1/2

Erik is now 1/2 a year old. It seems every time I update, I rave about how fast time has gone by, but it's true! He's 6 months old already! He tried some rice cereal a few weeks ago. It didn't go so well. He didn't scream his head off, he just wasn't thrilled about the idea. He still isn't. Nor did he like trying peas or squash. I guess he'll be like my other kids and mostly like table food, when we get to that point. I think Austin ended up liking some baby foods, so I'll keep trying. Speaking of Austin, he took these shots of Erik's first spoon feeding. Not bad, eh?

 He likes this little car in the basement, but he mostly prefers to sit on the floor. He's almost to the point where he can sit by himself, he just need a little nudge here and there to keep him from tipping over.

 Erik weighed in at 18.2 pounds at the dr. and 27 inches long. That puts him in the 62nd percentile for weight and the 71st for height. He still seems really big to me, but I guess he's more on the average end now.

 He likes to blow raspberries lately and drools like crazy! I don't see any teeth yet, but something must be coming in soon with all that drool!

We love our baby Erik!

La Granja

Even though Karissa's in a bilingual class at her school, her class still goes on all the usual field trips that the school sets up. My personal favorite is the farm, aka la granja.

The routine at Real Life Farm is to let the kids play on the playground, then wait in line to ride the horses. My experience when Victoria went on this field trip was that the kids didn't want to leave the playground and wait in line to ride horses. They're preschoolers, they're just not into horses yet. Luckily, Karissa left the playground without too much convincing, though Austin insisted on staying and playing.

 Here's Karissa riding a beautiful horse on a beautiful day.

 When we went into the barn to do our "duties", Austin was a little afraid of the goats and wanted no part with them, but he went right to the rabbits and kittens. He's a little like me in that way. When I was younger I didn't like any animals except cats and rabbits, and no bugs! He's the most like that.

 Karissa took right to the kids.

 She enjoyed feeding the piggies. (This shot is crooked since I had to snap it quick before she had to pass the bottle to another kid.)

 Austin eventually decided to feed a baby kid, though again I had to shoot quickly before he dropped the bottle. That baby goat was a forceful drinker!

 Karissa got to feed the goats from her hands. Austin just kind of tossed the feed at them.

 We loved looking at the baby chicks. We got to hold one too- so soft and sweet!

 Milking the cow is always a highlight, though I never got a shot with her looking at me.

 Before we left for lunch, Karissa had to give the kids one last hug.

 The highlight for Austin was the hayride pulled by a tractor!

 Erik and I were there too!

Special Days

Mother's Day was my special day and the girls did great at helping and wanting to make it special, despite being tired from the recital weekend. (BTW, the girls did great on their dances and I couldn't help but smile as the audience went "awwwww!" as Karissa's class appeared.) Austin was a little grumpy and Erik had his usual "no sleep Sunday", so he was a little fussy. Jason made dinner and dessert and I got to hear the lesson in Relief Society at church. The best part was just knowing how lucky I am to be a mom of such wonderful, healthy kids. They looked cute in their picture too!

 Luckily, on Saturday we went to Zingerman's Deli in Ann Arbor, Jason's favorite sandwich place, to celebrate his birthday. I say "luckily" because he was gone at work 14 hours on his birthday! The girls didn't get to see him in the morning, but we did decide to go out and meet him at Red Robin near his workplace so we could give him his presents and sing to him. The kids ate great at both places, making going out to eat much easier with the four of them. We had a good time at our short celebration, but wish we could have seen him more. Happy Birthday Jason, we love you!

Dance Recital Week

As I mentioned last year around this time, Victoria and Karissa take dance at a very large and popular studio. The week before the recital is full of different types of practices. The dress rehearsal is just like it sounds, though the dances aren't in the order they're in for the actual show. The run-through is when each dance is performed in the order it will be for the show, but without costumes, just to make sure the transitions go smoothly. Lucky for us, this year the girls had dress rehearsal on the same night and run-through the same night. With four different shows and hundreds of girls, it's not always that way. It wasn't last year for us. They also both dance the same two nights, so we're good there too. Since we're not allowed to video tape during the actual performance (this is serious show biz, but a great experience!), I taped the girls at their dress rehearsal.

They both do a ballet number and a tap. Feel free to watch all four, they're not too long, but I won't be offended if you don't!

Here's Victoria's tap to a funky "Mary Had a Little Lamb".  She's the second from the left, mostly.

Here's Karissa's ballet to "A You Are Adorable". She's on the very right. She did pretty good this night, but she rocked it during the run-through, which I didn't record, and her smile that night was the biggest smile ever! She must have liked not having on that major poofy dress, which she complains is too itchy.



