Barefoot, pregnant and running

Like my shoes? They're like running barefoot. I decided to run with them in a 5K last week, before I get too big and it gets too hot outside. Here is me, running 5K at (almost) 5 months pregnant in honor of the 5 of May-o.

The day was perfect! It was one of the exceptionally few perfect days we've had this spring. Scott took some pictures of the area while I was off running.

Perfect, right? That little head running along the path in the above photo is Grace. She likes to run, too.

Running was a great experience. I felt like a rock star as I crossed the finish line at exactly 30:00. While pregnant. That's my not-pregnant time, and I know I've been running slower at the gym. I was actually shocked when I realized I had maintained a 10-minute mile the whole time! The location was awesome, running on shaded blacktop paths along a river. The sponsor was awesome, organized, and good at psyching everyone up, and the whole event was treated like a fiesta. We even ran alongside the three amigos! We got serenaded with "My Little Buttercup" around the first mile when they passed us. (We passed them about half a mile later when they started walking.)

I had a running buddy, too, which made it even more awesome. At the end of the race, they had a feast with overflowing platters of fresh fruits, vegetables, tortilla chips, a salsa bar, virgin margaritas and other drinks, tons of churros and candy. Then, to top it all off, during the awards ceremony (which was treated like a party) we won 18-holes of golf at a nearby club, a ball and frisbee for Grace, and a voucher for two theater tickets.

Probably the funnest 5K I've run. I think I'll try it again next year.

Happy Mother's Day...

...to my dear, compassionate mom and all my beautiful sisters. Thanks for coming last week for Women's Conference and Grace's birthday. I loved being all together, wish we could do it more often. Can't wait 'til next time!

Easter recap

Ready...

Set...

Go!

Collecting Easter Eggs

Riding the 4-wheel tractors

Going down the big slide(s) with daddy

And the highlight: Petting the animals!

Grace worked hard to try and pet or hold every animal within her reach. She loves animals.

"C'mere, chicken"

She tried and tried for that duck, but he was a quick rascal.

So she settled for watching the baby ducks and chicks.

By the time Scott caught the hot commodity, the baby lamb, Grace was getting too tuckered out to care. But Scott looks pretty cozy holding a baby lamb.

So we went for some lower-key fun: The animal train!

Again! With Daddy.

Finally, the hayride where Grace partook of the spoils of her egg hunt treasure. Hurray for a Happy Easter!

Eggs!

I still struggle through the days (especially cold or wet ones) trying to figure out activities that Grace and I can do together that don't include running a lot, wearing me out, or watching a video. With the coming of Easter, I was excited to try to dye eggs with Grace.

I talked all about it, trying to psych her up: when we got the supplies at the store, when we were cooking the eggs, when I was preparing the table...

Side note: Grace doesn't really care for crafts. Coloring keeps her attention for .2 seconds. Play-doh keeps her attention for 3.5 minutes. The closest we've gotten to enjoying crafts is dragging fingers through spilled milk. I think that can last over five minutes.

So why did I think this would be a fun idea? I don't know. I guess I'm delusional. Right from the start, when I took out the dye pellets, Grace thought they were candy and wanted to eat them. As I put them in the glasses of water, she thought they were juice and wanted to drink them. She proceeded to get very mad and cried the WHOLE time, asking for a drink of "that juice." I tried to get her to color on an egg. She took the black crayon (her favorite color, btw), made one line, then threw the crayon and cried "all done."

When the first egg came out of the dye, she hesitated for a second as she noticed the color change, then cried that she wanted to eat the egg. I finally gave in, cracked the egg and got a plate for her. She refused to eat it, calling it a "yucky egg."

It seems about two weeks before her birthday, she instantly changed into an irrational 2 year-old. I used to be able to talk her through her frustrations, but not anymore. This is a whole new level of parenting that I am having a hard time dealing with. I've read books, I've heard advice, but you don't really know what your into until you go through it. And I'm just starting...

Wish me luck!

Two years of Grace

Grace turned two on Sunday! She lucked out with lots of cousins and aunts and a grandma all at her birthday party! She's been singing "Happy Birthday" to herself for a month always ending with a comment about blowing out the candles. When the time finally came, she smiled big as everyone sang, then hesitated after the song. Luckily, we have a plethera of older cousins who are happy to help out.

We didn't get very good birthday photos, but we did get a good one of all the Erickson sisters and cousins! It was so fun to have us all together!

