What the kids learn...

Torin started to read my blog. I kind of forgot that he can read now ;) So he wanted me to type a post of what he really learned. Guess I didn't capture it correctly. My critical 6 year old...

Torin's comments:

Always appreciate what you have because there are some people that don't have that stuff....

You should never complain or be upset about anything that you have....

Some people don't have things like us so you should always appreciate what you have....

Vaughn's comments:

It's hard to be hungry....

How to say excuse me when I burp...

I pray for people that don't have food or houses....

And that I want a hot dog, burrito and candy

Day #5 -- Almost DONE

It has been such a long week. The boys have had a tough time the past few days. Especially for Torin. There have been tears, arguments that I just finally said "Go ahead and eat." I couldn't take his whining any more I was just too tired that I was done. He went and ate a sucker. Then I think that he felt bad and didn't end up eating dinner. Literally, he fought us on the temperature of the oatmeal that was prepared and was so stubborn that he went to bed without dinner. The will power that this kid has is amazing. I pray that he uses it some day for a good cause and not just to try and give his mother gray hair :)

Here are some of the things that occurred this week:

- $25 grocery bill that we didn't eat all of the food.

- Kids being sad about not getting food versus not wanting to eat what was made for dinner.

- Going to bed hungry

- Bjorn is down 10 pounds from this week

- The kids are probably down as well. Vaughn literally looks thinner. It's sad.

- Realizing how blessed we are.

- Having a new sadness in my heart for mother's that cannot provide food for their children.

- Having a desire to help people who have less.

- Two children who are praying for children who don't have food or don't know when their next meal is.

- Many, many more things!!!

I'm hoping to video the boys later today and will be sure to post it.

Day #4

We are almost there. The boys this morning made their oatmeal again but only did a small serving knowing that is what is expected from them. One observation that I have had over the past few days is the amount of patience that has come with this. I thought that being hungry I would be super crabby and yelling all the time. Not that I haven't raised my voices at the boys but I know it's been much less. When there are tears about anything I have seen myself get down to their level and try to talk through the situation versus just loosing it with them. Again, FAR from perfect trust me but a small step in the right direction. I've had some enlightenment of how blessed that I have things. Not just the material things in life but the people that I am surrounded by and the miracles that God performs every day. It's been an interesting week and I'm excited for what else I may come to see or appreciate over the next two days.

End of Day 3

It was an amazing night at our Encounter service at church. I'm always impressed with the way that they do these encounter services. They reach your soul and challenge your mind and heart. When we got home I was still feeling a bit light headed and was met with tears from the boys who wanted a snack before bed. I am so proud of them for sticking with it even though I think that they are ready to be done. Torin's prayer last night was for all the hungry children that don't have food. Bjorn commented that it really is sad which Torin's response was "No Dad, it's really, really sad". Vaughn is now asking so politely for food that you would think that he has gone through an etiquette class of some sort. They know that there is only two days left and they are talking about all the things that they are going to eat. While I respond to it as remember these kids don't get a "Saturday" to eat whatever they want. I think that they are getting sick of hearing it. I went out with a friend last night, got water and did have a few chips with a few bits of chicken and some salsa. I did try and limit myself as I could have gobbled up the entire thing in a matter of seconds. It made me sad that I did this as I was really trying to last the entire week. I think that the nursing is not helpful with this as I am the only food source for Bercan and it obviously is taking something from me. I went to bed last night thinking how blessed that we really are and also thinking about the hungry children that we have here in the U.S. and trying to think of ways to get my children to realize that it really isn't just in Africa but it's in our own backyard too. Definitely some thinking going on through these days.

Start of Day #3

I have to say that today has been the hardest yet for me. I waited as long as I could before having my oatmeal and felt a little full after having it. It's now 11am and I so hungry. Seriously I feel a little light headed. So I've started eating some of the cornbread that I brought for lunch. I'm going to try and eat my rice and beans throughout the day along with the small piece of chicken I have as well. I feel like it's hard to concentrate some. Definitely having more affects from it today then Monday or Tuesday. More to come...

Video from today

Here is a little video of why they shared their bowl of oatmeal this morning. This was done without my prompting.

