Happy Easter

Our friend's daughter, Anne Marie, trying to show Caleb how to hunt for eggs--he was grumpy about it till he discovered the candy inside.

Some how Easter was nice, as it should be, remembering the meaning,--and even fun, but what a week! Chris left for Taiwan on Monday before Easter and comes home tomorrow, so we've missed him and he missed the holiday with us. So I was a single parent, trying to get all the kids where they are supposed to be and plan the Primary Easter Egg Hunt and host company--fortunately it was the Masters, our good friends now living in the Austin area. Colton also had youth conference with church, which was great, but he's also the team captain for building clean up Saturday night after the conference, so it stressed me a little that it would get done (thank you to all that helped). So, I'm exhausted, but the show must go on and I'm looking forward to the massage when Chris gets back.

Spring Break

My brother, Robert, and his family joined us from Kansas for a few days and we packed in as much as we could. One priority was getting to the beach--the weather cooperated and Galveston was lovely only six months after Hurricane Ike. Here's the group of kiddos. They mix together so well, you may not be able to tell which are mine.

Caleb and cousin Jayden, both just 3, loved the sand and the water!

Here's my mermaid girl!


One night we roasted marshmallows--a Larsen kid favorite pasttime--followed by a late-night movie up in the theatre room, staying up past midnight which has become a rarity since Colton's seminary days have begun. Below we have Eli, Kalli, Annette, Hannah, and Zac.

Below is Eli, picking off the burnt part along with my brother Rob and Kalli again.

We also enjoyed a day up with our friends, the Masters, near Bastrop TX, but I forgot my camera. The kids all rode horses and played games all day. It was lovely and the next day us parents went to the temple and treated ourselves to Perry's for lunch. Breaks are so nice and seeing my brother and his family was a treat as we just had the best time--thanks for coming to see us and the rest of you are welcome most anytime!

Just plain silly

January is over and I'll share the pictures that make it look like all we do is party and act silly. I was commiserating with a friend about how you think to yourself "okay, let's just get through these next few events and then life with settle down"--but something else comes along to get done. So this post is to help us remember the fun along the way.

Is it too late...

Okay, so I'm finally posting our Christmas experience. We decorated gingerbread cookies Christmas Eve and ate too much. And then the kids put their plate out for Santa and got clean and cozy in new pjs. Our new tradition this year was asking Santa to hide the Christmas stockings and so the kids had to look for them in the morning. There were rules, such as, the stockings would be upstairs, but either in your own room or the main area so no one would be awoke by an excited child searching for goods. They all seem to like the thrill of the hunt and since the Easter Bunny does it for eggs and baskets, why not Santa?

I know these boys are shirtless wonders--I'm always saying "put some clothes on, it's winter!" I really see no reason in buying coats anymore. I'm always cold, but the heaviest layer I can get on my kids is a hoodie sweatshirt. I should just spend the $$$ on myself!

And I wentto go to Jake's school party--he's such a cutie

Thanksgiving

We had a houseful (26 +) of wonderful friends and enough food to feed everyone a Thanksgiving meal twice, but the memory of 2008 will be Jake's bloody head and his trip to an ER clinic taken by Chris, Carl and Kenny for 5 staples to hold him back together. Everyone had arrived and about 5 minutes before we were going to start dinner, Jake comes in and says "mom, I think my head is bleeding" and he removes his hands to reveal a gash, probably an 1-1/2 on the back of his skull. We have a rope swing on the playset and like a pendulum he swung away only to be brought back against the wood. So the men got to eat a couple of hours later, but maybe they were a little more thankful. Actually, I was extremely thankful I didn't have to go, so it all worked out for everyone :-)

Warning, here's the bloody picture below:

Goodbye Sunshine!

Eli's pet, a tangerine-leopard gecko named Sunshine, has hopefully gone on to a better place (aka: he died). Eli got him for his 10th birthday and these pictures are from last spring, but these last couple of months have been bad for him. It should be a learning lesson for Eli that following directions on taking care of pets and making sure they eat food and have water are good. I asked if he learned anything and he said "not to have pets". I felt really bad for the little guy (the lizard, not Eli). We didn't give him calcium supplements and his bones were too thin and then it got too cold for him--since we weren't making sure the temp was right. Really I wonder how I haven't let one of my own kids get killed--lucky for me they can get their own food--poor sunshine :-(

Our Halloween

Colton started off the costumes with the dance the previous Saturday. He had his "HICK" hat, flannel shirt, tight jeans and hiking boots to complete the outfit. Reminds me of some places I've been; 'nuff said on that topic.

We enjoyed the YMCA fall festival and I loved this shot of Caleb going through the tube. He took it very seriously, his athletic dominance of this obstacle course with a 'lil springboard, balance beam and this tube for little ones and he must've run through that thing 25 times. He's like that--finds something he likes and ya just aren't sure if he's ever going to get his fill.

Next we have the only picture I could get of Caleb with his hood on as the frog. He really didn't get the whole dressing up thing. But one thing all kids get is the candy. As evidence, here's our Larsen kid tradition. All candy gets dumped and bartered/traded away and then the leftover gum and lollipops no one wants gets put in a bag and eventually trashed. Ahh, these will be the ties that bind our family together--SWEETS!