The Life and Times of Team Larsen

VACATION!

2010-12-21T09:08:00.000-06:00

Team Larsen has been in need of a vacation for a few weeks now.

Well, maybe some of us more than others.

Regardless...TODAY IS OUR DAY! We are all getting to enjoy a time of rest today and I'm so thankful. No place to be. Nothing pressing to do. No one coming to visit. Just rest!

Here's what rest looks like around these parts...

John Patrick is having a little breakfast...without clothes. Who knows really??

Legos!!!!

T.V.!!! My kids are in dreamland!

Oh, and here's mr. nudie tudie in to join the t.v. watching party.

And my rest and relaxation!

Not that this is something unusual around here. But today I stayed in bed until 7:40 and so this is a treat to myself rather than a life sustaining drink. :) What a beautiful day!

30 Days of Thankfulness

2010-11-22T22:08:00.000-06:00

Today I'm thankful for my in-laws!

And I'm not just saying that because my mother-in-law reads my blog more faithfully than my own mother. (Though that should say enough)

I am thankful for my in-laws for more reasons than I could begin to list in this post!

They have loved me and welcomed me into their family with open arms. They treat me like I'm their own daughter and that is a blessing. They have beautiful servant hearts and are willing to help in anyway imaginable. There are very few people who LOVE to spend time with their in-laws but I wholeheartedly enjoy it. I love to be in their home! I love that they want holidays to be simple and family oriented. I love that we never have to worry about being hit by a tornado without fair warning. My mother-in-law has an innate meteorological gift. :) My father-in-law can create, build or fix ABSOLUTELY anything! He has 3 times as much energy as I do and I am in awe of all of the things he is able to accomplish in a day. I wish I could be half that productive. They are generous, loving and kind. They are wonderful grandparents and my kids LOVE being with them.There aren't many people who can say that about their husband's parents!

Those are just some of the reasons that I am so thankful for my in-laws.

30 Days of Thankfulness

2010-11-22T21:45:00.001-06:00

Today I am thankful for my family.

They are crazy and ...well crazy. We are a C R A Z Y bunch. And I don't mean JUST in the fun way. We all come to the table with our own group of issues but I still love them tons! We have so much fun together. We can fight like cats and dogs and then laugh until we cry. What more can you ask for??

So, today I'm thankful for my family!

30 Days of Thankfulness

2010-11-17T16:12:00.000-06:00

Today I am reminded how thankful I am for sweet friends! I have learned a lot over the years about what it means to truly be a friend from my husband who is a GREAT and FAITHFUL friend. I long to be the kind of friend to others that he is!

I have also learned what it means to be a friend from my two closest friends. They have loved me unconditionally (and that says A LOT in itself) and being with them is more like being with my sisters than with friends. There is an immediate openness and honesty. If you know me at all, then you know that honesty is one of the traits that I value most in others. I know that I can TRULY be myself and they will not judge or turn away. They are not afraid of my junk or my faults. We can laugh and cry together.

God has blessed me with not only these two sweet friends but a great handful of women who speak truth to me when I need it, listen when I need it, and make me laugh when I need it. Even though I have not always been a great friend, I am so thankful that God, The Giver of Friends, has been gracious to give me great friends both to enjoy and to learn from.

30 Days of Thankfulness

2010-11-15T15:03:00.000-06:00

I am not a baker. Period. My mother can bake. My grandmother can bake. My great-grandmother was a dream of a baker. It missed me and that's all I can say. BUT, this time of year I LOVE to enjoy all of the flavors of fall. I decided this year to try to bless some of the people who love on my kids every week by baking them pumpkin bread. Luckily, my friend Jennifer gave me a FOOL PROOF recipe for pumpkin bread that is DELISH!

That was round one of teacher pumpkin bread. Did I mention that I've got a LOT of kids to love on?? We made another eight loves, wrapped them up in a bag with a little raffia, and we were good to go. So easy and such an easy way to thank all of the people that serve our family.

Since I'm not a baker, this is the time of year that I try to remember to also bless my family with yummy homemade treats. Today we have some friends over to play so I whipped out one of my kids favorite snacks (that they RARELY get)...homemade granola bars.

I don't know what it is that makes these a granola bar because to me they are just a quarter step below a cookie. But however we have to justify eating them is just fine!

Round one is half way gone and I thought I should snap a picture before the kids tore through for seconds! I'm so thankful to be able to share some yummy homemade treats with my friends and family this season!

30 Days of Thankfulness

2010-11-11T18:34:00.000-06:00

Today's post will be short and sweet...or thankfully a little less sweet!

After 12 days of a continuous stream of candy ingestion, we have finally bagged the remaining loot and put the candy buckets away! Our dentist will be so thankful when he has a chance to fix all of the damage and decay that has been brought on by the candy equivilant of Fat Tuesday. The worst part is that I'm a sucker for any and all things sweet. So I've probably consumed twice as much candy over the last 12 days (plus some pre-halloween consumption) as my four children combined.

Now, that's just sad really. I'm a grown woman for goodness sake! Is there no such thing as self-control. Isn't that one of the things I spend my days continually teaching my children to use. But, I'm a hypocrite. I admit it. BUT NO LONGER! We are back to fruits and veggies and maybe a little family colon cleanse, at least for two and a half more weeks.

I know it's hard to tell, but these are GALLON sized bags. That's a good 12 x12 in. bag of JUST THE NON-CHOCOLATE candy.

And we had the same amount plus some extra of all of the chocolate goodies! Wait, is that a Butterfinger still in the bag? I'll just have to take care of that before the bags go into hiding.

Kids, don't be surprised if Santa puts Halloween themed candy in your stockings this year!

30 Days of Thankfulness

2010-11-10T22:13:00.000-06:00

Today I'm am so thankful for fall color! I feel like the trees have started to pop over the last few days. Everywhere I look the fall foliage is breathtaking.

I LOVE the fall! I love the weather. I love the colors. I love the holidays. I LOVE FALL!

I love that even the summer things change to provide a new type of beauty in the fall.

I love that I can count on seeing all four of my little ones in pumpkin orange each fall. (I'm not sure why ONE of my little ones decided to draw a face on his pumpkin but oh well.)

I love that the painting on my mantel comes to life at this time of year!

Our home is full of the colors of fall! I'm thankful for a chance to enjoy our Creator's creativity!

30 Days of Thankfulness

2010-11-09T20:02:00.000-06:00

For today's 30 days of Thankfulness post, I'm thankful for one of the most un-thanked people that I know.
My husband.
I am blessed to have a husband who serves faithfully without seeking appreciating. He is one of the hardest workers that I know. He sacrifices for his family and always prioritizes time with us over anything else. He love me more than anyone ever could, and as my mother told him up front, I'm difficult to live with. He has joyfully (well, mostly) put up with me for almost 11 years now. That's a feat in itself!

I could not have dreamed of a better father for my children. They are blessed beyond measure to have a Dad who loves them the way he does.

And I am so thankful to have a man that I can share life with, both the highs and the lows. I couldn't ask for a more perfect person to walk with on this journey! I am so thankful that God has been so gracious to me!

So Chris, today I'm thankful for YOU! I LOVE YOU!

30 DAYS OF THANKFULNESS Day 5

2010-11-05T16:31:00.003-05:00

TOGETHERNESS!
We are currently visiting friends and family on a four day "Larsen Academy Fall Break" tour. I am always overwhelmed by the sweetness that comes from extended family time. Not necessarily kid sweetness (of course), but there is just a sweet renewing that comes when we have an extended time to getaway together. It's a blessing to be free from the tug of life's everydayness to be able to focus on each other and the love God has blessed us with.

I wish I had a great picture of togetherness to post but I'm not using my own computer so you're out of luck today.

Here's to celebrating togetherness!

30 DAYS OF THANKFULNESS

2010-11-03T15:03:00.001-05:00

Two days late...

But what else would you expect from me!

My desire for this holiday season is that my heart and the heart of my family would be focused more on God's provision and goodness to us. So we are spending time at night remembering all that we are thankful for. Here's where we've been putting all of our ideas.

That's our leftover Halloween ghost tree. (Thanks for the thanksgiving re-use idea, Heather!) Every night at dinner we take a leaf and write what we're thankful for. It's been a great way for us to continue to develop hearts of gratitude.

So, to start my blogging 30 days of Thanksgiving, here's what I'm thankful for...

And there are enough of them to make up for two lost days. :)

(Don't be deceived, in the last picture Caleb wore John Patrick's pants ALL DAY. That was his Bible Study outfit today. Nothing like a little Mommy humility! )

A little me time...

2010-10-21T12:54:00.000-05:00

As a homeschooling mother of four little ones, I rarely have any "me time". Usually, it's because there are 5 other "me's" in the house that demand my attention. SOMETIMES though, it's because I feel terribly guilty taking "me time" because that means that something else will have to be sacrificed and for me that's hard.
BUT NOT TODAY!

Lately, I have been reminded over and over about how important it is for my WHOLE family for me to have "me time". AND, today is THURSDAY! (I'm sure wondering why the exclamation point but here it come) On Thursdays I have FIVE hours with no kids! Now, I know that seems like a lot but usually it's spent running all of the errands that need to be done for the week but today I actually have some down time. So, part of my "me time" is going to be updating this blog because for the love of all things yummy, I've got to start updating more than once a quarter! And, you're in luck, because instead of hearing about all of the craziness from this traveling circus I'm running, you get to hear about me!

So, here I am...

A couple of weeks ago, our family and friends graciously agreed to watch our kids for the weekend so that Chris and I could go to New Mexico for a pathology conference. Luckily, it was the same weekend as the Balloon Fiesta, which neither of us had ever been to, so we were excited to have the chance to experience it.

This is my sweet and loving husband, who was bitter that he wasn't riding in one of the hot air balloons and refused to wave to any of the balloon navigators (I'm not really sure what you call those guys). I promise you this...the next time I post pictures from the balloon fiesta it will be with him IN a balloon and not standing next to them. :)

Here are a few pictures of the mass ascension...

Yes, that is a GIGANTIC blow torch that they are using to blow that thing up!! I was trying to stand as close as I could every time one aired so I could stay warm. It was like standing by a fireplace!

Here are just a few of our favorites!

Thanks for putting up with a little "me" time! And thanks again to the Larsens and Pledgers for watching our herd of kids so we could go! It was a much needed break!! :)

Larsen Academy 2010

2010-08-19T20:31:00.003-05:00

We are almost finished with week 3 of Larsen Academy and I am JUST NOW getting pictures up! Adding that fourth kiddo has really put a kink in my blogginess. But, I guess my new blog motto is going to be "better late than never" and my one last blog reader (my mother-in-law) will have a chance to see the first day of school pictures.

Here's Caleb...in a classic Caleb pose. He just turned 4 on Tues and he's ready to rule the world!

Luke is starting 1st grade and is bringing the thunder! He is super excited and is fully embracing his first year at Larsen academy. I think he likes being able to hang upside down while he does his math and being able to play Star Wars during "recess".

