Bercan turns 1!!!

Ahh....the day is here, my youngest and last little man is turning 1. This day seemed so far away 8 months ago when sleep wasn't consistent, he wouldn't sleep laying down but only in a car seat or a swing. I remember falling asleep with him laying on my chest and thinking that him turning 1 seemed much farther than 300 days away. But here it is. It's crazy to think of all that he has done in one year!!!

He has added such joy to our family, that words cannot truly express to just what level. Being the third I will say that he is a little ham, always trying to make us laugh and he is definitely a Mama's boy. I don't mind that one bit :)

That morning we went into his room as a family and sang him happy birthday. I thought it was funny as the boys were really excited to doing this for Berc. We all went in and sang him happy birthday while he stood at his crib. He was so happy to see us and be greeted with a song. Not a typical day occurrence but one that you could tell he was really enjoying. Along with being a ham, he will definitely let you know when he is not happy with something. He can be distracted to something new for the most part. But he'll still throw down a little baby temper tantrum if he feels in the mood. He's always up for a good hug and of course food. He is by far our biggest boy yet. He is 5 pounds bigger than Torin at 1 and 3 pounds bigger than Vaughn. He's our Bubba for sure!

He had a good birthday celebrating with family, digging into a cake and opening presents. Here are a few pictures of the birthday boy!

Happy little boy loving his family sing to him

It's funny, it's as if he knew that it was his day.

The way he smiled and posed away for me.

A fun little photo of my littlest man.

He was really not sure what to do at first but by the next

photo you can see that he figured it out :)

I love that he took a fork to it. This is a Berc "thing".

If he is eating he wants a fork or spoon, even if he isn't

using it he needs one in his hand and will let you know

about it if you don't allow him to have. Why grab with

your hands when you can use a fork to dig in :)

Daddy and Mommy with Berc and his fork.

You'll see in the video below that even at

one he really knows how to use that fork.

Gabby

Our little Vaughn has a crush on his friend Gabby. Gabby and Vaughn went to daycare together for 3 years and our daycare provider would always tell us about how Vaughn and Gabby played so well together. That they would prefer playing with each other versus another boy or girl. Gabby is probably the sweetest little girl that I know and is just so darn cute.

Well Gabby invited Vaughn to her birthday party but some how or another the birthday invite got lost. By the time that I saw it her birthday had already passed. We ended up running into Gabby and her family at Meet the Teacher Night at school. Her Mom said that the one person that Gabby really wanted at her party was Vaughn. We felt terrible so I suggested that we take her to a movie. Of course the two of them thought that was a great idea.

So we set a date and then every day after that all I heard was "Am I going to the movie with Gabby today?" It was a week out so it got a little old but it was worth the wait. During this week we went to the State Fair where Torin found some tickets for prizes on the ground. He was a good older brother in sharing them with Vaughn. Vaughn picked out a ring and said that he was going to give it to Gabby. Ok, this is all cute but seriously how does he know to give a ring to a girl.

We went to pick Gabby up and Vaughn gave her the ring saying "It a weal diamond you know." She was so excited and us Mom's just giggled about it. We hopped in the car and Vaughn just started gabbing away with her. She sat and listened with a huge smile on her face. It was really sweet.

As we were walking into the theatre the two of them were holding hands and even Torin commented "Mom they are pretty cute, aren't they?" He was right they really were. Gabby is in the same school at Kindergarten as Vaughn goes to preschool and will see each other from time to time. When we pick him up we will always hear "I see Gabby today and we waved at each other." They are just sweet little kids!

Auntie Cole's Wedding....

From past posts you know how excited Torin was to have Dion as his Uncle and yet the big day is finally here. Of course I'm a little biased to think that my boys just looked too cute in their tuxes. It was a great day of celebrating the beginning of Auntie Cole and Uncle Dion. They are really a great couple and we were honored to be part of their big day. Here are a bunch of photos from the day....

