Sucking it up.

yes, i've been sucking it up as far as posting recently. ronan celebrated his fourth ear infection in 3 1/2 months and now they're talking tubes. we're going to wait out the summer and see how he does but it's not looking good. poor thing. but both boys are FINALLY well and that's been wonderful! we have a new swingset in the back and the boys are loving being outside. ronan climbs in and out of everything and zander loves swinging his heart out. ronan also likes eating rocks. oh and i updated ronan's voting site below that was jacked up for a while. i have no idea what will happen, but it's there. i also think i'm going to nominate them for the parents magazine cover. but i can't decide which boy and which picture. stay tuned. well not much else is going on here. i'm tired but that's normal. :) hope all is well with everyone else!

I am officially a mom

my name is larissa annen and i drive a minivan. and let's be honest, i'm in love. i never knew you could have such connection and joy from a vehicle. but it's true...i'm deeply in love with the stow and go seating, the spacious room, the distance between the boys, and the fact that i ride up high, almost like a truck.
we decided to trade in ben's red matrix while it still had some good life on it and got us a dodge caravan. it's white and beautiful! i love, love, love it! it's an old enterprise rental so it only had 17000 miles on it. and we got WAY more for ben's car than we thought so all in all we got the van for only 4000. i am in shock. it is now the family car that we can grow into and have for a while. and no, i'm not expecting. just in love with a car. her name is daisy by the way if you want to know. :)

Vote!

Vote for Ronan!
http://www.picture.com/voteforme/photovote1.asp?PID=2649220

POOPY PANTS POOPY PANTS< WHAT ARE THEY FEEDING YOU?!

oh my life is out of a movie! tonight was insane! i swear i wouldn't believe it if it didn't happen to me! I was bored out of my mind this evening and time was not moving. ronan had a fever so he was clingy as all get out and bugging me. so i decided to take a walk and zander was walking for a little bit then said he didn't feel good and wanted to ride. we were headed to my parents to get a sprinkler for our front lawn since mine is broken. so we get to my parents and i open the garage door while the boys are still in the stroller. zander says, "mommy i pooped my pants!" to which i didn't believe so i head over and sure enough, poop all over. so i strip him down and wipe him up with paper towels (my parents aren't home and i didn't bring my keys). so he's standing there naked while i'm looking for the sprinkler. all of a sudden i hear screaming! i run over and zander is standing over yellow liquid spread all over the garage and his legs. "I pooped i pooped!" is all i hear. so i again, wiped his butt with paper towels, and then wiped up the floor and simple greened it cause that's all i could find in the garage. back to finding the sprinkler....could it be any harder?! then zander starts yelling again and this time i manage to get him over the trash can. so i'm holding him over the trash while he explodes poop. and i swear i look over and ronan is clapping like a happy little troll! so i throw out that trash bag and put another in and then found the sprinkler, and would you believe he has to poop again. back to the trash can, back to the clapping ronan....throw that bag away and finally my mom got home. so she loads us up and takes us home. poor zander.....i have never seen so much poop in my life. please lord don't let ronan get this.....

Cute Pictures

While in mi we got pictures taken with jay and cheryl for mother's day. BUT BECKY DID NOT CRY WHEN WE GAVE THEM TO HER! i'm a little disappointed! :) (she cries easily!)

Tagged by Miranda

I got tagged to tell what i call my sons.

Nicknames for Zander:
Z.P
Zander Pan
Boo
Boobs
Bubbs
Chunky Money

Ronan:
baby boy
baby chubby
fatty
chubby bubby
roho
ro ro
rony

Home again Home again...jiggity jig!

We are home, unpacked, and in the midst of laundry! woo hoo! it was a fabulous trip though and we really enjoyed ourselves. we had such a great time with our families! we stayed with jay and cheryl and really enjoyed them! i felt like i got to know them a lot better and it was fun to watch the boys together. jake is such a little cutie with cheeks to die for! i just want to eat him! you know me and my problem with eating kids! :) we also had tons of fun with my family! way too many boys let me tell you! hahaha...it was definitely a trip that made me long for that connectedness of family again. there's nothing better than watching 8 little boys run around a park and sitting with your family. and watching zander scream and squeal as he runs around his oma and opas yard. it broke my heart when zander bawled when we told him we had to go home again. he didn't want to leave his friends "preston and jake (cause he can't remember the other seven!)" and his oma and opa! it was sad....poor little guy. anyways, here's a buttload of pics! there are more on my facebook page.

WE MADE IT!!!!

we are officially in michigan! we had a LONG trip! our flight was supposed to leave s.d. at 8:45 am but we actually didn't end up leaving till 11:30. apparently the battery had expired so we had to wait for a new one to be brought in. stupid airplane. we landed in st.paul at 4:30 and our next flight was at 5...we ran across the airport cause of course the two gates were NOT by each other! and you know what happens next, our luggage did not make it with us. so ben waited up till 2 am to get our luggage. fortunately he was still on cali time so it wasn't too bad. all in all the boys did REALLY good. i was very proud of them!
we've been staying with ben's brother jay and his wife cheryl and their little boy jacob. it's such a nice house and they have seperate rooms for all of us which is amazing! it's absolutely gorgeous! and after being around cali houses for so long, i'd forgotten what a nice spacious house looks like! i can't tell you what we did this morning cause it's a surprise for someone, but this evening we met up with our old small group from richland bible church. mandy fernihough set everything up and it was nice to see everyone and to watch the kids play. i also got to meet michelle ostrander for the first time which was fun cause i know her from a message board but have never gotten to meet her in real life.
now we're home and tomorrow we don't have much going on thank goodness. i think both jay and cheryl go back to work tomorrow. well, that is the update from here!

Stress and more Stress

Oh what a weekend I've had/am having!!!! I'm so tired and stressed it's unbelievable! saturday we had a garage sale with our small group which was great...but the time leading up to it was stressful trying to get everything tagged and ready! and friday night i had a baby shower for my dear friend casey! then saturday was the garage sale and i stayed till two, came home to relieve the sitter (using up most of my earnings! :( ) and then saturday night i ran around like a crazy person trying to buy stuff for our trip. sunday - church, work, set up for the Monday Morning Mom tea, laundry, and a few more other trips to the store. THEN, monday morning is our fabulous end of the year mmm tea! but it's a lot of work....currently i'm putting together the favors and putting the ribbon around the little words of encouragement papers. AHHH! that could be an all nighter! monday night i have more errands for our trip, try to pack, try to finish laundry, and tuesday morning we head out bright and early to MICHIGAN! woo hoO! i'm so excited to see everyone and to stay with jay and cheryl and little jake! ronan (yes jay, it's spelled with an "a" not an "I"!) and jake are about three weeks apart so that should be fun. if ronan doesn't try to suck his face and pull his hair which he is known to do! :)
oh well, wish me luck...i'm beat!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
and please pray for ronan! he's cold/virus thingy is going to his chest and he's coughing badly. and he slept for 3 1/2 hours this afternoon which is not like him! please pray he deosn't get sicker!