family picture time

in the midst of all the holiday fun, we managed to pose for a few pics while with my family here in california -- quite the feat considering there are 10 siblings, three brothers-in-law and two grandchildren to keep up with (although on sibling, chad, is currently serving a mission in mexico).

we'll post more from our christmas adventures once we get home. hope everyone had a merry christmas!

(you can view more pics from the photo shoot on my sister's blog here)

watch out world: christian is crawling

he's had several of the key steps down for weeks -- rocking on his knees, leaning forward to grab things, pushing back to sit on his bum, even pulling up to standing whenever he can get a decent grip on things -- and last night he finally put all the pieces together. of course, as soon as we wanted to pull out the camera to capture this cute, albeit wobbily moment, he stopped. he sat back with a grin and decided we were now the entertainment. the little stinker always does that when we pull out a camera. he's too smart for us. (for all we know he's been crawling in secret for weeks!)

hopefully we can capture him in action tonight without him realizing it. it's too cute not to have it on tape.

toy rat, anybody?

not the greatest picture but i wanted you to see how much christian LOVES this rat shane let him get from ikea. it fell under his carseat the other day and when i saw it my heart skipped a beat because for a second i thought it was real. kind of a gross play toy but he sure seems to love it. i probably need to get use to it -- i realize that having a little boy means there will likely be much "grosser" toys around in the future.

and yes, for those of you wondering, his name is most definitely templeton, after the infamous overeater from charlotte's web.

bad blogger award

i've been horrible at updating the blog lately. we've taken so many fun pics and video too. it's just a matter of getting it up there. maybe i just need to get one of those photo cards that uploads to the internet automatically..? there's a thought.

for now, here's a cute picture kayla took on her phone of christian the other day. he fell asleep and she needed him nearby while she did her hair so she put him in his toy basket and pulled him close. (and no, that's not a huge bag of trash next to his head, just his "too small" baby clothes that we need to take to our storage unit downstairs. he's growing SO fast. sigh.)

pulling a tanner

short and sweet, but oh so funny (this comes from my sister meri's latest facebook message):

"Every time Tanner doesn't want to do something he lies down on the ground and says "I died." I wish I could do that. Haha."

next time i don't want to do something at work maybe i''ll just "pull a tanner."

*for those of you who don't know, tanner is my darling seven-year-old brother

veteran's day tribute to great grandpa wiley

a local news station in pennsylvania recently covered the closing of an armory named for my great-grandpa robert calvin wiley, a war hero who died in france in 1944.

click here for a link to the video.

we're so grateful for his patriotic example and brave sacrifice. and we can't wait to meet him in the life to come.

seven months old

and still ridiculously cute...

...even if he does refuse to pose with his doting mother

first halloween

check out christian's expression while watching shane carve

not so sure about his pumpkin

hitting it off with his pumpkin

the pumpkin shane carved -- doesn't it look like jack from "nightmare before christmas"?

halloween pajamas made by grandma larsen

ready to trick-or-treat (or trunk-or-treat, in the church parking lot)

the flying monkey

SUCH a happy guy

our little bear cub

**thought i'd update with a few more photos from the day:
(yes, he did decide to taste the bar on the shopping cart. totally gross, i know, but he did it while i was trying to snap a pic so i captured it accidentally. i couldn't resist posting cuz he looks so cute and innocent.)

fall leaves

fall is most definitely here on the east coast. it's times like this that remind me how lucky we are to live in a state covered with TREES. christian and i saw some GORGEOUS fall leaves on our morning run together:
check out my cute work-out partner -- ALL SMILES:
we make the PERFECT TEAM because whenever i slow down he gets antsy till i speed up again. glad someone's whipping me into shape. ;)