Alaina wouldn't hold Vaughn's hand so he decided to ditch her :)

The boys being shy and bashful

The whole family with the beautiful bride and groom...

My little Vaughny..

Cooper and Berc getting out on the dance floor

Watch out Berc is walking

Our little man went from taking a few steps at a time to only wanting to walk in less than a week. It's always amazing to me how quick they progress, especially the third. He started taking a step here and there and literally within about week he was full striding along. He looked like Frankenstein for awhile but is now walking with his arms by his side. Just cause he's little isn't going to stop him from wanting to be in the fun.

When we have bad how does God turn it into good?

We have been doing a bible study with the boys for about a year now and I have to admit that it is going much better than I had expected. The boys really enjoy the lessons and the activities that go along with it.

This past week we were reading about how Joseph had told his brothers who he really was and that he wasn't mad at them for selling him as it was the Lord's plan, as now he was the ruler and able to help them through the famine. The exercise was to ask your Mom and Dad about something that was bad that turned good.

I had not read through the exercise prior to starting the story so I found myself in a little bit of a pickle trying to think through something to share with the kids. As I was thinking, I watched our Bercan happily waving one of the boys' nerf swords around and literally just giggling about it. It quickly dawned on me that he was our example.

We had tried for Berc for about 8 months and then decided to stop as we had two healthy children and felt blessed. It was also around the time that Torin had been putting our parenting abilities through quite the ringer. It was literally a phase that no parenting book could have helped prepare us for. With that we decided that it would just be better for us to focus on the two that we had.

Of course once we made that decision and felt content about it I found out that I was pregnant. Oh how our Lord knows what we need, huh? It made me very nervous of bringing this baby into our family with Torin's behavior. Would Torin get worse? What did this mean for Vaughn? The questions wouldn't stop coming and I had no idea what life would be like.

Well the Lord does give us what we can handle as literally when Torin found out that we were expecting, his behavior and attitude changed and since Bercan's arrival Torin has become a different child in many good ways.

When I told this story to the kids, of course in a very child friendly manner, Torin's eyes got really big and he bursted out "You're right Mom!. Cause when I knew I was going to be a brother again I knew that I had to be a better boy for you and Dad. I knew that I would have to be a good example for the baby and help you with the baby." He went on and on about it with a smile on his face the whole time.

It clicked for him this story of God turning our in-the-moment pain into joy! I started to reflect on a lot of different events that have occurred through my life that night. Events/phases that had been painful to me through life and how they turned into joy. We prayed that night as a family and thanked God for the opportunity to know and understand just another way that He is awesome!

Vaughn's Deep Questions

What color is God Mommy? This is what I hear while cleaning up dinner and the boys were watching Evan Almighty. Really, I need a little more prep then this to answer some of these boys questions. Through a few years of parenting I am getting smarter in these situations to not try and answer the question but to ask them what they think of their own question. It's always amazing to me some of the things that they come back with and it always helps give me a second to breath and think through the answer that I want to provide. So I asked him what color he thought God was. He was watching Even Almighty so he said "In this movie he black but what color is He in real life." I told him that God was all colors. He smiled and looked away. I knew that this conversation was not done that he was just thinking it through a little. About 2 minutes later he told me that God was white because that is the color of Him in the pictures of the stories at church. I just said that God was all colors because he creates all the colors. Again a smile from Vaughn and no more questions :)

Friday, Saturday or Sunday

Bjorn was traveling for work the past two weeks. He was home for a short stint of two days but really it was a long stretch for both the boys and I. In the evenings, since it was raining and yucky some of them I just had to get them out of the house. So one night since they had been good for me I decided that we would do a small outing to Dairy Queen for treats and then come back home and watch a little TV together. Vaughn had a coupon for a free dilly bar and I told Torin that he and I could split something. On our way there I told Torin that we could split a Sundae when he asked what else he could have Vaughn answered "You could get a Friday or a Saturday Torin." Once again I had the phrase "Oh Vaughn" go through my head and Torin rolling his eyes at this crazy brother.

