Christmas Orchestra Concert!

 Oh my goodness gracious, I have two kids who play the violin!

I was so tickled to go to the kids' orchestra concert tonight, for two specific reasons.  Number 1-I was super excited to see Karianna perform with the 6th grade orchestra.  The last few years, I have always thought they were pretty darn good, and I remember thinking, I can't wait until Karianna is in 6th grade and gets to play music like this.  Tonight was the night, and I was super excited for that!  Number 2-tonight is JD's first orchestra concert! WOOHOO!  He wasn't super excited to play an instrument, but man, he sure has warmed up to it.  Both of the kids have done such a good job this semester in orchestra, and it has been so wonderful to see them blossoming in their musical talents.

The concert itself was filled with Christmas music and some very familiar songs by JD's group.  I was impressed with the varying parts in Karianna's group, and I don't think we heard any mistakes in any of the groups--the teacher really does do a good job teaching them.  Both kids earned a treat for a job well done.  What a wonderful night to celebrate with the kids!

On Braids and Duets

I am super excited to say I have mastered french braids--so much so, that I have also mastered dutch french braids and braiding in varied positions outside of the traditional "straight down the back of your head" style!  Sara is an especially good sport for my burgeoning skill set.  She looked so, so lovely today for church--her bow is a bit askew in the second shot, but it gives a good idea of my braids....

Here's the kicker:  Karianna is just as good at both traditional, and dutch french braiding.  She can do it on her own head without using a mirror.  I cannot even remotely do that.  I am super, super impressed with capabilities-she is my idol in the world of braiding. 

On a separate note, I was humbled today to sing in the Relief Society Christmas program at church, all the more so because I sang with Karianna.  I am not one to jump at the chance to solo-I am not a soloist.  But Karianna gives me confidence to do so,and it is just such a sweet experience to stand beside her to sing . Karianna has a beautiful, beautiful voice.  She has a keen ability to stay on pitch and maintain a pure sound, regardless what the note is.  I just love this talent of hers.  We sang "Do You Have Room?", which has a beautiful message for the Christmas season. Karianna sang the first verse as a solo, and I sang the second.  We both sang the chorus together, and it all went very well with my mom at the piano.  Wonderful memories being created with my beautiful girls!

The Parade of Lights

Tonight we decided to head into Chandler to attend the annual Chandler Parade of Lights.  We have never done this, but wanted to try it out since our kids have never seen a parade with floats and such.  We got down there to find the entire place utterly crowded-parking the van was a chore!  But we finally found a spot, commandeered a terrific shortcut that led us to a prime location, and set up our chairs and dinner in a grassy field just off the street.  The street itself was packed with people, and we initially thought we might not see the parade very well.  However, the kids found a spot on the fence to climb, and in their elevated position, they actually had a good view, and we had a safe spot to sit with the little boys that was somewhat away from the crowd--PERFECT!  

 We got to see the entire parade, and had fun predicting what was coming up next, watching the various dance groups, marching bands, and floats, and running back to our chairs to eat some food before jumping back on (and sometimes over the fence).

 Once the parade was done, we realized our spot was even more perfect, because the huge tree they were lighting was in that same grassy field-yea for us!  We literally just turned our chairs around and waited for about 10 minutes before the countdown began, and the lights on the tree flipped on in one fell swoop-it was beautiful, despite the somewhat fake-looking tree.

We had a blast, and while we are not sure we will come back to this, it was a neat experience to expose the kids to something new and creative correlating memories.  Loving the holiday season!

Marbles!

 I don't typically have this toy out because marbles on the wood floors bug me!  But I took it out maybe 4 weeks ago, really got on the kids about rules, and now they do reasonably okay with it-so we are playing with it a ton!  I love this toy!

Diving into Christmas Music!

I absolutely love doing holiday music in primary!  The primary program is such a wonderful Sunday for me, and typically, after it ends, we get to dive right into Thanksgiving and Christmas music.  You'll notice on the board in the picture above, I have a Thanksgiving sign, and a Christmas sign--that's because we have been doing songs for both holidays for the last month, and it has been wonderful!  Starting the day after Halloween, we had four weeks to start learning our main Christmas song that we are singing in sacrament meeting, while doing as many thanksgiving songs as possible.  I was able to teach/introduce 7 different Thanksgiving songs, including Children All Over the World, which is just so much fun to teach and sing!  We made up words to a few of the songs, talked about the importance of sharing our gratitude in prayers, and got plain silly on some songs, being thankful for everything from pokemon to mascara.  It has been a wonderful month of singing Thanksgiving songs in primary.

