2 years past, need to start updating!

Larsen Kids!! Easter 2013

So, yes it has been 2 years!!! Wow, how time does fly!

 

 Lilly is now 10 and in the 4th grade! Her teacher is Mrs. Taylor-Webber. Lilly is becoming such a lovely young lady!!! She loves to read. Still to the point that I think that books are her best friends.  One day she even got knocked down by accident at school by running kids on recess.  Yes, she was standing at recess, reading.  Too funny.  She is getting to the emotional stages of life...the other day she cried for one hour straight....I asked her why she was crying and she said she had no idea.  Well, mom knows why. She is still in love with marine life. Loves sharks! Whatever Lilly is learning in school she dives in and tries to find out as much information as she can. She also remembers it! Lilly loves writing which she doesn't get from me. She also is writing stories and lyrics to songs.  Lilly really loves our family dog, Nana, also! Funny thing about her is that she is always asking questions. She even asks questions to things that she knows the answers to, just to get verification. This can be a little tiring sometimes.  Lilly for the past two years has been doing dance with Samantha.  They do a Ballet/Hip Hop class every week.  She is doing really well and has come a long ways.  She even choreographed a dance for the church talent show and went up on stage and danced her heart out. All by herself!

 

Brigham is now 8 and in the 2nd grade.  His teacher is Mrs. Bailey. He is doing really well at school and last year excelled in reading. He also like Lilly loves to read, but also loves to go out and play with all his friends.  He loves Legos, writing and drawing. He loves to play catch with mom and dad and wants to try baseball next season.  This makes me happy. At school Brigham is way advanced and tried out for the TAG (Talented and Gifted) program, but his scores were just a little under the requirements.  I told him what it was after he completed all the testing and at first he was bummed because he thought TAG meant that he would get to play tag. He was relieved because now he wont have extra homework.  Brigham is now in cub scouts and is enjoying it. He just recently had the pine wood derby. His care didn't win the whole thing but we had a lot of fun! For Christmas Brig got two leopard Geckos. Their names are Flicker and Vanessa.  I have had to get use to feeding them crickets and meal worms, but I think I am more fond for them than anyone else in the house.  Not sure if I am going to be able to keep both of them because they are starting to fight.  Not sure if we really have a male or Female or two males.  Time will tell.   Brig also is like most boys his age and loves the gaming world.  He have a Wii and he loves that and he just recently got a ipad, refurbished one that was way cheep.  He loves it! I have to control how long that he is on it because I think that he could be on it all day.  He also loves riding his bike. Jon takes the kids on bike rides and this summer I am hoping that I can go with them.  Jon got me a great seat for my bike. Looking forward to family bike rides.

 

Samantha is now 6 and soon to be 7 in July.  She is in the 1st grade and is doing well. Her teacher is Mrs. Barrett.  She was really young going into school because of the cut offs. She was struggling with reading for a long time but has just recently taken off and is reading really well.  A lot of Sam's problems were her attitude of I will do it when I want to do it! Sam I think out of the older three kids is my most outgoing.  At school she is very social.  She loves her friends! She loves to bug her siblings, always in the middle of all the fights.  She has made a lot of personal progress over the last 2 years.  She has finished with Occupational Therapy, and now can put most clothes on without being too upset...jeans, still a no and anything that itch she cannot wear. She went to counseling because Last year while doing dance she had a panic attack and she went through a period of time where all noises were causing her to get a panic attack. Mainly because she got it with the music and she thought that all music was going to do that to her.  It was to the point that she was throwing out all the baby toys in the garage and screaming whenever anyone was too loud or heard any music.  Now after the counseling she has learned to recognize when she is going to have a panic attack and learn how to deal with them.  I am very proud of her!  She is still doing dance and she is loving it! She is amazing with her rhythm and with her hip hop! 

