Winter?

It certainly has felt more like spring than winter lately! Trust me, you won't hear a complaint from us...we have been loving these warm and sunny days!!

Last week, we packed up our lunches and headed to the park for a picnic.

Caroline helped me make sandwiches and she packed it all up.


She was sooooo proud!


Miles didn't want to be shown up


He was proud of his plate too ;)


We had so much fun that day, so we are going again today! Can't wait :)

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Sleepy Head

Apparently, Miles finds eating to be absolutely exhausting!!!


He keeps falling asleep in his high chair mid-meal :)


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Big Day for Miles!!

Miles had a few super-fun firsts today!

First time on the merry go round...


Holding on for dear life ;)


He got another tooth, his 5th overall, but his FIRST one on top!
Here is showing off the bottom 4...


And last but not least, he crawled on all 4's for the first time!!!

He has been inching like this for a while now...

But now we have graduating to a true crawl...

Yea for Miles! We sure do love this sweet little guy :)



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Once upon a time...

C is really into stories. She is always asking us to tell her stories and tries to retell them herself.

Here is her version of the 3 Little Pigs...

She especially loves to watch videos of herself telling stories (or singing or doing basically anything and everything)




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Sweet Dreams...

Once again, our little punky has proven she is more ready to grow up than we are willing to let her!

Her big girl bed has been all set up since well before Miles was born. She hasn't ever really cared much about it, until recently. She started asking if she could sleep in it, and we just kept telling her she could when she is a "big girl." Last week, I guess she finally convinced us that she was ready. We went to the store to pick our a rail and she was all set!

Here she is all snuggled in, ready for bed.

pretending to sleep ;)

I have been pleasantly surprised (or maybe utterly shocked is a little more accurate) at how well she has done. She has yet to get out of her bed...not once!?!?! When she wakes up, she just lays in bed and calls for us like she always has. I am guessing we will have more issues once we get out of the "honeymoon" period, so we're enjoying it now :)

Jon thought I was crazy to try and go back in and get a picture of her actually sleeping, but I couldn't resist. I didn't dare turn on the flash, for fear of waking her, so it's really dark :)

Sweet girl gets so exited about sleeping in her big girl bed that she keeps asking throughout the day if it's time for bed yet. ha! She has also been telling EVERYONE she sees all about it...including the exterminator, and the people who checked us out at HEB this morning. I am sure they are all just as proud as we are ;)

Our little bear has finally dropped his 10pm feeding! It was long overdue, but we wanted to make it through the holidays before we risked more sleepless nights. Miles surprised us, too! He just started sleeping from 7-7 relatively painlessly!

Again, Jon thinks I am nuts to risk waking them to take pictures of them sleeping, BUT he sleeps all curled up with his little hiney in the air...I mean, seriously, how stinkin cute is that???? Hopefully all the sweet dreams will continue around here!!!

Testing 1,2,3...

I am testing out my new blogger app for my iPhone! This is my first official post from my phone.

Miles on his way to eating the camera :)


Caroline modeling her super cute new vest. Thanks, Grammy! She loves it and wants to wear it everyday ;)





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8 Months

Miles is 8 months old today!

He is mobile now, which changes everything...He doesn't crawl on all fours, but he inchworms super fast all over the place. He has gotten much more adventurous, too. He used to stay mostly in one area, but now he will take off to another room if we aren't careful :)

On the move.

He is so curious. He is always watching his big sister, and looooooves it when she talk to him. They play a game where she squawks at her and she squawks back. They both giggle hysterically.

Chillin with his BFF, Chase, who is just a few days older than Miles.

He can't quite pull up on his own, but he is trying sooooo hard. He loves to stand up!

He can push himself into the sitting position now, which makes him seem so grown up to me!

Standing with Mimi

He is still a super happy little guy. Really doesn't fuss much at all.

He has 3 teeth on the bottom, and the 4th one is on its way. The top 2 are literally about the break through too.

Such a sweet bear

He loves food. If I dilly dally between bites he will bang on his tray and grunt at me. Ha! Such an Erickson move ;) He still hates peas, but seems to like everything else. We are experimenting with finger foods (puffs, cheerios, avocado, banana, potato, refried beans, bread, just to name a few)

check out those thunder thighs.

We went to Italy when I was pregnant with Caroline. At the time we didn't know if we were having a boy or a girl, so we bought the same shirt in both pink and blue. Here is Mr. M sporting the blue one! Such an Italian Stallion.

Hello 2011!

Ryan and Tiffany hosted us for NYE and it was AWESOME! They prepared an entire "Mintue to Win It" game for us. Hilarious. We had 18 games, and one representiative from each couple had to do each one. It you completed the game within the minute, you got a point. At the end, the couple with the most points wins.

The Ladies...

Me, Amy, Tiff, Carly

The Gentlemen...

Joe, Jon, Casey, Ryan

Jon working to stack the apples...


Me unravelling the streamers...


I will spare you the pictures of ALL the games...but trust me it was hysterical and sooooo much fun. Carly and Joe were the big winners!

Thank you Gillenwaters for such a fuuuuuuun night!

Happy 2011!!!

Going Bowling

We had such a great time in Houstin for the Texas Bowl. Big thanks to my mom for watching the kiddos and giving us a little vacay!

The night before the game we went to the Pep Rally and the Letterwinner's Association Celebration. It was really fun to see Jon and his buddies reliving the "glory" days. And fun to see some of the other former players.

(Derek, Luke, Joe, Don, Jon)

I felt a weird mix of excitement but also sadness...So excited for the current players and excited as a fan to see Baylor succeed. But sad for Jon and other former players who worked so hard, but didn't get to experience the same successes. I so wish that he could have had the bowl experience as a player.

Game Day, the weather was TERRIBLE. I mean torrential downpour. So that put a wrench in our plans to tailgate. But never fear, we didn't let it stop our fun :)

(Chad, Danny, Ryan, Joe, Derrick, Jon)

We lost, which was soooo disappointing, but we still had a blast seeing old friends and cheering on the Bears.

Already looking forward to next season...I know it will be even bigger and better!!!

Christmas Round 3

Christmas at Minnie and Papa's...

We opend more presents of couse. I like the team work here...

Had lots of fun playing with Papa (and Minnie and the uncles, just don't have pics of all that!)
But I must say, the highlight was the 1st Annual Gingerbread House Contest!!!!

The pool table was transofmred into an intense decorating battlefield.

THe competition was fierce, but we had a our game faces on.

Our theme was a given. This contest took place 2 days before Baylor mad eit's first bowl appearance in 15 years, so OBVIOUSLY we went with green and gold.

Justin and Sarah with their finished product...It was so cute. They had 2 houses, and even had a Santa on the chimney.

Brian and his snow-covered masterpiece...It even had a real working pond in the front. so cool.

The WINNERS...Paul and Jen. Theirs had sooo much attention to detail. We know that came from Jen ;)

Us with tribute to Baylor...

Sadly, I didn't get a pic of Dad and Sherri with theirs. Just think Candyland. It was so great!

Look forward to next year...I know we will be victorious!!!!!!