Christmas is over and 2010 is right around the corner...

We survived Christmas! The only reason I am using the word survive is because Christmas Eve was a doozie getting to Memaw and Papa's house. We left NWA around 3:30 Christmas Eve and arrived shortly after midnight in Prosper Texas. YES THAT IS 9 HOURS IN THE CAR!!! Good thing Santa waited for us to get to the house and back to sleep. Coming from Sabrina we were living in a snow globe....a very icy snow globe. We enjoyed being with mom and dad and the kids were thrilled that Santa knew what they all wanted and found them in Texas. We were entertained with Christmas Carols played by the finest musicians around. Hagen on the electric "kintar", Taylor on her drums and Olivia and Reese on vocals. Stephanie and Josh are now engaged! Whoop Whoop! I will post pictures soon of all the fun activities that day. The Thiede/Erickson/Auslam family is now skyping! (is that a word) Olivia stayed in Texas with memaw and papa so this new technology is really working out for us. Well....gotta baby waking up from her afternoon nap. I will post again soon!

Yes it's been over a month...

Yes I know....it's been over a month since I've posted last on this wonderful thing we call a blog and let me tell you that there is reasoning behind the delay. Let's start out by saying I'm a stay at home mom!!! I love every minute of it! Yes it's probably more work than being a branch manager at a bank, but the rewards are so much greater. For instance....we just hit the half birthday of Anna Grace and I was the first one to get to see her first tooth pop through. In the past I was told by those that took care of our kiddos for us throughout the day. It's the little stuff, right?

I've also started what I try to call my own little business called "4 Lil' Ladies" Yes that's 4 (Taylor, Olivia, Reese and Anna Grace) I don't think I would ever call myself a "lil" lady. :) I did my first little craft show this past weekend and was pretty impressed with how well I did for my first time. Can't wait to do more. Watch out War Eagle....4 Lil' Ladies may be making a debut next year.

Oh gosh...I could sit here and bore all of you with the happenings over the past month and a half, but I won't do that. I'll give you a cliffs notes version if you want to know.....

In Mid November we were able to all venture to Silver Dollar City to watch Taylor's choir perform some Christmas music. The weather was perfect, the girls did awesome and the lights were beautiful. We were able to travel to Texas to spend Thanksgiving with my parents!! It was a short trip, but well worth it. For those of you wondering how my dad is doing he consistantly tells me he isn't feeling good......he is feeling GREAT!!! :) He is doing a great job with his diet and I'm very proud of him. He looks great and just very glad that His plan is working.

We are going to celebrate Christmas in Texas as well.....this should be interesting to get all of the presents down there and back. Corey might be driving a U-Haul back.

Merry Christmas to all and I promise I will keep this more updated :)

Please don't fire me....

Well here it is almost 11pm and I've decided to start writing on my blog before I get fired from those who like to read about me and my crazy family. I'm not gonna write much but just a quick summary to what is to come.....

Here is the past week and half in a nutshell.
-I resigned from my position at the bank. My last day is a little less than a month away. For those that don't know...my new job.....Stay at home Mom~
-The girls picked out their halloween costumes and of course I didn't win. I will post pictures tomorrow of what the final outcome was.
-Went to a pumpkin patch today and we all had a blast. Here are a couple pictures of what the day consisted of.
-Olivia had her last soccer game today! I told her I would give her $1 if she scored a goal....well.....the girl kicked the ball from midfield on one kick and was about 3 inches from going into the goal. She went ahead and asked her daddy if she could still have the dollar. I'm pretty sure we are going to give it to her. :)

Talk to you all later. I'm one tired momma and need my beauty sleep! :)

The big debate....

The big debate in the house right now is what in the world the kiddos are going to be for Halloween. I of course want one thing and I keep being told "I don't really wanna be that." I want to dress the three littlest ones as the three little pigs, but I think I'm slowly by surely losing that battle. Wait a minute....who gets to make decisions in the house??? Apparently the 4 year old!

For those of you who didn't know, my dad was back in the hospital. :( Hopefully after his "procedure" today he will be able to go home tomorrow and continue to again hit the recovery road. Your thoughts and prayers continue to be beneficial in his healing process and we appreciate them more than you will ever know.

Taylor competed on Saturday in the NFL Punt Pass and Kick competition and well....this year didn't take us near as far as years past. We are VERY proud of her for getting out there and giving it her best. We just know now that we are competing with the "big" girls in this age group and need to start eating our wheaties and lifiting weights!

