We had been planning for a while to bless Roxelle today, but yesterday Mary Lou called to say that she was completely snowed in. She told us to go ahead without her, but both Will and I agreed that we'd rather have our parents there than anyone else, so we will do it next Sunday.
We ended up going to church in Woodburn today. It was so fun going with everyone here. I am so happy that Paula ended up being able to make it. We were just shopping the day after Christmas and we were talking to her trying to figure out her kids' sizes and the next thing we know, Butch told her to hop on the next flight and come. Only Haylee and Alexa could come with her because the others already had other plans, but we've had such a good time!
Brinlee was the first one up around 6. Then the others trickled in. I don't recall exactly what time we went downstairs, but it wasn't later than 6:30. I think everyone pretty much got what they asked for. The big things were the beds that Santa brought them. Grandpa and Grandma accented that beautifully with new pillows! Thanks so much everyone!!
I got the best present ever this year! I got 3 hours ALL TO MYSELF to go to the house and clean without a single interruption!!!! We have been spending a lot of time down in Woodburn at my moms because all of my family have come to town. Paula and 2 of her girls, Haylee and Alexa, are flying in tonight, so I volunteered to run home to Vancouver so that I could grab a few things that we had forgotten and then pick up Paula on my way home. Will kept all the kids, including baby Roxelle, and let me go alone.
In 3 hours I was able to clean the entire kitchen, top to bottom, which was overrun by boxes, opened packages and new art supplies that the girls left out all over the counter and table. I picked up all the Barbie shoes and accessories that were strewn amongst all the chaos that was left in the living room and put all the gifts we'd opened back under the tree so that I could vacuum all the downstairs. Then I organized the nursery and the little girls room and vacuumed them and the hall upstairs. Now, all I have to do is straighten our bedroom and fold one of the 2 loads of laundry I had done yesterday and straighten up the office loft. Plus, I got an uninterrupted shower!
THANKS HONEY!!! You can give me that kind of gift ANYTIME!!!! Love you
I have to say that I have totally enjoyed all the fluffy white stuff. Like I said before we hardly ever get snow here, but it really was bad timing. I wasn't able to go to Rainier at all. In fact, I got stuck down in Woodburn until today. I do actually have chains now, but the roads are so dangerous! Mary Lou has gotten probably close to 3 feet if not more. Mike and Monica are stuck up there right now and are having to spend the night now.
Last night it took Jay about 3-4 hours to get home from work in Salem, which is 20 minutes away. Will got stuck on I-205 for about 4 hours just 15-20 minutes from the hospital and around midnight turned around and went back to spend the night there. He had to work today again anyway. We found out that ODOT decided to shut down the freeway for "just 45 minutes" to scrape all the hard ice grooves off the freeway, well it didn't go as planned... OBVIOUSLY!
I didn't really have a choice. All of my kids Christmas is up here and I still had a few large things to pick up that couldn't wait. We made it home in about 2.5 hours. I got caught behind the ODOT cleaners once (they are still at it today a whole 24 hours later). For about 20 minutes my van was in park on I-5. THANKS HEAVENS for the DVD system in our van.
Will got home around 8:30 and I let the girls stay up 'til he arrived so we could do our traditional Christmas Eve activities. Here's some pics and a video. I should elaborate more, but I'm exhausted and have no doubt the girls will rise early!
When we moved up to Vancouver from my parents, it was starting to turn colder and Brinlee kept asking when it was going to snow. I told her that it may not snow at all this year. We don't always get snow in this area. Well she informed me that we were WRONG!
It has been snowing like crazy almost all week. All the news channels are calling this our "Arctic Blast". It started on Tuesday afternoon (the 16th) and we got just a little skift (is that a word?)(ok, I just looked it up and it's not a word, but my mom uses it all time to describe a small amount. LOL!).
When we woke Wed, it was snowing, but not really sticking. Since Asia's preschool is in with Evergreen School District, they had closed their schools, but ours, Vancouver School District had not. By about 10, it was really coming down and sticking really well. The girls ended up with a 2 hour early release. They played in it all afternoon with the neighbor kids, but it had started to melt and everything was all muddy. They got so DIRTY!
On Thursday, I woke up around 5:45 am to use the bathroom and looked outside and things were pretty much as they were when we went to bed. Wet and muddy. (Will had already left for work) At 6:30, Mariah came in my room and shook me saying "Mommy, it snowed again last night!" I said, "No it didn't, I just checked a little while ago", she went over to the window and pulled back the shade and sure enough it was coming down HARD! It was already starting to stick. School was cancelled for Mariah and Brinlee, but not for Asia. (???)
Anyway, school ended up being cancelled for the rest of the week. Ross, Lindsay, Braden, Megan, Adalyn and Ellie have already arrived. We had the Jones (my dad's side) Family Christmas Party on Sat. Will had to work, so I had to brave the "Arctic Blast" by myself with no chains. I think we had about 8-10 inches of snow on the ground (HUGE for this area). The freeway was a MESS. It took us about 3 hours to make the normally 45 minute drive down I-5. The party was awesome! Aunt Janet was in charge and we had a simple delicious potato bar. Lacey baked fresh cookies all day and we had peppermint ice cream/chocolate chip cookie sandwiches (YUUUM!).
