You're quite a production, you know

We have had a very busy October. Every single weekend (and sometimes during the week) we have had some major event; either visitors, travel, Church events, concerts, etc. We are definitely ready for a break!! It has been a lot of fun, but we are hoping that November will be a little calmer.
I have a lot of pictures and fun times to share, but will do this peice meal so that I am not overwhelmed with a major blog-a-thon.
So, yesterday, we met my sister and brother-in-law and some friends of theirs in San Fransisco to go on a tour of Alcatraz. Originally, we were going to leave the kids at home with a baby-sitter. But, to make a long story short, it just didn't work out, so we brought the kids along. Emma was a real trooper and walked the whole time. Arianna and Grant rode in the double stroller. Any of you out there who have kids know that whenever you go anyplace you want to be prepared for any circumstance that may arise. So, we had a fully loaded stroller- we had snacks, we had 3 extra sweatshirts for everyone (this is San Fransisco, you know), a blanket, extra clothing in case of accidents, water, band-aids. You name it I had it. My brother-in-law, after observing us for about 15 minutes during the time we were waiting in line and boarding the ship, commented, "You're quite a production, you know". I apologized that he had to be seen with us and my dear brother-in-law, said, "I've been there. I know!"
I guess we are quite the production! Not only were my kids the only kids on the tour- making us stick out even more, Arianna threw up on the boat (luckily we made it to the bathroom!), and the girls had greased up heads (follow-up to the lice treatment from the previous day- yes, you heard right- we had LICE!!!!!!!) So, anyway, he was right- we are quite a production. You know what? I wouldn't trade it for the world. I love these kids more and more. We were even more of a production on the way back to the car at the end of the evening- picture this- fully loaded stroller with 7 helium filled balloons tied on various places.
To end the post I will just share a couple of pictures because I am ready for bed!

Here is Emma in her Halloween Costume. She got to dress up in her Halloween costume in her ballet class this week. She calls herself a queen in this costume.

Aren't these the most adorable guys you've ever seen! This picture was taken outside the Fresno, California temple when we were there a couple of weekends ago.

Here we are on the Alcatraz tour (It was an audio tour, if you were wondering about the headphones). You can see San Fransisco in the background. Emma spent the whole time with Aunt Wendy.

Work hard, play hard

First of all I want to apologize to anyone who saw this post in it's chaotic, uncompleted form. Technical difficulties! Let's try this again!

Life is going by so fast! I've been told it just gets faster! Hold on to your hats folks, this here is the wildest ride in the wilderness!! (My husband is so going to make fun of me for that- but it just came out. Oh how I miss Disney World!!! (For those of you who may not know, I grew up in Orlando, Florida) Well, September kept us hopping around here. I have definitely caught the canning bug. First I ordered a HUGE load of pears to can. Then, the tomatoes in our garden came on, then I was given apples- it's like it was never-ending. Canning is really hard work- especially with three little ones. But, I tell you, there is something about seeing the food in the beautiful jars and hearing the pop! of the lid sealing and knowing that if anything happened, I have food to feed my family right here in my home. In addition to the canning we had a few fun adventures, plus the regular craziness that is the Larchar Household! Here are the pictures:

Emma helping me sort the pears in preparation for canning.

Some of the tomatoes I was given or grew. My neighbor gave me a whole bunch before she left town, my other neighbor gave me some from her son's garden, my friend gave me some from her garden and we grew some! Those darker ones in the middle are black cherry tomatoes. I had never heard of them. I threw them in the salsa.

Salsa- yum!



The ballerina, the princess and the little guy helping to make applesauce.

My hard little workers.


Here are Emma and Arianna and their friend in front of the Seymour Center in Santa Cruz. They had fun climbing on the seal sculptures.

Emma and Arianna- don't they make a cute crab and shark?!

The touch tank. The kids love this part! They get to touch starfish, kelp, sea anenomies, sea cucumbers, small crabs, etc. Very cool.

Here are all three observing the Sunflower stars.

Here is one of the whale skeletons outside the center. They actually have the largest assembled blue whale skeleton in the world outside the center! There are only 4 assembled in the world and theirs is the largest!

Probably my most favorite beach- Natural Bridges. After the Seymour Center, we hopped right over there to play. It' just down the road. My kids had so much fun playing with the 2 other families that were with us!

Emma and her friends trying to pull in a huge wad of seaweed.

