"Xmas"

So, I have been the "Xmas" police for years now. I am not afraid to scold anyone for "taking Christ out of Christmas". I thanked a friend for NOT taking Christ out of Christmas in her Facebook post today and it started an interesting conversation. One of the people pointed me toward an article on the origin of "Xmas" that helped me understand it better. So I thought I would share.
p.s. I know I have been doing a lot of non-personal blogging lately. I'll try to get caught up with my pics ASAP.

http://www.thehistoryofchristmas.com/trivia/xmas.htm
Xmas is an abbreviation for Christmas. It is derived from the word ΧΡΙΣΤΟΣ, transliterated as Christos, which is Greek for Christ. Greek is the language in which the whole New Testament was written.
Originally, Xmas was an abbreviation where the X represents the Greek letter chi, which is the first letter of Christ's name. However, because of the modern interpretations of the letter X, many people are unaware of this and assume that this abbreviation is meant to drop Christ from Christmas.

Also, here is a relevant excerpt from Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas
"Xmas" is frowned upon in modern guides for writing styles. Style guides at the New York Times,[2] The Times, The Guardian and the BBC all rule out its use, where possible.[3] Millicent Fenwick, in the 1948 Vogue's Book of Etiquette states that "'Xmas' should never be used" in greeting cards.[4]
The Cambridge Guide to Australian English Usage states that the spelling should be considered informal and restricted to contexts where concision is valued, such as headlines and greeting cards.[5]
The Christian Writer's Manual of Style, while acknowledging the ancient and respectful use of "Xmas" in the past, states that the spelling should never be used in formal writing.[6]

So I suppose I should stop telling people not to use it in forums like Facebook and Twitter. LOL!

Happy Thanksgiving!

A young man named John received a parrot as a gift. The parrot had a bad attitude and an even worse vocabulary. Every word out of the bird's mouth was rude, obnoxious and laced with profanity. John tried and tried to change the bird's attitude by consistently saying only polite words, playing soft music and anything else he could think of to "clean up" the bird's vocabulary.

Finally, John was fed up and he yelled at the parrot. The parrot yelled back. John shook the parrot and the parrot got angrier and even ruder, John, in desperation threw up his hands, grabbed the bird and put him in the freezer. For a few minutes the parrot squawked and kicked and screamed. Then suddenly there was total quiet. Not a peep was heard for over a minute. Fearing that he'd hurt the parrot, John quickly opened the door to the freezer. The parrot calmly stepped out onto John's outstretched arms and said......"I believe I may have offended you with my rude language and actions. I'm sincerely remorseful for my inappropriate transgressions and I fully intend to do everything I can to correct my rude and unforgivable behavior."

John was stunned at the change in the bird's attitude. As he was about to ask the parrot what had made such a dramatic change in his behavior the bird continued, "May I ask what the turkey did?"

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

Will's mom read this poem to us at the first Christmas after Will's dad passed. I just dug it up to give to a grieving friend and thought there might be others who would benefit from it. Merry Christmas ALL!

My First Christmas In Heaven

I see the countless Christmas trees
around the world below
With tiny lights, like Heaven's stars,
reflecting on the snow

The sight is so spectacular,
please wipe away the tear
For I am spending Christmas
with Jesus Christ this year

I hear the many Christmas songs
that people hold so dear
But the sounds of music can't compare with
the Christmas choir up here

I have no words to tell you,
the joy their voices bring
For it is beyond description,
to hear the angels sing

I know how much you miss me
You know I hold you dear
And be glad I'm spending Christmas
with Jesus Christ this year

I sent you each a special gift
From my heavenly home above
I sent you each a memory of my undying love

After all, love is a gift
more precious than pure gold
It was always most important
in the stories Jesus told

Please love and keep each other
As my Father said to do
For I can't count the blessing or love
he has for each of you

So have a Merry Christmas
And wipe away that tear:
Remember, I am spending Christmas
with Jesus Christ this year.

Sack Lunches

Sack Lunches

I put my carry-on in the luggage compartment and sat down in my assigned seat. It was going to be a long flight.. 'I'm glad I have a good book to read; perhaps I will get a short nap,' I thought.

