circus circus

We got free tickets to the circus again this year through Paul's work and it was, once again, awesome! I love free stuff, don't you?
*I still get scared to death every time I see the tiger taming part.

*This was awesome! These girls were in plastic orbs high in the air and did all these cool ventriloquist things inside them. Scary!

*The theme this year was....DRAGONSSSSS.

*And some blurry iPhone photos for your viewing pleasure.

There was one thing that I didn't get a picture of that I'm totally sad about, and that is the cat circus! They just had ordinary house cats do all these little tricks that were way funny because I think cats are, like, really funny and it ended with a cat jumping from a 15-foot platform on top of a pole down to a pillow in the trainer's arms. Awesome.

Penny's Fourth Birthday Party!

Penny is currently obsessed with The Little Mermaid so we had an "Under the Sea" party. It was pretty fun! We had some little friends over and it was cute to see them all running around playing together.

We played with some bubbles...

And lined the kids up for a fishing game, where the girls got necklaces and the boys got squirt guns. Paul was such a good sport and sat behind the blanket and clipped the prizes onto the fishing rod. He may or may not have gotten clocked in the head a few times when an excited kid threw the hook over. 

We had snacks...

And opened presents...

And just hung out with cute friends.

The weather was perfect, the kids had a great time, and Penny got her Little Mermaid party. It was a fun day!

Four years old!

*taken on her fourth birthday (9/11/2012)

Some things about four-year old Penny...

- Loves The Little Mermaid and sings "Part of Your World" all.the.time. She knows it so well that I'll sing a bit of it and she'll fill in the gaps. Me: "Wanna a thing-a-ma-bob?" Penny: "I've got twenty!" 

- Still loves books and has to bring at least one into her bed every night. I think she gets that from her mom.
- Loves to play pretend with her princess dolls. I love when she doesn't know that I can hear her, she cracks me up with these funny conversations between her dolls. "Are you sad, Sweeping Bweauty? Here's some candy." 

- Loves pre-school and has no problem saying good-bye to me every time I drop her off. But then she also says "Mama!" and runs to me every time I pick her up.

- Likes to randomly stop what she's doing and says "Mama, you're silly" and smiles and waits, because she knows that I'll say "Nooo, you're silly" and then even louder she says "NO MAMA, YOU'RE SILLY" and then we go back and forth until I say "Okay, I'm silly" and she says "Yep" and then goes back to what she was doing.

- Has been pickier with her clothing lately. She used to never care what I put on her, but lately I'll put on a cute top and she'll say "NO! This is YUCKY!" so after I ask her to not yell in my face about her clothing, I have to search for something in her closet that meets her approval. 

- She's definitely a girly-girl. She loves to dress up and hates to get dirty. She'll be eating yogurt and get a tiny dab on her finger and whine at me until I give her a tissue to wipe it off.

- Loves to bust out her ballet dance moves. Her favorite one is to hold onto the coffee table and lift one leg as high as she can, while stretching out the opposite arm. I think dance lessons are definitely in our future.

- We're still going to physical therapy, and it used to be four times a month, but we recently got down to twice a month! Yay! She's mostly caught up to her age level, we're just working on a few gross motor things: jumping, climbing, going up stairs without hand support. But I definitely think we're on the home stretch therapy-wise. Yahoo!

- LOVES baby sister. Just yesterday, Violet was fussing and Penny walks over and pats her arm and says "Shhh it's okay, baby sister. You're all right, baby sister." So sweet. And she likes to get real close to Violet's face and then Violet will start swatting at Penny's face because that's what grabby 5-month olds do and Penny just giggles non-stop.  

I love my Penny and I can't believe she's four! 

5 months!

*This is the same little yellow dress that Penny wore in her 7-month pictures here. :)

Some things I want to remember about 5-month old Violet...

- Started eating rice cereal a couple weeks ago and she loves it. We give her a big bowl before bed every night and she gobbles it right up.

- Still sleeping really well which makes for a happy mama.

- Loves to grab her feet and suck her toes. So cute!

- Bears her weight really well when she stands.

- If you lay her on a blanket, she’ll scooch off it pretty quick by pushing with her feet. Its so funny to watch.

- Starting to sit up on her own. Especially if she has a big toy to hold on to, she’ll sit up for a good five minutes.
- Loves when you blow raspberries on her tummy. She just bursts into giggles.

- Getting SO wiggly! When you have her on your lap, she hardly ever sits still. I’m starting to bring a bucket of toys everywhere I go just to keep her entertained. 

- Loves her big sister. Every time Penny enters the room, Violet just lights up with a big smile. 

She is the squishiest, most lovable baby! She's almost always happy and loves to jibber-jabber and squeal at you. We feel so blessed to have her in our lives!