Here's Victoria's ballet to "Winnie the Pooh". She's kind of in the same place as the other dance, but it's hard to tell her apart from the other yellow, long-legged, girls. She also did much better at the run-through and had a great smile too.

And here's Karissa's tap to "Fishes". She had a hard time with learning tap this year. She's still the youngest in the class, so her friends were nice to help her. She and I worked hard at practicing her dance at home and she knows it real well now. She's really distracted in this dance by the fish head she had to wear. She said it itched her face where her glasses were ( I don't know why we didn't take them off like in the first dance.) She reminds me of myself when I was her age, always itching my face and fiddling around with my glasses.

Here's some pics of my girls with their costumes on.

 This is Victoria with her friend Analee that we carpool with every week.

 Here's Karissa with her friend Becca who is her partner and helper.

 Victoria with Julia in their lamb costumes.

Art Show

Victoria was 1 of 60 kids from her school selected to have a piece of her artwork displayed at the annual school district's art show. The Art Show had selections from every elementary, jr. high, and high school in our district, so it was like an art museum with a huge variety. The kids loved looking at all the creative art pieces, as did Jason and I. Victoria's piece wasn't her best work ever, but we were excited her work was there, as she is a very good artist and deserves to be recognized for all the effort she puts into her work.

 Way to go Victoria!

5 months

 It's hard to believe my baby is 5 months! Since he was so big so fast, I feel like I had hardly any newborn at all! I finally got his 4 month check-up today (I had forgotten that he needed a 4-month). He weighed in at 17 lbs. 5 oz. and was 26 1/4 in. long That puts him in the 70th percentiles for both height and weight, so his decline has started.

The only "concern" I voiced to the dr. was that he's just not interested in any of his toys. She said it's because he's got such good entertainment from his siblings, that the bright, colorful, little rattles don't even compare to what he gets out of them! She's right! He loves to watch them dance and play and run around together, as long as he's right there in the action. As soon as he doesn't make eye contact with any of them within a few minutes, he will let us know!

He can roll over from front to back and back to front, though he doesn't like to be on the floor very long. He prefers his bumbo seat now.

Check out this "boy" look.

 He's so sweet!

Other talents/interests:
-kicking in bathtub
-being tickled on his feet (we get some good laughs out of this!)
-being stroked along his jawline
-blowing raspberries
-playing pat-a-cake with Mommy
-playing with his hands
-trying to suck his thumb

Austin has taken to him lately. He like to repeat what he hears Victoria say, "Are you smiling at me? Are you smiling at me? Yeah! Yeah!" It's so cute when he says it because he raises his voice, like Victoria does, but he still has a lower voice, even though he's only two. Maybe he'll have a deep voice like Daddy's.

 Victoria has really taken to helping with Erik since we've been back from France. She can't stand him crying one second and will promptly pick him up as soon as he does. She can actually get him to calm down now by bouncing him and shushing him. Erik thinks she's just the funniest person in the world. He will follow her with his eyes and head as she dances around telling stories or sings. It's so adorable!

Who looks bigger to you?

 Karissa hasn't been as interested since Victoria has been. She still super sweet and calm with him and will help with him when I ask her to, but I think since he's too big for her to pick up on her own and he doesn't like to just lay in her lap anymore, she hasn't figured out what to do about him yet. She's been using her mothering skills on her "Honey". She dresses her in clothes almost every day, and pjs every night. She puts her in the highchair for meals, reads her stories, and bring her to the park. When she's really in a mothering mood, she will use the younger-looking baby and nurse her. It's very sweet, though many times gets in the way of what Karissa needs to be doing at the time (like getting herself ready for bed, or out the door, or fed).

Erik has been such a good baby and a great addition to our home. I love watching him develop and grow in so many ways!

A Little Culture

Last Saturday we were able to go to downtown Detroit to the Target Family Days free orchestra concert in Orchestra Hall. The theme was Adventures in Music, so they played some classics (Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 and Mozart's Symphony No. 35), as well as some popular tunes from modern times (Nimbus 2000 from Harry Potter and a medley from Pirates of the Caribbean). In between, the  conductor, Michael Krajewski, did very well at explaining the main components of an orchestra and the different "families" of instruments that make up an orchestra. He kept our kids entertained between songs, as well as teach them new things. Each family of instruments was highlighted. I think we all came to the conclusion that we all liked the strings and percussion best, though the woodwinds and brass were excellent as well. Later, I found out that the conductor worked with Jenny Oaks Baker (my favorite violinist!) with her Silver Screen Serenade. It was an awesome experience and better yet, the kids enjoyed it! Victoria is now determined to play the piano even better and I've noticed Karissa playing around on the piano more. We will definitely go back to the next free concert called Dance! Sing! Swing!


Erik was put to sleep by the music!