So Sad

This is a picture of a little girl named Riley. Most of you probably know her story but I was SHOCKED when my 6 year old daughter started talking about details of what happened to her at dinner last night. According to Hannah a boy at school told her all about it - which is a whole different issue. Anyway, I've thought a lot about this little girl in the past few days, maybe because it's such a big story around here. Mostly I feel sick when I think about what must have been going through that poor child's head in the last few hours of her life. I know bad things happen in this life but it's another thing when my 6 year old hears about those bad things and asks questions. Go hug your kids and be grateful they are safe at home with good parents like you.

Costco rules!

I saw these electric candles a few weeks ago at Restoration Hardware and despite the big price tag ($129) I have been trying to figure out a way that they could be mine. I mentioned my obsession my friend and neighbor and she told me she'd been eyeing the same thing!
A few days later, my friend showed up at my house after a visit to Costco and she had found the EXACT same candle lights there for MUCH cheaper (only $37) so she picked up a set for me. So nice of her! Although the Costco strand only has 5 lights and the other set had 6, I'm very happy to have saved $90. I love the way they look on my mantle. What's your favorite Costco treasure?

SICK

Well, I have been sicker than a pig. CJ came home from work sick on Monday and Rachel got a fever on Monday and started throwing up and I went to bed Monday night thinking, "how did everyone in my family get this except for me?" Why oh why oh why do I curse myself with such thoughts?

Then, Tues. morning rolled around and I wanted to die! Have any of you had this? The Dr.'s in our area are saying that it's rampant! (One of the Dr.'s we saw was also suffering from it at the time she was seeing us! I don't even know how she was at work). Fevers, chills, body aches like you wouldn't believe, really sore neck (I can seriously barely turn my head), throwing up, runny nose, sore throat, etc. etc. It feels like the flu although the Dr. is insisting that it's just a bad cold. And we all got flu shots. But we were NOT protected from this. It has been truly miserable. How can both parents be sick at once - and with a sick 1 year old? It's just not right. Hannah would jump on me every morning at 6:30 saying, "mom, I've got to get ready for school. When are you getting up?" Unbelievable! I should've made her stay home to take care of us! Last night was our big Christmas Enrichment with dinner and a program and yes, the Enrichment Counselor was sicker than a pig, at home and in bed. I hope it went well.

Anyway, I hope (and pray!) that we are all on the mend. I never want to be sick again.

a few changes

You may have noticed a few changes on the blog. James requested I remove the black background. I'm not set on the green yet because you can't choose any font color other than black if you want your writing to show up...with the black, anything but black worked great. So we may go back to black after a short trial period.

In other news, on Friday, November 30, 2007, this blog will be changing its web address to larsonsrgreat.blogspot.com. You will be able to find it linked from my blog (emilyssomething.blogspot.com) if you forget, or you can email one of us and we can remind you. Happy blogging!

I would also like to note that this is the Larson family blog's

300th POST!

CONGRATULATIONS EVERYONE!

Let it Snow!

The only time I like snow is when it occurs before Christmas. It started pouring snow this afternoon (is that the right term?), so the boys wanted to go out for a while. We were soaked within minutes, but it was still pretty fun! Isaac and I made snowballs that were toys (he was pretending to be Santa with his gloves on) and Noah ran around like a crazy person. I can't wait for Christmas!

Hooray for laundry?

Just wanted to say that CJ and I are now the proud owners of the Whirlpool Duet high efficiency washer and dryer. Hooray! We got a great deal and I'm totally excited to do laundry without wondering which of our clothes or sheets will come out with a new hole or tear in them. (I'm not joking...something gets ruined in almost every load I've done for the past 6 months.) They won't be delivered until December and I'm considering a total laundry strike until then - do you think we can make it??? I will have MOUNTAINS to run through my new ones if I try...plus, once I stop I may never be able to start again. Can you believe we've been married for over 10 years and this is the FIRST washer we've ever purchased???

Shhhh... it's a secret

Don't tell Ellen and Jared but I FINALLY found them the perfect Christmas present. Don't you think this would be great hanging in their house?