First Day of School!

*Showing off her kitty backpack.

Today was Penny's first day of her second year of preschool. She did pretty well. She's in the same classroom as last year, and the assistant teacher is the same, too, so she just walked in there like no big deal. We brought little cupcakes for her class since tomorrow's her birthday (she's turning FOUR - ack!) and she was excited to give them to her teacher. I think it's going to be a great year. Here's to preschool and learning new things! :)

Happy Birthday Paul!

Mr. Larsen turned 32 on September 4th and we had a little party to celebrate. Paul's parents watched the girls and the two of us went out to eat at an Indian restaurant. Afterwards we had some red velvet cake and ice cream, and opened some prezzies.



Penny helped blow out the candles.

And she thought the balloons were for her, so she had a grand time at dada's party.

New shoes for the 32-year old.

Violet is looking a little startled here, haha. And I don't know who could possibly be hiding behind those balloons...

Happy Birthday Paul! I love you!

Family Reunion in Fullerton, CA

*Giant post ahead...you've been warned.

We had such a fun week! We usually all stay in a cabin here in Utah for our family reunion, but this year we stayed at my folks' house in Fullerton, CA and they offered to take us to a bunch of things down there. Sadly, Jordan's family wasn't able to make it since they were moving to Texas that week. We missed you guys!

On the road again // Penny entertaining herself in the car

On the way down, we stopped in Vegas to see our cousin Erin and her family. It had been too long!

Me, Erin and Lana with our baby girls // All the kidlets: Violet, Elsa, Penny, Max, Ethan, Brooke and Kevin

The day we arrived we just relaxed at the house...

My dad with the grandkids // Penny on my dad's lap while he's on the ham radio
*I remember doing the exact same thing with my dad when I was little...some things never change. :)

On Sunday we took a walk after dinner to our favorite Acacia Park...

Love this pic of my mom and Penny // Elsa and my dad on the slide

On Monday us girls got pedicures (one of my FAVORITE things ever) and that night we went to Medieval Times! I don't know why I enjoy this place so much, it's so cheesy and fun.

The whole crew.

Thanks for the light toys, Grandma! Penny is still playing with hers.

 

King Max + Queen Penny. Huzzah!

 

Go red and yellow! // Waiting for the show to start

All the actors, I mean, knights lined up // Violet wasn't much impressed by the show

And the next day was the main event - Disneyland! I was a bit anxious about having to take two young kids to Disneyland for the first time, but it was actually really fun! Yes, it was hot and crowded, and sometimes the kids got whiny but we brought lots of snacks and water, re-applied sunscreen every hour and they were all right. We took turns staying off rides with Violet if she was asleep in her stroller, and my parents even watched the kids so us four adults could go on Tower of Terror since the line was so short. Penny was afraid of a few of the rides when they got "too scah-wee!" or "too darrrk!" but other than that I think she enjoyed her first Disneyland experience!

It was so busy and fun all day that I only took two pics. I know, what's wrong with me?? But it was nice to just enjoy it all, and not worry about documenting every little thing.

One pic in California Adventure...

And one pic in Disneyland. But these two are good enough, right?

The kids stayed until 6:00pm or so, and then we brought them home, fed them dinner, and we got to come back with Lana and Kris for a few more hours until the park closed at midnight. It was a fun little date all to ourselves! It felt just like when Lana and I had annual passes in high school and we'd go for a few hours after our homework was done. So fun!

The next day was beach day. Penny's doesn't really enjoy cold water or getting dirty, so she wasn't a big fan. She kind of got upset each time a wave came in, I mean, really, how rude of the ocean.

But she did enjoy sitting under an umbrella playing with toys and a bucket of water. We all find our niche, you know?

I just sat and took care of Violet and read magazines. That was my niche at the beach and I liked it.

On Thursday we got to meet up with our friend, Heather! It was fun to chat and catch up, and watch our kiddos play together.

Me and Heather // Max, Violet, Harvey, Elsa, Wendy
*Penny refused to come out of the toy room for the group picture, ha

Later that day, a quick snapshot of my high school // And lunch at my favorite Fullerton restaurant

For our last day we went to Irvine Regional Park, and there was a bunch of fun things to do there...

We rode a cute train around the park.

And took the toddlers on a pony ride, which they all LOVED. I thought Penny would be scared, but she was totally into it the whole time, waving each time she passed by us. It was so cute!

The petting zoo was next, Penny loved chasing the goats around and combing their fur.

Paul and Penny on a paddle boat to end the day.

And the next day we drove home. And that's it! You made it through the longest blog post ever!

Thanks mom and dad for such a fun week!