The Larsen Logs

Dragon Fruit

2012-01-23T10:39:00.000-05:00

We had this at dinner the other night. Grandpa did a little shopping and wanted to try it. It's called Dragon Fruit. And its very striking, inside and out and looks so nice with my new bright cutting board and knife set!

It scoops out really easy and has the taste and texture of a kiwi. So far we have liked most of what we have eaten. Cache has been a bit leery of new things and when we go out to dinner he fills up on drinks instead, but the rest of us are pretty flexible. Just don't make me eat a fish that still has its head attached. That I just can't get behind.

Ronin goes to Town

2012-01-22T09:40:00.007-05:00

Ronin's days have been full of homeschooling with Grandpa. Every morning we say goodbye to Cache as he heads to school and Ronin and Grandpa saddle up to the table to get some math and english done. I picked up some test papers for him to practice with since he will have to pass a test to be placed in public school. I think its going to be a few weeks yet until he gets in which makes me tired. I don't really know how I am going to be able to do what Grandpa has been doing with him. Between the baby, and Kai, homeschooling is the LAST thing I want to do. And I mean EVER. Anyway, this past week, aside from his schooling, Grandpa and he have been going out on the town to see the sights. They jumped in a cab just the other day to go to the Bukit Timah Reserves and found themselves in the middle of a car accident that was caused by their driver.

I guess the driver was chatting it up and not paying attention. He pulled a U-turn into fast moving traffic and caused a pile up. Thank heaven no one was hurt! Ronin and Grandpa were checked out by the EMT's and deemed fit to leave. Ronin was pretty confused about what had happened when he found himself on the floor of the cab. Since we have arrived he and the other boys think its pretty cool to not wear seat belts since they are in a cab, and because of the chaos getting all of us in and settled, I have't been forcing them to use one, but we all have changed our tune now! They all buckle up now without a fight and Ronin is a bit paranoid about which cab we get it and if the cabbie is going to be a good driver. Oh how I wish we could tell that just by looking at them! One thing is for sure, these green taxis are the last ones he wants to hail when we are looking for one on the street.

After a lot of time at the scene of the accident they finally made it to where they were going. They have been all over the city. Shopping at the Mustafa center which is two city blocks and 5 flights of shopping. Everything you would need from chapstick to TV's, to sports equipment, jewelry and clothes. It's enormous! They have been to the Sultan Mosque and around Little India.
And the rainforest reserves. They have been stuck in the rain and surrounded by playing monkeys.
He comes home exhausted and happy from his time with Grandpa. And he seems to grow up a bit with each trip out. I am ever grateful for the time he gets to spend with his Grandfather and the freedom it gives me to get our house organized.

Grandpa has been helpful and patient with each kid. He has strength against the heat, humidity and endless walking. He has braved tantrums, food messes, dirty diapers, homework, spit up, swimming pools, rain downpours, sun, sticky weather, brother fights and taxi rides. He is leaving here in two days and the thought of it makes me scared. How will I do this alone? And is it possible that I can go home with him to something familiar instead? Do I really have what it takes to live in this city with these four boys and be happy, adventurous and productive? I guess only time will tell. But I sure wish we didn't have to say goodbye to Grandpa just yet. (Or ever to be honest.) And yet, here it is, at our door. I can't believe a month has gone by so fast!

I hope I can remember that even as an adult, you do want and need the strength and support of your parents when you are doing something new. My kids are just the same with these new experiences coming their way. If only I was a bit stronger to help them go through it all. Strong like my father. They don't realize I'm going through the same struggles. It's a good thing that as a kid you are naive to the vulnerabilities of your parents or you would be so much more insecure in life. I hope that for their sakes I can fake it until we all make it through. Just got to take it one day at a time....and while we are at it, get some live-in help ; )

The Magic Uniform: or Cache goes to School

2012-01-20T03:39:00.003-05:00

Cache has now been going to school for a full two weeks. I took him to visit one day and he said he really liked it. That was before we met the principal and the teachers. The Singapore citizens are very very kind, but they can also be a bit harsh in their movement and intonation when they speak. And when you are a slower moving kid that likes things mellow and easy going, that can be a hard adjustment. I signed Cache up at this place after a lot of research and signing him at two other schools. We settled on this one mostly for the price and convenience of it being around the corner from our house. It is part daycare and part school. That may be the first problem, but not one that can't be overcome! Kids go at 7am and stay all day (until 7pm). They eat all their meals there, nap and even bathe. Cache only goes for the school hours in the morning, but he does eat his lunch there. So while the first day wasn't too bad, it quickly got worse.

Because it was the beginning of the year for all the students, they are all getting used to the routine which means the dropping off process is wrought with crying, screaming tantrums. Right when you walk in a teacher tests your forehead for your temperature and they check your mouth for sickness. All of these combined in the morning resulted in a lot of tears and anxiety for Cache. It was very stressful watching him go. And each day he got more and more tearful, and increasingly earlier each morning. By the worse day he was crying before he even got dressed and cried all the way there. That was the day I had to put him in a stroller and push him the entire way because he wouldn't walk and then I handed him over screaming. We talked a lot about why he didn't want to go. Each day there was a different reason why,; "I don't like making friends," "I can't make friends because I can't say my name", "A boy hit me." "I don't have a uniform", "I want a different school" etc.

The school is in the middle of redesigning their uniforms so they originally didn't give us one. Cache asked every day why he didn't have one. I tried to talk to him about it, but each day he was increasingly more bothered that he didn't have one and all the other kids did. So in our trouble shooting we decided he would be happier if he had his own uniform. At the beginning of this week, there were so many tears about going that I decided it would be worth paying for an old uniform just so he had one. We also saw another little boy (smaller than Cache) riding his bike to school with his dad. That gave us another idea! When we went to school on tuesday I begged the teacher for a uniform. She said he was so happy when she put it on him and that she had no idea it would be such a big deal for him. So with that, and adding a bike, a brand new school boy emerged. Not one more tear was shed!

It was magical, honestly. It was as if he transformed his entire being and a new one was in its place.
He rides like a crazy man to school! To be honest, I fully expect for him to be hit by a car, he is so reckless. And since he is riding and I am walking, (and he doesn't EVER listen to me) its hard to get him to stay close. But danger aside, he is happy to go to school every day! Yay! The rest of this week has been tear free and we owe it all to this tacky blue and yellow uniform.
He gets to ride and park his bike every day. I think it makes him feel so much more grown up than the kids that get dropped off for day care. And it makes him so so happy.
This is the front of the school. You can see the 'prison'gate. That is constantly locked and only the teachers know the combination. So imagine your first few days being dropped off here with a bunch of screaming toddlers. Left to line up with a bunch of chinese children who know where to go and what to do, and you do not. Plus not being able to understand the Slinglish that is being said and chinese teachers are pushing you here and there. You can imagine how stressful it would be! But now, all the teachers know his name and he knows where to go and can handle himself. They all say he is such a good boy! His class files out of the lunch room at the same time he is leaving and today they were all yelling, "Goodbye Cache!" I think they love him and finally he loves it too.
And he is learning so much! You may be able to see his spelling. They are learning to spell zero thru five. He has them all memorized and now we are just practicing which direction to put all the letters! And yesterday Ronin said, "I don't even know how to spell zero!" So he is learning a lot and we look forward to when he comes home each day to teach us a few chinese words (none of the meanings he can remember yet) and to eat nutella sandwiches together (the residuals, you can see on his face here.) Having him gone for even half the day changes the entire dynamic of the family. We miss him while he is gone, but there is less fighting (which is heaven!) and he gets to learn in the process. Over all, as horrible as it was to have him sad and stressed, we are very glad he is at a school that is mostly chinese students and learning to be apart of a culture so different than his own. He has grown a lot in these last two weeks, as we all have. The irony is, we were SO worried about Ronin getting used to school that we didn't even consider it would be tough on Cache. Again, we are all learning a lot.

So here's to the magic uniform!

It's Hot Here!

2012-01-17T10:49:00.001-05:00

I unpacked the boys clothes and found so many sweaters and long sleeved shirts it made me gasp! This place is so hot, there is no way the boys are going to wear any cold weather clothes. I packed up a bunch to send to the local charity but decided I could save a few of the shirts.

I had about four of them that had the double sleeve look. Which is a long sleeve sewn into a short sleeve. So I just went and cut that long sleeve clean off!
What you have now is a perfectly good short-sleeved shirt, less sweaty boys and one happy mama!

Gecko

2012-01-16T09:07:00.001-05:00

We have officially seen our very first Gecko....

You know what that means?? It means we have bugs in the house. Yuck! Glad we have our friendly neighborhood gecko to help us out with that. This sight is going to take some getting used to. Hopefully with the cleaning lady coming twice a week, we will see less of this little guy although he is kinda cute.

Church In Singapore

2012-01-15T08:47:00.002-05:00

This is week three of going to our local ward in Singapore. The main expat ward just split in September and this is the new chapel! It is lovely and our new little ward fits so great in it.

Actually, I shouldn't say we are little, because we are not. About 150 people a week. Not too shabby. And we have a lot of youth! So far we have met a lot of very nice and thoughtful people (as we expected to). We have some new friends that live pretty close to us that have two boys the same age as the big boys so we expect to play a lot with them once we get ourselves organized.

Patrick has a calling already. Assistant to the High Priest Group Leader. It's the same calling he had in Westchester, so he knows what's expected of him. Should be perfect especially with his travel schedule (which should be picking up here soon). I think I will be without a calling for a few weeks more. I think the Bishop could tell I was pretty much mentally tapped with boys and unpacking. But I am sure something will come down the pike sooner than I want. But hopefully I can get in and meet people and find ways to serve which always helps bind you to a ward and build your testimony. We are very excited to be here! We have two sets of sister missionaries. They are all new from the MTC and will be a great addition to our ward. And hopefully we will have people to introduce them to.

After church today we had family dinner. Ronin was very excited for the dinner conversation. He said he likes dinner because we all tell stories of what we have done that day. He got to lead it all and at one point decided it would be fun to go in a circle and tell favorite things that we like. He is a very social boy and loves spending time as a family which makes me happy too! We then went out to the pool and swam until the sun went down. It has been a lovely Sunday together.

Big Brother

2012-01-15T07:58:00.000-05:00

Cache has been working on his babysitting skills. He needs a bit of improving....

One thing that has gotten better is his love for Levi. He is taking more notice of him and actually talking to him, hugging him and trying to look after his well being.

I went out Saturday to a baby shower at the church (only in the LDS community can a stranger go to a woman's baby shower and it not be totally weird) I met some very nice ladies and added some more names to my Singapore Contact list. While I was gone, Levi was in the hands of Patrick and Cache. (Grandpa had taken the other boys to the beach and they came back happy as clams and as red as lobsters!)

All the while, Levi had his first bottle experience.
I love that Cache got in on the action. He looks so happy too! This first week of school has been hard on Cache and every day after he gets home all he wants to do is hang around the house. He never wants to go back outside and he has been much more willing to receive affection from me. I love it, but I take it as a 'not-so-good' sign that he is struggling. He usually is so stand-offish with all of us, so seeing this side of him is a pleasant surprise and hopefully it will last awhile.
He has been a lot more affectionate with Levi as well and I'm glad to see a relationship building there, even if Levi is too young to know it.
I am not sure what these boys did while I am gone. Mostly it looks like they did a lot of sitting around and took a lot of photos. It was a nice way to spend a Saturday morning, I am sure.

Once I finally got home and Grandpa and the other kids got home, Patrick was ready to take the kids swimming. I was exhausted for some reason and took a 4 hour nap and it felt. SO. good. I would say its the best sleep I have had since I have been here. We also got the kids bunk beds from Ikea delivered but we have yet to put them together. They seem fine sleeping on the floor and the toddler bed so whats the rush, right? I am sure we will get them together sometime soon. We are still organizing the house and have quite a few boxes that still need to be opened. We have shuffled them to the rooms they need to be in but I wonder how long it will actually be until we have completely unpacked them. There is just so much stuff, it's going to take awhile. And this week has felt so endless that once the weekend hit, I just stopped unpacking altogether. I'm a bit burned out on it, to be honest. I just needed a break. We are going to try and get some sight-seeing in this week before Grandpa has to go back home. I can't believe he has been here almost a month! He has been so helpful and I could definitely use him here for another month at least. It's nice to have someone here to explore with too. We have a lot to see this week and hope to get it all in. That will be a nice distraction from the disorder at home. Once he is gone all I will have left to do is unpack, so I'm not going to be in a terrible hurry to get it all done. I'm going to enjoy myself!

Baby's New Bouncer

2012-01-14T10:34:00.005-05:00

Grandpa has been taking care of these kids for almost 3 weeks now. He has mostly been dealing with the older boys but once in awhile (and increasing every day) he has taken care of Levi. Because of this, Grandpa decided that baby needs a little more excitement in his life. So he went out and found this dandy little thing:

Luckily Levi's neck is strong enough to hold up his big noggin at (almost) 4 months so the bouncer is going ok for now. The only problem is he's not tall enough to touch the ground!! Grandpa filled this box with paper and we put it under his feet so he can get to bouncing. He is loving it so far! We also put a mirror in front of him so he can watch himself. It has bought me a lot of unpacking time so far. He has staying in there for an hour straight every time and for the most part he just hangs there. The other boys walk by and bounce him or swing him and keep him entertained. It's a bit dangerous actually because Kai likes to twist him around. That is a big no-no! I can just imagine the brain damage that can be caused from a wild untwisting episode.

We found this in our shipment too! Isn't he a cutie pie? Just look at his little toes!
So baby Levi continues to get bigger and each day his world keeps expanding. He is laughing and cooing a lot and is working on grabbing and holding toys. All the boys adore him, and lets face it, the adults do too. Thank you Grandpa for the great gift! It will be used every day. Thank you so much for taking such good care of each of the kids. What a special time it has been for us to get you all to ourselves. Thanks for taking time out of your busy life to help us out. We couldn't have done any of it without you! We Love You!

Shipment Day!

2012-01-12T08:43:00.002-05:00

It's Here! It's Here!!! Our stuff has finally arrived. We have found our waffle maker, utensils, bedding and more!

Not to sound ungrateful or anything, but we are now wondering what is more painful; No furniture, or too much !! We have so much, we don't think it will all fit. We have been unpacking all day and have barely made a dent. Mostly because there are some things we are unpacking, just to re-pack again. We can't have everything out all at the same time, so its getting boxed up again and put into the closets. When you leave a kitchen for less than half the size you are bound to be in some storage trouble. And lets not even talk about the food I stocked up on before coming! But we did make brownies tonight and they turned out great so we are at least hopeful that the things that do fit in the kitchen will bring us sweet full tummies.

You could say that we have been restored! We found our spices and whirly pop and some left over popcorn kernels (I have yet to find popcorn here). So tonight we made tacos and popcorn as well. We have been cooking up a storm!

We are glad things came without many problems. There have been a few broken things and stuff to learn for next time, but overall it didn't turn out half bad. I have images of Queens in my mind though. It's going to take some serious organizing to get everything to fit in here and working well. To start we are going to have to give away some stuff. So far it seems we have a ton of food, toys, clothes and books. That what takes up most of our box inventory.

We were planning on getting some relaxation in tonight before facing it all again tomorrow, but so far Patrick has fallen asleep on the couch (yes, that counts as relaxation, but we were supposed to be watching a movie or something!) and I have been busy with a baby poop blow-out the size of Kentucky! All Levi's stuff is ruined. Its such a mess, I think I will have to throw his entire outfit and blanket in the trash. I'm soaking it now, but I'm not holding my breath. Hopefully we all get a good nights rest because it all starts again tomorrow. sigh. Yay, Shipment Day!

Apartment Living: Singapore Style

2012-01-07T08:25:00.004-05:00

This apartment thing is going to be just dandy, I think. Well, after getting used to less space, no oven and no dishwasher. Technicalities, I say!!

Let's look at what we do have, shall we? We have a great view of the harbor from our window. Levi likes to sit in his stroller and watch the activity. It's kind of funny that he can even find things to look at. I would think we are too high up for him to see anything of substance. But he will sit there for a long while. I can't blame him really, it is quite lovely.

There is no more house with a yard. Instead we have a complex with towers. We live in tower 2A, which makes you feel like you are just one person in a tower of a lot of people, which basically you are. But that's ok too. Lots of people to make friends with. And this is a very friendly country so it should work out just fine.

