thriftstorejunkie

"CUPCAKE" cd release party!!

2012-02-13T06:24:00.001-06:00

well my band did it! we started a kickstarter campaign last september and we got fully funded and have now completed our first album ever!! the night could not have been more perfect. we made over 400 cupcakes and only had to bring home 20 at the end of the night. truly magical...the pictures say it all :)

underwater pictures from our trip...

2012-02-02T07:24:00.000-06:00

i had to wait for these to get developed and unfortunately they do not do anything justice... it was beautiful and the fish were amazing, so here it is in pictures but a terrible representation none the less.

prudences birthday reel...

2012-01-31T07:18:00.000-06:00

Prudence Is 3!!!

2012-01-31T07:17:00.000-06:00

i worked pretty hard on this cake...my dad rescued me with a THIRD box of cake mix when i found out that the skirt only came to her thigh! dad also pointed out that she kind of looked like a stripper jumping out of the cake with her arms up (as shown above) but i didn't take a picture after i put them down... oh well :)

she picked out a princess dress to wear for her party and looked like a sweet dream.

audri and her became fast friends... they also have birthdays just a few days a part so 2 birthday parties in one week every single year... ADORABLE!

family and friends

adan is pretty much the cutest!

she was thrilled to open her presents and find barbies, dress up clothes, and dolls... lucky girl!

3 already!! how did this happen???

Cayman Day 7 the bittersweet end

2012-01-26T12:38:00.002-06:00

we spent most of our last day filming for josh's "get surly at merwins" video contest. we had a lot of fun coming up with different ideas for the video and Kate and G were happy to help.

josh found a little baby crab. so tiny!

we spent the evening watching the sunset again and hung out as it got darker. so very romantical!!

we had an impromptu jam session. kate showed us her skills on guitar and G played a couple of his newer tunes. the beach was insanely beautiful and will definitely be missed.

we ended our last night at a different open mic. gooey and i got to play along with a lot of other players. we chatted it up with people and ended meeting a whole entire group from st. paul!! small freakin world. we were back to our hotel and in bed by midnight with our alarm set for 5:30am.

we left excited to get home but sad to had to say goodbye to good friends and sunshine. we are actually entertaining the thought of moving there for 6 months next year. we will see if it pans out. all we know is we don't want that to be our first and last trip to cayman. 5 years of marriage was quite an accomplishment and we celebrated in style. thanks to everyone that loved on and watched our children, you are the people that truly made this trip possible!!!

Cayman Day 6

2012-01-26T12:19:00.000-06:00

josh worked on his surly tune while i went in and out of the pool.

SUN BATHING!!!

our cute little beer coozies... seriously your beer get warm in a matter of minutes and who doesn't want to drink in style?

day 6 in the caymans was the best of them all. we took kates advice and went to paradise beach to snorkel and it was well worth the walk (45min walk). the fish were incredible and they were everywhere. we were swimming through schools of fish and we saw a stingray. it was so beautiful. we stopped at dairy queen on our way home and inhaled it before it became liquid. we spent the rest of the day by the pool. i unfortunately spaced on re applying my sun screen and burned to a crisp. we had dinner at the clubhouse and then spent the rest of the night in the hotel with me crying and applying and reapplying aloe to my very burnt body. i just kept reminding myself that it will look really good in a week or so. as for then it was just PAINFUL!!! in bed and asleep early and excited for our plans for the LAST DAY!!!

Cayman Day 5

2012-01-26T12:01:00.000-06:00

waiting for our pizza at papa johns

josh and kirky THE local!

we had heard stories about kirky from kate and G and when we were walking one day we saw him. didn't want to mis the opportunity to document so we stopped and talked for a bit. seems like a lovely guy.

day 5 was sunday and it was truly a day of rest! josh needed it after the late night and one to many surly's. i laid out in the sun and laid low also. we decided to stay in for the night and just get a pizza. it was super fun. just laughing in the hotel room enjoying one anothers company and watching wedding crashers. we had so much fun. and knew we would be glad we rested for our BIG snorkeling adventure the following day. mmm papa johns :)

Cayman Day 4

2012-01-26T11:46:00.001-06:00

we went to turtle farm with kate and g and had a blast. it was so cool and so sad at the same time.

these were our turtle faces, i finally got up the courage to pick one up!

this was a pool full of turtles fish and... da da... da da... da da da da da da da SHARKS!!

the sunset was AMAZING!!! this is me with something they call a beergarita. yes it is a real thing and kate told me it was a MUST try while i was on the island. its a margarita with a corona dunked in so as you keep drinking the corona keeps coming. surprisingly delicious!

day 4 was incredible... the days truly just kept getting better! starting off with some snorkeling and then off to turtle farm with our new friends. we all enjoyed some drinks at the cabana and then headed to the beach to watch the sunset. it was stunning! we hooked up with our minnesota peeps later at fidels (an irish pub) and proceeded to sing karaoke into the night. this goes down in history as one of my top 5 favorite moments with josh!! i signed him up when he wasn't looking and he rocked neil diamonds 'sweet caroline'. he was a pretty big hit and as mad as he was i think a part of him was happy to let lose and sing a little. we stayed up until 3am talking with dylan and his brother tanner in the hotel lobby. (it was their last night in cayman) we drank surly talked about what is wrong with the world and finally got to bed around 3:30am. it was such a fun night. its amazing to meet people from MN and know that we get to kick it with them again. a very successful day and night. highlight... JOSH SANG KARAOKE!!