Anna Grace is rolling like CRAZY!! The little thing is everywhere if I would let her. I put her down on her back and in about .2 seconds she is on her belly ready to keep going. WOW! Time flies...she is 19 weeks old today. Corey decided to bring it to my attention today that next August Olivia will be walking down the hall going to Kindergarten. OK...that made me tear up. Can't imagine what the real deal will be like. My girls are growing up so fast.

Reese and Olivia are just doing their own things lately. Reese is loving school. She literally goes running in her classroom every morning without even looking back. It's bittersweet in a way. We have parent/teacher conferences tomorrow and Wednesday to find out how they are doing. This should be interesting. I will let you all know later how that went for us.

Well Anna Grace is squaking....better get off here and go take care of my baby girl.

Can't get behind....

Ok!! So I've decided that I'm not very good at keeping up with this blog stuff and I really need to a better job and get my blog game on.

Well here goes the last week.....

Anna Grace got baptized last Sunday! It was wonderful. My parents made the trip up from Texas and Corey's parents made the trip down from Michigan. Lots of family and a house full of people. It was great that my dad was able to come up....especially after all of the "stuff" that happened in August. He didn't feel well at all while he was here, but he is one devoted papa and said he wouldn't miss it.

The only other crazy thing that happened this week was the wonderful Tornado Warning we had last night. We of course had no idea it was going on until Taylor called us and told us to watch the weather. Once we turned it on we realized very quickly that we were under a tornado warning and better get our booties to a safe spot. So Sabrina, Olivia, Reese, Anna Grace and me all piled into the smallest bathroom in the house and chilled out. I held Anna Grace and read books to Olivia and Reese. Wish I would have taken a picture. I'm sure it was quite comical seeing us all piled in the bathroom. Thank goodness there wasn't a tornado and we all survived.

Taylor has her next level of competition with the Punt Pass and Kick. She and Corey will be traveling to Paris Arkansas in the morning to test out her kicks, punts and throws. GOOD LUCK TAY! Just have fun. For those of you who don't know....Taylor has won the past 2 years and has gone to compete at the New Orleans Saints game as well as the Tennessee Titans. She was the Tennessee Titans champion last year. One competivite little chica I must say.

Big Day coming up...

Happy 4 month Birthday Anna Grace!!!

We have a big day coming up in the Erickson house!! Anna Grace is getting baptized on Sunday and she will have lots of people joining her on her special day. Her Memaw and Papa from Texas are making the trip up here from Texas. This is a pretty big deal for us!! We are so glad that Dad is feeling as well as he his to make the trip.

Corey's parents are also going to be making the trip down here from Michigan. This is going to be their first time to meet their newest granddaughter and I know they are thrilled.

Not much else is going on in our neck of the woods. Enjoy the latest pictures.

Update

So I was told that I needed to update my blog by several people. I guess I didn't realize how popular and "interesting" these blogs really are. Apparently some people like to hear me go on and on about my kiddos because well.....that's all I ever really talk about. We all had a great week!!

Reese has a new nickname at school. They call her "ME ME" Erickson. The reason being is because when asked a question such as..."Who made this mess?" or "Who would like this toy?" Reese will always respond "Me do it" or "Me want it" and well.....her teachers apparently think it's pretty funny and gave her a new name. We get a daily report on her and sometimes the name at the top says MeMe and not Reese. :)

The Erickson clan went to the Springdale Harber tailgate Friday night at the high school. The Youth Group hosted it and the girls had a blast. Of course being a Springdale Alumni I just had to make the girls some Springdale t-shirts to go along with the festivites. Springdale lost, but we all had a good time. Check out the pics.

Anna Grace found her feet this week. She sure likes to eat her toes! It's cute when they are little, but let's hope this isn't a habit that she carries into to her older years. Hope you enjoy the pic.

My Aunt Olive and cousin Kenny are here visiting from Wisconsin. Kenny brought his beautiful daughter Hannah and we are all having a great time hanging out with them. We all as a family ventured down to Bikes Blues and BBQ this afternoon. Boy oh boy was that a mistake!!! I sort of knew that before venturing down there, but then thought what the hey....the girls might enjoy it. Let's just say me and the girls lasted a good 30 minutes after venturing down Dickson. Corey was able to stay down longer with some family....which is fine with me. He really enjoys it and it's good that he can do it without having to worry about the girls.

