Fun weekend

we had a crazy busy weekend this weekend but all in all very fun. friday night it was still wretched hot at 5 pm (95 degrees), so we called ben and told him to meet us at the beach. so we stopped for food and headed out. the boys love playing with ben in the water. ben is an amazing dad. i sat back holding jade and watching the boys build a sandcastle with ben and it just brought me to tears. i don't think the boys understand just yet how lucky they are to have a dad who loves to play with them and adores them. we are so blessed.
saturday ben and i got to attend the musical WICKED with our small group (plus the another couple). it was absolutely amazing! i love it! i highly recommend seeing it if it comes anywhere near you! and a big freakin' thank you to my poor parents who for the first time watched all THREE of my darling children for four hours, in the wretched 100 degree heat. thank you thank you thank you! they also introduced zander and ronan to the green planet channel which is the coolest channel ever for my children! it's all science and nature and zander especially is absolutely amazed by it. its so cool to watch him absorb the information and process it. ronan just likes the octopus! : ) hahaha..
then today was church followed by a wonderful baptism at the beach. it was a great time with our church body and i love watching the families interact. however, my darling ronan had his tough moments tonight. at one point with me standing right beside him and ben two feet in front of him in the water, he took off running into the water, tripped, and fell face first into the water! and istead of struggling he just floated like a dead man. it was an image i never wanted to see but now it's forever etched in my mind. both ben and i lunged for him and ben got him up in a matter of seconds, but it felt like an eternity. he barely sputtered and cried for only a little bit, but it was still traumatizing to see. then later, well, casey, she umm...well....she chucked my son. hahahahahah.....oh casey i love you! i think it was more traumatizing for casey than me, but well, let's just say he launched over her shoulder ker-thump. again, he was fine. but casey did give him a whole bag of marshmallows which he carried for the rest of the night.
ahhh...a good weekend.

funny thoughts

so today was one of those days. i haven't been home all day in over two weeks. its ridiculous...and my house was starting to feel the aftermath of me not taking care of it. so today i had to physically force myself to stay home to get some work done. but for those of you with kids, you know that if you have to get work done around the house, the inevitably your kids will be wretched. and yes, they were. zander and ronan fought with eachother all morning. ronan is in this screaming kick and went balistic and woke jade up three times from her morning nap. so i finally gave up and just kept her up. which made for a very cranky jade. but i did get the laundry done, dishes done, sheets washed, house vacuumed, and the house picked up. ugh...it put me in a bad mood though. and yes, i listed everything because i'm definitely braggin. with the three kids i have i deserve to get to brag when i get anything done!
so after tha nap we went to the park because well, the kids needed to run around and leave me alone. the park we went to has a lot of climbing things too...so here's my thought process this time. i let the boys run and i sit with jade and just watch. in all honesty, i rarely move. there's this one ladder climbing thing that goes up about 8 feet. and ronan insists on climbing this thing...but he's always shaking and if looking elsewhere which is when his feet get scary. but this is how bad i am. i literally sit there and think about ok, if he falls and knocks himself out i'll immediately call 911. if he falls and just hits his head, i'll throw him in the car and take him to the hospital. now you'd think i'd force him to not climb it, but no, i just have an emergency plan. yeah, i have three kids.
oh and one last funny thing. today zander informs me, after getting mad at me, that he "is so sick of being a teenager". what the heck?! oh my word.....

happy birthday to mom?