Cayman Day 3

2012-01-26T11:19:00.000-06:00

our beach...just a 1 minute walk from our room

sunbathing... YES!

this was a grasshopper that decided to live above the door in our room after we moved in. we named him franklin and were totally bummed when he decided to leave, but then he came back!!! the day before we left. awwww franky.

this is kate, her and her boy gooey are the locals we spent a lot of time with. so much fun!!

just a cool spot we walked by every day.

so day 3 we set off on a mission to get snorkeling gear. we were successful and we started snorkeling in the ocean by the beach and just past the rock. it was amazing the fish were all crazy neon and beautiful. we ended up hanging onto the snorkeling gear for 3 more days. it was friday night so we met up with gooey and kate at the local billiard room "the attic". we met some other cool people and ended up playing beer pong. turns our josh and i are pretty good. shouldn't be that surprising though, we make an awesome team. it was a so GORGEOUS!! by this time we were falling for Cayman FAST!

Cayman Day 2

2012-01-26T11:09:00.000-06:00

the view from our room

there are lizards and iguanas EVERYWHERE!

chickens too :)

the next morning we woke up and josh surprisingly was feeling much better. we set off on a walk down to a local bakery for breakfast. we then walked the beautiful beach, as we were walking we were stopped by 2 people sun bathing. they asked us if we were from MN (josh was sporting a MN t-shirt) and we said YES! they were too. we invited them to come to aqua beach for the open mic and they did. we had a great night. it was SOOO much fun. we met some locals that night and exchanged information so that we could hang out more.

Cayman Day 1

2012-01-26T11:04:00.000-06:00

THIS was the view from the airplane and THAT is Grand Cayman Island. we arrived at 5:30 on wednesday night after a grueling trip there. we left from minneapolis at 5pm on tuesday night and we were as excited as parents of 3, about to get a week to themselves, can be... VERY EXCITED! we got just past madison when our '95 honda accord decided to go kaput. we both remained very calm for the first 20 minutes as we tried calling towing companies and after we got a hold of someone and they said they were on their way the waterworks came. The next 2 hours were followed by some unmentionable words (on my part) and LOTS of tears. we were finally back on the road by midnight and arrived in chicago at 2am. it was pretty devastating... we just blew $400.00 on towing and a rental car that was supposed to be spent on the beach! we got on the flight the next morning without a problem and by the time the plane landed all our worries and concerns were still parked in madison, wi.

the first night there we got settled in our room and went down to the lobby bar and had a fun chat with the bartender Curtis. josh gave him one of the cans of surly we brought cause he was very helpful in getting us cash to pay the taxi (they have their own currency) and he ended up giving josh some local homebrew. delicious! we walked up to a cool restaurant called aqua beach and had nachos and then found out about an open mic the following night. we headed back to our hotel where josh proceeded to get very ill and i hoped and prayed he would be up for lots of adventures the next day!

pop parties!!!

2012-01-17T07:25:00.000-06:00

so adam and renee bought us one of the coolest gifts ever for christmas. it is a quick-pop maker. you can make popsicles in minutes!!! we LOVE it. and have gotten our fair share of use out of it thus far. here are some delicious pictures of us enjoying cookie dough, whopper, and fudge pops. YUM!

cayman here we come...

2012-01-11T08:09:00.000-06:00

well this time next week we will be walking around the chicago airport waiting to board the plane to our sunny week long vacation. I CANT WAIT!!! josh and i are going to the cayman islands to celebrate 5 long/fun/hard/sweet years of marriage....without our 3 children. even though they are the cutest things ever!!

so as of yesterday we decided to start talking to them about us being gone and where they would be spending time while we are away. ever since they keep talking about all the sleepovers to be had with an awesome amount of excitement. it has put some of my anxiety to rest...but not all :)

this morning prudence started verbally processing her trip and i can tell that she is thinking about it all the time. we will be sitting in silence and then she will just say "and then i will stay at adam and renee's house" but the best was this morning she comes up to me with a look of concern and says "there is a botter at bumpa and nana's house...right?" i assured her she would have a botter every where she stayed. such a cute contemplative little lady.

1 weeks and counting!!!!!

medford...kidless!!

2012-01-08T17:42:00.000-06:00

this weekend i went to medford WI to celebrate my BF's 30th birthday. my amazing, loving husband said he would look after the little ones so that i could go solo. it was a BLAST! we had so much fun. party and the parents and then bowling and the local lanes. then back to the house for a late night jam session. it was a nice mini vacation away and i was glad to be apart of the celebration.

2012

2012-01-02T09:22:00.000-06:00

this is the year i use my blog as my scrapbook. every event/picture/story will be found here so that when the year ends i can simply print this bad boy and be done!
another year has gone by and we look to at this year with excitement and gratefulness, josh has officially been working for almost 2 years without getting laid off!!! huge blessing!
i am sure lot of fun things are on the horizon for this year namely our trip to the cayman islands in just 2 weeks!! we have fully recovered from our christmas break in. the insurance check is in the mail and the security system is installed. excited to start the new year and pray that i can stay consistent with this blog and its new roll in my life.
cheers

thanksgiving...

2011-11-30T09:20:00.000-06:00

thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays most because we get to be with both sides of the family. for the last few years my parents have been invited to share in the carlson/larson thanksgiving and it makes it all the more special. games, food, and fun!

and as we do every year we celebrated Deziree's birthday... 6 this year!!

minnesnowta makes it official...

