Burgers

Ashly had some friends over last night. One of them stayed overnight. They hung out in the hottub and watched movies, eating doritos and popcorn. She is out sledding right now.

We are short 3 full time day people at work right now. So I am picking up several shifts whenever I can. We were doing ok, until my coworker went into labor on Thursday at only 35 weeks. I wish her the best. She was on the schedule for all of Feb. I'm gonna work an extra Sunday and I took back some of my vacation days I had put in for in February. Oh well! Money is good.

We tried grilling ground turkey burgers last night for the first time. The "healthier" alternative to a fat, juicy hamburger. We put lots of spices in it (followed a recipe with worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, garlic, etc). I give it two thumbs up. Chadd and Ashly both liked it ok too. The raw meat looks slimy and not a real good color, but once they were grilled they were scrumptious.

This is Christopher's last day on antibiotics for his ear infection. He is doing well and sleeping at night again. As a matter of fact, he slept in until 9am this morning! Wow! What a year can do for your sleep. This time last year and the whole 2009 I didn't know what it felt like to sleep that much!

Spoons

Drinking

Walking

Walking...possibly in a marching band, playing the "spoons"

Dishwasher fun...yes again...yes, we've had a broken plate happen.

He squeals when he hears someone putting away the dishes. It just doesn't get any better than that in his world.

Twirl

Christopher is not only cruising around the house these days, but he stops to twirl sometimes!!! It was so cute one evening, he was just walking back and forth in the kitchen then he stopped and in four quarter turns he twirled around. He had that smile on his face like he knew he discovered something new. He made sure we were watching (and clapping!)!!!

So, it was Sunday evening. The Vikings game was on (yeah, old news now) and Chadd put together some really yummy lime chili chicken kebabs and grilled them. Did I say YUMMY!?

Chadd's cool grilling platter he got for Christmas from my parents.

The raw chicken and veggies...

And the cooked, final product. Oh, did I mention how good these things were???!!!

Ok. So Chadd takes his grilling seriously, and he does a great job. And funny thing, but the weather isn't a real big factor on whether he'll grill or not. Snow, no snow....0 degrees, whatever! I'm not complaining! He even wears yet another Christmas gift from my parents, the light that attached to the bottom of the rim of the baseball cap. Very stylin' Actually, it's getting real close (fashion wise) to the clip-on sunglasses. (Dad...you know what I'm talking about! Ha!)

Ashly, enjoying the grub.

Chadd, enjoying his masterpieces.

Oh...poor Christohper was left out of this meal. Not quite buddy. I think it was the "chili" spices in the lime chili chicken that wouldn't sit well with the little guy.

Chadd - thanks for the great meal. Job well done. We'll have to do it again :)

Kitchen fun

Playing with kitchen stuff.

Christopher seems to be feeling better. Ashly has been busy with puppet practice. She has a show in Wisconsin next Sunday. They are practicing a half hour show. She has only done one song at a time before so her arms get tired! These are big puppets they hold up and mouth the words, talking and singing, to voices on a CD. We might go, don't know yet.

I worked last weekend and had a head cold. I'm feeling better too! All is good at the Larson house today.

Sick again

The rats...

are attacking...

...really.

Ok...so we had a little scare yesterday. Christopher has been sick with a cough and runny nose since Monday eve. I was paying close attention to how he was doing and thinking maybe not a big deal this time. He wasn't sleeping real well and I did give him motrin in the middle of the night for both of our well being! So when Chadd drops Christopher off at daycare on Thursday morning, they say that two of the babies there have RSV and one is in the hospital with pnemonia too. So then I got to thinking what is Christopher has that and is he ok? Before I could worry too much the daycare called me at work to make sure I worried :{ I decided to take him to see the doctor. Turns out he has an ear infection. Poor little guy. Back on antibiotics. I was hoping he was done with those after having such a bad episode of those back in October. He's still got a cough and runny nose, but hopefully he'll get better now on the antibiotics. I just hate when anybody is sick.

Playtime

Piggyback ride from sister.

Getting tickled by sister.

Checking out sister's tongue.

Hugs and kisses from sister.

Just another day in the life of the cutest little boy in the whole world!

Skiing

Chadd's mom and Christopher

Ashly, cousin Jackie and Jackie's friend

Chadd's sister, Cindy, put Christopher to sleep...thanks!

We had the 8th (I think) annual Larson Trollhaugen ski day in January yesterday. Ashly LOVES to ski so she had a blast. Christopher has a few years yet before Chadd will be teaching him. Me...well, I decided I didn't really like to ski since I've tried taking lesson before and it just didn't do anything for me. So I just hung out in the chalet with whoever was on break. I was in good company. I got to spend lots of time with Chadd and his parents!

Brushing the teeth

Christopher loves his truck!

Every night I try to brush Christopher's teeth. Without toothpaste yet, just brushing them a little and he does not like it. It's challenging, yet I want to try and get in the habit now. I want it to be a positive experience so last night he grabbed the brush and seemed to chew on his brush enough it must have cleaned his teeth a little :)

He says "Mom, I can do this myself!"

Winter Fun

Helping with the dishes, I'm sure!

Walking is the name of the game right now. Christopher is walking all across the room right now. Once he started, he just keeps going! It's amazing to watch how fast he has picked up on the walking thing. As I am typing this he is walking across the livingroom!

Ashly is having a grand old time today tubing with a friend at Ekobacken. Tomorrow she'll go skiing with Chadd's family. We waited until today to realize her snowpants are too small and we kinda put off buying new ones last year. So we went to Gander Mtn. today and there was one pair of snowpants in the women's section left. One single pair - 50% off. What are the chances they are the right size? Very good! We sure did luck out there! I don't know if I would have used all my luck on that particular thing in my life, but, oh well...Ashly has snowpants!!!

Righty

Big boy drinking out of a sippy cup. He loves his water! I've given him juice a couple times, but mostly water.

My prediction is that he will be a righty! Over the last while, I've been watching him pick up his food and he seems to be doing it mostly with his right hand. He can do either, but it's looking like this is the predominant side. That's good...one less thing to worry about since I'm a lefty, those darn scissors just do not work for us!!!

He loves Eggos. I bought the new multigrain eggos...still trying to keep him healthy before he gets sucked into the McDonald happy meals stage in life! I know Ashly had a few of those growing up and she turned out fine though :)

The food and the sippy cup end up on the floor. It's very common to take a sip and throw it on the floor. Ha, ha, ha...it's so funny - or so he thinks!

Walking

Well...I pick up these shoes many times a day. Christopher has fun pulling them off the shelf!

Christopher is getting more daring walking now. He can take 3 or 4 steps at a time now. He will let go of the furniture and walk to you, or he will let go of you and walk to the furniture. When he walks he is so proud of himself and we cheer so that makes him smile. I'm excited for him to start walking!

Pickle face

Christopher still loves his pickles!