Day #2

Honestly, today was a little harder than yesterday for me personally. I'm sure not sleeping well last night didn't help but I'm here at 9:22pm so pretty much at the end of the day. One story that I forgot to mention in my post from yesterday was the conversation that I had with Torin during dinner last night. In finally talking me into making them black beans versus the red beans as he was eating them he asked me if the people in Africa had chickens. I said yes that they did but they only get chicken once in awhile and it is only the size of one chicken nugget. Not sure where he was going with this he said "Well if they have chicken's then they must get eggs from the chicken's. So can you make me some eggs and put the black beans in that." I thought it was pretty clever but I had to say no. He may have talked me into the black beans but I wasn't going to cave into the eggs :)

Today, was harder for Vaughn as he is definitely used to having more snacks during the day than Torin does. There were a few more tears and bedtime tonight was again pleading for snacks. I feel bad always saying no to them that I find myself letting them do things that we don't typically do like renting a movie last night or watching more TV than usual. I'm not sure if this is totally related or not but poor little Vaughn is constipated. He was literally crying today to go poop. Not just whinning but literally had tears. He got through it and was better. One would think with beans and oatmel this wouldn't be a problem.

The food list for us today was the following:

Vaughn = 8 ozs oatmel with a little brown sugar and milk, pb and j sandwich (crust were even eaten today) with a few crackers, chicken the size of a chicken nugget diced and put into a tortilla shell.

Torin = 8 ozs oatmel with a little brown sugar and milk, crackers, chocolate milk, 2 chicken tenders, fruit salad and beans, chicken the size of a chicken nugget diced and put into a tortilla shell and a slice of cornbread.

Me = 1/4 cup of steel cut oats with a little brown sugar and milk, 8 ozs rice and beans in a tortilla shell, a thin slice of cornbread, another 8 ozs rice and beans and a thin slice of cornbread. I did have Vaughn's cornbread tonight as he didn't want it. I figured a mother in Africa wouldn't leave behind scraps so neither did I.

The boys are definitely getting this and are not liking the fact that they have to wait until Saturday to eat regular food again. It's also interesting that they are upset that I have given Bercan a few puffed cereal things. They are hungry enough to be asking for those.

A few insights from today is that my pants were looser today than normal. I sort of expected that would happen but also notice that I don't have as much energy as normal although not sure if that is due to lack of sleep last night. Two days down and 3 more to go.

I do have to give our nanny credit as she told the boys that if they could make it that she would do it with them as well. I thought that was pretty awesome as this is her first week with us. Maybe we can get her to come to Eagle Brook with us soon :) Till tomorrow...

Rough Night

When I put Bercan to sleep last night he felt a little warm so I took his temp and it was 101. I gave him some Tylenol and feed him and he was out. Then it was on to the Mommy clean up time of cleaning up from the day, preparing for tomorrow and getting some things done around the house. Before I knew it, it was after 11:30. Off to bed only to hear Bercan crying at 1:00am. I went in and he was burning up. Seriously, I don't think that I have ever felt a baby that hot. I took his temp and it was up to 103. Gave him more Tylenol only to be up with him for 2 hours. Finally, he fell asleep, still hot, only to wake up 15 minutes later. He wasn't crying but more just groaning. I sat in my bed listening to a groan, to be silent for 10 minutes, to more groaning to finally really asleep at 4:45. Then my two other boys were up at 5:30 hungry. Imagine that. I had no energy at all and felt sick myself. I told them to go back to bed and that I would wake up at 6:30 to give them breakfast. I think that I fell back to sleep around 6ish woke up at 7 to hear them downstairs. I got up and went down there was one bowl, milk and oatmel on the counter. I asked them what it was about and they said that they made oatmel and shared it since they knew that they could only eat a little bit. As exhausted as I was my heart was filled with such proudness (not sure that is a word) but I was so proud of them. Hoping today I can get some sleep and that we can all stick this challenge out.

