A New Year

I feel like it has been a very busy month but in reality I have mostly been stuck in the house because of all the rain.  Although, that could be the reason I feel so busy.  Instead of going outside to play with Eli I mostly follow him around the house cleaning up after him and making sure he doesn't break anything, including his bones.  He tends to go a little crazy when we've been cooped up inside... ok a lot crazy.  For people that know Eli you know that crazy doesn't just mean tossing his cars around the house and narrowly missing my head, it also means crawling onto the back of the couch and jumping on me while I'm nursing Simon, or jumping on my bed during Simon's nap and shaking Simon until he wakes up because he is bored.  Needless to say our relationship has been a little strained as of late.  Thank goodness for one of our "firsts" of the new year... Planes, Trains and Automobiles!  It's this little class at our community centre that is for 3 year olds.  They get to play with all sorts of awesome toys and paint and Eli is loving it!  He has only had one class so far and because I'm a terrible mother I didn't get a picture of him.  He has the class again tomorrow so I'll try again but he was just too excited to get out the door the first time.  It's great because Eli gets some time with other kids and I get some time alone (Simon's nap time is right when I drop Eli off).  I was worried that he would be shy and wouldn't let me leave him but as soon as he saw the toys he didn't even look back.  My little guy is getting pretty big.

Goof

Another first of the year was Simon started eating solid foods! He loved it.  Once I got the first spoonful in his mouth he started immediately grabbing at the spoon for more. I guess it isn't surprising that he is such a good eater considering how chubby he is.

messy messy

full belly!

In December we were in a  car accident so we also got a new car this year.  Well, new to us anyway.  It's an SUV so that when we decide to have more kids we won't have to get another car again.  I don't have a picture of it but I can say that it has been so nice to have.  Getting the kids in a out is amazing! I haven't bumped my head once!
I think that is all of our "firsts" for the year. The BBC series Sherlock came back on TV, made me go insane and then left again. Bruce can attest to my shout of shock at the series finale.
Eli and Simon continue to be the best of friends, sometimes to Simon's disappointment. Most of the time however, they get along great and Eli can hardly spend a minute without him.

I love how they are looking at each other in this picture 

Playing dinosaurs

Eli showing Simon how they fight

Iron Man and Batman

The wand chooses the wizard 

My goofy 6 month old

Hello

Let It Snow!

Well it's a good thing I'm not a meteorologist. When we woke up this morning we had a nice fresh pile of snow in our yard.  Eli was so excited he immediately put on his boots and ran right outside in his PJs while I was taking care of Simon.  After chasing him down in my robe, and wishing that the deadbolt on our door was a couple inches higher we starting to get ready for a snow day.  We got so lucky that Bruce happened to have the day off and Eli wanted desperately to build an "Olaf snowman" with him.  The snow here is always amazing for packing because it is so wet and heavy. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of a snowman because before it was even halfway built Eli jumped on it and "killed" it. In the end we just had another snowball fight and it was so much fun.  Bruce even got the nice camera out to take pictures!

He adores Daddy

 I guess that all that running around in the snow made Eli pretty tired because he rarely takes any naps but after we came inside and he settled down to watch a movie he lasted about 5 minutes.  I know that I will regret letting him sleep later today but he just looked too funny with that iPad resting on his face.

Lunch time Dorito face!

Munchkin

 I also have to take a quick second to showcase the present that Bruce and I bought for Christmas this year. A couple of months ago my dear friend, Denise, had an art show here and we both loved a painting of hers.  She does some of the most amazing art and I have no idea how she finds time to do it with two boys who are almost the exact same ages as Eli and Simon. Some of her pieces were more geometric and others more organic but this was the one we picked out...

Robin by Denise Gasser

So now we are the proud owners of an original piece of art! Here's hoping Eli doesn't colour all over it!
Also, as of right now our flight to Edmonton is in approximately 2 days and 18 hours! Not that I'm counting.