Emma and her good friend playing in the waves. I love that natural bridge.

More fun- camping in the backyard! Kenneth had a lot of fun having 3 little helpers put that tent up!

But, in the end we were successful. Here they are eating s'mores!

Emma got a hold of the camera and got this shot of Arianna- I just liked her expression. That's my Arianna!

Emma got this one of Grant, too.

They lined all the animals and babies up to watch a movie with them.

It sure is nice that Emma can read to them now!

This one and the next one are for Grandma Pilz. He sure loves those Thomas Train pajamas! Thanks, Mom!

What a ham!

Then and Now

Here is Arianna at 2 weeks old:



Here she is yesterday evening:
Around 5:00 pm yesterday, Arianna started to be really difficult and uncooperative. I'm not sure why I don't get it while it's happening, but she was just exhausted! After she zonks out, then I realize what was going on leading up to it. So, Kenneth took her into our room to have a time out and she screamed for a good few minutes. After she quieted down we came in to find her in this position. I feel like every picture I have posted of her lately she is in that leotard. I promise, she really does wear regular clothes sometimes!

Family Portraits

Some of you may be disappointed when you open this post. No, we did not have real family portraits taken, although we are due to have them done. I did have to share these pictures the girls have drawn in the last couple of months, though.

From left to right: Grant, Arianna, Emma, Kenneth and Heidi
Emma was given this sheet of paper with a picture of the temple on it in Primary. They were to take it home and draw a picture of their family in front of the temple- reminding them that their family is forever. This was a couple of months ago that she drew this and I am amazed at how much more advanced she has gotten in her drawing skills since then! Notice she has all the eye colors correct. And I love Emma's long hair she drew.


Another of Emma's portraits. See what I mean about her skills really improving! She told me this was the picture we took on Easter by the flowering tree at Church. Interesting that she has already forgotten that Daddy didn't have hair in that picture! I love how I am floating in the air!
Notice Grant's orange shirt with black stripes. In Arianna's pictures to follow, you will she he is in the same shirt. What is funny is that Grant doesn't even have a shirt like that! The closest one I can think of is an orange plaid shirt. Funny.


This is the day she was remembering.

This one is an Arianna original. Also by the flowering tree at Church. When I asked her where Grant was she pointed to that big orange spot in my belly and said he was still in there. (Hey- Grant was even wearing orange in my belly- haha) I love the faces.

Another Arianna picture, autographed even, as you can see. Also by the flowering tree at Church- they were on a roll with this one! This time, left to right we have: Emma, Grant, Mom (me), Arianna, Dad and a visitor mommy. (Yeah- weird. When I asked her more about that she said the name of one of my friends who is in the preschool co-op with us.) At least Kenneth and I are the ones holding hands! Notice Grant's orange shirt with black stripes.

Another Arianna drawing. I sure am tall in this one! Left to right: Emma, Grant, Heidi, Dad, Arianna. I would be very interested in hearing a psychologists view of these.

There you have it. Hope you enjoyed these like I did!

There were three in the bed and the biggest one said. . .

GET OUT!!!!

Arianna, and on occasion Emma as well, has been a regular visitor in our bed for the last couple of months. Well, no more. Kenneth has had enough.

It all started a few months ago when Arianna was waking in the night and refused to go back in her bed. It has generally been a rule around here that the children sleep in their beds and we sleep in our bed- alone. But, when the night-waking Arianna was screaming and thrashing and kicking and WOULD NOT go back in her own bed I had had enough. She would wake up the other two children with her shenanigans and I didn't know what else to do so I resorted to putting her in the garage until she could stop screaming. (Don't worry, we live in the most beautiful climate in the world, so it was neither too hot nor too cold out there) This, of course, meant that I was sitting on the other side of the door, also not getting any sleep. (I tried once bringing a blanket into the kitchen to try to sleep, but linoleum isn't really conducive to sleep.) Arianna also learned that when she was out there that meant that mom wasn't getting to sleep either and I think she secretly liked the idea. Yes, a three year old can be that manipulative. I was turning into a monster in the night trying to deal with her and it wasn't worth it. So, I let her come sleep with me. I stopped fightin' with her in the night and started snugglin'.

At first it was hard for me to sleep with her there, but after a while I just got used to it slept great! I could even sleep pretty well with both the girls with me. It certainly was better than actually having to wake up completely and get out of bed to deal with a 30 pound ball of craziness! But poor Kenneth was pushed over to the far side of the bed cold and alone. He dealt with it for a couple of months, but then sat the girls down and had a talk with them. He told them that he was having a hard time sleeping and asked them what we should do. Without a moment's hesitation, Arianna said, "We'll just push you off on to the floor, Dad!!" (Isn't she sweet?!)

So, here we are a week and a half or so since 'the talk'. Now, I don't have any girls in my bed, but I do have to tread lightly if I have to get up in the night because chances are there is an Arianna on my floor. Dear girl. I guess it's better than in my bed. And- she isn't really bothering me in the night, just plopping down on my floor.

Here are the 2 angels sleeping in our bed (before 'the talk'). The two peas in a pod decided they couldn't fall asleep in their own beds and this is how we found them when we were ready to go to bed. They transfer well, thank heavens.

And just because it is a sleeping picture and we are talking about sleep, here is Arianna napping one day on the couch with Panda. She doesn't usually nap, but some days she will zonk out during reading time. She really is adorable in this state.

The word on the chicken pot pie

I made a chicken pot pie on Sunday; We needed a little comfort food around here. I always carve a word or words in the pie- "We love Daddy" or some such phrase. The word this time around was: PEACE.

We desperately needed peace. Last Friday Kenneth had an ultrasound done on his liver. The blood tests done in conjunction with his follow-up visit to the Oncologist earlier in the week showed some abnormalities in the liver function. Kenneth has also been feeling some pain in his abdomen in that general area. Therefore an ultrasound was ordered. The doctor had said the pain and the abnormalities could be a side-effect of the antibiotics Kenneth has been taking for the last 3 months, but to be sure the Ultrasound was performed. All Kenneth wants is for this whole chapter in his life to be over.

At the ultrasound, Kenneth's untrained eye saw red spots on the liver. When the technician, who can't really say anything about what he is seeing, strongly encouraged Kenneth to follow-up with his doctor, Kenneth was sent into a tail-spin. The days following have been harrowing. Not knowing for sure what is going on, knowing it could be REALLY bad, and waiting just make for a bad combination. The poor children didn't know what to think; Poor Daddy crying so much. Emma is so good about comforting him and snuggling. In one prayer, sweet Emma prayed that Daddy wouldn't get as sick as he did last time. Grant just says, "Daddy O.K." Arianna doesn't quite know what to do with herself or how to act.

We tried to distract ourselves this weekend with a night of camping in the backyard and garage sale-ing, but it was hard to shake off the gray cloud lingering above us. Luckily, we have the children to bring color and light to the gray days of uncertainty. Life must go on with children. You can't sit and be miserable too long before they need you. And that's a good thing. Oh how I love these children!

Well, today, in some measure that PEACE came. We got a call from the Oncologist saying the Ultrasound showed nothing to be concerned about. Those red spots Kenneth had seen are just benign cystic growths that he says have been there since before chemo. Nothing to be concerned about. None of the other nearby organs showed anything abnormal. He will meet with Kenneth in couple of weeks, but for now he said to monitor what he is feeling in the abdomen. Perhaps more tests will be required if symptoms persist. Oh how we pray that this is just a blip in the road to full health!

We are so thankful to family and friends who fasted and prayed last weekend on Kenneth's behalf. How thankful we are for so much support and love!

So far so good. . .

I have so many blog posts that I start to conjure up in my head and so few of them actually make it here. So much to do, so little time! Like the one about The top 10 reasons why it's great to be married to a farmer, or Why I love living in California, or all the crazy things the kids do and the funny things they say. Wait, I do need to mention a couple of those while I'm at it. Pull up a chair, this may take a while! So, this morning, I was exercising and the kids were up and decided they needed breakfast, or at least a snack to get them through to breakfast time. Arianna decided she needed a bowl, so she climbed up the step stool onto the counter and stood there to open the cupboards. The only problem was, she realized as she stood there ON MY COUNTER that she had to go to the bathroom! And she couldn't get down fast enough. So there she sat on the edge of the counter and emptied her bladder. Kenneth was on his way out the door to work and helped her down and then came to tell me there was a puddle on the counter. Upon finishing my workout I went into the kitchen to check out said puddle. There was not a puddle ON the counter, no, it couldn't be that simple. She was literally sitting on the edge of the counter when it happened, so it dripped down into the cupboards below, into the plastic containers stored there and on the shelving and finally puddled on the floor. What a lovely start to the day! That crazy little chicken!!

