how fast the past year seems to have gone! My little baby boy is going to be ONE next week! He brightens my days so much and makes my heart smile! He is such a blessing! And not to brag or anything, (or to brag), he is learning so many new things. :-)

He walks, says and waves "Hi" and "Bye",blows kisses, claps his hands when we say "Yay!", and yesterday he dropped his cup off his high chair and said, "Uh oh" - so cute!! The kids all fight over who gets to play with him and make him smile. He is so easy going and such a joy! He's our "Chubby" and we love him and thank Heavenly Father for sending him to us every day!