2015 Christmas Card

Happy holidays from the Larsen family! 2015 has been a big year full of changes.

After five years in Colorado, we moved to Nashville in August. Tim graduated from the University of Colorado with his PhD in Economics and started as a visiting professor at Vanderbilt University. He is having fun teaching so far, and we are settling in to life in the South.

Lucy Belle was born February 27^th and is our little sweetie. At nine months, Lucy gets around by scooting, has four teeth (with two more on the way), and loves food. She is very social and loves doing anything with her brother.

Ty is three years old and is doing preschool with a few friends from church. He loves anything with wheels, going to “Grandpa’s Cabin” (now located only 2.5 hours away), and has just started telling knock-knock jokes.

Tanaya tries to keep up with the kids while wondering how anyone with two or more children can get anything done. She teaches health classes at a few local YMCA’s and helps teach Ty’s preschool.

During this Christmas Season, we reflect on our many blessings from the past year. We are so grateful for family and friends, old and new. We wish you a very merry Christmas!

                                

Warm Regards                                     

The Larsen Family              

                 

A Nashville December

I kept the tradition of last year to try to do something Christmas-y every day, even if it was just a quick coloring page. Of course, this did involve plenty of planning in advance, but we tried to take advantage of everything Nashville had to offer (that was free and for kids). We started the month out with the Christmas Parade. It was lots of fun!

Music city had a few floats with bands rocking out!

 

The kids got to sit on Santa's lap twice!

This time below was at a house decked out with lights just in a regular neighborhood!

 

We got our membership to Cheekwood Botanic Gardens in December so we could see the live reindeer!

 

We enjoyed the beautiful Nashville December weather (while friends were freezing in the snow storms in Utah and Colorado)!

A church in the area did a live "Walk through Bethlehem." It was an amazing event, but it was very crowded.

Fun lights at the Opryland Hotel

 

 I attempted more formal Christmas pictures...

 ...and below is everything in between.

Lucy is 9 Months!

 I just can't describe what a doll Lucy Belle is at nine months. She has the most kissable cheeks and is just the sweetest. Lucy is getting quite the personality. Most of the time, she is content watching her brother and playing with toys, but she is very social and wants to get in on the action! I think Lucy's favorite thing of all right now is dancing. Whenever music with a beat turns on, Lucy starts bouncing and smiling. If we put her in a standing position, she will bounce on her legs or just move around. 

Food is definitely at the top of Lucy's favorites list. She LOVES eating! Bananas, pears, peaches, and avocados are among her favorite foods, but she is just now starting to like chicken. She is very good at feeding herself with her little pincher fingers. Lucy has two teeth on the bottom and two "fangs" on top, and her top front teeth popped through just yesterday!

Lucy is also getting quite mobile. As you can see below, she is practically crawling. She doesn't officially move when on all fours, but rather, all threes. One of her legs always swings around behind her so she ends up in a sitting position. She can also now pull herself up into a standing position (depending on what she holds onto), and can cruise around furniture. Basically, she doesn't like to stay still anymore.

Much to Mommy's dismay, Lucy is still not a very good sleeper. She often wakes up in the middle of the night, or occasionally makes it to 5 or 6 am. Daddy has started jumping in to help, but sometimes Lucy just wants to be social and won't calm down until Mommy feeds her. We are cutting back to nursing three times a day, with the occasional night feeding. Lucy does not like formula, so we hope she'll like cows milk in a few months.

Lucy's 9 month appointment stats:

Length: 26.9"

Weight: 16lb, 12oz

HC: 17.25

Her measurements are around the 25th percentile.

We just love our little messy monkey!

 Thanks for these darling Christmas outfits Grandma and Grandpa!

Little Turkeys

On Thanksgiving morning we ran a fun little Turkey Trot in Franklin, double stroller and all. The "race" was slow and difficult passing in and out of people, but we just enjoyed it and it ended up being a fun family event!

The kids were happy with the after race swag.

Lucy ate a little chocolate cookie and managed to get it all over her face in a matter of seconds. She was pretty proud of herself!

Once home, we cooked up our turkey and sides. We tried to keep it simple, and it was easy and delicious.

The rolls were and especially big hit with the kids.

 

We may have overdone the pictures, but it was so much fun just spending time together relaxing!

The day after Thanksgiving, we packed up and once again headed to "Grandpa's Cabin." Grandma Diney and Grandpa Rod met us there bearing gifts. 

 

Grandpa Rod has been waiting to give his grandkids a real train since they were born (if not before). Ty and Lucy got a size O Polar Express Train. We can't wait to put it under the tree!

 We took it pretty easy at the cabin, just hanging out, relaxing, reading stories, and playing with toys!

 Remember how I said the grandparents bore gifts? Well, Lucy scored these adorable reindeer jammies. She looks great in them!

 And no trip to the cabin is complete without a ride on Red Rover!

Saturday afternoon we drove to a small town in Alabama to an awesome store that had a bunch of decorated Christmas trees. The trees had all different themes including a Minion tree!

These kids sure love their grandparents. It wasn't easy leaving, but we are so excited to see them again in three weeks for Christmas!

Once home, Ty and daddy got to work setting up shop.

At this Thanksgiving time, we have so much to be grateful for. It was a perfect holiday!

November 2015

Here's what we've been up to this month:

 

Tim and Ty are slowly working on this Firehouse on our back patio. Ty loves just hanging out there.

We love hand-me-down clothes. This dress is from Hailey.

 The above and below pictures were taken within hours of each other. This girl sure likes to get messy, but she cleans up nicely.

Loving Daddy on his Birthday! 

 I love the rare moments these kids play together. (Look at Lucy standing!)

 Trainwood derby 2015:

 "Look how I can stand!"

 Below you can kind of see her top teeth-coming in as fangs rather than the front two.

 These kids love the Home Depot.

 I couldn't resist buying these adorable boots. No regrets.

 The two gems below were taken on my phone and found weeks later. What stinkers!