Funny things on a Sunday

I haven't been online for several days now and I have lots of things to post but tonight I'll have to settle on a few funny things that happened today. Just as a teaser to hopefully get you interested in future posts, we totally completed our bedroom and bathroom over the holiday break and I'm excited to take pictures and show you the change. And we got most of our Christmas decorations up too. But here are the highlights of my Sunday:

Funny thing #1 - Charlie asked me this morning if I was "pegrint" - I honestly thought he was saying penguin the first 2 times he asked me. He was wondering when he's going to get a baby brother. I'm not by the way.

Funny thing #2 - In the van on the way home from church Hannah told us that she heard a story in Primary about Jesus healing 10 jaguars and only 1 came back to thank him. Get it? She heard the word "leper" and thought it was "leopard" and told us it was jaguars. Hi-larious!!

Funny thing #3 - Hannah was tired and thus a little out of sorts today and it was wearing on everyone's nerves during lunch. To make a long story short, she asked for a sandwich which I fixed her and she promised to eat the whole thing. After a few bites she announced that she didn't like it and wouldn't eat it and she wanted something else. So CJ told her to forget that idea and said she HAD to eat the sandwich. A tantrum ensued during which Hannah said, "I canNOT believe you are going to force me to eat a sandwich that I hate." And CJ replied, "well believe it because you're about to live it." I had to leave the room! That guy cracks me up sometimes.

Dancing Queen

Now that I've figured out how to post video, I had to include this little clip of Rachel dancing. Anytime she hears music, she instantly bends her knees and starts shakin' her tush! We call it her "funky chicken." Sometimes we can even ask her to do the funky chicken and she'll comply -without music. This clip is from our camera so it's not the best quality but it serves it's purpose.

The music is from Josh Groban's new Christmas CD that we love and highly recommend. He even sings with the MoTab on one song but my favorite is his duet with Brian McKnight of "Angels we Have Heard on High" - it's awesome.

Thanksgiving Et Cetera

Well, our Thanksgiving dinner was awesome if I do say so myself. I didn't think to take a "before" picture, so here's an "after." We had turkey, stuffing (almost as good as my mom's), potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potatoes with marshmallows on top, rolls, jello and fruit salad with whipped cream. And banana cream pie for dessert. Yum!
Then we went outside to enjoy the cool weather.
Rachel loved our swingset. We played a little soccer until I kicked the ball over our fence. The neighbor's dog seemed to be enjoying it when we peeked over. Oops!

This is from a week or so ago, but I keep forgetting to post footage of Rachel walking. So, enjoy!

Thankful for Rachel too

These photos of a photo aren't that great, I know. The glare is awful but I'm short on time these days and this will have to do. Just wanted to post that I'm grateful today for Rachel. For her happiness and ability to make us all laugh. She's developing quite the personality. CJ's worried because he thinks she has a little bit of attitude and mischieviousness about her - she loves to bug Charlie. But she's fun and sweet and I can't imagine our family without her (or the little messes she makes EVERYWHERE she goes).

It was a balmy 80+ degrees today and it hardly feels like Thanksgiving time. Although CJ got to come home from work early and I was able to grocery shop ALL ALONE. It was heaven even if it was grocery shopping. The weather people are assuring us that a cold front is moving in tonight and the highs for the rest of the week will be in the 50's - gasp! Anyway, Hannah started to feel much better today after a pretty rough night but isn't doing well again. I hope she sleeps better tonight though 'cuz I have a loot of cookin' to do tomorrow. BTW, I just finished reading a book called The Alchemist for December book club. Have any of you read it? CJ's starting it now. Anyway, enough of my blathering....

H A P P Y T H A N K S G I V I N G!

Thankful for Hannah

Well, it happened. After my Enrichment meeting this morning, I decided to go pick up McDonald's and take it to Hannah's school for lunch. I was so excited to surprise her. As soon as she walked around the corner and saw me, she said, "is that my mom?" and then she burst into tears. I went over to give her a hug and she was burning up and she had "sick eyes." The poor thing is totally sick - I think she has what Charlie is just getting over. Anyway, needless to say, we loaded to food back up, went straight to her classroom for her things and I brought her home with me. It reminded me of when I was little - I always used to cry when I was sick and I guess sometimes I still do. Right now she's in her jammies with a pillow and blanket on the couch watching Annie. Where I'm guessing she'll stay for the next 3-4 days. It probably won't be a very happy Thanksgiving for her, but I'm really glad I was there to take her home when I was.

