erica danielle

Can't believe another month has gone by. Lucy is getting cuter everyday. She is very smiley and loves to give kisses. We are also working on high fives and 'mama' and 'dada'. She has yet to crawl, but definitely can get around by scooting on her tummy and she is a pretty good plank-er. She's been eating really well this last week. One day she ate 1/2 of a small sweet potato... yikes! She is still putting EVERYTHING in her mouth, which is disgusting, but can keep her entertained for 45+ minutes, so we usually just let her go with it! She's still taking 2 naps: 1 morning, 1 afternoon and has been waking up everyday at 5:40a for the last couple weeks. Not sure why she doesn't sleep in past 6a anymore, but I would like for that to change ;) She is still very attached to me, however, lately I've found if she doesn't see me, she does great with other people. I love sharing her with everyone, because she is just SO much fun. Next week we have our quart...

We had a fantastic weekend full of celebrations! On Friday we went to the cities and got to have fika with Sten's grandma, which was truly delightful. Then we headed over to my parents to celebrate Mike's Birthday with dinner and chocolate cake. I'm so glad Mike is my BIL. He's the best husband to my sister and dad extraordinaire to Amos and Olive. How lucky we are to have him in our family. On Saturday we celebrated Mother's day with brunch, lots of love, a game of bags, walks, grilled pizza and even a deck session! On Sunday, after church, Sten grilled us burgers and bacon wrapped, goat cheese stuffed asparagus = YUM! and spoiled me all day. I even took a nap on the couch. He also put together a video for me, which of course made me cry tears of joy thinking about how lucky I am to have Lucy as my daughter. I love them so and couldn't have had a better first mothers day. We stole a peak at Lucy during nap time to capture this little snuggly sleeper...

This weekend it is Mother's Day! I will be celebrating my FIRST Mother's Day which I feel is such an honor. I absolutely love being Lucy's mom. In honor of Mother's Day there is a bake sale at church to raise funds for a group of awesome people going to Chile this summer for a missions trip. I am donating some Cardamom Coffee Bread loaves. I also will be bringing one to my mom as we celebrate her awesome-ness on Saturday. This bread is life-changing. It's worth the MILLION steps. You will not only feel accomplished after making this, you will feel like a bakery chef at an acclaimed Chicago Bakery. I feel especially lucky because I learned this from my Mother-in-law, and she HAND PRINTED the entire recipe for me. I treasure things that are hand-written, and I know I'll have this little sheet of paper forever. my recipe <3 INGREDIENTS: 2 C milk scalded (microwave for 2 minutes, stir and add time as necessary) 1/2 C Butter, or margarine ...

I made banana bread this morning and while it was baking: Lucy was napping, windows were open, I was cleaning, and the smell was AMAZING. I highly recommend this recipe, make it for your mom for Mother's Day. It is grand. Banana Bread: from My Baking Addiction 2 C Flour 1 t baking soda 1/4 t salt 1 t cinnamon  1/2 butter 3/4 C brown sugar 2 eggs 2 t vanilla 2 1/3 C ripe bananas mashed (abt 5) ----- Topping: 1/4 C flour 1/4 C brown sugar 1/2 t cinnamon 2 T butter Cream butter and sugar, add eggs, vanilla, and banana. Mix. Add in dry ingredients.  Pour in bread pan.  Using a pastry blender mix topping ingredients and sprinkle over bread dough.  Bake 60-65 mins at 350.  YUM! Before going in the oven.  YUMMMMM!!!! We had a great weekend! We traveled down to Rochester for the NWC annual meeting where we got to see some awesome friends, drink Starbucks and walk around Target. (We are easy to pleas...