The BIG One!

Doug had his Big 40th Birthday this year! I tried and tried to figure out how we were going to celebrate it.  He was not a lot of help.  He thought we could just go to dinner.  I just did not think that would work for the big 40th.

 

 I decided we definitely needed some sort of surprise!  So, we ended up with a surprise birthday buffet.  I was the one surprised though that Doug really did not figure it out until his family started to arrive.

 

Here's our group minus Doug's sister because of a terrible snow storm!  We missed having Kris with us. Doug was very surprised and I think also happy to get to celebrate with family.

 Doug, Nicolette, and Vivien, Nicolette was in a sleepy girl mood and we did not get a ton of happy pictures out of the girlie.

Janae and Doug, The perfectly cut fruit was done by Doug's dad...Thank you Steve!

We ended up having birthday muffins instead of birthday cake.  I think it worked out fine, Doug says it was fine...I still feel slightly guilty about it.

Daddy's girl fake sleeping.

 

 Present time!  Nicolette definitely perked up for present time.  She did not care if there were bullets and tools in the presents she wanted to be a part of it!

Vivi had lots of excitement for the presents too!  

Nicolette the present giver:)

Doug chose to go to one of our favorite restaurants for his birthday dinner.  Here we are at Settebello. Everything was delicious AND because we went early no wait!

 

 My last surprise...we ended our night here at the Grand America.  

A big thank you to Doug's parents who helped make all these birthday festivities possible:)

And, Happy Birthday to the greatest husband around, I am one very lucky girl!

That's great and all, but you really need to move on. It's now December. put on a new post

So, thanks to the anonymous commenter...I am finally updating:) I even thought the comment so catchy it is my title. Now, I'm not trying to encourage anon. comments...let's face it they can get annoying;) so, let's not make a habit of it.

Christmas Sunday (Dec. 20,2009)

I love to get a picture of the girls the Sunday before Christmas.  They are all in their new Christmas dresses and it is just plain fun.  Unfortunately, not all of the the girls agree with the plain fun part.  They really did pretty good considering what some of the years past have been.  So, I am glad to have the pictures and glad to have them blogged:)

Lexi complied with picture taking this year.

 Lilli was happy for a photo.

 

 Ava was not thrilled to pose for her picture.

 

 Vivien is always thrilled to pose for any picture!

 

 Nicolette was obviously not in the mood...

 

 I enlisted Doug for help...

 

This was not helpful...

 

Priceless!

School Store

Every fifth grader in Ms. Hansen's class gets to experience the class store. Every student has the opportunity to figure out what they would like to sell at their own store in the classroom. This is no easy undertaking. Every student must apply for a loan and meet the proper expectations if they want their loan approved. Once the paper work is accomplished, the student can then set into work and get their product ready for sale. The entire school is invited to attend the store and buy what they wish. (in Hansenville currency of course:).

Lilli decided that she would like a cupcake store. Now, normally this would be fine, but between me being 9 months pregnant and the store taking place a few weeks before Christmas...it was a tad on the difficult side. We set to work though and it all turned out terrific. We made these very fun snowflake cupcakes. We made tons and tons of cupcakes 3 Fridays in a row! I wish I had more pictures. We also made lots of mini cupcakes which we figured were a bigger profit margin. (store is every Friday for 3 weeks). I am happy to report that Lilli's cupcake store was a huge success! She sold out of cupcakes in the first 10 minutes and had earned enough money to pay back her loan. Good work Lilli!

Three Birthdays and a Baptism

We have been a bit busy here.  I have been wanting to blog, but seem unable to get it together and just get it done!  I am starting with our first birthday of what I like to call "birthday season at our house".  This year was extra fun because we got to throw a baptism in with birthday time...crazy busy, but well worth it:)

Happy Birthday Ava~ September 28!  8 Years old...wow!

 We spent the Saturday before Ava's birthday at The Lion House.  This is a tradition at our house and Ava is now the 3rd sister to celebrate her 8th birthday in such a historical place.  It takes effort on mom's part because the birthday needs to be booked a year in advance.  Now, for this mom that is one hard task to remember, "oh, on the 7th birthday let's start paying for the 8th!" Well, it is well worth it and we had a great time celebrating!

