thanksgiving

here is the entire Larson Family, thanksgiving was delayed because of plagues of pink eye, strep throat, swine flu and who knows what else. We still managed to get together and celebrate a couple of days late. hooray!
decorating our christmas tree...and here is the best news...I got to retire my kodak easyshare and let it rest in peace as the designated kids camera and we got a new Sony I dunno what's it called...but it's a huge improvent. My christmas is now complete!
I just liked the raspberries on this yummy concoction Rachel made....
Here are the two cutest nephews in the world! Except for Dane of course...
our humongously long thanksgiving table! I'm so glad Rachel has a huge house to have family get togethers in.....we usually host a family event about 2 times a year and we all are eating on folding chairs and the floor!
Eva's brown eyes are chocolicious!
Oliver again! I need to put some pics of the rest of my neices and nephews on here. We had a good time but it flew by, we celebrated two birthdays, watched Nathan Terry prance around in glow in the dark footy jammies, and ate ate ate until we could eat no more. I'm on the celery, fat free ranch, and lettuce diet until I have this baby! I swear I'm going to break 200 this time. ACCCCCCKKKK!

some recentish pictures

the day we found out we were having a male child.....I ate the meatiest breakfast EVER and eva colored her nose red for the celebration
Stephanie and Everett...sorry for my strange flash!
Child Labor numero 1: Addie frantically sewing on her sewing machine
Nathan's lookin' FIIIIIINE


the last of the fall flowers..........................
Child labor 2: Our pizza parlor...if you order a pizza from us you will get child labor but they are mastering the art of crust making. the secret ingredient is Eva's flyaway hairs..yummy.

thanksgiving again

Hey family peeps

I'm really very hungry for the biggest thanksgiving feast ever. So I'm gearing up for some seriously intense thanksgiving delights.

MOM: I want your rolls like right now. And I want mashed potatoes and stuffing.

RACHEL: I want your jello with raspberries and blueberries in it.

Stephanie: I want some huge crazy pumpkin pie dessert thingy with crunchy stuff on top or something like that.

ME: I want my broccoli salad.

KATRINA: I know you can't bring a single thing because you are working that night...I just want your cute little pregnant bod there so I can look even HUGER and FATTER as I wolf down mounds of food.

Every one else is pretty much off the hook. I know Mark will whip up some special "man food" probably and who knows what Dad will sneak in his pockets for all the kids.

I just want you all to know to please me you have to do your part. And I know you will do your part because you DO NOT want to see my wrath. GOt it?

our night

Let me get one thing clear...and open to the public.

My children nurse way past what most normal children do.

I didn't set out to be a boob nazi or a la leche leaguer or any kind of activist.

Actually I thought in my brain when I had Addie....I bet when they start to get teeth they don't need to nurse. Teeth=chewing food.

right? right?

wrong!!

I didn't set out to sleep with my kids.....I had a little crib set up, with handmade bedding.....and I never once used it. Never once!

I feel like a freak of nature a bit. All these little babes in the world soundly sleeping in cribs and I have mine nursing practically allnight.

And I'm not bothered by that. I think it's the lazy person in me. I avoid conflict, and once Addie and Eva were born I realized they would scream bloody murder every time I tried to make them sleep alone or limit the nursing thing. So I became a peacemaker and said..."What the heck...it's alot easier just to let her act like an ape ..she's happy, I'm happy...peace!"

so Addie nursed a LOOOOOOOONG time. Long enough to have a negotion for the whole process to be resolved peacefully. I'll leave that at that.

Eva is still nursing. And I'm not really bothered. Pregnancy does chemically change things a bit but overall I'm okay. she just does it occassionally. Until lately...until the past couple nights. When she feels desperately hungry at the wee hours of the morning.

Lately, she wakes up at 3 a.m. wants to nurse, until I ask her if she's hungry, then she nods her head. And she says...."I WANT CEREAL AND MILK!" So I go get the girl food. Then she feels perky and wants to read stories, and I say "No no no I'm really tired." Then she wants to turn on the lights. Then she starts talking alot how she wants me to do "cacka" which is some german thing my grandparents and parents did to our hands...like a little game. Then she wants me to do "This little piggy" on all 20 of her toes and fingers. Then she wants me to walk my fingers up her back and act like my fingers are little people walking to the pet store to buy a puppy. This was a game I invented once when I really really wanted her to lay down and relax.