Kate is starting 3rd grade and is VERY excited to not be the sole member of Larsen Academy this year. She's NOT so excited that she will ALWAYS, for the REST OF HER LIFE, have more school work than her brothers simply because she was born first. But having Luke home helps smooth that over at least a little.

This is probably one of the reasons that I don't blog much anymore. It's virtually impossible to get all four of my kids to cooperate for even one picture. I even bribed them and got nothing. Oh, well...here's the crew.

We are super excited to have our year underway. Hopefully we'll have much more to share in the weeks to come!!!

It's all fun and games until someone breaks out the Super Glue

2010-06-30T15:30:00.002-05:00

Yesterday was a fun day. The big kids had cooking camp in the morning and we were invited/invited ourselves over to a friend's house for lunch and some playtime (for both mommies and kids). As usual, things were really going well. Every kid, minus John Patrick, has a friend their age to play with so we rarely hear much from them. Every so often, that becomes a bad thing...

Enter, the Super Glue. All of the kids were "experimenting" with some super glue that they had found in the garage. Understand, that NONE of them had ANY idea of what super glue was. We realized there was a problem when Kate's friend came in explaining that she had glued two of her fingers together with super glue. We quickly explained that they SHOULD NOT be playing with the super glue and luckily the little girl's fingers came unglued fairly easily.

I guess it seemed like the minor "sticking together of fingers" was funnier to Kate than it was scary because she decided "if it's funny for Addison to glue her fingers together it will be REALLY funny if I glue ALL of my fingers together" and with full Kate-like enthusiasm she liberally applied Super Glue to ALL of the fingers on her right hand and as many on her left as she could, considering all of her other fingers were already glued together.

She came into the kitchen, with a sort of worried yet mostly oblivious attitude declaring that she too had glued her fingers together with Super Glue (regardless of the fact that we had clearly instructed them not to do that, which was a point discussed in great detail after the trauma of the event was over) She was soon very surprised to realize that her fingers were NOT going to pull apart as easily as her friends and that there was a good chance of her showing up the following morning and learning to cook with a style she hadn't had the day before.

She was not too excited about me documenting this memorable moment. But, oh there will be many more discussions of this day through the years and I couldn't miss capturing it as best I could on film.

By this point, all of the fingers on her right hand were still glued together and she had separated all but two on the other hand. She spent a little time soaking her hands in a number of solutions that didn't offer much help and was reluctantly sent to her room for rest time with no real progress made.

Fortunately, during her rest time she was able to wiggle her fingers apart without removing any skin or causing in damage to her fingers. You have never seen such celebrating in a 7 year old girl!

Chalk it up to a life lesson!

We love summer!

2010-06-08T16:21:00.002-05:00

I love summer! I LOVE not having a schedule. I love not having many commitments. I love going out to the garden and seeing how things are growing and changing and what new produce we are going to be able to enjoy that night. Summer has transitioned into a season of peace in our lives and I really enjoy it!

Sunday was potato digging day! The potatoes were ready and since our neighbors across the street had given us a boatload of squash and chris had purchased some other fresh veggies from some local farmers we decided that we would have a Veggie dinner. That meant that we had to get out to the garden and dig those potatoes before dinner.

Unfortunately, Sunday it was about 200 degrees and we were digging potatoes right at noon. Needless to say we had some sweaty kids! But they were troopers and really worked as a team to get the job done.

One of our favorite things to do out at the garden is to take a stroll and look at what everyone else is growing. It really helped us get our mind off of the sweltering heat, at least for a little while. Then I decided that I loved my children too much to have them die of heatstroke so we loaded up the bus and took an airconditioned tour while Chris finished up a few things. I'm not so hardcore really...

Here are a few of the flowers that Kate has been growing in the garden. She LOVES to make her own little bouquet when we get home.

This is just a random picture of one of my in-laws daylilies that was blooming at the garden. It was my personal favorite.

Here's the bag of potatoes that we dug. They should last us into the fall. Nothing like eating your own potatoes to make you feel like your own version of The Pioneer Woman.

I am so not a baker but we made some yummy homemade cookies that we treated ourselves to, after our super healthy veggie dinner. That's why it's called a food pyramid people. We don't want to get all off balance, it's bad for your health!

Happy Summer!!!

We're still here...

2010-05-25T20:21:00.007-05:00

I'm am going through a blog drought. For some reason, I just can't get up the energy to post anything. Maybe because homeschooling and four kiddos is a little time consuming this year. Maybe because now that we're closer to friends and family it seems silly to be blogging about our daily happening. I'm just stuck in a blogging funk. But regardless, I'm going to post a few pictures so that you can see that it's not still snowing here (as this blog would make it appear). Feel free to pass on any bloggy encouragement that you might have. I could use it! :)

Last weekend, we had a fun time with some friends at the lake. It was a much needed getaway!

Kate had her first dance and piano recital this spring. She loved them both!!

Here are just a few random pics from Spring...

Snow Day fun x4!

2010-01-30T12:48:00.001-06:00

There is nothing more exciting in Arkansas than two days of snow!

The kids have had a ton of fun even though there wasn't enough snow to build a snowman. This was John Patrick's first snow and he liked it about as much as any 1 year old does. :)

Caleb pretty much just wanted to eat the snow, which is not surprising!

Luke was just glad to be out of school

Kate was committed to mastering the art of sledding. Hypothermia...she's not scared!

Snow Ritual

2010-01-06T21:35:00.004-06:00

There have been rumors of snow floating around that have gotten my kids very excited. Today Luke came home from school with this note,along with an attached spoon with a snowflake sticker on it...so IF YOU WANT SNOW,this is the ritual you and your family should perform. For those of you in our local area, I would suggest you do it tonight!

LET THE SNOW RITUAL BEGIN!

Quack!

2009-12-28T13:46:00.004-06:00

This week is a Daddy Vacation week so as part of the vacation week festivities, Daddy went duck hunting with some friends this morning. As you can see it was a productive trip...

Everyone was excited to get in on the post hunt action!

Personally, I'm trying to keep a smile on and act like it's perfectly normal to add these to the piles already on the floor in the garage.

I feel vegetarianism (is that a word??) coming on...

(interesting side bar...the boys looked at the ducks and are now inside playing. Kate is out helping to pull feathers and cut up the meat. Something just doesn't seem right about that. lol!)

Finished!

2009-12-23T14:16:00.005-06:00

Well, our kitchen "remodel" is finally finished! I am so thankful that they finished in time for Christmas! Not that it's helped me get my baking done any faster! I am very thankful that we can now start to get back to our normal level of chaos and disorder without help from Best Builders.

Here are a few pictures of the new kitchen. I tried to find before pics but all I had were these and these from the beginning of the plumbing problems but you get the idea.

Merry Christmas!!

Sugar Plum Ball

2009-12-05T15:16:00.003-06:00

Chris took Kate to her first Sugar Plum Ball, which is a daddy/daughter dance to benefit CARTI. It was a little girl's dream come true: a beautiful gown, fancy shoes, curls, and a tiara. They had a blast!

Kate's friends Sally Claire and Sarah Liza went too which added to the fun!

I would have loved to be a fly on the wall but I refrained and let it be a sweet daddy daughter night. These are precious memories for sure!!

Moving forward

2009-11-11T16:33:00.004-06:00

They finally started the demo work on the kitchen this week. They came in and torn the old backsplash off and removed the counter top. Now I don't even have to open a drawer to get out what I need. I guess that's at least one way that this "kitchen remodel" has actually made my life easier. :)
This is what the island looks like since the cabinet guys wanted everything cleared out of the old cabinets. They didn't want a catastrophe in case there was a problem when they put the new ones in. Just adding to the order in our house...

Also, you can see the crockpot squeezed into the corner spot on the island. This kitchen remodel is putting a crimp in my frugality but I vowed that this week would be different. So there it is...dinner amidst chaos.

Here's where things start to get exciting! Some of our new cabinets are in! This really was the first day that I started to get excited about this whole pipe breaking/kitchen remodel fiasco. I guess I could finally start to get a visual for how things are going to look. There's hope in sight!

I'm so excited to get glass doors in the kitchen! They are one of my favorite kitchen additions.

Demo team II is coming tomorrow morning to tear up all of the tile in the kitchen, bath and laundry room. Thankfully my in-laws have invited us over to enjoy a mess free meal with them.

Hopefully we'll be repaying the favor by Christmas! More updates to come!

Extreme Makeover Home Edition

2009-10-27T17:16:00.002-05:00

So, two weeks ago we thought we had a clogged drain. That clogged drain turned into a broken pipe...under the slab. That clogged pipe turned into..."we'll have to take the cabinet out to get to that". Which turned into..."wait there is actually a problem further out in the floor too".

Hmm...

This is the initial work to look at the problem yesterday morning.

It's hard to tell from the picture but that hole goes down about 3 feet.

That's the place where the oven was until lunchtime, when they realized they were going to have to jackhammer under it.

Unfortunately, the pipe didn't run the direction that they thought and the next step is to move the island and bust up the floor going toward the guest bathroom. But, that's a task for tomorrow.

The smell of sewer water is permeating our house. We have the kitchen all closed off but it still smells all throughout the downstairs in a way that no amount of candle burning could ever cover up. It will be interested to see what today brings. I know that it will definitely bring a trip to buy some air freshener and probably a lunch prepared in someone's kitchen other than my own!

Silver Dollar City

2009-10-27T14:46:00.001-05:00

This weekend we took all of the big kids up to Branson to Silver Dollar City. It was their first trip and they LOVED it! Cuatro stay at home with Gabby and that made my trip A LOT more relaxing. We ended up having beautiful fall weather which just added to the fun.

We started the day by taking all three kids on Fire in the Hole. I will say that since I'm scared of Fire in the Hole, I don't know what made me think that it was good to take all of the little people on it. We got by with just a few tears, one quivering lip and two kids who decided that they wanted to ride again. Kate ended up LOVING roller coasters! This is a picture of her and Chris at the top of Powderkeg. I'm glad that Chris has a friend to ride with now. lol!

We are thankful for a wonderful weekend together and look forward to many more trips to Silver Dollar City!

The Terrible, Horrible, No good, Very Bad Week

2009-10-14T09:39:00.003-05:00

Last weekend was wonderful! We had no commitments. We spent time with friends. I had a night out with the girls. I spent Sunday afternoon with my sweet in-laws enjoying a yummy meal that I didn't have to cook.

We even made it through Monday with not much damage, just the normal run of the mill stuff. Then Tuesday came.

Luke woke up with a fever and cough. It rained and the dog doesn't like to potty in the rain so I cleaned up an enourmous amount of puppy accidents. Because of the craziness of the morning, we didn't start homeschooling until 10:00, two hours past our normal start time. Luke's TV watching was a huge distraction to schooling on top of the fact that it's been raining for 40 days and 40 nights here and all of my other children are swinging from the chandeliers. We finally finished schooling at 4:00, only 4 1/2 hours late.