Vaughn's First Sport - SOCCER

FINALLY, Vaughn got to be in a sport all by himself. We signed him up for Fall soccer and he was so excited. Asking every day when his "hoccer" game or practice was going to be. After being dragged to numerous amount of practices and games for 4 years for Torin it was about his turn.

Vaughn had a ton of fun this season. The practices were always fun to watch and especially the games of Vaughn falling after the ball. Seriously, I think that he thought falling was part of the sport as he did it intentionally A LOT! He did great getting after the ball and is definitely entertaining to watch.

Here are a few pics from the season:

Cole and Vaughn on the sidelines :)

Vaughny taking the ball down the field

Vaughn posing for me :)

Not sure that he got a goal but he's very happy hear celebrating something

Vaughn, Ella and Cole

Vaughn's First Race

Auntie Cole had told us that their was a race for 1st - 5th graders after one of her high school races. Torin had said that he wanted to run in it and thus we scheduled the evening for that and headed there. Once we got there Torin pulled a typical Torin in changing his mind that he didn't want to run the race any more.

Now please know that the entire day all I heard from Vaughn was "Mama, can I run the race?" "No Vaughny it's only for kids that are in 1st - 5th grade?" Well we got over to the starting line hoping that Torin would change his mind. Vaughn asked again "Can I run the race Mama?" And as irritated as I was with Torin I said yes to Vaughn. I mean who really cares that he is only 4 years old. It isn't like it was the most organized event or anything. So Vaughn and I went behind all the kids and I could just tell how excited he was about being apart of this race. I told him that we would run slow but that it would let us finish the race. It wasn't about being first at the beginning but being able to finish without having to walk.

They signaled for us to go and Vaughn and I started running. We got a little into it and I asked how he was feeling. "Good. I feel good." Then a little while later I asked if he was still feeling alright "I good Mama. How are you? Are you doing alright?". Only Vaughn would be concerned with his Mama :) He fell twice during the race but never stopped to walk. He was getting cheered on by everyone, it was so sweet. Even the whole high school football team when they were getting done with practice started cheering him on. "Come on big guy! You can do it" Vaughn was so elated with all of this attention, especially as the middle kid :)

As a runner I can say that he did awesome. Toward the end you could tell that he was really getting tired but he was determined to finish and not stop until he was done. We think that he ended up with about 11 minutes or a little under for 1 mile. That's better then some adults. He did great and said that he can't wait until his next race.

Vaughn at about 1/2 mile into it

Right at the end. You can tell that he definitely gave it his all

A proud Mama and son on his first race

Vaughn Preschool 1st day

Vaughn was so excited about preschool this year. He had a hard time watching Torin going off to school and having to wait for preschool to start 2 weeks later. His two good friends from the neighborhood are in his class this year and he was super pumped about that. His little locker was right between Cole and Ella. He also had his same teacher from last year Teacher Kari and he was also very excited about that. I hope his love for school never decreases.

Vaughn and Daddy front porch pic

He really was this excited for school...

Ella and Vaughn on their first day of preschool

Vaughn 2010 Preschool

Mommy and Vaughn :)

First Day of 2nd Grade

Well this was the first morning of school with Torin that everything went smooth. No disagreements, no tears although of course no kisses good-bye either. I'm learning to deal with that although I will say that Vaughn helps make up for Torin's distance. It was so fun to see Torin as such a big boy this year. He was ready to go, on his own, did everything that he needed to do to get out of the door on time. When I drove him to school he was so excited that he got to walk in with two of the neighborhood boys Connor and Collin. It was fun to watch the three of them walking in as friends.

Torin in front of Oneka Elementary...

