Sweet Bercan....

Bercan is getting so big so quick it's just so sad...a bittersweet I guess. It's so fun to see him grow but sad to think that the newborn phase has just slipped away. He is now sleeping pretty good at night only getting up once. He is talking a ton obviously just cooing but he's so cute when he does it. Bath time is when he gets a little crazy kicking his legs. He can actually splash water out of his baby tub onto the floor. I'll have to get prepared for when this kid is sitting up in a regular tub. Here are a couple of recent pictures of the little bubba!!! He is getting really good at keeping his chubby little face up for tummy time and is attempting to roll but his big belly gets in the way :)

A brother conversation...

Tonight we were coming home from my brother's house when I heard the following conversation:

Torin can you fly?

No Vaughn I cannot fly.

Torin, can God fly?

Yes Vaughn God and angels can fly. God can do anything he wants.

Yep, He can only make miracles. You can't make miracles Torin.

That's right Vaughn.

Thanks Torin!

I mean just so silly...

Helping a friend out...

One of the student's in Torin's classroom house had a fire. Thankfully, the bedroom door was shut so the only thing that burned was his bedroom. He lives in a townhouse so it really could've been ugly. The teacher told the students about this and Torin raised his hand and said "I have a gold coin that the tooth fairy left me. I could give it to Patrick as it is a whole dollar." Bjorn, I mean the tooth fairy, had put a gold dollar coin under the pillow for Torin's lost tooth. His teacher said that she was so taken back by Torin's response that she had to tell me. He's not always the best kid in her class so I was happy that she could see that he does have a big heart. The next morning I went into Torin's room and gave him the 5 minute rule when I saw that he had some clothes and a stuffed animal that he was trying to put into his book bag. I asked him what those were for and he said that he wanted to bring them for Patrick because all of his clothes were burned in the fire. He melted my heart in wanting to share what he has with others that I let him take them. I hope that this part of Torin only continues to grow as he gets older :)

Marrying boys and girls

Vaughn asked Bjorn the other night "Daddy since me boy do me marry boy?" Bjorn explained that since he's a boy he will marry a girl and girl's marry boys. He did not like this response at all in which he replied "Ahh, me not get married then. Me not ike girls, xcept Mama." I told him that he could just marry me :) And his response was "YEAH, den you be my princess." These are conversations that I never want to forget...

Miracles

At our wonderful church in the kid's ministry they have been teaching the kido's about Jesus and the story of Christmas. After church today Vaughn told me, "Mama, ony God can ake mircles. Not people, just God." It was so sweet. So on our way home from shopping tonight he asked me "Mama, is Jesus boy or girl?" He's very much into asking what gender people are. I asked him what he thought and he said boy. I told him that he was right. He then says "Mama, you and Jesus are beautiful." What a way to end the night....

Christmas Tree

The annual trip to the Christmas tree lot. We tried cutting ours one year and lets just say with Bercan being 2 months old we weren't crazy enough to try and attempt it again. So off to the lot we went. It usually takes us, okay me, about 30 or more minutes to find the "perfect" tree and I always say that I don't want to spend a lot on a tree and we typically spend double of what we want to spend. Well I broke all of those traditions this year. I spotted the tree literally in 5 minutes and it was under the amount that we wanted to spend. Good job Mom!!! :) I will say it's much smaller than we typically get but it's a great little tree. We got a few quick pictures but it was way too cold for Bercan to be outside...he toughed it out for a few pics with Dad and the boys. It was when we were leaving the lot that I realized I had not taken one with the boys but I wasn't about to make them all go out in the cold again. Torin helped Dad put the star on top of the tree as the rest of the boys couldn't make it that long at night and were in bed.