I'm thankful for Hannah because she answered my prayers over 7 years ago and came to our family as a total miracle. Our reproductive endocrinologist told us that the chances of us having our own child was about 15% - even with the most current reproductive technology. We were all set to adopt and along she came. She is a testimony to me of the power of fasting and prayer (even though I know that doesn't work for everybody). Sometimes I forget that, but I'm grateful to have her and her brillant mind in our family. Rachel is so happy to have her Hannah home she can barely leave the poor thing alone and that speaks for itself - we all love Hannah and hope she feels better soon!

Thankful for Charlie

I want to try to post this week about the things I'm most thankful for. Charlie was really sick last week. The sickest I think I have ever seen him. Anyway, he's feeling better now and I decided to do a post in honor of his health! This is a picture of his recent pictures. The photographer was laughing about how he looks like a little man and joked about him running for office one day. Anyway, Charlie is the sweetest little guy. Just this morning, I was upstairs getting ready and he & Rachel were downstairs eating breakfast. He called up to me that he was finished eating so I told him to come upstairs and see me. He said no so I asked him why not and he said, "'Cause then Rachel will be down here all alone and she'll get lonely. Come down and get her too." He's very thoughtful and I think it's so cute.
I had a few errands to run today and CJ met me at P.F. Chang's for lunch. It was yummy! But the big surprise was that Charlie is a pro at chopsticks!
CJ showed him how to hold them and he just picked them up and ate all of his rice with them. I couldn't believe it! I can't eat with chopsticks and it was hilarious to see Charlie doing it like he'd done it all his life. I think he was as good with the chopsticks as he is with a fork.

I'm so glad he's feeling better and for the ways that he teaches me to think about other people and their feelings.

The Gateway

This morning we went to the Gateway to take advantage of the Gap Friends & Family 30% off coupon Alice was so kind to bestow on me (the Gateway is the nearest Gap to me. Lame, huh?). The snowflake fountain was out of order--to Isaac's great disappointment--but the waterfalls were all running, so we spent a little time looking at those after we spent most of our time in the Gap and J.Crew. I never go shopping anymore so it was a real treat to be able to actually get something. I got some Christmas jammies for the boys (a Christmas Eve tradition) and jeans at the Gap and a shirt at J.Crew. Fun! Noah was so excited about the water but it was way too cold to let him touch it. I guess it's good that the fountain wasn't working or we would've had a wet and cold baby on our hands.
Awww...
Isaac was so good that when he asked to ride the white train (Trax) I couldn't resist. I wish I had. Now I know why I don't ever do things like this unless I have another adult to help. It was interesting getting on and off with a double stroller, shopping bags, diaper bag, and 2 kids. But Isaac loved it anyway! Here are the boys enjoying their ride (and Noah enjoying a corn dog): I try never to have my picture taken these days but I thought I'd document our little outing and prove I was there as I'm usually the photographer.
Waiting for the second train to take us back to the Delta Center:Noah fell asleep on me before we got off the train and slept like a...well, a baby, for 3 more hours after that. It was a pretty fun morning!

