Erik's 8th Birthday!

Today Erik turns EIGHT years old. HAPPY BIRTHDAY my little man! It still amazes me that he is already 8 years old! I'm so proud of my little Erik. He is such a wonderful, wonderful little boy! He behaves, he is caring, kind, obedient, smart, handsome, friendly, appreciative, thankful for his blessings, confident! I can't say enough wonderful things about him! Here are a few photos from this morning. Toomas took the morning off so we could open some presents and celebrate together. The weather is GORGEOUS, as it was 8 years ago today. How I remember that morning so well! Just like yesterday in so many ways! Tonight Toomas will bring home pizza and we will celebrate with the very special cake that I baked Erik....more photos to come! Enjoy!

Erik's Portraits age 7 1/2

Well I've now switched over to shooting exclusively in RAW for my portrait work. I've been having a lot of fun working with the kids lately and luckily they still enjoy posing for me :) I've also been warned about posting these w/o copyright so if you notice the watermark you'll know why. I don't want these to end up somewhere they shouldn't be...and I'm also now only uploading very low resolution images. I was warned that on Facebook for instance, they reserve the right to use anything you upload! Well if they use my pictures they are going to be at 400 x 600 dpi so nothing serious could be done with that resolution anyway.

Here is a glimpse of my growing man at age 7 1/2 (he was officially at the halfway mark on the 6th!)

New School Year Kick Off!

So it is offical, the 2009/2010 school year is in full gear! The kids were up at 6:45 (on their own) this a.m. and SO excited to start the day! I put everyone down by 9 last night and Evan went down at 8! We are off to a good start and I'm hoping to keep it that way!

Erik is entering 2nd grade today and Krista will be in 5th grade. This was the LAST "First Day" that she'll have in this school! I can't believe that! It seems like yesterday she was in her first day of Elementary school there!

It was great to see all the parents and kids this morning. We arrived at school before the gate opened and then I stayed until the bell rang and the kids went inside the building. Today they were allowed to socialize and parents were welcomed into the courtyard. The only year where parents are allowed in the school building is for the first year (CP).

I am so happy the kids are so looking forward to starting off a new year! They were both chanting last night "We can't wait for homework!!! We can't wait for homework!".. I had to get the video camera out for that because I'm sure they'll be chanting the opposite in 5 years time (but hopefully not!).

I LOVED my morning with Kaitlyn and Evan today. I'm feeling very happy about the fresh new start! I got a lot done this a.m. since Evan took a nice big morning nap from 9:30 to 11:30. I even had time to make a onetruemedia video!

When I picked the kids up from lunch they were THRILLED! Both had wonderful mornings. Krista just loves her new teacher (this is the 1st year the teacher has been at our school) and Erik has one of Krista's favorite teachers from when she was in 3rd grade. We lucked out big time. SO happy that they are content! We had black bean burritos for lunch (Erik's favorite food in the world) and I just sent them back for the afternoon. Evan is doing his afternoon nap now and I'm just praying that this rhythm will continue!!!!

Happy 7th Birthday to Erik!!

HAPPY SEVENTH BIRTHDAY ERIK!!!!

HAPPY 7th Birthday to my big boy Erik!! I can't believe he is seven years old today. It seems like just yesterday we were celebrating Krista's 7th Birthday! I'm so happy for Erik to be turning seven. He has matured and developed so much this year, and I am thrilled to see him mature. He entered "real" French school this year, and since that big change...it seems like there have been changes now on a daily basis! He looks so much older to me this year with his adult teeth on top..physically he is taller, stronger and leaner. He is turning into a little man now. He is such a darling, precious, smart and gentle little boy and I'm SOOOO thankful for him.

This year's birthday's theme (we always have a theme) is Pokemon. Pokemon is definately a big deal for Erik at the moment (and has been since September)..Card collecting is by far one of his favorite hobbies! Erik is such a smart little boy...always eager to learn facts or experience something new. He is also very organized and loves the idea of collecting things. He has excelled SO much in school this year as a result of his organization and discipline. I'd have to say that he is definately at the top of his class (maybe not first but not far behind!). He is only 1 of 2 students that has earned their "livre" --A book that is earned through a reward point system. The teacher gives out points to the children who excel in their daily work. After 10 points you earn a small card with a charater on it (farm animals and teddy bears mostly) and after 10 cards you earn a book (ie 100 points). One girl beat him to the first book---but he was only a few points behind and now the second child in the class to have earned his book! (Krista was the first to earn the book in her CP class by the way!!! Hard to contend with those eager girls!!). I'm very proud of how well Erik has done this year. He behaves VERY VERY well in class which isn't always easy when you are a boy full of energy! He is a very disciplined little guy---always opens his book bag when he gets home and is on top of his homework without me needing to bother him. His room is SPOTLESS! He hangs his clothes in his closet on his own, offers to help me clean up pretty often, and is generally just a WONDERFUL little guy.

