December has come and gone . . .

We found these colored lights and Anja ran around with them for awhile (unplugged them a few times as well!).

It's hard to believe that 2008 is right around the corner. Seems like it was just Thanksgiving and now we're getting ready to welcome in the New Year. We finally decorated our tree on the 23rd, just in time to celebrate on Christmas Eve. Anja got into the act and had her own cluster of ornaments on the tree---and only tasted a few pine needles. She loves the tree's lights, flipping the switch on and off.

Anja's cluster of ornaments--not bad!

We celebrated with lots of family this past week--six celebrations for us this year. It was great to see so many family members, and exciting to see Anja light up with new people and in new situations. We've captured a few moments below---enjoy!

Anja had a great time playing with her cousins. Here she is playing under the table with Tia.

Grandpa Erickson helped Anja open gifts from her cousin, Lexi. You can never have too many rubber duckies! Thanks, Lexi!

Anja had a great time opening presents on Christmas Eve. Shred by shred of paper, she got better as the evening progressed.

More books for the bookworm.

And for the grand finale . . .

. . . my very own trike!

A Trip to the Erickson Bros. Tree Farm

L to R: Erik, Shana, Anja, Beck, Susie, Pat, Han, Heather, Taro and Christer.

As most everyone knows, Erik's family owns a tree farm near Taylor's Falls, so every year we have the opportunity to cut down our family Christmas tree. Two Sundays ago, with the freshly fallen snow on the ground, we ventured out with some friends and their families. The kids enjoyed sledding, stomping around in the snow, making snow angels, and of course, the cookies, cider and watching the ever-expanding model train display.

. . . and they're off!


Han gives the tree cutters the all-clear.

Taro makes a snow angel.


Walking on snow is a little more challenging!

All bundled up . . .

Beck and Taro give Erik a hand hauling the trees back to the shaker.

Our tree sits in our living room, still undecorated after 11 days. We hope to get it decorated before Christmas Eve. Anja is learning to say "tree" and "lights" -- "ornaments" is a little too advanced, and if you ask us, way overrated (for now anyway). We're looking forward to spending the week with family and friends, relaxing and unwinding before the craziness begins again!

A Day to Celebrate St. Nicholas . . .

All throughout my childhood, we set out our shoes on December 5th for St. Nicholas. This year we started the same tradition with Anja. For those of you who don't know who St. Nicholas is, check out this site: http://www.stnicholascenter.org/Brix?pageID=38 It does an excellent job of explaining who he was and what he did.

Here are some pictures of Anja outside her door, checking out what St. Nicholas left her. No orange this year, maybe next!

What's this? Another book? YES!

Nice bed head!

We flip and read/sing. Looks like The Little Drummer Boy by Ezra Jack Keats is winner!

Juxtapositions

I found these photographs by Matt Stuart online (no idea who he is) and thought I'd pass them on. Fun what interesting juxtapositions can do.See more at: http://alanocu.backpackit.com/pub/1305361
For the photographer's site: http://www.mattstuart.com/

They used to be long pants . . . now they're capris!

See below for a post recapping some fun that Anja and I had this evening. Meanwhile, here's a shot of Anja in the flip flops we got for January's trip to Puerto Rico.

Got Milk? 'Cause We Do!

How to Drink Milk with a One Year Old:

In goes the Nuk . . . swirl it all around!

Add a Cheerio next . . .

Take a few sips . . .


Remove Nuk to taste . . .

Flip glass over and spill all over the floor.

That's how the Ericksons do it!

A lesson here: when teaching your one year-old to drink from a glass, use one that doesn't have much capacity. Anja's favorite word for the night: "Eeeeewwww!" (As I mopped up the floor and table.) Fun times and lots of laughs!

Thankful for a Great Weekend!

We had a great Thanksgiving weekend full of lots of family and friends. We spent Thanksgiving day with my parents at their new home in Blaine and spent the rest of the weekend enjoying our time together as a family.

We met Nathan and Krista at Taste of Scandinavia for brunch . . . it was great to catch up as they're living the crazy life of a med school student and dentist in DC!

My Mom and Dad in front of their new house. They moved in about a month ago and have been working very hard unpacking and organizing ever since!