Last night I finally identified the funky smell that had been haunting me all day. There is water in our ventilation system. Perfect. The smell is enough to make you want to throw up. This morning I turned the heat down to try to keep the smell from being blown through out the house. I've even covered some of the vents that I pass by regularly to try to prevent gagging.

Luke still has a fever. There are only 2 more days until I am suppose to go on a trip with my mom and Kate which means that in the midst of today's homeschool lessons, I'm trying to keep all of the other 3 kids away from Luke in the hope that no one else will get sick. I don't feel good about my chances. He's like a sibling magnet!

Then as I was trying to fix the little boys breakfast, I realized that the dishwasher was leaking all over the kitchen floor. Really?? Why??

I guess we all have those Margarita drinkin', eyeball pokin' weeks! Hopefully this one will end with me enjoying a beautiful weeking at War Eagle!

Smooth Like Butter

2009-10-12T10:18:00.001-05:00

Yes indeed! Today's mission at Larsen Academy was to make butter!

I was shocked at how easy it was! Not to mention how exciting it is to look in your jar and see REAL BUTTER!!!

Don't get me wrong, it's not so easy that I'm going to make this my primary butter source. That is of course, unless we buy a cow and use that as our primary source of milk. Don't hold your breath on that one. I'm strange but not strange enough to have a dairy cow out behind our house in the middle of suburbia.

The results of our project were greatly enjoyed by all during snack time today! Oh, the joys of homeschooling! lol!

Fundamentally Frugal

2009-09-16T14:00:00.003-05:00

Okay, apparently some of you missed the first blog announcement and I am very sorry. I take full responsibility! So, for those who didn't know... I have two blogs.
I know. I hear you saying it...REALLY...TWO blogs.
But, here's the deal. There are some people that frequent this blog that don't care to hear my rants about meal planning, pantry stocking or where to buy cheap organics. So, after a consult with my dear husband, we decided that I should separate the blogs. That way The Life and Times of Team Larsen doesn't get convoluted (is that a correct use of that word, Emily?).

So here it is for those who are interested and might have missed it the first time...

http://www.fundamentallyfrugal.blogspot.com/

Nice clean teeth

2009-09-08T12:18:00.004-05:00

Or maybe a toothpaste clean face.

Gotta love that 3 year old spunk!

Announcing the newest member of Team Larsen!

2009-09-04T19:01:00.004-05:00

Meet Tucker

He's a fun loving 3 1/2 lb puppy that is now the newest addition to our family.

It's a little crazy around our house (not that it wasn't already) but there's nothing better than seeing the joy in your kids' faces as they play and fall in love with their very first pet.

It makes it worth it!

Big Boy

2009-09-01T21:00:00.001-05:00

Today was Caleb's first day of school. He was SOOOO excited to go! He was even excited about getting his picture made out front.

I can't believe that he's already 3. Where does the time go? I know that it's going by even fast than I know.

Kate really wanted to be in a picture with him, so here's Caleb with his sister. :)

Here's hoping for a great "potty trained" year in preschool!

Happy Late Birthday Kate and Caleb!

2009-08-24T10:36:00.007-05:00

We could not have two children that are more alike than Kate and Caleb. Born exactly 4 years and 1 month apart, they have the same sleep patterns, same drama, same energy level. They are both loving, kind and FULL of life!

Kate is definitely the leader of the kids. She LOVES her siblings as if they were her own children. She wants to be a mother hen and the little boys really respond to her. It's a blessing to watch them interact with her (most of the time).

Kate is caring and crazy. She is CONSTANTLY talking and wants to be in EVERYONE'S conversation. She is servanthearted and loving. We are thankful that God chose to give us such a sweet little girl!

Caleb is rowdy and wild, yet sweet and cuddly. His smile can melt your heart and cause you to forget whatever consequence you were about to give and just snuggle. He is fun loving, cheerful and full of energy. He brings such a joy to my heart.

His will can rival anyone's in the family and he LOVES to push his siblings buttons (on accident of course). His charisma brings life to our family and we would not be the same without him!

Kate and Caleb we love you and we are so thankful that God chose you each to be a part of our family!

First Day of School

2009-08-19T21:43:00.000-05:00

Today was a big day in the Larsen household!
Luke had his first day of kindergarten which was super exciting!

It was Kate's first day of homeschool too! We had a great time. I'm hoping for even more great days like today...

I'm so thankful that all of my kids are enjoying there back to school process. Now if Caleb could just potty train and be able to go to his 3 year old class we would be set! Yikes!!

Happy Birthday John Patrick!

2009-08-12T21:02:00.002-05:00

Today we are celebrating John Patrick! He is such a sweet and fun baby!

We are so thankful that God chose him to be a part of our family. He is a blessing and a joy!

He is rough and tumble yet cuddling and sweet, a mover and a shaker. We could not imagine life without him!

Happy 1st Birthday John Patrick!

Blogging black hole

2009-06-18T07:49:00.003-05:00

Summer's here! Yea!!

But life with 4 little ones around 24/7 means no time or energy to blog. Sorry blog friends! I'm trying to save all of my mental and phyical energy to ringlead this circus. lol!

The little things

2009-06-07T14:05:00.003-05:00

Here are just a couple of funny little things that have been heard in the Team Larsen house lately...

Luke-"See that on my arm?"(referring to a mark from a mosquito bite) "I got that 8 years ago" Friend-"But I thought you were only 5?" L-"I know! That's what makes it so incredible!"

Caleb-Mom "Caleb if you have a paci then that means it's time for a nap." C-"That's not what the clock says. It says it's not time for sleeping. It says it's time to get a paci and go outside. That's what it says. See it's on the 5."

Adventure Camping

2009-05-30T21:55:00.004-05:00

A few weekends ago, we went with some friends up to Tyler Bend on the Buffalo River. It was beautiful and super fun. It went from an easy weekend of camping to an adventure on the first night when winds that could send Dorothy back to Oz threatened to blow us back to Little Rock. Those winds brought in a nice thunderstorm and knocked some friends' tent down. That led to us adding four more "family members" to our tent for the night.

The rain continued through the next morning and into the first part of the afternoon. We persevered and, by about 2:00, were able to enjoy a beautiful day. We ended the trip with a record low of 42 degrees. Those of you with young children realize that's REALLY cold. Especially for little ones who don't have the extra warm sleeping bags or the 9 month old baby in the pack n play.

Fortunately we made it through and after we thawed out the second morning, we enjoyed a few more beautiful hours by the Buffalo. Camping is always an adventure!

And then it rained...

2009-05-09T21:32:00.005-05:00

Not only did the rain make our kids nutso for however many days we were stuck inside but on Tuesday night the weather gave a Grand Finale and...

FLOODED OUR HOUSE!

Yes, that's right. We woke up in the middle of the night on Tuesday night to the smell of gasoline. When we stepped down off of the stairs we were in water. The electricity was out and it was hard to figure out exactly what had happened but we soon realized that the water had risen quickly and flooded through the dog door in the garage (hence knocking over the gas can) and wrecking everything in there. It had also filled up our sun room. What a SHOCK!

Not only that but as we were trying to figure out what to do, the water levels rose again and started coming in once more. I decided that if I opened the garage door that maybe it would allow an escape for the water that was trying to find it's way into our sun room. As I opened the door, the water rushed in like a raging river, almost knocking me down, and ransacking everything in it's path. Luckily we were able to grab most of it before it floated down the street for all of the neighbors to see, but it did ruin lots of things in the process.

Here are some of the aftermath pictures...

Tues. night, when I stepped into this room, the water had been up over my ankles

These were taken the next morning after most of the water was gone. Leaving a mud bath. Thankfully my sweet husband and servant hearted father-in-law spent the morning cleaning that up, as well as, the kitchen, dining room , laundry room, foyer, and part of the living room carpet.

You can see all of the debris that was left from the dog door.

You can see the marks on the wall from where the water rose.

This used to be my herbs but the stormy waterfall turned it into a mud pit.

Overall, it could have been much worse and we are thankful that it wasn't. It definitely made me thankful that God promised not to destroy the earth by flood again! :)

Life as it happens

2009-04-28T09:35:00.005-05:00

Just thought I would share a little of what's been happening in Team Larsen land...

My mom and nephew came down for the weekend and we had tons of fun.

There is always an abundance of "treats" when Gabby is around.

All of the Larsen kids are in sugar detox this week.

We also discovered a new resident in the garage. A bird built a nest in the fish nets and has 5 or 6 eggs. We can't wait to see what happens!

This is just to remind those of you without toddlers what daily life is like...
He's working to perfect this look

Cool Hand Luke Rides Again!

2009-04-21T06:27:00.003-05:00

Well, actually, for the first time!

Yesterday we decided that it was time for Luke to say goodbye to the training wheels and hello to bike riding freedom. He, on the other hand, was not so sure that it was his day. With much reservation we headed to the field by our house to give it a practice run. Chris and I took turns with the dreaded "Run behind the Bike" role (well, I took one turn). Honestly, after my run I was ready to put the training wheels back on and chalk it up to a good parenting effort. After about 15 min. of trying (I'm not a perseverer), I went over to visit with a friend that was in the area. When I got back a few minutes later, Luke was standing at the top of a small hill ready to show his stuff. I felt a little concerned but Chris looked confident so I acted hopeful. Amazingly, he hopped on that bike and pedalled full speed down the hill like a pro. I was shocked!

After about 30 mins. at the field, it was time to head home to bed. Luke was excited and wanted to try to ride on the road. We decided to give him one shot before we ushered him in, fully believing that after about 30 sec. of trying he would be done and ready to head in.

This is what happened...

That dude hopped on his bike and took off! What in the world! I guess he's a bike rider! If all of the kids would only be as easy as that. It was so fun to watch him zoom up and down the street. He loves it!!

Now, all we have to do is get him off the toddler bike and we're set. lol!

If anyone knows of a good deal on a 16 in. bike, we're interested!!!

What's on YOUR floor??

2009-04-14T09:36:00.002-05:00

Anyone who knows me knows that I am not a gifted cleaner. Okay...that might be an understatement. Regardless, I am embracing being an imperfect wife and mother and in order to help you do the same, I am posting the contents of my kitchen floor after sweeping this morning. (Yes Chris, I actually swept the kitchen floor)

1 star wars helmet, 1 small car, 1/2 an Easter egg, 1 remote control back hoe, 2 hand-painted yard gnomes, 1 green croc, 1 foam bath letter, miscellaneous dirt mixed with cheerios and graham cracker pieces. (the cheerios and graham crackers are exciting because it means cuatro is starting to eat real people food!)

Okay...I have to confess...the hand painted yard gnomes were NOT on my kitchen floor. But they WERE on my island so I added them for Anna's enjoyment. :)

The thing about having all of that other stuff on the floor is that

it makes that amount of dirt and trash on my floor seem minimal. NICE!!

What's on your kitchen floor today??

Bring on the eggs!

