The Lost Sheep Returned

Well, today was another adventure in our clan. Our children attend the AWANAS program at our church and a couple of weeks ago it was Bring a Friend Night. You have to bring a friend as part of several steps to receive a jewel. This is when having twins gets complicated. They each invited a friend, but only Emily's friend was able to make it. I won't get into the details of how "interesting" that made our Wednesday evening last week, but let's just say it was dramatic. Tonight Grace realized her friend was supposed to be attending, but I hadn't yet informed her that she had to cancel. This immediatedly landed her on the floor in a heap of tears. She told me I had to find another friend for her to invite, but I tried, without success, to explain that it was less than 2 hours until Sparks and this just wouldn't work for tonight. Things didn't get any better. At one point, she threatened to run away if I didn't find another friend for her to bring. Can you say drama?!? Well, thankfully Doug was home in about 5 minutes and she took up her complaints with him. Apparently she didn't get the results she hoped for and the running away took place. He had to retrieve her and when she returned she was in much better spirits. The best part of the story is yet to come.

Last night while putting Grace to bed, she mentioned that I never let her pray and I was totally confused by what she saying. This is when having twins comes in handy. Her sister played interpreter and told me that she meant she wanted to pray the ABC prayer-Admit, Believe, and Confess. I told her that sounded great and I would be happy to do it with her that night. She said she would rather wait for the next night. So tonight, after we returned from Sparks, we sat down with her, read Scripture, and she prayed a prayer of Salvation. So, the lost sheep truly came home. Praise the Lord! What a blessing to be a part of the best day of her life. On a side note, as we searched Scripture together, it was so amazing to realize she had put most of the verses we looked up to memory. AMAZING!

Our Family Is Growing

We are expecting our 5th blessing to arrive around January 16th, 2011. And...it's going to be another GIRL!

Sweet girl, we are so thrilled about your soon arrival. You are very active and letting me know you are present often. Your sisters can't wait to meet you, especially Emily and Grace, and neither can Daddy and I. We love you already and pray for you often. Now, if we could only come up with your name.

Guests for Dinner

Tonight I made meal that is often reserved for guests. You know, those special people that you reserve your more time consuming recipes for. Our menu included Cajun chicken kabobs, homemade au gratin potatoes, and the first sweet corn from our first garden.

When Emily saw me assembling the kabobs her reply was, "Wow, we're having a real barbeque." I guess that's what it looked like to her. I then did something a bit out of the ordinary and decided to place our raspberry lemonade in one of my fancier pitchers.

She then said, "Why are we using that? We aren't even having guests for dinner." I kind of muttered, "You are my guests." This got me thinking. Maybe if I were to think of this each night when I am trying to get a meal on the table for dinner, it might not seem like such drudgery. After all, these are my most precious guests!

Happy Birthday Elise!

Happy Birthday sweet Elise. It's so hard to believe that it's already been a year since you graced our lives. We feel so blessed to have you...our 4th girl. More than ever, this time I have tried to savor the smell of you, the sweet sounds you make, the way you snuggle your head into my neck, and all of your preciousness. I want you to know how absolutely thrilled we were to find out at your birth that we had another girl. What a gift!

You have changed so much in this first year. Some of the things you are up to are:
*You are crawling like crazy and walking along furniture (You pulled up at around 9 months and I thought for sure you would be my earliest walker, but you have your own timeline and that's just fine by me.)
*You love to play the "Uh-Oh Game". (Today as I was enjoying some alone time with you at Target, you were lobbing everything out of the stroller. Too cute, but also a little difficult to get as much shopping done.)
*You have a good set of lungs and aren't afraid to let me know when one of your sisters are really bugging/loving you.
*You have 4 darling teeth, which just gives you the cutest smile.
*You have a beauty queen wave, you know, the side to side motion, but not quite as dainty.
*You are definitely a mommy's girl. (Sorry daddy, but I think you already knew that.)
*You only take one nap a day and that is only for a little over 2 hours.
*You love music and have recently learned how to bop while holding on to something.
*You say mama, dada, and uh-oh.
*Generally speaking, you seem to have a somewhat quiet personality. You look like you're taking it all in.
*You are definitely curious. You love to open cupboards and get into things, which helps keep me on my toes.
*Additionally, you love to unroll toilet paper and on occasion, chew on a wad.
*You're a pretty picky eater. You still just primarily want your mommy (7 times a day..I know, I know).
*You love your time in the tub and usually have quite a lot to say about it when it's time to get out.
*You hate having your diaper changed, because you detest being tied down.