Day #1

It was an okay day. The morning started off to me nursing Bercan and hearing the two older boys fighting downstairs but since I was attached, literally, there was not much I could do. They came running upstairs "Mommy, Torin's mean to me." Vaughn proclaimed. While Torin made his case "Mom, he was trying to eat Honey Nut Cheerios and I told him that all we could eat was oatmel." I informed Vaughn that Torin was right which I was met with tears but after going downstairs and making oatmel they ate it and were content. Until an hour later when they wanted snacks. On top of this new change we started with a new nanny today. She must really think that we are nuts or I am the worse Mother ever to make my kids go through this. She let Vaughn have applesauce and well what was I to do on her first day but let it go. For lunch the boys had a regular meal of a sandwich and some crackers. It wasn't there typical meal but they were happy about it. The afternoon went really well. The boys didn't ask for any snacks and were kept busy with playing. However, the evening came and when met with rice, red beans and cornbread it wasn't a happy dinner. Torin decided that he did not want to eat the red beans and only had his very thin slice of cornbread. Vaughn ate some of the rice and beans and all of his cornbread. After dinner we rushed off to hockey where I had to keep saying no to candy and snacks. Vaughn was literally in tears begging for something to eat. Torin got off the ice and wanted to go home to eat. Little did he know that he would be met with the same thing. They asked if they could have black beans instead of red beans so I made that and they both ate them and asked for another slice of cornbread. I sliced one very thin slice and made them split it. Torin said it was the hardest day of his life and that he wanted to back out. He was not happy with his decision to try this and thought it was a bad idea. He cried a little. Vaughn on the other hand is okay with things right now but is just super mad that he can't have his Valentine candy.

To help the boys put it into perspective we googled some pictures on world hunger. It's so sad to see these super skinny, bloated tummy children. I got tears in my eyes thinking that one of them could be my boys and couldn't fathom as a parent watching your child be so hungry. They boys stopped complaining and went to their rooms to pick a book out to read. By the time that I got to Torin he had already fallen asleep. I prayed for both the boys tonight that our Lord give them the strength and courage to get through the next four days. It's going to be tough for them but I know that they are going to have a much higher appreciation for what they have been blessed with.

I on the other had my oatmel this morning, a thin slice of cornbread, a cup of rice and beans for lunch and dinner coupled with a good portion of slice of cornbread, a small cup of decaf coffee and some of the scraps that the boys did not eat. I'm not limiting my liquids at all since I am nursing Bercan. I'm worried that my milk supply will decrease as it already had been doing a little anyways. I'm taking Fenugreek to help with that and so far so good. I'm a little hungry but not straving I'm going to try and limit my food a little more tomorrow and see how it goes.

Bjorn on the other hand is traveling for his regional sales meeting but I am so proud to say that he is sticking to it. It's one thing to try and have to obey to this challenge when everyone else around you is in the same boat. It's another thing to have food and drinks surrounding you and everyone else indulging and then say "No, thanks I'll stick to this garnola bar." He didn't have breakfast this morning and had a granola bar for lunch. I haven't talked to him yet but I know that he was going to try and stay with it for dinner as well.

One day down and four more to go....

Here is a video of the boys from their experience of this for day 1...

5 Day Meal Challenge

Well here it is folks, our church has challenged us with a 5 day meal challenge. The basics are this, for the next 5 days we will be eating like a third world country. Yes, we are bringing the kids on this journey as well but we are letting them eat a regular lunch. Our meals for the next 5 days will consist of rice, beans, lentils, oatmel, cornbread and very little fish or meat. The average American weekly grocery bill is $300 where a weekly grocery bill for half of the world's population is about a $1 week. I will agree it sounds a little crazy but this is for only 5 days when really this is a life that half the world's population lives day in and day out. We are excited for this challenge and are going to try and document really what it is like for us and our kids.

We sat the kids down to explain this to them and decided that we would capture it on video. It's pretty cute to see how they do understand and where there hearts are today but it will sure be interesting to see how that changes throughout the rest of the week. I will be keeping our journal on this blog so make sure to come back to see how we are doing.

The boys said that they would do it. So we'll see how it actually goes. One good thing for us is that both of the boys love beans and rice. They might not after this week. Time will tell.