2009-04-09T14:25:00.002-05:00

The boys had their school Easter egg hunt today. Let the good times roll!! We have now started the new influx of candy followed by much begging/candy sneaking. Is there ever a holiday that we don't celebrate by gorging ourselves on sweets??

Even John Patrick got in on the fun!

BUSTED!!

Beautiful Boston

2009-03-20T21:42:00.003-05:00

Chris had a work conference in Boston at the beginning of the month and my in-laws lovingly volunteered to keep 3/4 of our kids if I wanted to go with him. I don't know if they thought I would take them up on it but I did. And I am so glad!! Since Chris would be in meetings all day, I invited my mom along and we had a blast!

This is the view out of one of the windows in our hotel room. Well, out of the upgraded room we received. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! I could have actually stayed in the room all day long and been perfectly happy.

Being in Boston made me miss the city. I would LOVE to live there (as long as I could vacation in the south during the winter).

On our first night we ate at the Ol' Union Oyster House which is the oldest restaurant in America. It was one of JFK's favorite restaurants and we actually got to sit in his favorite booth! It even had a sign! (unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me)

We got cannelloni from Mike's pastry shop and enjoyed exploring the city. I would love to go back today!!!

Happy Birthday Luke!!

2009-03-11T20:14:00.001-05:00

Five years ago today Luke came speeding into our lives and our life has never been the same.

He is the calm in the midst of our crazy life. He is laid back and easy going; our tender warrior and family dreamer . He is loving and kind, gentle and fun.
He plays a unique roll in Team Larsen for sure!

He brings so much joy and we are thankful to be celebrating his life today!!

We are blessed that God has given us such a wonderful gift!

Happy Birthday Luke!! We love you!!

Fun with zip ties...

2009-03-06T09:25:00.005-06:00

Yesterday was beautiful here! The kids really enjoyed playing in the yard and I was thankful for a little break while I prepared dinner.

One problem...boys...and their fascination with the garage.

Normally the door to the garage is locked but for some reason yesterday it wasn't. That meant that I had two curious boys rummaging through the shelves in the garage. They came in wearing swim goggles and carrying the super soaker which was my first clue. After asking them lovingly to keep their precious hands out of the garage, I noticed Luke had also grabbed a couple of zip ties. He LOVES zip ties and will spend long amounts of time connecting them to make various rocket type ships.

A little while later I noticed that he had put them on as bracelets. That wasn't really a problem until he decided he was done wearing them and he tried to take them off. Can you tell where this is going?? For those of you who don't know, zip ties tighten but don't loosen so the more you pull them the tighter they become. Now imagine a 4 year old who is in a panic trying to get zip ties off of his wrists. What does he do? Continues to pull at them, obviously magnifying the problem and causing them to become tighter and tighter.

Now, enter...calm laid back mom. I freaked out! His hand were beginning to turn a dark shade of redish blue and he was screaming. I was in a full panic and not helping anyone else to remain calm. I tried to cut the zip ties off with scissors but I couldn't get the scissors between the zip tie and his wrist with out him screaming in pain. I tried a knife but that was just too scary. There's just something creepy about sawing with a sharp knife at your child's wrist. I was beginning to have images of a 4 year old with a missing front tooth and only one hand. Not the picture I wanted to share of my mothering ability.

In a panic situation, what do you do but call your husband who is at work and can do nothing to help. And that's exactly what I did. In a full panic. And what did he say?

C: Just cut them off!

Me: But I can't because it hurts his wrist!

C: It doesn't matter, you just need to do it!

C:Do I need to come home right now??!

So, back to the scissors we went. My heart was racing. Luke was screaming. Kate was talking incessantly (because that's what she does). John Patrick was crying hysterically. Caleb was...well..probably getting into something he wasn't suppose to, I'm not sure.

But, we got them off!

You can rest easy knowing the my 4 year old will indeed see his 5th birthday with BOTH hands in place. Praise the Lord!

Note: Don't allow your kids to wear zip ties as bracelets, even if it seems fairly harmless at the time. Take it from a seasoned mother of four.

Frugal Ramblings

2009-03-04T15:59:00.003-06:00

I have decided in order to spare my family from my ramblings about saving money and such, to start a new blog devoted to all of those random thoughts. That way the family and friends that want to keep up with Team Larsen don't have to wade through non family discussions. :) If you want to check it out go to www.fundamentallyfrugal.blogspot.com

This blog will now be fully dedicated to all things Larsen. lol!

Coming soon...a day in the life of Team Larsen.

Life at the Larsens'

2009-02-17T13:18:00.008-06:00

My mom loves to celebrate ALL holidays. She really likes birthdays, especially her own! So, every year we all get together for a birthday weekend to celebrate how young she's getting. :)

It won't be long until she's younger than me!

This year we spent her birthday in Branson. We had a great weekend! One of the highlights for the kids was the Dinosaur Museum.

Aunt Jonte' brought the birthday cake and let all of the grandkids help decorate. They had a blast and were very proud of their creative ability.

See if you can pick out our resident treasure hunters contribution to the decorations...

We also celebrated the 100th day of school. For Kate's party she had to make a shirt with 100 pieces of something on it. We decided to go for buttons and of course Luke wanted to make one for his 100th day too...

Kate's Valentine Tea Party pics will be next!

Victory!!

2009-02-17T12:57:00.005-06:00

Well, I did it! The grand total was $42.68. I was so excited! I was even able to get some great produce, stock up on a couple of things that were cheap, and buy my diet dr. pepper. I did have to skip the cute Valentine tote that was on clearance but I couldn't take a chance of going over. lol! I have to confess that I'm addicted to holiday merchandise...

Now, here's the meal list for the week. Luckily, I was able to find a pack of chicken in my freezer which helped!
S:Tortilla Soup
M: Crockpot Chicken and Dumplings (this was my first time to try it in the crockpot and it was AWESOME!!!)
T: Homemade Chicken nuggets, mashed potatoes, sauteed broccoli
W: Ham and Cheese Frittatas, fruit salad, asparagus
TH: Sweet and Sour Chicken, Rice, Asian side salad
F: Taco Salads, Cornbread
I think that I actually have enough of a stockpile to try this again next week. We'll see!

I would love to know...what are you cooking this week??

It's that time again...

2009-02-15T12:44:00.005-06:00

I am getting ready to plan my meals for the week. I love to stock my pantry and freezer when groceries are rock bottom and so it's not unusual for me to plan meals based on what I have on hand. The problem comes in that my Aldi stash has run dry, I'm out of chicken, most of the meals that are in the freezer we have had recently and the meals that I'm craving for the week would require purchasing more groceries than what I would like. It's not going to be pretty. So off to the freezer I go to see what sort of yummy meals I can come up with. My own love of food is often one of the challenges that I have in being frugal. I like to cook what sounds good, not what I've stocked up on.

I'll post the final verdict about what Team Larsen will be eating this week later. My secret goal (not so secret now that I've posted it on my blog) is to not spend more than $50 this week. We'll see what kind of skills I have. Especially considering that I have a husband who eats as much as two men and a daughter who gives him a run for his money. This is where the preplanning rubber meets the road. I'll keep you posted...

Side note: I think we've been stalked by the icecream truck. This is the second time that he's passed our house and he slows down and rings his bell right in front of our house. He speeds up as soon as he passes. Luckily my kids aren't here! We're going to be in for it this summer though.
Why is the icecream truck driving around in February anyway!

Frugality 101

2009-02-04T13:06:00.006-06:00

I am passionate about frugality. Period. Well, maybe, exclamation mark. I am actually a self-proclaimed hyper-frugal to the point that my heart races at saving cents as well as finding rock bottom deals. I could talk for hours about various ways to save money and bore even the closest of friends. I overanalyze cost comparisons to the point that some people would want to stab their eyeballs out. Some people, who are less kind, would probably even call me cheap. But as I sit and think about sharing frugal wisdom in a blog post, I'm stumped. Mostly because frugality is how I'm wired and it's hard to imagine that the way I think isn't just common sense to others. I want to share some ideas with those who want to be a little more thrify but aren't sure how. If in the process of doing this I end up saying things that make you think "of course, EVERYONE already knew that" then please forgive me. Hopefully, there will be a little nugget that you can walk away with...

Today I'm going to just share one cost saving idea, well maybe two. Or maybe a 3 paragraph essay...

First and foremost...frugality comes with a cost, as ironic as that is. It's easy to buy what you want, when you want, at whatever price it is. Saving money on whatever it is that you are wanting to buy (home decor, clothes, food) takes time and sacrifice. If you want to be frugal it will take patience, planning and discipline. BUT it CAN be done and it comes with great satisfaction and reward!!
You have to decide your reason for frugality. Do you need to be frugal just to make ends meet? Do you have something special that you want to save for? Or maybe you just want to make your money go further? Personally, I feel like I am frugal for all of the above but mostly because it's how I'm wired. I have to work to balance the cost of being frugal with the actual benefits (outside of the high that it brings). If you don't have a clear goal and motivation then it will be hard for you to count the cost.

Here's my one tip for the day...grocery shop less. WHAT?? I know, it's overwhelming. Here comes the cost. You will have to PLAN more and that's hard! You have to have a clear idea of what you NEED before you go to the store. You have to make a meal list (even if it's a flexible one) and have a clear grocery list that you stick too. But, you will SAVE MONEY! Not because you are buying less of what you need but because you are less tempted to buy what you DON'T need. Now, this will look different for everyone. Maybe you are shopping a couple of times a week right now, and you need to cut down to one. Or maybe you need to shop for groceries once every two weeks with a milk and produce run in between. Don't shut down on me, you can do it!
Studies show that people who shop less end up saving money. It's something to think about...

Wabi-Sabi in progress...

2009-02-04T12:59:00.002-06:00

As one who values authenticity, I want to make sure that people understand one thing about my wabi-sabi journey. And that's this...it's a journey. I am learning about the concept and am in the beginning stages of allowing it to affect our lives. It' definitely not something that I am an expert in or claim to know a lot about. After a discussion with my sweet hubby, I felt the need to clarify and make sure that it didn't come across as something other than a journey of discovery. :)

AND...thanks to all of you who have shared your blog advice either through comments or in person! Hopefully, I'll be able to apply some of the great tips!

Help, friends!

2009-01-29T11:38:00.003-06:00

Okay, I need to spice up my blog layout. Problemo...I don't know how. So, all of you blog savvy friends out there, help a girl out. I need any advice that you can give. For example, how in the world do I get pictures and such on the side of my blog. Please excuse my ignorance...
I'll be waiting to hear from you!

Wabi-Sabi and thoughts on Contentment

2009-01-28T12:13:00.004-06:00

***Warning:the following post is full of grammatical errors. This is not for the grammatically sensitive...

I want to start by saying that I LOVE authenticity and anyone who knows me well, knows that. It is probably one of the things that I value most in life and in people whom I know. I strive to be as authentic as I can and I want my life to reflect that.

As you know, I have been on a journey to create a home that is a safe haven and place of peace for my family. I am trying to embrace the fact that their is beauty in imperfection (and let me tell you there is a lot of that around here).