We love you and can't wait to see all that the Lord has planned for your life.

Jeremiah 29:11-14
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all of your heart. I will be found by you," declares the Lord...

While I know the Lord has great plans for you, I pray that you will seek Him with all of your heart. It's more than just the great things He has for you, but that you desire Him. May this be one of your life verses sweet girl. I love you more than you'll ever know!

Mommy

You Know You're a Fourth Child When...

1. While in labor, your mom manages to pose for one last picture before dropping your sisters off at preschool on the way to the hospital. Also, she manages to deliver you during her regularly scheduled appointment time with her doctor, which is right around the time your sisters completed their 2 hour day at preschool.

2. Your 2 1/2 year old sister is allowed to joyfully man-handle you.3. At 2 months old, your parents deck you out completely in a life jack and then proceed to take you on a 6-person canoe ride with your 3 sisters in tow.4. You're fed ice cream for the first time at around 5 months old, mint chocolate chip no less, and totally love it!5. You are dropped on your head, accidentally, by one of your parents and get a bucket-handle skull fracture. The way you really know you're a fourth child is your parents think to bring the camera to the emergency room in order to snap pictures of you looking soooo cute in your first, and hopefully last, purple hospital gown...and your mom has no problem sporting a big grin.6. On your vacation to Florida, your parents let you go swimming in the pool when the temperature is just above 70 degrees or maybe you're just a true Minnesotan.7. On another vacation to Arizona at 11 months old, you are left to fend for yourself in the swimming pool. Oh come on, it's just the kiddie pool!8. You are left out of important family pictures, because you are napping (i.e. your own family's Easter picture and the girl cousin photo shoot). However, they do manage to get one last family picture that does include you...whew!9. In the span of a couple weeks, you manage to get a bruised cheek, a fat lip, and a bruised forehead...oh the joys of mobililty! 10. Your sisters are allowed to dress you up however they like. This time it included complete bike safety gear for a 4 year old. Do you see the bike in the background? At 11 months old, a fourth child might just be ready to take it out for a spin. 11. Your parents buy you a baby swing that only has enough rope to hang approximately 5 feet off the ground and then decide it's still suitable to let you swing in it.
12. Your parents adore you so much, they are even crazy enough to think it might be fun to have just one more baby!

Touring

I've heard of people going on vacations that involve touring various stadiums, but I'm pretty sure I've never heard of people vacationing and touring Emergency Rooms. Well, that is, until Lydia came along.

Not so long ago I was planning on doing a post titled "E.R. Series Finale...Hopefully", but as with a lot of things, I never got around to it. Since that time, I've had a few more experiences and decided not to use that title this time around.

We were in AZ visiting my parents during Emily and Grace's spring break. We had a lovely time of swimming, going to Wildlife World, going to Build-A-Bear and just generally relaxing. It was our last day and we decided to spend a little more time at the pool. I headed back early with Elise and the others followed shortly thereafter. On the way in the house Lydia began proclaiming, "I have to go pee." My usual reply is, "Well, then get going." However, by the looks of the pee dripping down her leg as she ran on the carpet to the bathroom, she should have said, "I'm going pee". I was immediately frustrated and "encouraged" her to move faster. She made it to the bathroom, which is tile, and slipped on the wet floor. No big deal, right?!? Not for the Lydster! She split her chin open and Doug immediately knew it would require stitches. So...there went the rest of his night spent in the E.R. About 5 hours later they finally returned home with 6 stitches.

One of the sweet things about all of this was that while Doug and Lydia were gone Emily and Grace became quite concerned (not always this way) about their beloved sister. They watched a movie with Grammy about a little boy whose sister died and I think this only added to their emotions. They began asking me several times about when she would get back. In fact, Grace came to me nearly in tears and said, "Do you think anything else happened to her?" Later, I found Emily gazing at a picture of Lydia in the hall wishing for her safe return. Lest anyone get too choked up, their tone changed dramatically the next day.