The only photos I took at the party
Much to everyone's (at the party) chagrin, I made the decision to turn around and go home that night around 7 pm because I had not even started one stitch of the huge wrapping job I had ahead of me, plus I was supposed to sing with the ward choir in Sacrament Mtg and teach the Laurels. Aunt Susan was very disapproving and everyone begged me several times not to go, but I am stubborn as the rest of them and left anyway with just baby Roxelle. Mariah and Brinlee stayed with Aunt Chelsea and Uncle Jay and Asia and Tatum stayed to play with Braden and Adalyn.
It took me about 2 hours to get home, but I decided to stop at Target in Jantzen Beach on my way home since I was already out. There wasn't a soul there. I had the entire store to myself at 9 o'clock at night. It was AWESOME! I called my worried mother to let her know I'd made it that far and she didn't believe that I was crazy enough to stop along the way! LOL
I met Will at home and started the wrapping. Actually I sent him off to play his Wii and I wrapped.
Church ended up being cancelled on both ends (Vanc. and Wooburn). My mom asked if we'd stay up here until it was time to pick up Paula and her 5 kids (Tyson just entered the MTC) at the airport late that evening. It just kept right on snowing the entire day. Paula's flight ended up getting cancelled and they wouldn't be able to get another one til Christmas day, so they aren't coming at all (BOO!). They decided to take their family to Disneyland instead. Their teenagers didn't want to come later and stay later because they didn't want to miss New Years with their friends.
So I came back to Woodburn today. Will worked and then came down here too. The roads are still really icy and have deep grooves in them from all the ice. There is probably 6 inches of solid ice on the freeway. We will head back home tomorrow and then I will spend Christmas Eve with Mary Lou in Rainier. (Will has Christmas Day off, but not Christmas Eve day).
We are planning to mail it out, but I don't have everyone's addresses, so here's an 'e' copy. If you want to be added to "the list", email me your mailing address for next year.
December 2008
First things first, we have moved! Here is our new address and hopefully will be for a good long stretch.
Will and Kristy Erickson 4xxx NE xxthSt. Vancouver, WA 98xxx
As the years go by, we continually receive the Lord’s richest blessings. We have so much to be thankful for this year. Especially for the new angel that He sent us. Roxelle Rianna Erickson joined our family on September 17th and has been an absolute joy in our home.
We left our island ‘ohana on June 4. We lived there just 2 days shy of 3 years. I miss it more than I ever thought I would. I have been compiling a list of things that I don’t miss to keep me from hopping on the next flight back. With cockroaches and centipedes nearing the top of the list, I am happy to stay where I am for now!
Will accepted a position with Providence Milwaukie hospital in the medical/surgical department. He really enjoys the hands on work and the people he works with. The commute is about 25 minutes and he misses traffic on both ends of the day with his 7am – 7:30pm shift.
My days currently consist of baby feedings and diaper changes, with a little bit of house organizing here and there. I love having a place to call our own and I can’t wait to start putting some personal touches on it.
Mariah turned 8 this year and was baptized in the lagoon at Paradise Cove on O’ahu. I can still picture the serenity of that day. It is something that I will not soon forget. Mariah is in Ms. Choate’s 3rd grade class at Truman Elementary School.
Brinlee is 6 and in Mrs. Little’s 1st grade class at Truman Elementary School. She loves music and dancing. She keeps wondering aloud why she hasn’t started gymnastics or ballet yet. I told her that I want them to start piano lessons first. She thought that sounded fun, too.
Asia is 4 and just started preschool several weeks ago. She is at (my favorite) Mini School here in Vancouver. She is there 4 days a week and loves her teachers; Mrs. Provine, Mrs. Hall, and Mrs. Joachim. She loves to display her daily artwork for Mariah and Brinlee to see when they get home.
Tatum is 2 and is enjoying all the extra time with Mom while Asia is in school. She loves her baby sister and tries to help, a little too much sometimes. She is definitely a “Daddy’s girl” and can’t cope when he works more than 2 days in a row. He’s been around at home for her entire life until now. She is still adjusting to his long days when he leaves before she’s up and not home until after she’s in bed.
We want to send each of you the warmest wishes for a prosperous new year. We are humbled by this time of year and feel blessed beyond our needs.
Last night was our Ward Christmas Party. I was totally murmuring about going because we had to go in Sunday dress (part of it was in the chapel). It's hard enough to get them ready for church, but 2 days in a row? Plus, Tige and Taryn had invited us to go with them to watch her dad perform with the Portland Mormon Choir here in Vancouver. I was so tempted to ditch out on the ward thing, but my conscience got the best of me and I had signed up to take pie.
I was really glad we decided to go. The dinner was very nice and the program was ok, too. They had Santa there at the end in the gym and Tatum, of course, being the typical 2 year old was freaking out, not to mention the girl is scared of EVERYTHING, anyway.
Before we left the house I took advantage ofthe dresses and took some pictures. These are not their Christmas dresses, but still festive all the same.
but busier than ever! I don't think I'll ever catch up to what it is that I am trying to catch up too. I'm tired, exhausted really and have another long day ahead tomorrow.
