First Steps

Last night while Mom was cleaning getting ready for a church meeting and the boys were dancing, Merritt took his first steps. We are pretty sure that full biped motion is quickly coming up on the horizon.

He was so excited and so cute!

p.s. he loves to chase the vacuum cleaner.

Chills and Thrills

Evy turned three. Birthday Party! Each day was something fun with a "suprise" for him. Now, he yells " 'prise!" everytime we get home after the walk. He loves surprises!

Erik worked. Started prepping for another employment class.

Sheila mommied. Mile count . . . 45. Would be more if it would stop stinkin' raining!

Merritt crawled, climbed, and overturned everything within reach (and then some).

Invaded by wasps. Seriously, like HUNDREDS of them. Pictures at some point soon.

. . . ants . . . mostly leaving us alone . . .

Car died, resurrected itself at the mechanics after it was towed, just died again today. (thank goodness it is always in place where we are safe--I live a charmed life.)

Halloween Party

(Check out our homemade costumes.)


A Pharaoh and His Mummy Bride



Too bad the glitter hairdo didn't come out in the photo. He was rocking it.

I'm talking 12 (actually 34, I forgot about the other bag of glue I used) hot glue sticks on this glamour outfit.

Our Current Focus

Evy Turns Three!

This is Scary Evy

This is Evy's Pirate Face.

This is Evy's favorite pastime.

This is Evy's Mad Face.

This is EVY!



He is turning three!



His favorite phrases:
What the Heck!
Blankie me
Wnat you hold you me
baanas
I'm Eeevrit. This is my mommy.
Oh, snap!

Evy is cutest when . . .

he gives his dad a round of vitamins.

is as quick as lightning to find a toy for Merritt when he is fussy.
RRUUNNSSSS!!

cleans out Marbles' fishbowl

helps us cook, gather trash, clean messes, and play ball

Right now Evy is leaving naps behind totally. He is a pro at the potty. His favorites are hanging out with friends and spending time with his dad. Everett is totally into dinosaurs and cars and running and anything related to a ball. He loves to play soccer with the girl across the street. He hates saying goodbye. He loves his little brother and asks daily for tickle fights. He sleps in a tent. His current running favorite show is Hercules. He is very attuned others' sickness and owies. He is very quick to point out when someone needs help from the "firefighters" because they are hurt. We love this little boy!

Merritt at 10 Months

Merritt is a pro at the stairs, playing in toilet water, flushing the toilet (you should see how fast he beelines for that commode), and getting into all kinds of mischief.

This is the slide he scales in seconds. He likes to tightrope walk the edges as he holds onto the windowsill.

We are having the best time seeing his sense of humor develop. He is already playing pranks on us and seeing what kind of reaction we give him. (His favorite is the "glass snatch" and he is working up to sneaking up and "surprising" us by attacking us.) We are sure in trouble!

(Going after Evy's toy. Trying to get it before we do. )

He loves our nighttime dance fever episodes and tickle fights. He throws himself right in the middle of it and can scream louder than the rest of us.

He loves cruising the furniture, crawling UP the slide in his brother's room, and crawling over anything that might be in his path (step stools, moms, dads, and brother). Lately, he has been into seeing how long he can stand by himself.

He left babyfood behind awhile ago. He hates cold food but we love the faces he makes when he tastes a bit of the chilled stuff. The less like "easy" food it looks, the more he likes it. He is all about doing what we are doing. He is almost fully weaned and prefers to have a sippy cup like the rest of us (having cups that is). Even though there are cheerios in this picture. He won't eat them anymore.




He remains to be very easygoing, especially if Evy is hanging out with him. On the couple of car trips that he took without Evy in the car, he had a particularly hard time.


He is easy going with strangers; doesn't mind in the least if they hold him. He loves to entertain people during Sacrament with his antics . . . nevermind I look like a frizzy haired harridan at the end of the hour of chasing him (not to mention there are two more hours after that one).


He received a shot at Erik's work last week. Of course he started crying until I turned him around and he saw four grandmas standing in line ready to smile at him. The crying IMMEDIATELY stopped and he started his cute posing and smiling for them, turning his head ever so slightly while smiling. What a Crack Up!

You'll notice that I have not added The Caterpillar's pictures. I just can't remember to take it. But he has grown tons and is a very "squishy" baby right now. We are having a great time with him.

At Play . . . with Mellow Men

So, Mom would do this with us when we were little. We would also add decorations with raisins, and whatever else we could stick with a toothpick. I remember having the best time with it and decided it was time for Evy to build his own man. They had a blast!

(We ate the finished men before I could get a picture, but you get the idea.)

Holy Ants, Batman!

We've been battling ants in the house for several weeks now. Mostly, it has to do with how much rain we have gotten over the past two months. My bug guy says there isn't much we can do until it dries out. I swear that our house is placed on a huge ant colony. If we kill the ants, the house might sink into the ground.

There are anthills ALL over the place this morning. (not in my yard, yet) And, they are humongous. I tried to get a couple of pictures because I have never seen anything quite like this here.

There are at least 20 -30 antmounds being built on each median around town. These are pictures from a field. Not sure you can see more than just the big ones but there are dozens hiding in the grass.

Also, this random dandelion was pulled Sunday afternoon. And, it is still developing. Tons of moisture in the air.

