Cherry Baby 2011

It's that time of the year.

Cherry baby time.

Except this year is extra special because Avery and Laila are moving.

1 year olds

2 year olds

and 3 year olds!

Here is a before and after of the mommies...

Here is a little "behind the scenes" secret:

every year Laila needs....warming up. So there is always a picture of the three other girls without Laila.

Exhibit A:

Exhibit B:

Exhibit C:

I'm going to miss the Laila scowl. She is one of my favorite Sunbeams.

(ps that day after we got home from taking pictures, Avery said, "I'm MAD! Like Laila!")

Sammy Is Fun

Don't tell these two girls, but yesterday was the last time they got to hang out before we move.

Of course when you go to Sammy's house, the first thing you do is get naked.

They play so well together. It's weird because we don't hang out that much compared to Avery's other friends she sees every Sunday and at play groups, but they actually play together like friends. (you know how two/three year olds don't really "play" together? but Sammy and Avery do! I think it has to do with being cousins. it's awesome.) 

Naked.

I will miss chasing my kids up the stairs to Sammy's room. They like to pull all her toys off the shelf.

Waaaaaaa. 

I cried while Andy was vacuuming. But as soon as he stopped, I acted like normal because I didn't want him to see me cry. ha ha

Field Trip

field trip

fire truck

fire man

friend

(Avery just got done fluffing Audrey's shirt)

Moving. Stage Two.

I would like to document how the housing market nose-dived into the ground during the years my kids were small, and how it affected us.

We bought this little place as a two year investment with a yard for Piper to poop in. We bought it for (get ready for this!)

$215,000.

And yesterday we waltzed into the the realtor's office to short sell. Our home is now listed for (seriously get ready for this)

$59,000.

That is right. Come pay with cash! You can buy this place for roughly the same amount as a nice car! Come check it out. We've upgraded the flooring, painted the cabinets. Landscaped a billion times. You have a great view of the condos next to you. Actually, you can pretty much reach out and touch those neighbor's windows. And let the sound of the cars on the freeway lull you to sleep!

Remember when our real estate agent who helped us buy this house said, "Las Vegas is going to be like San Fransisco one day". Isn't that the funniest thing you've ever heard? What part will be like San Fransisco? the part where it is surrounded by ocean, therefore unable to expand? That sounds about right. Especially with the amount of new houses that were being thrown up willy nilly. We were running out of room quick.

But I still get sentimental about taking stuff off the walls and putting things in boxes.

It's an exciting time in our life. So much change. New job. Selling our first home for about as much as homes were going for in the 70s. I have butterflies in my stomach. They are excited butterflies and the nervous butterflies.

(and ps what are we going to do when we need Gma and Gpa to come babysit for us?)

Take Me to Your Leader

almost proficient in walking

I am your leader

Check Ride. Check.

(this is a picture jimi took with his phone en route a few months ago.)

So. I feel like bragging about Jimi's skillllzzzzz.

He passed his "check ride" yesterday (the final test administered by an FAA guy to ensure he is ready to fly the MD80 for real).

But that is no big suprise. I knew he would do that no problemo. What makes me extra proud is that near the end of training, the instructor said he was just "making up stuff to throw at him" (emergency stuff) because Jimi and his partner were doing so well. Then finally the instructor said he was going to "quit wasting company money" and skip the final day of training (which is pretty much unheard of except for the guys who have already been trained in an MD80).

So Jimi had his check ride on Monday instead of Tuesday. And the FAA guy said he "nailed it".

I'm so proud.

Playing

Happy Birthday Jimi!

Avery is afraid of flies.

Yesterday there was a fly in the house, so Jimi caught it and threw it outside. Avery came and told me about how daddy saved the day.

I hugged him and said, "my hero!"

and Avery came over and did the same.

Not only does he save us from yucky flies, he also cleans and tunes bikes better than anyone, including our local bike shop.

And we ate 2/3 of the birthday cake the night before his birthday, in true Larsen fashion.

Moving. Stage One.

I'm at the stage in packing where you look at a container and think, "oh good, this will be empty before we leave so I won't have to pack it".

And I should probably stop watering my flowers now because we can't take them with us, but it goes against my nature to just let them shrivel up and die.

Every meal I make must use up a few items from my pantry. It's actually making meal planning easy because I look in there and say, "what can I make with chicken broth and tomatoes? Why, tortellini soup, of course!"

We go to every play group possible so that we wring every last drop out of our friends.

I took down some decorations in Avery and Evan's room. It kind of made me sick to my stomach. I'm too sentimental to move.

I gave away a lot of books that would have been good for trading at a used book store. But I am over having a big library of books. It's just too much "stuff".

Currently I am on a cleaning frenzy because I just got my new Norwex rags. Ever heard of them? They are the Dyson of the rag world.

And finally, we have begun the short sell process. So there's that.

Edamame

Avery loves edamame. Today while eating, she said between bites:

"edadaddy"
"edapiper"
"edamommy"
"edaevan"
"edaavery"

Smart Boy

One of my friends has a little boy that crawled forever too. He finally walked when he was 18 months. I told her that Evan was on the same schedule and she said,

"those boys...they work smarter not harder".

Yes, Evan is working smarter around here.

He also doesn't bother learning individual words because he has gone straight to sentences.

He says whole, long sentences - just not in any language we can understand.

Remember this picture of me and my kids a year ago?

How is this possible?

I put a lasso around Time and dug my heels in the ground. It did no good.

 

House Hunting

If you're looking for me, I'm at the computer obsessively checking craigslist for homes in Bellingham.

I am having a hard time concentrating on anything else. I get excited, then hopeful, then doubtful, then frustrated, then excited again.

You will also find me:

putting a stop to the flower-picking-toss-to-the-ground that goes on out there

trying to convince Evan that walking is cool

soaking in the cloudless sky while it still exists

Happy Birthday Avery!

They played a lot of "tag! you're it!"

Avery made a lot of "tracks" with her wet feet.

Jamie said these girls were having a serious discussion about yo gabba gabba. Callie and Sammy love it, Laila does not.

In every picture, Sammy has the biggest smile on her face. She's over a year younger than the other girls, so she just giggled around in her own little world.

Grandma kept all the babies happy.

Then we walked home for cake and presents...

We only got videos of singing and blowing out candles, but I have to write about how awesome it was.

She has been patiently singing happy birthday to others all year long. Every night she would talk about how it was almost her turn to blow out the "pink cannels".

So when I presented her with a cupcake and three lit candles, she tried containing her happiness with two hands pressed to her mouth. Then looking around at all her friends, she gave her shy smile - everyone was looking at her and singing to her!

I watched her anticipate the end of the song; she knew what came next. Blowing through teeth, making a "fffffff" sound, she blew out two candles, and then got the third. Then the clapping! She loved the ritual that was now centered around her three year old self.

It was my favorite moment of the day.

ps none of the girls ate my cupcakes. they even proclaimed that they were gross! so in the future, i will not "frost" the cupcakes with whipped cream. just stick to strait sugar load frosting. jimi says he could have told me that - he feels the same way about frosting.

After the party, we all got to wear the crown from Callie.

trying out the new Tinkerbell dishes from Ryan

We love Avery!