(This is where you catch the shuttle to the local shopping center. I was exhausted after this trip. We had been out in the heat of the day and packing the baby plus groceries. The kids were crazy wild and when I got home that night I passed out at 8pm. Still didn't feel like I got much sleep when I woke up in the morning!)

One of the best features of apartment living here is the pools. We have quite a few of them actually. It's a kids dream! We go out swimming every night. Even though its hot and humid during the day, it gets kind of cool when the wind is blowing and the sun is setting so the kids spend a lot of time huddled in towels.

(These are the towels we bought from the corner mart the first day we got in. They will always remind me of those first moments being on Singapore soil.)

There is a lot to be said about an apartment with a pool. It helps calm those of us that get cooped up easily. It's like having a NY summer all year long, which is so much fun. It makes going to school and being an adult with responsibilities a serious bummer!

(Just after this photo, Kai was walking up some steps and tripped. Because he had no arms, he broke his fall with his face. It was seriously sad! He then rolled over and fell onto his face again on the step below. ugh! And he had already tripped in the water and almost drowned. Talk about Mom panic!)

We also have a gym, which is something I really wanted (even though I haven't used it yet). There are just a few things I needed when I said goodbye to New York, the house, yard, garden and car. I think the amenities in Tower 2A will be a nice and fun change. Just need to figure out how we are going to cook and who is going to do all those dishes!

The New Couch!

2012-01-07T08:15:00.000-05:00

We had been sitting on the floor for over a week and finally Patrick and I found a couch that we liked. It only took a few more days of pain until they delivered it:

And as Grandpa says, we must loooove curry, since its the same color as the yellow curry we ordered the other day. Or the same color as Levi's diapers, if you want to get gross about it. (which I don't)
Grandma S. 'blessed' our lives with a Wii and the boys now love to sit on the couch and play Mario Bros. every night. Even Patrick gets into it. Mostly the boys rope him in to help them win the levels since they can't really play it very well. It casts us back to our own childhood. I remember playing Mario for HOURS. Of course I will never let my kids do that! They are 'plugged in' way too much as it is. But so far its a nice thing to do for an hour before bed. Just for boys. And the new couch makes it extra comfy. You don't realize how many things in life make you comfortable until you have to sit on the floor for a few days! Thank heaven for couches!

Living on the floor

2012-01-07T08:12:00.003-05:00

I just wanted to document what it actually looks like when you live on the floor (and when you don't unpack your suitcase). Grandpa has become creative and found a special way to keep the babies entertained since we have no toys or things to do. It's Kai's favorite thing right now! He just grins the entire time. Luckily, there is so much room (due to lack of furniture) so they stroll through the entire house multiple times a day. It's like an obstacle course.

The boys are playing really well with their new magnets! SO glad I decided to slip them in as one last Christmas gift. They have been well worth the price. They are a toy made for kids and adults and have kept these boys occupied longer than anything else, (except the Wii of course.)Just eatin' again. These kids do a LOT of eating. Boredom will do that too you, I guess.

There is some huddling around the portable dvd player. This is just too funny! I guess you get used to what you have because they are never bothered viewing on such a small screen.

And lots of lounging. Kai makes laying on a pillow look like the best thing in the world. He carries it around the house and lays one everything. The floor, the couch, your leg... He loooves his pillow-pillow. (that's its name!)

Kai's still in love with his little brother and Levi is quite fond of him too. In fact, Levi is quite fond of all his brothers. He loves to see them and squeak at them and especially loves when they stop to talk to him. He lights right up.
It's hard to believe our baby Levi isn't even 4 months old yet. So much has happened in these last three months. It feels like a century since he has been apart of our lives. (To be honest, just this last week feels like its lasted a century) What a sweet and special blessing he is to me. He is a great companion and adored by everyone. He is getting so big too. He has some serious thunder thighs. It's so nice to have a Larsen baby with meat on his bones! Look at that sweet face, doesn't it just make you happy?!
I know! He is just as sweet as he looks, too.

East Coast

2012-01-07T07:43:00.003-05:00

We went out one of the first nights to check out our neighborhood. We chose the East Coast of Singapore based on some friends who lived here years back. After describing what the feel was like we thought it would suit us best. And we were right!

Right down from our apartment complex is the beach. There is a beach walk that goes along the coast. And it is full of people enjoying themselves. You can see the boats out in the harbor. They are mostly cargo ships and they come and go all day long.
We found the Extreme Skate Park. And it is extreme AND awesome! You can see all kinds of wheels here. Bikes, skateboards, roller blades. And all types of people. Girls, boys, adults. Even little kids (which you can see sitting watching in the background). The boys seemed fascinated by it all. Cache wanted to drop right into the bottom of one of the skating basins (i have NO idea what they call it). He teetered on the edge and my heart dropped. While part of me would love for them to learn to skate and enjoy this place, the other part of me was scared to death. Scared for their safety and also what they might encounter here at the park. I think over all they would be fine, as long as I'm here to supervise. It was pretty cool and I realized I might not have enough courage to raise boys!
We found these cool rain forest trees. The roots look like they are dripping right into the ground. They run really shallow along the surface of the dirt. It looks like snakes all around. Very Cool.
When we finally made it to the beach all the kids wanted to do was play in the sand. They got a taste of it in California and I think they will love it here.
There is a long jetty that goes out. It is full of locals fishing which is something I am sure the boys would love to do too.
It was a beautiful time and it made us excited for this new neighborhood we live in. It's got a relaxed vibe and while everyone is strangers, it feels oddly close knit. Everyone out enjoying themselves among the same environment. It was nice. So welcome to the neighborhood! Now you know what we can see every day when we choose to slow down and enjoy the place. We like.

Out and About

2012-01-07T01:42:00.002-05:00

We have had a few trips into the downtown area this week. So many papers to fill out and cards to get. We were in the touristy area at the River Walk and took in some of the sights. The entire walk is full of seafood restaurants. I have never seen crabs this big. Neither had Ronin. He couldn't quite understand that they were in the tank to be eaten.

Grandpa has been such a great sport and a great manny! He even packed Levi around a bit after my back had worn out. It's been such a blessing to have dad here. He is so great with the kids (even though he doesn't think he is). He helps them with everything. He is even doing school with each of the big boys to help structure the day while I run about town getting ourselves organized.
I don't think he realizes how important his presence is here. He has been a great sounding board for me while struggling to find a school that will fit both boys and myself. And he helps diffuse the stress that packs itself into so many moments. Even when I left my camera in the cab (yes, I know I keep harping on it!) having him there made it so I didn't completely lose my mind and scream at the entire world. He's a good check and balance for me and a great Grandpa for the kids. There is NO way we would have been able to do without him. He is strong against the heat and humidity and willing to grocery shop and swim with the kids too. There has been swimming lessons, chinese lessons (yes, he knows some chinese!) as well as writing and reading and story telling as well. What a blessing he is to each of us at this time. I am so glad he was willing to come serve us and for such a long time. We hope Grandma is holding up ok on her own for the month! When we asked him to come along so many months ago, I tried to warn him about what it would be like. Hopefully it's not worse than that and he is having an ok time, although we are uncomfortable without furniture and such. Hopefully it will pick up here once we have a table!
A lot of the subways are attached to shopping malls since its so hot here. You are underground but the malls sprawl out so you can walk quite a ways before coming to the surface streets. I found a nice store for our little Cache. Too bad its women's clothing.
And this is a picture I took from my phone. It's the Singapore Flyer Observatory. Apparently you can see the entire island from the top. We are excited to go on it one of these days soon. Got to show Grandpa as much as we can before sending him back. Or he will feel like all he saw was the kitchen and bedrooms.
While we were out at the River Walk we stopped to get lunch since Cache said he wanted Chinese food. There wasn't one thing that was edible to him. It was either too spicy or too funny. He wouldn't even eat the rice. So we stopped for ice cream at the one spot on earth anyone from any country could recognize. And little Malie's hair is finally curly again! Thank you sticky, humid Singapore!

Malachi was a sight for all the locals in the area. They kept asking how his skin was so white?! They loved his red hair and his pudgy toddler hands. They pulled out a crab from the tank to let him touch it. He even lent a hand to the waitress to sweep up leaves in the street. She thought that was just adorable! At the pool the other day someone was filming him on their camera phone. They thought he was so cute playing in the water. I am sure the light hair and white skin of my kids is a sight for anyone to see here. But as the cab driver said yesterday, Singapore loves us. I'm not sure what he meant by saying this, but we do feel very welcomed here and we hope that lasts.

The Local Fare

2012-01-07T01:17:00.002-05:00

Week one has proven to be trying for the kids in the food department. Now don't get me wrong, they are totally willing to try most of what we have given them, but you can only go so long before you want a good burger or slice of pizza (both of which we have found and payed through the nose for).

So because of that we are eating a lot of rice and noodles. We finally purchased our first rice cooker EVER. Which is kind of a sad statement. We have been enjoying it though. Lots of rice here to choose from. I don't think the selection can get much better. We have Grandpa hooked on sticky rice with mangos, although the kids don't care for it. This is our little kitchen. Isn't it cute?! (You know that's a joke, right?)
Since we don't have our furniture yet, the boys use this little step into the kitchen to eat on. You should have seen the mess after this meal. We finally got a sheet to use as a table cloth, but sitting on the floor is getting really old. Ronin is loving the challenge of chopsticks (and chinese!) but Cache prefers a fork. And we prefer him to have one after the mess he has made.
We have been a little concerned that the kids are not getting what they need to eat because its not offered. It's the first time in their lives I have worried about it. Kai is constantly thirsty and gets crabby if he is dehydrated. And Cache is constantly saying how starving he is. I think its part boredom (school start please!) and since Ronin is the oldest he tends to fend for himself pretty well. We are holding out strong for our shipment and the goods it will bring. Spaghetti sauce (thats not 6$ a jar), Pancake mix and our waffle maker! We did manage to find some nutella which has helped them settle down a bit. Nothing takes the edge off more than bread and nutella. Can't wait to get cooking bread again though. We are going to need it considering the price of bread (expensive!) and the size of the loaf (10 slices!). We go through a loaf a day. At this point we need to reevaluate what we eat. It will save us a ton on groceries. I am sure there is a good medium we can find and look forward to eating ourselves there.

We-Al-Come To Singapore!!

2012-01-05T10:30:00.003-05:00

This is a little time lapse vid that Patrick during one of his first visits here. It's beautiful so it's worth showing. We have many other not so glamorous photos we have taken, but I left my camera in a cab, so they are all gone gone gone!

I wanted to recap the happenings of the last week here so I can remember how I felt and what we experienced. It will be quite long, so read what you will.

The first days here have been difficult. First of all the heat, oh the heat! This is not a walking city, but for some reason two days in a row I found myself out walking. And with the baby in the bjorn. He got a little sunburned and I got a little light headed. But even if you aren't walking out in the heat of the day, you still sweat constantly and look about for any aircon'd place you can duck into. I think (hope) we will get used to it eventually as others have said they did. I have been really sore because of all the walking. I guess living in the burbs, I am out of practice! My shoulders have been packing around the baby (he is fat, you know!) and I pulled my neck muscle today. Now I move like a robot and am super cranky because of pain. We have been working really hard getting settled that we are just exhausted at the end of the day.

Besides the heat and losing my camera we have had a difficult time adjusting to not having any furniture. Our couch finally arrived after 7 days and we are so very grateful to have something to sit on! We have been purchasing things from Ikea to use (thank heaven for Ikea!), items that include two folding chairs, but we only got things to help us get by until our shipment arrives so its still not terribly comfortable. And even then we have a few days until our shipment gets delivered after it arrives and passes customs, which is something I didn't even think about so we have a few more days yet. It's a lot like camping. But thank heaven for the AC.

We went to our new ward and most of the members were missing since it was still holiday break. The chapel looked a bit like a slow day in our Queens ward which scared us a bit at first until we realized why everyone was gone. We did meet a very nice couple with two boys that live near us. They invited us over for dinner (quite a daring task considering the number of our group) and they really lifted our spirits. Even when you know the journey is going to be difficult, its still so shocking when it really gets difficult! But we are adjusting.

We have a great little store across the street from us that we do our everyday shopping in. We have also found the bigger grocery stores but we definitely did more shopping than the average Singaporean. I am sure people were wondering where we would put all of that food! But between all of us, we go through food quite fast. The bread loaves are about half the size of the ones you get in the states, so we are buying bread every day. And I think that is also because the boys are so tired of rice, they eat toast instead because thankfully the store has nutella.

The boys are finally adjusted to the time change. For the first week they were putting themselves to bed which was kind of nice! At about 7 they would say they wanted to rest for a bit. Not that they were going to sleep! They just wanted to lay down and in a matter of moments they would be out. Bedtime has never been so easy! But now they are fine and wild and as rambunctious as ever. The only thing that helps is the swimming pool. The last few nights Patrick has taken them out and worn them down. That really helps with falling asleep.

We are so so so glad that Grandpa S was willing to come and help out. He has been busy every moment with these kids while Patrick and I are out pounding the pavement. He reads books, feeds them, bathes them, puts them to bed, takes them swimming and now he is even doing home school! This has really helped structure their day so they aren't as rowdy. They still fight and go crazy but I think less so which means they aren't making the rest of us as crazy. Luckily Grandpa is patient because these boys sure know how to push the limits. We honestly have no idea what we would have done without him here. There is no way we would even be functioning. We are running everywhere, all over town trying to get green cards, bank accounts, furniture and food. Plus trying to find schools to put them in. There is just no way we would be able to do it with 4 kids in tow. Thank heaven for Grandpa!

Ronin has been eager to learn Chinese from Grandpa. Thankfully Grandpa is willing to teach him. He has been pretty excited today showing us what he has learned. We are slowly finding a school for Ronin and hope he can get into a public one in the next two weeks. We both feel really stressed about it, although I am sure it will turn out fine. There is just nothing worse than watching your kid suffer. We hope this won't ruin him. It's a risk to find out just how flexible a child is. And for Ronin's sake, we hope he can be super flexible. For the most part Ronin is busy during the day playing the new Wii that Grandma S. was so kind to send us for Christmas. Both boys really like to watch Patrick play Mario Bro. because they don't have the skill to play themselves but he also plays the Just Dance and makes us all laugh with his super awesome dance moves. Ronin also spends a lot of time swimming and pestering Cache. The teasing and fighting is not getting better and I am told it never will. Which is just sad to hear, so stop telling me! Tell me it gets better, please!

Cache is having a bit of a hard time. He has been really whiney. He says he is STARVING all the time. It is usually accompanied by a dramatic fall to the floor. He is really tired of rice, noodles and curry so I don't think he is getting what he needs. He also really likes specific things to eat, most of which is not available, so things are a bit tough until the shipment gets here and even then, its just prolonging the inevitable. He also says he is hot and doesn't like to sit out in the heat much. We have found a school nearby for him and hope to start him tomorrow. All the same worries and stresses apply to him as well, with school since it is a public school. We are just going to pray for the best and hope he doesn't get scarred for life.

Kai has had a really rough time. He is crying a lot. I am sure he is so uncomfortable and probably a bit bored. The older boys get to do school time with Grandpa but all Kai does is walk around and play with the same two cars that he brought. We do have a few more toys, but for some reason he won't play with them. Then the older boys keep pestering him. And he has had a cold on and off for weeks and I think he has been hungry and dehydrated a bit. The same situation as Cache really. So over all, he's not doing so swell. Some days he pulls out of it, but others its just constant crying and screaming. It's sad and exhausting for all of us. Today, however was a good day so we are happy about that. He has also developed a bit of a mean streak. We hope it fades soon and that this isn't "the new Kai" we are dealing with. If it is, then the terrible two's could be pretty terrible.

Levi is growing fast! He is smiling and laughing all the time now and the other day he had rolled over in his bed. It was an accident, but this is just the beginning of the next phase! He loves meeting people and let me just say that the people here LOVE him. People stop to talk to him everywhere we go. I have already had a few people take his picture. One lady wanted to carry him across the mall to introduce him to her family. It was so weird, I thought she was going to steal him but no, she just wanted to show him off to her two grown boys, who couldn't have cared less I might add. Most people just want to smile and coo at him and he plays it great by smiling and cooing right back.

