Christmas Past

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

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

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

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...

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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...

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...

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!!