Just before take-off, a line of soldiers came down the aisle and filled all the vacant seats, totally surrounding me. I decided to start a conversation.

'Where are you headed?' I asked the soldier seated nearest to me. 'Petawawa. We'll be there for two weeks for special training, and then we're being deployed to Afghanistan.

After flying for about an hour, an announcement was made that sack lunches were available for five dollars. It would be several hours before we reached the east, and I quickly decided a lunch would help pass the time..

As I reached for my wallet, I overheard a soldier ask his buddy if he planned to buy lunch. 'No, that seems like a lot of money for just a sack lunch. Probably wouldn't be worth five bucks. I'll wait till we get to base. His friend agreed.

I looked around at the other soldiers. None were buying lunch. I walked to the back of the plane and handed the flight attendant a fifty dollar bill. 'Take a lunch to all those soldiers.'

She grabbed my arms and squeezed tightly. Her eyes wet with tears, she thanked me. 'My son was a soldier in Iraq, it's almost like you are doing it for him..'

Picking up ten sacks, she headed up the aisle to where the soldiers were seated. She stopped at my seat and asked, 'Which do you like best - beef or chicken?' 'Chicken,' I replied, wondering why she asked.

She turned and went to the front of plane, returning a minute later with a dinner plate from first class. This is your thanks.

After we finished eating, I went again to the back of the plane, heading for the rest room. A man stopped me. 'I saw what you did. I want to be part of it. Here, take this.' He handed me twenty-five dollars.

Soon after I returned to my seat, I saw the Flight Captain coming down the aisle, looking at the aisle numbers as he walked, I hoped he was not looking for me, but noticed he was looking at the numbers only on my side of the plane. When he got to my row he stopped, smiled, held out his hand, and said, 'I want to shake your hand.' Quickly unfastening my seat-belt I stood and took the Captain's hand. With a booming voice he said, 'I was a soldier and I was a military pilot. Once, someone bought me a lunch. It was an act of kindness I never forgot.'

I was embarrassed when applause was heard from all of the passengers. Later I walked to the front of the plane so I could stretch my legs. A man who looked 20 was seated about six rows in front of me reached out his hand, wanting to shake mine. He left another twenty-five dollars in my palm.

When we landed I gathered my belongings and started to depart. Waiting just inside the airplane door was a man who stopped me, put something in my shirt pocket, turned, and walked away without saying a word. Another twenty-five dollars!

Upon entering the terminal, I saw the soldiers gathering for their trip to the base. I walked over to them and handed them seventy-five dollars. 'It will take you some time to reach the base. It will be about time for a sandwich. God Bless You.'

Ten young men left that flight feeling the love and respect of their fellow travelers. As I walked briskly to my car, I whispered a prayer for their safe return. These soldiers were giving their all for our country. I could only give them a couple of meals. It seemed so little...

A veteran is someone who, at one point in his life, wrote a blank check made payable to 'The United States of America ' for an amount of up to and including my life.' That is Honor, and there are way too many people in this country who no longer understand it.'

That's my girl

Yesterday, Tatum was playing with this little animal puzzle that Roxelle got for her birthday and she kept insisting that the hamster piece is called a "Lommster". I tried to tell her otherwise, but she would not hear it.
This morning after we dropped the girls off at school, she said she wanted to watch "Scooby, Scooby Doo" and that she can't find it. I knew it was in the car so I started handing her all the DVD's from the car. The first one I handed her was "Barbie in the Nutcracker" and when she looked at it she exclaimed "OOO! It's the 'Buttcracker' one, Mommy!" I asked "It's what?" "Buttcracker", she said like DUH MOM!
She is killing me with her mixed up words and phrases. I can remember doing that as a little kid. (ok, Jolene. I know I still do it. LOL!! "Beth hairs" ha ha ha!!) That's my girl!

Top Story

Katu Channel 2's
Anna Song
tweeted me on
Twitter
saying that someone sent her the link to
my blog after reading what happened at WinCo.

