Fun times with the little ones

It is hard for me to believe that Grant is at the age that Arianna was when he was born. I can't even imagine having a newborn right now! Kenneth asked me the other day if I enjoyed the girls at 19 months as much as I am enjoying Grant. I had to think for a minute, but no, I don't think I did. I was too pregnant and/or too sleep deprived to! I am just loving Grant at this age. He is so funny and sweet and cute and saying so much!!! I just want to eat him up!!!

I wanted to share some of the fun things the kids have been doing recently:

• The girls don't nap any more, but they do have quiet time in the early afternoon and love to look at stacks of books. Usually they sit on different couches, but on this particular day, they sat together.

• As many parents do, I count to 3 to motivate the children to do whatever it is they need to do if they are not moving as quickly as I would like them to. Grant has caught on to this and when he sees the girls doing something they shouldn't, he will come close to them and hold up a finger and say in a bold little boy voice, "Two!". It cracks me up.
  


• The kids fight over who is the "rotten egg". I don't know where they learned it, but they say things like, "first one kneeling down is the rotten egg!" and are actually sad when it's not them!


• Arianna was at work here! I don't even know what she was trying to do, but the kids called us in the room and this is what we saw:Luckily only the motor to the humidifier was plugged in and the base and water tank were already being cleaned out. Otherwise, all their clothes in the drawers would have been wet! I think Grant is trying to help stand the dresser back up.

• Emma has taken a real liking to the snails out in our yard. She collects them and plays with them and shares them with her siblings. One day she collected a little container of them and left it by the screen door. A little while later the kids when back over there and the snail had made its way a quarter of the way up the door. The kids thought it was so neat. Even Grant was poking at it and squealing. That evening if Grant heard anyone mention snails, he would get excited and say, "Up! Door!" We are using this snail fascination to our benefit and have enlisted Emma to capture all the snails in the garden area. The blasted things are eating up our plants!!!! In New York it was the rabbits, here it is the snails!Here they are playing with the slimy little things.
  
  Arianna was a little wary at first, but Emma showed her the ropes.
  
  

Arianna letting the snails move across her hand.

• The girls love to play with each other and with their stuffed animals. Lately, they have been playing 'moving'. (Hmmmmm. . .do you think they have experienced that too many times in their young lives!) They move everything except the furniture from one room to another. It is crazy! We have since put a stop to it, however, because after the initial fun of it all, they refuse to clean it up and then it's really no fun for any of us!

I also found them one day after Arianna had been sick taking care of their animals and had even set up 'throw-up bowls' around the beds they had made for them.

• We enjoyed some lovely Spring weather the other day and the kids had a blast playing out in the little pool. Is was still a little chilly because of a breeze, but they loved it!!! We have the best neighbor, from whom we borrowed the pool!

When Grant woke up from his nap he joined them. He hates it when the girls pour water on his head! Poor little guy!

• A couple of weeks ago we made another trip into San Francisco to go to the Exploratorium. It is a Museum of Science, Art and Human Perception. The first Wednesday of every month, they have a free day. On a regular day it would have cost our family $40 to go there! The kids loved all the hand-on exhibits. Grant loved watching the fish swimming the a tank and we all were very interested in the Cow Eye Dissection we were able to witness.
  

The hanging pins table

After a couple of hours of fun, we went outside to picnic. The Exploratorium sits right next to the Palace of Fine Arts. I have always wanted to see it and in all my times in San Fransisco never had up until this point! Apparently, it was built as part of the Panama-Pacific Exposition (like a World's Fair) held in San Fransisco in 1915. Most of the other structures built for the Exposition are now gone, but this one was kept for its beauty. And is it ever beautiful!



Here we are picnicking by the columns

Arianna and Grant romping amongst the History

The little ones.

Then we went back inside. While Emma did this:


Grant did this:

Boy, was I glad he was able to fall asleep in that noisy, busy place. It made the rest of the day so much happier!

Playing with the magnets

Across the street you are at the Bay. That's, of course, the Golden Gate behind them.

Grant and Mom. Boy, was it windy!

A what? Flew up where? recounted by Grant

Ever since the 'bee up the nose' incident if Grant is reminded of a nose or a bug, he will recount the story like in the video above. (Of course, he is easily distracted and in the middle he usually talks about something else, like a tractor, as you will also hear in the video) (If you can understand Grant language, that is!)

He is such a funny kid! He is so into talking right now that after we put him to bed at night, many times he will stay up for 30 minutes to an hour just happily talking to himself! He also wakes up and talks to himself for a while in the morning. (Much better than the crying like he used to always do!)

He amazes me sometimes by the things he knows and says! Yesterday morning, Emma and I were out scouting snails and I was carrying Grant with me (he was still in his footie pajamas and I didn't want to set him down) He craned his neck and looked up in the tree above us and I hear him say, "umming. bird." He correctly identified and said hummingbird! I was amazed!

Last night before bed Kenneth and I were talking to Grant and looking at some of our family pictures. I was asking Grant where everyone was in the pictures and he would point to the corresponding person. Then I asked him where Dad's hair was. He did a double take from the pictures to Dad sitting next to him and looked very confused and said, "gone." Then he said, "Kite. Gone." He's making connections!

Opposition in all things

There is a scripture in the Book of Mormon I thought of today. . .

"For it must needs be, that there is an opposition in all things. If not so. . . righteousness could not be brought to pass, neither wickedness, neither holiness nor misery, neither good nor bad." 2 Nephi 2:11

That is just life! It's kind of funny, but what really brought it to my mind today was the snails in the garden. They are horrible little pests! They are eating up plants even though we have snail bate everywhere and Emma has been out scouting for them. Hopefully we will beat them yet!

Really, though, that is life. Most of you reading this have probably already heard this quote, but I need to be reminded of this every once in a while:

Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, quoting columnist Jenkins Lloyd Jones, reminded us that life will always have its challenges:

“Anyone who imagines that bliss is normal is going to waste a lot of time running around shouting that he’s been robbed. The fact is that most putts don’t drop, most beef is tough, most children grow up to be just people, most successful marriages require a high degree of mutual toleration, most jobs are more often dull than otherwise. Life is like an old time rail journey … delays, sidetracks, smoke, dust, cinders, and jolts, interspersed only occasionally by beautiful vistas and thrilling bursts of speed. The trick is to thank the Lord for letting you have the ride.”

Before the Cancer, we had had it pretty easy. We have enjoyed a fairly simple, easy life. I guess it was just time for some opposition. Kenneth has been so amazing through all of this. He really is a good man. I am thankful that he is mine. And I am thankful for the life that is mine- challenges and all.

By the by, he is doing much better since the bee-sting. The swelling is down, but he says he is still a little tender. He never did feel that bee come out. Hopefully, he won't start stinking in a couple of weeks. (My sister-in-law told us about a child at preschool who started stinking and they discovered that there had been something up his nose the whole time and had begun to rot and stink!!!!!) Just kidding, Kenneth, even if you did, "others say that he. . . stinketh, . . .but as for myself, to me he doth not stink." (Alma 19:5)

Okay, well, that's a little update for tonight. I have another post that has been in the works for a few weeks now about all our fun times with the kids lately and I never get around to posting it. Hopefully soon. By the time I get the kids in bed, do the dishes and take care of everything I am usually so tired I just don't feel like blogging. The other day I fell asleep while praying. No, not personal prayers (that has happened to me many a time, unfortunately). I was praying OUT LOUD with Kenneth and he had to nudge me to wake me up to finish.

A what? Flew up where?

Yesterday while I was making dinner, Kenneth took Grant to the park a couple blocks away to fly a kite. (Kenneth is kind of into flying the kite lately. He told me he never did it as a child. I think it's pretty cool and the kids love it.) So, he thought he would give Grant a chance to fly the kite by himself. I think Kenneth forgot he is only 19 months old. Okay, 19 1/2 months, but still. Grant, of course, let go of the kite and Kenneth started running across the field to try to catch it before it was gone forever. That's when a bee decided to fly right up his nose and sting him. Kenneth's comment last night was, "I should play the lottery; what are the chances of THAT happening!" We only know it was a bee because in the process of trying to get whatever flew up there out, he blew out a little something, which upon inspection, we concluded was a stinger of a bee. Kenneth never felt the bee fly out of his nose, so was very concerned that the rest of the bug was still up there.
He was quite nervous and uncomfortable all through dinner and getting the kids ready for bed, but we hoped it would just go away. After a couple of hours he started to swell up, so we called the Oncologist to see what we should do. After a few few calls back and forth as we monitored the swelling we ended up going to the Emergency room at 9:30 pm. My kind visiting teacher came over to stay here in the house with the sleeping kids while we went.
After a lot of waiting they looked in Kenneth's nose, didn't see anything and gave him some Benedryl and an antibiotic to protect from infection (especially since his immune system is compromised right now being on Chemo) and sent us home with prescriptions for more antibiotic.
By the time we got home the swelling had gone down some and we settled down to sleep about a quarter to 1. This morning, the swelling was much worse again. Luckily, he is not having any trouble breathing. I filled the prescriptions and we are hoping the Benedryl will help. Hopefully, it will go away today! If not, back to the ER! We'll keep you posted on what's happening!

THIS came in the mail today. . .

My brother and 2 of my brothers-in-law shaved their heads in support of Kenneth. My sister took and framed some pictures of them and quoted this scripture on the back:

"And they shall make themselves utterly bald for thee. . ."
-Ezekial 27:31


I literally got choked up when Kenneth unwrapped the frame and showed me the pictures. I love you guys! Thanks for all your prayers and support!

One last time. . .

Here we are for what is hopefully the last time. Kenneth is receiving his last treatment!!! 6 out of 6- done! When the Doctor walked in to the exam room this morning, he said, "We should have graduation hats for these days!" Kenneth is truly hoping to stay away from any needles for a while. Diane (the nurse) came through again for him this morning. Got that IV hooked up first time. So, it has been a pretty smooth day. Also happy to report that Kenneth maintained his weight over the last three weeks. No gain, no loss. Which is great. The Oncologist is very hopeful that the cancer is truly gone. Somewhere between 6 and 8 weeks from now Kenneth will have another PET scan to confirm that.
When Kenneth and the doctor were discussing his return to work (the actual physical location) today, I was surprised by the sadness I felt. Kenneth has been gone from the house during the day almost all our married life. Many times more that just during the day. He was gone A LOT. But, for the last four months he has been home. Sure, there was a period of adjustment to have him there all the time. There were many times when we drove each other crazy because it threw our routines off. But, it will sure be hard to have him gone again. The kids love having him home. Probably in a couple weeks he will start returning to work on a part-time basis and then after our trip to NY he will return full-time.
A couple of the moms from preschool are watching the kids today so I can be here with Kenneth. When we dropped them off this morning they had no problem saying goodbye. They had great friends and toys to play with. Even Grant could have cared less that we were leaving. Thank you, thank you to our dear friends for helping us out today.
We are so thankful for all your prayers offered up on Kenneth's behalf throughout the treatments. We thank you in advance for your continued support and prayers that Kenneth may be completely healed. Thus far, everything has gone exceptionally well and we truly believe it is because of the faith of our friends and family.

The last couple of weeks

Monday marks 2 weeks since Arianna's Tonsellectomy. She was very uncomfortable for the first week. She needed her pain medication every 4 hours during the day and woke up once every night for medicine and ice cream. She wasn't doing much of anything at all other than sleep and watch movies and be read to. During the second week she felt a little better everyday. And was even playing a little by last Tuesday. A few nights ago she slept through the night for the first time since the surgery! I was overjoyed! Grandma was such a good snuggler for Arianna during recovery: Arianna loved to snuggle Grandma, but she would only let me give her her medicine. So, the days I was gone during the day, she would wait out the pain until I got home, much to Grandma's worry. Arianna took a nap everyday after the surgery up until a couple of days ago. Apparently, she still needed one even though she thought she didn't! This is Arianna last Thursday at lunch time. She moved her sandwich right off her plate and used it as a pillow! It was so nice to have Grandma and Grandpa here for a week and a half. One of the things Grandma did with us was help to plant the garden. She brought us lots of good seeds from Logan, UT, where they were visiting Kenneth's sister before they came to see us. (Much cheaper than getting them here!) Unfortunately, the only day it stopped raining enough to plant was the day of Chemo. So, Kenneth went out there planting, digging in the evening after we got home. He was feeling it the next day! He said he had done too much and didn't feel so hot. Grandpa spent most of his time reading. This is where you could find him, happy as a clam, most of the time: If he wasn't there, the kids had roped him into reading another genre: There was other 'reading' going on as well. With all the rain we had, we were mostly stuck in the house! Of course, we didn't let it hold us back too much as you will soon see! Emma reciting Go, Dog, Go to Grant, the captive listener. Aren't they precious! The last Saturday in March, Kenneth's work had their annual Employee Appreciation Day at Great America Theme Park. Kenneth and I decided to take Emma and go since we had Mom and Dad here to stay home with the little ones. (Especially with Arianna still recovering.) We had a ball of a time, even if it was drizzling much of the day. Here are some pictures of the day: Emma and Mom in front of the sign. You can see the double-decker carousel in the background. Here is Emma and Dad. She really was happy, I just caught a funny face. She loved this one!!! This was a funny picture. I got right in to ride with Emma and the ride operator came around to make sure the children were all strapped in and told me the ride was only for kids. It was only then that I looked around and noticed I was the only adult in the cars with the kids! Talk about feeling a little sheepish! I thought it was a little cramped in there! Don't worry, I was allowed to ride with Emma on this one! Emma and I are in the last blue car. I think my hair looks cool flying out behind me! Emma's favorite ride of the day. It wasn't even a kiddie one! It was one of those that spins you silly. We weren't sure how she would do with it; we thought she might get scared, but she loved it! Here they are in action! Daddy and Emma waiting in a line. She was eating up all the attention she got from us. It makes me realize how important it is to have one-on-one time with each child every now and then. Another thing we did while Mom and Dad Larchar were visiting was go house hunting. We are seriously considering buying a house instead of continuing to pour money down the drain into renting. While we had a built in babysitter, we decided to take advantage and go out with a realtor. Dad actually came along to get an idea of what the real estate was like around here. He was quite shocked that you can spend $450,000 for a house in disrepair, foundation cracking, worn hardwoods, nasty kitchen, weeds riddling the yard. It is amazing how expensive it is to purchase a home here! And the prices we are looking at are much, much lower than they were 5 years ago at the peak! The only house I was even remotely interested in had been on the market for 5 days. The realtor tried all day to contact the listing agent to no avail. Finally that evening she emailed us that the home already had 10 offers on it!!! Wow. Oh well. Another day, Kenneth took his parents on a drive to see the Central Valley. Dad was interested in seeing the growing region of California. They appreciated seeing the wide open spaces after having been with us in our cramped urban area. Here are a few more pictures from the last couple of weeks: Lots of kisses for Daddy! Here we are the night before Grandma and Grandpa left. We decided we should take some family pictures. Too bad we decided to do it at (or a little after) bedtime. Notice Grant is a little sad, but okay being on my lap. Arianna was probably tugging on her ears because it was time for more pain medication (the pain from the area of the surgery radiates out to her ears and that is where she mostly felt it) Notice Grant, NOT happy at all being with Dad. Grant wanted NOTHING to do with Grandma at this moment in time. And here he is back with mom and handling life okay. Makes me kind of feel loved. . . In other news:

• Kenneth is losing eyebrows and eyelashes now. He held onto them for quite a while!


• Kenneth finally got the cold that had gone through the kids. Luckily, it never really caught hold. He just felt some congestion in his chest. He is feeling fine now.


• The van is back in the garage!!! I finally washed enough of the clothes from our moldy closet that had been taking over the garage. Now I have to get the dry cleaning done and that's it!


• For those of you who might be interested, Arianna is MUCH quieter when she sleeps now. It is amazing!! What a difference in before and after the surgery. One problem, however. . .she has a really annoying nasally voice now. We are really hoping that it is because she still doesn't feel 100%, so is just whiny. We really hope. . .


• We visited the farm park again this past Friday. When we told the kids we were going to the Farm Park that morning Grant was so excited and walked around the house saying, "Aminals, Aminals!!!". We sat down for our picnic when we first got to the park and Grant yanked on my arm trying to pull me in the direction of the animals. All the while shouting, "Aminals!! Aminals!!" He learned to say goat and peacock while there.


• We also flew a kite that day at the park!! The kids loved it!! Kenneth also told me it was his first time flying a kite. We'll have to go back and do it again another day when there is more wind. We had to do an awful lot of running to keep it up in the air!


• Kenneth's Degree from Cornell came in the mail this week. It's official! Yahooooo!!!!


• Yesterday and today we enjoyed (as much as is possible with 3 sometimes loud, sometimes difficult children) watching General Conference here in our home on the internet. How grateful I am to be a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints! I felt humbled and grateful during the conference. I was reminded that I MUST do better and be better. I was also reminded of how thankful I am for the Lord's guidance in my life. He has guided us to so many incredible places and through many different experiences. I look forward to studying the words of the conference more in the coming months.

Well, that's it for now, I suppose. Hope you all are doing well. Nine more days til the last Chemo treatment!