2011-11-21T11:33:00.000-06:00

josh's birthday extravaganza

2011-11-17T08:13:00.001-06:00

well, josh turned 30 this year!!!

his birthday weekend was definetly something to write home about!
friday we celebrated with the family, a roast at the pederson's house and presents galore. we went and had drinks with friends after that.
saturday we woke up late... (due to adam and renee keeping the kids for the night) headed to the government center to get our passports, followed by brunch at fat nats, followed by a suprise visit to the tattoo parlor for a session with our tattoo artist.
sunday he went golfing with my dad all day.

monday, halloween, his ACTUAL birthday, he came home to a clean house and a brand new big screen tv displaying the beloved golf channel. all in all a great celebration. i love this man and i look forward to 30 more years of birthdays with this cute boy.

halloween...

2011-11-17T08:03:00.000-06:00

my new years resolution BLOG MORE!
i have been late on everything this year. i figure if i can blog every event there will be no need to scrapbook.
anywho, here are our halloween pics super late.
enjoy.

sid's first day of school...

2011-10-25T16:02:00.000-05:00

well, its a bit late... but last month i dropped my newly 4 year old off at preschool for the first time.
it was a little difficult to say goodbye, and i may have cried for a good 20 minutes in my car after leaving...maybe. he LOVED it... and still does. he has already been star of the day at school and loves his teachers, mrs. smith and mrs. johnson.

i remember growing up being hard as a kid... it just couldn't happen fast enough. never did i imagine it would be equally hard to watch my children grow up. so very bittersweet.

this is him in front of his school on his first day :)

prudence got a bit stuck...

2011-10-25T15:21:00.000-05:00

sid is 4!!!

2011-09-13T15:01:00.000-05:00

vaca in tx

2011-09-13T08:41:00.000-05:00

tuesday afternoon spent studying their bathtub wrinkles...

2011-08-23T16:00:00.000-05:00

august garden pics...

2011-08-03T17:05:00.000-05:00

broccoli

tomatoes

my morning glories climbing up and around the entrance to the backyard

red onions harvested

green pepper

my cucumber has begun to spill over the box

my corn is kind of depressing, but there is a couple that are holding on

this is my cup plant, it is easily 10 feet tall. we had a storm the other day so they are leaning a bit

this will be eggplant

red cabbage

more tomatoes

these will be cucumbers

so much fun to see things continue to grow!!

potty training is a success...

2011-08-01T16:33:00.001-05:00

guess who's potty training...

2011-07-21T16:34:00.002-05:00

lenny's first steps :)

2011-07-12T09:49:00.000-05:00

strawberry fields...

2011-07-12T09:46:00.000-05:00

i successfully canned (for the first time) 2 batches of strawberry jam! my mom was a big help the first time around. such a fun day!

I AM NOT IN SPAIN!!!

2011-07-08T14:41:00.001-05:00

if you received an email from me about being in spain and needing money DELETE IT!
my email account was hacked into.
please delete the email address... kelleylarson@hotmail.com
and replace it with... kelleycatherinelarson@gmail.com

THANKS!

MY RADISHES!!!

2011-07-03T20:16:00.003-05:00

sorry to bombard you with posts but i forgot to tell you...
the radishes that i planted from seed....
grew!!!
i already harvested them :) check it out!

girls weekend away...

2011-07-03T19:57:00.005-05:00

can i preface this post with my rant on how much i HATE BLOGGER!!! i mean really, your only gonna let me upload 5 images at a time...and then i can't even see them in my edit window so i have to keep jumping between preview and edit and preview and edit, and to top it all off i forget every time until i am halfway done uploading all my images that it is all backwards. so now i have to tell you about our weekend backwards because my first image is our drive home. DUMB! next year i am switching over to wordpress or something like that, cause this is almost to much to take.

remember...backwards.

this is a picture of the girls totally wiped out from our very fun and relaxing weekend. they both slept for about half of the drive...it was B-E-A-utiful!

this was the view from the front porch of Matt's place (sarah's friend) we decided to stay there saturday night and I am so glad we did. It was gorgeous, and i learned that you CAN live so far from civilation that you don't have a garbage man come and take your garbage away... what do you do with it then? you ask? you burn it.

front porch sittin...

matt serenades us on his banjo, i jumped in for a bit, and got to learn how to play a 12 bar blues riff... SO FUN!

more hammock fun!

we went to martha's (sarah's other friend) lake for a swim saturday afternoon. quickly learned that Lenny LOVES the water :) and my sweet Pru LOVES playing with flotation devices.

GORGEOUS!

such a great and relaxing and much needed weekend away.

my garden...a month later...

2011-07-03T19:18:00.010-05:00

ok. one garden post a month seems only fair. guaranteed to be my biggest post though :) so fun looking at my last post...here.

mirrors...

and more picture frames!!

clematis... beautiful clematis...

mystery bulbs from my mother in law... excited to see what POPS up next year... ALSO FREE POT FROM MY SISTER!!! THANKS LISA!

my yarrow couldn't be more happy this year...tons of colors too!

i love the leaves on these... it looks as though it belongs in the ocean.
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my sedum flowered this year!!!

this is an addition this year... we were sick of the dirt pile that the kids loved, and since josh put a swing right near the tree we decided against the planter around the tree (for fear of little feet, shins, and ankles getting scrapped) and went for MORE FLOWERS!!! thanks to my mother in-law this is all transplanted from her garden up north, except for the hydrangeas which i had to move due to lack of space in my perennial garden.