Where does Wabi-Sabi fit into all of this??

"Pared down to its barest essence, wabi-sabi is the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfection and profundity in nature….It’s simple, slow, and uncluttered-and it reveres authenticity above all."

In many ways, this is part of what I desire for our lives. I want to embrace all of the imperfections in my home and not make excuses for them. I want to value the wear and tear that life brings to this place. This IS where life happens isn't it? I want to have a home where people come and feel immediately comfortable. A cozy place where they are free to put their feet on the coffee table and sit by the fire in their socks if they want, an inviting place where people feel at home. I want people to come and relax in the midst of our authenticity and not feel the need to put on airs.

That's where contentment comes in. None of this will happen if I wallow in discontentment. There is a peace that comes from being with someone who is content where they are and with what they have. I want that to be my life. Plus, discontentment is expensive. It's expensive as far as trying to find joy and value in material possessions and it's emotionally expensive because it costs you your joy and peace. May we all find beauty in the imperfections and contentment where we are.

And, now the new mantra...wabi-sabi.

Coming soon...a post on frugality, my other passion. : )

Joy!

2009-01-27T21:58:00.002-06:00

This week's theme is "JOY"...

I think this picture really capture's Kate's joyful spirit. This is just a classic look for her. I'm thankful I was able to catch it on camera.

Check out the other great entries at http://www.iheartfaces.blogspot.com/

Country Folk at Heart....

2009-01-27T21:31:00.001-06:00

That's what we are (well, when I'm not longing to be a city girl again).

We long to have 500 acres of our own where our family can explore and our kids can be kids.

But since that's not possible, we have this.

No, not a post hole digger...

a garden.

Well, it's just the beginning of a garden now but in just a few months it will be a beautiful sight.

Last weekend my WONDERFUL, servanthearted father-in-law came out and helped Chris begin to build a fence. Even though it was cold, the kids LOVED being out there! They could run and explore with wide boundries. That's the life I enjoy!
I love to see my kids free to roam! They played for two hours with nothing but dirt, string, and a couple of tape measures. There's something about being outside that it just good for the Larsen soul.

I'm sure that we'll have plenty more to share over the next few months...

2009-01-22T09:45:00.001-06:00

YIKES!

Baby face...

2009-01-21T07:46:00.004-06:00

This is a site that I found while reading another favorite blog, Chatting at the Sky. You can link your favorite photo and see others for inspiration. This is the one that I'm sharing this week. It's one of my favorites...

Watch out HGTV!

2009-01-20T19:06:00.007-06:00

7 years ago I bought these chairs (4 of them) for $25 each, to go with a used table that we had purchased. They weren't my favorite chairs but they worked. I recovered the seats and it made a big difference. Over the last few months, I have noticed that the white in the toile isn't looking quite so white anymore.

This is 3 kids worth of damage here...

I decided last week that I was going to shell out the cash for the fabric to finally recover them. One of my favorite fabric stores in town was having their bi-annual sale this week.

PERFECT TIMING!!!

I decided to get started during nap time today.

Apparently the last time I did this, I thought that I would want this toile FOREVER so I put 30 staples in each corner, not to mention the number that lined the sides. There were staples poppin' out everywhere! The perfect snack for a 2 year old! Watch your eyes kids!

Oh, and the underneath side reminded me of what the original background

color was suppose to look like...

(So that my in-laws won't panic...in reality, I carefully searched the floor for all of the staples and disposed of them properly so as not to cause a choking hazard. No grandchildren were harmed in this do-it-yourself project.) :)

This is the original seat cover. Now, I remember why I decided to cover that up!

This is the new seat cover. The perfect cover to hide all of the grime from a household full of sweet yet grubby little hands.!

Nothing like a couple of hours with a staple gun to make a girl feel better!

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-01-13T15:51:00.006-06:00

Well, not quite. But we did bust out our new Valentine's Day shirts today! Here's my attempt to catch a sweet pic of my little ones...

Really...would you please cooperate.

Enough with the granola bar and drumstick, already.

This one will have to do...

This is also my 3rd attempt at this pose. Oh, how I wish I could get it to work!

Happy "Pre-Valentine's Day" from Team Larsen!

Joy!

2009-01-13T15:37:00.001-06:00

My new painting for the living room finally has a frame! I'm so excited!

Sweet loves...

2009-01-10T20:51:00.005-06:00

Here are some random pictures of our sweet kids...

Caleb...total 2 year old! Be afraid!

John Patrick likes to stick his tongue out and lick things. STRANGE!! but sweet...

Luke doing "beadies" with his homegirls. Beware...they are saving them up for a "beadie" sale in the spring!

Kate LOVES her baby brother! This was her idea and she wanted me to take her pic with John Patrick is this pose. NICE!

Journey 2009

2009-01-09T12:57:00.006-06:00

For the last few years, I have jokingly labeled the year. For example, 2006 was the year of taking risks, 2007 was the year of being a fun mom (hmm...not such a successful year), 2008...well, that was the year of surviving transition so it didn't officially have a label. lol! So, I've been contemplating what this year will hold. This is what I'm thinking...a peaceful home. Not in the sense of quiet, because that would be virtually impossible, but in the sense of being a place where my family can be. A place where we are free to be ourselves without judgement. A place that allows us to feel comfortable and at peace, both in attitude and in feel. This is something that has been on my heart for the last few years but I don't feel like I have made any real growth in this area. So this is going to be the year! Ironically, I have found a number of blogs over the last week that have addressed the same heart. I have enjoyed reading about creating A Soft Place to Land, or about beauty in imperfection from The Nester and Chatting at the Sky. I am on a mission to create a peaceful atmosphere. Part of that process is to remove the clutter

(the beginning of clearing the clutter)

and to SLOWLY create the home that I desire for my family. (I can't wait until garage sale season!)

I'm hoping that by this time next year I will have some things that I love to fill in some of the empty space in our new spacious home. : )

This is one of the first steps in creating a "home" in our new house. $25 worth of supplies. It warms my hyperfrugal heart!

Let the journey begin!

Christmas Past

2008-12-14T17:34:00.003-06:00

Four years of Christmas...

Christmas 2005

Christmas 2006

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2008

It's fun to watch our family grow! What sweet memories!

Mommy's Little Angels

2008-12-10T13:02:00.001-06:00

Today at Bible Study the boys made gifts to bring home. They are both sweet and funny at the same time.
Here are pictures of my little angels...

Luke

John Patrick

And last but not least...Caleb

Is that real?? I laugh out loud everytime I look at that! That's stinkin' hilarious!!
These paper plates will definitely become treasured family heirlooms.

Christmas Cookie Confession

2008-12-09T16:34:00.002-06:00

Today the kids' advent surprise was new cookie cutters to be able to use when we made Christmas cookies this afternoon.
As always, I was hopeful for a fun and memorable time making cookies with my sweet children. First problem, I am not a baker and I greatly dislike making sugar cookies. I'm TERRIBLE at it! How in the world do people get their children to work fast enough to be able to cut the cookies out without the dough becoming too warm?? Anyway, after I got the oldest kids to stop hording cookie cutters, at least THEIR attitude was somewhat enjoyable.

I, on the other hand, was a little hectic and anxious. Why wouldn't they just stop using the dough like playdoh? How could it be that the dough had only been out of the fridge long enough to be rolled out and it was ALREADY too warm to work with? Anyway, after only 10 cookies being cut out, we were done. I claimed that it was because the rest of their dough needed to harden up in the fridge but really I just needed a break. Wow! A whole 15 minutes of cookie making! They loved it, of course. But I have realized that cut out cookies are not my specialty. Nor do I enjoy the process. Maybe that is a good tradition for them to enjoy with Gabby next year. : )

Random picture: What is it about the baby gym that makes EVERY child want to get on it?

And yes, those are baby nail clippers in my 2 year olds mouth. Hmmm...I'll try for mommy of the year next year. : )

Guest Blogger

2008-12-08T14:33:00.006-06:00

Hi! My name is Kate.

Today I am going to write about school. On Wednesday, I am going to make a gingerbread house. Then on Friday I am going to have a Polar Express Party. So on thurs I have to do my math facts and my spelling test. Because on Friday when I usually do my math facts I am going to have my Polar Express party.

At my Polar Express Party, I'm going to see Santa Claus. Santa Claus said we would be back at school before the day was over.

The End

Why is it...

2008-12-08T13:02:00.000-06:00

Why is it that babies don't poop for days and then for two days straight they poop out of every outfit they own?

Why is it that when my kids have the whole day to play together they fuss and fight but when they have 2 1/2 minutes before time to leave for school they can get into imaginary play that would last for hours if left alone?

Why is it that I can consume nothing but water for three days and not lose weight but I if I LOOK at the chocolate chip cake when I walk through the kitchen, I gain 5 lbs?

Why is it that my husband can eat half of the chocolate chip cake and actually be thinner when he's done?

Why is it that my youngest child will sleep for hours when everyone is running around crazy but when everyone is quiet he refuses to take a nap and grant me some free time?

Why is it that I can never get ALL of my children to sleep through the night at the same time?

Why is it that I always have a million things to do until I actually have time to do them; then I just stand paralyzed wondering what needs to be done?

Why is it that kids seem so grown up at the time and then the next year, when you look at pictures, they seem so little?

Why is it that no matter how caught up on laundry I am, someone is always missing a piece of clothing they need?

Why is it that as soon as I mop the floor someone will spill something or pee on it?

Just some random thoughts from a mother of four...

O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

2008-12-02T21:45:00.001-06:00

This year the Larsens, by default, ended up with a real Christmas tree. (Chris got mad at the end of last season and threw our artificial tree out and we had fogotten until we went to get it out of the attic this year) Needless to say...we have a REAL tree!

We spent Sunday evening decorating the tree. It was so fun to share all of our Christmas memories with the kids as we decorated. They REALLY enjoyed it! The big kids are at such a fun age! It's been neat to see them beginning to remember our Christmas traditions.

This is what Caleb did for most of the time...

Kate felt strongly that we have a picture in front of the tree. So here we are (minus the napping John Patrick).
You can also notice the hole where John Patrick's stocking will go. Hmm...it will be interesting to see if I can pull that one off.

Our resident Treasure hunter

2008-11-06T13:44:00.003-06:00

Luke's ability to collect treasures is unbelievable. He has pockets full of bounty that he adds to his collection daily. It doesn't matter if we are on a walk, in a parking lot, or shopping at Hobby Lobby, his eagle eye will gain him a new treasure EVERYTIME! Here is one day's worth of treasures.

We must not have gone anywhere that day because his loot is pretty light. lol!

Even though I have given him a special cup to collect all of his treasure in, he asks me every day if he can "hang them on his wall". Since that's not exactly the decorating style I'm going for, we decided last weekend that it might be good for him to create something with Dad out of his treasures. This is what he has made...

He was VERY proud of his creation! And I must say, it was pretty cool. He called it a rocketship and has it in a special place up in his room. Now if any of you have any other ideas of what to do with the rest of the treasures please feel free to share.

