A New Year--New and Exciting Things

It's been a while since my last post.  We had a wonderful holiday season visiting family and enjoying time together.  The new year has brought exciting things to our family.

I have a new part time/temp job writing curriculum for an online high school.
Eric is starting to talk! He says cookie, bath, teeth, apple, banana, woof, mom, dad, hi, and ewww when we change his diaper, plus a few more every day.
Meg won a medal at the science fair and gets to go on to the district science fair! She is doing so well in school, we are very proud of her.
Brinn is also doing great in school and learning to play the violin.
We are having a new baby!  Baby Rockwood expected September 3rd.


And, some pictures...

Eric in his apron.  Sometimes he just wants to wear it...He does love cooking with mom.

That's my boy! Happy and always running.

Eric loves to pack around scriptures...and wear his church shoes everyday.

Eric's new shirt to tell his sisters the big news.

All very excited to have a new little baby.

Meg and her awesome science fair project.

Eric's musical abilities

Eric loves to tote around Brinn's violin case, blow the old bike horn or whistles, and loves to play the piano.

The Kitchen Disaster...

So this is what our kitchen looked like for 2 weeks while everything was being fixed:

And this is what the living room looked like:

Disneyland

With Dave's coaching position, we were fortunate enough to get to take the family to Disneyland earlier this month.  I've been to Disneyland a lot over the last few years with cross country, but it was by far the best having the kids there.  They were so excited about everything, you couldn't help but love it.  The girls were very brave and went on all the big rides, and thanks to a little rain, we had really short lines all day long.  Eric was great!  He loved watching everything and loved the rides he got to go on, especially the It's a Small World ride.

Its a Small World

On the way back to the hotel after Disneyland. :)

Christmas Festivities

After getting a new dishwasher that leaked, we had to have our kitchen redone to remove the water damage and mold.  It was a very trying 2 1/2 weeks to go without a kitchen, but we survived.  And the best part about it being done is that now the Christmas festivities can begin!  So far we have decorated the house, made gingerbread houses, and gotten our Christmas shopping done.  This is what else is on our list: (Dave laughed when I actually printed this off...but oh well. I think it is fun to have a list to check off.)

Eric is thoroughly enjoying the Christmas decorations, and I am learning what has to go up higher.  He likes to undecorate the tree, but is pretty harmless to anything except the glass balls that he tries to bounce.  So far we have broken 4 and the rest are now high up on the tree.  He loves to play with the nativity, but since it is a cheap one, I've decided I like that he plays with it.  He especially likes to pack Jesus around and put him in the Winter Wonderland decoration we have.  He also thinks that the Santa ornaments belong in the nativity, which is a great addition.

Today I decided to let Eric help me bake.  We made cookies and bread, and he loved it.  He helped dump stuff in the bowl and loved to stir.  He quickly learned that the best part of making cookies is eating the cookie dough.  Sometimes I'm surprised at what he can do.  It was fun to start cooking with him already.  I love that little man.