my dad

I think she's starting to look more like Matt.

Christmas day.

This is what Sarah did while we

did this.

Brinley got Legos, but I have had more fun with them. I built this and then let her tear it down so that I could build another one.
******
Since most of the family had other things going on Christmas Eve, we had the Erickson celebration Christmas Day. We played games ( Trivia Pursuit and Would You Rather?), chatted, ate a ham dinner, watched movies, ate snacks, put a puzzle together, ate pie, and ate some more.
Gotta love the Holidays.

New Years Eve should be fun. It is my Mom's birthday and it's become a tradition (7 years, I believe?) to go out to eat at Wolf Lodge in Couer d'Alene

MMM...the BEST steaks ever.

It's so worth the 40 mile drive to get there.

i was a winner.

Back on December 3rd the blog world had a huge give away day.

I must have left comments on at least 100 blogs. Not only did I come across some amazing crafters, I won something from here.(check out her etsy shop, such CUTE stuff). She even sent me a cute handmade card.

A dream catcher. I t hangs above Sarah's crib and it is ADORABLE.
It fits perfectly into Brinley and Sarah's room...it would go in any girls room.
The coolest part is that it's handmade. I love handmade stuff, there is just something about it that makes it a little bit more special.
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mel for picking me!

haircut.

Brinley HATES to get her hair done. It's a battle every morning.

So we decided to chop it. She's happy. I'm happy. Grandma is sad...

she loves long hair on little girls. I had long hair until 8th grade. but the cut TOTALLY fits her personality.

Matt has always called Brinley his "Little Sprite"

pretty hair

My little baby has so much hair that I can put it in a ponytail...

oh, and can you guess what I got for Christmas?

Merry Christmas

It is 9am. I am the ONLY one awake...can you believe it? So, I thought while I wait for anyone to get up, I'll blog a little, with a sleeping baby Sarah in my arms. She is getting heavy.

We got home last night at about midnight, after making the rounds, to the sound of cracking and popping. I looked across the street, as we opened the door to our home, to see our neighbors garage roof collapse. Nice Christmas gift, huh? Matt went over to make sure that nobody was in there, but we are waiting for the rest of it to cave in. We helped them move a car from under the carport, located right next to the garage. The neighbor had just gone out about 30 minutes earlier to throw garbage away. They are in their late 70's maybe 80's. We are so glad they are okay. We have heard more cracking and popping throughout the night.

Matt spent the next hour knocking the snow and icicles off of our house. We got to bed pretty, late...well, early. I had to wait for Brinley to FINALLY fall asleep so that I could play Santa. That could be the reason most of the house is still asleep.

Hope you all have a SAFE and happy Christmas!

let it snow

Sorry my posts have been few. With the snow we got over the last week, I've been busy shoveling it off our walkways in between taking care of the girls, wrapping gifts, hanging out with family, taking Matt to work, yadda, yadda, yadda.

We have more snow coming today, and not just a little, supposedly 6-10 inches on top of the 30 inches already on the ground. Doesn't that sound fantastic? I love the snow, but this is ridiculous, or in my Grandmother's words..."re-dic-lus". With the temperatures in the single digits and below zero with the wind chill...it's just grand.

Brinley has been singing lots of Christmas songs and catches us off guard when she starts to belt out the tunes in the car. Her favorite lately is The Twelve Days of Christmas but with "2 humming birds" instead of turtle doves.

Sarah is sleeping better. She is still a sweet and content baby. She doesn't think much of the snow, she's always covered up and doesn't get to see much of it. Brinley loves to wake her up so that she can hold her for, oh, 5 seconds. That is always fun for me. Luckily, this kid takes it well and doesn't get too upset.

Matt was crazy and opened the CricKetnstore through all of the first snow storm (the one that dumped 24 inches in our yard), while most of Spokane was shut down. He's a diehard. It paid off for us though. His customers love him and that makes it worth it. It will be nice to have him for an extra day this week.

I'll try to be better about posting.

Hope you all have a fun and wonderful Christmas with family and friends.

Merry Christmas!

ohhhh...pretty.

little things

First off, I had to post this pic of Sarah.******

And on to other things. It has been COLD here. So cold, that it hurts to breath the air in. We had to put blankets up over our windows (nice, huh.). With the wind chill factor, the temperatures have been below 0 and often times -15 to -20. Today's high is 16 and we finally got the snow we were supposed to get last week. I think this latest storm was bigger than the weather people predicted...that is Spokane weather for you. This is what my front room now looks like. Aren't the makeshift curtains lovely? the blanket on the left was the very first one I ever made. I think I was 15.

Don't mind Brinley (she's playing jump rope with a scarf) or the nest of blankets/couch cushions on the floor. What else should you do when you get to watch movies on a day like this?...

clean the house, actually FOLD the laundry (Barbara, you would be proud) and be on the computer looking through ETSY and the millions of craft blogs that I love to read.

chloe lana

My sister, Corinne, added another member to the family today.

Meet

Chloe Lana

December 15th

6:56pm

5 lbs. 15 oz.

19 1/2 inches

I think she looks a lot like her brother Graham, maybe it's the cheeks.
A happy Corinne, who had a HORRIBLE pregnancy. I am sure she feels that it was all worth it now.

Congratulations you guys! We love you and can't wait to meet her.

(2 babies born, 1 more to go...)