Arianna also has special prayers as of late. She used to just say a super short prayer that was over before some people had a chance to fold their arms. Then she got into longer prayers which mainly consisted of her talking about whatever she saw around her as she looked around the room. Now, her prayers consist of her thanking Heavenly Father that we can do "all the things we want to do and the things we really want to do and all the things we really, really want to do." She cracks us up!

Well, there you go. There is some of the craziness chronicled for you. But, moving on, as I was doing the dishes tonight I realized I had not yet given an update on how homeschooling (Joy) is going! I think it has been almost 3 weeks since we had the 'first day of school!" Well, so far so good. In fact, I feel happier than I have felt in a while! Partly due to the fact that I believe I am finally mellowing somewhat as a mom. (Except for that small incident this morning when I was trying to get us all out the door for an 8 am Doctor's appointment and no one was cooperating!!!!) But really, I am feeling more relaxed and letting go of things I used to allow to make me crazy. I am also just letting myself enjoy these incredible children!!

Normally we do 'school' in a couple of chunks during the day. I have had to readjust my schedule to allow us to do this, however. I get up between 5:45 and 6:15 to exercise. Unfortunately, the children are following suit and get up when I do and lay on the couch and watch me sweat. They were sleeping in for a while there. Until 6:30 or 7, that is. Oh well.

Then after breakfast we do a little bit of learning. We sing some songs, do the calendar, practice patterns, or phonics, addition or subtraction. One day we studied about worms and then harvested the castings out of our worm bin. Yes folks, the worm poop; And they've made a lot of it! I have visions of it really helping out our sad garden. The soil definitely needs some fertilizer. By the by- we have replanted! With such a temperate year round climate we are taking advantage. We have beans and peas up already and looking great! (Okay, enough with the tangent, Heidi!)

Then in the afternoon, while Grant is napping, we will read books or do workbook pages, or some math on the computer. Emma just loves to learn, so she makes it quite easy on me! Arianna will join in sometimes, or not. Even Grant joins in on the fun sometimes.

On Wednesday, we had a particularly wonderful school time. We dropped the little two off at preschool (yes, Grant is now in preschool!) and went to the park just down the street, spread out a blanket, pulled out Emma's school bin and had a ball together! In addition to the learning we were doing in the books and with the math manipulatives, we watched birds searching for worms in the grass, we watched flocks of geese circle and soar and finally form a 'V' and fly away. Heck, we even experienced the movement of the earth as our blanket, once shaded, was in full sun again. Emma was so amazed to have witnessed that! I feel so grateful that I can homeschool. What a privilege! Later that same afternoon I told Emma how much I liked learning with her. She said, "Yeah, me too, Mom, that's why I call it Joy- because it's fun!"

Of course, other days, like last Friday, we went to the beach! Kenneth has every other Friday off and we needed to go to the learning resource center for our Charter School, which happens to lie half way between here and the beach, so, off we went! On the way there Emma did math with Daddy in the back seat and we practiced spelling (on Emma's request). We also talked about verbs- thinking of all the -ing words we could. So much natural learning happens. All we have to do is encourage it!

I do realize that we are still in the honeymoon phase of this grand adventure. I am sure we will have hard days and hard weeks. But, I am very glad of this decision that we have made. One thing's for sure: Kenneth sure is jealous that he's not the one home with them! I am so thankful that he provides so well for us so that I have this privilege and opportunity! Thanks, Kenneth!

Here are some of our recent adventures:


Here is our trip to the Fire Station. We made the trip with the Preschool Co-op Group, but of course, Emma got to be a part of it, too!

All the kids got a turn in the driver's seat of that big fire truck!

Does she look happy, or what?!

Grant taking his turn

Grant in his fire hat.

A little piece of heaven on a Sunday afternoon. I just love these times! Oh- don't you love our new US Map rug? Emma loves it! She is going to know the States in no time. She likes to have me say the name of a state and she has to try and find it.

Emma and I were making patterns with these math blocks and the younger two had fun joining us. How many kids get to do school in their leotards? Isn't it fun?!

One more bit of news: Emma had her first ballet class today! She loved it! I should have taken her picture, but I didn't. She was wearing the same leotard in the picture above, just with white tights, ballet shoes and her hair in a bun. She was beaming from ear to ear during the whole class.