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Friday, October 31, 2008

Question of the Day

What do you get when you have a dancing skeleton:



A cackling witch:




A trigger happy star wars clone trooper:



A tough army man:




And a black widow/black cat?:
(black widow for Halloween party)
(a black cat for trick or treating)
Answer: An Erickson Family Halloween!!

Here's hoping you all have a spooktacular Halloween!!

Boo at the Zoo




Last night we went to boo at the zoo. It's a fun thing that the Idaho falls zoo puts on every year. Local businesses set up booths around the zoo and kids come dressed in their costumes and trick or treat at the booths while getting to see the animals. The zoo is decorated with lights and jack-o-lanterns everywhere. This year Yellow Book had a booth and Jason was working at it last night, so we all went. The kids had a ball, and the weather was actually nice! (doesn't happen very often on Halloween here.) They had a costume contest and Miss Isabel won first prize for the 5-10 age group! YEAH!! Uncle Liberty was one of the judges, but he swears he didn't sway the other judges!
I thought this was pretty funny. The zoo's graveyard:

Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Will's Halloween carnival

My little skeleton:

Party time:

Will had his preschool Halloween carnival tonight. He was so excited and all day he kept telling me about this birthday party at school tonight. I had to tell him over and over "Will, it's not a birthday party, it's a Halloween party" then he would reply,"Oh yeah, that's what I meant." He had so much fun, they had games and prizes and all kinds of goodies. It was a very fun party and now he can hardly wait for tomorrows! We have a different party or trick or treating thing every night this week. I decided I didn't want to dress up that many times, so tonight I went as Will's Mom. I'd say I did a pretty good job pulling that one off!


More cute treats

I baked most of the day today. I'm not complaining, I love to bake, and to make fun things like this, well that's at the top of my list for a fun day! (Wow, that sounds pathetic!) I started with the skeleton cookies (I posted them earlier) then I made pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, (my favorite this time of year) and then I made these cup cake pops. I am so happy they turned out so well. I wish I had gotten a better picture of them, (my camera sucks) but you get the idea.



Woo Hoo!!


I filled up my gas tank today and it was under fifty dollars! What a nice shocker that was! I was so surprised I had to take a picture. Hopefully it will keep going down.

Dancing skeletons


In honor of Will's favorite Halloween song, I made these fun skeleton cookies today. I came up with the idea last year and they were a big hit. Last year I made them out of gingerbread, but I really don't like gingerbread. So this year I found a crisp chocolate cookie recipe (thank you Martha Stewart) and they are really tasty, not to mention cute!! Speaking of cute, here is Will singing "dance little skeleton". We really love Halloween around here!

Family Night

Last night for FHE we carved pumpkins. It was a lot of fun, well for a few minutes anyway. The kids were very excited to get started and then when they found out they had to pull all the pumpkin guts out, they were not to happy. I don't understand why they thought it would be different this year. Every year we do this and every year they complain. When I was a kid I loved to clean out my pumpkin! It was the one part I got to do all by myself. Isabel and Bennett were fine with this, but Evan and Will were cry babies! You'd think they had never gotten their hands dirty before. Once we got them all cleaned out and the complaining stopped, we had fun designing and carving the pumpkins. I think they turned out really well! Can you tell which pumpkin belongs to which child?

So did you guess right? The Answers below, Left to right:

Evan, Bennett, Isabel, Will, Lillia

Friday, October 24, 2008

Another funny conversation, with William Erickson

Yesterday For the boys afternoon snack, I gave them a couple of left over doughnuts from pack meeting the night before. I sat them down at the counter, gave them their snack and went to check on Lillia. When I got back to the kitchen Will was standing up at the kitchen table looking extremely guilty.

I asked: "Will, what are you doing?"

Will: "Nofing"

Me: "Then why do you have that guilty look all over your face?"

Will (feeling his face): "oh, that's just from the doughnut, I'll go wash my face."
He runs to the bathroom quickly washes his face and comes back out saying, "Dere, the guilty look is all gone momma. See, all clean now."
I never did find out what he was up to. At that point I was laughing to hard to care anymore!

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Driving Lessons

I was reading on my friend Aaron's blog on an article he read about 6 dangerous things your child should do. (http://shariandaaron.blogspot.com/2008/09/kids-and-danger.html) I thought this was very interesting and while there were some things that I disagreed with, there were a few that I did think had some merit. Some of them were things that I did as a child that were big self confidence boosters, like driving a car. So today I took Bennett out for his first driving lesson. He had no idea what we were going to do, all I told him was that we would do something fun after school today if he finished all his work at school. He came home all smiles as he handed me a note from his teacher showing that he was all finished. So when Jason got home (we were not using my car) we headed to the high school parking lot. I explained what we were doing and at first he didn't want to try. He was pretty nervous, but I told him to trust me and I would teach him what he needed to know. After getting the seat adjusted so he could see and touch the peddles (he had to sit on two phone books) he got started. He pretty much just drove around in circles and did a few figure eights, but still, he did a great job. (minus the time he gunned it while taking a turn!) He had a great time and was beaming when he was finished. It was good to see him smile for a change. Bennett is at that wonderful age when it's not cool to smile and normally will hide it when he does. I have to say this was very cool for both of us, and reminded me of when my Dad would take me out to drive.

He is growing up so fast. Just the other day Jason and I were saying how in just four short years this could be his car! CRAZY!! Wasn't it just yesterday he was learning to ride his bike?

That's when the lesson officially ended! He is so funny.

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

What is wrong with these?!!

Mermaids:
Pirates: These were the kids Halloween costumes from last year. I made most of them and I still think they are dang cute. So why is it that they are not good enough to wear again? They still fit, and still look new, but oh no, it was like I told the kids they couldn't go trick or treating when I suggested that they wear last years costumes. DRAMA!! I guess it will be hours at the sewing machine again this year! So tell me, why do I like Halloween again?

This one was taken after trick or treating and the kids had had enough. Not the best picture, but you can see the mermaids a little better. (can you see Lillia's shell bra top?)

"QWOIDERS"

Last night after tucking the kiddos in bed, Jason and I were relaxing watching hero's, When we hear Will screaming crying coming down the stairs. After a few minutes we finally got him calmed down enough to understand what he was saying, "I swaloowed a qwoider!! It hoits in my tummy!" (translation: I swallowed a quarter and it hurts in my tummy.) After calming him down and getting the crying stopped we asked why he had a quarter in his mouth. He replied, "I don't know how the qwoider got in my mowf (mouth). Bennett didn't put it dere (there), Isabel didn't put it dere, Evan didn't put it dere and Lillia didn't put it dere. You know that you and Mommy didn't put it dere. I just woke up and it was in my mowf." We had to have a little honesty talk and then he said, "Okay, I put the qwoider in my mowf and then I swalooed it!" that brought on even more tears! I asked him why he was crying he said, " it is in my tummy and Dad said tomorrow it will be in my poop. It is going to hoit (hurt) coming out!" More crying.... More crying.... and more crying. Finally when he settled down enough I told him I swallowed a coin once and I didn't even feel it when it came out. That seemed to make him feel better. I made him show me what kind of "qwoider" it was, and pulled a few coins out of my pocket. It turns out that it was a penny not a quarter. He was so scared to go to the bathroom this morning, and was relieved to find that it didn't hurt. I don't think he will be putting any more money in his mouth any time soon! (hopefully nothing else either!)

