Erik, the 3-Year-Old

Erik turned 3 on Sunday. Let me tell you about Erik. Of all of my stubborn children, he's the most stubborn of all. I like to call him Mr. Contrary. If I say "yes", he says "no", if I say "high", he says "low". He likes to argue. (It reminds me of someone in my family with the initials D.J.L.A.) When the weather started to turn cooler, he refused to wear anything but shorts and sandals, with T-shirts, of course. I have finally gotten him to wear sweats and long-sleeved shirts, but hardly ever socks with his crocks, definitely no coat (sometimes a hoodie when it's in the 20s or teens), and usually no hat. I got him a new Lightning McQueen shirt for his birthday, but he won't wear it. He insists on wearing the one with the holes in it. He also doesn't like his hair combed. (This reminds me of someone in my family with the initials D.O.A.)

At a playgroup at the Summit. He's wearing exactly what he wore outside in the 20 degree weather.

Helping Victoria empty the dishwasher, with a smile!

Austin gave him his old car.

He is so sweet, though. I also call him my Koala boy. He loves to give me, or Jason, a big hug with his legs and arms wrapped tightly around waist and neck. If he can, he likes to hug both of us at the same time for a "group hug". When he sees Austin after school, he runs up to give him a big hug. We went to see Christmas lights tonight and he kept saying, "See that _____ Austin?" "Look at that _____Austin!" He'll give good hugs to his sisters too.

He loves to play board games, do puzzles, read books, watch Wild Kratts, and watch Austin play on Starfall.com. He also loves to play outside on his Lightning McQueen big wheel and the swings, though there's not much of that right now with our weather. He loves to tackle and is pretty tough. If he gets hurt, he just need a moment to shake it off, then he's fine. No coddling for him! He loves hide-and-seek and baths. If he's bored, sometimes he'll just take a bath, which works well because it's sometimes the only way I can get him to change his clothes.

Before he turned 3 when we asked how old he was, he would say, "1 and 10". My other kids would reply, "You're 110?", "No, just 1 and 10!" Since Sunday, he hasn't really said how old he is yet, he's still processing it. Speaking of Sunday, he had a good day on his birthday. He had been really grumpy the week leading up. Sunday morning he slept in and was super happy that day, which was great for his birthday, except he kept saying it wasn't his birthday, but Karissa's. He did let us sing to him, 3 times because I couldn't get my camera ready in time. He enjoyed the frosting on his cupcake and the special vanilla ice cream Jason got for him. Gramms and Abuelo are here and they gave him his own Mickey Mouse since he kept taking the other kids' Mickeys. On Monday, he decided he wanted to have Victoria's and gave his to her. Our neighbors brought him a gift, but he threw it on the ground. I don't think he likes new things.

Helping make his birthday frosting with his "hot chocolate".

It's fun having Gramms and Abuelo here!

At his well-child exam he gave the dr. a run for her money. He wouldn't stand on the scale and screamed and wriggled throughout the entire exam. Luckily, we did find out that he is somewhat healthy and we got his weight with me holding him. I'm sure his height isn't accurate, but are they ever? 48% for weight, 37 % for height. When I asked the doctor what I should do about his eating habits (he doesn't eat), she said, "Play the mom card." No more than two cups of milk a day, otherwise he could become anemic and need a blood transfusion. It's funny, on Sunday, he didn't ask for as much "hot chocolate" (his warm milk) as normal. Monday, before going to the dr. he had had only one sippy. So far, playing the "mom card" hasn't been as hard as I thought. I think he is ready for it now. Believe me, I have started to be more strict in saying no to his milk, but given in to the screaming and tantrums. Maybe it's because Gramms and Abuelo are here for moral support, maybe it's because I realized how important this really is after talking to the dr., or maybe Erik is just getting older. Today, he had two pancakes for breakfast! He has never had that many! When I've said no to his "hot chocolate" he only puts up a small fight. I think the future is looking good!

I love my Erik! Despite is idiosyncrasies, he's a great kid, a good helper, and so fun to be with!!

Check, Check

Austin really wanted a watch for Christmas. He found this last week in my exercise equipment bin.

I had bought it to use for work-outs, then got my smart phone a few months later. I don't need a stop watch anymore!  He's putting it to good use. He informs us of the time pretty regularly.


Last week I also gave him this.



He loves to listen to books on cd and music. It works out well when he's done with his homework and the girls are still busy with their responsibilities. It also worked well when I brought the kids to his parent/teacher conference.

Two gifts that he loves!

The Corn Maze

I had promised the kids I would take them to a corn maze this year. We finally squeezed one in the day after Halloween. I was a very cold day, but the farm/cider mill we went to was awesome!

The kids were super excited to start this corn maze, especially Victoria after reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. 

 You would have thought we were at Disneyland...

 We made it out just fine.

 The hayride there and back was a hit as well.

 Of course you have to get cider and doughnuts at these places. These weren't the best, but everything else made up for that.

train to play on

They finished their doughnuts in the train.

They had some animal with these cute backgrounds. This one tells the story of The 3 Little Pigs.

play ares with slides

If it hadn't been so darn cold, we would have stayed a little longer. Obviously, we weren't dressed that warm either. We will definitely go back there!

Halloween '14

October is such a fast-paced month! I can't believe it's already over! Here's some of our Halloween festivities.

I love to rake leaves! It's just part of the Halloween/autumn routine!

 Bright sunny day at the pumpkin patch. I didn't know when we'd fit it in, but we went before dance one day and it was a lovely day!

Ward Halloween party. Austin and some of his super hero buddies. Erik didn't dress up 'til later and that was after convincing him that he wouldn't get candy unless he did. Luckily, he didn't get much candy anyhow. Once he got his first lolly pop, he was good to sit and suck on it for a while.

Victoria invited two friends from school. Janelle (Hermione) and Bethany (our neighbor). Victoria was Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter. She was going to be Hermione too, but true to her costume choices of the past few years, she had to be something creepy.

Then, of course, there were many Elsas. Can you find Karissa? She is the second oldest in the group (actually, I don't know how old the tallest girl is, since she's a friend, but the girl who brought her just turned 7), but is standing among the youngest and isn't much taller than they, except little Abby, who was the only Anna in the group. Karissa really wanted to be Elsa, even though I told her there would be many of them, but she didn't care. I found her the costume for a pretty good deal at Target, then crocheted the cute braid hat.

She didn't like the hat at first, but her bff from church, Emma, had the same one, then she liked it!

Carving pumpkins was a hit, as usual, though Erik had no interest in getting his hands dirty for that.

We went for a hike the day before Halloween. The weather was nice that day.

 As for Halloween, the weather was awful, as usual. It has rained the past two years during trick-or-treat time. This year, is rained all day, then was misty and very cold for trick-or-treat. I convinced Victoria to wear a Santa hat, thinking she'd just be a caroler, but she wanted to still be Bellatrix and wore the cape over my black coat. Lucky for Karissa and Austin, a lot of their costume was on their head, so their coats being on didn't matter too much. Erik finally wanted to wear his costume, but wouldn't wear his coat (tough he did wear a hat), so he was pretty cold and miserable. After about 30 minutes I took him home. He wasn't letting anyone put candy in his bucket anyhow, after the first few houses. The others returned just 15 minutes later.

Karissa and Victoria then got to go to Bethany's church party at the corner of our neighborhood. They ate hot dogs, popcorn, jumped on the bouncy house, and Karissa won the costume contest for her age group! I am convinced it was not the Elsa dress that I'm sure a few other girls had worn. She said she got a lot of compliments on her hat. She won this web kins puppy and has been carrying it around ever since!