Max's Spelling List

Sometimes I like to look at the words Max chooses for his spelling list and wonder what is going on in his head.

1. inquisitive
2. brake calipers
3. infrequent
4. initiate
5. perforate
6. perennial
7. perestroika
8. periodical
9. maternity
10. miscellaneous
11. neurotic
12. isthmus

Meeting Matthew

On Sunday Sophie gave a talk in primary (she did a GREAT job) and she would gladly volunteer to give a talk every week if they asked her. After church we drove up to Eden Prairie to attend the blessing of our new nephew Matthew, son of David (Bryan's brother) and Trisha. After their church ended, we went over to their house for a yummy dinner and some time with the new baby and the cousins. Matthew is adorable and seemed like a very content, happy baby. His big brothers obviously adore him, especially Joshua. Joshua was a little kissing machine every time he came near the baby!
Calvin and Joshua played puzzles
Calvin kissing his new cousin.

The big brothers:

Bryan's 10K

Here are a couple of shots of what Bryan looked like after his 10k this last Saturday. His trail-running obsession is very, very messy! You can read all about it on his running blog. Bryan headed up to Wisconsin tonight where he is running another 50k in the morning.

Stake Enrichment Breakfast

Last Saturday I spent the morning in Oakdale at the Stake Enrichment Meeting. I was asked to prepare breakfast for 125 sisters. I spent all day on Friday baking and made 2 apple pie coffee cakes, 2 vanilla cinnamon coffee cakes, dozens of pumpkin chocolate chip muffins, banana pecan crumble muffins and sweet cornmeal pecan muffins as well as the chocolate buttermilk scones listed below. The house smelled GREAT on Friday! Two of the ladies in the ward made cinnamon rolls and another friend cut up all of the fruit for the fruit platters. The breakfast was a success and luckily only about 70 sister showed up because they asked them to come fasting and by the time brunch came along, people were hungry!!! I had planned on 2 pastries per person, but we almost went through everything I brought!!!

While I was in Oakdale, Bryan was running a 10k race and Koo came down and took Sophie to her first ever dance photos. I will refrain from telling you what Koo thought Sophie looked like in her extremely tacky day-glo dance outfits that cost over $100.00. Sometimes I think there is no filter between Koo's brain and her mouth! I'll post some photos of her after the dress rehearsal.

2nd Grade Music Program

It's catch-up time around here so expect a lot of posts tomorrow. These are some shots of Max's 2nd grade music program. Bryan and the kids went to see it on Thursday night while I was at choir. I sneaked in to see it on Friday morning (Grandparents Day). Since Max has no grandparents near by, Koo went with him!
The theme was bugs and Max was a firefly.

This is the principal - Mr Anger. He was the stink bug.

Here is a quick shot of Max's only line! There are seven 2nd grade classes at Red Pine so there are a LOT of students!

The yummiest scones

Just a quick post to give a recipe to my mom. I am baking breakfast for 125 people today and have a lot to do still! I'll try to get up photos of the event tomorrow when it is done!

Cherry, Chocolate and Buttermilk Scones

1 cup flour
1 cup cake flour
1/4 cup sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
1/4 salt
1 t. orange zest
8 T. unsalted butter cold
3/4 c. dried cherries chopped
1 ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate bar chopped (4 oz.)
2/3 c. buttermilk

Topping:
3 T. sugar
1/4 t. cinnamon


Preheat oven to 375. Mix flours, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt and orange zest with a whisk. Cut in the butter until you have a fine cornmeal texture. Stir in the cherries and chocolate. Add buttermilk and stir just until the dough becomes wet and sticky. On a cookie sheet covered with a silpat, dump the dough and pat it into a 1 inch high circle. Cut into 8 wedges and separate them on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle with topping and bake for 13-15 minutes.

This recipe comes from The Great Book of Chocolate by David Lebovitz.

It's Raining Worms

This past week flew by as our days were packed with commitments. I had rehearsal Tuesday night, Thursday night, a concert on Friday night in New Brighton, a rehearsal Saturday in Prior Lake and a concert Saturday night in Prior Lake not to mention having to sing in RS on Sunday. In between those events, Max had his 2nd grade music program on Thursday night and Grandparents Day on Friday.

Since we had such a tiring week, the weather decided to make it just a bit worse by raining for several days straight and then turning to snow again! The rain brought the worms out by the dozen! As we were leaving the house in the pouring rain one morning, Max commented that "he hated the smell of rain because it smells like wet worms!"