fun times

Jason and I had a fun, fun, fun weekend! First we went to Pocatello for the Secondhand Serenade concert. I am a huge Secondhand serenade fan!! Jason not so much, but he loves me so he came along. The show was great! It was just in this small ballroom at ISU so there was only a couple hundred people there. I really like shows like this, you can get up close and personal. The first guy that performed was Alexander Seier. He was really good. He is also the guitar player for Secondhand Serenade. (at least on this tour.) He was just featured on MTV as a new and upcoming performer. (of course, I didn't know this until after the show when I looked him up.) I bought his CD and I really like it. The next performers were a group called Spondee. They pretty much sucked! We were glad when they finished. Then came Secondhand Serenade..... Oh my, this guy is soo good, and put on an awesome show. I got his CD a few months ago and fell in love! I was so excited last week when I heard he was performing at ISU. At the show, I looked over and saw Jason's nephew, Ryley and his nieces, Whitney and Megan! IT was pretty funny to see them there. I think they thought it was just as funny to see us there! Jason kept saying he felt really old standing there with all these kids from the college, then he kept saying, "oh, my back hurts" and "man, my knees hurt." I finally told him to stop acting like an old man and enjoy the show. By the end of the show, even "old man" Jason was a fan. I made a playlist of his new CD "a twist in my story" check it out, he really is that good! (just click on the pop out player)











University of Utah vs. Colorado State:



After the show we headed to Utah. We went down for the University of Utah football game against Colorado State. It was so much fun! We couldn't have asked for better weather. It was in the mid seventies (a miracle since last weekend it was snowing!) and sunny! Our seats were awesome, right on the 50 yard line. The U won by a land slide! 48-16 was the final score. So not the most exciting game, but still fun. Thank You Trena for the tickets!! After the game we met up with Kelly (my sis-in-law) for an early dinner. It was really good to get to see her and catch up. (Mac we missed you, it sucks you had to work.) Then we headed home to save Jake and Megan. You see, they got suckered into watching ALL our kids for us. Long story short, our original babysitters flaked out on us last minute! So here we are two hours before we were supposed to leave, and no babysitter for Saturday. I called Megan and she so kindly agreed to take them. (a million thank yous to Jake and Megan!!) Jason's Mom came over and stayed with the kids on Friday night and then drove them to Jake and Megan's. (a million thank yous to Coleen!!) Thank goodness for wonderful people in our life that we can trust with our kids.





I'm sporting my new U hat!! Jason bought it for me at the game. I figured it was a good investment since Isabel swears she will be going to school here and be on their gymnastics team!

Wednesday, October 15, 2008

look at these little treats!

I had so much fun in the kitchen today, but before I get into that, I really need to thank Emily and Melanie for sending me to http://www.bakerella.blogspot.com/ . Emily, the fact that you thought of me when you saw this blog makes me smile! Everyone who reads this and loves to bake, needs to check out this blog. She has the best ideas for fun baking! (Tiaras and Tantrums, I thought of you!) It is where I got the idea for my project today.

One eyed purple people eaters:

Mummies..... very scary:

These creepy little treats are cup cake pops. All they are is cake mixed with frosting rolled into balls and dipped into a chocolate candy coating and decorated for Halloween.

Cupcake Bites:

These little tasty treats are basically the same thing. It is cake mixed with frosting rolled into balls and then placed into candy molds with melted chocolate in the bottom. Once the chocolate has set you dip the tops into melted chocolate candy coating and decorate. They were pretty simple once I got the hang of it. (It did take me a while to get the hang of it) Once I was finished I packaged them up and took them to my visiting teaching sisters. Later (after it was dark) the kids and me took these to a couple of houses and "boo'd" them. Which is knocking on the door, leaving the treat and running like crazy so you don't get caught. On the treat is a note with a cute little poem saying it is their turn to "boo" someone, and they have to put a picture in their window showing that they have been hit. It is fun to see how many houses get "boo'd" before Halloween. My kids have so much fun doing this each year. It was also pretty fun to have such a cool and yummy treat to take around. If you would like to give this fun activity a try, here a link to the notes and picture (and to be honest, a better explanation of the game then I could give!) http://organizedchristmas.com/youve-been-booed

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Question of the day

What is the worst thing you have eaten today?