 

Natasha is now 4. and not in school yet.  Natasha is a spunky little four year old. I love this age because of all the funny things that they say! It wonders me how there little brains try to put concepts together. Natasha loves Cinderella! Her favorite color is pink. She is now sharing a room with Lilliana, on the bottom bunk.  She loves her bed, and loves to have her own space.  Natasha just recently fractured her Ulna at her wrist.  She fell on her wrist two times. One time at the church, running into the building. Then three days later playing with her sister, fell on it again onto the tile.  She got to the urgent care with me and the first thing she asked the nurse is what her favorite color was.  It was cute! She ended up getting a "pink cast"!! Yep, it was really kind of cute! She was our first kiddo with any problems with braking bones.  Ouch.  Natasha is in love with my friends little boy, Dawson.  They are the same age and our families have a lot of play dates because they have a son that is Brigham's age and a daughter that is Samantha's age.  Since I can remember these two kids have been inseperatable. I was picking the kids up from the "Moats" and Dawson says let me hold your hand so you don't get ran over.  So cute.  Then Natasha got her first kiss from Dawson. yep at 3 got her first kiss.  I am in trouble with this one.  Natasha thinks that he is her husband.  I told her that I didn't think that she was married yet and she says that he kisses her so he was! Ahhhhh  but he is definitely her best friend, my friend and I just have to keep an eye on them. Four year old love. She is also doing dance this year. The class is called Tiny Tots and she will have her first recital, this June.

 

Now for the baby...not so much a baby anymore. Izabella is now 2! Yep 2! She is a really sweet girl. She is a daddy's girl.  She is so smart and talks up a storm right now! According to Natasha her favorite color is purple. She loves Mickey and Minnie Mouse, and all the princesses.  At 6 months old she gave us a scare. I noticed a hard line coming down her forehead it was the scull. I did a little research and it was called a metopic craniosynostosis.  We ended up taking her to a pediatric Neurosurgeon, had CAT scan done and then found out it was only the front suture in the skull that prematurely fused.  Which is a great thing because it wouldn't cause any problems with her brain development. The Doctor said that she will just have to have it shaved down when she gets older.  Pheww that was a big scare because we didn't want surgery for her at such a young age.  Izabella is such a sweaty.  She calls Jon's uncle Craig, grandpa and it is cute!! She is a great little dancer and loves to sing. At church she sings along and leads the music.  She is the baby and will always be the baby! She loves to cuddle and to be held! Most of the time we don't mind it either.  :-)

 

Jon has been a busy bee in the last few years also, getting the company off and going.  He has done such a wonderful job! He guides about 4-5 Swiss tours, One Italy tour a year.  He got a contract to also organize and lead a foreign exchange student group on tours in the US. He goes to New York, San Fran,  Los. Angeles, and Hawaii!  The groups are about 50+ kids! Jon has gone on AM NW channel 2 a few times for the book he wrote, Penny Pinchers Guide to Europe and have given some really great tips on foreign travel.  He has also been on a public access show talking about Edelweiss Tours. He still loves to write and has a few books that we are trying to get published. He works really hard, it is hard to do because with me working about 3 days a week, he has the kids and it is hard to do work at home with a 4 and 2 year old.  Then on my days off, I have to get things done, ie, doctor apt, volunteering at the school. So this leaves Jon with little time to work. Somehow he still manages to be an amazing husband and father.  His calling at church went from the ward mission leader to being in the Young men presidency. 

 

As for me I am still working at Eye Health NW and I love it.  It has been three years now. I know am the lead tech. at our satellite clinic in King City.  Which is really close to home.  I get to make sure things are stocked and clean there. Have I mentioned that I love my job! I also help out at the elementary school and teach Art Literature.  It was a great year and next year I will be organizing/being in charge of  it with a friend. I finally moved out of the primary at church for callings.  I am now teaching in relief society...this is a fun calling and I am learning a lot! These last few years have been busy.  One thing that makes me laugh now is that it seems that every time Jon is gone our family gets sick. From me getting pneumonia and fracturing a rib, to all the kids getting Norwalk virus last year. Fun times!

 

We are all doing well and plugging away at life! I just hope that I can do a better job keeping this blog up so that I can try to document for me and my family our lives.  I will try to add some of the older pictures from the last few years little by little, and keep it updated.