Brazoria County Fair

Hannah came home from school yesterday with VERY exciting news. Her artwork that was submitted to the Brazoria County Fair won FIRST PRIZE. Yes, that's a blue ribbon hanging on the left side of her bee-yoo-tiful drawing of a pig. I am so proud of her. She loves doing art and wants to be an artist when she grows up so it was pretty exciting. Notice the apple core the pig left behind - because pigs would NOT eat the core (same as humans, right?)
Also, Charlie and I rented the old Christopher Reeve "Superman" movie two days ago and I have to say that it came in VERY handy yesterday during his 24-hour illness. I think he watched it 3.5 times (one of which was in the middle of the night and I slept nearby on the couch). Anyway, I saw this movie about 100 times growing up so it was funny to watch it as an adult. It is a very STUPID movie. The plot is lame, parts of the story never develop or go anywhere (does anyone remember the weird trial at the beginning with the 3 people inside the spinning rings and they are pronounced guilty and put into that diamond shaped mirror that floats through space while they all yell "forgive me" - who are they anyway and what do they have to do with the rest of the story?) Anyway, I did realize this time what a hottie Christopher Reeve used to be - something I never thought about during my previous viewings. And Margot Kidder who plays Lois Lane looks remarkably similar to Demi Moore. Charlie loved it but I give it a big thumbs down.

My week...

I've been crazy busy for the past week and I've been dying to post (who knew I could get so addicted to this blogging thing) but alas, it was not to be. I've started writing down ideas I get for posts though because I hope to someday get to them (my ideas that is). I really want to post 6 things about me from Emily's "something" blog. But, since I'm WAY short on time today, I thought I would write a few things that have been going on around here.

Last Wednesday, Rachel got her cast off. It was a happy day! She cried (I think the saw scared her) and her skin was yucky and peeling. I was so happy to put in the tub and scrub her down that night. It's been heaven. And the x-rays looked great. The Dr. said it healed perfectly and no lasting effects - hooray!

Last Friday, I took Rachel to the Dr. (pediatrician this time) and she had a double ear infection. She is now on antibiotics and a lot happier.

In other Rachel news, she is now a walking fool! There's no stopping her. She just decided to walk all of the sudden (the day after her cast came off) and she's barely even crawling anymore. Now, she's obsessed with going up the stairs and I think we might have to get another gate. Walking makes her so happy.

I took Charlie to the Dr. on Mon. (I'm starting to feel like I'm spending my life in Dr.'s offices) for a strep culture and ear check. He was fine on both counts and went to preschool on Tues. This morning he woke up with a fever and has been throwing up all morning. I've done a lot of laundry so far today... Is there any way to avoid this spreading to the rest of my family?

Over the weekend, CJ's sister from Austin came for a visit and we watched her son's hockey game. It was fun and now Charlie wants to be a hockey player like his cousin.

Over the weekend, we also painted our bedroom. I love it! Yesterday I washed our new bedding and put it on the bed and I love it! Someday, I'll take pictures and post the new look.

Over the weekend, we also got family pictures taken. What an ordeal! They turned out pretty good though and we have our Christmas cards ready to go. Now to address the envelopes...

We have an Enrichment meeting tonight. We're making FHE quilts. I just got home from the church where we set up tables. (CJ had to come home from work to be with sick Charlie so I could go to the church to set up...)

Our Christmas Enrichment meeting (dinner and program) are in less than 2 weeks. I feel like I probably won't sleep much between now and then. Why does Enrichment stress me out so much???

I love reading blogs. Emily's is so cute and now I'm interested in Lynette's. I don't think I've ever met her, but I like her and want to know her someday. I'm glad she's okay after the earthquake.

My cousin stayed with us two weekends ago to interview for a residency program here and it was so fun to talk to him and catch up on his family news. It made me think a lot about growing up and knowing our cousins and it made me wish we were all closer and more in touch. I also think this whenever I read my cousin Debbie's blog. I want to be friends with her and I haven't even seen her in like 5 years. Sad.

I'm out of news but I had to use purple again to make this even. Oh, yeah, I just thought of something. CJ and I are starting to plan our January trip to Mexico. Can't wait. Hope everything works out so we can really go...

Kids Say the Darndest Things

Here is a conversation Luke and I had last night after I saw him getting out Jared's laptop to play starwars games:

Me: Did you ask Dad if you could play with that?
Luke: Of course I did. What kind of man would I be if I didn't ask first?
Me: Hmm, okay then.