Here are some photos of the kids Thursday night after Max's music program. Evidently, they had to stop and play with all of the worms before retiring for the evening.

Can you see all of them on the driveway?

Sophie is by far our biggest worm lover. She thinks they're "cute" and "wiggly!"
Calvin is much more cautious. He may poke a worm or two, but he'll freak out if you try and hand him one!

BIG news in the Erickson home!

After dangling in her mouth for over a week, Sophie finally let me pull out her first tooth this morning!!! She is so excited and she told Bryan that "today is going to be the best day ever" as he drove her to school! She refuses to put the tooth under her pillow because she wants to save it to show to Grandma and Grandpa Johnson when they come to visit next month.

Bryan's Running again!

Here is a photo of Bryan crossing the finish line at the 25K Trail Mix that he ran this past Saturday at Hyland Lakes Park Reserve. Bryan has also started a personal blog detailing his new running obsession. Here is the link!

Unearthing Spring

Yesterday was gloriously warm - high 60's and Koo came over to force us all to go outside. WE managed to dig most of the grass and dead leaves and winter gunk out of the garden beds and underneath it all we discovered GREEN!!!

These are the aliums
The rabbits have been eating the tulips already - stinkin' rabbits.

What is this stuff? A weed? A grown cover I inadvertently planted that has grown out of control?
Koo - weeder extraordinare

Creme Brulee

Last Sunday Koo and her friend Adam came over for dinner - we had the missionaries as well. Koo was in charge of dessert so she made creme brulee. The recipe she used was from a Martha Stewart cookbook, but I could not find it on line. Adam had a lot of fun with the little kitchen torch which really impressed all of the kids.

Ice Breaker

Last Thursday the weather was in the high 50's and it is starting look look like winter might leave us after all! I know I have been talking about the weather all of the time on this blog, but for the last several months, the weather has controlled my moods!

We could not pass up a nice day so we stopped by the park . . .

. . .where I photographed all of the nearby lakes. Do you see the ice breaking up and melting?!

It was a good day. So long ice.

Bryan's gone crazy - The Chippewa Moraine 50k

Saturday was Bryan's first ultra-marathon race. The Chippewa Moraine 50k Trail Run. The weather has been terrible and there was plenty of snow, slush and mud on the trails. The conditions made for a very slow race. The winner was Joe Ziegenfuss at 5:00:37. Last year he ran the Afton 50k in 4:21:49 and the Superior Trail 50k in 4:23:53, and those courses are very hilly and typically run the same person at least 45 minutes longer than a flatter 50k like the Trail Mix 50k -- so that gives you an idea of the difference in the conditions on this one.

Here are the racers at the start.

Trail conditionsBryan's finishing time: 7:51:02
rank: 97th out of 134 starters and 119 finishers (i.e. there were 15 starters who DNF'd, did not finish)

His toes were pretty scary when he got home - he lost a couple of toenails and had some serious blood blisters, but overall, he said that he felt better than after the Twin Cities Marathon. We are very proud of his accomplishment and his crazy new hobby!

The website for the Chippewa Moraine 50k race has maps, a course description, and the full results:
http://www.chippewa50.com/

Finish Line

Jersey Boys Rocks!!!

Last week I got a call from a friend in our ward wanting to know if I would like to go to see Jersey boys with her on Friday night. Well, YES!!!! Bryan graciously came home to watch the kids while Tiffany and I had a night out with a quick dinner at Jasmine Deli (I made a new convert) and then the show downtown.

Jersey Boys rocks!! The musical "is the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons: Frankie Valli, Bob Gaudio, Tommy DeVito and Nick Massi. This is the story of how a group of blue-collar boys from the wrong side of the tracks became one of the biggest American pop music sensations of all time. They wrote their own songs, invented their own sounds and sold 175 million records worldwide - all before they were thirty." The music is amazing, the National Cast is phenomenal but if you go be forewarned, there is a lot of cursing!!!

Thank you for inviting me Tiffany!





Jersey Boys National Tour

Saturday Day of Spring and Bliss!

Last Saturday the temperature in this arctic wasteland we call home actually reached the 60's!!!!!! This was a one-day deal, in fact the forecast for the next three days is snow. Currently, it is sleeting. But, LAST Saturday was a different story - warm, beautiful, spring-like. We went to the park. It was kind of hysterical because everyone was in capris or shorts and sandles (including me), and yet there was still snow on the ground and the lake behind the park is still frozen. The kids spent every possible moment outside and who can blame them?!