Eric's Middle Name is Trouble

Eric is full of energy, life and a little bit of a mischievous side.  When he is going to do something he knows he shouldn't be (like splashing in the dog bowl), as soon as we call his name, he starts flapping his arms like wings to try to get himself to the place he shouldn't be faster.  And he cackles in laughter.  Every morning, this is how we find him when he has wandered into the bathroom.

And here he is playing in Evan's room.  His favorite thing - to crawl onto Evan's chair and fall head first onto the floor.  If no was there to catch him, he'd be in trouble.  And now every time we are in Evan's room, we have to be on constant watch:

And here is a picture of him actually being nice and calm early on Sunday morning.  These moments are rare and I know we're just in the beginning of the craziness!

I haven't been so great about getting my camera out lately.  These were all shot with my phone.  With Evan hating his picture being taken and Eric pretty much running all over the place these days, I don't have the energy to chase them around with my camera.  Plus, photos indoors just don't turn out as well. I'm definitely looking forward to the warmer weather, getting outside and trying to get some better pictures of my boys.

Janet's Surprise 60th

Brian and his family planned a surprise 60th party for his mother this past weekend on Saturday night.  We told her we were coming home for her birthday and would be taking her out to dinner (just the 4 of us) to a steak restaurant nearby.  Little did she know that there would be 15 of us celebrating her birthday in a private room at the steakhouse.  We had arranged for babysitting for the boys and even planned a "fake" party for Sunday of our weekend in town.  

The table is set, just waiting for the guests to arrive.  Since we were bringing Janet with us, I didn't have an excuse to bring my camera with me.  So thank you very much to Michele for taking the photos:

Brian, Janet, Vinnie & me:

As part of the surprise, Brian sent out a message to all of Janet's friends and family asking for letters of memories . . . to get her to 60 memories for her 60th birthday.  Brian collected and organized all of the letters. As of Saturday morning, we had 58 letters compiled and had the idea of the grandkids doing a few letters to get us to the 60th mark.  Evan colored a page for her and Morgan wrote a short note too.  Michele made the beautiful flower arrangements in the antique tea-pots she had collected:

And a group shot of all of the guests:

We had a great time and, more importantly, Janet had an even better time. I just hope my boys are half as thoughtful as Brian was for his mother with this party!  Thanks to everyone who made it such a success!

Eric is 11 months old

Eric turned 11 months old this week!  I think this frog picture may just be my favorite.  He was so smiley and cooperative - hamming it up for the camera.  Eric was at the doctor this week for a sick visit - first ear infection and first dose of antibiotics at 11 months, which is pretty good as far as I'm concerned.  We hadn't been for a sick visit since October so I can't complain at all.  He got weighed with his clothes on and was up to 19 lbs and 23rd percentile.  His weight was a little overinflated but I was thrilled.  Eric is taking lots of steps now - he has probably connected 8 steps or more.  I wouldn't say that he's walking yet because he still choose crawling over walking but I think we are really close.  He loves to get himself to standing without holding onto anything and stand there practicing his balance.  He is also getting to be more talkative.  He will say "uh oh", "ball" and "choo choo".  He also will imitate the sneezing sound if we do it.  Overall, he continues to be happy and easy-going.  I can't believe this is almost our last frog picture and that my little baby will be 1 next month! 

 Being silly:

First Valentine's Day:

Eric's First Steps

Eric took his first official steps on Saturday, February 2nd at 10.5 months old.  As a contrast, Evan was not even able to pull himself up to standing at this age.  While we've got a little bit of time yet before he's off and walking, I'm afraid that time is going to go faster than I would like!

The rest of the weekend was devoted to the Superbowl.  Brian has always been a 49ers fan and was thrilled to see them play in the Superbowl.  The whole family dressed in red to celebrate:

 Trying for a full family shot:

Unfortunately, the 49ers did not win and Brian was not too happy.  Maybe next year?!?!

December Photo Shoot

Part of my parents' Christmas present was a picture of the four grandchildren.  Trying to get 4 children of the age 3 and under was quite the task.  And of course we couldn't get the perfect shot but it could have been a lot worse too.  Here is the picture we ended up framing for my parents' living room:

A picture of the two boys by themselves:

My favorite picture of Eric:

Eric sitting up:

The only picture we were really able to get of Evan who was more interested in throwing rocks and sticks into the nearby river:

We did not plan on taking a family photo - I did not even shower that morning or put on make-up.  Not a great photo of me but my 3 boys look good at least:

Getting formal photos is just not a pleasant experience with little kids. I look forward to the day that they will be more cooperative.

Something to get me through the winter . . .

In the middle of this frigid cold spell, there is one thing reminding me that the warm weather is not too far away.  Our trip to Spain and Portugal for our 10th anniversary is keeping me busy at night - planning, planning, planning.  I LOVE it.  I really should have been a travel agent - I thrive on planning itineraries, finding the best deals on hotels (and no, that does not mean the cheapest) and figuring out what we're going to see each day.  Brian says I'm like a drill sergeant when we go away because I want to see EVERYTHING humanly possible.  Our itinerary is usually jam-packed with no time for a rest.  And as much as I like to think this trip will be different, it's probably not going to happen.  There is just too much to do and see and not enough time.  Here are some of the things I'm looking forward to.

Below is a picture of the courtyard of our little boutique hotel in Seville.  There is a roof-top jacuzzi for relaxing (if we get a chance to do that) and the hotel lends out bicycles for free, so I envision us taking the bikes out for a ride.  Let's see if that actually happens.

We will spend a day on the beach in the Algarve region of Portugal.  This will be the view from our hotel.  It's Sedona-meets-the-Atlantic-ocean.

And when we get to Lisbon, we are staying in an old palace which has been converted to a 5-star hotel.  

Four months and counting!

Just a few photos

I hadn't taken my camera out in awhile to catch the "everyday" things.  Eric was in such a happy mood yesterday and I wanted to capture it.  Here he is crawling around our tv room:

Big boy starting to stand unassisted:

Tickles and smiles:

Ready to watch the 49ers with his daddy:

A 10 week versus 10 month comparison:

And these pictures were from a few weeks ago.  Evan fell asleep laying on Brian while watching football.  Evan NEVER sleeps on us anymore so we probably should have known better.  A few hours after this, the stomach bug began.  

One of the only times we can get a picture of this kid. Maybe one day soon he'll cooperate about getting his picture taken again.