When the girls woke up the next day they had plenty of "encouraging" words for their Lydia.

Some of Emily's words:
Why couldn't they use white or peach thread?(You know, instead of the normal black stitching that is always used)
It looks like she has thorns on her chin.
I'm not used to her with those stitches.

Some of Grace's words:
It looked better with a band aide on.
I can't possibly live life with a sister who looks like she has a beard. (Someone needs a reminder that beauty is fleeting.)

Thankfully, Lydia is much less concerned with her looks and did quite well with the whole ordeal. Let's hope this is our last tour of new emergency rooms!

Fashionista

Tonight we were having the girls pick out their clothes for church to save some time in the morning. Doug and I were trying to talk Emily into wearing a really cute (in my opinion) sweater dress we had given her for Christmas.

Emily - I don't want to wear that.
Me - Why?
Emily - Because I'm afraid the kids will laugh at me.
Me - Why would they laugh at you?
Emily - Because it's not at the height of fashion.

Seriously?!? Doesn't she know she wasn't born into a family that's at the "height of fashion"? Too cute! I'm sure this is just the beginning, with having four girls in the house.

I'm Sorry, So Sorry!

**Let me begin this post with an apology to all of you at First Free who really enjoyed the candidate today, because my family may have single-handedly undone the whole kit and kaboodle. I would also like to apologize to Pastor King, because if my chatty clan has anything to do with it, he may never be able to retire from First Free.**

Our day started out with a lovely breakfast and meet and greet of our pastoral candidate and his wife. We've been searching for a new pastor for about 3 years and I think our whole church was excited at the prospect that they may be "the ones." After the breakfast ended, 3 gals had sticky hands and needed a potty break (thankfully, one little lady is still in diapers), so we headed to the ladies room. Right before we entered the bathroom, I mentioned that the lady in front of us (who was also going into the restroom) was the wife of the man who might be our new pastor. The following is the remainder of our dialogue:

Emily or Grace - What, he's going to be our new pastor?
Me - Wouldn't that be neat?
Emily - I don't want him!
Me(trying to think on the fly and not completely ruin our chances at a new pastor) - Oh honey, I know you really like Pastor King.
Emily or Grace - Will we never get to see him again?
Me - Oh, I'm sure we will.
Emily or Grace - Do you think he might come back to visit?
Me - He probably will.

So, there you have it. The damage has been done. I hope you'll be able to extend to us your forgiveness. Frankly, you're just lucky the kids weren't invited to the question and answer session. Who knows what might have been said if they had gotten the microphone! In all sincerity, it is really neat to think that our chatty clan feels such a connection to their pastor. It shows how really special he is to even the smallest attendees of our church.

The View From My Kitchen...Dirt!

Lydia - Look at that mom.
Me - Oh is that some dirt on the floor?
Lydia - It's a bead.
Me - Is it really a bead?
Lydia - Actually, it is a bead. It's not candy. I tried it.

I guess she's so accustomed to dirt in our house that she's not one bit afraid to try it. Upon realizing how funny she was she said, "Are you going to call dad?" She's picked up on the idea that I like to tell him when something super funny has happened. Then when she realized that I was going to blog about our conversation, she said, "I like a blog about me."