Everyone seems surprised by the number of children we have. Well everyone except the members of our ward. They all have 4 or 5 kids. I am positive that the largest cars on the island are owned by the members. Lots of kids. People at Patrick's work can't believe we have 4 kids. Even the girl that sits next to him was so surprised and she even has three of her own! It was so funny when she was making such a big deal out of it. But I guess just like New York, 4 is just 3 kids too many. And when we are all out together, I have moments of thinking they are right! It can get pretty crazy with us all together. You should have seen our taxi ride home tonight! Patrick tipped the taxi guy (something you don't usually do here) just for dealing with all the screaming, crying and general mayhem that went on.

There is definitely a language barrier to get over, but it isn't too hard to get around town because everything is written in english. Besides speaking too fast and a few Slinglish terms, I can understand people. Unless its over the phone and then I'm completely lost. They really do sound like they are speaking Chinese. It will definitely take some getting used to.

Other things we will have to get used to is the driving on the other side of the street. I didn't think it would matter to us since we don't have a car, but it does actually affect day to day living. Usually when I cross the street I look right and then left to see if a car is coming. Here if you do that, you might get hit! You have to look left first to see if someone is coming. I am sure this is a personal issue on my part and not a technical issue.

Also just walking down the side walk, you usually do so like you are cars passing each other. It seems I am always on the wrong side! SO that will take some mental energy.

Also everything seems a bit fishy tasting. We had Pizza Hut the other night. Something funny about that pepperoni. That is something I don't like! I have never been a fish fan!

Now onto things I do like...

The foliage! It's amazing and green here with the most beautiful flowers. And for the most part I love the food. I love the curry puffs! The thai chicken! The spring rolls! I don't know if I will lose any weight eating here with all the good things to eat.

And the biggest thing of all is the people. For the most part they are so gracious and kind. After living in NY for so long, it was honestly shocking! They are so helpful and considerate! It is such a breath of fresh air. I think of all the things, that will be what makes me love it here. It's so nice to see so many people working together despite differences. They are so excepting of the other nationalities that are here. They consider themselves a cohesive unit all working toward the betterment of Singapore. It doesn't matter where you are from. That is lovely! I hope in a few months I still see those things and feel the same way. I hope that it really is true.

SO all in all, that is what's been going on in our last week here. A lot of things. I have pictures that I will post. I just have to get them off of my phone to post the ones that I do have. I still can't believe I lost my camera! It's only 6 months old! and my new super cool strap that was a birthday gift! ARRRRGGG I am SO mad! But like Patrick said, its all the name of the game. There is a lot going on and things happen in the shuffle. Unfortunately those things end up costing a lot of money and a lot of tears, but all is for our good right?

We feel we will love it here and are looking forward to getting settled and exploring the city more. There is a lot to see and do here which is exciting. But for now, I really must go to bed because as always, tomorrow there is a lot to get done and I need energy to do it.

So as they say here, We-Al-Come to Singapore!!

Yes, welcome welcome Larsen Clan. Welcome to Singapore. Lets sit and stay awhile!

This is what it looks like....

2012-01-05T10:15:00.001-05:00

when we wait at the airport!

The boys were pretty good on the plane considering the length of the flight. For the most part they all slept which is quite a feat sitting in coach class. It was much harder to wrangle them in the airports (we had a layover in Hong Kong). But we made it, safe and sound. That in itself, is a miracle.

California: Recap

2012-01-05T10:00:00.002-05:00

Well, our journey continues on. After a final goodbye to my family in Utah we sent Cache on a plane with Patrick's sister and the other boys and I jumped in the car (yet again) and drove to Cali. We had a few more people to see and things to do. We were lucky enough to see all of Patrick's family in one place! We did so many fun things and his family takes great pictures too! We of course went to Sea World. It's a P. Larsen family favorite. We have many fond memories of living in Cali and visiting Sea World often. Sometimes we would go just to see the fireworks at the end of the night. This time we said hello to the turtles:

We also got a chance to see Santa! You know, one of the only problems with having 4 kids is that someone always gets left behind. Poor Kai was in bed at this time so Santa only got to meet 3 of the Larsen boys. It's ok though since Kai would have screamed his head off. Santa would not have liked us then.
This was at a house in a nearby neighborhood. It was decorated to the hilt by the owners of the house and they hire a Santa every year to come night after night to have kids sit on his lap. And its all free. They do it because they love it. Going here was the moment when I truly felt Christmas for the first time this year. With everything going on it all was lost on me, until this night. Being reminded that you can do things for others just because you have love in your heart... thats the real meaning of Christmas for me. And these people helped me enjoy it! (the hot chocolate and cookies didn't hurt either ; )

I love this picture because Ronin really looks like he is thinking hard of what he wants. The picture taken after this one was of he and Santa having a laugh together. Its quite funny. Cache was sure to let me know that this was not the real Santa. It's just a guy dressed in a Santa suit. The real Santa lives in the North Pole.

We also got to go to the beach. One of my absolute favorite things to do. I love watching the kids play in the sand and explore. I love that after three weeks of freezing in Utah I could come here and feel the sun (it was REALLY sunny!) and put my feet in the sand.

California really has the perfect sunsets. The colors are amazing. All a rainbow with the brightest fireball burning as it goes down. Breathtaking.
I got to see a dear friend while I was there as well. What a delight she is. We have known each other since we were 3 and that, is truly priceless. California was refreshing and so much fun. It has been too long since we have been there and I'm glad I got to share a part of it with the boys before leaving the U.S.

Christmas: Presents Recap

2012-01-05T09:55:00.000-05:00

Just wanted to share a few of our Christmas morning pictures. We found these great personalized shirts for the older boys. They have been obsessed with everything Ninja. These just seemed too perfect to pass up.

Little Levi got in on the action by getting one present almost as tall as he is. He's still too young to play with it yet, but hopefully he will like it. Just stacking toys. We just thought this picture was too cute to not share.
Kai has been obsessed with phones as most kids his age are. Couldn't resist getting him one of his own. He does love it and now I don't have to look for my own phone as much. We had one of these when Ronin was young and it really is a great toy.
And of course we had to get everyone sunglasses. Cause its sunny where we live now. The older boys got some ipod shuffles to help them stay occupied at the airport and on the plane and I'm not sure they even used them. Figures....

Utah: Recap

2012-01-05T09:33:00.002-05:00

We were blessed enough to stay in Utah for 3 weeks. It was the time I needed to say goodbye to my family and friends before hopping over a few continents. It was a wonderful trip and we are so so grateful to our family for being such gracious hosts. Because of the generosity of my family and the Davis County School District, the two older boys also got to go to school for the time they were there. It seriously helped the time go by with less tears and boredom. Ronin got to ride a scooter or walk to school every day with his cousins. He was on cloud nine every day he was able to be with them. Thank you for loving him and taking such good care of him!

We also got to decorate a bit for Christmas (although this also ended in a screaming fight with mom since the boys were being too wild and fighting. We never did finish decorating it...) and we had a LOT of hot chocolate thanks to old man winter. It's the last time we will see temperatures that low for awhile. We ditched all our winter gear on Grandma and Grandpa to keep until next time.

We got to spend a lot of time with our cousins. Millie held Levi every minute she could. But it was difficult since other people were willing to put up a fight to hold him too. He definitely was the sweetest little guy to have around.
We also were fortunate enough to get to go to band concerts, school plays, wrestling matches and an extended family christmas party full of swimming, ice skating and general christmas merriment.
Grandma was busy working but also got in a lot of time loving up the grandkids. She can put anyone to sleep and get any kid to stop crying. Grandmas have the magic touch!
Kai grew up a lot in Utah. He is becoming a big boy and dare I say it, a terrible TWO! He is learning all sorts of interesting things like biting, pushing and screaming. I wonder who his mother is?
We had a lovely lovely time. Utah will always be a special place for us, full of family and sweet memories. Thank you dear familia for your love and support during this crazy time in our life. You are the rock on which we lean, all too often. Thank you for putting up with us and come visit Singapore soon!

Road Trip....Again!

2012-01-05T09:15:00.002-05:00

Well, the big boys did indeed road trip to Utah for the second time in the last 6 months. They packed up what was left of our belongings (way too much stuff to be sure!) and headed west. Ronin was in charge of the camera. He took almost every picture here and filled up my entire photo card. Over 1000 pictures!

But I love this one. It is the constant view when driving west. Always chasing that setting sun.

The boys finally got to enjoy the sweet (and greasy) experience of Burger King. Oh, how I used to love that crown when I was a kid too. It has gotten smaller and lamer than I remember. We had those big gold ones, remember?!
I love this picture too. It is a familiar scene with windmill towers and sprawling power lines. They did hit quite a bit of weather this time out. There was record snow through Illinois or somewhere like that. They basically drove through a few storms. I'm glad they made it to utah alive!
Ronin in one of his many "watching movies" poses. That's pretty much all they did. Take pictures, watch movies and fight. The teasing and fighting that goes on with these boys is unprecedented. It's about to drive me mad!

And the victory shot. They did finally make it. Just in time for Patrick to fly out 12 hours later to Singapore for a convention and to find us a place to live.
As always Utah welcomed us with open arms! We had a great time with one month off to play and be with our families.

Goodbye New York

2012-01-02T09:31:00.005-05:00

Well, here is our little shipping container, loaded and ready to go. It wasn't that little and we really only filled half of it and we took a lot of stuff! We packed each box to avoid additional costs. We worked hard to get the boxes and inventory finished in time for the packers to load in the morning. They came and sat all. day. long. For some reason the guy bringing the container was lost, or missing or something and he didn't show up at the door until 3 in the afternoon. So after sitting all day in our driveway, the movers worked for a half hour and were done. That quick! Next time I will pay the extra money to have them pack everything, because it was so stressful getting it all in with a deadline. But we did get it done with the help of many friends and neighbors. They say it takes a village to raise a child, but it also takes a village to help the Larsen's move without losing their minds!

The babies and I headed out that night on a plane to Utah to visit family for the holidays and the older boys drove across country (again!) with Patrick. It was a fun time is what they said. And by the looks of the pictures Ronin took, I believe it.
We are really going to miss our home. New York is where we had a lot of firsts. First babies (and second, third and fourth!), first homes, first drunk stranger in our living room ; ) First real adult responsibilities and jobs! First days of school and first school bus rides (with tears shed by mom). First real church callings. First real testimonies. We have grown so much and learned so much from the people and the atmosphere. Each place we have lived (2 apts. and one house) have brought us friends and neighbors whom will never be forgotten.

The last month of cleaning and packing has been so bitter-sweet. So many wonderful memories and special moments not to be had again. But also the beginning of a new adventure for each of us that will prove to be special in its own way. How grateful I am for the experiences each of us have had.We hope to live in New York again someday. It is our home. Each of the kids has been born there which makes them official New Yorkers! That means it will always call to them in some way. I believe it was meant to be apart of our history and I'm glad that we had the impression to take our life adventure there 8 years ago. So we will indeed be back there again. But until then, we will seek different experiences over the seas and hopefully we will all be better for it. I am sure in another 8 years we will be glad we left our safety net in New York for different adventures. And here's to what lies ahead for the Larsen clan: Adventure. Experience. Growth.

Last NY moments

2012-01-02T09:11:00.002-05:00

The final days in our town were special to say the least. We had wonderful family come to see us and the big boys got a chance to head to the city to enjoy themselves one last time. Oh how we LOVE Valhalla and all our friends and neighbors!! Here are the boys at the train station. They got a special trip with just dad and were on cloud nine the entire time. This was one of the last days where stress was not our constant companion. Looking back now, it makes me wonder if we will be that carefree again (although I know we will be!)

There were two trips that we took. This one was to Rockefeller Plaza to take in the sights. We also went in to see the temple at Lincoln Plaza, the Macy's Thanksgiving balloons (which was a slight bust with too many people and kids) and had one last trip Gray's Papaya and Crumbs.
We loooorve you New York!
How happy you have made us these last 8 years.

Packing Ninjas

2011-11-20T20:35:00.000-05:00

The real packing has started and things are finally being wrapped up for the shipment to head to the seas. Cache was originally interested in helping out when he saw the plastic wrap, but quickly decided it was much better used as a prison for his little ninja man.

And Ronin just couldn't wait to get in on all the fun playing and picture taking.
We love Ninja Legos!

Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T20:40:00.001-04:00

This was our last Halloween in westchester and it was a good one! Our great friends invited us over to trick or treat in their neighborhood. So we got all dressed up. Of course we did some costume recycling since Mom was NOT in any mood or mental condition to grapple with Halloween during a move with a new baby.

So we have mister Ronin Ninja, and Kai the Cowboy.
There was some serious fun to be had.
And Cache... I mean Spiderman got the most loot! They turned in all that candy for some Ninja Legos instead. We carved pumpkins, ate delicious food, watch halloween movies and gorged on other candy not seen in this picture. It was a fabulous time. We will miss these dear friends. They have been so good to each of us and will always be remembered with love and fondness. Happy Halloween!!!

Tag Sale

2011-10-30T20:34:00.000-04:00

We started to prepare for the big move while our guests were in town by having ourselves a little tag sale. We sold the boys bed right out from under them! They have been sleeping on the blow up bed together ever since and will do so until we get settled in Singapore and buy them a new bed. (Oh, for those of you who don't know.... we are moving to Singapore at the end of the year!)

We set out all our stuff and let me tell you, there is nothing more depressing than putting your life out on the driveway and hoping someone will stop in to buy it. And you do realize how much junk you accumulate in life and how unnecessary a lot of it is.
But don't get me wrong, there has been a lot that I have had had a hard time saying goodbye to in this process. Slowly, piece by piece we have sold, given away or set aside our life in New York all to get ready to go. It's been an interesting process and I'm not sure I have truly learned what I needed to, which is a scary thing to say for my future.
The boys, (of course) loved every moment. They especially liked the batch of cookies I made for them to sell at the top of the driveway. They made more money that the rest of us did and they sold out in a flash. The rest of the time the sat on our couch and watch movies on the tv we hoped someone would buy. Eventually that TV just went to a friends house.

Pumpkin Patch 2011

2011-10-30T20:32:00.000-04:00

We had some visitors come to see the changing leaves and help us have a truly happy fall. We took them to a pumpkin patch:

We go to a new one every year but only because we can never remember where we went the year prior. This patch left a lot to be desired, but we had some fun anyway.
The boys have been really patient with me since the baby came. I have been an ornery witch to say the least. but they take it all in stride.
THis patch looks like there are rows and rows of pumpkins, but this was pretty much it. And nothing drives me crazy more than to go to a 'patch' where the picking has already been done. I mean, whats the point of that anyway?
Here is the group! We did have fun and this patch had the most AMAZING cider donuts I have ever had. So fantastic we had to get 2 dozen!
Thank you to our wonderful guest for making our trip so fun. And actually we wouldn't have done anything fun at all had they not showed up, so we owe them extra! We love you!

Levi: 1 month old!

2011-10-20T20:36:00.000-04:00

This baby is growing way too fast! Especially considering how big he was to begin with!. We have been lucky enough to have a lot of family in town this past month to meet the little guy. We love our uncle david and aunt carly! There was some serious lounging about. Just what we have needed to keep our sanity.

Levi was constantly snuggled up by Grandma. He has slept like this a lot. Grandma also brought him a nice new blankie that we all love. Its so cute and fuzzy soft!
Malachi continues to love baby L. They are soul mates, truly. Levi loves it when Kai talks to him and Kai loves to lay by him and hug and kiss him. They even share paci's. Thats really great but it gets everyone sick!
We have received so many generous gifts as well. Here is baby in his po boy hat. Isn't that cute?!
Here is the bright eyed baby. He is only awake for a bit each day and once he is tired, He. Is. TIRED! So his smiles are limited, but his eyes are so open and bright you just want him to stay awake forever.
(These pictures are a bit older. This is when Levi was still only 2 weeks old. See how much he has changed!)

All in all we are loving this new baby in our lives and are so glad he has made it to 1 month! Considering the wrestling that goes on here, that is quite a feat.

Levi is Born!

2011-09-21T20:29:00.001-04:00

Here are a few more photos of our time in the hospital with the sweetest addition to our family. Ronin is such a great big brother. He is kind and energetic. He is helpful and sweet. He loves being a big brother but really hopes we have some girls. We have had many conversations about how it is unfair that he has no sisters and that I am not willing to give him any. Its an odd conversation to have with your son.Levi looks a lot like Kai did when he was born. We think he will be just as cute!
Malachi still loves the baby. He is so helpful too! He gives him his pacifier. Wraps him in blankets and lets us know when he is crying. He is sure to say hello to the baby first thing in the morning and to hug him at night. Its quite a sweet friendship to be sure.
And of course our special daddy! What a sweet man we have in our life. It's no wonder where the other boys get it from. He is a wonderful dad and happy to welcome another boy into the tribe.
So far Levi is eating well and sleeping well (for the most part). Ronin says he is soft on his head and Cache says how cute he is. He is well loved and we are so glad to have him as a part of our family.