Sweet as pie

2008-11-06T13:41:00.000-06:00

John Patrick is almost 3 months old. I can't believe it! He's losing his newborn look and his little personality is starting to develop.
Here are a few pics that I snapped this afternoon...

It's so fun to watch him grow! He definitely looks like a Larsen baby!

Halloween

2008-11-01T12:41:00.004-05:00

We had a super fun Halloween this year! The kids are at such a fun age to do Halloween activities. Kate's school had a great carnival that we all went to and the boys had lots of fun Halloween activities at their school too. We even ended up with two pet fish from some of the festivities.

Kate is really into posing for pictures these days, which is pretty darn hilarious. Here are just a couple of the MANY poses that she gave me when I was taking Halloween pics.

Caleb was excited to be a superhero even though I don't think he really knows what a superhero is. If you actually called him by his superhero name (Batman, Mr. Incredible, etc), he would get really frustrated and let you know that he was not Batman, he was a superhero! : )

You can see that Luke wore his spiderman mask in the first picture but then quickly decided that he didn't want to keep it on. He only used it to impress the ladies (Sally Claire and Sarah Liza). He wanted to make sure that they saw him in it and then he was done.

On Halloween night, we had some friends over for dinner before trick or treating. Melissa suggested that we all wear costumes. I wasn't so sure about it but it ended up being a blast! We went as a family of superheros. I was SuperMom and Chris was Clark Kent. It's been a LONG time since I've actually put on a costume!

This is the group shot that we took before we went trick or treating. Needless to say, we definitely drew a lot of attention in the neighborhood!

Pumpkins!

2008-10-24T08:30:00.005-05:00

This fall has been a little bit crazy. Mostly because I'm still trying to figure out how to keep up with all of the details of our lives as well as get us out to do fun things as a family of six. I'm thankful that we were able to take the kids to the pumpkin patch one night after work. They had a blast and picked out 3 of the biggest pumpkins I've ever seen. I'm really hoping to skip the carving process this year. They each carved a pumpkin while at their Gabby's so I'm hoping that will fulfill the need to carve. We'll just have to wait and see...

Just another day on the farm

2008-10-11T21:09:00.000-05:00

Here's a picture of Luke and some friends from school affectionately known at our house as "the twins".

They dressed like farmers for their class at school and looked so cute!!

Take it to the goal...

2008-10-11T21:03:00.000-05:00

I feel like that's what I spend most of my Saturday mornings saying. Luke is playing soccer for the Y this year and he LOVES it! He has wanted to play since he was 2 and Kate played for the Y. Every Saturday morning we head out at 8:30 for him to play. Luckily it's only two minutes from the house! It has been so exciting to watch him. He's not afraid to be aggressive and has made a goal at almost every game. He's always so proud! Here is a picture of one of his goals today. Chris was really sick this morning so I had a neighbor watch Caleb so that I didn't have both little boys by myself at the game. It was so nice AND I was actually able to take pictures for the first time!

Way to go Luke!!

Some pictures...

2008-10-03T09:57:00.009-05:00

I don't really have much to report from the home front. I feel like our routine is getting better everyday. John Patrick tends to like to be held a lot during the day(that's a problem with 3 others and lots to do) but we're making it through. He's a good night time sleeper and I'm so thankful! It's definitely an answer to prayer! He's 7 weeks old and growing like crazy. Here are just a few pictures. I'm hoping to have something more interesting soon...

I just love a sleeping baby. Even in that carseat, he looks so peaceful.

There is no shortage of love from the siblings! Luke always seems oblivious to the fact that John Patrick might not be happy. He always says "He really loves me a lot!" while John Patrick is screaming. He's one lucky baby!!

Brotherly love and 1 month pics

2008-09-18T14:27:00.007-05:00

For some reason the big kids LOVE to get on the baby gym.

And because Caleb loves HIS paci so much he feels strongly about instilling that same passion in his little brother...

I guess when your the youngest of four, there's no such thing as personal space.

This is just a random pic of Caleb as mr. incredible. He's really starting to enjoy dressing up. It's fun!
Here are a few pictures of John Patrick...I can't believe that he's 5 1/2 weeks already!

Life's in full swing!

2008-08-29T11:45:00.001-05:00

Yesterday was the boys' first day of school. They were both so excited to start! I've never taken a 2 year old to school before so it was fun to watch how excited he was to be a "big kid". He was really upset today when Luke went to school without him. Luke LOVES his class and there are some neighbor girls that are in his class, which is fun. I really enjoy this Pre-K year. It seems like they grow and learn so much. It's fun to be a part of that process!

Kate was at school at 5 a.m. this morning with Chris for Breakfast with Tom Brannon. Her class was on tv celebrating the school's 30th anniversary. She had a fun time and even though it was terribly early (especially with a newborn in the house) she loved the fact that she got to be on tv! The school allowed her class to check out at lunch since the kids would be so tired. Of course now that she's home for the rest of the afternoon she is remarkably energetic! I would have that kid!

We made it!

2008-08-25T13:21:00.001-05:00

Well, we survived our first weekend alone and I will say that it was better than I could have hoped. I can't speak for Chris but I feel like it was a somewhat normal weekend. We even made it to church on Sunday and stayed for the churchwide picnic afterward. : ) I know that it's probably harder on Chris than me because he's doing the majority of the childcare while I'm stuck in the everlong feeding sessions but overall I felt really good about how well everything went.

Today was my first full day flying solo and everything has gone really well with that too. Now, we haven't left the house yet but everyone has gotten dressed other than John Patrick and I even had a shower and put on make up. The hardest part of the day is yet to come though. In 30 minutes we have to all walk up to pick up Kate and then I have all 4 plus dinner to prepare. Thankfully, we're having a frozen meal from my in-laws. It's always surprising how even a frozen meal can be frazzling at this stage though. : ) Surely I can make it for 2 1/2 hours until my dear husband comes home. But we'll see!

Here are a couple of random pictures...just because.

Chris and the little boys. It looks like Chris is holding Caleb as a baby!

Caleb LOVES all things musical! He has started walking around with his guitar like it was part of him.

Wide awake

2008-08-22T12:53:00.000-05:00

Today John Patrick is a week and a half old and he has been awake a little more than usual. It's so sweet to watch him as he studies everything around him. Of course, this is the age where you desperately want a picture with their eyes open but it's virtually impossible to get one that doesn't show all of their crazy newborn faces. So here are the crazy faces for everyone to enjoy. I gave up trying to get one of him looking normal . : )

I think that this one is the funniest by far!

Then there's always the newborn double chin...

We have had a good first week. Thankfully my mom was here to help on Monday and Tuesday while Chris was at work and then my in-laws took the boys on Wed and let them stay until this afternoon. It is such a blessing to have all of the help. Especially since I know it is exhausting for the grandparents. We are so thankful for all of the ways that they sacrifice for us! I'm sure I'll have a lot to post after the weekend. It will be our first round on our own. I'm hoping for success!

Kate starts 1st grade!

2008-08-20T12:59:00.000-05:00

Kate started first grade this week. Unbelievable! It has been an emotional week for me. 1st grade, a new school, a new baby. I know this is cheesy to say, but it does seem like I was just sitting and holding Kate the same way that I'm holding John Patrick. Oh, how I wish that we could really relish these moments. I wish that I could just slow her down and really enjoy each and every moment. I am so thankful for what a blessing Kate is. I'm excited to watch her grown and develop but my heart is a little sad as I watch her transition from being a little girl into a new "big kid" stage of life. I know it will be gone in a blink of an eye.

Here are a few updated pictures of John Patrick. He is 1 week old and is so sweet! Even in the midst of the challenges of the newborn stage, I am so thankful for his little life and what a blessing he is to our family!

John Patrick Larsen

2008-08-16T13:28:00.000-05:00

Here are just a few pictures from the hospital...

This is our first photo as a family of 6!

Hoping to post more soon!

He's here!!!!

2008-08-13T15:58:00.000-05:00

After much anticipation, John Patrick has finally made his debut. We showed up at the hospital bright and early yesterday morning but as expected they had a ton of women in labor and we ended up waiting a while to get in a room. After the pitocin was started, things progressed but at a rather slow rate. By 11:00 I was almost to a 4 and the doctor broke my water at 12:30. I was at a 6 and 100% effaced by 1:30 and at a 9 by 2:00. Within the next hour, I could definitely tell that he was ready to come out! I guess he decided to make up for lost time after lunch. We called the doctor and he came right over. After the first push he was here, and it took two more to complete the process.

We were so thankful and excited to have our sweet little boy here! He actually had the cord pretty tightly around his neck and a true knot in the cord (which can both be life threatening) so we are so thankful for God's protection over his life! He is doing great and and I am very thankful to be "unpregnant" and just having to cope with the delivery recovery. We are enjoying every moment with our new little one! The time in the hospital is such a sweet time especially when you have other kids at home. It gives you that precious time to just focus on your baby without any other distractions. I LOVE those first few days of getting to know the new baby and having all of those quiet cuddle moments!

Unfortunately the kids have not been able to come visit John Patrick yet. Kate came down with a fever last Saturday and can't seem to shake it. We're hoping that she will be better tomorrow so that she had hold him when we get home. All of the kids have been so excited for his arrival. I know it's been hard for them not to be able to come see him. Thankfully my in-laws are caring for them while we're here. It's a blessing to know that they are having a blast at Grandma and Grandpa's!

Here are a few pictures of John Patrick. He weighed in at 8 lbs. 2 oz. and 20 1/4 inches long. MUCH lighter than what I expected, thankfully! My guess was 9 lbs. 12 oz. so I was shocked that he ended up being 10 oz. smaller than Caleb. I'll try to post more pics as we get them...

John Patrick Larsen

Born August 12, 2008

The date is set

2008-08-05T19:42:00.000-05:00

My doctor appt today went fairly well. I have made a little more progress and of course the baby could come at any time but we were at least able to schedule an ending point. Officially, Cuatro will make his appearance by next Tues. I am scheduled to go in at 6 am and I will be there bright and early. I am actually praying that we don't even make it to that point. It would be nice if the bambino would make his debut tonight. Not only am I totally ready to not be pregnant anymore but the kids are spending the night with my in-laws and it would be perfect timing. Who knows?! Hopefully the next thing I post about the baby will be newborn pictures!!

38 weeks

2008-08-04T21:53:00.000-05:00

Hopefully this will be the last picture that I post with the baby still in my tummy. : ) I go to the doctor tomorrow and I am hoping for good news. This picture looks very similar to where I was with Caleb. Let's hope that's because my tummy has already stretched that far and not that the bambino is going to be Caleb sized. I'll post any news from the appointment tomorrow...

May I go into labor before then!

