Thanksgiving

First road trip in Mama's new car!

We went up to San Francisco for Cousin Karin's wedding Thanksgiving weekend. Alex had great fun with his cousins.

Papa dancing with his little princess

Aunt Ruthie flew down from Seattle for the weekend and the kiddoes loved her up.

This is Alex's new expression when he disapproves of something (usually me telling him no). At first I found it kind of amusing, but not so sure about that anymore. I just want to bottle him up and keep him as my sweet little boy forever. Does he have to grow up? Sigh.

All the Larson clan was together at Grammy's for Thanksgiving - including Baby Noah (en utero). Uncle Seth provided endless laughter with his reference to Noah "parting the seas". We're threatening to call his baby Moses or force Seth to read the Old Testament before he's allowed to name his child Noah.

Grandpa with the kiddoes.

Halloween 2011

Alex and his little buddies decorating pumpkins at Garrett's Halloween party.


For weeks leading up to Halloween Alex said he wanted to be Spider-Man, which was great because he already has a Spider-Man costume (and Thor and Batman and a skeleton and a race car driver, etc. There is no shortage of costumes in our house). But then the week of Halloween out of nowhere he decides he wants to be Captain America. I convinced him to wear the costumes he already had and he stuck with Super Heroes. Here he is as Thor conquering the jungle gym

Every year we invite Alex's little friends over for dinner and then we go to the community party at the YMCA. (Although half the time we never make it to the party because the kids are having too much fun playing and the parentshave had too much wine)

yummmm, pumpkin cupcakes...

We never dressed the baby up nor carved pumpkins this year. I was feeling guilty about both but we went to FOUR Halloween parties so I think we got in enough celebrating. Trick or Treating was an interesting experience. We went with his little friends Simon and Saul in their neighborhood. Alex started off too timid to ring door bells and then ended up so confident he barged into houses and I had to explain that we don't actually go IN to the houses. He got the hang of it by the fifth house and loved that strangers were giving him candy.

November 2011

It's November and raining. I bought Alex a raincoat and rainboots on Amazon and he told everyone that they were a gift from the mailman. Ahhh, my three year old's understanding of internet shopping; so precious.

I took him out to play in the rain one morning. He jumped in the first puddle and said "My rain boots work! Thanks Mama!" So cute!

He has also decided he is now potty trained. We had been trying for the past few months, sometimes more successfully than others, but we never pushed too hard. Then one day he said "No more diapers, Mama" and that was it. Amazing. I give his preschool teachers a lot of credit. Between their encouragement and peer pressure from his classmates he just decided he was ready. I'm thrilled.

In other big milestones, Cassiel is now crawling! And standing and climbing! She's a mobile little munchkin now and happiest when she's on the ground exploring. It's so fun to watch her take off. She's curious and sweet and cuddly and such a total joy.

She finally got to meet her friends Maddie and Ella (below), my good friend Wenny's twins, who are two months younger than Cassiel. We figured they are destined to be BFFs given how much time Wenny and I spent together while pregnant. Our friends Thomas and Albert hosted a paella night (delicious!) and were brave enough to invite us all over with our kids in tow. I realized how much my idea of fun has changed in the last couple of years. Fun isn't time alone or a "night off" from the kids. It's adult company with good food, usually some wine and my kids playing happily with us in the middle of it all.

And in other important introductions....here is Cassiel with Baby Larson (en utero), both 7 months old! Uncle Seth and Aunt Jen are due in mid January and we are giddy excited to meet our little boy cousin. Cassiel promises to show him important life skills like crawling and squealing and drooling. We can't wait to meet him!

October fun

Cassiel is now six months old and, among other developments, she is now very good at posing for pictures. She has wild hair that is long in some places and bald in others. She giggles and squeals and crawls and pinches. Horrible pinches. She's just starting to enter that sweet, endearing stage where she recognizes me and cries when I leave her. She's too precious. I know it's only been six months but it seems hard to remember a time without her.


Here is Alex riding the pony at the Farmer's Market in Santa Monica with the Bubble Beach Laundromat behind him. I love this photo; it is so Los Angeles!


Baby's first ride on Papa's shoulders!

But then Alex wanted a turn...