My handsome boys

the star

Dad in the festive mood with his hat

our perfect little tree

The first lost tooth

FINALLY....Torin lost his first tooth. He had been waiting and waiting and waiting. Everyone had been loosing their teeth...except Torin. We were at church on Saturday night and he showed us that it was loose with his tongue and he was so excited. It wasn't until we got home that we saw a different side of it. He got really quiet and then said "I've been wanting to loose a tooth for so long and now that it's here I don't know if I want to." I really have never seen him so nervous, afraid and just not sure of himself. He seriously had tears in his eyes. He didn't want to eat pizza for dinner because he thought it would hurt...so Mom made him soup. That night while we were drinking hot chocolate in front of the Christmas tree all of a sudden said "AHHH...it fell out". His excitement returned when he realized that it didn't hurt for it to fall out. He took Bjorn and I put his arms around us and said that he was sorry for not trusting us that it wouldn't hurt. He's really too sweet sometimes :)

Too nervous to eat pizza

You can see how much the tooth is pushing up

RELIEF...it's out and it wasn't painful :)

Hockey 2009 - 2010

Well hockey season has definitely kicked off and I will say that the number of practices that they have for 6 year olds is a little ridiculous in my book. Fortunately, Bjorn agrees with me so we are not making all of the practices but Torin is still doing a great job. He really is skating well this year and it's fun to see him improving. I don't know what a cross over is but Bjorn is happy that he is doing it. I'm trying to be a hockey mom but I still have a lot to learn. Here are the team pictures and few of just Torin. He's having fun on the ice as he has one of his good friends from his class and our small group from church, Jacob H. and our next door neighbor Collin with his dad Matt managing has made it a great experience for Torin thus far....

Torin on the move

The typical hockey pose in front of the net

Waiting in line

Mom having some creative fun...

The team

Take a picture of me and Bercan Mom!!!

Torin couldn't love his little brother any more...he's always holding him, talking to him, wanting to cuddle with him and of course wanting me to take a picture of him and Bercan. Here are a couple that I think are pretty precious..

Dollar Head

Torin got a dollar and decided out of the blue that he should give it to Bercan. He folder it up and put it on Bercan's head. Because the kid has such a big head and is bald it actually stayed up there for awhile. The picture was pretty priceless...then of course Vaughn had to join the picture :)

What the season is really about?

Torin came home with the following school work and it melted my heart. I have been talking to the boys about what the season is really about. That the presents are nice but it is really about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ. When I saw this work that Torin brought home I finally felt that it was sinking in with him.

My favorite season is Winter because it is Gods drthday

Which girl to marry?

Torin came with me to pick Vaughn up from daycare. A little girl there Maddy really likes Torin. When we were leaving I made a comment how much Maddy likes Torin and Vaughn told me that Maddy says that she is going to marry Torin. Torin response was "I'm not letting a crazy lady like that marry me." When I asked him who he was going to marry he told me that he was going to marry Bella. Bella is our babysitter's sister who is quite the pistol. I said that Bella seemed to be a little sassy. Torin informed me that girls are supposed to be sassy when they are little. I asked him if he could handle a sassy girl like that and he told me "I'll marry a lady who yells at me all the time. I could handle it." I then reminded him that he couldn't date until he was 30 he then told me about his favorites. " My two favorites are Victoria and Bella. I'm still with Victoria but when I dump her I'm going to date Bella." I said again no dating until you are 30 he then educated me that it isn't THAT kind of dating MOM!!! I mean for 6 I just can't believe we are having these kind of conversations :)

God mailing children

The other day I was driving Vaughn to daycare and told him how much I love him and how happy I was that God gave him to me. He looked at me and said "Yeah, mommy God make me and mailed me." I didn't know that God had different shipping options :)

Birth Eating

The other morning while we were making breakfast. We were saying how we like hot cereal (oatmeal). I said that I love hot cereal really hot with cold milk over it with brown sugar and raisins. Torin looked at me and said "Mom, are you birth eating again?" Bjorn and I cracked up as when I was pregnant we would make comments that my eating was being affecting by the baby. I guess Torin made up his own way of saying it.

Thankful for Vaughn

There are many times that Vaughn will do or say things that just crack us up. I guess that Torin is starting to find the humor in them as well. The other night at dinner Vaughn make some comment that just made us all laugh. Torin looks at him and says "Oh Vaughn, what would we do without you!" And it's true. I don't think that we would be the family we are without our Vaughny. His temper may be all me but his crazy sense of humor I think it a blessing all his own.

Torin's floor bed

Torin has an imagination that is pretty fun to see as he can be such a serious kid. It really has been the last year or so when he has began to take things like pop boxes and whatever else he can get his hands on to make into kennels for his stuffed puppies. Last night he made a bed on his floor and arranged his puppies and nerf guns just so. It's pretty cute when he explains it all to you and yes he is his Mother and Father in that the explanation takes a good 15 minutes or so to go through. This is a side of Torin that just melts my heart...

