Hi, My Name's Chubby!

Is there anything more Awwwwww-provoking, and heart melting, than a picture of a chubby little round-top, squishy-cheeked, chunky-monkey, sweet as honey, mego-leggo, sweetpea-tot? I tell you, I just want to EAT those FAT CHEEKS! She smiles and my whole world lights up! Her beautiful little spirit amazes me.

It brings me back to those good ole' games we used to play as kids with our lips and our faces -- NO, not kissing games! I'm talking about the "chubby" games. Again, NOT what you are thinking! Get your minds on the prize here. The chubby game was when we used to squish our cheeks together [FACE CHEEKS, ShEEEZ!)and say "Hi, my names is Chubby. My momma's chubby, my daddy's chubby, EVEN my dog's chubby..." Man, me and my best girl Bekster used to do that one all the time and it never did get old! We even adapted it once to put crackers in our mouth so that every time we said chubby... blahhh, all over! Then we had the bright idea to write "Chubby" across our face using White-Out! No, we didn't smoke crack, guys! We didn't even know what crack was except for butt-crack... which I have a WHOLE lot of funnies in that there department. But ANYWHO, the facey no-likey-the white-out. After dousing our faces with fingernail polish remover and rubbing alcohol and Ivory soap, we finally had to break down and call my mom and her nurse friend to come save us from ourselves. Red is putting it bleakly as to what our faces looked like after we got Chubby off of them. hahaha! Me loves me...and she!

Gracie has already caught on to the oozing crap outta her chubby cheeks routine and clearly a lot earlier than Bek and I ever did. I'm pretty sure we weren't half as cute doing it, either, but dang that little Butterball can ooze some pretty funky unmentionables out of those good enough to eat cheeks! I love it! It's ingenious. Back off boys, I look cute from the outside, but look at what comes from the inside... blah! spit, spit! Kabloom! ooze, ooze! You've been served! Peace-out, fellas!

Phoenix Conquers the Potty... and Soccer!!!

Nope, hell hasn't frozen over, yet, but Phoenix may have finally accomplished the unthinkable! She has learned to use her potty! Thank you, thank you, but please hold your applause. It was nothing... ha, right! I think we finally just found a good enough appeal for her to actually try to do it. After we promised her a season of soccer if she could make it a month without an awful lot of accidents, her potty training just kinda took off! We convinced her that only big girls can play soccer and "big girls go peepee in the potty, not in their pants!" That's a pretty big catch-phrase in our house. So, now she's got her "fast shoes" and a soccer team to play on all of her own. Here are a few pictures we took at practice this morning to capture the moment!

The organization she plays with is called Soccer Tots. They are very similar to the program I coached for, Lil Kickers, but this one doesn't seem to incorporate the ball quite as much. The kids had a blast, but I think I would have preferred the games to include ball skills and coordination at the same time. Instead, they played with balloons and hula hoops and jumped over noodles, etc. I liked how the curriculum in Lil Kickers used the children's imagination in order to entertain them while using their soccer balls as a tool to discover. But, Phoenix enjoyed her time today at Soccer Tots and that's all that matters.

Footage of Me Grams

The puppet challenged Grandma to a staring contest. She was so cute about it! She definitely hasn't lost her sense of humor. I couldn't believe how quick her wit was (once she was able to HEAR and process what we were teasing her about). What a charmer!


It's hard to hear, but what Grandma says there at the end is, "that's not fair, you don't blink!" So, so funny!

Larsen Family Survivor Challenge 2008

It may not have been Olympic worthy, but we definitely looked... well, we looked... i mean, from the outside it seemed... you, know, the talent was... uh... ummmm... you see... okay, we were HIDEOUS, but funny as hell! Between Keith's post-spear hucking shoulder grab (ooof, my shoulder!) and the Guarani Tribe's inability to win the scavenger Treasure hunt even after cheating, we looked like a buncha football players trying to play a rugby match... way out of our league! It was such a kick in the pants, though! I had funner being the Host than I think I ever could have had being a contestant.