i had very romantic ideas for this corn field... only to find that the squirrels, birds, raccoons, and other critters also had romantic ideas. they dug out a lot of my seeds and trampled a lot of the corn stalks that were coming up :( still some strong corn stalks survive...i will have to come up with better tactics next year to keep all corn loving critters out of our 'urban' corn field :)

here are sid and pru's gardens... you can tell pru took more of an interest to gardening... now that would leaving you thinking that Prudence's box is on the left... WRONG! pru would not and could not stop digging in her garden... her cosmos are coming in but not nearly as happily as sid's california poppies. they still LOVE watering their gardens.

this was my 'seed' side of my garden...while it is smaller i am very impressed with myself. i have zucchini. cucumbers. and carrots... all from seed!

pea pods and green beans

green beans and pea pods

tomatoes

brocoli

the veggies!!

happy cilantro.

parsley. strawberries. and a BIG surprise!!!

dahlias!!! (first bulbs ever :))

i finally got josh to build me some shelves. they add a really great 3 dimensional look to our fence. some ground cover is coming out of the frogs mouth and then there is basil and dill.

zinnias!!!

my morning glories and clematis

my morning glories starting to climb the chicken wire

lennon is 1!

2011-06-27T18:37:00.001-05:00

it was quite a party! tons of friends and family showed up to celebrate. the gift that took the cake was the life sized teddy bear that my my good friends (who do not have kids) bought for lenny.
it was a blast. sadly i could not find my camera for the big moment with the cupcake so those will follow as soon as i get copies from my mother. lennon look totally adorable in the outfit my sis carrie sent from texas. yet another successful birthday....just about 47 more birthdays to go until they are all 18 and can arrange their own parties...that is IF we don't have any more sweet ones.

happy birthday lisa

2011-06-09T07:19:00.000-05:00

fun in the sun

2011-06-06T12:56:00.003-05:00

88 degrees today...

swinging in the sunshine...

2011-06-03T14:32:00.004-05:00

josh got home from work yesterday and decided to build the kids a swing... it was fun to watch them watch him work. now we have a lovely swing for the kids to play on!

my garden is expanding...

2011-06-02T09:41:00.007-05:00

i will try to not blow you up with gardening posts this summer, but i kind of can't help myself. i have added an entire vegetable garden and our very own backyard corn field this year. in addition to making my flower garden a truly beautiful perennial explosion. my small wildflower garden/hosta garden, needs a little bit of help... hence no pictures to share.

full view of the north side

my poppies bloomed just the day after i planted them!

first flower of the year!

the view of the south side of the yard

i decided to let the kids get involved and plant their own gardens. we re purposed these old wine boxes and they both got to pick out their own seeds. Sid picked out some bright orange California poppies, and prudence picked a beautiful array of cosmos (pinks, and purples!). they enjoyed filling their boxes with dirt and planting the seeds... I'm excited to see how they react when they start popping up!!

these are my hydrangeas... *fun fact, hydrangeas change color depending on the acidity of the soil.* i really wanted blue, then realized i don't get to pick... it will be fun to find out what kind of soil i have when they start to bloom!

all kinds of perennials, and my clematis is already starting to climb

i added an artistic edge with all the empty frames along the fence... if you have old frames that your not using, send them my way!

TOMATOES!!! I went from one tomato in a pot last year, to 5 in my very own veggie garden this year! excited to can some pasta sauce this year!!

our very own corn field, with a pumpkin plant in the front. *fun fact... pumpkins need 8 feet of space to grow!! only room for one in our backyard :)

these are my pea pods, and green beans FROM SEED!!!

josh's handy work...man i love that man!

cilantro!

these are my first bulbs ever!! excited to see what happens :) GORGEOUS DAHLIAS... hopefully!

ZINNIAS!!!

strawberries

morning glories... hoping that they climb up and over the arbor to create a beautiful entrance into our backyard oasis!

5 days late...BUT, its still in the right month :)

2011-05-31T15:02:00.002-05:00

11 months old.

happy mothers day to me :)

2011-05-11T09:36:00.004-05:00

last year i got a 6ft privacy fence for mothers day...so....i decided to keep with tradition and have my 'handy man' build me a raised bed for my veggies this year :)
it turned out beautiful! as you can see in the picture josh is going to put in a little paver area for me to knell and work. he is the best! the little ones purchased some new garden tools for me to use in my new garden and they thoroughly enjoyed assisting me in opening the present.
i am doing most of my veggies from seeds this year,*nervous smile* so we will see.

i also spent the morning singing in the mothers day chorus with my mom and sis.

ashwer bought me tulips ;) so sweet! all in all a very wonderful and blessed mothers day.

my kids are f-ing cute...

2011-05-11T07:28:00.007-05:00

my friend kristy "professional photographer" came and took pictures of my babies the other day.

10 MONTHS...3 days late :(

2011-04-29T14:33:00.002-05:00

playdate madness and creole seasoning...

2011-04-29T09:34:00.004-05:00

we have had some super fun play dates in the past few weeks... here are some highlights...

this picture is for Carrie... while talking on the phone yesterday morning i had to abruptly hang up when i walked into this! that's right creole seasoning all over the table and in my toddlers eyes. needless to say we had a violent date with the sink and now i have to head back to the grocery store for yet another can of creole seasoning. the joys of being a mother!

easter 2011...

2011-04-29T09:14:00.007-05:00

spring is here...

2011-04-27T09:04:00.000-05:00

we get to play outside again!!!

terrible two's anyone?

2011-04-13T17:05:00.003-05:00

lennon laughing...

2011-04-06T21:26:00.003-05:00

a night in menomonie, wi

2011-04-03T14:28:00.003-05:00

9 months...

