McGee Family Retreat

This past weekend we headed to Lake Kiowa for the 1st Annual McGee Family Retreat! It is hard to get all of my brothers together at one time, so this was such a treat.

The Gang

The kids loved all the attention they got from the "uncies"
Caroline and Uncy Paul
Miles and Uncy Brian
Uncy Justin with his sweet girlfriend, Sarah.
Minnie and Papa

Me and my man
The twinkies showing off their matching attire.
Hugs from Minnie
Miles got to meet his great-grandparents from Oklahoma for the very first time!

They brought Caroline a horse for her birthday! This was an extra special gift, as they got me a horse just like this one when I was little. Now Caroline can have as much fun as we did!
She LOOOOVES it. Here she is going "super-fast" :)
Peeking from behind the tree...ha ha ;)
Jumping off the swim platform...no fear AT ALL!
It was such a fun weekend!!! We are already looking forward to next year :)

3 months

Wowzers! Time is flying by. My sweet little guy is already 3 months old. I have to say I love it. Every stage is more fun than the last!

Here are a few tings about the fabulous Mr. Miles at 3 months:

I am pretty sure his eyes will stay blue, because they are still pretty light right now. As for his hair, that's a toughie. He is too bald to know!


He is a DROOL machine. I have never seen a kid drool so much...my goodness! His hands are in his mouth constantly, and he has an amazing ability to fit his entire hand in his mouth at once. Special, I know :) He has also started biting me when I am feeding him...ouch. All of this leads me to beleive he is teething, but I figure it will be a while before we see any teefers pop up.

He has rolled in both directions (tummy to back and back to tummy) more than once, but he wasn't doing either with any real consistency until TODAY! He has been rolling from his tummy to his back all day. Yea for Miles!
He still enjoys (tolerates) tummy time pretty well. Especially now that he can really look around. He loves to watch his sister.

He smiles ALL the time. I used to have work hard for those smiles, but now he gives them to me freely ;) He laughs, too. But we still have to work pretty hard for a laugh!

He typically wakes up once at night, usually around 3 or 4. He eats, and goes back down til & or 7:30. He has slept all the way through a couple of times, so we are moving in the right direction.

Chillin' in the Bumbo Chair (which Caroline calls the "Mambo Chair")
Riding the Zilker train for the first time!
(I know we broke fashion code by wearing TWO things with our name at the same time...double greek, double geek)
He has a way of kicking out of his swaddle, so I am guessing it won't last much longer.

Isn't he so sweet???

He is the sweetest baby. I know all babies are sweet, but he really is a sweet-natured kiddo. I just can't get enough of him...I plan to spoil him absolutely rotten ;)

Going to the Chapel...

We hit Waco for another wedding this past weekend! We have been on a little wedding tour this spring/summer. First, Jon went to Eric and Samantha's wedding in May, then he went to his cousin's wedding in June. We both went to Andrew and Mel's wedding in July, and this past weekend it was Brian and Anna's wedding in Waco!

Brian is Kristin's little bro, and his sweet bride Anna has become so dear to all of us!
The girls dancing with groom

My honey and me (wearing the same dress I wore to the last wedding we went to ;))
The fellas
Abel, Jared, Matt, Jon
The ladies...
Ginny, Kristin, me, Halston, Heather
Had so much fun hanging out with yall! Congrats to Brian and Anna!

23 months!

Caroline is so much fun at 23 months. She talks non-stop, and seems to be learning somthing new every day. I am constantly amazed at what she picks up...she is becoming more and more aware of the world around her. It's such an incredible experience to watch her discover it!

She has recently become obsessed with her pink "crocs". She would sleep in them if I let her, but alas, she must take them off before getting in bed. She does ask for them ass soon as she wakes up though!

Speaking of sleeping...Caroline managed to climb out of her pack n play TWICE during our most recent trip to Dallas. Oh my. I couldn't beleive it...still can't actually. I was utterly shocked to see her standing there, and she was VERY proud of herself. SIGH. So, she now sleeps in her "sleeping tent" at night.

All her Dora-watching is paying off, as she has started spontaneously using a few Spanish words. "Abres" (open) is her favorite. The other day, she was standing in front of the china cabniet saying, "Abre! Abre!" and pulling on the doors.

