Archive for the ‘Holiday Fun’ Category

happy fourth-o-july…

Tuesday, July 6th, 2010

After a 4.5 mile family run!!! (So, exciting Papa is running with Mama!) We headed over to the Lake Union annual Boat Festival to show Arlin some pirate ships…he thought they were really cool, but didn’t quite understand why he couldn’t play the role of the”Captain” himself.

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It was a first for both Arlin and Papa to see a handful of different boats at the festival (being a California kid, I forget that a lot of people don’t easily have the opportunity to see these types of boats)

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the weather was gorgeous and with the sun out till almost 10pm days are FULL!

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Dinner at Circa, a local pub by the house after the festival…Arlin says…”You talkin’ to me?” (wearing Mama’s glasses)

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instead of a weekend get away to Gearhart which we thought would have been really nice-we opt’ed to stay home for the holiday weekend and save the money instead. However, we made a small splurge and treated ourselves to a barbecue grill for the balcony (nothing too fancy) and Chad made us our yummy jalapeno burgers…along with the barbecue, Arlin scored this new t-ball set. The boys have had some real  fun with it….

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of course Arlin had to pause and adjust his baseball cap every three seconds…it must be backwards! Don’t know who could have shown him this fashion sense? (papa!):)

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looking for the ball. He actually whacked one outta their “playing field”

**This weekend also marked the Captain’s graduation from his baby crib to his “big boy” bed. I know, a little late, but finally the piece to convert his crib was discovered in the garage from the move…We made a big deal out of it, got out a special “pirate” themed blanket Mimi made hung his pirate flag up on his door.

First night:

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EPIC fail.

These are pictures of us sneaking in to capture the mischievous behavior. There were lots of noises coming from his bedroom! He managed to pull all the blankets and stuffed animals out of trundle drawer below his bed.

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Getting the business from Papa. See the snow mittens on the bed?! I’m telling you he had everything pulled out! (I’ve since gotten smarter and put all these things up in his closet where he can’t reach them:))

Ugh, the first night was a looooong one. At about 2am the Captain awoke, seemed he was a little lost sailing his ship…crying for Mama…he ended up sleeping in our bed-keeping everyone awake with his paranoia of the smoke detector light on the ceiling?!

Arlin:” ’twas dat Mama? Do you see somp-thin’??! Look at dat Mama!”

Mama & Papa: “GO TO BED ARLIN JACK!!!”

Second night- we brainstormed a plan to out smart the Captain’s new found freedom and we put up a doggie gate in his door way and “kid proofed” his room the best we could. It worked, I think he figured if he can’t bug us, he might as well sleep in his bed…

He did wake up with a pile of books in his bed…Can’t be upset about that! :)

Hope everyone had a fun fourth of July!

love bug

Monday, February 15th, 2010

happiness is boxes and cards full of love on Valentines Day.

card from Grandpa and Grandma Larsen…

his new pal, luv monkey from Mimi, and his…”trrrrruck!”

(like his new kicks? Mama’s v-day present to the captain. I found out the founder of “See Kai Run“, my favorite shoes to buy Arlin, lives right down the street from us!)

a new hoody from Mimi- it fits perfectly and he looks pretty hipster in it… Chad said he wants one in big boy size!

from Mama and Papa…gotta have cool puddle jumpers!

oh the fun!…to be encouraged to jump and stomp around in the massive pool of water…life couldn’t get any better for Arlin Jack.

rain, snow or shine, the Captain would say “plaaaaaay pr-ease!”

caps…

Wednesday, December 23rd, 2009

Arlin’s Christmas ornament…he’s learned how to say Penguin…and we say good morning to the penguin sitting in the Xmas tree daily now.

I discovered Olivia books a few months back at Barnes & Noble and I don’t really care if it’s a girl or boy book, with the art I HAD to buy a few for Arlin. This one above is a nightly read…the storyline is too darn cute.