2011-03-26T16:42:00.002-05:00

HOMEBREWING!!!

2011-03-25T07:59:00.003-05:00

i just realized i have not yet posted about our new pleasurable pass time.
josh and i tend to have different interests and kind of do our own thing... we have been looking for common interests so as to enjoy each others company more often. beer was the answer!
we have been home brewing since november and have successfully made 6 batches of brew (that have been delicious, might i add). josh loves darker beer and i LOVE hoppy beer. this new found passion has totally brought us closer. josh takes care of all the sanitizing (probably 80% of home brewing) and i take care of the brewing, bottling, and labeling. we have come up with clever names (or so we think) and then create a label so as to have a physical catalog of our brewing escapades.
thus far we have made:
"otis redding" an irish stout (named by josh because it was 'dark and smooth')
"needles" an IPA (named after my knitting maniac for a sister, Carrie Davis)
"winter prozac" an oatmeal stout (the name is self explanatory)
"foreclosed" a copper ale (named after the copper that is stolen out of the foreclosed homes in our neighborhood)
"hoppiness is a warm gun" a double IPA

and we have another double IPA in the secondary fermenter that we should be bottling in a couple weeks entitled, "hopping mad"

if you have not yet had the honor and privilege of trying our delicious brew, hit me up... i have the hook up :)

remembering san diego...

2011-03-25T07:38:00.003-05:00

i have loved posting all the pictures of the food i have been making since being on this diet. i hope you are enjoying them also. i gotta say, i am still so impressed with my 'meat and potatoes' husband. he is becoming quite the veggie lover.
last night i made basque salad, which was a staple when i lived in san diego. i remember carrie and megan cooking in the kitchen while i sat at the kitchen table watching. carrie made me a scrapbook when i left and it had the recipe in it. so i pulled it out last night and started to reminisce while i chopped.
i got to thinking about project runway and wine on wednesdays, le'stats open mic on mondays, the amazing and delicious burgers at jake's on sunday afternoons. what a blast. such a fun time of my life. so now i am enjoying basque salad, not blocks away from the ocean, but in this snow covered tundra, with my favorite person ever! yum.

the recipe from my '5 months in cali' scrapbook...

the end result...

dental drama in my firstborn's life...

2011-03-25T07:20:00.004-05:00

sid has had a small bubble just about his front tooth for a couple weeks now and we decided to set up an appointment to see what is was. good thing we did. we went on tuesday and it turned out it was an abscess tooth :( it need to be removed asap.

we set up another appointment for the following day to try and get it out using laughing gas and Novocain for the pain... lets just say that DID NOT happen. we walked in and he was instantly concerned remembering that the day before, we found ourselves in the same place with masked scary people trying to poke and prod at him. our dentist told us to go to an oral surgeon who could 'put him under'...he didn't want it to be too traumatic for him. not exactly what i wanted to hear. i thought to myself 'who says the dentist isn't traumatic? i hate going... who likes to go? im sure it will be traumatic regardless."

after a day of tears and about 3 hours on the phone trying to find a clinic that will take our insurance we settled on one in coon rapids with an appointment at 7:30am. later that day they called back and said they had an opening in st. cloud thursday morning, i said "WE'LL TAKE IT". i just wanted to get all of this over with.

my AWESOME mom came with *thanks mom*. after an hour and and half of trying to get him 'out of it' enough to do the work they finally were able to pull it out. the infection had been there awhile. the tooth had a fracture all the way through it so when they pulled it out it just broke into a bunch of pieces. luckily we were able to scrounge enough pieces to take home for the tooth fairy.

stressful to say the least...but is done and over with and my little man's smile will never be the same.

before...

after...

broccoli and beef...

2011-03-24T06:41:00.001-05:00

dinner last night.

week two starts with a bang...

2011-03-21T17:05:00.002-05:00

dinner this evening...Chili-Rubbed Tilapia with Asparagus & Lemon.
the first time i have ever cooked fish and it was cooked to perfection!
the asparagus was deliciously fresh especially with the squeeze of lemon over it. YUM!

favorite sid quote of the day...

2011-03-21T09:40:00.002-05:00

when we came downstairs this morning, i grabbed a tissue to wipe pru's faucet for a nose. as i was wiping the greenish yellowish goo away sid chimes in with, "i tell her to lick her snosties off upstairs, just like i do!" gross and adorable all at the same time :)

back to the daily slow carb grind...

2011-03-21T09:10:00.002-05:00

well our first free day was a success, other then feeling a bit ill after each indulgence.
my day began with the girl scout thin mints that have been slowly disappearing (since i have been using them for snack time with the kids).
i throughly enjoyed a culvers butter burger with onion rings for lunch that made my stomach turn. well worth it though.
for dinner josh and i enjoyed buffalo wild wings, we started the meal with nachos and 2 surly furious's (delcious beer) and then i had an 8 piece bbq boneless wings that i could only finish 6 of and josh had a burger that im pretty sure had 3 different meats on it with a healthly serving of french fries.
we went home to enjoy a home brew and then shortly after i was off to plums, where i consumed waffle fries, an odouls, and an appletini! yum!

josh and i had a great convo while we were feeding our faces at BWW's all about diet and statistics and food... it was great. i could have never imagined that this diet would be so huge for us as a family. my favorite quote from josh was "i refuse to be a statistic", referring to the documentary where they said that '80% of americans are overweight'.
good for him! and me! we both discussed that we had noticed a difference in our size in just this first week :) very exciting.
so this morning i fixed myself a spinach ommlette and topped it with a bit of salsa. yum :)
fabulous! 1 week down 3 to go... who knows maybe we will keep it up.

happy st. patty's day...