OH! Almost forgot about the soccer game today. For those of you that don't know, Corey is coaching Olivia's soccer team. Let's just say that the Lemon Drops aren't the best under 6 girls soccer team, but boy are we cute and we also have a great time. Corey said on the way to the game this morning that we WOULD score a goal. The girls play "8" 5 minute periods. We got into period number 5 and stil had not scored a goal. Corey decided that bribery was going to be our next trick and told the girls that for every goal they scored he would pay them a quarter.....BIG mistake!! We scored 3 goals after he said that. Being the mom that I am I knew that only paying a quarter to the girl that scored the goal wouldn't be fair so me and a grandmother of one of our players rummaged around during the last 10 minutes of the game to find 2 quarters for each one of the girls. I know....you are probably thinking that doesn't add up....only 2 quarters for 3 goals. Let's just say the girls didn't question it so we are going to leave it at that.

I guess that's it for now. Sorry for the long post......guess I better keep up with this more than just weekly.

Who decided....

I want to know who got to decide that we have to work 5 days and only get a 2 days on the weekend. We had a very busy weekend here. Started our Saturday with soccer pictures at 8 A.M then a soccer game at 9. We then headed up to Bentonville to watch Taylor play flag football. Taylor did awesome. She is the only girl on her team and decided to get 2 interceptions. :) It was raining so we decided not to venture off to the Naturals game, however had plenty to do at the house and really didn't need that interruption.

Corey and I have some great friends that helped us out Saturday night and watched the girls so we could join Stephanie and the rest of the family at La Huerta for some dinner, drinks and of course the Hog Football game. Oh yeah...and to celebrate her big 30!!! The Hogs lost, but the party was great. Thank you Todd Family for taking on the Erickson clan.

I decided to post some pictures of the party, but please don't hold it against me if they aren't the greatest.

Happy Birthday Stephanie! Just remember 30 is only a number....I guess I can say that though since I haven't made it to that great age yet.

TGIF

Thank goodness it's Friday! We at the Erickson household are very much ready for the weekend. We have had a somewhat stressful week and are looking forward to some fun things planned for the weekend. Olivia has a soccer game first thing Saturday morning. After that we will head off to watch Taylor play Upward Flag Football. We then (depending on the weather) plan to watch the Naturals play some baseball and then off to my sister's b-day party. A big thank you to some very good friends of ours for taking on the kiddos for a couple of hours so that Corey and I can sort of have a "date" night. We owe you Stacey and Keith!!! :)

Thank you Memaw and Papa for our new computer! We have all enjoyed having it. Olivia loves to play Noggin online and she sits perfect @ the kitchen counter. Notice the picture above.

Go Hogs Go!! Beat Georgia!

loves hump day....

Who doesn't love hump day?? I DO!!! It's a sign that I have somewhat survived half of the week. :) Our days get pretty hectic due to the all so many activities we have decided to get ourselves involved in. I have to admit that I truly enjoyed my time at home when I was on maternity leave with Anna Grace and the other girls. I felt like I was WAY more organized and had my "stuff" together. I feel a little more scattered now that I'm back at work. My work and home life balance really aren't balanced, however I'm gonna keep trying.

Corey took the 3 of the 4 girls today for their flu mist. Taylor went first to show the other girls it really wasn't that bad...then Olivia went. Reese had to be held down. She told me all night tonight that "me cried at the goctor".

Big Saturday plans....Stephanie is having her 30th birthday party!! Can't wait to celebrate with her. Corey and I just have one small dilemma.....we are struggling to find a babysitter. If we have any takers...please feel free to let me know.

Time to go watch Yo Gabba Gabba with girls....good night!!

Our Church had their pictorial directory pictures and it was a great time for us to attempt to get a family picture. The girls looked as cute as can be (see below), so I had to take the opportunity to get a picture of my own without having to spend a fortune. :) The pictures turned out pretty good for the most part. Anytime you can get 6 people looking at the camera @ the same time is going to be a success...especially with 4 of them being kiddos. Quick Funny before I leave my first post. I was trying to get Olivia ready for bed last night and told her "Olivia, it's time to start getting ready for bed." She quickly answered back "Mom, I'm too busy texting." She's 4, so I can't wait to experience the teenage years. Thanks for stopping by!