Puppies are tucked in by his side with their nerf guns above

them....just in case...
Here you can see that the kid literally has every nerf gun
that he owns around him. You would think that we live
in a dangerous place but really we live in Hugo :)

I was informed by Bjorn that the pillow that is propped up

on the wall at the very top of picture was a flat screen TV

for the puppies to watch before they went to bed. This kid

can be so hilarious at times..

Bercan's Smiles

Bercan is really a happy baby even though he STILL doesn't sleep that great. I thought that the third child was supposed to be relaxed and go with the flow. Well that certainly is not our Bercan. He really only sleeps in his swing or his car seat...little stinker. If we put him in his crib he'll maybe sleep for 2 hours. Vaughn at his age was sleeping about 8 hours at night. It really makes for some long sleepless nights and when Bjorn's traveling I gain a deeper respect for single Mom's. Even with not sleeping great he's pretty easy to get smiles out of and as you can see from the pictures he's got a pretty sweet smile..

Mommy making some silly sounds is really all it takes to get

him to smile. He's been cooing for awhile and does it the most

for Torin. Just ask Torin and he'll tell you this, as he is pretty proud.

Prayers...

We always say a prayer when we lay the boys down to bed but this particular night I must have rushed through the prayer. Bjorn was traveling, I still had to tuck Torin in bed and Bercan really wanted to eat. So I did what I could but obviously it was not enough for Vaughn. As I was nursing Bercan I could hear Vaughn talking in his room, I couldn't make out what he was saying but he was being quite so I was fine. Before I went to bed that night I checked in on the boys only to find Vaughn in his praying position. I guess the little guy fell asleep praying and I of course had to take a picture of it as it was probably one of the sweetest things I have seen.

1st Dentist Appointment is Success

Vaughn couldn't have been more excited to go to the dentist. He actually is excited to get to do anything that Torin does, so since Torin had an appointment Vaughn felt pretty special that he did too. The hygenist was awesome showed him all the tools that they were going to use. His favorite was of course Mr. Sucky who sucked up all the water. It was pretty funny as he would close his lips and she would have to ask him 3 times to open up. At point he said "Dat Mr. Hucky is really hickly." As you can see from the picture below he was laid back and relaxed through the appointment, he really was a trooper!

Not a care in the world...that really is Vaughn. Check out the two

different colored socks...he of course loves to get dressed himself.
Smiles at the end and happy that he got to do something that Torin does too...

Gorilla's are scary...

Bjorn decided that having a Gorilla costume was about the most important thing this Halloween. Unfortunately, I did not know this. Thus, when I came home from shopping at Target one afternoon and mentioned that they had a full Gorilla costume you can imagine where we headed from there. We found ourselves at Target trying on a full size Gorilla costume. The most funny thing about this costume is that Vaughn watched Bjorn put the entire costume on but as soon as Bjorn moved and sounded like a Gorilla in it Vaughn was beyond scared, screaming in fright at Target. That afternoon Bjorn decided that it would be funny to scare Torin. You have to realize that we are a family who is all about "getting" or scaring each other. So I picked Torin up from school and the scene was put into place. Poor Vaughn who had been taking a nap woke up before I got home and came walking downstairs to find the Gorilla. He again freaked out. Bjorn said that he wanted to scare Torin, not him. Vaughn was up for it but as Bjorn put the mask back on Vaughn just was not sure about this Gorilla. I finally got home, walked to the stairs and well here's the video to tell you the rest....we hope you enjoy this one :)

Pumpkin Craving

It was pumpkin craving time in the Larson house which means the creativity needs to come out, or maybe just the stencils that makes it look like we are creative. Except for Bjorn of course, he does not use the stencil because he really is creative :)

Bercan even joined in the fun this year. Well at least he sat there and was good enough not to require any attention while we craved pumpkins.

He even looks like he is smiling!

Torin and the pumpkin guts, as the boys called it.

Mom and Torin doing a close up

Vaughn and Daddy working on Vaughn's pumpkin

Pretending to eat pumpkin guts..

