Sing with ME!

Erik know's his ABC's listen to his mad skills.

He's also really good at telling me all the letters in a word. If I point the letters out he "reads" it in order, from left to right. But if he does it on his own, he normally goes backwards, right to left.

Speaking of directions, Erik does know his right from left pretty well. He normally gets his shoes on the correct feet all by himself. If you ask him which is his right or left hand or foot he gets that correct too. He's our little genius. Sorry to brag, but that's one of the joys of parenthood, seeing your child grow and learn, we love it!

Peanut Butter Cookies

I got this cookie recipe at a Cub Scout training meeting a few weeks ago. Last night I tried it out with my Cubs and they loved it! After thinking about the ingredients for a bit I realized this recipe is GLUTEN FREE!

So for all those out there that avoid wheat and gluten here's a yummy, and oh so easy recipe for you!

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Cookies

1 CUP PEANUT BUTTER

1 CUP SUGAR

2 EGGS

Beat together with electric mixer until mixed and fluffy. Spoon out onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 8 minutes. Cool and enjoy!

Makes about 2 dozen

tip: you can also add candy or chocolate chips to this recipe, like a kiss or Reeces cup.

Hope you love them. Sorry I don't have a picture they went too fast to capture. :)

American Idol Finalist

From the looks of things Erik's got some great rythym and can stay on pitch really well. So I'm thinking we'll have him try out for next year's American Idol. He totally has what it takes :)

We have a few more videos I want to post, but this one took over half an hour, so I'll post those another day. Erik can now sing the ABC's, which was his new years resolution-go him for completing it so quickly. Speaking of quickly he pretty much zooms through the ABC song, some parts are blurred together, it's very cute. I'll get that video on here next.

Enjoy the video, oh and HAPPY GROUNDHOG'S DAY!!!

Hope we have an early spring.

A Screwdriver!?!

Our little comedian as of late.

Erik was watching Hercules just now and saw Hercules knock down all the pillars. The whole time the pillars were falling Erik was yelling, "Uh oh, FIX IT! Use a screwdriver, Use a screwdriver!!!" Sandy and I could not stop laughing and crying. What a great kid!

Erik has also been doing think like saying, "Mommy, watch this" then flapping his hands by his shoulders like a bird. What a goofy goober!

Other Erik-isms of note:

"Aw dat's so sweet"

"I need some pepper"

"sqooze me Daddy" meaning excuse me

"I lou u"

"Go shopping! :)"

"Call grama on computer"

"exercise show"

We love talking with Erik, he's a hoot!

In other good news. Paul presented a poster at this past weekend's Counseling conference and loved it!

Here he is at the conference. Thanks again to our great graphic designer, my sis, Deanna! She made Paul look good and Paul made the poster sound good. He had a great time explaining his study to all the conference goers. And he'd love to tell you more, just ask him :)

Big Boy Now!

Erik got play dough this Christmas and is so good at making noodles and snakes with the cool tools that came with his set. He loves this stuff!!! The first time we got it out he played for over half and hour and didn't want to clean up to have lunch.

We've packed up the crib and re-dressed the big boy bed in Erik's room and he sleeps in it pretty well. He's actually gotten a lot better lately at staying in his bed at night. Sometimes we snuggle with him for a bit at night.

Oops Daddy fell asleep on Erik!

Silly faces before bed :) I love my boys!

So this is to prove that Erik's not perfect at staying in his bed. This is where we found him one night as he yelled to us, "Mommy, Daddy, Stuck!"

I think he was looking for a book that fell under the bed.

This was the first or second night of sleeping in his new bed, I can't quite remember, but we checked on him and he was sound asleep with the book still open in front of him. He's so precious.

Christmas Highlights

What better way to start the Holiday than with Erik's first picture with Santa! This is actually the first time he's ever even seen Santa-the last 2 years didn't present itself with Santa opportunities. So a very unique experience for Erik. This was at my parent's ward Chritmas party-they had a Chritmas in Hawaii theme: which should explain Santa's outfit and Erik's toy in hand.

Erik was a little apprehensive at first but then after Santa gave him a rubber ducky he put up with Santa and us taking a picture.

This is a Venezuelan Holiday tradition I got my first taste of this year.

And despite it's look and name, Ayaca, it was really good!

Thank you to a wonderful Venezuelan sister in our ward for providing this for us. Paul almost cried when he saw it in the fridge. :)

A Utah Christmas favorite:

TEMPLE SQUARE LIGHTS!

And who better to enjoy it with then our family!!

Caught Erik touching the lights. Poor thing was freezing that night but we all loved it!

These were lit bags that surrounded the outdoor nativities from around the world.

And Erik giving me his cheesy smile! Lately the best way for me to get him to smile is to say, "Show me your teeth!"

Us and the Grandparents. Erik loved visitng them! When we drove home he kept saying,

"Go see Grandma!!"

We stopped in the Visitor's Center to get warm and show Erik the Christus Statue. He loved it and wanted to touch Jesus. That just touched my heart and reminded me of Christ teaching and blessing the children when he appeared in America.
So Erik looks sad here because we realize that we can't get close enough for him to touch Jesus.

Paul's sister Laurie is serving a mission in Tennessee and one of her former companions was at Temple square. We really enjoyed finding her and hearing about what kind of a missionary Laurie is. I felt so silly, but I really wanted to hug this sister. And I did, even before I indroduced myself. I felt like hugging her was like huggin Laurie, it was great!

It is better to GIVE than to RECEIVE.

We gave this Snuglie to Jamie and Nick for Christmas and Nick kept it on all morning! We tested it out with his beloved rootbeer.

Paul's family got the wii for Christmas and we all enjoyed playing with it, especially Erik...
...he was amazing! He whipped through the first level of the obstacle course better than any of us. We have such an amzing kid!

We hope all our friends and family had a wonderful Christmas, we sure did :)

Erik is two!

Erik is now two years old and we are loving it! He is such a great blessing to our lives.

Erik got some great cards this year including one with a big two. Plus, he had fun birthday cupcakes that looked like frogs hiding in the water. Erik had already eaten the eyes in the first picture.

Here is a better one of the frogs.

We got a great tool set that Erik loves and played with for about an hour the first night. And we got it for free! Thanks Lance, Kim, and Lily.

Erik has been mimicking us a lot. He often puts his head in his hand and says "Hmm" like he is deep in thought.

He had a great birthday dinner, too. Scrambled eggs, sausage, olives, cucumbers, and donuts. All of Erik's favorites, mmmmmm.

Finally, Erik got some paints that he loves. He painted this picture and then a big posterboard. He even drew two circles and said, "Eight." We love Erik so much and are looking forward to making some wonderful memories with our wonderful son.