Connor, Torin and Collin

Torin, Mommy and Vaughny

Tor on the front porch :)

STATE FAIR

So we are that crazy family, or maybe it's more that I am that crazy person but I LOVE going to the state fair. I love the corn dog, dole whip, big pickle, cheese curds, martha's cookies and of course the to die for corn. But I also love the kids getting to go into the animal buildings and going down the big green slide. It's just so much fun! Last year I was literally about to pop and wasn't feeling the best thus the fair was not really what I wanted it to be. I thought this year Berc might be a little bit of a challenge but it couldn't be worse than last year. That was a good thought until we realized that his formula had leaked out of the bottle and all over the warm clothes for later in the evening. This meant that 1) baby had no food and 2) we had no warm clothes for later. Not a great start to the night. We did get all the food, except I forgot the dole whip :( Next year!!! We got to go down the slide, Torin found some free tickets in the arcade and both of the boys got toys, we got to see all the baby animals, fishes and of course a little live music just for Bjorn. It didn't start the way that we had hoped but I think it ended up alright. Until the next state fair....

The end of the night listening to music with Daddy. Thankfully his PJ's were in his diaper bag and didn't get wet :)

Vaughn so tired that he convinced Torin to carry him or try to at least. It lasted about 1 minute.

Holding the baby animals is always so much fun!

He did want his forumla but was quickly distracted with Martha's cookies. Watch out cookie monster cause Bercan was fierce with those cookies.

Torin, Mom and Vaughn on the big slide

Yep, even Berc got a ride down the big slide.

Beginning of the night. Everyone happy, clean and ready to go :)

A visit with good friends

My best friend Tanya from college and her family came into town for a family visit and we were fortunate enough to stay with her parents up in Hayward and get some good quality time to visit with them. It's amazing to me that my best friend from high school and my best friend of college both have 3 boys. We never would have thought that would be our lives but here we are. When we pulled in it didn't take long for the two set of older boys start playing right away. It was so nice to be able to be somewhere where you didn't have to worry about them every little second. Yes, there was a lake but they had life vests on and we were all good. Tanya and I on the other hand were chasing our two babies around most of the day but the Daddies did give us a break to catch up as well. The day and night consisted of tubing, fishing, eating, a canoe ride out to an Island for a picnic (kids only) and of course more fishing. It was a great trip up North and I know one that the boys will not forget. Here are a few pictures of the weekend...

Easton running around as cute as can be...

Daddy spending some quality time with Vaughn fishing

Robby and Torin being successful at fishing or at least pretending it was their catch :)

Torin just cannot get enough fishing. That's all that he wanted to do...

Kissing and Marriage

So our neighbor was telling me how her son, Collin, had his first school age kiss from a girl. A few days after this Vaughn just plurts out to me that he kissed Collin. I asked him where he kissed him and he said on the cheek. He confirmed with me that he really does like Collin and that Collin is a pretty cool kid. I told him that we really only kiss our family and probably shouldn't kiss our friends. This sparked Torin to share his wisdom and it went a little something like this:



"Vaughn when you get older you will meet a girl. You two will hang out with each other, for awhile, and then you'll love each other and get married. Once you are married then you can kiss her. I mean, you'll probably date for some time and then after your married you can have babies."



The best is the tone that Torin has when he is "preaching" this to Vaughn. As though he has SO much experience with this and that he just laying out the facts to him.



Vaughn didn't have much of a response except for looking at Torin with a pretty much blank expression. These two fill my life with unknown amounts of comedy!!!

Happy Baby!!!!

I just love it when I walk into Bercan's room either in the morning or after one of his naps and he is just SO excited to see me. Literally, there is a grin from ear to ear with drool running out of his mouth and his body is just about bursting with excitement.

Why shouldn't he be like that? I mean after all he has no worries and the sight of my face makes him SO happy!! His body is bouncing and is ready for the day to start, to play and just be a little baby boy.

It made me start to think when does that stop? It's not like Torin and Vaughn wake up quite like that but they are definitely excited in the morning and have energy busting out of every limb. I'm amazed sometimes going into their rooms at 7am to find that they have turned their bed and box spring into a slide and are gleefully sliding down it with giggles and smiles looking up at me as I enter the room.