Here is a picture of the food that we are going to eat for the week. Our total grocery bill came to $25.40. I cannot even comprehand trying to buy food for a week with only $1. To be honest this doesn't include the chicken or beef as we already had that in the freezer. The boys are smiling now, we'll see how long those smiles last ;) You can see that we have some canned beans, cornmeal, a couple different kinds of rice, some dried beans and two different kinds of oatmel. We will have an update as to how the day #1 went with the boys.

Rolling Video

This video is really bad quality so I apologize but you can see his progress in the rolling department.

Cute but STINKY

As you can see the little boy down below is cute. I would say one of the most adorable babies ever but he is fooling you people as he is one stinky little man. I'm not kidding on this one. Beware of this baby's behind as the smells that can be produce are some of what would come out of a grown man. Daycare and babysitters will say I thought he pooped but when I went to change him it was only a toot. When I'm nursing him I sometimes think of wearing a mask it is really that bad. I hope it's something that he grows out of because it is seriously ridiculous! The other boys of course think it's hilarious when he toots as they also can't believe how stinky that he can be. I guess this one has a stank about him :)

He may be the cutest kid ever but the back of his shirt should say stinkest kid ever!

A morning with Auntie Cole

Auntie Cole has always been an important part of our boys lives. Torin and her have had a special bond from the beginning. With him getting older he'll act tough in front of her and with her new boyfriend Dion he loves to talk with him but really there is no other Auntie Cole.

Vaughn coloring at Auntie Cole's house. She always has

something for them to do.

The Berc man and Torin watching a little TV together

Our little gopher boy ;)

Mom's 70th Birthday

I really can't believe that my Mom is 70 but she is. We offered to take her to Florida but that we would not be able to do all of our kids and she decided that instead she would rather come to Minnesota and spend the weekend with us. So Colleen and her family decided to make the trek up here and we gathered at the hotel they stayed at for dinner. Terry, Colleen, Mom and I went out for dinner the night before so she had a nice sit down dinner as well as one with all her grandkids running around crazy. It was a ton of fun for all the kids to run around together. I think the last time that we got a picture of all of us was maybe 4 or 5 years ago so I know that this is something special for Mom.

Starting on the left in back: Bjorn, I, Maggie, Terry, Laurie, Colleen and John

Starting on the left in front: Vaughn, Roman, Mom, James, Zoe, Torin, Bercan and Gage

Auntie Colleen and James

Uncle Bjorn with James and Zoe

The babes...Berc and Maggie

Bercan's Dedication

Proverbs 3 verses 5 - 6 ~ Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight. This the life verse that we choose for Bercan. As it seemed perfect for him. The day was great filled with family and friends! We choose Siobain and Dave, our dear friends, to be his Godparents. Besides God and us they were the next to know of his existence and have played a special part in our lives. With their faith in God and ours he will know that leaning on God's understanding is the only way to go.

~ Our family ~

Vaughn has such a profound faith in God. It's always amazing to me how deep he can be in his prayers and love for God. It is something that melts my heart everytime. He is such a sweet child from God and we are so blessed.

The actual dedication at our church Eagle Brook Church.

The slideshow of all the children that were dedicated that day. It was an amazing time!

A fun video of our little bubba :)

Sleeping boys

This is over Christmas break and unfortunately this was a lot of what we did over the break as Torin got sick. It was really sad to see him just moping around the house. He didn't feel like doing anything that we had planned to do. Sledding, tubing, waterpark, he ever refused going to a friend's birthday party. That's when we knew that he was really sick. We rented a movie for the boys and this was the result. Three of the four sleeping in the living room and Vaughn sleeping upstairs so if you can only imagine Mom decided to take some pictures.

Bercan snuggled into Daddy

This is just the most priceless picture. I love to capture my boys sleeping

Bercan on his belly

I know that I already posted that Bercan is rolling but had no picture with it so here is one. It's been so cute to see how quick he rolls over now. Just the little expert at it. He's such a happy baby!