Levi Elwood Larsen

2011-09-20T17:49:00.001-04:00

Guess what was the first thing to go when baby came along? Uh, blogging! Well actually, that went in the middle of baby #3. Its just gotten really really bad lately. But here he is. (all the pictures are the same. Nothin' new. In fact this poor baby doesn't have many pictures to document his existence here.)

Baby Larsen

Born Sept. 20 2011

6:45pm

9 lb. 13 oz.

19 3/4 inches

The boys absolutely adore him. He is getting bigger by the day. In fact at his first week appointment he had only lost half an ounce, which I have never experienced before. He is learning to sleep through the night, albeit sloooowwwly.
This little (big) guy is now almost 2 months old. While its very odd to look around and realize we have 4 kids, we do feel like he has always been here! He has a very calm disposition, although when he wants something, he isn't afraid to let you know. I think through the years he will find ways to be even more demanding since there are so many that come before him. We are getting used to the size of our family. We barely fit in the car now and there is NO way we go out to dinner or basically anywhere all together. There is just too much to manage by ourselves right now. But we are getting better at juggling. I think adding #4 is the start of the "divide and conquer" mentality. At any given time both patrick and I are separate with two boys in tow. Its the only way to get things done, or in the middle of the night when they are all asleep. But regardless of the learning curve, Levi is a delight. Sweet, pudgy and the perfect addition to our pile of boys. We love him even if the kids can't remember what his name is most of the time....

Happy 7th Birthday Ronin!

2011-09-18T20:27:00.000-04:00

Ronin's birthday was much anticipated by all of the family. The baby was due only 4 days before so to make things easier we decided to have the birthday party early. Well of course that didn't work out too well. the weekend we planned was the last of the summer which put everyone out of town or doing their own party with family. So after reviewing the calendar we realized the only time we could do it was the day before his actual birthday (which was only 3 days after I was due). Of course when you are heavy and pregnant you never think you will make it to your due date, much less beyond it, so we figured things would all work out.

I had planned the cake, food, treasure bags and games and put Patrick in charge of carrying it all off, hoping that I would be in the hospital and missing all the fun (or work, depending on your opinion). But the responsibility proved to be too much and the baby stayed put long enough for us to have an all out fun sports party!

We did three-legged races, dodgeball and water balloon toss. I still got out of having to do a lot of it since everyone felt so bad for me and my fat stomach. Patrick said it was the most exhausting thing he'd had to do in a long time. But the kids had fun. (or at least we think they did!)

Ronin got a slew of presents. Way too many in my opinion. It definitely makes me think kids don't need big parties every year. One or two in their lifetime is enough! His new obsession is Ninja Legos and their accompanying cards.
Malachi really enjoyed his time at the party, regardless of his expression in this photo. He decided to take a trip around the table and eat everyone else's cake. He was having so much fun and feeling really grown up.
This cake had inches worth of frosting! I get a headache just thinking about it.
We decided on a sports theme party. Ronin is so good at sports and loves all kinds. He didn't know why we only had a basketball on the cake. Why couldn't he have all the sports?
He had a blast with his friends. It was heartwarming to have everyone there. His friends and our friends who have made NY such a special place for us. We have really loved being here and will miss everyone so much.
All in all Ronin had a great birthday and little baby Levi came only two days later although it seemed like a lifetime of waiting. Happy birthday to our special Ronin. We love you!!

Summer In NY

2011-09-17T20:17:00.000-04:00

After our extended vacation to the west, we did spend some time in NY at the park and in our yard. We also had a nasty case of lice which resulted in the two little boys getting their heads shaved. It was just so much easier, regardless of how funny they ended up looking.

Malachi really took to the bald head. It seemed to spark in him a more wild personality. Suddenly he was a dare devil and so much older! He wears it well but his hair is taking forever to grow back in. Cache decidedly looks better with his beatles mop top. We are patiently waiting for it to come back. It seems to be growing faster than Kai's is. I think had I known how long it would take, I would have tried a bit harder to keep it around.
Ronin perfected his bike riding skills this summer. He is now completely comfortable going down hills, turning and riding way too fast (in moms opinion). Its nice to see him so steady and having so much fun!

Ronin also has fallen in love with the monkey bars. Its a good thing, since he acts like a monkey a lot of the time anyway.

Kai loooooves the dirt. And the dirt at the playground is so fine that it gets everywhere. There are also plenty of other fun things like sticks to poke and rocks to eat.
The summer slowly faded into fall and we are now feeling the breaths of winter upon us. In the middle of summer you think it will last forever. The nights are beautiful and there is always something fun happening, but it goes by in a blink.

Summer Recap: Ronin at the Farm

2011-08-19T18:06:00.001-04:00

Ronin was very happy at the farm. Every time I saw him he was busy helping out. In fact he was happy all the time as long as I wasn't talking to him. He didn't want to be held down by his mom or her treating him like a kid. He wanted to be big and do all the things the bigger kids did. He got to do a lot of things. He worked on the tractor:

He helped us put together Grandpas BBQ:

I couldn't help but fall in love with this bike and Grandpa's big red barn. What a brilliant idea it was to paint it red. Can you imagine a barn being any other color? Unfortunately this bikes tires were flat, but I believe Grandpa said he was going to fix it up. Can't wait until next summer when I can ride it down the big hill by the house without worrying about falling on my big pregnant stomach!

Here is the silo which I think is full of furniture that was left by the previous owners? I didn't know thats what farmers did with silos! ; )

Ronin was very excited to climb the haystacks, if not a little bit nervous. His older cousins were always doing these fun things as well as moving the pipes every morning and evening. Ronin wanted to help out with that, but he is still a little young. Rule is you have to be 8, so it will be another year or so until he will be able to help. He was dying to be like the big kids and someday he will be and will complain about the 6am wake up call! But there is something about the farm that makes you want to dig in, get your hands dirty and work really hard.

Here's Ronin enjoying the swings. It was such a fun idea and perfect addition to Grandpa's Farm. We look forward to enjoying our time there summer after summer. Just need to plan us some berry bushes and the farm will be perfect!

Summer Recap: Cache at the Farm

2011-08-19T18:00:00.000-04:00

The boys had an enormously good time with their cousins. This was their first experience with sleeping outside. Something I loved doing as a kid and am so glad my family lives in a place where my children can still enjoy it once in awhile. I was more scared then they were. You never know what is lurking in the bushes!

The farm is full of beautiful colors and sights. I couldn't get enough of this farm equipment (I have no idea the real name!) The bright blue skies are never ending! Its the kind of place that makes you want to run and do cartwheels... if not for all the work that needs to be done.

The boys (and cousins) worked really hard. Pipes were moved every morning, tractors were driven, scrubbed and worked on.
But of course there was also a lot of time for playing and exploring. I think this is the only time I saw Cache with shoes on. After so much time in NY, I loved seeing my kids play without shoes. Something that is unheard of here. Everyone should have a chance to be footloose and fancy free! Such are the memories of childhood.

Summer Recap: Kai at the Farm

2011-08-19T17:53:00.000-04:00

We had a wonderful summer full of travels. We made it up to grandpas farm just in time to help out with the hay. Malachi was in his element. What boy isn't with dirt and rocks all around?

Kai carried his trusty bucket to pick up as many rocks as he could. He helped Grandpa work on the tractor and take care of general maintenance. Well, at least in his own toddler way.

What dirt that kid could find! He looks absolutely dirt crazed in this picture. What a mangy hair-do!

Stopping in for a drink of lovely farm water.
Mom and Kai testing out the new tractor:
Honestly, this bike! What a find! Doesn't he look like he's straight out of a Dick and Jane book? Can't get enough of this picture.
The farm is an amazing and magical place made just for kids. It is so much fun to watch them play and explore. It's priceless, although I know it wasn't without a price for Grandpa ; )

Summer Recap: Morgan County Fair

2011-08-18T19:16:00.000-04:00

I think a summer trip is not complete until you have gone to a county fair. And you know, the kids really got a good taste of country living while we were in Utah. Morgan County Fair had free games with free prizes which is unheard of anywhere in the state of NY. So the kids were pretty darn happy. We saw all the livestock one could hope to see (and smell). In fact Kai was so tired and cranky, he cried pretty much the entire time, except when we were looking at the cows and goats. They stunk to high heaven, but it was the quietest time of our entire day.

Cache found this super sweet mini van seat that was set up in the chicken coop. He sat while the rest of us checked out the little chickies.

The food was all you would want to find at a county fair. I couldn't stop thinking of Templton in Charlottes Web. Hot Dogs, Nachos, Funnel Cakes and Cotton Candy!!
I'm pretty sure this was the boys first experience with cotton candy. Its as sticky and stomach churning as I remember it being as a kid myself. But boy oh boy did they love it.

We had such an amazing time with the cousins. They were so protective of all the boys. They felt so welcomed and apart of the group which is saying something since all the cousins see each other almost everyday and have their own groove going. It was so sweet of them to include us in their summer time fun.

Summer Recap: Utah

2011-08-18T19:05:00.001-04:00

This summer we took a road trip. We packed up the three boys and headed west. We drove through 11 states! We had the boys all snug in their car seats with pillows, blankets, coloring books and lots of junk food. We stopped at hotels to swim in the pool. We had so much fun, we could hardly stand it! (until we had to drive the whole way home...then it got a little long.)

We had a lot of fun in Utah with Grandma, Grandpa and all the cousins. We rode lawnmowers and jumped on the trampoline. We had fireworks, watermelon and popsicles. We rode bikes, had bonfires and picked berries.

We had a lot of time without shoes, socks and other pieces of clothing. We took swimming lessons, watched movies and played with our cousins.
We went to Grandpa's farm, and the Morgan County Fair. We had a cookie baking contest and made ourselves sick. We had too much fun we almost moved there! Ronin couldn't stop talking how he wanted to live in Utah so he could play with his cousins every day.
It made my heart sink each time he talked about it. What a special place Utah is for us. We do wish we could move there. If only....
The beauty there is breathtaking and inspiring. We love it!

Kid Conversations

2011-08-14T00:11:00.002-04:00

--Today as we were out running errands with Cache and Ronin:

(Ronin leaves the car to drop something at someone's door)

Cache: (referring to Ronin) Mom, can we just leave him here and pick him up later?

Mom: No! We will wait for him. Why would you want to leave him?

Cache: I don't like the smell of him.

Mom: What do you mean, you don't like the smell of him?

Cache: I don't know, I just don't like it.

Greece: Meteora

2011-08-13T23:59:00.001-04:00

Ok, ok, I will say it one last time.... this was another of our favorite places!

Meteora is this town where centuries ago monks built monasteries up on gigantic cliffs. They have stayed there ever since, away from society in service to their God. Here are a few of my favorite peeks into one of the monasteries.

The winery:

The rustic kitchen: I wanted to take every one of these pieces home with me. I love love loved this place. Didn't want to leave it.
The martyrs tomb: This totally creeped me out, but apparently they keep the skulls of any monk that dies a martyr. And they have had quite a bloody history....

It was amazing that the one day we were in Meteora was the one day where fog rolled in and covered every inch of the cliffs which blocked all views of the monasteries, hillsides and even the town. There are 6 monasteries and we got this one shot because within 10 minutes you couldn't see ten feet out in front of you. It was as if you could jump into nothing and float on clouds forever. And of course all the locals said it never happens! Only with us I guess. Needless to say we were really bummed out and plan on taking another trip there to experience it in all its grandeur.

Greece: Delphi

2011-08-13T23:17:00.004-04:00

Delphi was another of my favorite places. (I do keep saying that, don't I?) The ruins there are amazing! I can't believe people would come from all over (walking every step) to this place in the mountains and build all of these massive structures out of rock. Talk about back breaking work! Here is a shot of the ampi-theatre. (couldn't skip out on that one)

This really was one of the most impressive places to me. Maybe because it was our first stop at seeing ruins. Because I will admit by the end of our trip, one old rock looked the same as all the others, but getting to experience it in real life for the very first time was magnificent.
There were poppies everywhere! Vibrant and shocking! There they are consider weeds, but I couldn't get over them. I want fields of them all around my house!
This is where we stayed just out of Delphi. All the way down by the sea is a valley which contains the largest olive tree orchard in all of Greece. And aaaaaallll the way down there at the shore is a little gyro restaurant which fed us the best gyro I have ever had in my life. The perfect experience for a pregnant lady if I do say so myself. Also here we had the best yoghurt and honey that has ever existed on the planet. And I am NOT exaggerating. I can't describe it, but you would agree with me if you could try it. Oh, how I miss it.

From our balcony we had a perfect view of the town, the sun rise and sunset and all the chipper birds that keep watch over everyone. They were busy busy busy. This is one of the only photos we have of both of us sitting still and smiling. All the rest are of landscapes!

Greece: Santorini and other great places

2011-08-13T21:42:00.008-04:00

Well, the first thing that comes to mind as I am here with the computer, is that I am not very prompt in my blog postings. Patrick and I took an extended getaway to Greece back in May and here it is August that I am finally getting around to posting about it. A lot of it is the amount of pictures that have to be shuffled through. I just haven't had the heart to go through and select the best ones.

But just to recap a bit, for two entire weeks we were without our children (I actually missed them and cried!?!?!) And we went to every part of Greece you can imagine. Our absolute favorite place was Santorini, which seems to be everyone elses favorite place, but now I can see why.

It was beautiful, romantic and had wonderful charm. (Even though this man on his donkey did not have the best attitude. He darn near trampled a lady because she was in his way trying to get a picture. I say if you don't like tourists, you shouldn't be a donkey man in the middle of one of Greece's most touristy islands. But that's besides the point, I guess.)

Walking the streets was always a sight to behold. I loved how they would take these old olive oil canisters and paint them up for flower pots. So simple, cheery and sweet.

One part we loved is the town of Oia. This is where we

would watch the sunset every night. It lit up the hillside and all its tiny houses. It was breathtaking. One of our favorite things to do was go out at dusk and capture the movements across the sky. In fact there weren't a lot of pictures of us taken in Santorini. Everything else was just too beautiful.Once the sun was gone, all the town lights would come on. You could see people walking the pathways, sitting by pools, or out eating dinner. Watching them move was like seeing ants scrambling around on a sidewalk.
And of course one of my favorite parts of all was the faded buildings and rustic doors. Here is an actual picture of one of us! We were really there!
Patrick had plenty of free time to work his photog magic. Here is a shot of the island done in tilt-shift style.

And just to squeeze them in, here are some photos of a few other stops we made during our travels.

the Acropolis:

Poseidon's Temple:
Nafplio...one of my other favorite spots.
We were actually there during some of the rioting, although we always seemed to be out of town or inside when the worst of it was going on. We made it to Syntagma Square on the ONE day where there was no one around. There was a small demonstration that was happening, but it didn't get heated. We wandered the city, ate food, took pictures and had a grand old time!

And we couldn't leave without the quintessential Greece shot with a Syntagma soldier. I felt like I was standing REALLY close to him, but turns out I just have a very wide personal bubble : )

Unplanned and Unexpected

2011-04-19T12:18:00.008-04:00

It's been a surreal journey from the first day of finding out and we are still getting used to the idea of adding to our family but regardless, baby # 4 is on his way! Due to arrive around Sept. 14 2011.

I know we have been keeping it secret from most of you, but only because we wanted to know what "it" was first and now that we know... you know!! It seems that boys are in our forecast for many more years to come. Are you excited? And please don't say "oh no, your having another boy?!" Because we are happy and as excited as can be! I mean, who wouldn't want a baseball team? Goooooo Team Larsen!

***also, please note this is not my actual ultrasound picture. ours didn't turn out this great and besides I can't figure out the scanner. its on the fritz. you know, same ol' story.

But that doesn't make this little guy any less of a baby. And he's coming, ready or not!

What's A Happenin'

2011-03-25T09:08:00.004-04:00

This is just a small rambling of the things we have been doing lately. It really is officially spring, but you wouldn't know it by our weather lately. We woke up to snow yesterday and Cache was more than happy to go out to play. I think that kid would be fine if it was winter all year round. He never gets tired of playing in the snow.

