Red Sweater Day

I'm way behind and it is super late. So here it is people.....Here are a few pics of Christmasy stuff.

Lainey in her Santa Dress.

A few Sunday's ago we decided to get dressed up for church.

Love the "matching" outfits - right?

Dane puts the angel on top.

That's it! Happy Holidays.

Happy Halloween

Halloween Week....

Just so you know, Halloween isn't just one night anymore. Last week Halloween began for us on Thursday night and didn't end until Sunday night. I gotta be honest....getting kids dressed up multiple times is kind of a drag. But I guess it does make for good pictures.

Halloween Night.

If you can't tell - The twins are Jack and Gus Gus from Cinderella. Kai is Cinderella and Cody is Indiana Jones.

"Halloween Eve" at the Ward Party

Cinderella and the mice at the Ward Party. Dane is Gus Gus (red) and Ben is Jack (blue).

Brett is Bill Murray from Caddyshack. I am myself. Sorry.

Trick or Treat Street at Rocky Mountain HS

(We forgot the ears. Blast!)

Kai at School Party

Kai had planned to be a doctor (thanks Dad for the gear) and went to school dressed up as a doctor. But then when the boys got dressed up as Gus Gus and Jack, she couldn't resist putting her Cinderella costume on from last year. But at least she got to be a doctor for one day!

"Dr. Larsen. Paging Dr. Kai Larsen......"

Kai and her friend Makahl

Ben's first time trying on the Ears.

Little ELVES

The boys tolerated the ears for a limited amount of time - 1 hour if they were getting candy, but the loved the hats. Here are a few pictures of them doing what they normally do, but with these ridiculous cone hats. They wouldn't take them off all morning.

Just hanging out eating 2nd Breakfast in our hats. No biggie.

Anyway, that was our week in a nutshell. Fun, but exhausting.

Bday games

We are old fashioned at our house. We play goofy games like - "See who can pop a balloon the fastest by sitting on it." Brett won. I was taking video so I don't think he had a worthy opponent. Luckily it mattered to no one. Read more about the Twins Bday in the following post!

Ben & Dane are 2

GOOD TIMES

Somehow we made it to 2. I don't know how, but we did.

I remember last birthday for the twins, it was such an awful affair. The constant crying and my inability to make them happy. I think I went up to my closet and cried after we had their party.

I had always imagined during the early months of their life that if I could make it a year, things would get start to be better and get fun.

I was crushed to be wrong and consider our fate.....that it may never get easier.

Then they turned 2. They are far from perfect and there are lots of tough days. I still rarely get anything done, but I must admit that I laugh a good deal more. They are much happier and this time at least they liked the cake.

We had a lot of fun just having dinner, cake and ice cream. The twins had second helpings of both cake and ice cream...which may account for the video below.

Dane loved his Woody doll from Great Grandma.

They both enjoyed playing the "ballon pop" game and "drop a clothespin into the mason jar." In fact they played with the clothes pins and jar for about an hour after we were done. Total disregard for all the new gifts and toys.

Above, Ben is just copying the big kids by covering his ears. Truth is, we had to secretly stick scissors in the balloons as they bounced. They just don't have the girth to pop the balloons yet.

But most of all - the BIKES! Hooray.

Below view a video taken right after they opened their gift from Great Grandma. Like I said, it could've been the ice cream and cake.

I'd love to be her.

This is where "sleep like a baby" comes from.

Just wanted to say that I loved the rain today. It finally felt like fall. I have enjoyed the colors so much. I wish I have been taking pictures. I haven't. Its been beautiful.

Enjoy it while you can!

Gratitude

Have you ever had one of those days where you knew you needed to buckle up and get ready for the ride? Yesterday was one of those days.

Yes, those are Cheerios on my stairs.

It was a hard morning. The twins were impossible and pretty much cried all morning. I could tell that Lainey was sick or not feeling well. With a monumental effort and help from a friend, I got the kids out the door. We got Kai to school just a few minutes before the bell. After she parked her bike she started to cover her mouth and turn green. I said "run to the grass!" It felt like slow motion. She ran and threw up on the grass by all the parked bikes. I stood there with the boys in the trailer in disbelief until I got my senses back and went over to help her.

The day spiraled down from there and by the end of the night, I was hanging on by a thread.

Then something sweet happened to end the night.

Kai went over to Lainey and began to sing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Lainey loved it and just cooed at Kai. It was sweet and I took some video of it.

Today the rainbow came. Lainey was sick, but she is an angel. The boys busied themselves with cleaning the refrigerator and for the first time played with each other without needing me. Very minimal crying. It was a red letter day for all of us at our house. Thank heavens. Here is a video of the boys racing back and forth on our deck in between squirting the spray bottles.

Anyway, I am grateful for today. When those days come, you gotta love 'em!

Act Natural

Sunday we took a drive up into the mountains to see the changing foliage.

No Luck.

So we stopped to play in the river instead.

Ben hung on to Cody for dear life.

Then he sidelined himself so he could throw the discus....I mean rocks. Dane can throw like a normal quarterback. Ben throws the discus.

Kai was in her own magical world as always.

and Dane (below) was just happy to be there.

Cody was posing so "well" that his dad thought he needed to act a little more natural.

So he threw a few rocks his way.

Big Rocks

That helped him act natural. It was one of my favorite pics of the day.

Unfortunately the drive made me sick. I still am feeling a little queasy. Yuck.

Also, I want to put a plug in for my friend Ali who is starting her own business:

Lemon Poppy Inc.

She has fantastic recipe books that make great gifts - only $8.

She is totally cute and very talented. Check out her site and order some books today!