Cassiel is quite the eater. She loves bananas, dislikes avocado and seems to be indifferent to sweet potatoes. She took to eating like a natural. Mama was very proud.

We flew up to San Francisco for Cousin Karin's bridal shower this month and Cassiel was on her best behavior. She charmed all the family.

She really loved Cousin Mary's necklace.

We had lots of quality time with Grammy and Grandpa this month. Grammy was speaking at a conference in San Diego so we went down to spend the weekend with them. Alex was very confused about the whole idea of a hotel, but he loved swimming in the pool with Grandpa.

We spent a day at Legoland. This Disney Mama was a little skeptical, but I was pleasantly surprised with how big and fun Legoland was. Of course Alex was happy with the first sandbox we came to and half the battle was convincing him to keep moving because there was more fun around the corner, but at 3 years old a sand box was really all the fun he needed.

He's having fun, I promise. You just can't tell in this picture.

The funny thing about Legoland is that once you get past the fact that they can build ANYTHING (or anyone) out of Legos it kind of loses its novelty. But Alex was happy to meet Bob the Builder (although he could have been made out of pretzels and it would have been just as fun)

On safari with Papa....

Grandpa and Cassiel showing off their hats....

More summer fun with the kiddoes

Alex on a play date at Owen's house...
He tried to convince me that he didn't need to go home to take a nap; that he would nap with Owen. Clever boy.
Alex learning to ride a bike! It took one lap around the block and he was training wheels proficient! It was one of those classic parenting moments...Papa teaching the little one how to ride a bike...I just melted. I want to etch the memory into my brain forever.

Off he goes....


And he climbs walls. Such a talented little boy we're raising.

Cassiel, in the meantime, is growing and drooling and growing some more. At her 5 month check up the Doctor said she is 'quite tall'. He repeated it three times for emphasis. I don't understand how Alejandro and I make tall children. Neither of us is tall. Anywho....she will be graduating to rice cereal in a matter of weeks. She is cuddly and happy and a bowl full of gigles all the time. Alex is still a gem with her. He's protective and attentive and uber sweet. The other day I woke him up and told him he needed to get ready for preschool. He says to me "It's a preschool day? I go to preschool today?" Then turns to the baby and says "Sister, I have to talk to you. I can't be with you today, I have to go to school." How cute is that?!

First swimming suit :)

Papa and his little princess

Spider-Alex climbing walls

Alex turns three!

That's right folks, our little Alex is three years old! I know, we think it's unbelievable too, but somehow three years have gone by and he's officially a preschooler.

We celebrated his birthday at the Santa Monica Airport where all the little kids love to go to watch the planes. Alex said he wanted to invite Spider-Man (which of course made this Marvel Mama happy) so we brought Spidey along in the form of a pinata.


Abuelita spends her summer vacations with us and Alex is convinced she comes every year just for his birthday party. It works out perfectly....until of course Cassiel is old enough to wonder why Abuelita doesn't come in April for her birthday party. And here she is, our cute little pumpkin looking very Mexican in her reboso. She got spoiled rotten by Abuelita, just as all little babies should be!

Yes, Cassiel totaly has a mohawk. Just like Alex did. Why do my babies have mohawks? So odd.

Lots of Alex's little buddies came out for his birthday party. It's fun to see them playing together and interacting now. And the conversations they have....hilarious. Like mini grown ups.

The drum circle. It sure beat the pots and pans music parties I throw him at home sometimes.

Alex had a terrific birthday! Thanks to everyone who celebrated with us. We love our little man and look forward to oh so many more years of joy!

Baby Cassiel is three months old! Which means Mama is transitioning back to work soon. I've had a wonderful few months with the baby and have loved having this time with Alex too. It's never enough time.

We finally found two wonderful nannies to care for the kids. We recieved no less than a dozen personal referals from friends and colleagues which I was so grateful for.

Baby Cassiel had her first play date. My dear friend Marta had a baby girl just two weeks after Cassiel was born. We finally caught up for lunch and Cassiel got to meet Baby Gigi.

And Alex...started preschool!! I know, I know, where does the time go?? He's going two days a week to Chalk preschool and so far loves it! I was so proud of him...the teachers said he jumped right in on the first day as if he'd always been there...no transition period at all. He's such a big boy. Ahhhh....