tomorrow

Tomorrow is your due date littlest Erickson.  We're SO ready for your arrival.  Bags have been packed.  Prayers have been spoken.  Now, we just need you to join us.  Boy or girl, we already love you.  And if that means waiting an extra 10 days like we did for your older brother, we're more than happy to oblige.

thank you cookies

Luke's boss (Ryan) and his wife gave us a huge tub of clothes for Kurt.  We finally got around to sorting through it and we found a ton of nice stuff for our little toddler.  I got two loads of laundry washed, dried, and folded.  They've yet to be put away... I just didn't have time for that!  :)  Anyway, we're so thankful for the hand-me-downs that I baked a batch of cookies for Luke's boss.  The cookies aren't one bit healthy, but they are Ryan's favorite so I knew they wouldn't go to waste.  The batch made just enough so that Luke, Kurt, and I could each have one.  They are so yummy!  Here's what you'll need to get started:

1 box of devil's food cake

2 eggs

1/2 c. oil

Mix the above three ingredients together.  The dough will be thick.  Arrange tablespoon size balls of dough on a cookie sheet.  Then, bake them in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes.  This recipe makes roughly 30 cookies.

While they're baking, make the filling using a mixer:

1 8-ounce package cream cheese (softened)

1/4 c. butter (softened)

1 t. vanilla extract

2 c. powdered sugar

Once the filling is made and the cookies have cooled, you can begin filling the cookies.  Eat 'em or refrigerate (I of course recommend eating)!

our six-year anniversary at an apple orchard

s'mores // kitchens // trains

fall bucket list

Fall is just around the corner and it is by far my favorite season!  The birth of baby #2 will undoubtedly mark the highlight of the season, but there are a few other things I'd like to do:

- pick apples at a local orchard
- take a day off from work to spend with Kurt
- go on a nature hike and pick leaves (aka teach Kurt colors)
- learn how to trim our blackberry bushes
- plan a breakfast date with Luke :)
- finish sewing the "blue" quilt
- bake pumpkin bars, or a pumpkin pie, or pumpkin cookies, or anything pumpkin!

My list is short and sweet intentionally.  I do not enjoy "being busy".  I enjoy crossing things off a list, but to do something just to "be busy" isn't fun.  I don't want fleeting memories, but tangible ones.  Maybe that's just the introvert in me speaking.  :)

What do you have planned this fall?

easy peasy lemon squeezy // small batch lemonade

I've really been enjoying homemade lemonade lately.  I think the craving is part pregnancy part summer.  Regardless, I have an easy and inexpensive recipe for you to try that is toddler approved!

the juice from 3 lemons
1 cup sugar
water

Add 1 cup sugar and 2 cups water to a small saucepan.  Heat the sugar and water over medium heat (stirring occasionally)  just until the sugar dissolves.  This is called a simple syrup.  While you're waiting for the sugar to dissolve juice your lemons.  Pour the lemon juice to a 2-quart pitcher.  Once the sugar dissolves, add the simple syrup to the pitcher.  Then, fill your pitcher to the top with water.  Chill.  Enjoy!  :)

P.S. I know there is nothing fancy about this recipe... it's the little things!

the boat dock on a saturday

our Labor Day weekend

We had such a nice Labor Day weekend!  Luke and I decided to take Friday off from work to take Kurt to the Minnesota Zoo.  It was the last weekend the dinosaur exhibit was open and the last weekend before they shut down the monorail.  We had everything planned out so that we would arrive right when the zoo opened and I am so thankful that we planned it that way because we ended up meeting Luke's college roommate, his wife, and their little girl Ella.  Kurt and Ella are only four months apart so as their parents we can very much relate!  We didn't get a photo of the six of us, but we did get these:

We could tell Kurt was a little under the weather with a cold, but he had fun and slept the entire way home.  Yay!  Later that day, my mom and dad came over for supper (bruschetta, cucumber salad, and cheeseburgers).  :)  Yum!  ...a perfect way to kick off the holiday weekend.

Saturday morning, we left our home for a one-night camping trip at Luke's mom and dad's place.  We had a campsite reserved at a state park in southeastern Minnesota, but we cancelled it last minute (due to "first-time camping with an 18-month old jitters").  We arrived at Luke's mom and dad's place to learn that the tent poles for our tent did not make it into the car!  It is so not like Luke to forget something like that!  We were so thankful that we were not at a state park three hours from home!  It all worked out though because the "park rangers" (Luke's mom and dad) borrowed us their tent.  Surprisingly, Kurt napped very well in the tent in his travel crib and even slept through the night dispite a severe thunderstorm that rolled through right after we laid him down for the night.  Kurt enjoyed the kid-friendly ammenities (i.e. the sandbox) and his frist taste of s'mores.

Luke and I enjoyed the fact that we pulled off a camping trip with Kurt and we're eager to plan another one.

In other news, Kurt tried fried cod fish Monday night and he kept asking for "more" and "peeease"!  That was a big step for our picky eater!

Anyway, we had a great long weekend and we hope you did too!

chalk

Thanks for the sidewalk chalk Grandma!  (P.S. check out that proper writing grip!)  :)