But seriously I can't remember the last time that I woke up and just bounced out of bed so excited to start the day that I had a perma grin on my face. Wouldn't it be amazing if we still did that as adults? That we would look over at our spouse and just be thrilled to see them every morning. Instead I hardly roll over to look at Bjorn but more am rolling out of bed with my eyes half open, stumble into the bathroom to get ready to workout. Trust me there is not even a slight grin on my face at this time in the morning.

So I am going to challenge myself and others that read this to try it. Pick a day that when you wake up that you are just bursting with excitement, smiling from ear to ear and that your body is bubbling with joy! If your spouse asks you what drugs you are on just tell them "Life". After all, if we are waking up in bed that is warm with a roof over our heads shouldn't we be so excited to start our day like this for being so blessed?

Torin Parenting

I always love how Torin will go through a difficult phase in his young life and then be able to remember the lesson from it only to parent his brother with it. In the moment it is a mix of sweetness with a little of me rolling my eyes :)

This morning Vaughn just couldn't find a pair of shorts even though he had a pile of them in his drawer. He said in a very whinny and almost crying voice "I wearry don't like does shorts and I don't want to wear dem." Torin looked down at his whinny brother said in a smooth gentle voice "Vaughn you need to appreciate what you have. Some kids don't have any shorts at all." Vaughn's response to this was "I don't want to be affrecitive TORIN!". Torin just shook his head in disappointment and walked out of his room.

Funny thing is that I literally cannot recount the number of times that I have said this to Torin and I can only imagine how many days it will be until I'm saying the same thing to him again....I would give it about oh say 7 days as that is the day that school starts :)

Fish Boil 2010

We made what will now be termed our annual trip up to Door County for the summer. It was aligned with seeing my best friend from high school Erika, who has two boys and another one on the way. It is always good to be able to see her and for the kids to get to play together.

There is always a list of things that we want to do and there is never enough time to get them all done. But one thing that we of course had to do was go to a fish boil. The boys love seeing the boil explode along with eating the fish and of course I have to admit that the fish is pretty good. I know the people that own the restaurant that we go to so it's fun to catch up with them as well.

Vaughny waiting for the boil....

Waiting patiently....

Bercan and Mommy....

Vaughn's favorite shoes...

One would think that I am talking about his shoes but I am not. I am talking about a pair of shoes that Vaughn absolutely LOVES when I wear them. The first time that he saw me wear them he told me "Oh Mommy, you wook so bootiful in those shoes. I just love does shoes on you." Well now every time that I am leaving the house for work I get the question "Mommy, you wear my favorite shoes today?" If I say yes, he will run down the hallway until I have them on and then just look at me with his cute little smile and say "Thank you Mommy!". It's as though I made his day by putting those shoes on.

One time I even got a fist pump after I put them on. I love how it's the little things that makes this little boy so happy :)

A son's view of Mom

The other morning while I was working out Torin had crept down from upstairs and with his blankets laid on the couch and watched the video that I was doing. I complained that I was tired and really would rather be snuggling with him on the couch than working out. He asked me why I was doing it if I didn't want to be. I told him that it was because Mommy wanted to have a better looking body, one that was trim and lean with muscle. He looked at me in his oh so serious Torin look and said "Mommy you are perfect just how you are. I love you and think you look great!"

Wouldn't it be nice if we all had that view of ourselves. I sometimes wonder if we truly look different in other people's eyes than we do when we look in the mirror. His words definitely made me think about my perspective on my life a little and I stopped working out and laid with my 7 year old and snuggled. I think I burned more calories in the joy that was going through my heart and the smile that was on my face, than any 10 minute ab could have done for me.

Coops got glasses

The Larson family might be blessed in many ways but one area that they have not been blessed is with good eye sight. Bjorn's twin brother and sister have both had glasses since they were 4 years old so really it can to no surprise that our nephew Cooper had to get glasses.

