erica danielle

We had the best day yesterday celebrating Sten. We made burgers on the grill, homemade onion rings using THIS recipe, and capped off our meal with a bike ride to DQ. So thankful for Sten and the way he loves us. I couldn't ask for a better dad for Lucy. She is so lucky! Pure joy when they handed her this cone! Hope you felt celebrated and loved, Sten, you are one special guy to Lucy and me!  XO, erica

Lucy turned 21 months 2 days ago. This month was full of summertime fun and we've spent lots of days outside beginning to end, just as summer should be. I feel so thankful that this is life as a mom in the summer. While walking to the park or biking to the pool, I sometimes think to myself 'I can't believe I get to be doing this right now'. Summertime with kids is a gift and I am realizing that more and more. This month has been full of running in place tantrums. This girl knows what she wants and how to get it. I am learning too, and often times I give in too easily. We made a trip to Chicago this month for Lauren's bridal shower and Lucy loved seeing family. She had so much fun trying to keep up with big cousin Elin and reading books with Grammy. Sten and I had so much fun catching up with everyone and we even got to sneak in a date to Bien Trucha. It was a short weekend, but totally worth it. I am more and more tired and feel the toll chasing after a tod...

Our first pool day was a success with squeals of joy and lots of splashing.  We've already taken TWO trips to Bay Lake! Lucy loves to be in the boat on the "wadoo" (water) and look for "moooons" (loons). She is a great co-captain and loves the opportunity to have boat snacks out on the lake :) 2 of my favorite people looking so good! fishing! The neighbor let us borrow their chair and it was JUST Lucy's size. She thought it was great.  Rooftop drinks in Minneapolis at Union Rooftop. Missing those tall buildings and bright lights.  After dinner last night Lucy and I biked to the library. She "read" this book the whole way home. It was the best hearing her little voice from the back. Lucy loves the flowers in our pots. She walks up to them and says "gentoo". I'm hoping in 5 weeks she will be as gentle with her little brother....?? probably not. With the start of June, I know the next 5 weeks are goin...

Here we are at month 20. Every month seems like a blink of an eye, this one in particular feels like it flew by... I'm absolutely loving everything about 20 months. Her personality shines and she makes us laugh all day long. When I get her in the morning she's started giving big tight hugs around my neck and playing with my hair and it makes me melt. Here are a couple other things she's doing: - talks, repeats EVERYTHING I say. And remembers the funniest things. We were getting her out of the car the other day and there was a wasp on the inside of her window. I freaked out, and then when we got home she said- "A BEE!" trying to get a rise out of me again. Now it's a fun game that we play, that she thinks is hilarious, bc I don't actually think she is scared of bees at all... - Is starting to ask for things. After her nap the other day she said "Applesauce?" I was like- sure! - Is getting good with her glasses, still not great, but better and ...

I try so hard to eat healthy while pregnant, but my downfall is most definitely my sweet tooth. When Ashley introduced me to these cookies, I knew I was in trouble. I have always only made my mom's recipe of CCC's, but there is something about the crunchy-ness of this recipe, that I cannot get over. SO, Ashley, thanks for introducing me to these cookies, and for being overwhelmingly awesome :) YUMMMM! Recipe: 1/2 C + 2 Tbls sugar 1/2 C + 2 Tbls brown sugar, packed 1/2 tsp vanilla 1/2 egg or 2 Tbls 1 C Flour 1/2 tsp baking soda 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 C chocolate chips (milk chocolate is best for this recipe) bake at 375 for 10-12 mins. In other news, here is the baker herself at her most recent Orchestra concert in which she rocked it:  LATELY:  We've been running around outside, going for walks, doing chalk, playing with her pink ball. Went to Bay Lake to put in the dock! And got to spend time with Joanie, Dave and Great Grandma. It was a ...

We LOVE this stage! Sten said just today while we were all sitting on the couch- please Lucy, don't grow up! and it's just the truth. She was sitting in between us alternating giving us hugs/ snuggles and grinning with her big tooth-y smile. I wish I could bottle up her little voice and listen to it forever. Things she's been doing/saying: - counting. when we are outside she loves to count the steps, I realized one day she can count all the way to 10. Things get a little fuzzy around the 7-8 mark, but it's truly amazing! - colors. I also thinks she knows her colors... today I asked her what color her spoon was and she said "BLUUU", and when you ask her to point to colors she can. - singing. she has a little DVD called "praise baby" and the last song on it is "holy, holy, holy". The other day she brought me the DVD and said holy, holy, holy. Sten got it on video, we were both in AWE! - No. She has extreme opinions on things such as boo...

We've been having SO much fun outside now that the weather's warmer and days are longer. Last weekend we took Lucy to Govin's Farm where there were hundreds of baby lambs, goats, chicks, piglets, horses, ponies, dogs... it was just the best morning and I think Sten and I had the most fun watching her experience these animals! We ended the morning with donuts, of course, before heading home with a VERY warn out/ cranky toddler.  CHEESE  These lambs are big compared to the ones you could hold and pet, Lucy didn't really want to touch them, but she liked to look  PIGLETS!  She loved the chicks most of all   "coo, coo" (cool, cool)  Sten's Grandma gave us this little stool for Lucy when we visited over Easter. It is perfect for a little art station/table for her. I am obsessed! She still eats crayons, but I am determined for her to like art so we can color together. LUCY GOT GLASSES!  So far, not so good. But we ar...