erica danielle

I love kitchens. Easily my favorite room in the house. It seems to center our family and Sten and I have been known to have some really great chats while sitting on the counter with a glass of wine. Being someone who loves to experiment in the kitchen, I feel strongly about filling our fridge and cupboards with good food, all the time. I've never, and probably will never, have a grand kitchen, but I don't think that really matters. It will always be a place people want to be, and dreaming of what our next kitchen will be like is fun. I love this little kitchen above. I can see something similar in our future.... constant creating with the chalkboard wall and delicious smells coming from those bare little counters. I hope our next kitchen is open and airy and lets the sun in. <3. erica.

 2015 2017 How did we let that happen?!?! This was almost exactly 2 years apart. Love these 4 kids and how much fun they have together. What would we do without Chase and Maci?! I hope they love the Children's museum for many more years <3 XO. erica

THINGS: We were outside for 2 straight hours yesterday and it was good for the soul. Spring is coming, and I can feel it in my bones. We have dinner with a couple from Hudson tonight and I am excited to meet them. For as many exciting things on the horizon there is an equal amount of fear and discouragement. My legs and insides are still recovering from my run on Saturday... oofta. Is there anything better than that first sip of hot coffee in the morning? I had mine while holding my little Olle boy. I love it when there is only one kid up and they get all my love and attention. I always feel like that is one of the true gifts of morning time. <3. erica.  

Reading books poolside with Katie in Mexico. Instead, I'll tackle my to-do list and read endless kids books, make dinner and go to bed with a million covers on bc it is stilllllll winter :) XO. e

WOOT WOOOOOT!!! Can't believe we're headed to Boston in just a couple weeks. I am ready and hoping I don't get injured by then. ;) I have been so lucky to run with some great friends this training session. Not everyone has someone that will meet at 5am ANY day of the week to go for a run. I'm beyond grateful that I met Kate, and that she introduced me to her runner friends. I look forward to every run, every cup of coffee, and every morning I get to run with these friends. This weekend we decided to tackle a 1/2 marathon and we all got PR's! It was an awful course with over 1,000 ft of elevation, cold and 13 mph winds, but we left feeling stronger and faster and with a greater sense of what we needed to do to be our best. Gonna miss these girls big time. Who am I going to run with in Hudson at 5am, with our headlamps, solving all of lifes problems??????? I was the lead woman for about 10 cumulative miles of the race, but the girl that won ended up beating me by ...

Haven't done an update on the kids in a while, and since this is my main form of documentation-- I feel as though I am slacking!! OLLE_BEAR! Olle is 20 months! WHAT?? He is saying more words, some of which are: dump truck (gunk cruck) boy power (bo' pow') all of our family members (If you know who they are.. haha) catch Go CUBS Go! NO! (mmmmmmmno!)  ... so basically all the important things. I have to keep reminding myself that boys and girls are so different, bc Lucy was speaking in full sentences at this age. I love his little voice, though and know soon enough he'll be asking questions and saying funny phrases. He's very into: Throwing balls being outside eating raisins DANCING like a stud trucks books "cleaning" taking good naps every day :) grandma We feel like the fun factor went up about 1,000% adding this guy into our lives. Can't imagine life without the joy he brings to our family and his can-do attitude. LUCY_B...

We thought an early spring was in the cards for us this year, but boy were we wrong.... It has been super chilly the last couple weeks. This weekend was boasting 50's, but I don't think it really got that warm... we decided to make the best of it, and bundle up for some adventures none-the-less. I love Fridays... Have I said that before?? It's such a lazy day for us, and nothing makes me happier than when we get to have Sten home for a whole day! We made green pancakes that morning (#stpatricksday) and then after naps took off for Hoffman Hills where we adventured our little hearts out. I am a firm believer in leaving while you're still having fun (so that you can look back with fond memories), so we left before any meltdowns and headed to Lucette for an early dinner.  hiking sticks: a must.  left, right, left, right.... It's so nice that we could go out without the hiking backpacks.. those things are so heavy, although a little piece of me felt like cr...