Anna and her camera guy came over on

Thursday morning and spent about

an hour talking to me and filming the kids

(Tatum and Roxelle).

Then they asked me if they could meet

me at my

dr appointment

that I made earlier that morning for Tatum.

She woke up with a red, bloodshot eye.
They came to Evergreen Pediatrics and filmed the

entire appointment and also spoke to

Dr. Fuchs

(the girls Ped. pronounced like fyou-ks) on camera.

It was CRAZY!

And also fun.

They aired tidbits on the 4 and 5 o'clock

news and then a full story at 6.

It was the top story on the 5 and 6 airings.

Must've been a slow day!!! LOL

Mask

Today I had to go grocery shopping.

I don't like going when Will's working because

I HATE taking kids with me.

I went to Wmart and Winco and because

Tatum and Roxelle both have

sneezy, goobery noses,

I was doing my part to keep them covered.

The masks help A LOT with

keeping their hands away from their mouth, too.

Believe me I wouldn't have gone

and taken them if it wasn't absolutely necessary.

But you gotta do what you gotta do.

So I am hurrying in Winco, because Roxelle has had enough. I am bagging as fast as I can and I say (kind of to myself)

"OO I hate to be the mom at the checkout with a screaming child. he he"

The woman across from me bagging in the lane facing me just kind of glared at me and I thought,
OH.Kay.

Then she says

"You know your kidding yourself

if you think that's gonna work. The

mask has to be sealed tight to prevent sickness.

So you might as well take it off and make 'him' happy".

I said (humbly) "Oh, well it does help a little."

She said "No it doesn't if it's not air tight."

I said (humbly again)

"Oh. Well, my

husband's a nurse and he insists I have them wear it".

She says, (GET THIS)

"Well maybe he should be the one at the grocery store instead of you."

THE NERVE!!!

Then the checkout lady called me over to ask a

question and gave me a sympathetic look.

When I went back to my business.

She was glaring again and so I said;

"Well, you know, they have icky noses and are sneezing, so I'm just trying to save everyone else from getting their germs. The masks will at least keep the snot from spraying everywhere."

She didn't respond. RUDE!

Several people at both stores made comments like "That's smart" and "Good for you" and "Thank you for sparing me the germs". One older lady in Wmart in one of those electric carts had on a mask, too. I told Tatum "look, Aunty has a mask, too". The lady was so nice telling Tatum how cool hers looked with Mickey Mouse on it. Their Peds office gives them out for free, so I snagged a couple when I was there last. Glad I did! The girls were both really good about leaving them on. Roxelle got over it toward the end and refused to leave it put, but for the most part she didn't even bother it. Tatum didn't take hers off at all.

baby steps

Roxelle just took her first steps about 20 minutes ago!!! We were sitting on the floor watching tv and Will says "Mommy! Mommy, LOOK!" I turn to see Roxelle take 1 and a 1/2 little steps toward me, giggling all the while. FINALLY!!! She's 12 months and 10 days, already!!

I am so proud of you, Honey!!

Check out these 2 letters that Will received from the hospital today. One is from the Director of Human Resources and the other is from the Head Hospital Administrator.

If you click on the letters individually, they will open up into larger view.

These letters are to inform Will that he is being named the hospital wide Employee of the Month for October!!! His manager said that they will give him a party at the hospital and present him with his award. She said to invite his family, friends and well anyone that cares to come and celebrate. He needs to pick a date that he wants the party on and I will let everyone know when he does.

His floor manager, DJ, told him that this is a pretty big deal and will probably only happen once, maybe twice in his career so plan big! He even gets to choose what food to have! I am so thrilled for him! He, of course, is being very modest about the whole thing. Congratulations, Honey! You deserve it!!

Always a day late and a dollar short...

I know I'm always a day late and a dollar short. I thought all day yesterday about 9/11. I will never forget.

The footage is very real. Don't watch if you can't stomach it.
If you can, then grab a tissue and we'll watch it together.

