Spring Break!!

On our way down to visit family, our niece decided to make her debut. She was born a few hours after we got there. Very beautiful and healthy!

Alia Rose is her name.With her proud mommy.

We played in the park and fed the ducks while everyone was at school and work. Then we visited Grandma JuLee at work. It was really fun to see her classroom and meet her students.

I had to catch a picture of these two twinners after one of our hospital visits to see the new baby.

The ZOO!!!

TURTLES!

This was Erik's first trip to the Zoo and despite being snowed on I think he loved it.

Aunt Katee came along too, sporting her Zebra stripe shoes, just right for the occasion.

Tigers! Oh MY!

They were so beautiful! We also saw a cheetah, I think that's my new favorite animal, they look so majestic.

This giraffe picture is similar to one we took last year during spring break.

Apparently we like going to the Zoo for spring break :)

Erik was very excited to see the Giraffe's and they were very up-close and personal with us.

After the Zoo we went to our nephew's 1st Birthday Party!

Happy Birthday cute Matthew!


I got to help decorate the cool Basketball cake, it was really fun and yummy

(according to some ;)

Erik was VERY excited for Cake!!

The next day we had a baby shower for Jamie, it was a lot of fun!

Alia stayed with her daddy but she still looks tired from the party.

I LOVED snuggling with my adorable new niece, it was a blast!

We love and miss you Alia, oh and you're parents too :)

Erik was showing Papa a thing or two on the concertina.

I think he's really improved because of it :)

Update

Sorry no pictures, I'll add some tomorrow. We went to visit family last week and have some good pictures to share. But I wanted to share how Erik's been doing with potty training....GREAT! He's only been in underware for a week and he is soo good at keeping them dry, even overnight! I'm amazed at how quickly he's adapted to underware. We have been struggling with him pooping in the underware, but today he pooped in the toilet! WOW I've never been so excited about bowel movements!

We're loving life. Well except that I'm sick and Erik is still getting over pneumonia.
Paul got a new internship for the fall that he's SUPER EXCITED for! I think he wishes he would start tomorrow :)

BIG BOY!

We went to the store today and got Erik underware!

We were all excited, and maybe a bit nervous. He needed to go potty at the store so Pawly took him while I paid for the underware then we put them right on. He's offically a big boy and we offically will not be buying diapers for him anymore! I'm so excited!

He did have a poopy accident in them today, but that was fine, he did the same thing with his diapers. He'll get that part down soon I'm sure. I'm just so happy Erik is a big boy now!

(sorry no pictures, but you've all seen underware before right? :)

What We've Been Up To

PLAYING!

In the Rain. Erik LOVES to splash in puddles, I really think this is an inborn BOY thing because I can't remember him seeing anyone splash in puddles, but he loves it.
So we got all wet in the rain one day because he kept asking to go outside despite me telling, and showing, him that it was wet and cold.

Building with Legos!

We built a house together, nomally we stick with towers, like the one below. But this time we had fun putting things in the house, like Erik...

(the house)

...and a car.

Erik LOVES popcorn! I asked him to smile and look at me for this picture but he couldn't possibly pull himself away from his movie and popcorn, silly kid.

So Erik's beginning to understand order of events, he'll say, "After I eat my green beans we can have popcorn together!" this is normally totally unprompted by me. I guess he knows what he wants for dessert :)

Sleeping.

I caught Daddy and Erik fast asleep in Erik's bed the other night. They are so cute when their sleeping ;)

Building, or Fixing, that's what we call it when Erik plays with his tools.

This gate is up when Paul or I take a shower to limit Erik to his bedroom and the hallway, filled with toys, so the rest of our place stays safe and Erik too.

BIG NEWS: Erik is POTTY TRAINING! He's doing a fabulous job keeping his diaper dry and going potty in his little potty. I really have been sooo amazed at how fast and well he's doing with potty training. Pretty soon he'll be wearing REAL underware. I can't believe it and we're so excited!

Happy March!

We've been struggling to stay healthy the past few weeks. We all had a round of bad stomach flu. Then this Tues Erik got his very first ear infection. Despite all that we still had a really fun Family Home Evening Monday night!

Erik was in charge of the activity-he chose bowling. This is his own twist on bowling. Why use a small ball that only knocks a few pins over at a time when you can use a BAT. He's so efficient.
I LOVE that he can set them up himself! Paul caught a video of Erik hitting the pins with the bat and we both laughed as Erik said, "Horray!" after he knocked them all down.

Mommy was in charge of treats. yummy yummy Ice cream cones!

Yes he's on the couch with a VERY messy dessert and NO he will NOT be allowed to do that again for a VERY long time. I had to wash my pillows and a little bit of the couch.

Lesson learned :)

Erik having some fun with his cousin Kara. I thought they were so cute reading together.

Now you can tell that it's Erik. Elmo's manners book is one of his favorite new books. We read it a lot, but hey it works. Erik is great at saying, "Thank you...You're welcome"

If anyone doubts that Erik is the son of Paul, I think this picture should be adaquate proof.

In Paul's Senior pictures he's wearing his hair all spiky like this.

Cheese! Look at my clean teeth!