Call me crazy...

Les and Connie so graciously allowed a friend and I to take our kids down to their lakehouse last week.
Lisa has 6 kids who are about the same ages as mine, so between us we have 13 kids, ages 12 to 7 months. We packed up the 15 passenger van with every seat filled and every bit of under-seat space occupied by a duffle bag, life jacket or bag of food. Unfortunately, we had to leave our hard-working, soccer-coaching daddy at home. Believe it or not, he actually wanted to go. Crazy guy. It took us 10 hours to make a 7 1/2 hour journey, but we arrived with everyone intact and ready to swim! Even Selah was a happy traveler the whole way.

10 of the 13 kids lined up on the dock getting ready to jump in. Now, maybe it's just me, but it really doesn't look like that many kids...

Grandma and Grandpa Larson have the perfect set up for a family of 15. Two tables in the kitchen with plenty of chairs and benches for seating! And where did we all sleep, you ask? Plenty of room there too. Truthfully, most kids have no problem camping out in a sleeping bag on the floor, but there are so many sleeping areas... Everyone slept on a bed, a couch, a cot or an air mattress.

Selah played in her air tub most of the time, and Nathan (below) missed the "jumping off the dock" picture because he hung out on the shore.

Noah's started lessons

Noah started taking piano lessons this summer. He was hesitant to start and resisted a bit before he started, but I think he's enjoying the opportunity. Now... if I can just get him to practice every day...

Ellie lost her first tooth!

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!

My little girl lost her first tooth! You know what that means? She is going to lose her second tooth! And then another, and another, and pretty soon she'll be sixteen and wanting to drive the family car!! Ugh, I hate that. Not the car part, but the growing up part. I know they have to grow up, and I know it's a good thing, but if I could only just slow them down a bit so that I have time to savor those precious moments. The sweet "mommy, I love you" moments... Well, no turning back now.

Ellie was thrilled to lose her first tooth. It seems like it was loose for a long, long time. She finally popped it out with a bite on a hard, premature apple that the girls picked to use for their picnic in the yard. She stuck it in a baggie under her pillow and was so excited to find that the tooth fairy left her a whopping $2 for her first tooth. (That fairy always seems a bit generous on those "first teeth") As is the trend with most of the kids, her money didn't stick around long. She went garage sailing with Grandma (a favorite summer activity) and bought more "oh, so cute" stuffed animals to add to her collection.

2nd annual Larson Reunion

At the beginning of August, we had our second Annual Larson Reunion. It's not exactly a "reunion" because we see eachother more often than just once a year, but with everyone's busy schedules, the summer seems to slip by unless we make a point to get together. We went to Centennial Park in downtown Naperville again this year, and again it worked out great! It rained in the morning before we arrived, so the usually packed beach was fairly empty. All the better for us! We brought picnic lunches and spent the afternoon being lazy.... together.

Selah's Dedication

We had Selah dedicated at church on August 7th. A baby dedication is simply a public statement by us (the parents) saying that we are committing do our best to raise Selah to know and love Jesus. At the same time, we are asking God for His wisdom in teaching and training her, and for His protection over her life. It's really a prominent occasion for all of our kids to have gone through. It in no way guarantees her salvation, just our commitment to lead her spiritually to the point when she can make that decision on her own. After all, as my mom would say, "God doesn't have grandkids." Meaning... "You can't get to heaven because you have 'christian' parents or a godly heritage. You have to make the decision to follow Christ for yourself".

There's nothing like a daddy's prayer for his little girl. As the spiritual leader of the house, he prayed for wisdom in raising her, and that God would protect her as she grows.

After Paul prayed, Pastor Jim prayed a blessing over her and us.

It's a hefty responsibility to see that she doesn't just make it from infancy to adulthood in one piece, but to see that she is nourished with the truths from God's word. Our desire is to teach and show her those truths as we live our daily lives, so that when she is able, she will choose for herself to follow the Lord Jesus with her whole heart.

She's a "GREAT" Grandma

Paul's grandma, Grandma Marian, came from Pierre, South Dakota to visit in July. It's getting harder for her and Sylvan (her husband) to get around by themselves, so Paul's parents brought her home to visit for a week. Selah got to meet her Great Grandma for the first time. What an incredible thing... 4 generations! I didn't have the opportunity to know my "Great's", and both of my "Grand's" passed away quite a while ago, so I think it's cool that the kids get to see and spend time with their Great Grandma.

Selah's 7 months!

Selah is such a joy! The whole family just adores her and enjoys having a baby to dote on. I love watching the older kids with her and seeing their tender sides come out. It is actually very handy having the age space between the older kids and Selah. I guess there was a space between them and Nathan, but it's even more noticable this time around... or maybe I'm continuing to relax and trust them a bit more?