Chills and Thrills

We had a very productive week. Loss lots of sleep but was able to get the house in a much more livable condition, particularly the office.

Erik was pretty busy at work. I think that will continue until the end of time right now. It is hard to plan vacations away, even just for the weekend, since there is no "slow" time for him and I am loathe, right now, to go further than Waco without him. (Takes me over 4 hours to get to Waco and it should only take two.) Maybe in the next couple of months I'll take on a trip to visit our beloved Austin.

He is busy with his calling as Ward Employment Specialist. We feel everso blessed to have a job.

The boys and I did the usual this week and are enjoying the "new" kitchen. It just feels more peaceful in there for me. Evy is hitting some whinisitis again (did the same thing at the same time of year last year). He is still the constant Protector of Merritt.

Merritt is EVERYWHERE. This 10 month old can make short work of a clean room. I should videotape him so you know what I mean.

I am still "resistance walking" and noting a discernable difference. So far, I've clocked over 25 miles in the two and a half weeks I have been doing this. Pushing my boys around is quite a workout. (I plan to have a party when I get to 300 miles.) The only downside to all of this is the weather. It has been raining nonstop for weeks now. The boys and I have only had to go out once in the rain to exercise; I think I need to invest in some all weather stroller stuff.

I was recently called to serve our congregation, or church ward, as Activity Committee Director. cringe, cringe. Because you know the calling I hate the most out of all the callings that Erik and I have had? . . . yes, Activity Committee Director. I should have predicted this would happen and Erik was beside himself with the irony of it all. So, I am off to plan a Christmas party? Wanna come?

A Texas Housewarming

WHAT is this?

You'll find out by the end of this post.

We had an awesome time at our housewarming party. I mean it. We started off the festivities with Sheila finally unwrapping her fridge. (Phillip, I did it!)


We had all kinds of friends over and were a bit worried about the weather since it has been raining so much. It didn't rain during the party and the scads of friends and their kids were happy to roam the house and eat the food which included chili, cornbread, lots of pumpkin and banana muffins, and . . .

COTTON CANDY . . .

If you have never made your own cotton candy, I highly--highly recommend it. We had such a great time with it.

Making cotton candy is an outside activity. Strands of the heavenly sticky stuff fly off the spinner throughout the process.

Rosella setting up the machine with the boys.

We had a great time seeing old friends, meeting new ones, getting to know our neighbors, and in general just eating and chatting the day away! It was a great day . . . the perfect push to get the house in a more nonbox condition. Of course we had our Ugliest UT Sweater competition, Erik being the victor. At the end of it all, we had so much fun, we wanted to immediately start planning the next party . . . well . . . at least after we had rested and slept a decent amount recovering from the mad dash to get the house in order.

And now, the after shots off all that cotton candy making . . .

The picture at the beginning of the post is what I call "cotton candy dirt." It is the crystallized sugar that coats the bowl after all that cotton candy making. The green sugarfloss tasted like apple. And, no, pink and green didn't make orange like we had been told. But, it was fun finding out. And, it was so fun to deliver cotton candy to friends that didn't make it to the party. Amazing how the fluffy stuff just makes a person smile.

This Just In . . .

You know every year that Erik and I have a competition . . . The Ugliest UT Sweater competition. We use the same sweaters every year.

We took the opportunity today during our housewarming party to hold the competition; here are the results and a conversation.

Erik: Sheila, you should really win because your sweater is much uglier than mine.

Sheila: Well, I am kind of caught between wanting to win because, hello, winning is fun. At the same time, would you want to win any ugliest competition?

Erik talks during the ENTIRE party about how ugly Sheila's sweater is . . . of course we are wearing our sweaters.

People voted. Votes tallied. And, ERIK won the competition for the 2nd time in a row.

Erik: Sheila, you really do have the uglier sweater. I think mine is kind of debonair.

Sheila: Really? Since you think that your sweater is so cool, how come you don't choose to wear it out in public.

Erik: (silence)

Sheila: I mean, you should wear it out to dinner since you won and all.

Erik: (with his "I've been caught" guilty face that is the same for all the Sjolseth boys) Okay.

And, yes, he wore it to dinner. He is POSITIVE that people at the restaurant were pointing and laughing at him (why does he care, right, since the sweater isn't ugly?) . . . and he felt compelled to explain his sweater to the waiter who didn't really care (got it for $2 in Estonia, etc, etc).

But, he did wear the sweater the entire time--even when given the out to change out. What a winner!

Chills and Thrills

We are doing well. The kitchen has been painted. Go us!

Erik is working tons at work. The boys and I are enjoying hanging out and doing what young kids do: eat, sleep (sometimes), play pretend (Hercules, pirates, whales), go on walks, be cranky, read books, go to "the libirty," and visit with friends. In all, all good stuff.

We are in the middle of a last push to get the house together. We scheduled our housewarming party for this Saturday to create the motivation . . . and it will be good to see friends we haven't seen in a long time. So, if you live in Dallas, come over! We'll have cotton candy!

I've been hauling the boys around in the stroller for a very fast paced 2.2 miles everyday and it is working my poor out of shape post fertility treatment and pregnancy body. Go me!

Pictures of our updated kitchen.

Before:

After: