Pinewood Derby

January was Kaden's 1st pinewood derby. He was so dang excited. I think it is kind of a rite of passage for little boys, especially in the church. Surprise, he made a car that looked like a dinosaur. He didn't have the fastest car, but he sure had a good time. The picture quality is not very great, because the lighting in the gym is not the best.
Kaden and the dinosaur car.

Getting ready to race.

Getting his "this car is not a nerd" award from Sister Gilbert.

All the scouts with their cars and awards. I sure love these boys.

Aubree's Birthday 10 years old

OK I am making myself sit down and do this blog post. I have been so bad lately.
Not only can I not believe that my baby is 10 years old, I cannot believe I am old enough to have a 10 year old. Where does the time go, seriously?
We did have a great birthday with Aubree. She is getting so grown up. I told Bruce it is weird that she is as excited to get clothes as she is to get toys. I guess it is part of growing up. She also got the Littlest Pet Shop for the Wii and some High School Musical Barbie dolls.

This is the Tinkerbell cake we came up with. I was kind of nervous about it , because she had been sketching out what she wanted, but she seemed pretty happy with it, although it is not one of my best cakes.


We did a fairy birthday party with her friends and really had a good time! I love putting on birthday parties for my kids. This is some of the girls making fairy wands. We also made candy necklaces and ribbon barrettes. The girls had so much fun with the crafts we didn't even get to many of the games. But it was a lot of fun. After the party, her best friend Darby stayed for dinner and our very first sleepover. They had all these big plans of what they wanted to do all night, and then ended up falling asleep by 10 pm. Oh well, it was still pretty exciting.

I can't believe how grown up my girl is getting. IT is crazy to be sharing CDs and having some pretty grown up conversations. Aubree is such a smart girl. She loves to read, and has already read the entire Harry Potter series. She will read anything she can get her hands on. She also loves ballet. Her ballet teacher once told me that she loves to watch Aubree dance, because she can just see the joy she has when she dances and that is not something you can teach. She is also becoming a good piano player. I love Aubree so much and am so proud of the young woman she is becoming!

Brennen's 3rd Birthday

We celebrated Brennen's 3rd birthday this month. I can't believe it has been 3 years since he was born! He was so cute and excited this year and told everyone we saw that it was his birthday! He wanted a Mickey cake, so this is what we came up with. He loved it so much, that when we cut it to eat it, he started bawling and said "My birthday is ruined!" He ate the cake anyways though.

Here he is opening presents. He got some play dough and play dough tools, a new outfit, and a stuffed Mickey with a blanket.

Brennen and his Mickey cake.

Brennen and his new Mickey. He loves it so much! It has to do everything with him. We had to put pajamas on him that night. He had to have a bowl of cereal the next morning, and it hasn't left his side since.

Brennen is such a smart little boy. He remembers everything and knows a lot of big words. He loves Mickey Mouse, Elmo, and trains. He has so much energy and is a pretty happy little guy most of the time. We love our little Brennie Boo Boo!

Christmas Moments

Tyson's Kindergarten program.

Kaden's Musical Mustangs program. He was the country elf.

My two Christmas princesses. It just so happened that my girls got hand me down Christmas dresses from two different people, so they were able to be matching. Aubree loves to wear matching now that she has a sister.

Kaden and Tyson dressed up like Santa.

Christmas Eve in our new PJs

This was probably my favorite Christmas moment. Aubree has always wanted an American Girl doll, but we have always told her no because they are so expensive. Well Santa brought her one anyway. Her face when she opened it was priceless.

Cambree just wanted to go back to bed.

Kaden with his Transformer walkie talkies. Something every boy needs at some point in their lives.

Brennen got his Mickey Mouse Choo Choo Express. Mickey Mouse on a train ... it doesn't get any better for Brennen.

Tyson with his Devastator. Another surprise from Santa.

Santa Claus

I am way far behind. I really wanted to get these posted before Christmas. Here are my kids sitting on Santa's lap. The 4 older kids talked to him at the Zion's Bank tree lighting after Kaden sang with musical mustangs. But Cambree was asleep, so I had to take her to the grocery store a few weeks later to get a picture. Being from a small town, it was the same Santa both times.

Brennen wants a Choo Choo Express.

Tyson wants a Lego Agents set.

Aubree wants a Best Friends Doll

Kaden wants a Lego City Set

Cambree really doesn't care. But she sure is cute!

Decorating the Tree

I really really love Christmas and one of my favorite traditions is decorating the tree. I don't have a big fancy tree with wonderful ornaments that all match. My tree is all the ornaments that my kids have made throughout the years. To me, no tree is more beautiful, because this tree represents my family, which means more to me than anything on earth. Merry Christmas!

Larsen Family Christmas Party

The first weekend of Dec we had our family Christmas party at my parents house. This has become such a fun tradition, because it's hard to get us all together anymore. The grandkids all dress up and act out the nativity. We have a CD of my Grandma Sitterud reading the Christmas story, and so that is a neat way for our kids to know about her even though she has passed away. This year Aubree was Mary, and it had to be authentic so she stuffed a pillow up her shirt so she could be "great with child" Kaden was Joseph. Tyson wanted to be a wiseman and wear a crown and Brennen wanted a stick so we made him a shepard. Of course Cambree was baby Jesus.
Here is the cast of the play. Brielle the angel really just wanted her mom. I also like Tyson the Wise Man picking his nose. Nice.

Joseph and Mary great with child.

My niece Brielle wouldn't wear her halo. This is my Grandpa Dee showing her how to wear it. It was just a precious moment.

My parents alway have the kids open the presents from them and the cousins also draw names so they get to open that present too. Also Santa's elf brings them a little present. After all the toys that were everywhere, Brennen and Brielle just wanted to stack paper cups.