2011-03-17T18:26:00.009-05:00

our yearly tradition is shamrock shakes at mcdonalds... josh and i did not partake :(

date night. abiding by our diet restrictions. and 3 little larsons in a tub.

2011-03-17T08:01:00.001-05:00

so my husband is kicking butt and taking names at this diet. he said he is more then happy to keep eating like this. i have been so pleasently suprised at his attitude towards it this week and it makes me feel ALOT less inclined to complain about it.
going out for our weekly date night proved to be a bit difficult. we settled on famous daves and successfully abstained from eating the moist, sugary, and delicious corn bread muffins that came with our meals. i enjoyed a salad and he ate sauceless ribs and brisket with some corn and green beans. we high five'd beaming with pride.

my hope is that this diet really steers us in the right direction for some life changes. one of the things in that documentary the other night that really struck a chord was about how we are willing to spend 'more' money on a lot of things but when it comes to food quantity is what everyone is after.
im a bit nervous to talk to josh about adjusting the budget to be condusive to shopping at our local co op every week. we will see how that goes...

and now for some pictures of my 3 babies in the tub to brighten your day.

4 more days until FREE DAY!!!

2011-03-16T07:10:00.003-05:00

last night was delicious... i made lettuce tacos. the only thing that was missing was the crunch of the hardshell that we are used to. it was tasty and nutritious and once again filled us up!
i decided to watch a documentary last night entitled "killer at large". if you have not seen this, watch it! it is about how obesity is becoming the #1 killer in america and our children's life span could very well be much shorter then ours. GROSS! its available on netflix instant and it will rock you.
after watching it i jumped online and joined our local CSA. i have been thinking about it and we tried to get in last year but couldn't. my ultimate hope is to rock out the vegetable garden this year so that we can get even more in touch with what we eat.
i want to make good choices and pass on great habits to our children.
lettuce tacos... give it a try :)

and i bought a motorcycle ...

2011-03-15T09:50:00.001-05:00

slow carb adventures...

2011-03-15T08:57:00.003-05:00

i decided to start this diet that my sister is work shopping in the upcoming weeks. it involves very clear diet restrictions and 15 minutes of exercise a week. my wonderful husband has decided to join me as not only a supporter but also as someone who just might have some weight to lose.
it started yesterday and i have to say i felt GREAT! it was amazing to eat things that we know are good for our bodies. quite a bit more work if im being honest. i have added an extra 3 minutes or so to the time it takes to pack josh's lunch in the evenings. and dinner made a mess out of my kitchen but was well worth it.
the exercise involves a 'kettle bell'. my dad decided to use his creative and artistic abilities and make our own kettle bells... this is what they normally look like...

this is ours...

for dinner i made "if your craving spaghetti" which was zucchini with pasta sauce and some grated Parmesan, and "if your craving mashed potatoes" which was pureed cauliflower with lemon pepper. it was surprisingly delicious and filling.

day two begins with 2 hard boiled eggs for breakfast. we will see how this goes. im looking forward to making healthier choices.
OH i forgot to mention, we get a free day every week!!! we picked sunday, so i get to make a list of all the things i WANT to eat and wait to simply indulge myself on sunday. i imagine this list will get shorter and shorter every week, but maybe not :)

FREE DAY
girl scout thin mints (waiting in the freezer)
california burger
seasoned waffle fries
BEER BEER and more BEER (to be more specific surly abrasive... also waiting in the fridge for me)
turtle cheesecake
5th avenue
coca-cola
pretty much anything that 'little debbie' makes
peanut m&ms

im sure there will be more considering that was from day 1.

new blog!!!

2011-03-09T16:36:00.002-06:00

if you haven't yet, be sure to start following my band blog site.

www.saidkelley.blogspot.com

best christmas presents ever...

2011-03-09T16:28:00.004-06:00

sid and pru are the most 'super' kids any girl could ask for :)

lots of fun stuff...

2011-03-09T09:12:00.020-06:00

our sweet prubear has graduated to a big girl bed. it was VERY exciting. one of our pack and plays broke so i decided it was time to take the plunge. she transitioned beautifully (granted she has been getting out of her pack and play since she was 15 months old) nonetheless it was a bittersweet decision. a big girl bed means i have to face the fact that my baby girl is becoming a big girl.

our sweet little lenny is chatty to say the least. and she has just started crawling in the past couple days!!! i can't keep up with these munchkins... actually i can, and I LOVE IT!

8 months...

2011-02-26T17:17:00.004-06:00

i was gonna post 'spring has sprung' then it snowed...

2011-02-23T09:54:00.001-06:00

we were in spring jackets for 5 days though... it was lovely.

a public apology...

2011-02-08T07:25:00.002-06:00

so i have been after my mom since i had kids about the lack of pictures of me as a baby. other then a couple newborn pics there was pretty much nothing else until i was 3ish.
well she has proved me wrong.
so...mom, "i publicly apologize for harrasing you these past couple years. thanks for digging. its good to know my early years did not go by without any documentation."
so enjoy the pics of me as a baby... kind of explains why my kids are so damn cute if you ask me.

pru is two...

2011-01-31T07:18:00.004-06:00

7 months. bald. beautiful.