Of course there really wasn't enough to make anything, so Cache had to improvise. Here is his snowman:

He decided it could lay down in the snow since it wasn't cooperating by sticking together. I was really surprised he didn't have a tantrum over not being able to make a proper snowman. This kid really is quite flexible with his expectations. Something that will serve him really well in life. If only the rest of us could have a dose of that.

The only thing that makes us feel like it is spring is the seedlings we have perched around the house waiting for that last frost to hit. Here is an egg carton flat of loose leaf lettuce:
Yum.... I will eat you soon!!! As always, while planning our garden my stomach was bigger than my eyes and I have way more seeds (and now seedlings) that I have space to plant. It could get interesting around here. We are going to have to invest in a lot more pots for the patios.

And last but mooooost definitely not least, Malachi is finally a walker!
He hardly crawls anymore. He is much more willing to hop up and walk to wherever he wants to be. He is getting great at turning around, and quickly too.
He is just a delight to have around. I love his frankenstein baby walk. It gets even worse when he is in shoes, but its oh, so cute!
So Ronin is busy with sports camp and karate after school (the photos are somewhere!) Cache is busy with his "cut and colors" (little preschool worksheets that have kept him SO happy) and you see what Malachi is up to. We are keeping busy.

Happy Spring!

Happy Birthday Baby

2011-02-28T20:09:00.006-05:00

Well, it has almost been a full month since our little Baby Kai turned 1. But turned he did, so we must document! His first cupcake. His first candle. Perfect for a first birthday.

He was a jolly old soul until he realized there was fire involved:

Of course the other boys were there to be sure he had a good time and learned all the birthday ropes:

He didn't waste much time diving right in. Um, who's idea was it to make chocolate cupcakes???

A little Betty Boop lip...chocolate style.
This was one of the cleaner shots. Taken before it got out of hand and covered him from ear to ear.

Happy Birthday Malachi! What a sweet sweet addition you have been to our family. This last year has moved so quickly and has been a delight from the moment you were welcomed into the world. Thank you for being willing to come to this earth and be apart of this crazy crew. You make life wonderful!!

Snow Sleds

2011-01-30T20:16:00.004-05:00

Grandma S sent sleds for Malachi's birthday. Note: MALACHI'S birthday (which is in approx. 5 days from now). Malachi hasn't used his much, in fact his is in the garage. It may or may not see snow this year (heaven knows we have enough of it!)

But because Grandma S is smart, she knows a 1yr old doesn't really need anything so a 1yr olds birthday is the perfect excuse to get a sled for all the other kids in the family. So Ronin and Cache now both have their own as well and they are the perfect colors too. Blue for Cache, Orange for Ronin. Just they way they like it. Which makes Kai's designated life color Green.

There is so much snow in our front yard it has produced a natural hill and it has crusted over to form the perfect sledding spot. Ronin was really plowing it up:
Since today was Cache's birthday he chose to stay inside and hang out instead of showing his sled some action. He still has cake residuals on his face:
Once Ronin was sufficiently cold, he came in and pretended he was in a sled to show Patrick what he looked like when he was outside.

We are expecting even more snow this week so we will hopefully be sledding it up for many days to come. These kids are just starting to experience the fun that can be had... and they have mostly been inside.

Happy 4th Birthday Cache!

2011-01-30T20:02:00.004-05:00

Today is the actual day! Cache turned 4! (I can't believe I actually got the photos up on time too!)

He had presents! He mostly got things that he was going to get for Christmas but we deemed him already TOO "presented up" so they went into hiding for a month. His big ticket item was a Strider bike because mom ran over his tricycle with the car and we are hoping it helps him learn without training wheels.

Cache requested only a few things for his birthday this year. He wanted 2 presents, (uh, oops), a goody bag from primary (which he pronounces "doody bad"... oh this kids english!) and a rainbow cake. When he asked for a rainbow cake, I was at a complete loss. Good thing we had our resident designer on the case.

The rainbow cake and one happy little boy:

Ronin couldn't let the party go by without being in most of the pictures and even blowing out the candles before Cache could. Both Patrick and I were more bothered by that than Cache was, or so it seemed:

Somehow the "ran tandles" (crayon candles) matched the cake perfectly:

Cache believed he wasn't 4 until he actually blew out his candles. He couldn't wait to get it done.
Ronin loooooves having his pictures taken.... and eating cake:
Rainbow cake was pure sugary enjoyment. I can still taste the food coloring!
Happy Happy Birthday Cache! You already seem so much older. Your words are becoming more and more clear and you are really taking good care of your baby brother. Now if we can just get you to buckle your own car seat without being asked a gazillion times we will be on our way! Thanks for coming to our family 4 years ago! We love love love you!!

Christmas 2010 Recap

2011-01-10T22:02:00.004-05:00

It wouldn't be normal of me to post these pictures any sooner than today, its just not in me to be punctual when it comes to blogging. But nevertheless, I WILL get it in eventually, of that you can be sure. So without further ado, a few photos of our holiday festivities.

The tree:

The visitors:

Well, this is only one of our visitors for Christmas Eve dinner. Our sweet neighbor who is 92 yrs old. She adds some spice to our lives, thats for sure. Ronin was enjoying showing her some dance moves. Well, maybe he was really just showing the camera ; )

Christmas Eve Stories (after the Nativity/Christmas Program, which we didn't get photos of) Thanks for coming Grandpa! We Love You!

Christmas Morning toys:
(Ronin is SUCH a ham for the camera. this is only one picture of a series of fighting/diving/shooting photos)

Cache only wanted a Lite Brite. He had been talking of Santa bringing him one for 2 months straight, so we couldn't help but comply to his request.

The early morning EXCITEMENT!
(This is our nephew Brody... he was actually yawning, but he ended up looking so excited, I couldn't help but paint it as such. Thanks for coming Brody! We Love You!)

Silly Straw Glasses:
These ended up being a LOT of work, but fun nonetheless.

Grandma Sessions. Thanks for coming! We Love You!
And last but not least a little snapshot of our snaggletooth baby who seemed to be missing through most of the holiday. He was rummaging amidst the paper and packages most of the time or maybe napping? We really have no idea, but he takes care of himself. If you look closely you can see he has a chip in one of his snaggley-tooths. We have no idea how that happened. Maybe during one of the many wrestling matches with the other boys.
We have decided this baby is a bit dorky looking. Something about the teeth and the hair. Maybe a little Austin Powers-ish? But he is such a sweet child that we love him all the more! What a wonderful and merry Christmas we had. Here's to a fresh start and a New Year!

Snow Fort

2011-01-04T23:20:00.002-05:00

We got a lot of snow dumped on us this past week and we couldn't let it go by without Patrick building the boys their snow cave. I do think this will be a yearly tradition. How can it not be when you have a snowblower to do all the work for you.
Ronin was the only one that stayed out in the cold to enjoy the fruits of Patrick's labor.
It was made just large enough to fit two adventurers....
laying down.

Kid Conversations

2011-01-04T22:59:00.002-05:00

Earlier this year when Ronin asked me if Santa was real, I just couldn't look into his bright blue eyes and paint up a lie, so I told him the truth. Santa ain't real babe. It seemed to be what what he was expecting, but he continued to tell me about all the people in his life that say Santa IS real. So I kind of let it drop, with the explanation that Santa is a wonderful thing to believe in and it helps us be charitable to others. We also discussed that there will be many kids that still believe and we shouldn't ruin it for them. Today he told me about a conversation they had at school:

Ronin: "So Frankie, Mikey, and Paula were having a discussion about Santa and if he is real or not. They asked me if I believed in Santa and I said 'I can't be in this situation right now' and I walked away."

I laughed right out loud when he told me this today. He used those actual words an was obviously worried about ruining Santa for his friends. Very cute.

Ronin also asked me a few days ago why we didn't circumcise Malachi. Without really using all of those words, but I did get what he meant. I tried to explain it a bit without giving the actual answer, which is I was just too lazy to send him into the nursery to have it done. I did tell Ronin that I wish I would have done it so that Malachi would be the same as his brothers and this is what followed:

Ronin: "Do you think people will make fun of him?"

Me: "No I don't think so. Most people won't never know."

Ronin: "Well, he is cute and my brother so I will love him even though he is different."

Me: *sigh*

And of course the week wouldn't be complete without a discussion with Cache about his feelings for me.

Me: Cache, why don't you close your eyes when we pray? You do it for your primary teacher."

Cache: "Well, I don't like you. I only like Daddy."

Me: "You don't like me?!?!? That really hurts my feelings. Why do you like daddy and not me?"

Cache: "Because Daddy answers my questions."

Me: "I don't answer your questions?! What do I do?

Cache: "I ask a question and you say 'What?' and then I ask a question and you say 'What?' again (pronounced A-Den) and then I ask you a question and you say 'What?' again.

Me: *sigh* (but not in a good way. Some mommies can never win.)

Merry Christmas!!

2010-12-25T18:36:00.000-05:00

With Love,

From our crazy family, to yours ; )

Baby Fresh

2010-11-24T23:13:00.002-05:00

Malachi's hair seems to be growing well. But you can only tell when he is fresh out of a bath. He will be 10 months next week. *sniff*

Happy Halloween Photo Shoot!

2010-11-01T23:00:00.009-04:00

Oh...

these...
boys!!
We were supposed to get pictures of the kids in their Halloween costumes as they ran around at the ward trunk-or-treat. We were supposed to get pictures of us at the school party dancing at the monster mash (we never actually made it) We were supposed to get pictures of us coloring our pumpkins while we sipped apple cider and ate cookies, but we were just tooo darned busy. But these are the pictures we did get. The boys started out with the 'strike a pose' game. Here is Cache's favorite 'silly pose':
He had a new halloween shirt on at least. He has only been wearing his costume during the day in the house. When it came time for the actual trick or treating, he didn't even touch it. What a pity, since he looked super cute in his muscle-y spiderman suit and freaky mask.

Ronin did wear his and has been wearing it pretty much every day since we got it. Complete opposites, these two are. I present to you Ronin with his best 'Luke Skywalker' pose, complete with a light saber flip:
And just because we have been trying to get in a family photo shoot, we have a few pictures to share that turned out as well as could be expected considering the subjects. I love how baby Kai is resigned to his current situation.

This one is totally cute though. If you look really close you can see his fang teeth. Cute baby vampire with a snarl to boot!

The entire clan....light sabers and all:
*sigh* I wonder if I will ever get a decent family shot. So much for the photo Christmas cards this year!

Hope you had a Spooktacular Halloween!

Fall Frolic

2010-10-27T21:00:00.002-04:00

We set out of doors this last weekend to enjoy one of the most beautiful days we have had this fall. The sun was out and the leaves were ready for throwing:For jumping:

For Running:
And just general laying about:
Of course Ronin couldn't let the day pass without some serious ninja tricks:
We also decided to decorate a bit for the holiday. We thought to cover the real spiderwebs on our house with fake, green ones instead. Even our little keepsake from our summer concrete work makes a very great spooky 'headstone.' We took a trip to the store for some pumpkins and would you believe that they were almost out? They had only the enormous ones left so we didn't get any. What a shame... a halloween with no real pumpkins! We dropped the ball this year for sure.
Malachi was equally interested in the leaves and we raked up a pile of his own so he could play. The beauty of the trees changing colors is truly a sight to behold.
Malachi's hair color seems to match their hues!
What a happy day we spent. We played, and picnic-ed. It was lovely.

Oh, dear me!

2010-10-25T19:35:00.000-04:00

Our sweet little baby boy is a total pig... He loves food! Table food, baby food, junky food... he love it all!
His eating skills are really taking off. He can finish off rice cereal, fruit, milk and yogurt all in one sitting.
We think he is pretty darned cute too.... I think I am melting!
He has some new additions to share with you all too. These two are just the beginning. His top fangs came in too. Need to get a shot of our baby vampire.... very funny!

Summer Recap: Camping

2010-10-22T20:02:00.004-04:00

One thing we did a lot of this summer was camping.

Well, I guess we didn't do a lot of it... but twice as a family and once with just the boys is a lot for the parents. In fact at one point I kept thinking I would find my own parents around the campsite, but then quickly realized WE were the parents! What a great responsibility we have. Of course Ronin and Cache take very well to the outdoors. Mostly because they love head lamps...
hotdogs...
and to be honest, they love using the great outdoors as their bathroom (it's something they still can't get over *sigh*)
Malachi got into it too. He was right in his element, although I was still not willing to let him crawl through the dirt. Not yet anyway.
Patrick was also in his element. He loves camping and he loves his boys. Doesn't get much better than this for him.
We played with our walkie talkies and got to hang out at the lake.
Ronin found treasures galore. We had such a huge pile of shells and rocks that we made him select only a few to come home. Somehow that pile kept growing as well. I think I finally just threw them all out last week. I hate finding things stashed in our living room.
Malachi loved the sun and practiced his eating skills.
Cache wouldn't get out of the water. This particular camping trip was by far the most relaxing weekend I had all summer. The kids played for hours and I read a book. And then the boys and I went on a canoeing adventure. It was pure enjoyment
We love camping (as you can see) Next summer Malachi will be able to give it a thumbs up too. Can't wait until then!

Summer Recap: The Garden

2010-10-20T22:53:00.006-04:00

I do realize summer is oooover, but there are a few things that we did that need to be documented.
First item.... The Garden. This is what it looked like this time around. Completely unruly pushing the boundaries of 'eyesore'.

So I ordered the Square Foot Gardening book and we got started to be sure next years harvest is more streamlined and successful. Patrick and Ronin built the boxes. (I dropped one on Ronin's toe which was baaaad. He screamed and cried "What did you do that for Mom?" Boy did I feel horrible! He still has blood under his nail and periodically asks me how long it will be there. Makes me feel bad all over again.
I put a light natural stain on the outside of the boxes just to make them look nicer and to help them weather a bit better.
And then we got to installing them. This took a lot of time. Mostly because it was a big job! Plus you have to factor in weather and rocks in the dirt (our yard has a TON of them). And you only have one day in any given weekend to get it done and that is only if there isn't a birthday party, ward thing or other responsibility that takes precedence. So needless to say its been a long process and really isn't quite they way I want it yet, but for the first season it will be fine.
Malachi got in on all the action too. Boy that kid loves dirt and rocks:
Mmmm crunchy.
After getting them all in, I filled them with a mix of compost and such and planted some garlic. They are sprouting already! I now realize it took up one entire box and I have so many other things that I want to plant so I need to be careful with my spacing. There will be a few more boxes for the front yard and hopefully a lovely garden next summer. I can hardly wait! Just counting the days until it is warm again. And considering how warm it actually gets, I never never thought I would be wishing for it. But gardening is just so much fun. ; )

Playing Trains

2010-10-10T22:55:00.002-04:00

It is so odd, and amazing to watch Cache being the "big brother." He is so wonderful to Kai. He helps him with all kinds of things. Eating, sleeping and even playing:

One thing the boys can't get enough of is cardboard boxes. I really hate kicking them around the house, so I only let them keep any box for a few days. There is always another one coming in, so I don't feel too mean putting rules on it ; ) This was train day. I am surprised Kai sat through it all. He was quite enthralled as you can see:
Not really a happy, smiling, "I'm having fun!" face, but at least he wasn't crying. Most of the time I think he wonders why he said he would come to this family in the first place. Maybe he thinks we are crazy, or that he is in over his head. Regardless, he is ours! And we are so glad he is! Cache continues to grow up in so many ways and I hope he can feel some sense of love and responsibility as a big brother. Having Ronin gone during the days has helped him take control of his life and make it his own. It's fun to watch.

Choo-Choo!

Happy Birthday Ronin!

2010-09-25T00:37:00.003-04:00

Our dear spunky Ronin has turned 6!!!

It's amazing to think that only 6 years ago I was completely alone without this wild boy in my life. What did I do with my time??! So this year we opted out of having a friends party (again) and spent our time together as a family. Patrick and I were gone for the weekend celebrating THE anniversary and came home on Ronin's birthday. The friends we left the kids with actually made him this cake. They are awesome! We, however... not so much. (but it was great not having to worry about a cake the same day we got back ; )
Sprinkles, candles, sugar! Ronin is in heaven! He got a few gifts too. (awsoooooome...)
And a camera which really IS awesome! It makes some cool noises too, which has helped Ronin love it even more.
We had a great time! We also went to the arcades and out to dinner on a separate day, but of course I forgot to charge the camera so we didn't get any photos. But Ronin took his camera and hopefully soon I can get a few downloaded. It could take awhile to wade through them all. I think he has taken close to 200 photos so far. Some are of people, others are of milk jugs, the floor, his blanket. Pretty much anything he sees. It's an interesting montage of life as a 6 yr. old boy.
Happy Birthday Ronin!! You are such a special, fun and fantastic 6 year old boy. Thanks for being in our family. WE LOVE YOU!!