So, me, pregnant and all, am very relieved when after this whole charade, she rolls over, and falls asleep. And if she nurses a little bit at that point...I don't even care.

And this all should end very soon...especially at night...because in April we will be having a baby boy! I can't have 2 of them at me at night that's for sure.

blackmail pictures posted

OF course I'd post a non scary picture of MUA what do you expect?

BUILD A BEAR ....the joyous place where you can buy your teddy bear clothes that cost more than what you pay for actual human clothes ...




black mail picture # 1.

Rach, you kinda look like you're casting a spell on someone.

cute eva picture break


blackmail picture # 2

this was part of our joint October birthday celebration...my camera stinks :(

and last but not least blackmail picture # 3

and finally a neutral non offensive picture of Eva's baby maple tree...it lost its red leaves and looks a little puny but I have to include a fall esque picture right? right? there ya go!

things on my mind:

1. holiday guilt: What would really happen to my family if I refused to take them to an autumn pumpkin patch this year and blog about it.....would I get struck by lightning? would the children have to go to therapy? would the grim wreeper with a jackolantern on his head come a knockin' and do us all in? just curious about that one. What If I became morally opposed to pumpkins? They're of the devil!!!! I'll just scream that and run every time I see one. Or I'm tired of inflicting pain on poor defenseless pumpkins. I'll tie myself to a large prickly gourd plant and cry hysterically any time someone comes to pick one...."DONT YOU SEE THEY ARE HURTING!!!! JUST STOP ALREADY!"

2. Our version of homeschooling is kind of light on the schooling part lately. You mix pregnancy hormones with the urgency of accomplishing anything productive and bad things happen. Yesterday I ended up sitting on the floor of our designated school room in tears while I colored an elaborate scene in the book Addie was supposed to be working in. I just was tired of everyone yelling at eachother. So I colored and cried. And Eva kept bringing me loads of toilet paper wadded up tissues and Addie colored me a rainbow with a flower and wrote a heartfelt note about how it was my birthday Saturday and she was so sorry she made me cry but she just really needed Eva to give her the paper. Then we all hugged and we were all okay. Happy joy

3. My life seems mysteriously simple but also incredibly exhausting right now. I can't really line the two up...should be very simple....but it's making me so tired. I also love wallowing in my sorrows if you can't tell. I'm not the type to hold it all in. I have to vent. So there I did it and I feel oh so better.

4. I love Danny. He is awesome. Danny deals with 50 kids every day so he totally has his bad days too so when he comes home he is ready to play with and love just being around 2 sweet little girls. I never knew the way our children would make our love grow but I can't imagine not having his energy and excitement for our own little world we live in. He's so excited about our 3rd he tells EVERYONE! Sometimes we watch Addie and Eva as they are asleep and we just like stare at them and giggle and smile like we won the lottery and have the secret to the universe. the secret is our family is the greatest joy in the world and no one can take it from us.....it's ALLLL ours!

so anyways I better head to the bed.... I love you all my family and friends. see don't I cheer up once I vent? That's just how I work!

these girls don't get enough high fructose corn syrup in their diet..........these are way too delightful to them.

I remember loving capri suns so much I would down a whole box of them in one day.

I remember loving every disgusting thing that my mom would never buy......pop tarts,
any little debbie product,
chips,
frozen dinners, pizza rolls, hot pockets. ( I can't get that comedien guy saying "hot pocket" out of my head whenever I see those)
fast food
and airheads, laffy taffy, any kind of gummy, all forms of chocolate, funyons (that is a hilarious name for a food product) and pretzel sticks at the pool.
anyways
It seems like my blogs have been about food alot lately.

So basically....the past month the only foods I could stomach were these disgusting childhood favorites. I didn't want juice...I wanted capri suns. I didn't want homemade pizza I wanted a disgusting frozen pizza roll.

BUT the clouds have parted and angels descended and I have emerged from the first trimester and I truly, really do feel much much better. And my cravings for spaghettios have left me and I am so so so happy about that.