2011-01-26T11:25:00.002-06:00

said kelley

2011-01-14T09:56:00.008-06:00

i am starting a band!! we are called "said kelley" and wonderful and brilliant things will come of this, i am sure! these are my bandmates, holly and heather. we had a blast at our first band practice on wednesday and an awesome photo shoot by my soon to be professional photographer friend siri. enjoy the pics!
if you read my blog, and are on facebook...you can "like" us to stay in our musical loop. www.facebook.com/saidkelley

dupont house reunion

2011-01-10T10:15:00.004-06:00

well we had a house reunion when brittany and sophia were in town for christmas. becky and adan (also ex housemates) came to party too.
this was then...

and now...

they are a year and a half older and all the more interesting.
brit got to meet lennon for the first time and just like old times, we had a dance party.
becky is expecting her 2nd soon so next time we all see each other there will be 6 little ones between the 3 of us.
LOVE IT!!

a new year . . . a brand new look

2011-01-06T07:05:00.005-06:00

i figured considering it is a brand new year i should give my blog a brand new look.
josh and i rung in the new year enjoying some beer and episodes of 'the office'.
days before ringing in the new year we celebrated our 4year anniversary.
my marriage highlight for 2010 was, finding something we can enjoy doing together (brewing beer)
his hightlight was, continued employment and all the things that it brings . . . less stress more time to enjoy the family.
i feel ridiculously blessed that this is my life. josh is an amazing father and husband.
cheers to a new year and 1 more year being married to my best friend.

grandma larson's special gifts!!

2011-01-03T09:38:00.002-06:00

thanks grandma for keeping us warm with pj's and quilts during this blistery minnesota winter!

pru goodness!!

2011-01-03T09:37:00.003-06:00

a very merry davis surprise . . .

2010-12-28T18:34:00.005-06:00

the davis clan made their way up from their sunshine state to our snow blown city.
what a treat!
i didn't take many pics (trying to soak up every second with my beautiful nieces) and the pics i did take are not the best...so...hopefully carrie blogs soon with some of her sweet pics. but this gives you a little glimpse.
they surprised us all for christmas eve breakfast at the Pederson's (adam and renee's).
the kids proceeded to play in the snow, enjoy walker christmas and then presents at nana's and bumpas!
we also got to enjoy our treasured tradition of soup and popovers the day after christmas.
jake showed off his culinary skills by making a shrimp bisque from scratch!
thanks for the surprise davis's!
*best christmas ever*

a day late . . .

2010-12-27T07:15:00.003-06:00

6 months old, yesterday!

all snowed in . . .

2010-12-12T19:05:00.004-06:00

16 inches to be exact.

so we spent the last 48 hours on our pull out couch. as a family. watching far to many episodes of DIEGO.

granted it was a minnesota/december treat! i love the inability to leave, it makes the forced family time all the more sweet in my opinion.

the snow is beautiful and gets me into the christmas spirit like crazy.

sids zombie diego face

P-R-ME

2010-12-11T17:47:00.007-06:00

its tricky . . .

2010-12-03T07:34:00.002-06:00

we have a dance party almost every night before bed.
josh seemed to have an extra amount of energy last night.
i love how much these little ones adore their daddy.
he sure is great!

belated thanksgiving post . . .

2010-11-30T12:09:00.010-06:00

i know i know, who am i to do a christmas post before my thanksgiving one. i'm with you, i also hate when i see twinkle lights and hear christmas music prior to turkey day but i swear i have a good excuse.
my sister took all the pictures and just emailed them to me today. so while you are all decking your halls i would love for you to take a moment to see the awesomeness that transpired at my house on thanksgiving.
it was my first turkey.
i'm sure all of you out there have you first turkey story and i am honored to share mine with all of you (even though i'm pretty sure "all" of you is my family (*thanks for reading you guys!*)) yes. yes. that was a parentheses inside a parentheses.
so my wonderful father purchased a brine packet for me and wednesday night i took harold (the name of my turkey) and put him in a delicious bath of spices.
my lovely parents took my toddlers for the night so thursday morning it was just me, my kitchen, and sweet little Lennon (when she wasn't napping).
i started the morning off putting harold in the oven aka sauna (that is what i referred to it as when talking with him) and got started on the array of other food i decided to make: sweet potato surprise, mashed potatoes, homemade gravy, stuffing, green bean casserole, and creamed corn. not to mention my delicious deserts an apple blossom tart and a flour less chocolate cake with fresh raspberries.
the funny part about the turkey is that my brother showed up after it had been in an hour, (he is the real professional) and told me to flip it so the juices would drip into the breast, in the process of flipping he discovered that i just may have left the pack of giblets in harolds tum tum. so we had a good laugh and went on our merry way. I had everything timed to perfection, or so i thought and being without a meat thermometer took the turkey out when the timer went off, sure enough my dad shows up with his meat thermometer and it needed a little more cookin time. so we fed the kids (no turkey) and sent them to bed. it worked out just perfectly we were able to relax and enjoy the meal rather then rush through it or have to deal with kids on our laps. so i think the delay on the turkey worked to me and josh's advantage, so for that, i will not apologize.
it was just going to be me and josh's immediate families this year but with the weather on thanksgiving eve the Larson's decided it would be best to not travel. they were missed! so it ended up being the five of us, my parents, and my lil sister ash (who by the way showed up to lend a hand (couldn't have done it without her) and walked in with delicious coffee in hand)! yes, i did it again . . . te he.
the pictures will show off my very impressive culinary skills and showcase ashley's very striking photography skills. enjoy.

tis the season . . .