Today is just GORGEOUS weather so we spent the lunch break outside on the swingset. I got some cute photos of all 4 of the kids together. I'll post those soon. Tonight Toomas will come home early from work and I'll take Erik to his favorite store to pick out a gift. I've always taken the kids alone on their special day to the store of their choice for a 10 Euro gift! It sure makes them happy to get to chose their own gift AND spend some time alone with Mommy. Erik will be in for a surprise tonight because his BIG gift is a new speed mountain bike! It is really NEAT! His current bike is really only up to 6 years maxium so he is really a giant on it! I can't wait for him to see his shiny new bike that Daddy shopped for and picked out for him. What fun that will be. After the gift opening we'll order pizza (we love our pizza around here!!!) and then have his Pokemon birthday cake! Should be a fun fun day for everyone! :)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MY SWEET ERIK!!!! My how you've grown! Here are a few photos of Erik over the years!! Here he is over the 7 years...a photo of each birthday! :)

First Birthday 2003

Second Birthday 2004

Third Birthday 2005

Fourth Birthday 2006

Fifth Birthday 2007

Sixth Birthday 2008

Seventh Birthday 2009

Erik lost another tooth!

No major news here...just checking in with a tooth update. Erik lost his 5th tooth!!! I CAN NOT belive this is happening so quickly. He is at least a YEAR ahead of where Krista was at his age. Believe it or not...Krista who is NINE years old has only lost 8 teeth...while Erik has already lost 5! He looks ADORABLE with his ONE tooth at the bottom in the middle. It is too funny! This gap-toothedness won't last too long because his upper incisor and bottom incisor are already on their way out...but for now it makes for a funny photo! Also a picture of Kaitlyn just for fun. She's really such a big girl these days....talking up a storm!! She LOVES coloring and doing puzzles. She can draw circles and lines and knows the names of most colors (although confuses them most of the time). She can sing her A,B,C's although reapeats a lot of letters and mostly just knows the tune of the A,B,C song..it is very cute. Can't belive she is creeping up on 2 1/2 at the end of this month! So that is the brief update of the day....

Erik lost his 4th tooth!

Erik right before he lost his 2nd top tooth. It was just hanging there by a thread.

Busy wiggling his tooth... COME OUT!!!

IT'S OUT!! Notice Krista inspecting it! :)

AWWWWWW he looks SO cute with BOTH of his top teeth missing, doesn't he?! I just LOVE that gap-toothed look that a 6 year old has! :)

So that is our big news...Erik lost his 4th tooth last night after having a loose top tooth for a few weeks now. On Saturday he bit into a pear and it really loosened it up. He wiggled and wiggled it all day Saturday and by Sunday afternoon it was READY to come out! The tooth fairy came and brought him a few little wooden games and 4 euros! He was thrilled.

Now he can start first grade next week with a gap-toothed smile! I love it!!!!!!

Erik's Tennis Tournament and Celebration

Erik finished up his tennis season with a bang. They had a mini-tennis tournament and celebration on Wednesday and the kids had a blast. There were 6 members of Erik's team who participated. It was held at a local tennis complex that is ENORMOUS--about 15 or more courts (outdoors). They also had an indoor complex, but fortunately it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day so the event was held outdoors. The kids arrived at 1:45 and proceeded to register. Upon registering they received a tournament t-shirt and a baseball hat. Each team was color-coded by hat so the leaders could keep them together. There were probabally 100 kids or more participating in the tournament from all over the area. It was for 6-8 year olds so Erik was the youngest. He will be able to participate for a few more years so that will be fun for him. The kids did various circuit activities---each lasted 20 minutes and then they proceeded to a different court for another activity. They had so much fun! At the end of the day there were drawing tables, gifts, drinks and cake for the kids. For the finale, they gave each child a certificiate of participation, and also a helium air balloon. All the kids gathered on the main court and they counted down to the release of the ballons. All at once, hundreds of balloons were released up into the air... accompanied by LOUD shreaks of exitement from the kids! It was a great way to end the tennis season for Erik.

Erik's 5th Birthday Recap

Hope you all had a very happy and blessed Easter! We had a very fun weekend with weather sent down from heaven!!! Good Friday was Erik's 5th birthday and we had a wonderful day with sunshine, bike riding, a 1/2 day at the park, gifts, cake, and then ended the day by going out to dinner at Erik's favorite restaurant. Kaitlyn was very well behaved and so we all had a very nice time. This restaurant is called "The Hippo" and is the kids favorite. It isn't at all a "French-style" restuarant, more the American TGI Friday's sort. They have a kids activity corner, Disney movies playing and always give out giant helium balloons to the kids upon leaving. This year since it was Easter, they even had a real bunny in a cage for the kids to admire. Erik LOVED the bunny and spent a good deal of time running back and forth between his cage and our table so he could talk to him. It sure was fun!! After dinner we headed home and had a feast of delicious French praline birthday cake. It was our first day of day real summer weather too! The kids ran around in short sleeved shirts all day. All in all it was a fun-filled magical day for my little 5 year old boy. I have a lot of photos from Easter to post also, but won't get to those until later on in the week ;)