******

Anja had her one year check-up last week and is doing fantastic. She's 21 lbs. 11 oz. (65th percentile) and 32! inches long (100th! percentile). She's healthy and happy!

In the last couple of days, she's decided it's time to use more words. It's quite entertaining to hear her just jabber away!


As usual, Anja has the run of the place. She's getting faster and faster!!!

Erik loves it when Anja cuddles like this---I guess we all do! He's been working on a paper all weekend so a little TLC was appreciated.

Welcome, Calder!

We found out yesterday that our good friends, Carly and Matt finally had their baby boy, Calder. Ironically enough, he and Anja share the same birthday. I was able to go to the hospital to meet their new addition---what a beautiful little one!

Calder was named after a famous sculptor, Alexander Calder. You can read more about him here: www.nga.gov/exhibitions/calder/realsp/roomenter-foyer.htm Both parents are artists, so his name is very fitting!

Congrats, Carly and Matt!

Anja is ONE!

We're not sure if this can be proof of Anja running just yet, but our loyal readers can make the call. Regardless, she's fast!

Today was officially Anja's first birthday. She started the day with Norwegian waffles for breakfast and ended with marble birthday cake from Byerly's for her pre-bedtime snack. We'll post more pictures when we get a few free minutes!

Progressive Education

Our good friend Umut is in town from Kyrgyzstan. We were talking about education (she is a teacher) and I thought of this video. Enjoy...

Anja's First Birthday Open House!

Anja in her birthday hat which reads: "It's Fun to be One!" and with a few of her "Silly Monkeys" (Thanks, Milo!).

Today we hosted many family and friends at our open house to celebrate Anja's first birthday. A BIG THANKS to everyone who was able to attend; it was great to see so many of you! Here are some pictures from the afternoon.

Despite skipping her nap(s), Anja was happy and energetic the entire afternoon. That's her Great Aunt Anne and G'ma Marilyn in the background.

Playing with Beck and Taro in the toy corner.

Anja's first stab at cake---she liked it---surprise, surprise! To the right are the remains of her double layer chocolate ganache cake from the Franklin Street Bakery. Yum!

Check out Han (right side with his dad, Pat). Anja didn't take long to figure out her new wooden push toy (Thanks, Nancy & Dan!).

This week is going to be a busy one; not only is it Anja's birthday on Thursday, but our friend Umut (oooh--moot) from Kyrgyzstan is flying in tomorrow for the week. We haven't seen her since the summer of 2004. She just finished up two months of educational classes and workshops at George Mason University, as well as two side trips to see other former Peace Corps friends in San Francisco and Seattle. We're the last stop on her trip as she'll head back to Kyrgyzstan on Sunday.

BabyLegs and the Big ONE!

Anja in her BabyLegs . . . and apple juice soaked onesie.

Since it's getting a little colder out, we (okay, I) decided that Anja was due to try out one of the latest baby trends: BabyLegs. They're like leg warmers for little people, and have various other uses. You can read more about them (or find out where they're sold) at: www.babylegs.net.

At this stage, Anja is into pushing, pulling and dragging things. Her high chair, picnic table, car (see photos), rocking chair, our chairs and other various pieces of large furniture are all game. At times, she really amazes us with her strength!

We're getting ready for Anja's first birthday . . . only one more week and she's out of the "infant" section entirely! (Sigh.)

Web Find

Anja and I spent the day at a cyclocross race at the Blaine Sports center. It was an epic race - I'll post some fun photos of it later tonight (hopefully).

In the meantime, I was browsing the web (reading what people were saying about the race today) and came across this:

Cost of the War in Iraq

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To see more details, click here.

Check out their 'notes and sources' section to see how they get their number.

Halloween and a Visit from Uncle Steve

Our cute little kangaroo with her very own joey in tow.

Halloween was lots of fun at our house this year . . . we dressed Anja up, carved up a pumpkin, and Anja greeted each trick-or-treater at the door.

Carving our pumpkin.

When all was said and done, Anja was pretty tuckered out. No problems getting her to bed last night!

Uncle Steve came to visit today and was very helpful. He read Anja a few books and even decided he was up for the challenge of feeding her. I kept warning him about her reach, and indeed she showed him that she's quick; she got herself a handful of yogurt before it was all finished!