Christmas with the Dwyer's

I will say that one thing great about Terry and Laurie is their laid backness of life. For Christmas this year we got together the day after Christmas to celebrate and instead of cooking a meal we decided to order hamburgers and fries. It was so simple and laid back that I think just that made the burgers seem like the best ever. After lunch the boys went out to go sledding and Laurie and I hung out with the little ones. It was funny that we were having so much fun together that the boys forgot that there were presents to open. It wasn't until the few minutes that we were there that the adults remember that there were toys involved. The whole day was just relaxing and fun being together!

Uncle Terry with the babies. I love seeing Terry with them. It shows the sweet side of him.

I know that I am probably a little biased but I think that they are the cutest little babies EVER.

Torin LOVES Maggie so much! I think he now realizes that he is not ever going to get a sister and thinks of her as the sister that he always wanted. He's so gently with her and just loves her and Bercan so much!

Christmas with Papa Bernie

Christmas day we went to the nursing home to visit Papa Bernie and have lunch with him. It was also the first time he had seen Bercan. It's so sweet to see how much Bernie loves these boys. You can tell that it just brings a twinkle to his eyes to see his great-grandsons. We gave him a photo book for Christmas this year as I know that he loves them. It's great to watch him thumb through the pages and see all the photos from the year.

The oldest and youngest of the family.

He is such a sweet man. They are just too cute together.

Vaughn LOVES Papa Bernie. It's fun watching fun just talk and hang out with him.

Auntie Cole giving Bercan a toupee :) It's so funny how bald my babies are and how different they look with hair on their little baby head.

Auntie Cole and one of her boys

Winter Fun

Bercan fell asleep right away in being outside and Vaughn didn't really want to be outside so I guess it worked out that Bjorn and Torin were building the snow fort!

I love that Bercan is smiling in this picture. He obviously loves his new snow suit.

Bercan sleeping in the stroller outside.

Torin and Daddy in the snow fort. It's a yearly thing to build a snow fort at the end of the drive way. The boys love it, Bjorn included :)

Christmas with the Larson

Christmas is such a fun time for the boys. It's all the things before Christmas actually comes, like decorating the cookies, picking out and decorating the Christmas trees. Decorating the house making snow flakes out of paper. They boys love it all! However, the best part is going and spending time with our family, of course and opening presents too. I will say this year both of the boys were really into the fact that it was Jesus's birthday. They wanted to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus and honestly I have to admit it melted my heart a little. We ate dinner at Nana's and Papa's with the whole family. The boys had a great time playing with Cooper and Alaina. It is getting to be quite the mayhem of four kids ripping into presents this year. I can only imagine what it's going to be like when Bercan and Brooks start getting into it. It was a great night of fun with family!

This is what a Christmas Eve night with the Larson cousins will do to you. Seriously, we only live 15 minutes from Nana's but Vaughn was able to pass out so much that he was bent in half.

This was the best! We had propped Bercan in the corner of the couch AWAKE and amidst the noise of 4 other kids ripping through presents he decided that we were just too boring and fell asleep. Once we noticed that he had fallen asleep we of course had to take pictures of it. I kind of joked that he was taking Papa Bernie's place as he usually he's the one who nods off during all the commotion as well.

One of Torin's favorite presents was a White Bear Lake hooded sweatshirt. This is the school district that we live in and Torin loves being a "Bear". His other favorites were a pair of heely's and his nintendo DS.

The Larson clan. Starting from the left (Brooks, Cooper, Alaina, Vaughn, Torin and Bercan)

Torin of course wanted to hold Bercan.

The "middles". Pretty cute, aren't they! Vaughn's favorite presents were Bahkagons, his white bear lake sweatshirt, his treasure chest and the Jungle Book. I have to post about this one. One of our Friday babysitters had bought The Jungle Book VHS movie for Vaughn. Well it was not a cartoon, it was a real movie that was not so appropriate for Vaughn. After having nightmares about the movie, it was hidden and had been hidden for almost a year. When we took the boys to Santa in Door County and Vaughn asked Santa for the Jungle Book. It was the last thing that we thought he would ask for since it had been so long. We did have the movie and we could tell that Vaughn really wanted it. So Bjorn and I decided to wrap it up for Santa. Vaughn was SO excited about getting the movie that he continued to sleep with the movie for the next week along with asking to watch it every other second of the day. Vaughn was a really cheap boy for us this year. I guess he is that typical middle child of being easy to please :)

