Memories of Erik??

Ok, lets see who reads this blog.

I thought it would be fun to call for memories...Rack your brain and comment on your favorite memory of Erik.

(throwing cars, biting bums, saying "howdy little lady" to Anne, running around in his little speedo ...)

Erik has a countdown in the kitchen of days until he leaves for the MTC. I think he is so excited, but mom is sad. Erik is such a great little brother. I love him tons. I am thankful for this time that we get to be living back at home for a while to be with him before he leaves. Frequently Erik will come up to our attic apartment to just lay on the floor and hang out with us and our little girls. His favorite thing to do to pass the time...watch KUNG FU PANDA!!! yeah.

Frankfurt Temple

Mom hired me to be her unofficial blog upkeeper, since she is a busy woman. So naturally I will take this opportunity to show off my cute girls! It is too hard to get a picture with both girls looking at the camera and smiling, but there they are. This is us in front of the temple after our wonderful session with Erik.
Leah sitting up all by herself in front of the temple She was really sweaty in the car, so she is cooling off and showing off her cute chubbiness.

The happy family! The missionary is the handsome man in the middle with the blue tie.
March 20th we loaded up and made a trip to the Frankfurt Temple. Erik went early with mom and dad The Kennington family plus Anne, the babysitter for the day, drove down later.

The Monday of that week we had a special FHE and reviewed the temple binder that mom made a long time ago. Erik took temple prep classes at church and we each wrote him a letter about our temple experiences and read them for that FHE. So he was ready for this exciting day.

Meeting up with family in the Temple is one of the best things in the world. We had a wonderful session. And Anne, Elsa and Leah did well in the van. Well, Anne says that Leah freaked out a bit and filled more than one dirty diaper, but she is a great babysitter who can handle anything!

After taking some pictures at the Temple, Casey took Elsa home (he had to get back to his visiting Japanese friends who had come just the night before) and the rest of us went to lunch at a lovely Italian restaurant.

The drive home was fun filled. I will miss Erik when he leaves soon for his mission, but I know this is what the Lord wants him to do and he will be a wonderful missionary.

Attic Video

Finally the attic project is done and Katie and Casey have a home instead of just a room. Anne took a video- if you don't get sick from the fast movement, you'll see our new attic apartment, they have 2 bedrooms a large living area and a small kitchen area and a nice sized bathroom( the best in the house!) Seems like we have spent all our time (and money) on this project so it is very nice to have it done- the painting on the stairway got done yesterday- still a few details left to do but as Elsa says she has walls!
Thanks to Erik for being our all around handy man and doing so much of the work, he was everyone's all around helper and main man. Casey did a large part too along with various hired helpers along the way.
We took Anneleise to Paris for her `13th birthday and fought the crowds everywhere, but still had a good time. We stayed with a friend who works at the embassy there and she gave us the inside view of living in Paris. Thanks Mugs! We got home in time to celebrate Elsa's 2nd birthday, she loved her presents and had a great time opening every one. She also enjoyed the fireworks (from the house) for her birthday too! We had a low key celebration with less people here to help set off the fireworks. Happy New Year to all-