My memory of that day is not out of the ordinary. I was doing the same thing as everyone else when I got a phone call from my sister Paula telling me to turn on the tv and my world came to a screeching halt. Mariah was 18 months old and I was pregnant with Brinlee.

I was working part time for Caldera Systems as a receptionist and I was just getting ready to leave for work when the 2nd plane hit.

I remember watching the replay of the 1st plane and trying to play out in my mind what could have possibly happened, but when the 2nd plane hit, is was horrendously obvious what was happening.

I can still hear the eerie quiet-ness of the skies and streets that day. I remember the sense of hopelessness in the days after and then the slow building up of unity across the nation.

I am proud to be an American and I send my prayers and well-wishes to those that have made and still make my freedom possible.

I am forever indebted.

billy bob

Look MOM! I have teeth!!!

(You have to click on the picture to make

it bigger and get a better view)

Oh, Asia.

That girl gets me laughing and angry all in about a 30 second span!

This morning she just had me laughing, though. She came up to my room and discovered her money purse. I was getting ready and she was on my bed. She suddenly says:

A: "Ughh! I don't want $2 dollars!"
Me: "OOO! I'll have it then!"
A: "Nooo-wuh! I want more dollars!"
Me: "Well, then you'll have to go get a job to earn more dollars."
A: "What?! Why?"
Me: "Because money doesn't grow on trees like the fruit."
A: *Thinks for a minute* "What if I find a dollar, no, a LOT of dollars in the street and I just start picking them all up? Then I'll be RRrrrich!!" *laughs her funny little giggle*

p.s. I finalized everything for her to start Kindergarten. After all my effort, I still couldn't convince VANSD to let her into public school, so she is going to a private school (Kindercare Learning Center). Much to my relief, it's not going to be quite as expensive as I was told it would be. It's actually not that much more than putting her in preschool for another whole year. She is over the moon excited!!!

delayed reaction

I guess I spoke a little too soon. (BOOOO!) After about a week and a half of Tatum being on cow's milk, this morning she woke me with her trademark "dairy" hacking cough. She's been fine with everything else since last April at Easter time. I guess she wasn't ready for straight milk yet. I am still happy that she can have pretty much everything else. I'll just have to keep her on Almond Milk for drinking for a while, I guess.

Dairy Ice Cream

Every summer, my girls' pediatric dentist has an ice cream party. This was our first year and the girls were in heaven!! He rents an ice cream truck and gives each kid a set of tickets for different stuff and one ticket is to pick 1 treat (anything they want) off the truck. Since we've been easing into letting Tatum eat dairy, I let her choose what she wanted. She was practically giddy and knew exactly what she wanted...."DORA!".

Dr. Brandon has these token machines in his office and each visit the kids each get 1 or 2 tokens to get a prize. This day, they earned the tokens by playing the little "carnival" games they had set up.
At the end of the day, they got some airbrushing.

FREEEE the "Dairy Free-k"

We've been battling an annoying dairy allergy with Tatum since she was about 9 months old. She has a serious respiratory reaction to any type of dairy ingestion and so we've been pretty careful about reading labels and letting caregivers (i.e. nursery and babysitters, etc.) know about it. Plus the older girls have been really good at knowing what she can and cannot have.

Each year at Easter, we make sure that the bunny knows that she can't have chocolate and she gets stocked with appropriate treats like Skittles and Starburst (and Oreo Cookies...they don't have milk. I know. Go figure!)

Anyway, this past Easter, Tatum kept hiding behind the couch and eating the other girls chocolates. She just couldn't resist. The poor kid LOVES chocolate. She would come into the kitchen with a thick ring of chocolate around her mouth and I thought for sure we were gonna be seeing the ER in a few days, but about a week later, I noticed that she hadn't had ANY reactions to it.

Over these last few months we started with letting her have hard cheeses. She loves Mozzarella sticks. A few weeks ago I let her eat a 1/2 of a gogurt. Nothing. Then we had an ice cream party at the their dentist's office and I let her have "dairy" ice cream (that post is on it's way with pics). Nothing, again. A few days ago, I started putting "dairy milk" on her cereal. Still, nothing.