Arlin is quite obsessed with cars and tractors, so this book “Otis” seemed totally suiting for my Dad to buy when we took him to Tattered Cover (a bookstore) downtown we all thought it was funny it was a tractor named Otis (like our mutt)

March on!

Sunday, March 15th, 2009

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Happy St. Patricks Day…(well almost)
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Getting ready to get on the Light-rail by our house to go downtown Lodo to Union Station…What a frustrating venture. Chad got on the train after collapsing the stroller, while the train attendant told Stella, Arlin and I to walk around and board through the second car. Following his instructions, we walked all the way around the handicap ramp to board the train when all the sudden the train started to pull away??!!!

We were left behind! I was super irritated. And panicked for a minute thinking I didn’t have my phone or even house keys…till’ I realized Stella was holding my purse. Chad had to get off at the next stop and wait for us. This speed bump set us back a good 45 minutes from getting to the parade. Argh…and we were on time this morning too!

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Stella on top of Papa’s shoulders to see some of the Parade…i love the monkey ears on her sweatshirt!

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it turned out to be an awesome weather day..but Brrr it was chilly in the shade.

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it only took us about half the parade to meet up with some friends…we failed at finding the Woefel’s at 17th and Blake?! So we walked a few more blocks to find Alex, Lola and Salvador…

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Stella look! they painted the horses hoof’s sparkly green!

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you could say this was a highlight of the parade… for Mama at least.

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loved the car and the cute Grandma waving in the back seat!

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Arlin got a kick out of the bag pipe dudes…

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We met up with Mark and Jamie Polk at the tail end of the parade to have a few cold beers in the beer garden in front of Fado’s…

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Mama totally got suckered by this little Leprechaun for $2 bucks to take a picture with Stella…

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I had to get my money’s worth and snap two pictures! (I think Stella was taller than the Leprechaun!)

I was exhausted by the time we got home yesterday and barely had energy to go grocery shoppin’, but I managed!  We grabbed a late lunch at Get Battered Fish and Chips (Alex’s shop) so I didn’t have to cook dinner, other than making Stella some soup (woo hoo) We laid low last night and watched the movie Toy Story…I love that movie!

 

New Ride…

Sunday, January 4th, 2009

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The Captain has been spoiled once again. Our good friends Alex and Lola dropped off this Christmas present for Arlin the other day. Chad put it together laughing the entire time and just how awesome it was. The Captain can get on and off with ease and does laps around the dining room table on his new race car….

Watch out Laguna Seca!…we’ve got a Russell Racing Junior on our hands. (Can’t you just picture a race car with a pirate Jack-Rackam flag decal smeared on the side of it!)

True Religion…

Tuesday, December 30th, 2008

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It’s true… the Captain has his own pair of True Religion baby jeans!

Thank you uncle Marco and Aunt Sarah!

I put these bad boy jeans on him yesterday to see how far off they’d fit and I couldn’t believe they fit! Size 2T. Well, as you can see they have quite the cuff action going on…but the belly area seems to be just snug enough they don’t fall off, yay!

The Captain will be wearing these gems daily!

Christmas at the Larsen’s…

Monday, December 29th, 2008
Christmas morning

Christmas morning

didn't take long for the Captain to catch on to ripping the wrapping paper off!

didn't take long for the Captain to catch on to ripping the wrapping paper off!

Papa putting together Arlin's new Play & Learn Pony

Papa putting together Arlin's new Play & Learn Pony

Arlin helping Papa...

Arlin helping Papa...

Ride em' Cowboy!

Ride em' Cowboy!

This toy was definitely the winner.

This toy was definitely the winner.

Mama and Kitty even helped unwrap presents

Mama and Kitty even helped unwrap presents

Mama & Captain...

Mama & Captain...

The boys...

The boys...

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Arlin giving Papa a hard time

Eebee Baby! Present from Grandma & Grandpa Larsen

Eebee Baby! Present from Grandma & Grandpa Larsen

Christmas night

Christmas Night

Arlin’s second Christmas! Oh, it was so fun to watch him get the hang of opening his presents. At first it took some coaxing but once he figured out there were goodies inside each box- the ripping fest began! Poor guy hit the wall waiting for his big sis to get here, had to break for a nap and open the rest of his presents the following morning.