Dinosaur Park

Today in honor of Veteran's day (or maybe not so much in honor of that as it was celebrating Dave's day off...) we went to the Ogden Dinosaur Park. It was fun! And surprisingly cold. It's been in the mid to upper sixties for a few weeks now and we were not prepared for the blast of cold we got this morning, as you will notice in the outdoor pictures (pink cheeks, frostbitten hands, etc.). We started inside, first witnessing a fight between a triceratops mom and a T-rex. The kids were terrified (I'm not joking). Then Dave almost got his head bitten off by another dino. We talked a little to a man who was glueing crushed fossils back together. He had 20 hours into it already and had barely put any of it together. A gigantic jigsaw puzzle that I would hate.

Then we headed outside. Noah and Isaac dug a bit for fossils, and Noah fell in love with a bunny. I swear no kid in the world loves animals more than him. It's very cute. A man came out and gave us some food to feed the ducks and gigantic fish

Finally, we played on the playground equipment. A giant treehouse complete with slides and lookout tower, swings, and dinosaurs to climb on.

We ended our day looking at the world's most dangerous creature. Turns out there is fun stuff to do up here, who knew?

Here is Noah attempting to slide. His first go was much better, I guess his shoes slowed him down the second time?

BYU 27 -TCU 22

Delos, Austin and I went to the BYU/TCU game. We took several pictures but the only one that's not blurry (from not holding the camera still) is the one that Austin took. It was a beauiful evening for mid-November but it got a little cool as the evening wore on. Gregg Prettyman was also at the game and came and found us (Delos had e-mailed our seat location to him - it would have been hard otherwise with 64,000 people in attendance).

Whatever

Tonight as Hannah was falling alseep she told me she wants to do a science experiment to find out what water is. She's pretty sure it's soap with no bubbly part and it's part of the milk group. No, wait, the fruit group because, you know, WATERmelon.

I wanted to tell her about the 2 hydrogens and 1 oxygen but I just let her fall asleep instead...

Bug bite???

Like I mentioned in my last post. we spent time at a State Park over the weekend and Hannah ended up with a few mosquito bites. I noticed a bite on Charlie's wrist on Sunday morning but I'm beginning to realize this is no mosquito bite. It kept swelling and swelling on Sunday and it seems to itch him like crazy. Anyway, it wasn't until I looked at it this morning that I started to worry. What on earth did this?
I don't know how well you can tell from the picture but the redness is spreading and is really deep in his skin. Is it infected? It's definitely worse than it was yesterday. There's a little boy in our ward who's in the hospital with a staph infection in his leg (the kind that's antibiotic-resistant) and he's had 2 surgeries and will have at least 8 weeks of IV antibiotics when he gets home. Maybe that's what making me so paranoid. Am I crazy to take him to the Dr.?

Our weekend

We spent a couple of hours on Saturday at Brazos Bend State Park. We've been there a few times before and the kids love it - especially the nature center. This is a baby alligator that was rescued in the park. 32 eggs were taken from a nest that had become infested with fire ants and 28 baby alligators hatched a few weeks later - this is one of them.
Here's a picture of a rattlesnake. Rachel loved it and was going crazy trying to touch it.
Later on, we drove to 40 acre lake to take a walk and look at what we saw just feet away from us! This alligator was honestly about 10 feet away when CJ noticed it just off the path to our right. We saw a second one later on but it was smaller.



Later that night, we put Rachel to bed and had a babysitter come over so we could celebrate our friend's 40th birthday. His wife surprised him with a party at LaserQuest and we played two 20 minute games. It was so much fun! The room we were in was huge - two levels and lots of hiding spots and we all got code names (my friend Lori chose "Jacky Bauer" - ha ha!). Afterwards, we had cake in a party room. It was a fun date!

And the time change yesterday really messed Rachel up! Who knew the time falling back an hour would affect her sleep and naps so much? BTW, when do most babies switch from 2 naps a day to 1? How did YOU spend the weekend?

Halloween 2007

Here's the kids all ready for trick-or-treating. I've always hated Halloween but it's kind of fun to dress up kids I've decided. I thought Abby's costume was especially cute. And thanks Alice for the Jedi costume, Luke loved it. Kate loved her elephant costume and didn't want to take it off. Fun!

TRICK OR TREAT

Hope you all had a fun Halloween. I can't believe it's already NOVEMBER! Yikes! Christmas is coming...