Spelling mistakes

Torin is now in first grade and is really into spelling things and sounding new words out. It's been fun to see him grow like this and it become comical the other night as we were driving home from a friends house. He informed us that he knew how to spell she and sheet. So he started "She is spelled s-h-i, I mean s-h-e". We told him that was correct. "And sheet is spelled s-h-i-t". After a little silence giggle from the front knowing that he doesn't have any idea what he really just spelled, we told him that sheet was like sheep in which he corrected himself "s-h-e-e-t". These kids are comedy gold!!!

3 year old + Silence = TROUBLE

Vaughn by himself can be quiet the angel and when he's home with Bercan and I, he's always a good boy. At least most of the time. The other week I was nursing Bercan downstairs and Vaughn told me that he wanted to play in his room. For the most part this is fine. Vaughn is the kind of kid, if by himself, will play in his room for 2 hours and is great. So I told him to go ahead. He had been up there for 15 minutes and it was just TOO quiet. You know the silence that as a mother has you wondering what they are up to. Well I asked him to come down and as he started to come down, he started to tell me the following "it okay mama betause I wants a mohawk and it haright, okay mama?" As he turned the corner I saw that he had taken the gel, the mohawk gel, and proceeded to try and do a mohawk. This is gel is like concrete you need maybe a size of a pea to make a mohawk. Vaughn on the other hand thought he needed half the container. It was all over and it had already set so the top of his was hard as concrete. After about 5 shampoo's later it was all out. Because of how much was in his hair I didn't even think of taking a picture but was more worried about getting it out of his hair ASAP.

Is there is a princess in the Larson house...

The other day I left the house to run to the store for some milk and when I open the garage door our alarm went off and Vaughn came running to the back door. "Dat you Mommy?", "Yep, Vaughn it's me." "Oh, you have good day, me luv you and (with his head cocked to the side and his eyes squinted) you my princess, right?" "Ahh..thanks Vaughn. I love you too and yes I will be your princess." As I left Vaughn went into the living and told Bjorn that I was his princess and he was my boy princess :) It's things like this that make Vaughn just a little cuter...

Prayers between brothers

A few nights back we were putting the boys to bed, which now with the addition of Bercan has been a little interesting. It's 3 against 2, so I took Vaughn while Torin and Bjorn prayed in Bercan's room. The boys said a prayer and when they were done Torin walked over to the crib and held Bercan's hands, closed his eyes and said a silent prayer. When he looked up, Bjorn asked him what he prayed for, Torin's response was "It was a private prayer between my brother and I Daddy." I nearly came to tears when I heard this. I prayed that night that Torin's heart stays sweet like this forever and that Bercan can someday see what a great big brother he has.

BEEFCAKE

Bercan has a new nickname and honestly I'm hoping that this one doesn't stick, as we now refer to him as BEEFCAKE! When we left the hospital he was 6lbs 7 ozs. At 9 days for his newborn checkup he weighed 7lbs 4ozs. At the doctor at 3 weeks, he weighed in for a total of 9lbs 1oz. And when he stretches or skirms he literally looks like a little beefcake :) I tried capturing it through a photo but it doesn't do the beefcake any justice. It's a cute picture none-the-less...hope you enjoy!

Story night with all the boys

We decided that Bercan could be apart of stories one night and it actually worked out better than we thought it would. The boys got their blankets and pillows and arranged them on the floor and then put baby Bercan between the two of them. Well Bercan made some silly sounds and the boys just thought that was the most funny thing ever. It took us about 5 minutes to get them to settle down from it. The books were enjoyed and Bercan was totally apart of it. Looks like he is fitting in just fine with his two older brothers.

Bercan before he made the silly "noise"
After the "noise" has made...

Vaughn thinking that his little brother was so silly or as he puts it, "Baby Bercan is o hilly!"

Brotherly Love

As I have mentioned before Torin is in LOVE with Bercan and I think if I let him just be with him every second of the day he would take it in a heart beat. He told me the other day "Mom, I could just sit and stare at him all day he's so cute!" How I hope and pray that his love for him never decreases and stays strong for many years to come. Here are a few pictures of Torin just doing that. It was funny as usually I am the one saying let me get a picture of this or that. Well Torin actually asked me to get these pictures, "Mom, get a picture of us looking at each other." Too sweet...