First day of 1st Grade!

2010-09-25T00:29:00.002-04:00

Welp, school has officially started (yeah, its been going for a while now) but we did take a few photos. Unfortunately it was also the morning the camera decided to stop using its auto-focus abilities, so we only got 2 photos.

Ronin said he wanted to act like he was walking to school all by himself (when in reality I actually drove him ; )

1st grade is AWESOME! He loves every bit about it. They have dance parties on friday and he walks home from the bus showing off his dance moves. He says he is good at 'skills'. I asked him what kind and he said, "you know, karate skills and other skills." I promise, he just came up with that one on his own.
He is getting really good at math and loves P.E. The first week of school he recounted all the facts about hand sanitizer and germs. He checks out comic books from the library and is obsessed with buying a snack from the lunch lady. 1st grade has brought on 50+ more sight words (uh, the first 50 we are still struggling with), lots of reading responsibilities and an intense writing curriculum. 1st grade made mommy secretly wish we were still only dealing with kindergarten. But time marches on and so does Ronin. And it is most definitely to his own beat. What an amazingly energetic and happy boy he is! Here is to a great year of 1st grade!!

10 years and Counting!

2010-09-24T23:47:00.003-04:00

Patrick and I just celebrated 10 whole years of marriage. That is utterly shocking. I am not sure why. It may be because we are still together and haven't killed each other yet, or maybe its because through it all we are still managing to have fun in this journey together!

This is how our trip started. We left the two older boys with some friends (*gulp*). Dear baby Malachi had to come along of course and was unhappy about the seating arrangements. I think he would have preferred to be up front. So to keep him from crying I had to sit in the back with him. All while patrick 'pretended' to have the day off ; ) I think there was only one call and a few texts that had to be sent that day.

We finally made it to the Snapdragon Inn where our gorgeous room was waiting for us. This bed was TO DIE FOR! I want it in my house and I want it NOW! The entire Inn has been remodeled and every detail has been accounted for. This is the former house of literary editor Maxwell Perkins. (read: editor of Hemingway, Floyd, Fitzgerald!) We walked into our room and I knew I wouldn't want to leave. Patrick and Malachi really enjoyed playing on the bed. It was aaaallll downy soft pillows, mattress and duvet. Very luxurious.
Our friends and their family are the owners of the Inn and left us a special gift to help us celebrate the occasion. It was so unexpected and so very sweet!
We spent most of our time doting over this little baby of ours. It was really fun to have him all to ourselves. And we did find out something about him, which isn't entirely new, but he is an absolute PIG! This kid ate both of us under the table. He couldn't get enough of all the 'adult food' that the restaurants had to offer. And we were so busy stuffing his face we didn't get any pictures of it.

Here he is learning how to stand!
We enjoyed an afternoon walking around the lake behind the Inn. It was the perfect fall day with a little chill in the air.
Hey there bebe....what's a happenin?? (how cute is this face?!)
A smile with a little drool. I am loving his red hair!
We stopped at the local farmers market and tried out some Raspberry bread. It was made with home grown berries and fresh sour cream and as you can see, Kai adored every last bit: (oink, oink)
Here's a little looksie at who baby Kai actually resembles. Does that just scream ;spitting image' to you?
Patrick and I put the baby down for a nap and spend most of the afternoon on the back porch. We have decided that the next house we live in HAS to have a wrap around porch, and rocking chairs just like this. There is no other reason to even have a house if you don't have a rocking porch. Honestly it is that fun. I realized it was the first time in a long while that we have had a chance to just sit and talk. I felt like a down right jabber mouth after we got done. It felt so good to get through a sentence let alone a full thought without a kid interrupting. Pure bliss I tell you!
Here are more shots of the lake. Malachi kept leaning his head against my neck. I think he just wanted to sleep, but it was so sweet to feel him. Like he was trying to hug me.
A different Lake Runnemeade shot:
And here we are at the gazebo. One big happy family, minus two ; ) It was such a relaxing and enjoyable weekend. The perfect way to celebrate these last 10 amazing years.
Thank you Patrick for loving me, for trusting me and honoring me each day. Thank you for giving me the gift of being a mother and these three beautiful and precious (and crazy) boys to love. Thank you for choosing me to go through this life (and beyond) with. I can't imagine anyone else being by my side! Happy Anniversary!!

My Thumb turned Green!

2010-08-12T23:28:00.002-04:00

Check out what's growing in our yard. After last years battle between the tomato plants and 24 days of rain in June, we finally have some REAL live growing plants at our house this year:

The tomatoes are sprouting out everywhere. I am amazed that it all actually works and it comes from just a little seed. I have been watching the bees busily working all summer to make this plant really bloom. Truly this world is amazing!
We finally have some green peppers starting too. And for awhile I really thought it was a bust, but I remain surprised! I have never wanted to grow anything in my life and if you ask my MIL she will tell you how many of her plants I have killed. But finally having some success has brought about an obsession with gardening. I love it. I have ordered so many plant catalogs and can't stop reading them. Patrick says it seems like the most boring magazine to read, but I can't get enough of it. I can't wait to get my full garden going next spring!
And, check out who I saw watching us eat our dinner the other night. Hmmmm. It was 6pm and all I could think of was ticks and my beautiful plants that were eaten to nubs last year. Darn Deer. Go eat somewhere else!
Of course maybe I don't mind so much having my 'food storage' hanging out in my front yard. Someone get me my gun! ...Evil Laugh... (just kidding, I don't actually own one ; )

Eatin' It Up!

2010-07-22T13:39:00.002-04:00

Our dear baby Kai couldn't wait one more day to eat at the table with the rest of us. He isn't even 6 months yet, but he is definitely ready. We ground him up some apple and banana goodness this morning. Dug out a bib (um, where on earth did we get that?!) and got to feeding. He has had banana for the last few days so we thought it was safe to venture onto a fruit mixture.

Of course the kids couldn't wait to get feeding him either. It's so much fun watching them.
Ronin has turned out to be the greatest helper. He loves his brother. He is always ready to help find pacifiers and is constantly loving Kai up with hugs and kisses.
Cache is turning out to be a great big brother too. He is more loving and kind to Kai and as you can see wants to get in on the action. I love watching Kai interact with his brothers. They really do love each other!

Uh-Oh!

2010-07-01T21:18:00.001-04:00

Malachi: 5 months old

Guess we have a thumb-sucker on our hands. That little sneak.... I love how his pacifier is crammed underneath him too. Guess I can save money on pacifiers! How cute are his little linked pinkies? Oh, how I LOOOVE this baby!

Father's Day

2010-06-28T23:11:00.002-04:00

Somehow this year Father's Day became just like Christmas. The kids were SO excited to give Patrick his gift. They were in their jammies ready for pictures and begging for us to get up so we could get started.

Of course Patrick hammed up his excitement just to keep the boys going. And they were definitely enjoying themselves. Laughing and begging for him to open his present!
Super Ham...

Finally he opened his gift, sheesh! The kids couldn't stand the suspense! We made up these silhouette pictures from THIS tutorial and had the boys sign them. So incredibly simple and sweet but stunning as well.
A little bit of love for each boy. I decided not to do Malachi this time around. Mostly because I ran out of time and didn't quite know how I would get a good profile shot. The idea of the boys holding him up so I could get his picture made me a bit scared.

All in all we had a great Father's Day. Well the kids and I did and we hope Patrick did too, although I didn't ask him! We of course had church and I was scheduled to give a talk on fathers which caused enough stress for the day. Plus we had the fire alarm go off 3 times during Sacrament Meeting! It was eventful! We are very grateful to have such a wonderful, fun and loving father in our home. Thank you Patrick for all you do for us. You are priceless!

Let's Go Fly A Kite

2010-06-05T12:36:00.004-04:00

As a part of our Memorial Weekend celebrations we picked up a few new items:

The local toy store was going out of business so we snagged some kites and stopped at the beach after picking up Patrick's new bike. We originally meant to spend only an hour but ended up staying the entire afternoon. It was the first real quality time we have spent as a family in a while and it was glorious.

The wind was perfect. All you had to do was stand there and it did the rest. It's the best way to have your first kite flying experience.

Cache decided to clip his kite to his belt. And just enjoy the view:
It was also Malachi's FIRST experience at the beach! We all loved it so much. It was peaceful and fun and just what our family needed.
Our kite flying was really the start of an entire week with Patrick off of work, and now its practically over. It has been so relaxing and wonderful to have him around. We are all dreading monday morning. This week Patrick started to landscape the back yard and I have done some gardening. My tomato's are actually growing! We have had bbqs with friends and the boys went to the Father's and Son's campout. We have had our weekly movie night loaded with the regular pizza, popcorn and crappy movie and we will finish off today with Ronin's baseball game. Once sunday is here you can feel the regular week and work responsibilities pounding at the door but we do technically have one more day with each other. We hope its a good one.

Only two and a half more weeks of school and then our summer will start. We hope to go to Palmyra with family, Rhode Island for a work trip (its so close we get to tag along!) and then Grandma and Grandpa S will come to stay in July. Hopefully we get to see Grandma L in August and then its right back to school in September. I feel like the summer is almost over and we haven't even started yet. We hope to do some reading work with Ronin so he is solid to go to 1st grade and then there will be the pool and free movie day's at the theater, plus popsicles and bike riding. Lots of our friends will be away for large parts of the summer and this is our first experience with adjusting from school to summer so it should be interesting. I hope I can keep the boys busy enough that they don't drive me crazy or disappear into the basement to watch movies all day. With Ronin's energy we should have a bit of stress but also he will be around to entertain Cache which will be a nice change of pace for me. And Malachi will just sit around and watch it all.

Memorial Day Weekend

2010-06-05T11:57:00.004-04:00

What a blast we had!

Patrick picked up a new/old bike off of craigslist. It's a GT Performer trick bike. Kinda like the one he had when he was a kid. He has been searching high and low for something affordable but fun and he finally found it. He also found a hobby that will give him something to 'tinker' with as he put it. It was so fun to watch him ride around on it. He can still make the bike hop and he is perfecting his wheelies. Of course the kids think its the coolest thing and love to ride on the pegs up and down the driveway. Well, we picked this baby up on a saturday and by monday (Memorial Day) they were out washing and tinkering away:

Every boy has a bike now. They scrubbed those bikes till they shined! Patrick gave his GT some TLC and got off rust spots, fixed up the neck (although it still needs help) and inspected the tires. There is still some work to be done on it, but its usable and a lot of fun.
The boys of course wanted to be just like dad. thank heavens they are learning to clean from someone here! I loved watching how serious they took it all. Of course Cache was concentrated in his cleaning while Ronin jumped from thing to thing with more speed than an alley cat.
How cute is this tricycle and its owner? I love this little chubby-cheeked kid.

We also had our towns parade. It was full of firemen, city council men, scouts and brownies. I love this little parade so much. We walk to the corner and sit ourselves right down:
We are getting to know our neighbors quite well and while they may think we are crazy for having so many kids (three is a lot!) I think they like us just fine and of course they adore the baby. We felt down right American as we enjoyed our Memorial Holiday. There are so many amazing things that we enjoy here in the states and we take so much of it for granted. This land has truly been blessed and we feel very blessed to live here. I hope we can be more mindful and grateful for all that people have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice to keep this country going. Wow, I feel patriotic and it's not even July yet!

Cache the Singer

2010-05-10T13:07:00.002-04:00

Today you made up your own version of The Driver on the Bus:

The Cacher on the bus says:

here's a eyeball

The Cacher on the bus says

here's a eyeball

all through the town

The Ronin on the bus says:

here's a picture

The Ronin on the bus says:

here's a picture

all through the town

You sing ALL day long. We hear you in the morning as you come up the stairs, and it rarely stops. We love it and hope you keep it up all your life. Of course it might be nice if you didn't sing at the top of your lungs when the baby is sleeping ; )

Baby Malachi-3 Months Old!

2010-05-05T12:54:00.003-04:00

My sweet baby. He has turned 3 months old. My oh my how time moves forward and how you have stolen the hearts of everyone in this house. Here are a few pictures to remind us that you were once so so small. Of course Dad is out of town with the good camera so we will have to deal with blurry photos and moms total disregard for good picture taking. But, you are a baby so the pictures will be cute no matter what!

I'm surprised at how fast I have come to adore you. Don't tell your brothers, but it was a lot faster than with either of them. In fact it was instant. Everything about you and I finally fits all the scenarios you read in baby books. Instant connection, you have stolen my heart away with each moment. You sleep really well (finally a baby that sleeps through the night!), you are still eating so well despite obstacles that have been set in our path. And you are growing fast and chunking right up. I wonder if you will out grow both of your brothers by age 2.
Your mellow disposition keeps us all delighted. The only struggle we have is your hatred for your car seat. Which, although you cry constantly when driving, actually is a blessing because it means we stay home and enjoy time together instead of running around crazy every day. Something that we won't get to do for ever. You have increased my ability to love not just you but all the boys in this family. Something I appreciate so much as I am sure your brothers do too.
When you finally started smiling, I gasped! Your eyes actually sparkle! I had heard about babies like that, but have never seen it in action, until now. Oh my how blessed I feel when you smile at me. How lovely it is to have you circled about by your brothers as you smile at them and they laugh at you. We are each so blessed to have you in this family and I know you are a special addition given to us by Heavenly Father. I am sure there are many things we will get to learn just from you. I look forward to the years of watching you grow beside your brothers and learning and laughing with you. We love you baby Kai!

T-Ball Season

2010-04-26T23:32:00.004-04:00

Welp, we finally took the plunge. We started T-Ball! We had to get permission to play in a league that plays on Saturday since the league boundaries that we live in only plays on Sunday. Ronin is beyond excited for all of it. He LOVES baseball. We practice almost every day in the yard. Plus his team practices on Tuesday and we had his first game this last saturday. Here he is warming the bench:

Since we had to wait for permission, we signed up a bit late and he has yet to get his jersey. He was quite bummed out but once they started playing he forgot all about it.
We picked him up some official baseball pants, cleats and even a little cup to wear. I thought that was silly and Ronin still doesn't understand what it's for, but the coach said he recommended it. And after seeing their first practice I can see why. It is total 5 year old MAYHEM out there! They tackle each other for the ball. Throw the ball without looking and generally have NO idea what they are doing. It's just about the most fun I have had watching something in a long time. There is no way you can stop from smiling watching them all out on the field running around like crazy. We got a lot of pictures of all the stages of the game. Here he is getting his batting stance set.
And then he was left to hit. I love the concentration in this picture. His little tongue is even sticking out. This was right before he hit the ball.
Then he had to RUN! And of course hold onto that monstrous-sized batting helmet while he did.
He is becoming a fast little runner. And again with the tongue! He worked so hard to round those bases. That kid is serious about speed.
Here he is bringing it home. I just love to look at those little cleats. They are SO cute on him.
Every kid gets to bat and run all the bases. They also all get a chance at different spots in the field. While he was at the pitchers mound he tried out a few stances. He even kicked the dust off the plate and tried to look official. It was funny to watch. I love this shot. So professional.
Another stance they are working on... Baseball Ready! This one is perfect! It's such a joy to see how much he loves playing.

I think we might have a Babe Ruth on our hands.

Easter 2010!

2010-04-26T23:04:00.003-04:00

Easter 2010. What a lovely time!

We got to spend time with some of our special family (uh... why don't I have more pictures?)

(pic. courtesy of our special family)

We hid baskets.

We made faces.
We ate a lot of chocolate (thank you neighbors!) Ronin received his first stash of Pokemon cards. Oh the influence of kindergarteners! They are awesome and apparently a necessity to every 5 year old. What a perfect thing for an Easter basket.
Cache got his own harmonica. He kept taking Patrick's and filling them all with spit so it was high time he got one of his own. He really adores it as does Patrick since they like to practice together.
We went to the town Egg Hunt, but were about 7 minutes too late. Every egg was gone! So we stopped at the store for some supplies and held our own hunt in the front yard.

