8 Months & Christmas at the Erickson's!

Merry Christmas . . . I'm eight months old!

Milla turned 8 months old on Christmas Eve and we celebrated our family Christmas that evening as well. The big snowstorm kept us from church, but we had our own mini-service in the living room that would have made my Dad (the Lutheran pastor) proud. It was a great night . . . Milla was way too interested in the wrapping paper to care what she received, Anja was stoked about her new kitchen duds, discovered the Nisse sitting outside, put out food for Santa and the Nisse, and Erik and I just sat back and enjoyed being a family.

Anja helped wrap presents and Milla wanted to as well.

Last year Anja received a play kitchen . . . this year came the real deal, complete with her own working Kuhn Rikon Kinderkitchen tools!

We both received aprons and "oven mittens" as Anja calls them.

A sweet pea for our sweet pea.


Anja and Erik spot the Nisse . . . can you?! If you see him, he freezes!

Erik in his Erik the Viking shirt by Danefae.

Christmas morning brought stockings and presents from Santa and the Nisse.


Anja and Milla enjoy a ride on their new sled from the Nisse from their Grandpa Paul on Christmas Day.


Anja and Nana Marilyn preparing the fruit for breakfast.


Anja was quick to put her oven mittens and new tools to work, making sugar cookies on Christmas morning after presents and breakfast.

The past month has been a big one for milestones with Milla . . . she sits up, crawls around like crazy, pulls herself up, takes steps around furniture, can lean down and pick things up while standing, is more aware her tactical sense, crawled up her first step(s), sleeps and naps in her own room, is beginning to find her voice, eats and hunts for Cheerios, and is also beginning to hold her own with Anja. :) She has been so fun to watch! My favorite new thing is the shy look she gives friends and relatives---looks at you and smiles---then quickly hides her big beautiful blue eyes. Such a sweetheart.

Time to Catch Up!

(Anja's creation: please note the drink coasters strategically placed at each leg.)

This picture of Anja (taken last Saturday) pretty much captures the chaotic fall we've had . . . a little bit of everything, fairly well organized, teetering just so. Needless to say, we are looking forward to some time off!

Anja with the same drying rack before her 1st birthday. (Just because.)

It's time to recap a little and catch our blog up before Christmas and New Year's arrive, so here it goes.

We spent the day before Thanksgiving traveling around a bit . . . our first stop was Bella's in Alexandria to have pre-Thanksgiving lunch with Great Grandma Bev.

Our next stop was to Windom, MN where my Dad is the Interim Lead Pastor at American Lutheran Church. We spent the night in the parsonage and then drove out to Annandale for Thanksgiving with Erik's extended family.


The next day brought us to the Erickson Brothers Tree Farm to pick out our Christmas tree.


The start of our trek through the fields (it took forever but we found a good one)!

Anja running the trains inside.

It only took us a couple of days to put it up . . . here Anja and Papa put the finishing touch on the tree.

Our first real snow at our new house! This is the snow pile in our backyard . . . the kids are out there playing every chance they get, even in these colder than normal temps. Anja is in heaven!

This is Milla's favorite thing to do now . . . standing, practice walking, pulling up on everything, and even climbing up a stair. We may have another early walker on our hands!

Happy St. Nick's Day!

We celebrated St. Nick's Day again and this time Anja found the book "Olivia Helps with Christmas" tucked between her boots. Each year we try and give her something with a song; the first year was "The Little Drummer Boy," the next year was "The Friendly Beasts," and this year's story included a page with Olivia singing "Angels We Have Heard on High." The book is sure to become a bedtime favorite.

Seven Months!

She loves to stand up during meal time . . . looks like bananas are for dessert!

Milla is now seven months and cruising all over the place. She loves eating her solids (opening with big "Ahhhhhs") and is developing more of her own personality. She's very observant of others around her and only "speaks" when necessary. She easily goes from person to person, often grabbing for any willing hands. She loves to slap the hard wood floors, tables and her legs, eliciting noise wherever she can. She is on the cusp of many milestones and is still such a sweetheart. What a joy!

Anja is Three!

Anja counts her balloons.

The day started with a snuggle and Anja asking, "Today? Really? Today is my birthday?!" Reassured, we headed downstairs for her traditional breakfast of heart-shaped Norwegian waffles.

All day long she asked about when her friends would be coming over and when we'd have cake. A 3pm start time is a long time for a three-year-old to wait! 3pm finally came and three of her friends (Maya, Elle and Harper) their parents and her Grandparents helped to celebrate her day.

Waiting and waiting and waiting!

The photos do a good job of showing how the afternoon unfolded . . .

The kiddos made birthday hats to start.

