Courtney is Home!

Courtney is the daughter of my dear friend, Rebecca. Courtney is just 5 years old. Courtney has been teaching me a lot lately. Let me explain.

Courtney was diagnosed with leukemia on Feb 26, 2007. Since her diagnosis, Courtney has had many rounds of chemotherapy. And her little body has been fighting the cancer and winning.

Courtney even got to go to the first day of kindergarten in September. Here are some pictures of her first day.





The day after her first day of school Courtney had another treatment of chemotherapy. But this time, she developed a very serious complication. The main vein to her liver became blocked which then caused lots and lots of other complications. Courtney ended up in the Intensive Care Unit in Children's Hospital for 2 weeks. She was sedated and intebated. It was really scary.

Rebecca was amazingly strong during this time and I did as much as I could to help: buying food - not cooking it - for Rebecca and her husband, Matt; taking care of Larissa, Courtney's little sister; & visiting at the hospital. But the best thing that I did was to pray and ask others to join me in asking God to heal Courtney. Literally hundreds of people prayed for Courtney and her family.

God answered our prayers. Courtney's liver situation was resolved through new medication, and lots and lots of special care by the doctors and nurses in Children's Hospital. Thankfully, Courtney's body has done very well to improve following her 2 week long nap.

Courtney has a ways to go in gaining back her strength and her appetite. But I'm so excited that she's made it through that really tough trial.

I wish that I could say that her battle is over. But Courtney resumed her chemotherapy treatments 2 days ago. She's in maintenance mode and will be for another 2 years.

I also wish I could understand why God has allowed this little girl to get so sick. Her cancer is no one's fault and it isn't fair at all.

But I know that God is always good. Please join me in praying for God to continue to strengthen Courtney and Rebecca and Matt and Larissa. To Jesus be all Glory.

First Day of School 2007

It happened again. Peanut and Boo started back to school on Tuesday.

I love this time of year. I love the rhythm and routine that school necessitates. I love the new beginnings and the opportunities to learn new things!

Peanut loves this time of year in that we have to go school shopping. Here's Peanut with all of her flair before catching the bus for her first day of EIGHTH GRADE!



Boo puts up with this time of year. His outfits aren't laid out the night before like Peanut - but he usually finds something to wear - that may or may not "match". Fashion is very optional in Boo's FIFTH GRADE world.



Darn, I'm proud of them!

Hayward Cabin 2007

We are very blessed to visit my Aunt Kristi and Uncle Keith's family cabin each summer. I have been going to the cabin since I was about 7 years old. It is so great to spend time in God's creation with wonderful family and have LOTS OF FUN! I really enjoy sharing this place that holds so many great childhood memories with my own husband and children.

Here are some picture highlights!

Sunny on the pontoon boat with Toula and Uncle Keith.



Peanut and Piper on the tube getting ready for a trip on the lake.



Timothy with Baby Clementine. Clementine is Aunt Kristi and Uncle Keith's new goldendoodle puppy - she is so cute. She looks like a teddy bear!



Here is Nana Lee with all SIX of her great-grandchildren.



Jake always the goof-ball when I take his picture with Zane in the boat!



Aunt Kristi and Mugsy the Pug!!!



Thanks Uncle Keith and Aunt Kristi for all of the fun! We had a great time (and I got lots of great napping in!) ;-)

Peanut and Max Birthday Bash

I can hardly believe it but I am now the mother of a teenager!

Peanut celebrated her birthday with 4 different parties! Her first party was a sleep-over shopping extravaganza with 3 girlfriends. Her second was a dinner gathering with the Fries. Her third was on her actual birthday - we had a bar-b-que at Grandma Nicki's. And her fourth and final party was a shared party with her cousin Max - who turned 3!

Our family has a tradition of wearing the birthday CROWN - complete with wand! Here's Peanut's turn!



Now Max in the act - isn't he just darling?!! I'm biased as I'm related and all - but darn!




The evening isn't complete unless the BOYS (Boo, Jake, and Max) dress up and run around like crazy kids - with swords, capes, and Boo's warrior headband.



The shared cake - half Bob the Builder and half Disney princesses!



Finally, a picture of Peanut, Tim, my brother, Scott, and Toula the wonder boston (with her bone) enjoying the party!

The Dells

All of us Larsen people (except for Toula - but then she isn't a person???) went to the Wisconsin Dells for a family vacation and Peanut's national dance competition.

We had an awesome time at the waterpark. I really really loved the Howling Tornado (THANKS STEPH!)

Boo and Timothy had a lot of "guy time" while Peanut and I were at the dance competition.

The Boys went to Wizard Quest and played putt putt and spent a lot of time (and $$) at multiple arcades! Here's Boo with his gargoyle buddy at Wizard Quest:



Boo got thrown into the stockade at the mini golf place - guess he missed one too many putts!!!


We took the Wisconsin Ducks tour. It was a beautiful evening on the water and the amphibious boats are really cool.



We also enjoyed dinner at a local tourist restaurant with a bunch of friends from the Dance studio. (HI CHARLENE, KENZIE, CAROL, & KARLA! Thanks for the fun!)



Peanut's dance competition was a BLAST! Peanut danced very well. I love cheering on all of the girls - hooting and hollering - jumping up and down on the chairs (in the back of course) and generally making a fool of myself to support their efforts. I still know very little about the dance judging so I'm just the cheerleader and it's a great role for me!





(Note my braceless smile - got them off on June 7th! Yippee!)


Finally the kids loved the road trip - as evidence I present this picture:

Toula's New Doggles

Had to buy these DOGGLES for Toula. Doesn't she look cute?!



She's worn them for a total of 30 seconds - so far. Well worth the money!

Dance Recital 2007 - We made it!

In my previous post, I wrote about Peanut's dance competition experience. She had an amazing performance year and we've both had lots of fun going to competitions.

Yesterday was the end of year recital. Peanut danced all her competition dances in both performances. Plus, all of the competition girls did an amazing finale!! It was really cool.

The recital performances started with a BANG. Now I must tell you that Peanut and I have been going to the Mother/Daughter dance class since January. We've joined 8 other Mother/Daughter pairs in learning our routine. We danced to "DREAM GIRLS" - which meant that we danced sort of like Vegas Show Girls.

Obviously this was a big stretch for me. Now don't get me wrong - I love to dance and I especially LOVE to dance with Peanut. But dressing up as a show girl complete with boa and head dress definitely got me out of my comfort zone (think golf clothes and you're in my comfort zone)!

I decided to go all out! Why go part way?! I wore fake eye lashes and lots of makeup and nylons and heels and dress and boa and head dress.

So here's pictorial evidence of our adventures and the DVD is on order.....




So there, Laura, I do wear a dress - very infrequently....

A BIG thanks to all of the family that came to the recital to watch Peanut and suffer through our Mother/Daughter performance - I hope that you got a good laugh! We sure did!