Cache found all the eggs in daring places. Hidden among bugs and tossed on the roof. He has no fear!

We watched Conference, roasted marshmallows and spent a lot of time together. It was so delightful. We are enjoying the new spring trees that have hidden our neighbors away for another season. Everything is in full bloom, including our allergies. It's absolutely gorgeous here. We love spring!

Kindergarten Concert: Down On The Farm

2010-04-26T00:00:00.000-04:00

Ronin had his first Kindergarten concert this past week. It was all songs about farms. They were required to dress up as a farm animal. Luckily we had this dog costume in the toy stash! Every farm has a dog right?

He was really excited, despite what these photos portray. There was some talking by teachers and that always requires a dog to sit still.

Here they are singing B-I-N-G-O. Perfect for him! We had a lot of fun learning the songs from Ronin. He was happy to sing them to us all day. I would wake up at night with the tunes running through my head. They didn't leave me all week!
Cache had a bit of a tough time paying attention. He might have started going a bit crazy there at the end.
Cache is loving baby Kai more and more each day. Both boys are great at taking care of the baby. They are fabulous big brothers. Kai is lucky to have them since mom leaves him stuck in his swing a bit too often. The older boys come to his rescue to chat, smile and give him his pacifier.
Cache has grown up a lot these last few months. He is desperate to go to school and loves visiting Ronin at his. His talking is really improving and he has moved up to 3T clothes! He couldn't be happier since there are a lot of super-hero clothes to be worn. He is our little Batman. He likes to play super-hero every day. It's very cute. He also likes playing a game he calls "Watch This." Which means mom sitting watching him do something really 'awesome' and while he yells "watch this!" There is a lot of jumping off of things, running around and air kicking. Oh, and lots of sound effects too ; )

Here is the whole boy tribe at the concert. I couldn't be happier with all of them. They each are such lovely and wonderful boys. What else could a woman want?

Ridin' Bikes

2010-03-24T22:41:00.002-04:00

Patrick is finally back in town for a long stretch and we have been taking advantage of that and the great weather. I got hit with Strep last week so Patrick was care giver and fun finder for the week. The boys got out the bikes and headed to the park:

Gotta love those cowboy boots! They showed up on the scene when Ronin was 2. I sincerely hope Kai gets to wear them too. They are so darn cute.
Ronin now rides his bike sans training wheels. We can't believe he learned so fast. It took him one day of practice and he has it down. Of course its still scary and he only wants to ride where there is a lot of flat road and if he gets even close to something he starts to scream and practically jumps off the bike, but you know, at least there are no training wheels! We are very excited that spring is finally here!

Blessing Day

2010-03-17T20:41:00.002-04:00

We blessed Malachi last sunday. It was a crazy day full of a lot of things so we didn't document it the way we should have. But we did manage to get ONE picture. Isn't that the way it goes once you have too many children. The youngest ones don't get all the pictures the first one does. But this one is a handsome one, so at least we made it count:

We have blessed three boys in this awesome outfit. White and pure, just like they are. What an amazing experience it is to watch the priesthood in action and know it is in full force for your own little child. I am pretty sure all heaven stops to watch as these new souls embarks on their journey in life. I am so grateful to be apart of it. Malachi is sweet, gentle and yet very serious. Even his smiles are on the more serious side. Although he does laugh in his sleep. Full belly laughs. Like he knows what a joke we all are and he that he is stuck with us! At least he has a sense of humor!

We are so grateful that he is ours. We love you Malachi!

Bumbo Baby

2010-03-04T16:01:00.002-05:00

So many of us were curious as to what Kai would look like when he was born. Would he look like Patrick, with blonde hair and blue eyes? or like Cache and I with dark hair and dark eyes? Well, wonder no longer. It seems we have a redhead on our hands:

A red head with a double chin who loves sitting in the bumbo chair.
What a cutie pie. seriously have you ever seen a cuter old man??

Snow Storm

2010-03-01T21:11:00.002-05:00

We got hit by snow this past week. It's quite a story actually with lots of plot twists. If you are patient with my storytelling, you are welcome to sit and read awhile. But I don't mind if you just skip to the end if you want. It all ends well incase you were wondering.

It all started Thurs. morning. Patrick was scheduled on a flight for LA and left early for Newark Airport. At about 8 am I texted to see if he was on his plane. Infact, he was not. He was standing in line looking at a departure board red with cancellations. He said he would be catching a cab to come home instead. Of course I was ecstatic to not have to deal with all 3 kids on my own for at least a couple of days. Patrick arrived home just minutes before the really big snowflakes started to fall. And then it snowed for the next 24 hours straight.

Later that night at bed time, Ronin announced that he was sick and then instantly puked on the living room rug. After getting him settled in bed with a barf-bucket (thinking we had seen the worst of it) the power went out. Ronin is deathly afraid of the dark, so this sent him into a complete panic. We raced downstairs with a flashlight where he proceeded to throw up two more times. The special thing about our house is that we are below the sewer line at the street so we actually have an electric pump that pumps the sewage (toilets, washer, dishwasher, sinks) up to the street. This of course does not work when the power is out. SO image yourself with a 5 year old that has the stomach flu that quickly turns to diarrhea. Not the best combination. The power was out for 3 hours. All three hours of which Ronin continued to throw up. We were rinsing buckets of puke and throwing them out the front door. Thankfully at midnight the power came back on and Ronin only had 2 more hours of throwing up left in him. We did get some sleep that night and woke up to this:

This is the view from our driveway. All the way at the top you can see just a hint of the street. Our driveway is almost covered with fallen trees!

This is the view down the driveway... you can see me standing at the bottom. Not the greatest way to start your day. The snow continued to fall lightly for most of the next day. We had a ward member come over with a jeep that had a snow shovel attachment and it still took him 3 hours to clear our drive. There is NO way we could have done it ourselves. We are very very grateful he was willing to come and help us out because the events of the day just kept getting more challenging!
We did get a chance to play in the snow a bit. Cache LOVES snow. Here he is STANDING in it. Yes that's right. He is actually standing up and the snow depth goes to his waist. We got a lot of it!
This photo makes me smile! This is all Cache does when he plays in the snow. It's yummy!
So that night we had a friend and his dog come for a sleepover. His parents house still was without power. This is when I realized how blessed we were to have our power come back on after only 3 hours. We are SO grateful! After about an hour of our little friend being here I smelled a really horrible smell coming from the basement. It wasn't natural gas, but it was definitely a burning smell. As I went down the stairs it got stronger and stronger. Patrick had gone to the store which meant I was alone with 3 toddlers, a newborn and a dog with a strange smell wafting up the stairs. Freaked out, I called Patrick and told him to "COME HOME NOW!" He didn't know how long it would take him to get home (there was a downed tree that had shut down our major road) and that I should call 911. I commanded the kids to get shoes and coats on and they did not hesitate in the least.

I wrapped the baby in a blanket, grabbed the 72 hour kit (luckily it was out already from the previous nights power outtage) and shuffled the kids to the garage. I called 911 and they sent out the fire department. This is the moment I was even more grateful to have a clean driveway. I piled the kids in the car where we sat and waited. Patrick pulled in right before the firetruck, but got the car stuck at the top of the drive (guess it wasn't as clean as we thought!) He ran to the boiler room to be sure it wasn't on fire while I watched 5 firemen with pick axes file into the house. After all was said and done, we had one bean bag that was smoldering under a clip lamp in the boys room I guess one of them switched it on and left the room. All of this was thrown onto the back porch and doused with piles of snow by the fire men. It took quite a while to get that cleaned up and the smell was atrocious! We had to air out the downstairs and we finished our sleepover in the living room.

It was quite a traumatic moment for me. Mostly because I know that had someone not been watching out for me, Patrick would have been on the west coast during all of these events leaving me to survive by myself. (And considering everything that happened, I wouldn't have forgiven him easily). I can handle a lot of things, but I don't think I would have made it through this weekend if he hadn't been here. He was constant in finding solutions and helping out in every way. I would have cried myself into a corner after the first puking incident and would never have come out! There are so many things I am grateful for. So many tender mercies that were shown to us. I am humbled to know that things could have turned out so much worse, but they didn't and I am so so grateful.
The snow is melting and after a bit of the stomach bug yesterday, I am on the mend both mentally and physically. Today was Patrick's last day of paternity leave. We are all dreading the start of work for him tomorrow and a long business trip next week. Hopefully we will have no more snow, no more flu and no fire!

Kai the Canadian

2010-02-22T19:52:00.002-05:00

Our baby is growing nicely. He is sleeping well and after a day or two of rough eating, he is back on track and gaining weight (not that he ever lost an ounce). We love him! Ronin keeps saying "he is so adorable!" and asks me constantly "isn't it fun to have a new baby?" Yes it is! What a sweet little man he is. Patrick's boss sent us a little Canadian Olympic memento. A nice reminder of our experience both for Patrick and for our family.
Here is a shot Grandma S. took while she was here. It's as bright eyed as the baby and I have looked since we got home. We like to sleep a lot and feel VERY spoiled to be able to since there have been so many helpful people visiting. We loved having our Grandma's and Grandpa's here and we miss them terribly. Today Ronin lamented during his homework..."I wish Grandma was here." It was a lot more fun to have all that help and attention, that is for sure! Patrick still has one more week of paternity and we hope to make the best of it. It's only a matter of time until the routine of life kicks in again. But we are so happy to have our new baby Kai to add to that routine.

Welcome Malachi Axel Larsen!!

2010-02-06T15:28:00.005-05:00

Well, he has finally arrived.... Larsen boy #3! He is a little bit Patrick (the chin!), A little bit Cache (the eyes !) and everything else Ronin. But his sweet disposition and cute antics are all his own. Considering the drama both preceding and during his birth, he has proven to be calm, collected and is living up to his name. (Malachi= messenger from God) We got the message alright: life is predictably unpredictable. The more you try to control it the harder it fights to remain outside your grasp. But no matter, we are extremely grateful for the privilege to be his parents. Now lets just hope we don't mess him up too much.

The other crazy boys came to visit the next day. Of course their personalities all shine in this picture. Ronin is as excited as ever. I can't think of any time when he is out of energy. Ronin is ecstatic to have a new baby brother and has been so helpful already. Cache on the other hand is welcoming of Malachi but only from a distance. He has been clingy and apprehensive of all the changes taking place. And the baby seems pretty mellow with it all.
The kids poked and prodded him to make sure he was a sound investment.
Cache counted his toes to make sure they were all accounted for. Again, no complaints from the owners of those toes. Well, at least no crying.... since Malachi seems a bit unsure of being checked out.
All in all, three lovely, crazy, rambunctious and fun loving boys. What a blessing they each are. What a responsibility. What an amazing journey this life is and I can't imagine any other boys to go through it with.

Patrick was an absolute rock during the delivery. I bossed him around, cried, screamed and hugged him. Every emotion that could go through me did, and all in the same night. He loved me, cared for me and encouraged me. I love him dearly for that. I can say his delivery skills have improved with each baby and he still is the only man I would want to go through all of this with. He is a loving and devoted father, husband and friend. We feel blessed that he is ours for eternity.

So the story.... ahhhh, the story! Lets say it all started 9 months ago when we got pregnant during the one time of year when we shouldn't be! Patrick's work for the Olympics started over a year ago and have been going steady ever since. There has been a lot of late nights and a lot of travel. The olympics start in less than two weeks. He managed to get time off to come home for the baby's birth. Considering it was our 3rd we didn't think we would go past our due date. But again, careful what you plan for... After being checked at 39 and 40 weeks and still only being dilated to a 2 (at best, the dr. said) we were discouraged that baby kai would show up before Patrick left town again. The stress and pressure of Patrick's departure loomed over us and at 40 weeks (on the dot) we decided to induce labor. Wednesday night, February 3rd we went into the hospital. We were confident that after some medication to soften the cervix, my labor would start right away and we would be off! Of course first you have to have 2 different applications of the medicine. 4 hours apart, so after all that was said and done we were already 8 hours into it and still waiting. I had contractions here and there, but nothing coming regularly or hard in any way. That's when the dr. suggested breaking out the pitocin. Which of course was the original plan although we wanted to see if we could get away without it. Indeed, we could not. So we started the pitocin drip...drip...drip. After 3 hours of a steady labor brought on by the Pitocin, the dr. checked me and said I was only dilated to a 4... how could that possibly be??

Next form of action was to break my water. Which doubled the intensity of each contraction. And lets just say, it. was. intense! I am thinking I am handling things pretty well, even though I am in a lot of pain. I am showing all the signs of transition. I am shaking uncontrollably, I am saying "I CAN'T DO THIS!", the contractions are coming in waves so strong I can't breathe through them very well. Patrick is calming me down, talking me off the ledge. The nurse is readying everything for a baby to be born. It's 7 am and the doctor checks me again. I am only dilated to a 6. WHA!?!?! A 6!!! The doctor says the cervix is tilted a bit and not lining up with the head of the baby, so the contractions aren't triggering dilation. Now I am screaming..."I really CAN'T DO THIS!!!" The idea of laboring this hard for the next few hours has me overwhelmed. There is no way to tell how long it will go on, but with each passing contraction I get more and more sure that I really don't want to keep doing this, so I order an epidural. The anesthesiologist has me sign the consent forms and gets things moving forward. The doctor has another idea to move things along, but was by far the most painful measure imaginable. While contracting, the dr. stretches out the cervix and aligns it with the baby's head. Doing this once stretches the cervix to an 8. All I can say is WOW!!! That REALLY hurts! This is where there was a lot of crying and yelling. I am sure Patrick's hand went numb from me squeezing it. The doctor was confident that with one more contraction like that (with her stretching the cervix) and I would be ready to push. I told the doc that she only had one more chance because I really thought I would die if we had to do it any more than that. It took another few contractions and discussion in the next hour to decide what to do. But thank heaven she was right. After one more contraction (with her stretching the cervix) there was a pushing frenzy! 20 minutes and dear baby Kai was in our arms. Right after he came, the anesthesiologist came in ready to give me an epidural but was sent away without rendering her services!

Baby Kai was SO white, covered in vernix. He couldn't open one of his eyes and quieted his cries when we started talking to him. We thought he was going to be huge but he turned out to be only 6lb. 14 oz. The littlest boy yet! Finally we could call him ours. Born at 9:12 am February 4th 2010. An amazing day to be sure. We are glad to be home after a few quiet nights with just the baby, Patrick and I. Especially since Patrick leaves for Vancouver tomorrow. We are already counting the days until he is home and actually has some time off so we can all get into a family routine. So that's the story. The story of how Malachi Axel Larsen came to be in our family.

Happy Birthday Cache!

2010-01-31T16:25:00.002-05:00

We had a private yet FUN birthday party for Cache yesterday. He is 3!!!

We had all the right attendees. Grandma L., Daddy and of course his everloving big Bro. Ronin. (Ronin was a bit sick with a fever, so he was less animated than usual). We think Cache had a lovely time.

He got lots of presents (all of which he actually picked out, so I knew he would LOVE them!)

A big big cake with some candles. He really is blowing as hard as it looks. He was determined to get those babies out and it took quite a bit of spit to get it done:

He was a happy kid! We had pizza and then played with his toys the rest of the day. He has been really great to share all he got with his brother. He has been a delight all 3 years of his life and we love having him apart of our family!
Happy Birthday Cache! We LOVE LOVE LOVE YOU!!!!

First Snow of 2009

2009-12-08T20:43:00.002-05:00

This post is long overdue, but I wanted to document it anyway. Sometime in december (or so) we woke up to our first snow of the 2009 winter season.

The boys were ecstatic and couldn't wait to get started. It was a weekend so they got to go right out and play without worrying about going to school. I came down stairs to find them all dressed up to go. Ronin helped get Cache fitted in his outfit.
You can tell we weren't ready for it since they are still wearing their rain boots, but they loved it anyway.
We have had many a snow since this time, but the kids still love it. Cache can't eat enough. His little hands get so cold, but he won't stop. It's such fun! I asked him why he liked it so much and he said "Cause its cold and yummy!" Guess I can't really argue with that.