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas

In the last couple of weeks we had something pretty exciting happen here that I don't think we will get for the rest of the winter... it snowed!  Eli could not believe his eyes when we opened the door that morning and there was just a little dusting of snow on our sidewalk.  For the rest of the day he kept asking me if it was Christmas day because he's pretty sure Santa cannot come without snow.  He is in for a big surprise when we get to Edmonton for Christmas.  Unfortunately, there was not enough snow to make a snowman like he wanted but we did get a couple of snowballs out of it to have a little snowball fight and he loved it.  

We also had to dig around in the garage this month to find our swing from when Eli was first born.  Eli wasn't a huge fan of it but it became pretty necessary to try something new when I put Simon in his bouncer the other day, came back two seconds later and found him like this...

A little help please?

It seems that he has outgrown it.  I cannot believe how quickly time has passed and now he is rolling over all the time and really starting to show his little personality.  He fits a little better in the swing and I think it'll do until he can sit up on his own.  Eli has had a ton of fun pushing him in it too so more often than not it entertains them both!

We have also spent the last two weeks trying to get over a pretty nasty cold.  For a few days this is pretty much what Eli looked like...

Pretty pathetic. So we have been under quarantine for a while now but I think everyone is on the mend.  Bruce was the last to get it and we are both keeping our fingers crossed that he will be back to 100% come Christmas time.

It has been so nice to see Eli and Simon develop a really nice little relationship.  Simon just thinks that Eli is hilarious and Eli has recently started to cuddle Simon all the time and loves to make him laugh.  Just today Eli got a little scratch and he had to show Simon so that he would kiss it (I guess my kisses just don't cut it anymore).  I can only hope that they continue to be the best of friends but right now I will sit back and enjoy watching their brotherly bond grow.

Brotherly love

Marshmallow hands

Sorry if the pictures are a bit blurry.  I have had to use my phone a ton lately because I am too lazy to figure out how to charge Bruce's fancy-pants camera.

Be Good For Goodness Sake

As you can probably tell by the title of this post the thing occupying most of my thoughts these days is Christmas!  I am so pumped this year and I cannot wait to celebrate it with my family and to see Eli's face on Christmas morning.  I hope he will be as excited as I am expecting him to be.  The house is all decorated and ready to go and the presents have all been purchased, now it is just a waiting game.  Luckily, the weather here has been beautiful so the days seem to be passing fairly quickly.  It has been a bit cold but the colder days usually mean clear skies and I'll take that over rain any day.

Out in the sun

My Gryffindor kid

What? No rain!

Simon seems to be getting bigger all the time... if that's even possible.  In the last little while he has learned how to blow raspberries and so most of the time he looks like this...

 For some reason my kids don't think that I am funny at all.  It was the same way when Eli was little.  I guess that they see my lame face all day long and get pretty bored of it, and then Bruce walks in the door and it's the most amazing thing that has ever happened to them.  Try as I might I cannot get Simon to laugh for me and basically all Bruce has to do is smile at him and he cracks up. He's pretty adorable.

Only 23 days until our Edmonton trip!

Octoblur

Whoa! Where did the time go? October was such an amazing and busy month that I know I will end up leaving a ton of details out of this post.  I will try to keep it to the biggest events so that I don't yammer on about nothing. At the beginning of the month Ashley came to have a visit and we celebrated her birthday! I always feel bad that we can't offer our visitors a real room but we still had a great time and I hope she enjoyed her birthday even though she had to sleep on the couch.
This month was also Eli's third birthday!  I cannot believe that my little guy is three years old.  Every day he gets cuter and crazier in equal measure.  I can only hope that I will be able to continue to keep up with him.  He enjoyed his birthday very much and I have to say that once you become a mom there is more joy in seeing your children happy than anything else.

Presents!

Batman ice cream cake! Made by Daddy

Eli had also been looking forward to Halloween for such a long time.  He knew exactly who he wanted to be and I have to say that he played the role pretty well.

When I asked him to make a Batman face...

POW!

BAM!

Showing his muscles

The Justice League!

Apparently Eli is heavier than Bruce anticipated

Eli, Simon and I also got to go to Edmonton for a full week! It was amazing but as always it felt very short.  It was so nice to see everyone and Eli had a blast playing with his cousins.  I am always so sad to leave and Eli is still asking me when we get to go again.  I hope it is very soon because the Christmas season is coming and I would love for Eli to have the Larsen Christmas experience... and of course it isn't Christmas without family.

