Summer

I haven't taken nearly as many pictures this summer as I should have.  The kids are growing like weeds and I need to do a better job of documenting it.  This is one happy Benjamin cashing in on an agreement with Mom.

I took Ben and AJ to Toy's R US because Benjamin earned his Spiderman Web Shooter.  He stayed dry for 3 nights in a row.  He was some excited.  AJ was content on the toys outside of the store.

 We meet Slavka and Calista and their families and ventured to Canajoharie to play in some waterfalls.  We loved spending time with them and the kids relished the chance to play in the water.

 Our first experience with Gum in the hair.  It resulted in shorter locks.  Lily smiled all the way through it and likes her hair cut.

 Lily playing with Lydia at Grandma's.  It is nice to have cousins that live relatively close by.

 We have arrived at the Van stage of our lives and are selling the Vue.  Someone is going to get a good deal as the vue only has 50K miles on it and no rust.  We bought the van from the mission and I love it!!! None of the children touch eachother and there is no howling about that, additionally when we have Conor and Andrew we have room for everyone.

 I couldn't resist posting this one.  This is a pretty common schene in our home.  King Benjamin just finished 6 weeks of swimming lessons.  He is so excited about riding the school bus to pre-K this fall.  Mommy is aprehensive and can't believe he's old enough to go to school.  Where has the time gone?

These are my favorite pictures from our latest Occupy Columbus / Larchar family reunion.  People are starting to return home (Dennis and Jason left yesterday and Kenneth and Heidi and their family will leave today) but my family is still talking about the fun had by everyone.  We had a generous neighbor who let us borrow his RV and amazingly we were all able to stay at the farm.    (Phew, that's alot of people!)  How fortunate I am to be related to them all!                                  

The Grandchildren

 The boy's did as much haying as the weather would allow.  The day this picture was taken they had done 150+ big bales and were so happy to be doing the things they love.

 I'm so proud of my brothers!  They are a tremendous men and so much fun to be around!

 A family photo with our Occupy Columbus shirts.  The shirts say 2012 Occupy Columbus Larchar Farm Encampment.  The cream rises to the top.  We are the 1%.  (It was only a little political, and kept us giggling for weeks.)

 After Church at Colgate College.

 I don't know why but this picture makes me laugh.  We are all so happy that Kenneth is healthy and well.

 Kittens to love at the barn.  Lily now wants one.

 A cheezy grin from Benjamin.

 Returning from Sunday nights scavenger hunt.  The boys couldn't get enough of eachother.

Our handsome Alec who just loves to be in his barn boots!

Sunshine

A.J.'s favorite pasttime.

This is for one of the sisters in our ward that I visit teach. (In our church we are assigned two or three or sometimes 4 women to visit and offer support, comfort, and friendship.  It is our way of caring for and meeting needs of church members.  I believe it is an inspired program and I have been greatly blessed by sisters and friends that have visited me over the years.)    I am taking my visiting teachees a Sunshine basket.  With all the rainy cloudy days that we have I hope that it brightens her day. 

Spring time happenings

Spring is in the air. This spring we have celebrated by getting a bunk bed for Benjamin's room. He loves it! and the kids certainly enjoy playing around on the top bunk. Mom and Dad love the fact that now Ben will go to bed on his own. The final perk......if needed there is another bed in the house.


Look at this face. He is quite a cutie and seems to either have a smile on his face or can be found shaking his head no. Fortunately the smile is much more prevalent. Here he appears in my mothers moon boots.

The other spring purchase was this dome climber. I decided that the kids climbing on the furniture was making me crazy so, for Easter the Bunny brought this contraption. The kids play on it for hours. It was well worth the wait and the best news is that the furniture halflife just increased!

We have discovered peanut butter and fluff sandwiches. Mom thinks they sound terrible, but the kids love them. The fluff mustache cracks us up.

Lastly we wanted to post some of the Easter Egg hunt pictures. Our neighbor spoiled the children and bought them sand pails that she placed in the yard. Of course they were filled with fun things like a matching plate, bowl, silverware set, plenty of candy, and sandbox stuff. We are centainly lucky to have great neighbors that are so good to the kids.

Misc. pictures of the children

I have been wanting to post and share some pictures of our adventures the last few months. Unfortunately I am sporatic in my photo taking and even more sporatic in my ability to post.

The kids love to dress up in costumes. They interchange who is what and are usually content as long as they have a costume on.

The bath tub picture is that of a train. You can't see it but they have locked legs and were saying "chugga, chugga, choo choo." It's cute when they all get along.

We went to an indoor circus fun day and have some pictures of the kids in go carts and standing in front of a camel.

The kids love to help with projects around the house. If Joseph gets his drill out they all run to the tool box and get their tools to help.

Lastly, we had a tea party in the living room a few weeks ago. I even got out the china. Check out Ben's expression. The tea party was definatly a "girl" thing.

I'll try to upload some photo's without falling asleep in the process. Joseph just took a short trip to get a signature from the primary president. Alas I had 45 minutes of quiet time. I uploaded pictures to the dropbox sat down in the recliner and the next thing I knew the kids were back. So much for a few minutes of bliss.

Here are some of the things that we have been doing lately. We had a 5 year old birthday party in the basement and invited Lily's brothers Conner and Andy and their foster family. We went to the indoor zoo and family fun day this weekend and rode the carousel, bumper cars, and the majic carpet. We saw all kinds of exotic animals.

Lastly lately, we installed a coat rack at kid level and had more help than Joseph could imagine to accomplish the task.

It has been difficult to have 3 kids 4 and under. Now we have 3 kids 5 and under and unfortunatly the whinning hasn't subsided. Lily is terribly jealous of Ben and the two of them have to do everything that the other is doing. Most days 7pm can't come quickly enough. When AJ throws his arm around me and gives me a big hug I almost am convinced it's worth it.

Drama, Drama, Drama

Check out our latest additions. These kiddo's are Lily and AJ. I find that I am busier than I even expected but it's a good kind of busy.

Sweet Lily

AJ trying to roller-skate.