25 Days of Christmas

This year we started a new tradition. Every night in December the kids got to pick out a piece of candy from the "slipper"(advent calendar) and a gift from their grandparents. We then chose to do a small activity for the night as a family. Sometimes it was just watching a Christmas movie and drinking hot coco, sometimes it was going out and doing things. We saw Santa, looked at Christmas lights, baked Christmas treats, saw gingerbread lane, and brought gifts to friends and family. I love this time of year and it was fun to start these new traditions as a family. Here are some highlights from the last month:

Snow Day!

We finally got some snow and boy has Ella enjoyed it! Right now there is about a foot of snow and it has made playing outside much more enjoyable, but a lot more work. When Ella first saw the snow she said to me, "look mama it sparkles". 

Holiday Newsletter 2008

Happy Holidays! This year in the spirit of being green and frugal I decided to post my newsletter on the blog, so enjoy a quick update on our family.

This year started out with a big move. We migrated from California to good old Idaho and the adjustment took some time. As we finally settled into our home it was time to change everything up again with the birth of Hunter Lewis Ericksen. He is a wonderful addition to the family and I really can't remember what life was like without him. 

Mike spent the spring and summer of this year enjoying the outdoors (as much as one can with a newborn) and he soon realized his need for a Motorcycle/four-wheeler/snowmobile/etc. He also enjoys his new calling as the 11-year old Scout Master (note the sarcasm  because this was his calling for the last 4 years in our old ward).

Brittany spent the last year adjusting to a new place and complaining about the lack of Super Targets in the state of Idaho! She spent most of her time convincing family members to move to Idaho (which worked) and catching up on lots of projects that were put off during the pregnancy. 

Ella has become her own little person with lots of spunk and determination (that is a little sugar coating) and she definitely has her likes and dislikes. She loves princess anything, dress up, and dance and gymnastics. She dislikes most food groups, bedtime, and socks that "don't work" (don't ask). Ella is very excited to be starting ballet in January and can't wait to wear a tutu.

Hunter has spent this year growing... a lot. He is in the 90th percentile for his height and he has almost doubled his birth weight. He has also spent the last year learning how to eat solids, sit up on his own, and crawl. His whole mission in life is to scoot his way to a new shiny object and put it in his mouth. 

This year has brought some new changes and adjustments but I think we can say we are finally feeling settled. 

Merry Christmas and happy holiday,

Love,

The Ericksen's

Masquerade Ball

A few weekends ago our friends invited Mike and me to go to a Masquerade ball. I was not sure how Mike would respond to the idea, so I decided to make it a surprise, which he let me know how much he really hates that. Anyway we got all dressed up and went to the Legacy Air Museum, which is a really cool building that has a bunch of old airplanes inside. 

And here is the best part... Mike and I won the Big prize, a night at a theme Suite at a hotel called Americinn. We had to laugh because if it had not been for our friends who ended up staying longer than we did we would not have received the prize (thanks Amy and Glen). I don't know why but I love to win prizes, no matter what they are, it is just really fun to win something. So now we just have to find a babysitter and we are set. All in all it was a really fun night, and it was something to do instead of just going to the movies (our old standby). I hope they do this again next year!

Santa Is Coming To Town...

A few weeks ago at our ward Christmas party Ella and Hunter got to see Santa! As you can tell by Ella's face she loved the whole concept. Not to worry though because we took Ella to see Santa again at the mall and she had a much better experience. She still does not get the whole Christmas idea. She understands who Santa is, but I don't think she really gets that he will be bringing her lots of toys very soon, which is really too bad because I don't get to use the whole "Santa is watching, so you better be good", but maybe next year! 

Ella's First Shiner

The other day Ella fell down on the fireplace and although she complained a little that it hurt, I could not find any cuts or bruises so I thought it must have been pretty harmless. Well the next morning Ella woke up looking like this! At first we thought she may be getting an eye infection but when it didn't seem to be spreading we finally put it together and realized it must have been her fall.

Day After Thanksgiving

The day after Thanksgiving we decided to get the tree up and decorated along with the outside of our house. We had a fun day hanging by the fire and decorating for Christmas time. Later that night we went to the tree lighting ceremony where we got to see Santa and all of the pretty lights of the city. We ended the night with some hot cocoa and amazing cupcakes!

Ella enjoyed hanging ornaments and being a big helper.

Ella had many costume changes this day as you will see.

Ella and Mike put up the tree topper

Hunter ready to brave the chilly night.

We had to wait patiently for Santa to come, but is was worth it.

Ella enjoying a big yummy cupcake!

We all had to warm up from cold and of course what warms you up more than sugar?(Mmmm, so worth it, I love this cupcake place)

Our Elf Dance

Send your own ElfYourself eCards

Thanksgiving Day!

This Thanksgiving we stayed home, which was a very different experience than we are used to, but we did enjoy how relaxing this time was and I know that Mike was able to go back to work refreshed rather than exhausted.

Here are some of the highlights from the day:

This is my chocolate-macadamia nut pie, which I thought turned out great, so its a keeper

We played some Thankful games during dinner and had a little toast. It was a really nice meal and a really relaxing day.

We really enjoyed some great food and had a ton of leftovers! Which is one of my favorite things

After dinner the boys took very long naps and the girls made jewelry and ate a lot of different desserts. 

Later that night the younger girls decided to have makeovers and needless to say this was followed by a very long bath.

After all of this excitement we ended the night with one more round of leftovers and dessert and a Christmas movie.