HALLELUJaaaah...

......oh. wait. Roxelle was born with the same allergy. She got her first runny nose at about 9 days old. I couldn't eat dairy while nursing her and that was HARD! Hers manifests a little differently than Tatums. Her first symptoms are goopy eyes. Tatum would always start with the wheezing and hacking cough. Roxelle has only worked up to the cough once or twice after someone accidentally gave her something with dairy. I can only hope that she grows out of it as quickly as Tatum did!

Tatum turns 3!

Tatum wanted to have her party at the "water park". Luckily, downtown Vancouver has Ester Short Park with this great water feature and it's FREE!
Tatum was in her own world most of the day! She wasn't going to let anyone or anything bother her! She even got to see her favorite cousin, Hannah. They are like 2 peas in a pod, but couldn't be more opposite at the same time!!
We let the kids play in the water for a good long time and then we had cupcake cones, snacks and juice.
Will had to work, but I had my mom there to help and lots of friends, too.
When we got home, we did another cake and sang Happy Birthday and then she wanted to jump on the tramp, so she did just that!
She is such a funny girl and so much fun to have around! She is our family "clown"!

Mom's Salon

Clockwise from Roxelle: Mariah, Asia, Tatum, Brinlee

I decided to give each of the girls a "real" pedicure and paint their finger and toe nails. They thought they were real princesses getting the royal treatment. They didn't even mind having to take turns in the foot soak bath.

They each chose their own colors for their fingers and toes. Tatum insisted on black polish for both fingers and toes. Silly girl! LOL!!

She loved the water!

and now here's.....the rest of the story

Today is Will's birthday so I thought it would be fun to take a cake to his work. While I was getting ready upstairs, this is what the girls were doing downstairs...

Don't they EVER learn?! SHEESH! I guess I
didn't scare Asia enough with horror stories
of chopping her own little fingers off with a knife.
I even put it up and she dragged a bar stool over
and got it anyway.

Going to see Will at work was fun! The girls were so surprised to see him at a hospital "where babies come from" ~Asia. The girls created quite a stir among the staff. Sadly, this is the first time we've been down to see him at work and he's been there a year this month!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HONEY!

Will's Birthday Surprise

Will had to work today and it's his birthday, so we decided to surprise him with a cake at work. He has worked at Providence Milwaukie Hospital for a year now and we have never been in to visit him. His co-workers were beginning to think we didn't exist! LOL!

The Great Watermelon Massacre

Yesterday, Asia and Tatum were banished to their room until they cleaned the entire thing. They were in there from 9 am to 6:30 pm with only 1 break for lunch and 1 for dinner and the room was still not clean at bed time. I made them share a bed because I am tired of clearing a spot on the floor to drag the trundle out for Tatum to sleep on.
This morning after breakfast, around 9, I sent them back up there. At 11-ish, Asia came to report that the dress ups were all put away. I congratulated her and gave them a small snack and sent them to clean the rest.
At 1, they came down whining and I asked if it was clean. "Nooo." So I took them back up there to find that a Barbie doll and accessory explosion had occurred. Plus the Polly Pockets and all their teeny weeny pieces were still out along with other random toys and books. (It's been a long standing rule in our house since Mariah was very little that they are not allowed to mix and play with their toys. They can play Polly's, but have to put them away if they want to play Barbie's or dress-ups, etc. If they break that rule then those 2 or more sets of offending toys are banished for any given number of days).
I yelled a little (ok...a LOT) and told them to clean. it. up.!!!!
So Asia came down around 1:45 to report that the Polly's were all picked up. I told her I would cut her some watermelon, but she had to go put the bin in the closet first. So she hurried off to do it. Well I didn't hear her come back down and a little while later Mariah came into the living room and said "Asia made a mess of the watermelon".....

It was whole with only the very end cut off. And,
YES, that's the knife she was using. And, YES,
they ate what is missing. UUUGGHH!!!!!

National Neighborhood Night Out

The first Tuesday in August each year is National Neighborhood Night Out. I had asked around to find out if our neighborhood does it and no one had heard of it, so I decided to put one together for the people on our street.

