10 Year High School Reunion

August 13th 2011, was my 10 year high school reunion.  It's hard to believe that 10 years ago I was a senior in high school....Chesterton High School Class of 2001- you rock!  I will let the pictures do the talking :)

My very very good friends! Alison, Beth, Mercedeh, Sandoval, Kelly, Megan, Bessie and I

My date for the night- Alison (and Doug)...Jason was stuck in SC with the kiddos!

Die Matchen reunion!!

posin' for a picture!!

Bessie and I!

my dates :)

Happy Eleanor and happy Great Grandma!!

Ellie and Aunt Bun

It was a fast, but fun weekend....CHS class of '01, see you in 10 or 15 more years :)

Claire Turns 3, Charlie turns 1!

I went home for my high school reunion (next blog) and we celebrated Claire and Charlotte's birthdays.  Claire turned 3 on August 15th and Charlie turned 1 on August 31st!  Happy birthday beautiful nieces :)

I also was able to see my other nieces, Larissa and Linette when the Coonce family so kindly came up for the weekend to meet Eleanor!  They also got to spend some family time in NW Indiana and at the beach!  It was great to see them, and I am so happy they could finally meet miss Ellie!!

Aunt Jessica and Eleanor

Linette and Ellie scoping each other out!

The Larsen cousins!

Carolyn, opening her birthday gifts...she turned 30, so she got 30 gifts from me!!

The sistas!

The girl cousins...we missed Chase!

Grandma, Eleanor and Aunt Bun

Kathryn put the whammy on Ellie

the cake....after Bob dropped 2 glasses on it.

getting ready to sing!

Charlie eating her cake...then she broke out in hives and ended up in the ER!

Claire modeling like a pretty princess!

Grandpa and Eleanor

The Life of a Larsen Over the Past Month...

There is most definitely NEVER a dull moment in this house (shocker, right?!).  We have been, and continue to be quite busy!!  At the end of July, my sister Katie and her husband Aaron came to SC to visit us!  It was extra special because it was her golden 24th birthday (she turned 24 on July 24th!)  They were able to stay for 5 days, and it was so great to have them here.  We spent some time cooking, some time at the pool, and some time knitting :) 

Katie with the red velvet birthday cake I made her...it tasted soooo good!!

Uncle Aaron and Chase building a castle

Aunt Katie and Uncle Aaron

The week after my sister left, we took our first ever Larsen family of four vacation!!!  Of course, Jason had to point out the that ironically we leave the state of South Carolina EVERY day to go to work, yet apparently we stay in South Carolina to vacation...we went to Myrtle Beach!!  We had the pleasure of going with our amazingly awesome friends, Sara, Matthew and Hunter as well as their parents Chuck and Dolly.  It was a short stay (Thursday-Sunday) but in that time  we were able to see the beach (twice for Chase and Jason, eat a lot of great food, shop, and play some mini golf (Chase's first time!!).  Sadly, I must report that I did for the very first time in my life, burn the lasagna I made one night.... A recipe I know by heart apparently doesn't mix well with an oven that is ancient (or I may be operationally challenged).   It was salvaged and edible, but Jason was sure to tell me it was NOT as good as it normally is.  Oh well... :)

to the beach....will 100 things...

attempting to get a family picture!

our beach companions, The Easley's and Chirila's!

Mini golf fun!

Intertwine

I really can't believe how AMAZINGLY talented some people are!  One of my best friends from home, Kelly Lenard is an example of just that.  She recently launched her new website www.INTERTWINESTYLE.com and it is unbelievable!  Not only does she take stunning photographs, she also does floral designing, wedding coordination, and custom decor pieces.

She lives and works in Northwest Indiana and will travel to surrounding counties as well as Southern Michigan and the Chicago land area.  For those of you who are lucky enough to live in the area, aren't married yet, and still planning, check out her site!  While she was visiting some family in South Carolina, I was lucky enough to get a few newborn pictures of Eleanor when she stopped by.

Simply breathtaking!!  Good luck with your site launch and future endeavors, Kelly!!

They Grow Up TOO FAST!

My nearly 4 month old is growing too quickly.  I do love the stage Chase is at, but I wish I could slow Ellie down a bit...things just seem to be happening way faster than I remember.  They say that girls tend to hit their milestones faster than boys, and that your second child will advance faster than the first, but really.  It seems like I had her yesterday and only a blink of time has gone by.  Is it because we are just all together busier on a day to day basis?  Whatever the reason, although I am SO happy to watch her grow, I am sad to see it all go by so quickly!

A lesson for myself: take more pictures and WAY more video!  It's hard to believe this is really the first "Eleanor" video I have taken :(   This was taken about a week ago.  She's a talker- just like her brother!! :)

Fun on the Fourth!

Although I had to work the night of the 4th, and we didn't actually go see any fireworks (we are not so sure Chase will enjoy the loud BOOMS and we know Ellie won't), we had a great weekend!  Sunday we went up to Concord where Matthew Easley's mom lives to go swimming in her pool!  It was great to go swimming, but even better spending time with our favorite South Carolinians- the Easley family :)

my 4th of July sugar cookies!!

poolside with Eleanor

she tried out the water for a few minutes

Hunter and Matthew doing some pool tricks

Chase and I chillaxin'

daddy and Chase swimming

look mom, no help from Dad!!

lots of swimming = 1 very tired Chase.

snoozin' susan!

Saturday Jason and Chase took a trip to a "special place" to go see the Nascar Hall Fame and some pretty snazzy cars.  Chase had an absolute blast!!  And of course, Jason really cherished this special Father/Son event.  He and his dad have always had their special little events and car shows to go to over the years, so I know Jason is looking forward to taking Chase on many special Father/Son outings.... just like I am looking forward to my Mother/Daughter spa days with Eleanor :)

fixing the tires

changing a tire

yay for special trips!

Happy 4th of July everyone!

Our First Visit to the Dentist!

....well, Chase's first visit to the dentist!

here we go! June 22nd 2011

we had to check out the kids play area!

I am proud to report he has NO cavities!  Not that I expected him to.  We have been brushing every night for about a year and a half now.  He actually does a really great job at it, but Mommy and Daddy get our hands on the toothbrush pretty much every night before he hits the hay.  They told us first visits don't always go very well so he may not be able to have his teeth cleaned.  Some kids apparently just get the "tour" and meet the dentist.  The really stingy ones don't even open their mouths for a first peek!

Chase on the other hand was quite receptive to the whole idea.  Our hygienist first had him put gloves on his hands like her...this kept his fingers occupied and him entertained during this whole production!

putting on our gloves

he thought these were awesome!

He let the dental hygienist look, then scrape at his teeth, polish them with her special toothbrush (which Chase LOVED) and she gave him sips of water from her special water fountain...too cute!  She had him sitting upright at first for the cleaning, but seeing the few other kids lying down getting their teeth cleaned was all Chase needed to decide it was his turn to go horizontal in the chair too!

scraping away all of the germs

he's giving me the "mom, you're embarrassing me!!" look already!

 

he wanted a LOT of water from her special water fountain

laying down like the big kids

"Now I have clean teeth!! WOOHOO!"

This was a very fun milestone for Jason and I.  And, now we are officially brushing with kids fluoride toothpaste! YAY!!