The Case of the Missing Sock and Baby News

We left our condo in Sanibel after solving one of life's greatest mysteries...where did Doug's sock go?!? In preparation for our early departure, we had all of our clothes picked out the night before and while Doug was getting ready, his socks were carelessly left unattended. One member of our chatty clan, we'll call her Ydialay, was see sucking on said sock and this was the last time it was seen. When Doug finally decided it was time to put on his socks, there was only 1 left. It's important to note that putting on socks is always the last thing Doug does before leaving the house and this always drives me batty, so this was especially amusing to me. When he discovered his sock was missing he immediately started shouting. The Erickson parents were with us and I'm not sure they've ever seen their son so upset, but the rest of us know to expect this from him on the dreaded days of travel...he becomes TRAVEL DOUG. Some of the phrases he yelled were, "Come on", "GEEZ", "Who took my sock", "FIND IT ", and "I thought we were going to leave early". These were repeated several times with increasing aggitation. I have to mention that several times we asked him if he might have packed it and he vehemently denied any such thing. Also, his parents were scouring the condo trying to help their frantic son. Finally, most of us started laughing hysterically, except for Doug and his dad. His mom kept saying, "I just knew something like this was going to happen." Finally, Lydia (oops, I mean Ydialay) said, "I hid it." We immediately started questioning her concerning its whereabouts and she said, "I don't know." At last she said, "I hid it in the bedroom." So, we went on our quest for the sock. After we had turned the room upside down, she finally admitted, "I'm just teasing," which caused Doug to go into super-spaz mode. With some more urging and time ticking away, he checked the suitcase one more time and voila...the missing sock was found. He rather sheepishly admitted he had found it and we were on our way out. There were no other major mishaps and we arrived back in the frozen tundra safely. We had such a fabulous vacation and this last event left us with some more priceless memories.

In other news, Elise has been changing by leaps and bounds. Since she started crawling, it seems she is unstoppable. She pulls herself up on everything and tonight while we were eating dinner, she was playing with a toy in the family room. After we had been eating for a while, I looked over and there she was in the dining room. She had crawled up the two stairs from the family room into the dining room. All I can say is, "Slow down baby girl." Also, she has been waving, clapping, and tonight she finally said, "Mama" after what seems like months of saying, "Dada." I just love watching our children grow up. It's just amazing how special God made each of them.

Shell Perspective

Today was our last full day in Sanibel. If you've been following our last several posts, you might be able to guess what we chose to do on our last day...shell and swim. I love shelling and these pictures will give some perspective on how much the kiddos do, too.

There are also some other things on perspective that shelling has taught me this week...God sees the big picture while we're bent over staring at our small piece of sandy shore and each shell is made uniquely just like my precious kiddos. Sometimes the daily grind of cooking, cleaning, butt wiping, and other motherly duties can make you lose perspective, but this week made me realize again how blessed I am to be the mom of this chatty clan, how quickly they do grow up, and how much more I love them all the time.

Finally, after an afternoon of Doug and the girls swimming in the rain, we went out for one last time on the beach as a family.

Tonight was some of the best shelling, because evidentaly the tide had brought in the most microscopic shells. I have developed a real interest in these teeny tiny ones. Finding rice shells or delicate wentel traps feels like winning some kind of grand prize and that made tonight feel like winning the jackpot. I could hardly pull myself away, but dinner with the Erickson parents was calling.

We enjoyed one more lovely evening with the grandparents. This trip has been so memorable and the precious time we've had with Doug's parents has made it even better. It was so much fun for the kids and us to enjoy this special place with them. Thanks for all of the fun memories and hopefully we'll get to do it again soon.

Another Day In Paradise...The Final Countdown

Elise woke up today before 7am Florida time and was up for the day. Grace and Emily followed shortly thereafter. Since we were all up so early, I thought I should take the opportunity for some shelling. Does anyone have the number for SA (Sheller's Annonymous)? I offered to take people to the beach, but I only had one taker...Grace the shelling fiend A.K.A. one more shell Erickson. She was so excited to go with just me (can you see my head swelling from your computer screen?). She kept calling it our "private time". This makes me think about making time for this more often. It was so much fun! We just walked and talked (I actually mostly listened), looked for shells, and held hands. On our way back to the condo, we decided to skip our hearts out. There's something about skipping that makes you feel about 6 years old again...I highly recommend a good skip once in a while.

Later in the morning, we all went out for some more shelling. These are a couple shots of the big girls frolicking in the waves.

After some more pool time, we ventured over to the trailer park for some bird time. They had several macaws, parrots, morning doves, love birds (not just Doug and I ;) ), and other creatures. This was a picture of one of the residents named Fred.

Some of the birds talked. One of them named Lola kept saying, "Hello", "I'm across the road", and "Slow down" when cars would drive by. Another bird would say, "I don't wanna. I'm a grown up." It was really funny. I was waiting for one of the other birds to belt out, "Shut up" to the ones that wouldn't quit talking.

