Category: Friends (Page 1 of 6)

Surprise Birthday Party

August 12, 2016 / Erica / 1 Comment

Tim put together an amazing surprise Birthday Party for me after church this past Sunday. And boy was I surprised.

To fully appreciate the story, though, you need to know that Tim had coordinated this whole ordeal starting months ago. And even had me tricked into believing that we were going out for a nice dinner after church… AND convinced me that it would be a really good idea to deep clean the house on Saturday (in preparation for the baby coming, was his reasoning). So we cleaned and cleaned on Saturday. And the house was spic and span by the time we went to bed that night (although I admit I was a bit crabby after a full day of cleaning and feeling huge and moving at a snails pace, but I pushed through).

So we got up and ready for church and while I was getting ready I had flashbacks of the other surprise party that Tim threw for me years ago. I can’t remember the exact year, but I know it was just after we were married and we hadn’t had Chloe yet. But I vividly recall Tim suggesting that we really clean the house. I remember it struck me as funny because he’s not normally the one to suggest we deep clean. So on the way to church this past Sunday I joked with him about remembering the last surprise party and joking about how he had me cleaning yesterday… ha. ha. ha.

Well, needless to say, this was my reaction when I walked in the door after church…

I was thoroughly embarrassed and appreciative. They had worked so hard to make everything just perfect–and it was gorgeous! Look at all the amazing decorations and food!

They had an amazing music theme–and even had a candy bar!!! They know me so well! 😉

And of course, Tim made sure there was ICE CREAM CAKE!!!

These two ladies spend hours making sure everything was perfect. Their attention to detail was just amazing!

The party was such a huge success. I had such a great time hanging out with so many friends and family and eating delicious food. It was an amazing birthday!!!

4th of July Fun!

July 8, 2016 / Erica / 1 Comment

We had a fun and low key 4th of July. We pretty much just hung out here in the morning and then the older kids went with Tim to the Chanhassen parade with some friends–Maddie was napping so I stayed home with her and met up with them afterwards for a BBQ at the same friend’s house.

Here are some picture highlights of the afternoon:

Josiah playing with his buddies (all born within a month of each other!) on their cool tree house

Maddie hanging out with her friend Makaiya (born 2 days before Maddie)

They actually own a cotton candy machine!!!!

I was very excited about the cotton candy!!

The kids thought it was pretty cool too…

In process shot. Cotton candy is magical… 😉

This picture is cool because Maddie rarely cooperates when someone else wants to hold her these days. Not only did she let him hold her, but she was even SMILING!

My beautiful Chloe…

The cotton candy stick…

Enjoying a BBQ

Visit to Shannon’s house

June 14, 2016 / Erica / 2 Comments

The kids and I went to visit Shannon (and kiddos) this past Saturday–since Tim was working on a side job. It was a simply gorgeous day outside so we spent most of it sitting in lawn chairs watching the kids run through the sprinkler and eat watermelon and icees. Ah, the memories that summer is made of… I tried to take a few pictures, but I’ll admit that I’m pretty lazy these days so most of my pictures were taken from the comfort of my lawn chair (hehe!).

It’s so wonderful to be able to catch up with Shannon when we can find the time. We’re both so busy with life (a.k.a. toddlers and babies) that it’s hard to always carve the time out, but it’s so refreshing to be able to just be myself whenever we finally do get together. The kids play great together too, which is awesome.

Bailey soaking her feet!

All 6 kiddos! (Next time we need to take the picture sooner in the day… 🙂 they were all pretty tired by this time!)

Chloe REALLY likes carrying Maddie these days…

Eating Icees!

The girls playing in the water

Maddie’s water bowl–she loved it!

Samantha and her adorable tutu swimming suit!

Bailey spraying the boys with the hose–ha!

Watermelon, yum!

Memorial Day

May 30, 2016 / Erica / 0 Comments

Happy Memorial Day to everyone. I hope you are all enjoying the sunshine. Well, its’ sunny here at least… actually it’s sunny and quite warm (82*). Tim took the older two kids down to Owatonna with some friends for a lunch BBQ while Maddie and I stayed home. I’m teaching today, so it was just easier to keep her with me so she can stay on her normal schedule. We’ve enjoyed a very quiet morning just cleaning the house and getting ready for my recitals this weekend.

Here are some pictures from the BBQ today that they sent me…

How can Spring Break be over already?

April 11, 2016 / Erica / 2 Comments

Well that was an insanely fast Spring Break around here. We did have a great time though and managed to squeeze in a visit from Stacy, a visit to Nana’s house, a visit to Grandma Patsy’s house, helping spring clean the church, watching a couple of my students perform in a special recital, a 1st Birthday party for one of our friend’s kids and (believe it or not!) even a little bit of relaxing. Whew!

On a side note, the 1st Birthday party was so cute–the boy’s name is Luke, so they had a star wars themed party. It was hilarious. The kids thought the masks were especially entertaining. You can’t tell that they are actually laughing here:

Today I had another dentist appointment (2 more fillings) but they said that’s all the work I need done for now! They did suggest that I put crowns on a few of my large fillings… but that’s not a necessity at this point. So, I am thrilled that I don’t have to go back for a while! Yippie!