We had a pretty good turn out and my neighbor, Lola Downs, let us use her big open field as the staging area. It was potluck and we had a great time!

Lola Downs, Roxelle, Kristy

Our next door neighbors Vitaliy, Elena and baby Angela (Alvena not pictured)


"Uncle" JR Roberts brought some friends for the kids to see.

Erickson girls manning the sign in table (Artem and Vitaliy pictured)

After all the festivities, we were cleaning up and I caught 10 mo old Roxelle, who barely even crawls, trying to climb the stairs. She actually makes a pretty good attempt!

Tatum's Pics

I took Tatum yesterday to get her pictures done for her 3rd birthday (Aug 24). She did pretty well considering we had to wait about 2 hours. It was a struggle at first, and I am NOT a fan of prop in pics, but after I relented to letting her hold that bear, she was all smiles and goofy expressions. I'd have preferred she not hold the bear in every pic on the first background, but she would not smile without it. Oh, well....
www.kiddiekandids.com always does a great job!

IN charge

After only 8 months of working with Providence Milwaukie Hospital (in April), Will was asked if he'd like to start training as a charge nurse. He excitedly agreed and absolutely loves doing it! He has been on his own for a couple months now and has received a couple emails from the head nurse at PMH praising his efforts. WAY TO GO, Honey! I am so happy for you!

1st cavities

The girls had their bi-annual dentist cleaning yesterday. They've all been twice a year since they were about 2, except Tatum who's been going since 15 months. Anyway, we've never had cavities until now. BOO! I thought it'd be Mariah, but it's actually Brinlee. She has 2 small cavities on 2 baby teeth. They still want to fix them even though they are on baby teeth. DANG! No FUN! I have to make her an appointment in the next couple months.

soooOOooory!

I am so sorry for the lack of posts....my drafts are getting a little out of control.

I have had quite a few people asking me lately why I don't post for a while and then all of a sudden they will look and there's a TON of posts up. It's because I always start a "draft" so that I won't forget things that I want to blog about in detail or write a blog and then tell myself that I'll come right back on to add pictures, but never come back to finish them until I have time and then I publish them all in one afternoon and they post on the date that I originally started the draft.

Did that even make sense? Idk, I'll try to get 'em all up....

Lincoln City

It's been SO HOT these past few days. It was about 108* in Woodburn today, but luckily we went to Lincoln City and oddly, it was cloudy and chilly there.

We went to the outlet mall, where Tatum got lost. She didn't keep up and there were so many kids, that it was easy to loose track. A lady was standing by the restrooms with her (that's where she got left) and was about to call for help when Grandpa spotted her. We also went to Depoe Bay and looked in shops and got salt water taffy and played on the beach at D Sands. I didn't stay to play on the beach, I went home with a car that wasn't staying. Roxelle was a little fussy and I wanted to get her cleaned up and fed.

The mall

Depot Bay and baby Cashel "low riding". LOL! (poor baby!)


We also stopped for lunch at BK

S'mores

Mike and Jackie are in town for Jackie's HS reunion, and Ross and Lindsay are here and so are Megan and Adam!
We are staying in Woodburn for a few days to hang out and tonight we started a fire in Grandma's fire pit and made s'mores!

Asia, Brinlee, Mariah, and Audrey Hathaway

Ava Hathaway, Asia, Hannah and Chelsea Jones and Kirsten Hathaway


Asia, Kirsten Hathaway, and Brinlee


Kirsten, Brinlee, Mariah and Audrey

MMmmmm! Marshmallows!!

Multnomah Falls

We went to Multnomah Falls with Grandma Erickson and Mike, Monica and Rennick. I am embarrassed to say that I have never been and we only live about an hour away from it. It was breathtaking! So beautiful. The girls had a BLAST!

Roxelle is just along for the ride.

Mariah squishing her penny

After the falls we stopped in Troutdale at the outlet mall to shop and little and had lunch at Wendy's. It was a great day!

Aren't Grandma's the best? Mom would never
spend the .75 cents on this!