She loves to pretend with her babies and animals. Here they are enjoying a meal in the dining room. She was very particular about who was sitting where!

She also loves to sing, color, dress up, and play with stickers.

We had our first trip to the dentist this week. Caroline did great! She got to wear sunglasses, and have bubble gum flavored flouride. It was pretty quick and easy, and we go back for another check up in 6 months.

This video is LONG, but I just coudn't resist posting it. I think my brothers will get a kick out of it! She loves her "Uncy" Paul, Brian, and Justin :)

Lady Gaga!

I never would have pictured myself at a Lady Gaga concert, but that's exactly where I found myself last week!

For Ginny's birthday, some of the girls planned a surprise night out to Lady Gaga! We met up for dinner at Luna de Noche, and Matt brought Ginny in. Imagine her surprise when her quite b-day date night was taken over by all of us wearing our "Gaga Glasses" :)

Headed to the show!

Sarah, Kristen, Ginny, Me, Candace

The people watching was CRAZY! Everywhere we turned, there were people dressed up like Lady Gaga.

Lady Gaga herself, had some very interesting costumes as well

The AAC was packed!! Lady Gaga's fans really lover her, that's for sure. I am not sure she would have expected a group of nerdy moms to be part of her audience, but we still had fun ;)

Happy Birthday, Ginny!

The Fab 4

We made yet another trip to D-town (our 3rd since the middle of June). This time it was extra special because we got to have all FOUR of the new Erickson babies together for the very first time, and of course the 5 "big" kids were there, too ;)

Here they are!
Miles (5/5), Wade (6/9), Lainey Ann (6/14), and Piper (7/7)

And here are the proud Mamas!
Me, Diane, Elizabeth, and Brittany
And the WHOLE gang! All 9 grandkids...WOW! Trying to get a pic of all of us was hilarious, and almost impossible, which is why this is the best one I have...Ha!
Diane came down from KC with her 3 kiddos and her sweet mom, so we ALL bunked up at Grammy's house. It was so much fun!

Wyatt, Whitney and Caroline catching up on a little reading...

Miles and Wade just chillin...hilarious expression on Mr. Miles.
The Roller Coaster is a huge hit...I love the looks on their faces...Seriously another picture?
Grandpa took the crew to Home Depot!
We had so much fun playing, visiting, and meeting all the new babies. What fun!

Aquarium!

When we were in Tulsa, the kiddos stayed with Mimi and Papa. One day, Minnie and Papa came to the rescue to give Mimi and little break ;) Ha ha!

They took her to the Aquarium!

Reading up on the animals...
Goofing off :)
Snuggling with Minnie
Exploring with Papa
She is quite attached to her new friend, Otter!

Tulsa Rocks!

Actually any city rocks when you are a tired momma of a toddler and a newborn! We were lucky enough to have a little get away to Tulsa this past weekend, compliments of Andrew and Melanie's wedding festivities :)

It was SO much fun. We slept, laid by the pool, slept, hung out with friends, slept, made new friends, slept, danced, danced, and danced some more, slept, and I even got a MASSAGE!!! Did I mention we slept? It was GLORIOUS!

A limo picked us up at the airport, and there were limos on hand to take us anywhere and everywhere all weekend!
lounging in the limo on the way to the hotel
The guys at the rehearsal dinner
Andrew, Mike, Luke, Jon, Don, and Joe
Ice sculpture at the reception...It was an "O" with "Obriotti" in the middle...so cool!
We got to sit with Andrew and Mel at the recption, which was such an honor!
Andrew and Jon
Mr. and Mrs. Obriotti!
Us.
The guys again...
strike a pose...
Thanks to Andrew and Mel for a wonderful wedding weekend!

And thanks to all the grandparents for taking care of the kiddos...more to come on their fun adventures soon :)

The Year of the Babies

We welcomed the 4th and final Erickson baby of 2010 and she is definitely a keeper!

Piper Ann Erickson
July 7, 2010
8 lbs. 3 oz.
20 inches

Congrats to Clark, Brittany, and big sis Emma!

I can't wait to get all these babies together in a couple of weeks!!!!!! :)