or to me...i don't care...but i got to cash in on mom's birthday! we got to take the day and head off to the spa at glen ivy. it was fabulous! an entire day away with just my mom to talk and catch up. although we see eachother a lot and talk on the phone...its never more than a few sentences between yelling at the kids and listening to their constant talking. anyways, it was a wonderful day filled with floating in the pool, covering ourselves with mud, and getting a wonderful massage. then after we left we stopped by some outlets and did some shopping. and of course some wonderful dinner which left mom in a near diabetic comma from eating sugar and too many carbs. when she got home she had to suck ice chips until she got it under control. poor ben got to spend the whole day with all three kids which definitely took it out of him. by the time we got home ben was pooped and looked completely spent. i think he gained a new perspective of my life with the kids.
but while on the subject of the spa...i came to realize that one of the worst jobs in the world has got to be a massage therapist. after watching the clients that come in and out, i've decided that it has to be a disgusting job to rub down some of these people. 'oh sorry the lotion does not penetrate through hair that thick!' (for you slower minded ie ben, i mean hairy backs) ewwwww!!!! i just don't think i could do that.
anyways, it was an amazing day to be away and just relax for the day. it made me miss the kids immensely though which is always good. so happy birthday again mom! to 60 fabulous years!

moms 60th bday pics

Confessions of a Shopaholic

yes, it was a cute movie but not my point tonight. i am losing a battle with shopping....i have to shop for jade. i'm drawn to baby girl clothes and accessories like a fat girl to donuts. it's ridiculous. i walk in to a grocery store and i swear i go down the baby aisle just to see if they have some weird baby toys or shoes. cause believe me, sometimes they do. my daughter does not need more clothes...nope she could wear diapers all day and be happy as a lark. (really, who says lark?! where did that come from?!) take for instance today, i went to a shopping outlet so my boys could play in the water fountain with their friends (not that the little chickens did but that's a whole other story). but i HAD to go to the carters store. i HAD to! i heard it whispering my name through the screams of the children at the fountain. the urge to throw my card down at the cashier was overwhelming. i could just imagine all the cute fall items that had been hung up for me to buy. little jade would be so cute in this that and the other. and the shoes...she needs the shoes. not because she's walking but because they are so darn cute and very photogenic. the poor girl is probably going to be a tomboy...but it doesn't matter. for a few short years i get to dress her. the urge with the boys was never there...cause really, how many polo shirts and khaki shorts does a boy need? but a girl can have skirts, dresses, tanks, a different outfit for every major holiday, boots, bows, tights, leggings, rainboots, hats, shorts, jeans, and even jeans that sparkle! oh and don't forget jewlery...cause i totally found the cutest little bracelet for her at Ross! (dress for less...that's for you casey!)
ugh....my name is larissa annen, and i'm a shopaholic....for my daughter anyways.

New Movie

so we just rented the new Hannah Montana movie. i loved it. my husband cried twice. that's all i'm going to say.

mom's birthday

well i can finally blog about it. i have been working for months on putting together a 60th birthday party for my mom. my dad and i flew my brothers out (tim and jill with chase, and chris) and my mom's only brother and his wife; who i haven't seen in 9 years. we rented a yacht for a 2 hour sunset tour through the bay. it was fabulous for her. she cried like a baby when the family came out of hiding on the boat. my dad had told her that she was going on complimetary boat tour for small business owners and community people. so she thought there were going to be other couples that she didn't know on the tour. man was she relieved. i think they all had fun and enjoyed getting caught back up with eachother. i spent most of the time inside and rocking jade and serving food. i wish i could have sat out on the front of the boat more, but well, my job was to make sure everyone else was having a good time.
today we all skipped church cause i was pooped. ben had to go cause he had a potluck afterwards for worship. well that and he leads worship right? we all went out to lunch at el toritos and ate like little piggies on the buffet. it's always challenging for me cause i have three kids and no one else does. tim and jill have chase but he slept and is just one. i feel like i never get to talk to anyone cause i'm always taking care of the kids. i love my kids, but without ben it's just a lost cause.
i'll have to post pics later.

Sorry and First Food

ok so it's been brought to my attention that i suck. while i was galavanting around grand rapids there were many people at home making my trip possible. my darling babysitter amy who took care of the boys part of the day on friday, my AMAZING MAGNIFICANT GIVING MOTHER who watched the boys the second half of friday, and to my wonderful friend melissa for watching the boys saturday morning while ben continued to work. so a HUGE thank you for helping me out!

last night and today jade her first rice cereal. since i knew the girl was dying for food, i'm sure it was past time. but she did pretty good! here's a few pics of some fun times at the annen house.