We started out by seperating everyone into tribes. Everyone blindly picked a "buff" out of a bucket and was then revealed as to which tribe their color represented. We had two Brazil-inspired tribes: Tupi and Guarani. From there each tribe spent about an hour or so eating and decorating their team flags. Then, the games began!

We had a spear throwing contest in which the Guarani Tribe undoubtedly dominated.

Then, we moved onto a Scavenger Hunt. The object was to retrieve the 10 items on their list that were hidden throughout the property and bring back the puzzle pieces that were attached. From there, they were to put the puzzles together in order reveal the 3 numbers written upon them (in no particular order) that in in turn unlocked their treasure chest. Yeah, I had a few people swearing at me after that one, especially when we couldn't find the last hidden puzzle pieces. Note to self -- WRITE DOWN WHERE YOU HIDE EVERYTHING! Ohsie-Wellsies! We can have a good laugh this winter when we find the last skull with the Tupi Tribe ribbon attached sitting in the snow out in the pasture... or was it the tree... then again, it could have been in the barn... hmmmmmm... I guess we'll have to wait to see!

After the unintentional LONGASS scavenger hunt, we went on to the Sling Shot Challenge. No real surprise here, Dave cleaned the floor with us on that one to give the Tupi Tribe 2 wins over Guarani's 1.

We ended the night with one more team competition called the Water Bucket Challenge. Both teams had a bucket with a fill line. The object was for the team to get water from the kiddy pool into the water bucket as fast as they could using ONLY their buff (head-scarf, really). The first to hit the fill line wins. It was MAYHEM! So funny to watch! My poor dad almost got layed out with the rush of people going back and forth between the buckets and pool. People were practically wrestling each other down, shoving faces in the water, shaking their... wait a minute, that's a Frat party, not Survivor Challenge! My, bad! Haha! Let's keep it G-rated here. It was a family party, folks! It was funny, though, and everyone really did get into it.

And the winner of Survivor Challenge 2008? A tie! Everybody wins in Larsen Family Survivor!

All in all we had a great time and I would love to do it again. Everyone was sent home with a group picture and homemade (I've gotten pretty crafty in my old-young-ish days) dogtags. Next year maybe it will be Japanese Gameshow! Haha, could you imagine?

Full Circle

Seelos Family Reunion in Idaho, August 1987-ish

I was an awkward kid. I was taller than most and it seemed even my clothes couldn't keep up. My pants were always too short and my shoes too big in order to keep myself from growing out of them too quick. At age 12 I got glasses and I don't think we could have found a bigger pair. But, I could change their color to coordinate with any hideous outfit I was wearing that week!

Anyway, that awkward kid hasn't been seen at our great Seelos Family Reunion since... well, since she was still an awkward pre-teen. Not many recognized the hot mama I've become!!! :) Really, though, I was having conversations with people that I grew up with or spent my summer's with and they wouldn't even realize who they were talking to until good ol' mom walked up and put her arm around me. That's funny shit!

It's funny how events and traditions like this never seem to mean much until you have a family of your own. I loved the reunions as a kid, but as a teenager I was so uncomfortable with myself and where I fit in that going to a family reunion was a kind of salt in the wound when even your own blood-relatives seemingly shunned you as well. Me no likey the snobby! I have come to realize, though, that I may have been just as big a snob as I accused everyone else of being. Hmmmmm...... Nope, it was them! Anyway, now I am taking my own sweet girls to the reunions and I find it incredible that we've come full circle. My grandma took my mom, my mom took me, and now I take Phoenix and Gracie.

This year was an especially important year to be there for my family. My grandma, Edna, the witty and loveable triplet that she is, was the only remaining child living and present at this year's festivities. We honored her and laughed with her and in a way said our goodbyes, for we know that this year is likely to be her last. Thanks to her sister's family, who was in charge of this year's reunion, she can now leave this world and go knocking on heaven's doors crying, "What's the big idea watching your kids humiliate me this year with a clown turned ventriliquist?!? Damn, you Elsie! Why I oughta..."