After singing Thanksgiving songs for 10-12 minutes, we would jump into our Christmas song, which we are performing on Dec. 13th.  We are singing "Could I Hold the Baby?" which is just a beautiful song.  Lots of words, and an unfamiliar tune, but it brings such a heartfelt spirit on a level that the kids can understand....I'm so glad the Lord led me to pick this song for the kids to learn.  We spent the first 8 or so minutes that first Sunday after Halloween learning the chorus with the visuals from the picture above.  We went on from there, reviewing, learning both verses, and this past Sunday, we watched a video with beautiful imagery and the words scrolling across the screen. We focused on the last statement that really catches the entire meaning of Christmas that can be carried throughout the year: "Jesus loves each one of us endlessly-he loves you and me."

We don't have many kids in primary, but they sing with such power, and with their testimonies on their sleeves.  It is such a pleasure, and blessing, to teach music each week to these kids.  I struggle to feel content in relief society, and that's probably something that shouldn't occur, but I always feel uplifted singing songs in primary.  We have fun, we have spiritual moments, we get creative, we bear our testimonies without even realizing it.....those 20 minutes are so special, and I just wanted to share that here on the blog.  I love my calling. :)

Random Shots of James

In searching for random shots, I realized I take more pictures of the two little boys than any of my other kids.  I need to remedy that.....

James giving me a great face on this Zebra.

 Thinking of how cool this could look when I get my new camera....

 And James with Grandpa Lautenschlager at the Trunk or Treat!

Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving this year was a wonderful day, full of good memories, good food, and good feelings. We started it off with our traditional Erickson family turkey trot!  

This year was unique for several different reasons:

1. Grandma Erickson rode with us for the first time ever.  Even going back to childhood-I don't think that has ever happened.
2. We had more kids than adults.
3. I ran two of the six miles, switching off with Becca and Kristen so one of us was always running.
4. Karianna-champ that she is-ran two of the six miles as well, switching off with Makayla and Elizabeth so one of them was always running.  This is the first time we have ever had kids running the entire thing in turn.  

 I felt great running those couple of miles, especially running with Karianna.  I was on the very last mile, which was definitely more difficult than mile 4 since it is slightly uphill and since i was flat out tired.  But I did it, and managed to sprint the last 100 yards or so, just like Dad used to do.  Grateful for the ability to be active and for the accomplishments of all my family.

 Having just gotten back to Mom's house. :)

We had some scheduling snafus with the Lautenschlagers, so we ended up resting and cooking for a few hours until it was time to head back to Grandma Erickson's place for dinner with the rest of the family.  I unfortunately got a really bad sinus headache that would not dissipate until later that evening, but I pushed through as best as I could-I took a little catnap in Grandma's backyard laying on a blanket in the sun, and that actually felt heavenly, and helped my headache.  The food was delicious, and I thought my green bean casserole and brownies turned out great.  As always, I love dark meat! The kids ate well, and just had a blast playing with all the cousins.  We had a bit of a scare later on when Megan ate some ranch dressing and started to have a bad reaction during which she was struggling to breathe.  Thankfully, she responded really well to the nebulizer/albuteral that I grabbed from our house-I always have it on hand for James, and it was just the ticket to open up Megan's lungs and help her breathe better.  That was certainly scary.  

On a lighter note, spell check wants me to change the word "albuteral" to "butterball".  Probably not the right correction. ;)

5:30 rolled around and it was time to head home-and out shopping!  My normal partner in crime, Rebecca, also got a bad headache and stayed home most of the day, so Jared actually came black Friday (Thursday) shopping with me.  I never mind running out to a few places on Thanksgiving to be honest.  I like the crowds, I like catching the deals, and I'm always with a family member, so that is redeeming.  I do feel bad that others have to be working on Thanksgiving.  Anyhow, Jared and I went to Target to wait in line for entry.  We only needed three things: razors, a marble tower, and a book.  I figured that would be easy, and the lines/parking actually were not that bad-I have seen black Friday crowds WAY worse than this.  We got in and headed to the razors-and they were completely gone.  By the look of the set up, they probably only had like, 10 razors.  i was mad.  If you are going to put something on a black friday ad, make sure you are stocked up!  Ugh.  Anyhow, we found the other two items just fine, checked out in about 2 minutes flat, and headed to Walmart to pick up maybe 4 or 5 things, none of which were pressing.  Walmart was not that busy either.  It was fun shopping with Jared-we picked up hot chocolate and some firewood on the way home and had a great time hanging out with the kids before bedtime.  We shared things we are grateful for together, I sang the little kids thanksgiving primary songs before bed, and it was just a nice end to a lovely day (minus my headache of course).

We really are grateful for everything we have in our lives.  I know I need to focus on this gratitude more often during the year, but this is why I love thanksgiving--it really helps you take a step back and consider what is important in life.  Happy Thanksgiving! 

Bush Turkey Trot 2015

The kids' school always does a Turkey Trot the day before Thanksgiving, and it is always so much fun to watch the kids race around the school!  This year, I was lucky enough to catch Karianna, Jordan, and Sara participate in the Turkey Trot-JD's grade level was later on in the day, so I unfortunately missed him.  The three kids I did get to watch were adorable....as were their two little brothers who loved playing with the balls and hula hoops after the actual run!  