I think this is the first time we've all been together in about fifteen years. We had a full house! Here's a video my sister took to scan the room (after Grace went to bed) so you can get an idea of the fun birthday chaos.

It's a BOY!

If you can figure out this picture without the doctor's circle around the tell-tale dot, then you are smarter than me. My babies have both been modest when it comes to ultrasounds. Grace crossed her legs. This little guy had all his fingers and toes in the same general area we were trying to see and I was so confused. But I trust the doctor and Scott, who both are convinced this is a boy. So there you have it! Hurray for a gender-balanced family!

Happy Conference!

Hope your General Conference Weekend is fabulous!

Some dreams shouldn't come true...

One of the amusing side-effects of pregnancy, in my point of view, is weird dreams (see here and here). Last night I had a LOT, but I only remember the last moment of the last one:

I was at a gigantic baseball field in the stands (which were more like chain-linked parking garages). The stadium seating was benches. I was sitting across a picnic table from a coach and he helped me make a drink? From my recollection, the drink contained "tomato juice" which looked like tomato sauce and "vanilla gin" which looked like curdled milk. He handed me the cup and I carefully swished it around because I wanted it "shaken, not stirred" ha ha ha. It looked rancid, but I drank it anyway. It tasted rancid, but I kept drinking until there was less than half a cup.

I brought the cup over to my sister who was sitting a couple sections away. I told her how gross the drink was and asked if she wanted to try. She asked what it was and after thinking about it I answered, "A Bloody Mary?" She tasted it, was grossed out and said, "We should probably get some water." And I said, "I guess you're right."

Happy St. Patty's Day!

"Kiss me, I'm cute"

Ahem... testing, is this thing on?

I know my last post was kind of lame, but the whole point was to show off our t-shirts, which I made. If you're still not getting the point, read the comments of the three people who DID see the t-shirts in the last post...

Today was a lovely day

So we decided to walk around a little. We looked at cows.

We posed for pictures (perhaps painfully from Grace's perspective).

We jumped on the trampoline. Carefully. (The idea of jumping is more exciting to Grace than actually doing it.)

And we played in the grass, which was almost kind of green!

We're excited for spring and more days like this one.

Basketball is not a democracy

. . . the best player gets to shoot all he wants."

That was one of the most incredible basketball games I have ever seen. I loved it! Go Cougars!

Kitty Cat Grace

She now beckons to the imaginary cats, then becomes one.

She's been known to keep this up for up to a half-hour! Silly goose... cat...

Coolest playground ever... of my childhood

I know it's still cold and wet outside, for the most part, but we're all dreaming of summer. I was looking through my pictures of last summer and had to share some.

The coolest park I can think of is French Park. Now, I may have been to parks that had different cool toys or playgrounds that were bigger, but this park is still at the top of my list for lots of reasons. This post is about the playground.

The French Park playground has a massive web-maze of nets. If you have ever wanted to feel like spiderman, this is the place to do it.

There are tunnels of nets, vertical and horizontal,

Large planes of nets to jump into and tiny wedges to balance around.

They built this when I was still a kid. It was a huge deal. I still am impressed every time I visit it. It's still fun, and a total workout to play on this maze of nets.

I don't feel like I can accurately portray it's awesomeness in pictures because you can't get the totallity of the three dimensions. But to summarize, here is a patchwork panorama for you to enjoy.

If there is ever a day when you and I and your children (or not) happen to be in Minnesota at the same time and during the warm months, I will definitely take you here. It's still one of my favorite places.

Today

We woke up to 4-5" of perfect powder white snow.

Grace couldn't stop talking about it during breakfast, so we bundled up and went to play.

She probably wanted the snow as part of her breakfast, and that's why she kept talking about it. Well, if that was true she got her wish.

I thought this would be a fun time to introduce Grace to real snowmen. (She already knows them from pictures, songs, etc, but we've never made one.)

So I made a snowman. This is what Grace thought of the snowman.

She was traumatized that I used a carrot for the nose. So I took it out and let her gnaw on it for awhile.

We got the full effect of the "snowman" primary song (one of Grace's favorite songs) all in one day. Here is what the snowman looked like at 5:00 tonight.

Grace didn't pay it any heed. She was off to play with the big boys on the bball court.

If you've never seen it, Grace has quite a swagger when she walks.

It's a cute little walk that says, I'm the big man on campus, I know everything. She swings her arms wide and twists her hips.

I should get a video of it. It's adorable.

On another note, one of her most recent favorite activities is beckoning to imaginary cats.

"C'mere, kiddy cat. Kiddy caaaaaaaat."