Author: Erica (Page 44 of 269)

For Christmas Tim bought me an ice maker.

I absolutely love it.

Yes, I can year you rolling your eyes from all the way over here.  An ice maker?  Really?  And to that I say:  Yes. Really.

You see, I have stayed in the hospital 5 times.  4 times for having a baby and once more when Levi was sick.  And you know what my favorite part about staying in the hospital was?  You guess it!  The constant supply of ice water!

And before you get all up in arms–remember that we also own a pop machine.  So, an ice maker really does come in handy for more than just my nice cold ice water drinks.  😉

The ice maker is so much fun.  I put the water in and in just a couple of minutes it has made little ice cubes and pushed them into a little basket inside and I just take my scoop and pop a few in my water.  I can make all the ice I need for a whole week of smoothies and water in just a few hours.  We sure love our gadgets in this house!  😀

The phone rang yesterday and Tim answered–it was Josiah’s teacher, Mrs. Connell.

We thought it was a call to let us know that Josiah was injured or sick.  But instead, she called to let us know that Josiah has been absolutely amazing.  Apparently there have been some behavior issues with others in the class and he has been the best student possible.

So, she just wanted to let us know.

🙂

Tim then got to talk to Josiah for a little bit on the phone and was able to tell him how proud we are of him.  We were a little concerned when we sent him off to Kindergarten that he might have a hard time reigning in his energy, but I guess we underestimated him.

Lookie! I’m back!

If you’ve tried to check my blog in the past week you’ll have noticed that there was a data error message.  I couldn’t figure out what the deal was, so I asked the people who I figured would know best (my computer savvy family! ha!) how to fix my website problem.  And I’m happy to report that Luke was able to hop on and correct the issue (which I admit I’m not even entirely sure I know what it was, but I’m beyond thrilled that he could fix it and that I now have access to bombard you with information about my life again!)

The big news in MN this week was the amazing playoff game by the Vikings on Sunday.  We had our normal crew of church friends over to watch the game. Now, I know not all of you are into sports, so let me just give you the overall gist.  We were winning for most of the game and then the other team crept up and took the lead with very little time left on the clock.  We pretty much had accepted defeat (well, those of us watching at least).  Then with 10 seconds left on the clock our team made a desperation pass and we amazingly caught it and scored–winning the game. It was pretty exciting.  And I don’t normally watch football.  You should have heard our house.  It was loud.  Everyone was on their feet shouting.  One of the younger girls came upstairs looking a little worried and I asked if they guys has scared her with their screaming.  She said, “yeah, a little!” 🙂

In other news I had to take Chloe into the doctor on Tuesday morning.  She had been having abdominal pain for over a week and we weren’t sure what the deal was.  And unfortunately they weren’t able to figure out what it was either… but it doesn’t appear to be anything serious.  Not gallbladder, or appendix, or kidneys, or anything like that.  I did have her do the Miralax flush this past weekend in case it was linked to that–so they thought it might have been residual gas bubbles from that, so we’re going to keep a log of her pain and hope that it goes away.  It was so bad that she had stopped eating on Monday which is why we decided to finally take her in.  I’m happy to report that she has seemed to perk up quite a bit in the past day.

And before I go, how about a picture?  Levi was sporting Maddie’s new winter hat the other day.  So funny!

We had a great time hosting the Friesen Family Christmas again this year.  We feel so lucky to be able to have everyone come here and spread out in the house–playing with cousins, doing puzzles, the Littles able to take naps, watching shows, opening gifts and eating (and eating and eating).

Our kids now can enjoy the lifelong memory (as I’m sure you all have as well) of hours of fun finding Waldo.  Auntie Jen bought Josiah a set of Where’s Waldo books for Christmas and they have been happily working together pouring over the books.  It’s so fun watching snuggle on the couch working together.

And now that the kids are back in school, maybe I’ll sneak a peek at some of the books too…. shhhhh… don’t tell Josiah.

Josiah got a slime making kit from the Greenhalgh family this year so we had loads of fun mixing it up.  The funny part was that after we made it (with eager expectation to play with it!) Josiah discovered that he really doesn’t like the feeling of it “melting” in his hands.  But it was still fun to make.  And Chloe likes it enough to play with it for the both of them!

We had our recital back at St. John’s Lutheran church and it was a smashing success.  Josiah was super excited to play (and not nervous at all).  He even got a new tux coat for the event (which he refers to as his “super secret agent” outfit).  Both kids played beautifully.

I almost had Chloe and Josiah play a duet this year, but I thought of it a little too late.  So, this spring I think we’ll attempt it.  Look how cute they are sitting together on the bench…. 😉

I feel like I should write an obligatory “hello 2018” post to welcome in the new year.  But I’m so behind on posting that I also feel like I need to catch everyone up (on the mundane happenings here in our world), so I also feel like I need a “catch-up” post.  And then since everyone is posting their goals and aspirations for the new year I feel like I really should reflect on the year past and write a “goals/reflections” post too!

So, I say…. meh.  Here are some pictures instead.  Ha!

This was our annual Christmas baking stash this year.  The penguins were my favorite.  One of the gals was sick this year so I made her stuff along with some of my own… so the 3 of us left made 14 things.  Not bad! 

Last week Tim decided to take advantage of his off-season and had lunch with each of the kids.  It was the highlight of their week.  🙂  They each got to choose two friends to come and sit with them at a special table.   And in true Tim-fashion, he brought donuts to share.  Fun was had by all.

In other news, it’s recital week!  Eeek!  We’re moving our recital location back to our original spot (St. John’s Lutheran Church) rather than the nearby Community Center Theater.  The church was our preferred spot, but they lost their piano 3 years ago when the church member who owned that piano moved and took it with her.  So they’ve been without a piano for 3 years (a keyboard was purchased, but I felt like a recital needs to be on a grand piano) until this past Spring when a prominent church member passed away and the donations went to purchasing a new one.  It was his dying wish that the church would get a nice piano.  You might remember me posting his obituary a while back… anyway, we are thrilled to be back at that church.  I went and tried out the piano earlier this week and it is a lovely piano with really nice feel.  Very fun to play on.