37 weeks 3 days

2008-07-31T13:07:00.000-05:00

We are trying to wait patiently for the newest member of Team Larsen but man it's hard! The kids are super excited. They ask every day if tomorrow is the day that the baby will be here. My doctors appt was a little more encouraging this week. I am making some progress but no where near where I usually am at this point. It's so interesting to see how this pregnancy has been different! If I would have predicted how this would have gone, it definitely wouldn't be a slower progression toward labor. But, that's why childbirth is one of those unpredictable things in life. : )I am enjoying time with the kids. We have been swimming quite a bit (since Arkansas is hotter than any place on earth) and enjoying all of the space to run and play in our new house. It has definitely been a blessing to have the added room! This time is always when I'm torn between wanting to relish the last days with my other kids and longing for the chance to meet our newest. I guess it's part of the lifelong lesson of living in the moment!

It has been really sweet to see the kids spending time together before bed at night. They have shared a room for so long that I think they kind of miss having that time together before they go to sleep. Kate as been reading to Luke before bed and I love to see them cuddled up under that canopy.

Part of the way that Kate has been showing excitement for the baby's arrival is by wrapping up random things in our house as "gifts" for the baby. It's usually something that she has come across in the playroom that she thinks he might like and that she doesn't want anymore. She also made a sign with his name on it for the pack n play in our room. She had it decorated with a leopard print scarf and some pink blankets but after explaining the suffocation risks she decided that it might be best to remove those. She's such a loving big sister!

Just my luck...

2008-07-22T08:31:00.000-05:00

FYI: After taking this picture, my husband informed me that black is slimming. I'm going to take that as a compliment. : )

I reached the 36 week mark yesterday. Yeah! I also had my OB appt. with my first dilation check. Now understand, I am fully aware that these checks have absolutely no real insight into when the baby will actually arrive but it still has always helped me make it through the last few challenging weeks. That being said, I went to the doctor with high hopes of some action.

The Dr. checked and actually said "Do you normally dilate later?" I was crushed! No, I don't dilate later! I have dilated early with every pregnancy. By 36 weeks I'm usually at a 2 if not almost a 3. What in the world! Not only is it discouraging, considering that I've been working like a mule for the last month and walking the stairs 17 times a day, but unless I am dilating we can't even talk about induction (and you all know that I'm a big fan of that!)

That was some of the worst news that I've heard. I'm sure that God is trying to teach me patience and to trust his timing. What a fun lesson to learn! : ) I go again next week and hopefully I'll have better news to share. Even though I am more than ready for this baby to come out, it would probably be best for him to come in August. It so hard to wait!!

We did get out on thurs to go to the peach orchard. The kids had tons of fun and we had a yummy peach crisp to show for it!

5 weeks and counting...

2008-07-14T20:54:00.000-05:00

So, here it is...the 35 week pregnancy pic. It's the first time that I have seen a picture of myself in probably a month. Of course, I see myself everyday in the mirror but it's just not the same. It's an overwhelming consensus of shock and horror when people see me and find out that I still have 5 weeks to go. Personally, I feel like I look a lot smaller in this picture than I do in person. I definitely look a lot smaller than I feel! It's been interesting to hear the comments that people here have felt free to make. The most common comment among male strangers here has been "You're having a boy? It's gonna be a big 'ol boy!" I mean really, what kind of comment is that anyway. First, why are these men even taking the time to make a comment on my pregnancy size and did they think that having a "big 'ol boy" would be a compliment?? Hmmm...

I have been too lazy to take any house pictures yet but I'm hoping that I will get my motivation up in the next couple of days. Shouldn't there be some sort of nesting thing coming on soon??? Anyway, here's a picture of what the kids have been doing while we have been trying to order the house. Apparently packers get paid extra for every piece of paper that they can get into your boxes and deposit in your new home. I think our packers set some sort of all time record because I have NEVER seen anything like it. This picture was the paper that came out of 2 or 3 boxes. We could have filled the sunroom up to the ceiling with all of the paper that they used to wrap our stuff. At least nothing was broken. : )

Sorry to all of you in LR who I have not caught up with yet. I'm hoping that I will get a chance to connect with more of you before our newest addition arrives!!

Quick Update

2008-07-10T21:00:00.000-05:00

I know that I haven't updated in awhile so I thought that I would fill everyone in on how the transition to Arkansas has gone.

The moving process was quite an experience. The movers showed up an hour late and took 10 hours to load our stuff while we tried to keep three tired and restless kids out of the way. I actually had the house all clean before they were finished loading the truck and we waited patiently to be able to drive off. Our hope was to be able to drive at least two hours and knock some time off our trip. Unfortunately, the kids were so tired that we only made it out of the city and then we stopped for the night. It did help even being able to take one hour off of the trip though.

We have had a little bit of a whirlwind since we've been here. We closed the day after arriving in Little Rock and my in-laws graciously watched our kids for many days as we tried to paint and unpack to a point where the kids could be here with us. We have been in the house a full week now and we are starting to get settled in. We have most of the boxes unpacked, painting/portraits are up as of last night, and I am beginning to get everyone in a routine. We are really enjoying the house. It's nice to have so much space! It's much more than we need (which I never thought I would say) but I am thankful to not all be on top of each other anymore. The biggest blessing for me is moving from 1 bathroom to 3. I never thought that something so simple could make so much difference! : )

As far as Cuatro is concerned, I am 34 1/2 weeks and I am trying not to wish the time away. I am ready to be done being pregnant. I feel okay but not great and I can tell that I'm getting tired really easily. The downside of not being pregnant anymore is that means summer will be over. Kate will be in 1st grade and free time will be cut down drastically. Plus, having a newborn changes your level of freedom for quite a while (at least for us). I want to enjoy these last few weeks with the kids. I want them to enjoy some fun summer activities despite the fact that I'm uncomfortable and we have a ton of stuff to do around the house. It is definitely going to be a challenge though.

I'm hoping to have some house pics and a new pregnancy pic soon. I have gotten to the stage when everyone wants to make a comment on how big I am or how big the baby is. Nothing like 6 weeks of those type of comments to really boost your self-esteem. lol! : )

The final countdown

2008-06-06T19:57:00.001-05:00

Today has been an emotional day. The kids have been hard the last few days and I'm pretty tired which is usually a pretty bad combination, but what has really thrown me into an emotional tailspin is the countdown to the move. It's funny...I haven't really been emotional at all during the last few weeks. Like I've said 100 times, this will be a bittersweet move for us but I have been mostly excited and ready to start this next stage in our lives. I feel like I've had a lot of closure over the last few months so it hasn't been as overwhelming as it could have been. That is until today. I was emailing my friend Lynda about scheduling some time for our families to spend together over the next few weeks and took a moment to count the days. 17 of them to be exact. Now, every time I think of that I start crying. 17 days is nothing. It will go in the blink of an eye and we will drive away from what has been our life for the last 3 years. We will drive away from Luke's first best friends. We will drive away from the only place that Caleb has ever lived. We will drive away from the kids that Kate has been in class with for two years now and who we will most likely never see again. We will drive away from the Adamsons who have been our family over the last 3 years while both of our extended families have been so far away. We will drive away from a place that we have grown to love deeply.

I am so excited to be close to my family and Chris' family again. I'm excited to be able to drive over and hang out with my closest friends anytime I want. I'm excited about having a house with more space and about the chance to come home to the place where Chris and I started our life together. But, I have a feeling that the next 17 days will be much harder than I have anticipated. I have definitely begun the mourning process and I'm not really looking forward to how my crazy pregnancy hormones are going to magnify that. It should be an interesting journey to say the least...

Summer's here!

2008-06-03T14:55:00.000-05:00

Even though the kids have been out of school for a week and a half, I feel like we are only on day two of summer vacation. My sister and nephew came to visit last week so we didn't adjust to a normal summer schedule. We had lots of fun and the kids really enjoyed time with Jonte' and Wilson. Here are a few pictures of the cousins. The boys pretty much stayed in superhero gear the whole six days regardless of how hot it was (they even have their regular clothes on underneath the naturally steamy outfits).

Bless Kate's heart, she is surrounded by boys in all areas of family life! But Aunt Jonte' did take her for a special "girls' day" to get their nails done and have lunch. One of the many advantages of being the only girl in the family.

Yesterday was kind of a crazy day. I was terribly tired and the kids were really energetic and excited to do all of the summer things there are to do. It's both a blessing and a curse that we can walk out our back gate to the swimming pool. It's great if you want to go but it's torture if your baby brother is taking a 2 1/2 hour nap and your stuck in the back yard listening to everyone else splashing their hearts out. So I broke down and got the slip n slide out for Kate and Luke. They had tons of fun...even though much of the fun was unconventional slip n slide fun.

And Caleb was very excited about the idea of getting wet without having to sneak around and do it when mommy wasn't looking.

Three weeks from today the movers come. Like I've said many times, it's excited and sad at the same time. I have started the process of "tearing down camp" and getting us ready to be packed up. One of the things we did this morning was empty out all of the flower pots and spread the dirt around in the flower beds. Who would have known that this could be so entertaining!? There was added excitement because apparently a nation of roly polies had made their home in the bottom of one of the pots so there was a lot of action when that one was dumped. Endless wonders!

We also went swimming with our friends the Adamsons this afternoon. They were some of our first friends when we moved here and they have become like family to us. We have celebrated many holidays with them over the last three years and their kids are our kids best friends. So, needless to say, we're trying to squeeze in as much time with them as we can over the next few weeks!

And we're super thankful that we can mooch off of their pool!!

28 weeks

2008-06-02T07:14:00.000-05:00

Well, here it is...my 28 week picture from last week. I'm still feeling pretty good and I'm trying to remember that as much as I would like for this baby to go ahead and make it's way out, ultimately a few more weeks without a newborn is what's needed most right now.

We're down to 3 weeks until the move and 11 weeks until cuatro's arrival! Exciting times!!!

This is a picture of Chris and the big kids being silly. It's really just here for your enjoyment! : )

27 1/2 weeks

2008-05-22T13:04:00.000-05:00

Well, I am 27 weeks and 3 days. This is the official beginning of my third trimester which is somewhat exciting. I am still feeling pretty well, which I am SOOO thankful for. If I could just convince everyone in the family to embrace picking things up off of the floor so that mommy doesn't have to then life would be near perfect. : )
I am really enjoying time with the kids and I'm excited about having time this summer to relax and do some fun things as a family of five. I know that it won't be too long until I'm writing another blog about how the summer is making me nutso but right now we are all looking forward to it. Today was Luke's last day of school and tomorrow is Kate's kindergarten program so there's lots of excitement around the Larsen household these days.
We are also in the final stages of our time here in Atlanta. It is definitely bittersweet! We are beginning the closure process as we do things for the last time. It seems like everyday there is someone that we see for the last time. It's sad but I guess it's all part of the leaving process. It will be interesting to see how these next few weeks go.
Also, coming soon...the 7 month pregnancy pic! Whoohoo!

Labor Prediction...