Elise tags along on all of our excursions, since she really has no choice. This is a sweet shot of her with her daddy while visiting the birds.

This vacation has been just lovely. I'm so sad to see it winding down. How often do you get to just spend time enjoying those you love, without much work to be done? So, I will try to really soak in our last full day in Sanibel!

A Long Walk

As our daily adventure, today we decided to make our way to the lighthouse at the end of the island. The last time Doug and I were there was 7 years ago, and it was just the two of us then. We started out thinking we could make it round trip in about 1 1/2 hours, but we way underestimated the time it would take for us as a family of 6 now...more like 2 1/2 hours. It was fun to achieve this accomplishment, though. Another bonus for making it to the end was finding the ice cream shop we would enjoy after dinner (more on that later). Anything for ice cream! :)

After our long walk, it was time for a cool down in the pool, and I mean COOL. I even ventured into the water today and so did Elise. I think the girls are really getting to do almost everything they could desire.
Tonight after our dinner out at Schnapper's we enjoyed our homemade Italian ice cream at Pinocchio's. Doug and I each had Dirty Sand Dollar, Grandma and the girls had Cookies and Cream, and Grandpa had Sanibel Krunch...YUM! What a great way to end a great day.

Ding Darling

This is not about a song or an affectionate name for a loved one, but a national wildlife refuge we visited this afternoon. We went hoping to see alligators and birds, but we were only able to find the latter much to the disappointment of some little girls. Unfortunately, none of the alligators were in the mood to cooperate, but we did see one other creature of interest. Can you guess what's in the following picture?

Here are a couple more pictures of our group at Ding Darling.

Several times during our adventure I heard, "I'm bored. Can we go home now?" At one point I responded, "I remember being bored several times when I was a kid on vacation." I guess it's generational. Also, upon arriving at home Grace emphatically stated, "I don't EVER want to go to Ding Darling again." RIP Ding Darling.

Hermit and Lisa

We have now acquired two new babies as family members...Hermit and Lisa the hermit crabs. They were accidently taken while hiding in our tiny shells. At first, Grace said to me, "Mom, you shouldn't have made me take this shell. It's alive." It didn't take her long to get over this and claim them as the newest members of our family. However, at this very moment, Emily just informed me that Lisa might be dead and we would have to hold a funeral. RIP Lisa. There's still a slight possibility she might make it, but in this family...NOT LIKELY!

Great Odors and Great Fears

It was another beautiful day here in Sanibel and the shelling continued.

Along with the increasing number of shells comes and increasing stench. Each time we leave the condo and come back the odor overcomes us. This is just a small representation of what we have collected and it's only day 3 with 4 remaining. I totally saw this coming when we were back home and tried to persuade them to do otherwise. I told them that there would be so many shells in Sanibel and that we should try and collect only the most beautiful shells, but what I didn't realize was just how beautiful they would ALL be! ;) It's so much fun to watch them enjoying this daily activity.

Lydia is also enjoying herself here, but one thing we didn't expect was her great fear of the ocean (excuse me, Gulf). She also loves to indiscriminately collect shells while trying to avoid the water at all costs. Fortunately, she trusted me when I told her I would protect her and the shelling continued.

Starfish Phenomenon

According to the Erickson parents, each year in Sanibel there is something new that washes ashore in droves. This year it happens to be the Thin Starfish and the girls are just in awe.

Doug actually found the first one this morning while walking on the beach and we thought it was so special.

However, by later this afternoon the beach was littered with them. That didn't matter to Emily and Grace though. They still thought each one was special and desired a new home back in Minnesota. Well, that's actually how they feel about all of the shells. Today Emily said, "I think we've found all of the butterfly shells in Sanibel." She might just be right. :)

In addtion to combing the beach for various shells, we spent some time at the pool. Although it wasn't all that warm, the girls left the pool reluctantly at 4:00pm for the "adult only" swimming time, which they totally did not understand.

So as not to leave out the littlest member of our family, Elise has also been enjoying her time in Florida. She was carried on the beach this morning and also spends much of her time motoring around the condo. She starting crawling January 8th and pulled herself up on the 10th. Now that she has these new skills, she loves to put them to use.