Why we love Patrick.... and the trash in our back woods

2009-11-22T20:05:00.002-05:00

I took the entire day off of child-rearing yesterday to spend with friends and left the kids in Patrick's capable hands. I knew they would have a great time, but of course I had no idea HOW much fun they would all have. After Patrick got home from cleaning the church (he took over my responsibility there too!) he and the boys spent the entire day outside. They cleaned, raked leaves, played and of course had a glorious time. There were moments of panic... like Cache taking a hammer to the car! But mostly the boys played 'treasure chest' and found a plethora of things hiding in the yard and the ground. Ronin and Cache packed their treasures into a pirate box but Patrick put his treasures to use:

Since we have moved to this house he has been DYING for a fire pit. We have looked at them in the store and frankly the ones we like are not really worth the money and the ones that are cheap are pretty horrible looking. So Patrick took a big metal drum that he found in the woods. (Don't even ASK why we have a big metal drum stuck in the ground in our woods) and cut that baby to fashion our own fire pit:
It's pretty darn cool if I do say so myself. I think its rustic and 'sundance' looking and the fact that it was free and a day of fun for my boys makes it PERFECT! All three boys have been on cloud nine ever since. Last night they had their first fire and the boys couldn't wait to show me how it worked. So tonight we had fire #2 which is one of many to come, on our back porch. As Patrick said, campfires are one of his favorite things. Combine that with his favorite people (crazy kids!) and his favorite food (hotdogs!) and you have one happy camper at our house!
Or three happy campers if you really get down to it. (uh... I am happy too so make that 4!) They went to the store yesterday to pick up campfire provisions, but unfortunately the store was fresh out of big marshmallows. So they made due with mini ones instead.
They are quite hard to roast but very fun to eat. Cache didn't bother much with the fire, and just picked them off the stick. We went through an entire bag. What is it about marshmallows anyway?? Fluffy sugar. That's it but they are so great!
So far we are quite enjoying our Thanksgiving week as a family. I think there will be campfires every night, a Thanksgiving dinner and lots of time together. We will miss Patrick dearly when he leaves next week. Thank you for being the best dad! The best husband! And such a hard worker so we can enjoy living here in NY in this wonderful house. We love you so so much!!

Trick Or Treat!

2009-11-01T20:28:00.003-05:00

I am so embarrassed to say that this year we had to recycle our costume idea from 2006...gasp! There was just too much to do between organizing the ward Chili Cook-Off/Trunk Or Treat party, Patrick throwing out his back and being laid up for a week and me being fat and prego. Too much to do, not enough energy. So this year the Larsen's went again as Crayons...

Patrick had to make up the costumes again but this time we got to add a nice blue crayon to the mix for our baby Cache who was was in utero last time, just like baby #3 is now! I wish we would have also taken more pictures. But we didn't. Patrick got roped into being a pie tasting judge and I was running around making sure other things were done, which means our camera sat on the table while the kids ran amok. So no pictures, but lots of fun was had.
Isn't this crayon so cute you could eat him??? We have decided to grow out his hair and it is finally reaching "beatle mop top" stage. And it's SO cute. He loved his costume and loved the candy too. He got really good at yelling "Trick Or Treat" but it took him awhile to realize he could say this over and over and keep getting candy. It's a good thing too cause now we have a major candy stash and since potty training is going SO well I now have a few more candy incentives to keep him interested until it finally sticks. He is waking up with a dry pull up and is now letting me know when he has to go. In my book that is as good as trained! I am so excited since I didn't want to deal with two babies in diapers come January. And really he has trained so much faster than I thought he would so I am really proud of him! It also helps that Ronin is constantly encouraging him (also with candy) and reminding him to go. He is such a great big brother.
As always, here he is showing Cache the ropes. This year we were able to go out trick or treating in a friends neighborhood with bigger kids and Ronin was in heaven! We stayed and played until really late. The kids played toys and watched movies in the basement which the grown-ups had nice conversation and watched their own movie upstairs. It was a lovely time and considering the amount of sugar and the late bed time, church wasn't too horrible the next morning which was amazing!

All in all a very fun and exhausting Halloween (and month of October if you want to get right down to it!) We are looking forward to a calmer month in November. Lots of time off from school and even from work for Patrick which will be so wonderful. This year, in classic Larsen fashion, we will be celebrating our Thanksgiving AND Christmas at the same time since we will be traveling through Dec. and don't want to schlepp presents. Nothing like rolling all your holidays into one big binge. Of course we will still see family and do fun things in Dec. but presents are getting opened early!! I love not following the holiday rules ; )

Halloween Is On Its Way

2009-10-20T22:17:00.002-04:00

We got a gift package in the mail yesterday. Thanks Grandma S.! It was full of all sorts of fun Halloween things for the kids. When dad got home I put them all to work making spider webs for the entry way:

The kids were so interested in this 'green stuff'. We stretched...
And stretched...
And still have enough to web up half the neighborhood!

Grandma showed us this cool way to make spiders from our hands and construction paper. We put those up in our spooky window.
Here is Ronin's spider job. Pretty good! He could hardly wait for Patrick to get home to get started. He sat out on the porch in the dark waiting and waiting. And its not warm here people!
Cache! Don't look now, there are spiders above your head!!!!

We also received some fun trick-or-treat bags and a craft. It was such a fun addition to our day. We can't wait for Halloween (or at least the kids can't) I am frantic at the plans that still need to be made for our Ward Halloween party (um... I guess I'm in charge) and then there are costumes to be thought of, and made. I think that will have to go to Patrick this year. I am burned out already! The kids practiced their Trick Or Treat voices all day and I think they will bring in quite the pile of loot this year. Just in time to really fatten me up before this baby comes.

This week we are working on getting flu shots (I am late to the game apparently!) I have checked all over the county for places that do it and most people are out. Including our pediatrician. Sheesh! I found out today at my 25 week check up that I gained about 12 lbs. That put the dr. into a frenzy! I am just making up for not gaining much for the first half of the pregnancy, but hopefully I level out or I will be huge!

Ronin is still loving school and teaching him to read is going to put me in the grave. It's so difficult. I think more for me than for him. He isn't discouraged in anyway, which is a definite blessing. If anything he is over-confident. He thinks he is reading way more than what is on the page and makes up the story however he wants. I guess some day he will get it.

Cache is in the throws of potty training and informed me all day that he wanted to wear a diaper. MnM's helped coax him away from that idea every time. He did great, until tonight when he stepped in poop and peed his pants in two separate installments (so much more to clean up!). I guess one day he will get that as well. All in all we are doing great. We have happy kids and Patrick is in town for an entire month without a business trip! YEAH! We can feel the holidays ramping up and wonder if we are ready for the ride....

October Pumpkin Fun

2009-10-14T17:21:00.002-04:00

Our annual family outing that started just a mere 4 years ago, still lives on. The infamous pumpkin patch.... This year patch, chosen because of location, was less than stellar. But still we had a good time as a family. (minus the crabby mom part).

Dad took the day off (he is racking up time-off FAST!) and its a good thing too since he is leaving town again tomorrow for the weekend. We miss our daddy each time he is away. Ronin asks for him every night. And while I love sleeping in a bed by myself, it is lonely without him. Last time he was away, I asked Cache if he missed him, to which I got a resounding "NO!" It seems when the kids are young its easier to be without their dad. But us older folks sure do miss him. Here are a few pictures of our outing so we can look back on them this weekend and remember our sweet ol' dad and pine for the days when he will return. (oh, its only 4 days people...this trip will be easy!)

The farm we went to had apples and pumpkins. Unfortunately the pumpkins were scarce thanks to all the rain this year but we had a delightful time picking apples:
Once the kids started, they just couldn't stop! Our bag was overflowing, but they were really having a great time so we shoved a few more little ones in and headed on our way.
Can you see the pumpkins in the background? Yup, thats the rest of what would be called the 'patch'. I have now realized the place we went to last year that we really loved was NOT this place. At first I couldn't tell. Goes to show how bad my memory is. Last years patch was pumpkins as far as the eye could see. This year, I would say 50, tops. But the kids had fun throwing rocks instead.
And here is Stewart's Silo. Oh Stewart....if only you had a few more pumpkins. But the apples are DELICIOUS!
Later that day we had caramel apples and marker-ed up our pumpkins. The leaves are changing and falling all around. The air is fresh and crisp. Today we found frost on our car windshield. It is definitely fall, and winter is fast approaching. What a beautiful place it is!

Ronin Turns 5: The Party

2009-09-22T21:50:00.002-04:00

This year we decided to keep the birthday thing low-key. It was wonderful because we had Grandpa and Nonie L. come to visit. The timing couldn't have been more perfect. Ronin was pretty darn excited about the fact that he was 5 and that we were all there to share it.

When I woke him up in the morning, I said "Happy Birthday!" He was instantly confused. The one thing we had been waiting so long for had finally come and he couldn't believe it. "It's my birthday....today?" When he got out of bed he took a good look at himself and said he didn't look any different and was I sure he was actually five. He had a great day at school with cupcakes and prizes (and that hat!) in class and that night we had presents, brownies and icecream.
This party wasn't even close to as elaborate as last years, but it was good nonetheless. Inside those boxes were an orange watch he was dying to have (um, he can't even tell time!), and an orange hoodie. Plus he got to wear his new orange shirt to school. Something he was saving for until he turned five. We also got some baseball mitts and binoculars so we could go to the big game:
Of course we went to see the Mets since their colors are blue and ORANGE... and it was also because of our loyalty to Queens. What a great time we had! I am sure we all gained 5 lbs. from all the junk food too. But we did have an authentic baseball experience.
Ronin was adamant about us holding our baseball gloves for the pictures. We were out high above the game so there was NO way we would be catching any stray balls, but we took them anyway. We think the Mets new stadium is pretty swank and it was actually a pretty action packed game. They only lost by 1 point and at the very last moment too!
Cache was totally into it. It definitely helped that they were handing out these batting helmets. We now have 5 at our house. We loved cheering "Let's Go Mets" and clapping along to all the stadium songs. Its funny to watch these kids cheer when they had no idea what was even happening. (and the adults didn't know much either ; )
All in all, such a terrific birthday. I love this picture of my boys. Makes me excited to add another one to the dog pile. Lots of baseball playing has been going on at our house since. Ronin says one day when he is a daddy, he will play down on the field with the rest of the big guys. If he keeps practicing, he just may.

Ronin's Birthday Tribute

2009-09-18T09:01:00.002-04:00

Ronin... Our fun, rambunctious, crazy 5 year old kid. Truly a samurai who knows no bounds:

What a joy you have been to our family. You made me a mommy. You have made me laugh and cry, you have made me yell, you have made me learn to say "I am sorry." Without you I would be less of a mother, less of a person.
You are a glorious big brother. Kind, thoughtful, gentle at times, and always ready for a rumble. You love photos being taken of you, collecting items you find laying around; namely sticks, rocks and trash. You love stashing your clothes in the front closet so they are easy to deal with. You love pajama's. You love movies with popcorn and soda. You love time with your family. And we love you!
Happy birthday my little 5 yr. old. In the late nights of rockings, feedings, crying jags and stolen slumber I never thought we would make it to today. But here we are, together. I love you. We all love you. Thank you for being in our family and for loving us just the same.

Happy Birthday!

First Day of Kindergarten

2009-09-09T21:45:00.003-04:00

Well, it finally happened. The first day of Kindergarten that we thought would never arrive, has indeed come and gone. Ronin was beyond excited. Mom was beyond nervous. The first day was a half-day (thank goodness). We woke up too early and had to kill some time, so there was a lot of photos being taken . Ronin wanted to show off his bus tag. Its bright yellow and coordinates with the the bus that he rides. The backpack he so desperately wanted was backordered until October, so he is using an old one for now. One that his teacher has already informed us is inadequate. The ONE item he takes to and from school everyday (a folder) is too big for this backpack. Which is silly because this is the only backpack that isn't gi-normous on him. But we will just have to make due until October!

Cache was more than willing to join in on the photoshoot. They took their favorite stance. I wonder how many photos I will have of these two in this position by the time they are grown. Oh how cute are they?? That hat Cache has on never leaves his head. He wears it down to bed. Hooks it on the headboard while he sleeps and then puts it on before coming up in the morning. It has these hideous fish on it, and he loves it. Why do they never wear the cool things you buy them, but only the tacky ones. (OY! but I did NOT buy this one!)
We made it down to the bottom of the hill to the bus stop with some time to spare. Ronin was willing to give me a big squeeze for the photo. It was his idea. He is such a fun and loving boy and always ready for a photo. And, he was so ready to get on that bus.
We waited for a while. He never left his spot. Where is that darn bus??
Giving one last squeeze to his brother and a kiss, he said he would miss Cache. And so far, each time he has come home he talks about how much he missed him during the day. They play SO well together now that they don't see each other so much! It's really fun to watch.
He has such a funny look on his face. An "older and wiser" brother look. He is SO dramatic...

Once the bus actually came, there was a bit of apprehension. But NO tears. NO fighting or even a question as to what he should do. He got on that bus. Said hi to the adults that were helping him and found a seat. There were a lot of them since he was the first stop of the day.
A big empty bus, with our little Kindergartener on it. (he's not even 5 yet!) I teared up. It was difficult, but fun all at the same time. I was prepared more for a tantrum and fear than I was for him to jump on without a hitch. He really is growing up.
When he came home we asked how his first day was. The look on his face wasn't one of joy. "Not Good" he said. Of course we had instant worry and panic. Preparing for a year of pain and misery. Apparently his teacher wouldn't let him color his entire picture orange. (his favorite color) She wanted him to use more colors. AND she told him to color his school bus yellow, not orange because that is what color they really are. He was really bothered by all of this. And so is Patrick. Creativity has been a constant discussion in our house and he was instantly convinced that the school system had squelched Ronin from day one. We tried to discuss that when it comes to art, he really can make his things however he wants and he doesn't necessarily have to do what the teacher says. But he MUST follow what she says with all other subjects. This is a grey area I wasn't anticipating delving into at this age. I am sure this discussion will continue through the years, especially if Patrick has any say in it. (He is still quite bothered) He took the day off to spend with Ronin and make sure he got to the bus and back. It was a special time for each of us.
The next day was MUCH better. It started out rough since we had changed bus stops and had to run the last block to get there in time. But when he came home, he had a huge smile on his face. He met some summer friends in the lunch room. He had nap time (but didn't sleep), lunch time, dance time, and everything was a fun time. He told me tonight as he was jumping on his bed with excitement, that he wished he could live at school and that his teacher could be his mom. I am so glad that he is excited, but I must say this is NOT the information I love to hear.

But I love him anyway, this special kindergartener of mine. I think the rigid schedule of a grade schooler will be good for me as a mom and the rest of us as a family. So far we have really focused on being here for each other in this transition. There are a lot of changes coming in these next few months and we need to be a strong family to get through them all. I feel happy that it has started out this good. I hope we can keep it going. Here's to the rest of the year!

Bloody Stumps

2009-09-06T17:21:00.000-04:00

Ronin found my fingernail polish and was adamant about trying it himself. I don't think he has found his future career, but you can judge for yourself:

yup. total bloody stumps. that is nail polish not blood. I promise!
He was quite proud of himself and I was just grateful he didn't get any on my chairs.

Making Cookies

2009-09-04T17:08:00.000-04:00

There is one thing that these kids love to do and that is cook...anything. Ronin says he is a chef. He wants to cook eggs on the skillet, pour his own beverages, and anything else that involves him being "grown up" with food. So the other day we decided to make cookies. We put on some music, filled some cups with chocolate chips (to snack on) and got to work.

Here is some of Ronin's perfected air guitar:

Here they are both dancing between bites of chocolate

The cookies were quite delicious and we actually had 1 hour without a tantrum, a fight or major problem. It was truly sweet. We will be doing this a lot more often if they stay this nice!

Hangin' Outside

2009-09-03T17:02:00.002-04:00

September is by far my favorite month here in NY. It is gorgeous every day. Perfect sun and breeze ratio. The sky is a beautiful blue and there is nothing but happiness in the air. We spend everyday at the park. And I mean HOURS. Kids are so happy to be outside and enjoying the last moments before school starts. I had to mow the lawn today so the kids decided to take some pictures.

And in case you are wondering what a pregnant woman with no make up looks like, well look no further. Ronin was good enough to get a shot of me too:
mowing the lawn. Ad total pregnant thing to do. Only 2 weeks until we find out what it is. Ronin is SO beyond excited. If its a girl he will name it Sarah. If its a boy, he says he will just pretend that its a girl. I think there might be a few issues we need to work out before the baby comes. Cache talks about a baby, but we are pretty sure he has no idea what is about to hit him. Poor thing. At least Ronin will be in school so he won't notice a lot of changes.