Torin's first comments were "He'll look silly with glasses" which Vaughn piped in quickly, "No he won't, he'll be cute Torin." It was as though Vaughn was sticking up for Cooper in his absence.

Well tonight Torin had earned a prize for summer reading. He's at 36 books and for a kid who really doesn't like to read I am SO proud of him. His prize that he picked was to go to a movie. Bjorn was traveling which meant that we had Berc which equates to not having fun at a movie. So I called to see if we could take Coops if they would take Berc. A deal was made and off we were to grab Coop and head to the movies.

On our way there I realized that we had not seen Cooper since he had gotten his glasses. Torin of course perked up in the backseat. I sharply reminded him that he was to be nice to Cooper about this. Torin said "No Mom I think Cooper will look really cute in his glasses, especially with his smile I think that they'll be rad on him." Really, with his smile...crazy kid.

This got Torin talking about all the people in our family that have glasses. As he is stating each person's name and keeping track of the number he pauses and thinks for a second. "You know Mom it's a really good thing that I like carrots because I'll probably never have to get glasses." I told him that it wouldn't have mattered how many carrots that Cooper ate that he was bound to get glasses.

I will say that he is pretty cute with his glasses...and his smile too :)

Tooth Fairy...

It amazes me how Torin can be so literally about things in life yet have an imagination that when he tells stories makes me giggle almost out loud.

He has lost his two front teeth this summer and while we were in Door County he lost the second front tooth. Unfortunately, the night he lost it I ended up getting horribly sick and was literally out throwing up and feeling like my head was on a tea cup ride at a fair. So that night we forgot to put a $1 under his pillow. When he woke up he informed us that the tooth fairy had not come. The fact that Torin still 100% believes in the tooth fairy is priceless but he was a little surprised that she didn't come.

We explained that the tooth fairy probably just was busy and had to get through the houses and apartments before going to resorts. He agreed with that and we were happy that we had another night to redeem ourselves as parents.

This however lead Torin to begin telling me that one time he woke up when the tooth fairy was putting money under his pillow. He was sure to inform me that is was for his first front tooth of when he saw her. I asked him what she looked like and this was his description, "Well she's only about 2 feet tall, well maybe 2 1/2 feet. She has wings on her back that helps her fly and she wears a dress that has teeth sown on it and on top of her head is crown and the points of the crown are teeth too." Quite honestly, I was a little scared of his description and realized that we are telling our children that there is a lady who comes into your room when you are sleeping that collects your teeth and puts money under pillow. Let's face it people it is a bit creepy when you think about it.

I asked him if she was upset that he saw her which he replied "She didn't see that I was awake. I just laid really still till she left and then grabbed my dollar." I do LOVE this side of him and cherish the stories that he comes up with.

Here is my adorable toothless son...now that I type that I guess I have to say eldest adorable toothless son as I realize that Bercan still at 11 months doesn't have any teeth :)

Old Soul

We were talking about life which with Torin can be pretty interesting and I commented to him after he provided a wise line to us that he had an old soul. "Mom I cannot have an old soul, I am only 7." I told him it meant that he just has a soul that would typically be of someone that was quite older than he was, someone who has seen and lived a long life. His response to me was "God gave me this soul when I was born, that was 7 years ago and so that is how old my soul is." Well I guess I either don't have the skills to explain this to him or he is just going with the facts of how old his soul really is.

Monkey

There truly is not enough space on any blog to document all of stories that Vaughn shares about monkey. Monkey is his stuffed animal who's name is monkey. It kind of reminds me as a little kid as my stuffed animal was a horse that I name horsey. So I guess that we are not the most creative when it comes to naming stuffed animals.

One would think that monkey is an average monkey nothing too fancy but if they heard of all the adventures and life stories of monkey they would be impressed. He has 18 brothers and sisters and has traveled all over the world. Pretty much anything that happens in our family monkey has done it but always one upping the situation.