2008-05-20T14:33:00.000-05:00

I found this funny quiz that helps predict your labor and here are the results...I think it's funny because I have been induced with all three kids, which actually makes me my own labor predictor. But, they did ask a question about inductions so I'm sure that this will be an accurate prediction. : )

You won't need to try any secret recipes to bring on labor. Have your emergency numbers ready. Don't wait until the last minute to get your nursery ready. We predict your baby will come 1-2 weeks early. Your baby will most likely be born in the morning. Justmommies predicts that your baby will weigh approximately 7.7 pounds and that your labor will be about 5 hours long.

This is for entertainment purposes only

Being the third child...

2008-05-19T13:25:00.000-05:00

This is some unique knowledge that Caleb, our third child, possesses at the ripe old age of 21 months...

*There is a social stigma that goes along with the following things:

Sitting in a booster seat, rather than a big chair.

Having a cup with a lid.

Allowing your mother to give you anything other than the full rectangle of graham cracker.

*You must fight to the death to keep your reputation among the other children in the family from being ruined by the previous things mentioned.

*The word "mine" must be used both frequently and loudly in order to get the full effect.

*If you need help in doing something, your best bet is to yell for your siblings first. Regardless of how wise or safe the action is, they will almost always assist you.

And finally,

* When your mother is pregnant with her fourth child, you have the upperhand. Not only can she not carry you effectively but when you are allowed to walk you are much faster than she is. This is the perfect time to break away, run and have your way doing whatever you want. By the time she catches up with you, you will have had plenty of fun!

Mother's Day

2008-05-12T09:14:00.001-05:00

This year was one of the sweetest Mother's Days that I've had. We had a pretty relaxing day (even though I had to grocery shop) and we had planned to take a picnic to a fun little place over at Chris' work. It had a pretty walk and then tons of nature to explore.

After we ate dinner, we decided to walk over to the lake and see the geese and their goslings. This is a place that Chris likes to take the kids to fish and they love to see the baby geese.
The kids had fun sharing our baguette with the geese and the geese were definitely glad we came.
There is also a great climbing tree for the kids. They enjoyed spending some time playing under the magnolia branches.

I was so thankful for the sweet family time that we got to have together yesterday and I couldn't have asked for a more perfect way to spend Mother's Day!

16 weeks until Cuatro arrives!

2008-04-28T13:24:00.000-05:00

First of all, I promise that I will not wear that headband in every pregnancy picture. Of course, I hadn't been wearing it all day and put it on before bed when Chris was finally ready to take the picture. : ) Anyway, here is the latest prego picture. I am now 6 months pregnant and things are moving fairly slowly at this point. Luckily, I feel pretty well. It's getting a little harder to move around but I'm not terribly uncomfortable. This is the calmest Larsen baby by far. He still hasn't kicked the wiggling up like the other three did. That's part of the fun of seeing how each baby is different!

Also, only 8 weeks until the big move! I can't believe it! I know that it will be here before we know it. I'm sure at some point I will emote via this blog but right now I feel pretty emotionally stable. It is such an exciting yet sad process!

Cumberland Island

2008-04-06T19:48:00.000-05:00

For those who don't know (which will be most people who read this blog), Cumberland Island is Georgia's southern most barrier island. It was previously home to Thomas and Lucy Carnegie, as well as some revolutionary and civil war generals. The island has been made into a National Seashore and with that comes a lot of guidelines that keep this from being "just another car camping experience", mainly there are no cars allowed. : ) Because of that, you ferry 45 mins. over to the island with all of your camping gear and food in tow and say goodbye to civilization until your scheduled time to leave (for us 6 days). They do not have a camp store or anyway for you to purchase forgotten items so it takes quite a bit of careful planning. With all that in mind, we set out on our family adventure to Cumberland Island on Easter afternoon.

Here are a few pictures of unloading the van and the kids "helping" Chris it get all of the gear to a place where he could load it onto the ferry. The day we boarded the ferry was FREEZING! I actually had to unpack some of the kids warm clothes for them to put on while we waited.

Once you arrive at Cumberland Island, they provide you with carts to put your gear into so that you can carry it the 1/2 mile+ that it takes to get to your site. We all wore a pack (big kids included) and I pushed Caleb in the stroller on our first trip to the site. Since I'm pregnant, Chris didn't feel comfortable with me helping to move the gear and so he made the trip two more times by himself to bring the rest of our belongings to the site.

Needless to say, Chris was exhausted by the time he had unloaded the car, loaded the ferry, unloaded the ferry, loaded the carts, and trekked 3 miles to get all the gear it takes for a family of 5 to make it on an island 6 days. Then we still had to set up camp and all of this in 40 degree weather. Welcome to beach camping! lol!

We knew the week before our trip that the first few nights were looking like they would be painfully cold, considering we had 2 little kids and a baby to keep warm. I have to admit that this was my biggest concern. It's hard to keep a baby warm without having it co-sleep and Caleb is not a co-sleeper. That first night was about 37 degrees but we survived. This is a picture of us trying to warm up the next morning. We don't do many fires at this stage of life because a toddler plus fire equals ER trip but desperate times call for desperate measures. The big kids loved it of course!

This is the picture of the main path across Cumberland Island.

The first full day was still pretty cold so we decided to explore some of the island's historic sites. It was perfect hiking weather so it made for a nice outing. This is Dungeness, the ruins of the Carnegie Mansion on Cumberland Island. Thomas and Lucy Carnegie lived in this once 4 story Mansion along with their 9 children. This is one of the sites on the island that we enjoyed the most. The grounds are enormous and it was fun to imagine what it was like in it's grandeur.
One of the things Cumberland Island is known for is the wild horses that roam free there. I think that the kids counted a total of 17 wild horses during our 6 days there. They would rest by the bathrooms, walk down the path, and play on the sand dunes. It was fun to have the chance to experience that! Notice in the picture below...Luke is layered (as he should be) yet Kate has chosen to sport her bathing suit, desperate to experience the beach.
This was the board walk down to the beach...just beautiful!We returned to Dungeness on our last day for a picnic. Just a little family photo after lunch...
Cumberland Island contains a meritime forest and is made up of these BEAUTIFUL live oaks! You could not ask for a more perfect climbing tree
This is the ferry that transports you to and from the island. Our last 3 days on the island were gorgeous and we spent plenty of time on the beach. It also made for a much more enjoyable ride back to the mainland. The kids enjoyed riding on the top of the ferry and looking for dolphins.

Our Cumberland Island Adventure was one we will never forget and hope to repeat (maybe when Cuatro is about 4)!

Half Way There

2008-04-05T19:58:00.000-05:00

Well, in order to keep all of my Arkansas friends from being shocked and horrified when I show up about to bust open in June, here's the second installment of pregnancy pics. I am almost 21 weeks, WOW! I think I look about 7 months pregnant in this pic but that's what happens when your body remembers it's pregnant shape better than it's nonpregnant shape. : ) The funny thing about this picture is that in the process of Chris taking it, he probably told me 5 times that black was slimming. It was hard to not take that as "Be glad. You really look a lot bigger than this in reality". On the bright side, I am very thankful to still be feeling well. Other than starting to get a little winded, I really feel pretty normal. The fourth time around I've realized that I need to embrace and enjoy this time because it's short lived. I feel like I'm doing pretty well maintaining that mindset so far! Hopefully one of the next posts will have a decision on a name other than "cuatro"! : )

It's a...

2008-04-02T15:14:00.000-05:00

IT'S A BOY! Yes, it's true. The verdict is out and the newest member of Team Larsen will be a boy. Everyone handled the news as well as could be expected. The boys were of course excited to maintain power. Kate pushed through the disappointment and has begun to embrace the idea of maintaining her position as princess of the universe. It has taken a little adjustment for me. The idea of one dramatic girl and a house full of rowdy boys is a little overwhelming but I'm warming to the idea. Now, Cuatro will probably be nameless (other than "Cuatro") until he's twelve but I guess that's what happens when you're the 3rd boy. : ) It's been so funny to hear people's responses. People with one or even two (young) boys have been excited for me. People with more than two boys or boys that are 4 or older have given much compassion and as much encouragement as they could muster. That has all come with much warning about the level of rowdiness that is about to reek havoc on our home. I guess that is where I was when I heard the news. I was fine with more boys when I only had Luke but when DR. Destructo (aka Caleb) joined the ranks and teamed up with his older brother, I realized that my world was quickly changing! I can only pray for an ultra laid back dreamer-type child that will bring balance to the family. lol! In all seriousness though, we are very excited about the the addition of another boy to our family and it will be so fun to watch the transformation as we go from a Party of Five to a Six Pack!

Be Afraid...

2008-03-18T19:49:00.000-05:00

This picture is for my sister-in-law Kim and for all of my friends in Arkansas who aren't getting to see cuatro's growth process. For all of those who have known me for any amount of time, you know that for some reason I tend to get freakishly large when pregnant and even more so with each new pregnancy. So here I am...no make up, half way into my pjs, and 18 weeks pregnant.

For those of you who might have forgotten...here is what I looked like with Caleb (#3) at 24 weeks. Hmmm...seems strikingly familiar to how I look now. Scary!

And I thought I would include another treat. The ever shocking 37 week pic. Luckily, they took that kid a week and a half later or else I'm pretty sure my stomach would have just ruptured. : )

I just threw this pic in because it's funny and it's how we feel around here quite a bit of the time...

Stay tuned for more of "Ripley's Believe It Or Not"!

Happy 4th Birthday Luke!

2008-03-17T12:48:00.000-05:00

Luke turned 4 this week which is amazing in itself! He had a pirate party on Saturday but for his actually birthday dinner he had requested pirate pasta with alfredo sauce. Wow, what a celebratory meal! We decided to have a pirate dinner where we didn't use plates/forks (well, I tried), used pirate manners and used a lot of pirate talk. It was super fun and a great way to prepare for the party to come!

Part of Luke's party was the hunt for buried treasure. Chris told the kids a story about how Captian Bravebeard brought him and map and told him to keep secret the location of his buried treasure. The kids were super excited to head out to find the treasure!

After the treasure hunt and a few more pirate games, we had the cake. Luke was super excited about his treasure box cake and it's amazing how much cake 4 year olds can eat!

Happy 4th Birthday Luke!!

Weekend Away

2008-03-10T17:15:00.001-05:00

We were very blessed to have the chance to spend a weekend away at a friend's mountain house. The warm spring weekend that we had hoped for ended up being a cozy, snowy weekend but we had a blast. The mountains were beautiful and we were in desperate need of an escape.

This is a picture that Chris took of Kate by a beautiful creek that we drove over going to and from the mountain house.

On Sunday, Chris went fly fishing for the morning and we went exploring after lunch. The kids tend to turn every creek into a rock skipping excursion. At least they don't throw them at each other yet.
This is us on the steps of the mountain house. The dog belongs to the neighbors and this was the only picture where he didn't walk right in front of the family. You might almost think that we were dog people. : )
These pics were taken on part of the river where Chris went fishing. There was one area where you could walk along the river and so he took us to see. The kids were really excited to see where dad had fished!

Thanks Donia and Chris for sharing your weekend getaway with us!!