I have been trying to update my blog lists thingy over there, but haven't had the time, so I decided that each time someone sends me their blog link, via comment or what-have-you, I will copy and paste the link from there until there is a small enough amount to just transfer the rest.
I'm rambling and tired. I'm going to bed. Just leave me a comment so I can transfer your blog. K?
I used to hate it when I was younger and I would hear adults saying they couldn't "remember" how old they are. I was like WHAT?! How can you not remember how old you are? Well, I've been telling people all year that I'd be turning 31 this December only to realize that I have been 31 all year and turned 32 today........*SIIIIIIiiiiGH!*
My mom and Dotty took me to lunch at Olive Garden. Chelsea had been planning to come, but forgot that she had previously committed to baby sit over night for a friend. We missed you Chels! Dotty brought me some beautiful flowers and my mom gave me my favorite Germade from the Lehi Roller Mills. YUM! It was really fun to get out for a couple hours with no kids. Thanks gals!
Every year the Vancouver Stake (not us, we're in Vancouver West Stake) puts on a Festival of the Nativities. I've never been, but Mike and Monica are in that stake and they invited us to meet them there and go. It was pretty amazing! I couldn't believe all the time put in. It's open to the public and used as a missionary tool. There was a sign up that went around our stake too for volunteers to help out and be there to answer questions and give tours. It takes over so much of the church building for a whole week that Mike and Monica said they sent them to a different building for ward meetings today.
In the kids room they had a darling nativity set up with a costume area where they could dress as Mary or Joseph or a horse or an angel. It was SO CUTE! We had a lot of fun and will definitely go back next year.
3 days ago we got our new Micro hood and range set. Until then we hadn't had a microwave at all and only the 2 small burners worked on the range. It was so NOT fun! If I didn't have a microwave, I at least needed a stove that had 4 working burners, for heaven's sake!
A few weeks ago I hadn't set out any meat to make dinner, so I decided to have leftover spaghetti at the last minute. It took almost 30 minutes to heat it up in the oven. This wouldn't have been a problem if I had planned ahead. The girls were starving and asked every 2 minutes if it was done yet. It's amazing how we rely so much on all of our modern conveniences. Gives me another reason to appreciate my mother, grandmother and those poor Pioneer women!!!
BEFORE
When we pulled it out........*GASP* *gAg* *GAG*!!!
After
I am really happy with it!! I makes our kitchen look totally different. The only appliance left to be switched out now is the dishwasher. It will be a while, but it needs it almost as desperately as the range!
I caught Tatum dancing to my music earlier. I was dying laughing when she started smacking her own booty....TWICE! I have no idea where she learned that from.....
With our busy weekend filled with sickies, we didn't do our usual Thanksgiving weekend Christmas decoration extravaganza, then I decided I wanted to paint, so today I pulled out some of the decorations and let Tatum and Asia help with the window clings. Will also hung our outside lights, also a first for us. We've never done major exterior lighting, only little things. Roxelle got bundled up for the occassion and Asia discovered my old Disneyland hat that I got as a souvenier on my first trip there when I was 10 years old. She insisted on wearing it! LOL
Look at what I get to do!! You would think I was a little kid in art class. I am totally giddy to get to paint my walls whatever color I want. I started yesterday and have a little finishing up to do today. I'll get some pics to post the finished product.
p.s. don't mind the ex-prego booty =D p.p.s. Tatum started feeling better in the middle of the night. She woke around 2 am starving and wanted to watch "Annie". The only thing I recall is getting a cup of saltines and a tiny bit of water and pushing the tape into the VCR in our room . The next thing I know, the sound of the tape rewinding woke me and I got up to find Tatum sound asleep on the towel/blanket combo that I laid out for her. Poor baby! I just hope that Brinlee doesn't start. If the pattern goes as it has been she'll start tomorrow, but she did end up spending last weekend after Thanksgiving at Grandma Erickson's. She stayed that night until Saturday evening, so maybe she'll avoid getting the bug. *FINGERS-CROSSED*
UGH! We went to Walsh's for dinner last night, which was lovely...THANKS GUYS! The 'UGH' part was on the way home. Well, it started during dinner when Tatum just kept drinking water by the cups full. She just kept saying "Mo wadah". I didn't really think about it until about the 3rd or 4th time she asked. It briefly struck me what she might be doing, but I was kind of involved in making sure that they were all behaving and engaged in conversation with Monte and Dotty for it to really sink in. We were just blocks from home (it's only 5 minute drive from Walsh's) when Mariah gasped and yelped Tatum just threw up. I pulled over to grab a burp cloth, but before I could get back there, she just kept right on erupting. Poor thing was covered..and Mariah looked like she might start all over again. UUUUUUUGH! Of course Will was working. So I quickly got home and got her inside before she could start again. I didn't even want to mess with having her on the carpet in her room, so we put her on her toddler bed mattress on the floor of our bathroom. I got some pics POOR BABY! Thank heavenly that Will is off tomorrow. I can't deal with another day of it by myself.
