erica danielle

The last 10 weeks Lucy and I have been spending our Thursday mornings at church. She plays with new friends, and I have been involved in a truly awesome Bible Study with some of the best women in the world. Lucy and I love Thursdays. I can say for certain they are one of my favorite days of the week. Our first study was on the book Restless, by Jennie Allen . It was challenging and amazing all in one, and I really feel like I grew so much in my faith being around these women and hearing their stories. If you are feeling Restless in your own life and want to find purpose, this is a great place to start! At the end of the study Jennie challenged us to GO DO SOMETHING, ANYTHING. and so, we took a Thursday and made 20 bags of soups to be frozen and handed out to people in need in our community who come to church asking for money or food. Everyone brought items and we had the best morning filling those bags and serving our community. It was so humbling to know that buying 5 cans of black b...

Lucy had her half Birthday last week, and we made sure to sing to her. She is as jabbery as ever and I love how she learns a new word or two every day. We went to the Dr this week and she is 33 inches long: 93rd percentile; 24 lbs: 50th percentile. A healthy, happy little girl. This month we traveled to Chicago and Michigan, had lots of early spring play time outside and also got a great report at the eye clinic. She is "ahead of the curve" and was fitted for glasses last week. It has been a very busy month. There are TONS of good moments with Lucy, but there are some days I literally say to myself: I want to quit. It mostly revolves around typical toddler tantrums or her patch, but in those instances, when I lose my cool and raise my voice, the mom guilt is like nothing I have ever experienced. Lucy really is the sweetest thing, so smart and strong, but she and I both are still figuring each other out and I'm finding out just how aware she is of my reactions to her ac...

We're less than one month away from the 1.5 yr mark and life is getting fun for our girl! She is growing tall and losing her baby chubs. Everyday I think she looks more like a toddler and less like a baby. She has developed into a real routine oriented child, which is fine, except neither Sten or I operate on any bit of a routine, so she's kind of her own there. This month she has developed a real love for reading to herself in what sounds like jibberish Japanese, she also pretends to put in her contact and loves to put her patch on mom or her baby after she is done wearing it for the day.  She loves the book THE MITTEN by Jan Brett, and when we get to the page where the bear sneezes she says aaa-aaa-CHEW! We think she is as smart as can be and I get such a kick out of teaching her tricks! She stepped on the scale and weighs a whopping 23lbs, she's 31 3/4 inches long! She had one of her eye teeth pop through this month and is working on a couple more that I think will p...

Sometimes you stumble upon recipes that are "blog-worthy" and this is one of them. It truly is a 15-minute meal and we LOVED it. I have a feeling it will become a weeknight staple in the Carlson home. We have become less and less adventurous in our cooking as of late. Maybe because the only true cooking I can get done is from about 12-1 while Lucy naps and re-heating things isn't always the tastiest... But we have had some fun dinner guests over the last couple weekends and it is a reminder of how much we like to cook and host together. Korean Beef Bowl serves 4 Slightly adapted from THIS blog 1/3 cup brown sugar, packed 1/4 cup soy sauce 1 tablespoon olive oil 1/2 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes, or more to taste 1 tablespoon fresh graded ginger, or 1/4 tsp powdered 3 cloves garlic, minced 1 pound ground turkey 2 green onions, thinly sliced Cooked rice, for serving Whisk together brown sugar, soy sauce, oil, red pepper flakes, ginger- set aside Heat ...

This month flew by. Some days are so fun I don't want her to go to bed at night. And other days I don't know if the whining will ever end and I seriously wonder why we are having another child. But then she snuggles in for a hug and gives me some pats on the back and I forget that her whining is annoying. This month she's loving: shaking her body to "shake it off", her first taste of macaroni and cheese, her lego blocks, stirring things in her kitchen, seeing and saying DADA very emphatically. She is officially done nursing and has been an absolute champ letting us take her contact in and out. She just lays still while we pop it in and out.... it's really unbelievable. It was almost as if she woke up one day and decided that she was okay having someone touch and poke at her eye. It was an answer to prayer, and a reminder to not worry, babies are incredible and adaptable and come to things on their own terms. I've noticed we both do better when I have ...

We're all pretty excited! #2 is due in July and we can't wait to meet him/her. I've been feeling good and we can't wait to find out if it's a boy or girl. I still can't totally wrap my mind around being a family of 4, but we are beyond grateful for this gift and are praying for a healthy pregnancy and a happy, healthy baby! xo,  the carlsons: sten. erica. lucy. and baby!

Aunt Nancy's Rye Bread 2 medium potatoes + 2 C of potato water 2 Tbls yeast in 1/2 C warm water 1/4 C margarine 1 Tbls salt 3/4 C brown sugar 3/4 C dark corn syrup 2/3 C evaporated milk 4 C medium rye flour 6-7 C white flour 2-3 tsp caraway seeds 1 tsp anise Boil potatoes, mash and mix with 2 C potato water. Let cool to lukewarm. Mix all ingredients together. Knead. Let rise in greased (covered with towel) bowl. approx 1 hour. Form into 4 round loaves. Let rise 20-30 mins. bake at 350 for 40 mins.  ingredients  after the first rise... WHOA! split into 4, let it rise one more time, then toss it in the oven! VOILA! This is a favorite bread of mine. I wish you could taste Nancy's because it is SO good. Everything she makes turns into food gold and when I try to replicate, it doesn't look nearly as beautiful and perfect. This recipe is really pretty simple and if you are in the mood for a warm loaf of delicious bread you should surely give...