The other night at Auntie Cole's rehearsal dinner I took Vaughn to the bathroom. As we were washing our hands he told me "Mom when I get home I going to make a card for monkey." I was about to say that's nice of you Vaughn for him to blurt out "Cause his Mom and Dad died." Now I know that this is not really funny but in the context of how it came out I bursted out laughing which I quickly covered my face to pretend that I was crying over this sudden news.

Oh Vaughn, really our family would be so boring without him. I have been told since then that Monkey's Mom and Dad really didn't die, they were just on vacation. He has quite the imagination...

HeeHaa

As I have said many times our Vaughn adds a level of amusement to our daily lives. Something that he has been answering questions with a lot lately is "heehaa". To a question as "How many times did you jump on the trampoline Vaughn?" would be answered with a grin from ear to ear and a LOUD "HeeHaa" that then is proceeded in him giggling. I think sometimes he does it just to make himself laugh. Not sure what it is all about but it's something that he's been doing almost all summer so I'm jotting it down here to not forget.

New ear tubes

A few months back I started to notice that Vaughn didn't seem like he could hear again. He had been talking much louder than normal and would sometimes respond to a question with a more than normally weird response. When we took him to his Kindergarten screening he failed his hearing test. So off we were to the ENT which tested his hearing again and again he failed it.

The doctor wanted to a wait a few months but we insisted that we go earlier than later. After all when a child is asking "When are we going to the doctors to get my ears fixed?" You would rather go sooner. One day I was talking to him, turned to get something from the pantry and he said to me "Mommy, when you talk to me can you wook at me?" Seriously, was he starting to read lips. According to the ENT most likely subconsciously he probably was. So thankfully he got us on his schedule a month out.

A few days before surgery we talked to Vaughn about him getting surgery on his ears so that he could hear better. He didn't seem afraid at all but did say that Monkey had to get his ears fixed too as Monkey couldn't hear either and that he would have to wear his Spiderman outfit so that he could be tough during surgery.

We thought that was more than fair so Monkey came with, which the night before Vaughn informed us that he would get his ears fixed first and Monkey was second. I just thought that was too cute. We also let him wear his Spiderman outfit but brought Spiderman PJ's just in case. Vaughn has fine with changing into his PJ's. I will say that all the nurses that Spiderman was pretty cute :)

Vaughn did great with the mask for his funny juice as they called it. He had quite a longer recovery time this time around which made me a little nervous but when he got to back to recovery he was happy to see us. Bjorn asked him if he could hear him talk better and he said "You loud Daddy." I guess that is one way of saying yes. The rest of the day Vaughn was good to go running around and happy as could be.

One would think that I was the one going in for surgery

Vaughn thought that I looked pretty silly in all of that stuff

No training wheels for this kid....

What Vaughn has added to our family is really quite hard to put into words. His cute smile, his sweet words, his oh so lovely temper and just his really crazy whacky ways don't even skim the top of who this kid is. One thing about Vaughn is he is just plain clumsy. Some of the things that he will run straight into really begins to make one think. It actually made me think that he had vision issues. Seriously, he will run into the same thing a gazillion times and you just sit there and wonder "What the heck is wrong with this kid?". I took him to the eye doctor only for the doctor to run every test on him possible to say "20/20, perfect depth perception and no color blind issues....I guess he's just a little clumsy." The saying "two left feet" might have been termed just for Vaughn. Now, please don't judge me in thinking that I am a bad Mom for saying all of this, not until you have spent at least a day with him :)

However, on this night he surprised us all as he took off on Torin's bike with maybe only trying a few times. He has never really rode a bike with training wheels, as he never really had any interest in riding a bike. He was content with his scooter last summer or his little toy motorcycle so when he got on this bike and rode off with very little ease we had some hope restored of what might become of Vaughn "Mr. Two Left Feet" Larson....I'm just kidding :)

Getting steady with Daddy's help.....

and off he goes riding away.....

We are so proud of this little guy!!!