More Hockey

Torin at the face off. It's funny how these kids race to get back to the bench after their shift to be the first one back on the ice to fight for the face off position. I really don't know what position this is, maybe forward. Who knows? Not me :) I call it the face off position. I'm sure once Bjorn reads this entry he'll let me know the correct terminology. Torin is so funny with hockey. Some days he will be super focused and really into the game while other days he'll be skating in circles, literally, watching the puck fly by with no cares at all. When he is focused I will say that it is fun to see him play. The best thing so far this season is seeing that he is actually "getting" the game. A few times I will notice that he is not chasing after the puck but anticipating where the puck will end and skating to that part of the ice. It's just fun to see him progressing.

Finally his efforts to race to the bench paid off...

I just love the back of the jersey's with their names on it. Holt (Jacob) is one of Torin's friends from his class at school. Jacob and Torin really love to play hockey together along with anything else. Bieniek (Christian) and Torin played clinic together and went to the same preschool. Christian's Mom actually was Torin pre-school teacher. It's just fun to see these boys grow up and play sports together!

Ice Fishing and Outdoor Hockey

If any of you don't know our friend Dave just ask one of our boys about him and you'll begin to realize just how important Dave is to these boys. Dave is pretty much the best thing in their lives. I asked Torin one time what the order of breakdown was for him and I received this response, "Well Mom, it's God, Dave, our Family and then all the other people that we know." After a little bit of thinking he decided that maybe Bercan should come before Dave. Well at least one of his blood relations made it before Dave :) We love it though how much they love him. Dave asked us if we wanted to go ice fishing. The boys were of course SO excited to go ice fishing and with Dave. We headed out to our friend Andy's Moms' house who lives on a lake. It was a great afternoon for the kids and the parents.

Torin playing a little hockey out on the rink that they made.

Bjorn and Jaylin playing hockey...

Torin and Jaylin against Bjorn. I think the kids took him down :)

Yes, there was ice fishing too. I know that they caught a few fish

which was the highlight of the day for Torin.

All gathered outside except for Siobain and I. Neither of us had any desire to be out in the cold.

Amelia and Vaughn

Amelia and Vaughn are really just too cute together. They love playing together or in this case watching a movie together all snuggled in. The best is that Amelia is not afraid to make sure that Vaughn is behaving. She will put him in his place without missing a beat! I absolutely love it, as it is too cute!

Is she not the cutest little girl? I love her super rosey cheecks in this picture.

Getting warm, watching a movie after playing outside.

Smiling for Mom to take a picture....they really are too sweet

Christmas Cookies Made Easy

We decided to do things easy this year, okay really it was my decision. I may not have been working but I was running a house and a crazy schedule on very little sleep from Mr. Bercan so at this point in life it's not going to always be what's cute, creative or awesome but more what is easy. I mean after all the boys don't really care how the cookies or frosting get to the table just so that they can decorate them. The grocery store by us had premade cutout sugar cookies and these awesome premade frosting bags. The boys loved that there was no prework and so did Mom. Actually, I think that Dad was also pretty excited that there weren't two messes in the kitchen as well :) It was so fun to get creative with the boys and to see the different decorations they did with the cookies. I usually think in some of these situations that I'm the one who is having the most fun but I think that Bjorn had a ton of fun decorating too. It was a great family night together that ended with us eating one of the cookies that we had decorated. Nothing like eating your hard work!

Aren't these bags the best. Already mixed, cut the tip and you're ready to go.

They were really easy for the boys to use which they loved.

The boys and Mom after the decorating craze...

Vaughny so proud of his cookies

Torin was really cute in wanting us to take pictures of his cookies.

He really came up with some neat things I will say that he

gets that creative side from his Dad and the Larson side.

The finished work...I personally think that we did a fabulous job :)

My favorite one of all is the one that Bjorn did with the beginning letters of our names. I will say that it was the last one that was eaten as we thought it was a pretty cool idea from Dad. He's so clever :)