Quack!

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!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Or maybe a toothpaste clean face.

Gotta love that 3 year old spunk!

Announcing the newest member of Team Larsen!

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

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!

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

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!

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

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!