2010-11-27T07:48:00.005-06:00

christmas is right around the corner and it is pederson tradition to pick out and cut a christmas tree the weekend after thanksgiving. so that is what we did. granted the experience has drastically changed over the years.
toddlers and 7 degree weather don't jive well together. we spent 5 minutes out of the car when prudence started melting down. back into the vehicle.
then another 5 minutes out of the vehicle to pick out our tree when prudence started melting down.
back into the vehicle. where most of our time was spent.
josh had to work so i didn't have my other half to help me manage the kids, won't do that again.
we typically go on the sleigh ride and check out the petting zoo and even get a group picture . . . not the case this year.
but with all the melt downs and frozen noses we found our tree.
we arrived home and put it up and decorated it, when sid asked a very poignant question . . . "where are the presents?"
all i could think was, "wouldn't it be lovely if the presents just came with the tree?" absolutely it would!
so here are our christmas tree cutting pics.

5 months already!

2010-11-26T22:10:00.001-06:00

my sweet little bumblebees

2010-11-22T10:06:00.001-06:00

videos from tx . . .

2010-11-20T08:20:00.002-06:00

since carrie pretty much posted every picture taken while we were in tx, i thought it best to give you all some video footage from our trip. thanks davis's for letting me and our 3 kids trash your pad, thanks cass for giving up your space and letting us stay in your bedroom, may your home be bursting with the blessing we felt while being there!

a sweet thrift store post . . .

2010-11-05T15:23:00.005-05:00

well its been a minute since i posted about some of my fun thrift store finds! so here you have it. . . i spent the morning with my girlfriend sarah, thirfting away. while we could have stayed at the coffee shop and talked for hours we set out and found all kinds of precious gems at ARC Value Village!

i have always wanted to be a woman/mom who wears aprons. while my mother never wore them (maybe cause she didn't do too much cooking/baking . . . sorry mom i totally outed you!) my neighbor Ann Henstrom wore them all the time. I felt like it was similar to wearing a name tag that said "homemaker." I am proud to be a homemaker so it is about time (3 kids in) i purchased my name tag! this had my name written all over it . . .

i am starting a 4 day prayer journey with some close friends in a couple days and i found this! it has so many beautiful things to meditate on. here is just one of the nuggets of wisdom this baby is filled with . . . "surrendering in a conflict doesn't mean losing or being second best. it means we are opting for peace today." CHEW ON THAT!

and this sweet little vintage top for our baby of the family. i think i will take her 5 month pics in it next month!

there you have it! thanks to sarah for being such a great thrifting partner, and thank you to karin for coming to love on all 3 of my children so i could go out and actually enjoy myself in a thrift store! don't know about you but 3 kids, 1 cart, and a snack that only lasts the first 5 minutes of shopping is NOT my idea of a good time.

happy halloween!!!

2010-11-01T08:31:00.008-05:00

buzz and woody like it HOT (lennon is a chili pepper)

personally i thought Lennon looked like a strawberry.

buzz and woody make a great pair (adorable too, if i don't say so myself)

a very contemplative cowgirl

the whole family

josh got fancy with his pumpkin carving skills this year

monster eyeballs

pizza mummies

potato skin ghosts

should have done this first

2010-10-26T07:30:00.005-05:00

Lennon defiantly looks like her own person all the while being undeniably 'Larson'

here is pru at 4 months. . .

here is sid at 4 months . . .

4mos . . .

2010-10-26T07:21:00.003-05:00

sisters. . . .

2010-10-19T07:16:00.003-05:00

this post is dedicated to lisa, carrie, ashley, and renee. the BEST sisters in the whole WORLD!!!

my friend siri the amazing photographer. . .

2010-10-14T07:25:00.002-05:00

we are gonna do a breast-feeding photo shoot today. . .pictures to follow.

rolly polly Lennon. . .

2010-10-12T07:31:00.002-05:00

already rolling over!?!?! i cant keep up!

circle time . . .

2010-10-11T09:28:00.003-05:00

so i have started doing circle time every morning with Sid and Pru. they LOVE it! my wonderful teacher mom gave me all her preschool curriculum. lots of flannel board stories and some books on cd and tape.
my dad made us a felt board out of a bulletin board i found at the thrift store and some felt. only cost me $1.60 to make, well to have my dad make :)
anyway, with it being fall and all our conversations and book choices have been about pumpkins and apples and leaves and halloween. so after we sang our closing song ("the more we get together") we proceeded to have a little conversation about halloween . . . it went something like this:
me "So you guys have you thought at all about what you want to dress up like on halloween"
sid looks at me a bit perplexed. . .
me "on halloween we get to dress up like something else and go trick or treating and get candy, its a lot of fun! you probably don't remember but last year you were a fireman and you and pru went trick or treating with nana and bumpa!"
sid (without missing a beat) "Ohhh, im gonna be buzz lightyear and pru wants to be woody."
me "ok well do you think pru wants to be jessie cause she is a cowgirl?"
sid "no pru just wants to be woody"
me "sounds good! what about lennon what is she gonna be?"
sid "she is gonna be a princess"
me "alright i think that is a great idea!"
sid "no lennon is gonna be kitty cat"
me "okey doke!"

man i love these kids. pru would do anything sid asked her so there you have it, we are going to have a buzz lightyear, a woody, and an itty bitty kitty cat!

i love my life!

fall in minnesota is the BEST. . .

2010-10-07T18:07:00.002-05:00

dance party ...

2010-10-07T07:03:00.002-05:00

the kids have started break dancing . . . we LOVE IT!

thrift*store*junkie