Trip to Michigan

Oh good times...nothing like flying to michigan on friday and flying home on Sunday; with jade. but it was still totally worth it. i gotta tell you though..flying is an interesting thing. there are some weird people that fly. fortunately jade flew like a champ and slept when she needed too and was as happy as all get out for everyone. everyone wanted to eat her.
after being away from mi for a while, i now again realize i can never go back. man that state would be hard to live in again. there are maybe 4 starbucks in the whole city! and the whole time i was there the humidity was over 90%! are you kidding me?! i've decided i didn't have oily skin growing up, it was just the humidity. and don't get me started with my hair....jade had yet to see/hear rain (cause in mi you definitely "HEAR" rain), let alone thunder. and boy were there thunder storms. but she slept through those too. on sunday though when i left it was 93% and 92% humidity! oh.my.word. let me say it again...WILL NEVER LIVE THERE AGAIN! yup, i'm a california snob now!
ok back to the trip...
saturday i went to lunch with my family at mcdonalds and my bro tim and his wife jill got to meet jade for the first time. man i miss my family.
saturday night was my 10 year high school reunion. man was i stinkin' nervous! my darling friend erika and i went together and got there early to help set up and do registration. all in all the night was great and way more people showed up than i thought would. there are lots of stories but i will save you them since most of you could probably care less. the best part of the whole night was my hs crush showed up and looked like poop. ahh...sweet justice. a BIG thank you to oma and opa for watching jade during this time! and jay and cheryl too! funny story...while i was at the reunion jay and cheryl's (ben's bro and sis in law) dog trooper who's three months, stole my bra and went off in the house. apparently the dog lost a tooth on my bra and bled on it! haha...sorry funny to me. well oma washed my bra for me so when i came home there it was hanging on my car seat! fabulous! but hey, my bra got washed! good thing i don't embaress easily.
sunday i went to my old church richland bible church! i always love going there. it was good to see some of my old kids again. they are so old! which then makes me feel old! after church i headed to ben's family (and yes, after 8 years still met a new relative...) for lunch. man can those people cook! gotta love meals with all of them! then off to the airport!
the flight home sucked! from detroit to san diego is 4 1/2 hours anyways, but we sat on the tar mat for over an hour! so it turned into 6 hours of sitting with jade! by the time we came home my back was shot. all day today i thought i was going to lose it with how painful it was. blah....
hopefully tomorrow will be better.
i thoroughly enjoyed squeezing my boys again! i missed them soooo much!
here's just a few pics.

a few girls from my old middle school small group at richland bible church. chelyan and emily! i love these girls so much!

working the registration table at my reunion! claire, erika and i!

absent me...

sorry there hasn't been much updating. well not much for me anyways. some of you people NEVER update your blogs! :) but we won't name names...ann. i'm all in a tizzy, yea i said tizzy, about this stupid 10 year highschool reunion coming up this weekend. it consumes my pathetic thoughts. i've been reduced to that awkward looking, insecure highschool girl once again. and believe me, when i say awkward looking, it's no joke. i'm paralyzed with fear about having to do the welcome announcement cause i was class prez (and technically was supposed to be in charge of the reunion...but well, i found a 'team'.)....i also have to do a silly game. ahhh....i'm freaking out. i've gone and got a new outfit...new hair....new body....new children...wait, no. still have the same kids. jade is flying home with me on friday too and then i fly back home on sunday. so that's a whole other stress of dragging poor jade through this with me. fortunately my mother in law will be watching her during the reunion. i am excited to see family again if only for a brief moment. and i'll be going back to my old church where i served as youth pastor. that always makes me happy. i love seeing people again and hearing the service with the worship and pastor. BUT....i heard on the weather channel that its going to THUNDERSTORM while i'm there. SERIOUSLY!? grr....humidity, rain, and my darling daughter has never heard thunder or rain for that matter. man....i hope she doesn't freak. i hope i don't freak for that matter. i hate thunderstorms! what if it storms while i'm flying?! oh great....more to stress about...