Next up, stamps and markers and stickers and crayons to decorate a mural for the wall.

Harper and Maya hard at work.

Nana Marilyn and Milla come to take a peek at the action.

Next up . . . a treasure hunt.

Anja and Maya find one of the clues.

Time for the 3rd edition of the chocolate ganache cake from the Franklin Street Bakery. Just as good as the last two years!

Presents!

Playing with the new toys.

Anja and me winding down the evening. She definitely didn't want to go to bed---she was too jazzed from a great birthday.

Anja is a remarkable 3 year old. She can count to 100 with a little help, is starting to read and sound out words, is very independent, a great snuggler, quick-witted, very confident, and on and on. She amazes us with some of her one-liners and quick problem-solving skills. We look forward to another exciting year of watching her grow!

Six Month Stats . . .

Exploring new territory a couple of weeks ago.

Milla had her six month well-baby check last week and she's literally off the charts for height. At 28 1/2 inches long, she's over an inch longer than Anja was at 6 months. No wonder she easily wears 12 month pants!

We can say that she officially started crawling as of sometime in the last couple of weeks. She gets around to wherever she'd like to go, and if she wants something, she's going to go and get it, so watch out! For example, Anja has been into playing "Go Fish" lately, but "Go Fish" has become "You'd better move those pairs out of the way before Milla gets them," or something like, "Grab 'Em, Move 'Em and Go Fish." It provides Anja with great entertainment, and for us, great enjoyment to hear her belly-laughs. It's fun to see them interact more and more each day.

One Month Later . . .

Our house, all lit up on Halloween night.

It's been a month since we moved in and we're definitely moving in the right direction. We're getting more sleep, but unfortunately that just means putting things off. We do however have pictures on the wall, so we think we're doing pretty well at this point. Our goal is to get things in order by Anja's birthday, or Thanksgiving, or Christmas. :)

The first weekend we were in our house, our neighbors (one whom is a Concordia alum) hosted a bonfire in the alley behind our houses. We learned that this was a regular occurrence, something that they do lots in the summer, and when it's nice during the fall, winter and spring. It's a great time--the kids run around all of the open yards, drink juice boxes and fix s'mores, and the parents get time to socialize with each other drinking their beverages of choice. A win-win for everyone.

All told, there are 32 kids in our "circle" which has about 30-40 houses in it. The vast majority are toddlers, so Anja is in heaven meeting new kids whenever she has the opportunity.

Anja organizes her Halloween candy in our entry.

Beyond a great place for the kids to run around, having a lawn and yard has also afforded us a little extra added responsibility, something that we don't mind (yet at least!). We purchased a push mower over the weekend and the compost bin will be set up in the next couple of days.

We hope to take more pictures as things come together and will post them as soon as we can find the time.

Our First Halloween at 2708

Organized chaos?

We had a great time meeting up with neighbors this Halloween. About 25 kids showed up for the pre-trick-or-treating photo-op where parents of the kiddos passed out candy and treats and then traveled around our neighborhood's circle to visit the other houses. Anja had a blast with Sophie, a new friend who lives just a couple houses down from us.

At first, Anja wanted to be a ghost. Then, on the fairy kick (like everyone else), she decided she would be Abby Cadabby, a fairy-in-training and also her favorite Sesame Street character. We teamed up with Erik's mom who sewed a fantastic skirt, and I even busted out the puff paint (!) to put the finishing touches on the wings. Here we are dressing her up on Halloween night:

Abby Cadabby is ready to go!


Sophie and Anja take a pit stop.

Anja and Sophie visit our house, where Erik's parents handed out candy and watched Milla.

After the trick-or-treating was done, everyone met up again to have another bonfire. It was way past Anja's bedtime so our time there was short, but we were still able to talk with a few neighbors. Anja summed up this Halloween just like Corduroy as the "best Halloween ever!" She's already talking about her costume for next year.

Six Months!

Hey! Hey! I'm six months old today!

Milla spent part of her 1/2 birthday at the Tamarack Nature Preserve for their Trick or Treat event. It was a great, non-sugary filled event that we hope to attend in the years to come!

Milla continues to be a sweet, sweet baby. She's happy and content the vast majority of the time, very strong, and is on the cusp of crawling. Still moving around on her back, she oftentimes runs right into the stone fireplace. (Ouch!)

Anja is also becoming more interested in her little sister---giving (and taking away!) her toys, singing to her, wanting to help when she can, and even cleaning up copious amounts of her spit-up!

Joe, Elle, Milla, me, Anja & Maya trekking around Tamarack in search of the next treat.


Anja and Elle playing with gourds and filling up their buckets. (A good lesson in sharing for all!)


Cranking out fresh apple juice . . . yum!