Before I go, how about one more picture. This one is from when Stacy and her sweet daughter visited last Wednesday. Her daughter played so well with the kids–and we had a wonderful lunch of breakfast foods (I just love breakfast for lunch!). Scrambled eggs with cheese, bacon, pancakes with real maple syrup, fresh grapes & cantaloupe & watermelon and even orange juice! It makes my mouth water again just thinking about it! Ha!

Life back to normal

March 21, 2016 / Erica / 1 Comment

We had a delightfully lazy weekend. Well, technically Saturday was more lazy, and then Sunday I kind of had to do all the stuff I put off on Saturday… ha! But it was still a great weekend overall.

On Sunday we had friends from church over and I made a strawberry pie for the first time. I must say I was quite skeptical that I would like it… but it was actually very tasty! And not terribly complicated as far as desserts go–a little bit time consuming because you have to simmer it for 10 min. stirring constantly, but otherwise easy.

In random other news, here’s a picture of a snowflake that Chloe made at school. I think it’s super cool. I’m not sure if you can tell, but it’s 3-D. Just another week or so and I’ll need to take it down since it will seem so out of place as it gets warmer! Well, at least that’s the hope, I guess… 😉

Superbowl 2016

February 8, 2016 / Erica / 1 Comment

We had a successful Superbowl 2016 and Epic Food Stadium yet again this year. We did a head count this year, and I think we had 36 people (exactly half were kids). It was a busy, loud, yummy, messy, fun and exhausting time. Wanna see how it all turned out? (I’m sure most of you have already seen it on Facebook, but it’s fun to post it here too…)

My favorites this year were the cream cheese bars, cream cheese wrapped pickles in ham, honey glazed chex mix and monster cookies (can you tell I have a sweet tooth? ha!) Of course, there were MANY other delicious items that I sampled but I ended up coming back for more of those things. I was disappointed when the night was over and I realized there were a handful of things I didn’t even try! Oh, well, next year I guess! 😉

I actually didn’t even see any of the Superbowl this year because I hung out on the main floor with all the kids. With that many kids there needed to be a referee and I didn’t mind. We had a few friends who were very interested in the game, so I wanted to give them a chance to watch uninterrupted. So, the kids (and all the toys) stayed on the main floor and upstairs. We even rolled out board games to play and eventually a movie (Inside Out was the the movie of choice). I think everyone had a great time. 🙂

If nothing else, everyone went home VERY full!

Children’s Museum

February 4, 2016 / Erica / 2 Comments

This morning a friend invited Josiah (and I) to come with them to the Children’s Museum.

Zeke and Josiah. They’re the same age and had a ton of fun together!

I don’t recall ever going before so I wasn’t sure what to expect–but it’s super fun! There are a variety of rooms (large and small) on 4 different floors set up with activity stations that the kids just “play” with. I can’t remember everything, but here are a few that I remember: there was a grocery store room where you can shop and use the register to buy things, a color blending room when you look at combining colors and creating shadows, an ant display where you get to go through tunnels like an ant, a water area where you work with boats and currents and hydraulic power and a conveyer belt area where you get to load and unload boxes and get them to different areas. At first Josiah was a little bit unsure about what he should be doing, but it only took about 15 min. or so before he had totally warmed up to the place and was excitedly trying all the stations. It was really fun.

Can you sense his sheer joy? He loved it! (He even got to wear a rain coat at this station!)

My turtle Josiah!

The boys played with the conveyer belt station (you turn the wheel to make it go) for almost an hour.

Not quite as planned

January 25, 2016 / Erica / 1 Comment

On Saturday the Chilson’s came down for a visit. It was awesome. It’s hard to find time to see each other now that we each have so much in our lives to juggle–but it’s always so worth it. We had such a good time just hanging out and talking. Shannon and I even managed to sneak out and have coffee at Caribou. (Ah… Caribou…. Mmmmmm….)

So after a delightful visit they packed up their van and swung down to visit her brother who happens to be a chef at the Casino just down the road (literally 5 min. away). The kids and I cleaned up and continued on with our Saturday afternoon.

Then about an hour and a half later Shannon reappeared in my basement. I looked up and there she was! Apparently their van suddenly broke down as they were leaving the casino and they managed to get it to our house, but that was it. They did some fast research and were able to find a repair shop that would check it out for free, so he was able to drive it over there before they closed.

At this point they discovered that it was a big repair–almost $1700… 🙁 no fun.

So, they discussed it and decided they needed to have it fixed, and the repair shop agreed to work on it the next day (Sunday). You know what that meant?

That’s right! Slumber party!

The kids were thrilled. I tell you, all of the kids play so incredibly well together. They ended up staying until past bedtime on Sunday night (that’s almost 2 days of playing!) and the kids didn’t fight at all. Seriously. It was crazy.

So, our little afternoon get-together turned into a weekend adventure. The kids had a great time playing and watching movies. I had a great time eating popcorn and watching friends with Shannon. Not to mention sprinkling in working on the kitchen with Tim. There was also football and pizza. And of course, lots and lots of talking.

The weekend might not have gone quite as planned, but I feel like it was truly a blessing in disguise.

Halloween Fun!

November 2, 2015 / Erica / 4 Comments

We had another busy, fun-filled weekend here: Halloween, a Birthday party to help with and attend, a football gathering here, and Baker’s had a sleepover Friday into Saturday. But enough talk. Wouldn’t you rather see pictures instead of hear me ramble? Ok!