Erickson Epistles: May 2017

Dear friend,

May was another wonderful month filled with dressing up,

trips to the park,

art projects,

destruction,

puzzles,

and oh, so many headstands.

Beads bring Boyd & Summer together. Smith doesn't really care for it, but these two really get into it.

We've enjoyed finger-painting,

which often turns into foot-painting,

and then just goes downhill from there.

The kids ran a 1K.

Summer and Boyd stayed very focused and Smith completed the activity at his own pace. (About fifty feet into the run, he stopped, turned to Elias and asked, "What state are we in?". He continued the course while checking out flowers, pointing out bugs, asking about running medals and how food grows, and scraping his knee.) But isn't he so cute running across the finish line?

We were blessed to have my sister Hannah come visit for a week and we partied until we dropped.

She held a kids camp here for three days and the kids had blast.

We enjoyed nature school, spy school, and outer space school.

There were cooking projects,

science experiments,

games, crafts,

and oh, so much fun.

We also really put Hannah to work. We are short babysitters out here, so Elias and I went on multiple dates and I scheduled every possible doctor's and dental appointment while she was here.

Joy had to have an MRI down in Albuquerque to check out a bump on her forehead.

She had to be sedated, but she was a brave little patient and everything came back clear!

I enjoyed a wonderful Mother's Day.

They totally spoiled me.

I sure do love this crew of mine.

I LOVE being a mom!

Okay, so I have given Elias some grief about not owning bed frames. Our bed and the guest bed both have a cheep frame (no headboards to speak of), but the kids mattresses are just kept on the floor. I keep thinking it's time we buy them real beds. We are adults now, we live here permanently; they should have real beds. Their rooms should look somewhat intentional considering we have lived here for almost four years now. But Elias insists that at this point in their lives, beds are unnecessary for our kids, a "want and not a need", that it is safer to have their mattresses on the floor considering our boys still roll out of their bed every so often, and that it is way more fun to wrestle and jump around on.

As much as I would love to walk into each room of my house and think "yes, this is what I want it to be", I don't seem to take the time to make that happen. My sister pointed out when she came to visit, that I didn't ask her thoughts on my home decor, but rather what the energy of my home is. Sure, I would love to have a beautiful home, but we clearly spend more time, energy and money on inviting people into our home and doing activities here.

As a kid, I was swept away with the book "The Boxcar Children". I loved reading how the older sister turned this abandoned boxcar into a tidy, organized home, and I was moved by the love little Benny had for the chipped cup he found in the dump. I was energized by the idea of making a space special through a little thought and organization. I guess that by using an abandoned boxcar for my standard of measurement, these special spaces have never had to be fancy.

Coming back to my point, having their mattresses on the floor have given my kids the freedom and creativity to create special spaces. I'm almost always willing to help them pull their mattress inside a fort or into a tent or under the tramp because the mattress never looks put away, even when it is where it belongs. Their mattresses have been boats, forts, castles, trampolines, rocketships...and I don't think they would have been as much had they been in a frame, had they looked like a bed.

We bought a new tent this month and set it up in the playroom. We immediately pulled all the big kids' mattresses into the tent and they have slept there for three weeks now. And so Elias, I have come around. I'm not saying that I never want our house to look complete, but for now, for this stage of life...I think free-floating mattresses are just perfect for our kids. I like what it does for their creativity, I like that they are more prone to have slumber parties, and I like that it helps me be an engaged mom, who always choose fun over fashion. So yes, I will now own this decision of no bed frames.

Elias and I finally gave in and helped the kids plant a garden.

We knew even with fertilizer, growing things in our yard would be tough, so we also let the kids pick out and decorate a bucket and watering pail.

It was fun to watch them pick out their seeds

and get excited about taking care of the yard.

I just love watching them mow!

They have been so dedicated about checking on and watering their plants each day. When we got back from a trip the kids ran out to check on their plants. Smith's and Summer's buckets had sprouts but Boyd's did not.

I was busy taking care of Joy and doing laundry, but when I came out about 30 minutes later, I saw Boyd sitting on his bike looking forlorn. When I asked him what was wrong, he responded, "I am so sad that my seeds didn't grow, so I said a little prayer and asked Heavenly Father to help them." After a little discussion, we decided to go look a little closer to see if there were any small sprouts. And there were! He was overcome with joy and quickly said a prayer to thank his Heavenly Father. It was a pretty tender moment.

Smith has loved cooking lately,

and continues to enjoy dressing up.

Though chores aren't his favorite.

One day while at church, Smith told me he needed to use the restroom, and as we were walking out of the chapel, he announced loudly, "Yep, my penis is full of pee."

The big kids finished their school year and Joy was more than happy to attend their moving on ceremonies with me.

We jumped right into scheduling our summer.

One of our first activities was "Junior Book Club". Some friends joined us and everyone brought their favorite picture book. We read them and acted them out while eating popcorn and then painted one of our favorite scenes.

Summer lost her first tooth this month! Her new tooth was growing in and the baby tooth was a little loose. It was a fun process for a few weeks and then one day she walked up to Elias and said, "I just said a little prayer and I'm ready to have you pull out my tooth." So he did. One tooth down, oh, so many to go.

One day my good friend Katie texted me that her husband's sister was moving to Albuquerque. When texting back that I hope that meant she was coming to visit New Mexico, Summer walked in and said, "Is that a smile I see on your face, Mom?" "It sure is," I responded, and before I could tell her why, she said, "It's because I always say thank you, isn't it?"