I regularly send one of the boys to the car with her to buckle her in or ask someone to bring her downstairs from her crib when she wakes. The girls are even learning to be excellent baby sitters. They will watch and play with her for an hour (or more) at a time so I can finish some work outside. I love the help, and have a hard time remembering how I managed with only 3 small toddlers. I am convinced that 7 kids spread over 11 years is much easier than 3 kids under 5.

Within the last month, Selah has taken to sitting up quite well. She still needs to be placed in the sitting position, but she'll balance there a good while before toppling over or flipping to her tummy by bending over and kicking her legs out from under her.

She has also become an expert "raspberry" blower. She intersperces her sweet "da, da, da" with a lovely "phhhhhttt" sound. Out of habit, most of us will do it back at her, which only encourages her even more. It's a cute phase! If her talking and singing at this age is a sign of what's to come, we're in for an earful. Whenever we're in the car and the family gets loud from talking or singing, you can hear her join right in. She'll start singing or talking just like she's part of the crowd.

Her diet is still limited to nursing, with a squishy blueberry or soft green bean here or there. I've tried the mushed food or yogurt every so often, but she wants nothing to do with it. She's much more interested in food with texture. I guess we're gonna just skip that stage.

Selah and her Littlest Big Brother.

Nathan loves and adores Selah! Although Selah will start to cry a bit and show some jealousy when I hold Nathan, the opposite is hardly true. Nathan will climb into my bed in the morning and insist on laying next to Selah, not me. For the most part, he has taken this "not-the-baby-of-the-family" thing very well, and Selah is reaping the benefits with love from her big (little) brother.

Lakehouse 2011

Ahhhh, the Lakehouse! We love going to the lakehouse. We left for the Missouri Ozarks the day after Vacation Bible School was over. Both Paul and I were ready for a reprieve. We met Grandpa and Grandma down there for a relaxing week of swimming, fishing and... riding the wave runners!

Grandma and the girls on the pontoon.

The kids had a blast having Grandpa Les pull them around on the tube. Grandma Connie rode with Ellie and Grace, and even Nathan went on his very first tube ride with daddy.

This year was even more fun than the last. While Noah and Ellie were kind of nervous last year around the water, this year, all of the kids (except Nathan and Selah) were like regular water bugs. They spent most of their time jumping off and swimming around the dock which is WAY over their heads. Even if they can swim well, we require the kids to wear their lifejackets simply because they are literally treading water the whole time their swimming, sometimes for hours, except for the small amount of time they spend finding shells or rocks near the shore.

Grandma Connie got her fill of the waverunner this year. The boys love riding and they need someone older to go with them. Grandma was a willing party. Between mom, dad, Grandma and Grandpa, the kids had many trips out. When the adults were really brave, they let Caleb or Seth sit in front and drive around the cove.

Ellie is a quick swimmer. She does this cute frog-like swim and she's really fast! She loves the water, and jumps right in off the dock with the best of 'em. I think she even influenced Noah into working up some courage. He couldn't let a younger girl outdo him...

Another favorite part for the kids is fishing. Nathan had a blast walking around the dock trying to catch fish. His pole didn't have a hook, but he tried his best. If we sat one-on-one with him, we may have used a hook or lure, but if you have six kids fishing at the same time, you'd agree that "no hook" is best. I think Paul spent more time untangling lines than he did fishing... with just one hook-in-the-finger casualty. I, being that I didn't buy a fishing liscense, couldn't help at all... oh, bummer.

Seth was the catching king. I don't know why, but we'd have 3 kids fishing in the same area with the same type of lure, and the fish would choose his line. He'd stick his line in, and out would pop a fish, while everyone else agonized to catch just one. I think he ended up with 9 fish, Ellie with 2 and the others with 1 or none. Finicky fish.

We're so thankful that both Paul's parents and my parents get along so well. Since Les and Connie (Paul's parents) were going to be leaving mid-way through the week, we invited my parent's down to overlap and finish the week with us. We all enjoyed having both sets of grandparents there, and once again realized just how blessed we really are.

Thursday of that week was my dad's 69th birthday. After fun day of swimming, Grandma and Grandpa went out for dinner to celebrate with eachother... and then brought home cake and ice cream to celebrate with us! If you study Grandpa Harold, you'll realize he is a treasure chest. Once you get through the lock and open the rough box, he's full of gold and riches on the inside, well worth the effort. I've always had a good relationship with my dad, but I think I enjoy him now more than ever. I especially love watching him and the kids interact. We love him very much.

The following day, Paul and I went out for dinner sans kids. Even Selah stayed back. Every time I have someone babysit so I can shop (or whatever), I tend to take her along. I figure 6 kids are plenty to entertain without adding a busy baby. So whenever I go without her, it feels weird to have totally empty hands. Weird in a nice way, of course! I enjoy getting to talk to my hubby without all of the interuptions, but by the time the night's done, I'm ready to get back to the party. I don't dread it, I actually enjoy being home with everyone (most of the time... I know you know what I mean...)

Needless to say, we had a great time and look forward to the opportunity to go down again. Thanks Grandpa and Grandma Larson!