The girls all get to come and pick a pioneer bonnet.  Then we talk about pioneers and Brigham Young.  The tour of the house is always a fun highlight:)

 This was our hostess Karen.  she was a wonderful delight, and made the party fun for all of the girls.

 

 The Lion House birthday cake.

 

Ava with all of her friends out in the garden area of the house.

Here is Ava on her actual birthday, September 28.  Her big surprise was a new bike! 

Birthday cake made by mom.  All frosting colors chosen by the birthday girl:) Grandma and Grandpa were able to join us for dinner and cake!

We went to the cabin to meet up with my parents to continue the celebrating.  (i know this is one L-o-n-g birthday!) We had fun getting to see them over UEA and celebrate birthdays.

We celebrated with Lilli and Ava at the cabin.  It was lots of celebrating, but such a fun birthday to celebrate!  Happy 8th birthday Ava...We love you!

Congrats to the President!

 

The President of Hansenville that is.

Lilli was nominated and elected as president of Mrs. Hansen's 5th grade class!

She will do a great job.

We had cake to celebrate.

Congratulations Lilli, we love you!

The Real First Day!

Here goes Vivi today, headed out the door.
School did start last Monday, except if you are in Kindergarten. The kindergartner's got to go to school for about 1 and 1/2 hours last Monday. The rest of the week is reserved for kindergarten assessment of each child individually. Today was the real thing! Vivien could not wait to finally get to school, after waiting all of last week. It was an exciting day around here.

Vivi happy to be heading to school with the "big kids". Her teacher this year is Mrs. Wright.

This was the first "fake day" (that's what we call it). We had a long week waiting for school to truly start. We are glad we made it through and hopefully someone learned some patience:)
I can't believe this little girlie is headed for a year full of big school. She has a lot of fun a head of her.

Lilli last Monday. The start of 5th grade. Lilli's teacher this year is Ms. Hansen.

Ava ready for the big grade of second! Mrs. Bryson this year:)

Lexi ready for her 2nd year at Jr. High! (wow...i'm gettin old:(
She is taking choir, Spanish 2, and Facs for her electives this year.

Baby Erickson

I am excited to report that this baby Erickson happens to be ALL BOY!!!!

Cousin Camp 2009

Every summer my Mom and Dad host a camp for all cousins 12 and under. What a great time for the cousins to get to share together. I know all of the campers were thrilled to get to have ample cousin time.

Lexi ended up at the cabin at cousin camp time because of needing a ride home from Vegas. She was a great help to me and those Aunts who had babies. It was good to have her there.

Mam and Poppy with the group of campers.

Lily and her cousin Katie were our Jr. camp counselors. They did a fabulous job helping and directing activities. We were all grateful to have them!

Here are a few samplings of some of our activities: Writing in journals..

Even Nicolette and cousin Ella were thrilled to be included in activities.

This was a great activity, put on by Aunt Katie. We made terrariums and these turned out terrific. It's amazing what you can make from a couple of 2 liter soda bottles.

The planting of the terrariums

This was just getting ready for the big activity. Each year we have a camp theme. This year was...We Love Nature. We had nature journals, bug hunting, a nature scavenger hunt, "fishing", painting a huge tree with tiny hand prints for leaves, setting up a tent, and many more:)

Every cousin gets a certificate of camp achievement. Nicolette was very excited to be big enough to get her own certificate.

Vivien with Mam at the end of camp.

Ava's turn.

Lilli also received a certificate for being a great camp counselor.

In her spare time, Lexi was trying to convince each camper to come with her for a photo shoot. This is one of Lexi's favorite things to do,taking pictures. Here are just a few pictures of her models.
This is my darling nephew Ryan.

Ryan's cute sister Ella

I do love this picture that Lexi captured of Ava with the yummy sunshine right on her hair.
Thanks to all for making another successful year of Cousin Camp!