Today I sat down and ate an entire bag of kettle chips washed down with a bottle of Dr. Pepper. These chips are the best chips ever, but still I can't believe I pigged out on them like this! I am so full right now I feel like I could throw up, but if there were anymore of these chips left, I would still be eating them. I guess I shouldn't have them around. O.k., so these are "healthy" chips, but still, eating a whole bag, not good! So tell me, what is the worst thing you have eaten today? It can't be worse than mine!

Monday, October 13, 2008

boys and bowties


Look at these cute boys!! My parents brought these bow ties back from Scotland for all the boys. I don't think they could be cuter!

All dressed in white

We had a very busy, and wonderful weekend. Isabel was baptised on Saturday! She has been looking forward to this day for so long, and was thrilled it was finally here. Me on the other hand, that was a different story! I was so anxious! It's one of those moments as a parent that you are torn. Where you're so excited for your child on their big day, but at the same time, I couldn't help but to wonder if she really understood the significance of what she was doing. Had I taught her everything she needed to know to make this decision? As she walked into the font to be baptised, I got my answer. I suddenly had a very calming feeling flow threw my body and a small voice inside me saying, she knows, she's ready, she knows. After that, everything was wonderful. I had my answer and I could relax and enjoy this wonderful day and wonderful moment. When Isabel came out of the water she was glowing with the spirit. I can't even explain how beautiful she looked, and how grown up! It really was a great day! We had lots of family come to support Isabel from both sides of the family. It was really nice having everyone there. After the baptism we headed to our house for a huge meal. On Friday I spent the day cooking all kinds of yummy Mexican food. Enchiladas, garlic lime chicken, spicy shrimp, shredded pork and beef and of course salsa!! (My Dad actually made the salsa) I bought the rice and beans from a local restaurant. I can make the rice and beans, but I don't like to! It was an awesome meal! I don't always cook like this (if I did I'd be the size of a house!) but it was a special occasion.


Here we are before her big moment
and here is the family after

I have more pictures that I will post later. I asked my Mom to hold my camera and I forgot to ask for it back! It ended up taking a trip to Bozeman! So, more to come...

Sunday, October 12, 2008

Win a free handbag


I saw this on my sister-in-law's blog. (she always has the best things on her blog) Really, who wouldn't want to win an absolutely free handbag? They really have the cutest bags to choose from too. I chose this cute brown one. Just click here or go to www.handbagplanet.com to check it out!

Monday, October 6, 2008

Cute girl





My parents just got back from a trip to Scotland. Since they were gone for Isabel's birthday they brought something special back for her. What do you think? Doesn't she look adorable in this Scottish outfit?! She is so excited about her special gift. Thanks Grandma and Grandpa!

Friday, October 3, 2008

karaoke high school musical

I love the WII!! I never thought I would ever say that about a video game system, but I really do like the WII. Isabel got the high school musical karaoke revolution game for her birthday and can't get enough. She loves to sing and loves high school musical, so it's a perfect fit. I get such a kick out of watching her dance and sing along with the game, so I thought I'd share!



tagged

The rules:
1. Link your tagger and list these rules on your blog.
2. Share 7 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 7 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.
Okay, here are 7 facts about myself:

1. My favorite season is fall. I love the leaves changing color and the still warm weather, but with the crisp nights.

2. I lived at a nudist colony with my family when I was 9 years old while my parents looked for a house in Seattle. Not many people know this about me, but it is always fun to see their reaction. (Yumi, do you remember the paper in third grade?)

3. I love to run. (pretty self explanatory)

4. I have always wanted to learn how to play the guitar. (still haven't)

5. I love to cook and bake.

6. My favorite flowers are first, a sunflower, second, gerber daisy's, and third, tulips. To me these are just really happy flowers and always put me in a good mood.

7. I would probably have ten or more kids if I thought I was patient enough to handle them all. That being said, I am stopping at five!

I'm tagging anyone who wants to do this tag. I know, its against the rules, but I don't want to tag anyone who doesn't want to do it. I know some of you feel very strongly about being tagged. That being said, this was a fun tag, I had to sit here for the longest time thinking of things. (I'm not use to thinking about myself!)