Family Night Fun

We decided to get at least one more family night in before the baby came...yes I know that this post is out of order but I didn't want to lose this story. We had a family night of just hanging out with each other. We did dinner, went for a walk to hopefully get the baby to come out, and the boys had picked root beer floats for the treat of the night. When we got home I was saying out loud should we do root beer floats first and then baths or vice versa. Torin looked at me and said with a smirk "How bout we do root beer floats in the bath tub?" without much hesitation I said yep let's do that. Torin face was priceless. If there is ever a picture I wish I would've gotten it would have been that one :) So we did exactly that of having a root beer floats in the bath tub. The boys thought that they were pretty cool and honestly I think that they were. It was a great night of fun!

Loving life and the fact that Mom and Dad said yes to this request...a family night to remember!

Cheers away baby to root beer floats in the tub!

Meeting of the cousins

The Dwyer cousins came over for a visit and my wonderful sister-in-law and brother brought me dinner at a time that I needed it most. Bjorn had to depart to Missouri for a conference and having a 10 day old and two energetic boys their presence was trust me more than a blessing. A super yummy dinner was brought, served and cleaned up without having to do anything but sit, eat and hold a baby from time to time. It seriously doesn't get any better than that! I've come to notice that with baby #3 the best gift of all is food that you don't have to cook yourself :) The boys had a great time with the lego's and of course just running around being boys. My favorite story of the night was that I told them that the quietest boy got a cookie first only for my very smart nephew to tell me "Auntie Jen we brought those cookies so really those cookies are ours so you can't make rules on them." Pretty smart for a 4 year old! He's really too cute....Here are the pictures from the night!

Maggie at 3 months and Bercan at 10 days old.

A close up the two newest cousins

James and Vaughn looking through the instruction books of the legos

Bercan Einar Larson

Well I would like to introduce Bercan Einar Larson. Little Bercan welcomed us with his presence on September 21st, 2009 at 5:50am. We got to the hospital at 2:30am and I was at 4cm. Water was broken at 3:00am, pitocin administered at 3:20am and at 5:45am I pushed 3 times and he was born. Quick and easy is how Bjorn would put it. I would agree with the quick comment and for the most part it was easy as the major pain really didn't start until about 4:30am. He weighed 6lbs 15ozs and is 21 1/4" long. He's got more hair than the two other boys combined and was alert right from the get go. We of course think that he is beautiful!!! Torin and Vaughn were his first visitors, of course Nana too. They were very excited to meet their brother but were not too fond of the name. We actually have video of us singing Happy Birthday to Bercan and Vaughn stating when we said Bercan "No don't tay tat wurd. Tat bad wurd." He is of course alright with the name now. Torin is in LOVE with this little man. Holding him, singing to him and just making sure that he is alright ALL of the time. The other night I told Bercan that he had a stinky neck and Bercan started to cry. Torin told me that was not nice to say and that I hurt Bercan's feelings. He really was not happy with me that I made his little brother cry. It's just too cute to see how protective he is of him. Vaughn is doing well with him too. He's my helper to get a diaper or to throw it out. If he sees a wrapped up diaper he'll ask "Me drow tis out for you mama?" I asked if he wanted to change a dirty diaper the other day and he told me "No way. Tat dishusting!" He's a smart boy :) As for Bjorn he's a great helper too. Taking Bercan after feedings so I can try and get some rest is a huge help. Even if it is only for a few hours it's very helpful. And for me, well I would pay good money for some more sleep but when I look at the pictures below of the wonderful gifts that God has blessed me with I would take no sleep in order to keep all of these precious beautiful boys, Bjorn included :). Hope you all enjoy the pictures...

First look at the world. Looks like he has his fists up ready to go :)
Mommy and Bercan getting a little loving time in before the other boys arrived to meet him..

The best big brothers a boy could ever wish for. I pray that they will always be like this.

My favorite boys in the world....it just doesn't get better than this.

My littlest beautiful man...it's so easy to fall in love with a little face like this.

I love the sleeping pictures of Daddy and baby at the hospital. I've managed to get one of Bjorn and each of the boys sleeping at night in the hospital.

Checking out of the hospital and heading home to see what that is like...