erica danielle

Love this boy of ours so very, very much. His demeanor is sweet and his smile is the best. He loves cars and trucks, balls and baby strollers... anything that moves. He loves milk, yogurt, peanut butter and fruit, and is pretty picky beyond that. He's just at the point of dropping his first nap. Which is actually super great for our mornings, as now we can go out and do things. He loves waving goodbye to daddy in the morning, doing cheers with his milk cup, his blankets, putting on shoes, hiding under blankets, and playing outside. Can't wait for him to learn a few more words... there is A LOT of grunting, screaming, pointing and frustration right now bc of his lack of vocabulary. He's 31 inches and 23 lbs of pure boy. We all can't stop giving him kisses and hugs and holding him tight. He will always be our little Olle-man.  Our handsome blondie. We love you buddy!

Lucy's Birthday came and went and here we are, 10 days into October. My September in a nut shell was spent talking about how Lucy's party was Princess Themed, that she would have a castle cake, that her friends Amos and Olive were coming and that it's NOT Olle's Birthday. We now have a 3 year old and we've moved on to obsessing about pumpkins and Halloween costumes. Some photos from Lucy's party:   We've been spending lots of Fall days outside, this weather is perfect.   THIS GUY! She is pretty obsessed with this ANNA dress :) We did ALL things Fall last week, including TWO trips to the Apple Orchards...   One with Olive and Grandma....  Apple cider donuts.... MMMMMMM! Grandma's boy! THEN, Peter, Katie, Luke and Erik came to visit us and we celebrated Fall! It was SO fun.  The day started off a little chilly, but it felt so fun to get all bundled up and head out on the tractor  201...

Time goes incredibly fast when kids are involved. When the calendar page flipped to September and I saw "LUCY IS THREE" taking up the entire block for the 20th my heart skipped a beat. How can she be three? I don't know where her second year went, but just recently I've noticed her clothes getting tighter, shorter, and faded. I've noticed how she has changed her wording from, "mom, help me!" to, "I can do it myself" I've noticed how she naps less. I've noticed how aware she is of the things around her she used to be oblivious to. I've noticed how the playground equipment is suddenly "play-able"- that she can climb, and jump, and hang, and slide. I've noticed that she is noticing how other people feel. All of these little things are adding up so fast and it makes me want to cry and jump for joy at the same time. I tell her everyday that she can't grow up, that she has to stay my little Lucy girl forever. She l...

Cannot believe we are a week into September already. That really flew by! Last minute we decided to find a campsite Sunday night since Labor Day was Monday. I'm so glad we did! We were really unsure how it would go with 2 littles in a tent, but it ended up being an awesome adventure that I can now cross off my summer bucket list...  We went to Willow River State Park. The hike to the falls was great, each of us with one of these monkeys on our backs...  Those smiles just kill me! Lucy has become quite the daddy's girl as of late.  this squirmy little guy....  The morning sun was welcome after a night of thunder and rain.. BUT we stayed nice and dry! This car was a last minute addition to our already PACKED car, but we are SO glad we bought it. Olle sat in here pretty much the whole time. He just really loves steering wheels. I am so glad we spur of the moment went on this little adventure. We were all awake at 2am in the same bed with...

Our last tastes of Summer! We've been busy, but have also had lots of lazy days. One of my favorite days of the month was the Sunday before Jessica went back to school. To celebrate one last hurrah we all went to Lucette and then came back to our house for brownies and hang out. It was one of those special nights, when you look around the room and are SO thankful for the chance to be together and be in each others lives. One of my other favorites was taking the kids to the Children's Museum. We went on a Friday when Sten was off work, and packed a picnic. It felt so grown up and such a "family outing". I remember sitting on the bench with our little family and just thinking to myself, how do we have a 1 and a 2 yr old?!?  Our Olle-man really took the cake this day. He was full of smiles and was having SO much fun driving all cars and checking out all the exhibits.  practicing our letters.. " L" and "U"... I will never be able to h...

I cannot believe today is the last day of August. We've been busy this month, with a trip to Colorado as our big family vacation. Sten spent half of the time fishing with his brother, and therefore, the kids and I spent half of the time with my sister in law + kids at their house, the other half was spent all together, 5 kids + 4 adults. Lots and lots of fun memories made. Here's the whole gang on our last day... so sad to say goodbye :( I barely took any pics, the time went so fast trying to chase around all these wild kids- all of the sudden it was Saturday and we were heading to the airport.  Ryann and I went to the pool with the kids everyday trying to tire them out and keep our sanity. Nap times were hit-and-miss but we made time each day for a stop on the Loveland Brewery scene. Meanwhile Bryce and Sten had fun up in the mountains catching fish and hanging with their buds. My favorite memory from the trip was our double date on Friday night. We got a sitter and ...