Facebook

I just wanted everyone to know that the end of the world has come.  JASON JOINED FACEBOOK!!!  It surprised me, actually because neither of us wanted to facebook, but a lady from his mission invited him, so he succumbed.  Anyway, we share an email account, and I wanted to let you all know that I am not facebooking at all (don't know how, don't want to :)  Just wanted to clarify that because I've already had several people want to be my fb friend, and I don't want you to be offended if it's denied (I'm not sure how Jason is working it anyway).

Why don't I want to facebook?  I just think it's weird and time consuming.  You are welcome to send me emails to try and talk me into it, but I doubt you'll be able to :)

Still love you all,
Erin

*Update:  So apparently Jason still doesn't care about facebook, and doesn't have plans to post anything.  He just wanted to get on and see this lady's pictures.  Ha ha.  You know, I am really glad for that.

Happy Mother's Day

Today after church we went outside and discovered a Killdeer bird who had layed eggs within the decorative rocks on the church property.  We walked semi-close to the bird and eggs.  The bird, standing 2 feet in front of her eggs, squawked at us for the entire 5 min. we sat watching.  Her feathers were out, and she was threateningly mad.  I decided that since it was Mother's Day, it wasn't nice to stress this little mother bird out like that, so we walked away.  I know that this is a common thing in nature, but it was really sweet to see on Mother's Day.  I love how she, in the face of these giant humans, who could easily squash her if we wanted to, braved up to protect her little ones.  Motherhood brings innate responsibility and love, and I am so grateful I am privileged enough to be a mother.

That's all.

Sick

Dana at 11:30pm, joined us in the kitchen.  This'll be a fun habit to break.

My kids got little colds at the end of Fall.  Then we all went all winter without being sick.  It was awesome and unbelievable, probably the first time in my life this has happened.  I kept thinking perhaps it was the raw garlic or green smoothies.  Maybe we'd gotten a little lazy with those two things, or maybe it was for humility, but my kids simultaneously came down with the worst colds.  I know, just a cold virus.  But 103.9 fever for 4 nights - it was pretty rough.   I was taking in sometimes 6 full garlic cloves a day!  I am a tiny bit sick, but considering all the boogery fingers that have been in my mouth, and getting woken up 10x a night from the baby in my bed, I'm not as sick as I should be. Use garlic!

Actually, Dana did get sick a few weeks ago.  I keep forgetting about that.

Let's meet!

Levi, Dana, and their cousin Kailyn

Last month I bought a pass to the children's museum in the city. It is a 6 person pass I split with my friend, so I can get 3 people in for free whenever I go. We have been several times already, each time with someone different. And I already have a couple more friends lined up to meet there. Ha ha. But it's an open invitation that if you want to go to the museum, invite me, and you can get in for free. The weather is nice, so I don't think we'll be going as much, but I just wanted to let you all know about it.
Dana and her cousins Lizzie and Emmi. Poor Danes has this bad bout of eczema she's had for months. I can't seem to get rid of it, and I'm wondering if it actually is eczema after all.

A scrapbook page from my baptism

Some of the writing was cut off in the scan (it's too big a page for the scanner), but it's my favorite part. It says, "The specelest Day of my life I'm not kidding I'm serist it was becaus I didi't have a singgel sin."

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Jason didn't think I should post this because it is very personal. But I hope you know I'm not mocking my child self by putting this up. It's one of the best treasures I have, and I love it.

The best prank ever

I'm going to take one more walk down memory lane (I've been scanning in old photo albums), but trust me, this one is worth reading.

My freshman year in college, the Olympic torch was coming through the city where I lived. My roommates and I, along with most of the city, lined up on the street, bundled up in the cold, with our cameras. We waited and waited. The torch was over an hour behind schedule, apparently. Finally, we saw throngs of people rushing up and snapping pictures. We were excited, and ran up and started snapping.
After it had passed, I sat there a little disappointed. It wasn't what I expected the Olympic torch to be like. It seemed a little unprofessional and the torch was small (and looked like aluminum foil). Oh well.

We were getting ready to head inside, when a bigger commotion happened. People again were rushing up to snap pictures. There was another torch. This one was preceded and followed by police cars and fire engines. Their outfits were definitely more Olympic-like (the first guys were wearing long-johns), and the torch was big and beautiful.
The thought of what happened has kept me laughing, over the years, every time I think of it. How fun would it have been to be the first guys, running 5 minutes ahead of the real torch, knowing everyone is totally expecting to see a torch anytime soon so they just assume you're the real thing and take pictures of you as you run up the street smiling and laughing. Who's idea was that? And why wasn't it on the news?

Genius.

My little Danes

Here's Dana pretending to play with her toys. I say pretending, because neither she nor Levi actually play with toys unless I am sitting there doing it with them. Okay, she really was playing with toys when I took this picture, but every parent knows what I'm talking about, right? My kids aren't the only ones who would rather hang onto their mom's legs than play with a room full of toys. This is normal, right? (Fishing for reassurance here).
I'm convinced that people like to eat what they have been given since they were young. Most kids like bland foods. Well, Dana loves hummus. The raw garlic and lemon juice really give it a zip, but it's not too strong for her tastebuds. She loves it. I've tried a few hummus recipes, and I like this one best (I half the cumin, coriander, lemon juice, and omit the olive oil).
The coat I bought her from the thrift store.
I just had to post some cute pictures, because right now she's up in her bed crying, trying to get out of taking a nap. It makes me a little tense to let her cry, so I thought I'd just see some cuteness to make me happy.