Hanging out with Grandma

Almsot 4 months!

Well there is a brief synopsis of our October. It is a little rushed and lazy but Simon doesn't like to go to bed until somewhere between midnight and 1 a.m. so I have to do this quick during this naps! I'm trying to fix that nasty habit this week... wish me luck!

Even The Little Things

Eli and I had a very uplifting and spiritual moment the other day that I knew I would have to share with everyone. Bruce and I only have one vehicle so I do all of my grocery shopping, etc. with our stroller.  It is fairly easy in the nice weather because we live close to lots of different shops and generally both boys are pretty good for me.  A couple of days ago I had to stop at the hardware store and Eli insisted on bringing along his baseball hat with a shark design on it.  Somewhere in between the hardware store, our house and Tim Hortons he dropped it.  When we were about a block and a half from home he turned around in the stroller to ask me where it was.  I had absolutely no idea he had even lost it, I can't see him very well because Simon's car seat blocks my view.  Once he had taken his pants and underwear off and was naked from the waist down and I didn't notice until we had almost reached our friends house, but that's a story for another time.  Anyways... needless to say Eli was very upset that we couldn't find it and I was not relishing in the thought of retracing our steps for the next hour trying to find it when I was sure it was gone for good. However, I did turn around and as we were walking I couldn't see it anywhere.  We even stopped back into the Tim Hortons and it was no where to be seen.  As I turned to go back home with a very disappointed little boy I thought to myself that I should say a prayer with him.  So we pulled over off the sidewalk a bit and said a little prayer that we would find his hat.  Even now thinking of Eli's sweet voice repeating my words in prayer makes me tear up.  As we got ready to head off again I had a distinct feeling that we should go back into Tim Hortons.  As soon as I opened the door one of the employees pulled the hat from behind the counter and asked if we were looking for it, even before I had a chance to ask about it.  I was so happy to be able to explain to Eli that Heavenly Father had heard our prayer and helped us to find that hat that he cares so much about.  I know that it was an important lesson for Eli to learn but I think that I learned more from it.  I tend to get caught up in the day to day distractions and forget to focus on teaching Eli about the Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ and how much he is loved.  That experience just filled me up with so much determination to do better and an even deeper understanding for how much our Heavenly Father wants us to be happy.  He was just waiting in the wings for us to say that simple prayer so He could answer it.

A New Month

Well September is here and I cannot believe it! In just a few more days Simon is going to be two months old.  We have just been so busy that I have hardly noticed the time passing and then I look over at him and suddenly he's this cubby little baby, wearing 3 month clothes, instead of a newborn.  He is such a happy little guy and is starting to sleep much longer at night and smiles quite a bit now.  Last week we finally received his bassinet and I am so happy with it.  I cannot even begin to tell you how tired I was of using a play yard for him every night and then having to move it out of the way in the morning.  Our space is so small as it is that it felt like it took up half our bedroom.  This new one is so lovely and I don't have to lower Simon to the floor to put him in it!

Little piggy

He didn't waste much time breaking it in as the first time he slept in it he promptly spat up all over in it.  Oh well that's life!  He also spat up everywhere in our Primary class this week and the kids were absolutely disgusted.  It would have been pretty funny if they weren't already acting like little terrorists.  They certainly didn't need something to run around and scream about.  I'm sure that in a couple weeks I will laugh about it... I don't want to complain too much because I would much rather be in Primary than any other calling.

New bed!

We did attend another wedding at the end of August but Bruce has all of those pictures so I will have to do a separate post all about it.  Needless to say we made it there and back safely.  I also had a birthday! Bruce got a manicure and pedicure for myself and a friend and I am so excited! If there is one thing a mom needs it is some "Me" time .  My sister also just sent me a package with a new book, bookmarks and a wand! Don't be surprised if in my next post one of us has had their eye poked out because I've been practicing my spells.

Eli is as crazy as ever and I'm doing my best to keep up with him.  I'm getting my energy back though so I think we are all starting to feel a little more like ourselves.

 Using the Elements of Harmony (My Little Pony)

Batman

Eli loves Liam

Watching men do work

I think September is going to be a great month!