 Stretching before the big run!

This is what sixth graders do, apparently-too cool to run, so they walk and talk! 

 Now, how cute is that?  Karianna leading Jackson around the field!

 Posing with Buster the Dog, and you can't see Jackson's face because he won't take his eyes off of the dog!  I couldn't tell if he was enthralled or scared!

 The reward-fudgesicles!  Yum!

 Jordan with one of his best friend, Joshua!

What a fun morning, we had such a blast, and honestly, it made me even more excited for tomorrow's Family Turkey Trot!

Pack Meeting and Belt Loops!

JD had another pack meeting tonight-we didn't have one last month, so we were excited for tonight's meeting! JD won two belt loops and now has a total of six on the new, official Cub Scout belt I got for him earlier today-they look so cool, and he loves them!  He has been super motivated to earn his belt loops.  He got them for marble works and tools.  I have to say though, he was most proud of his knife certification, and is excited to tell anyone that he is officially allowed to use knives (safely, he always notes that).  

JD got to call the flag ceremony today, which is always fun to see!

It was just him and Noah tonight representing their den-both got the same two belt loops.

 Sharing the marble bags they sewed-or knitted, as JD said!

Explaining the steps they took to cut and sand tic-tac-toe boards. 

 And officially receiving his belt loops!  Congratulations dude!

 I really enjoy going to pack meetings with JD.  We've got two more months and then Jordan will be joining him!

I will say, we had one upsetting moment at this month's pack meeting.  At the last meeting, they served awesome treats-s'mores on a stick.  Super yummy, but also filled with gluten.  He was sad, but as always, was a trooper, and we just picked up ice cream at McDonalds afterwards.  His leaders are usually pretty good about serving gluten free stuff, so I was a bit sad for JD, but didn't think much of it.  This time around, they announced the treats: Krispie Kream donuts.  Awesome, everyone was so excited....and then there was JD.  I watched his face fall, his smile just disappear, and his eyes fill with tears.  My heart broke for him, and truth be told, my eyes teared up as well.  JD is such an amazing kid, and for the last 3 years, he has had the BEST attitude about his Celiac Disease.  His moments of feeling sad are few.  It makes his moments that much harder for me, as his mother.  How do I explain to him that it is okay that all his friends get to eat donuts and he doesn't?  There is no way.  He knows why he can't. He understand.  What he was experiencing was just flat out sadness, and there was nothing I could do honestly but usher him out as fast as possible and just apologize and hug him.  Oh, my sweet boy.  I am just so sad for him during moments like this.

We picked up a freeze at Taco Bell for him, and laughed at the fact that the lady at the window gave it to us for free---for the third time, lol!  We exclaimed over his belt loops, and showed them off to Jared when we got home.  That moment passed for JD, but it really stayed with me, and I was reminded how difficult motherhood is. Obviously-things could be so much worse.  This is a small incident.  JD is strong.  But any moment when I see a tear in my child's eye.  My heart hurts.

So the night ended, and we chose to celebrate JD's accomplishments in scouting and the continued excitement he feels when he sees the fruits of his labor!

A Bed and a Solution

 We have a problem in our house.  Jackson enjoys turning off the TV.  The button is not in a place that is easy to cover with tape, like I might normally do.  So it is a matter of trying to be consistent with the rules until he gets it.  James didn't have the patience for that, so he came up with  solution: make a bed, in a basket, that puts him in a position to block access to the button.  He made the bed, and then told me he couldn't see the TV-he was stumped!  So he solved it by asking for the tablet so he could watch while protecting the button on the TV.  I obliged, and congratulated him for solving his problem. Doesn't he look so pleased with himself?

 I declined to tell him that there was no need to guard the TV if he was watching the same show on the tablet.  Who could tell a face like this that his ingenious solution was entirely unnecessary?

Birthday Extension!

 I am just loving this picture!  These two are just the best of friends....sometimes the worst of enemies, but mostly the best of friends! ;)  They sure do love hanging out together, and I think our weekly outings strengthen that notion.  Today was no exception.  We are continuing our ongoing celebration of Jackson's birthday, since are likely not going to have a true-blue party, So we went out to the mall to play in the play area, ride the carousel, get a paradise bakery cookie, and check out the enormous Christmas tree.  We do this weekly, but the latter is an added feature that the kids really loved!  Plus, some nice folks gave us their carousel tickets, which saved us six bucks!  I told them it was a birthday present for Jackson, and they thought that was so fitting!

 We love watching this train ride kids around the mall-Jackson especially.  We won't ride it because it is seriously expensive, but he just gets a kick out of watching it and yelling out "Chooo! Chooo!"

Fun times with the brothers!