When Arlin woke from his nap we headed up to Grandma and Grandpa Larsen’s for Christmas dinner and to meet their three exchange students they had staying with them for the holidays. One student, was from Lebanon, and the other two from Egypt, they were really nice guys and fun to talk with about their countries.

Chad and Arlin came down with a bug half way through dinner making dessert super short, as we had to get back down the mountain and home to bed.

Trick or Treat smell my feet!

Tuesday, November 4th, 2008
Stella at the haunted house few houses down…these potion bottles were glowing in the dark!
Trying to see out of his costume?!
The Gang!
Arlin trying to pull off Stella’s helmet- pesty little brother- always!
The tricker treater trio!
Cutest Monkey in town…Palmer Sioux!
Bad to the bone Punk-ette!! Number #86
hanging at the house before we left letting the madness begin!
Arlin’s dinosaur shoes were a finishing touch to the adorable costume. I couldn’t believe he was able to cruise around in them!

Stella got here Thursday evening Chad picked her up at the airport on his way home from Seattle (her Mom was actually flying out the same night to New Mexico)

Stella’s wish was to be a dead Denver Roller Doll derby girl. I told her we’d get to Target early Friday and see what we could do- but my one request…was she not be a “dead” roller derby girl!!!

We luckily found an army girl costume that I thought I could modify in the short amount of time I had, so we bought it. It came with the dress and and pair of army knee high vinyl boots you wear over your real shoes…I cut the knee high boot part off and we painted wheels on the sides, cut holes for some bright neon skate laces…they were her “sudo” roller skates! I painted her own Punk-ette # 86 name patch for the back of her dress, pinned on my Green Barrette patch from Master Sarge on the chest along with my derby love patch and let her pick which of my derby knee high socks she wanted to wear. The finishing touches were adding some stickers to her helmet that we bought, and I painted her number on it too, I even let her wear my dog tags that my team gave me at the Season Championship bout…she LOVED this outfit and wanted to wear it all day to the Denver Museum on Saturday!

Right before we left the house to go trick or treating…Stella accidentally rubbed her right eye…smearing all the make up I put on her, she started to get upset about it tell till Abby, Anna Maria and I all told her it was actually perfectly awesome- she now was an “official” roller derby girl with a black eye! She got a big kick out of the mishap and we were off for loads of candy!

And indeed she got loads of CANDY!…Stella ate so much candy she got seriously sick Saturday evening. At about 4pm after coming home from the park she started complaining her stomach hurt real bad. At dinner about an hour later she blew chips everywhere in the kitchen! Ugh…it was bad. Real bad. I knew it wasn’t from anything she had eaten- cause I had shared my food with her for the past two days, and I was fine. I found her candy bag pretty depleted in the closet, and quite a few scattered candy wrappers around her room and under the bed…It was a fun trip to Urgent Care at midnight… slap on the hand from Papa for not fessing up to how much candy she sneaked…and a hard learned lesson- You CAN eat too much candy! Oh, how we’ve all been there. Sunday she laid around all day watching movies, I think she paid the piper this Halloween…poor Stel.

Jack-O-potamus and the Jack-O-lanterns…

Monday, October 27th, 2008



Rocks are cool!

Happy Valentines Day!

Thursday, February 14th, 2008


Happy Valentines Day everyone! Hugs and Kisses from Arlin Jack snow angel style! Can you believe it?! Yesterday we had 70 degree weather and sunshine then this morning the backyard is covered in white powder snow! That’s what they say about Colorado…”don’t like the weather just wait 15 minutes!” Arlin has gotten bigger since the last time we put his snow suit on! The booties actually have feet in them! hahaha. Much love to everyone… Stay tuned for pictures of Molly, Morgan and Hans meeting Captain Jack for the first time!