Pint sized Christmas tree!

We were having a hard time deciding whether or not to decorate a tree this year. We are going to be out of town on Christmas so we weren't sure we wanted to go to all the trouble of decorating a tree. So we settled on getting a pint sized tree for Hannah and Parker to decorate and make them happy!! It hasn't felt very Christmasy here. The weather is still very warm and the trees all still have Fall colored leaves so to me it just feels like Fall still. I think we are just used to really cold weather and snow to help us start getting excited for Christmas. But I have to admit our little tree helped us get in the spirit of Christmas more. The kids loved putting the ornaments on the tree and it was so cute to watch them! We then made sugar cookies and decorated them also. I have to say I'm feeling very excited for Christmas now and its all thanks to our little Christmas elves, Hannah and Parker!!!! Oh, and our little tree of course.

Parkers First Poem

Today Parker approached Peter and casually asked him for a piece of paper and a pencil. This is not uncommon for Parker he LOVES to draw. So we thought nothing of it. Then a few minutes later he asked me how to spell "everyone" which I thought was odd. But then he came up to us and said he had a poem to read to us. This is how it went: "Man is sad, Dad is mad, and Mom is mad at Dad, and I am mad at everyone, and Hannah is hape (happy)." Tolstoy, Poe, Steinbeck, Frost, Bradbury, Rowling, Lassen....the torch has been passed. And before you start thinking that we have an angry child those are the words he learned to spell at school this week. We still think its pretty insightful. Especially the part about "mom is mad at dad." just kidding, I very rarely get mad at Pete!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Well Happy Thanksgiving everyone. We hope you all had a great day! Our day was terrific. We had our own Thanksgiving feast at home as a family just the four of us. It was definitely my favorite Thanksgiving ever. Peter and I had such a fun time trying to figure out how to do the turkey and make sure the timing of the whole meal was in sync. Everything turned out way better than I had anticipated. The food tasted terrific and the kids loved it also. I was so nervous about doing my own Thanksgiving Feast Alone, but it was really fun!! We ended the day by watching "The Santa Clause 2". We watched the first one Wednesday evening and we are going to watch the third one tomorrow evening. Parker really enjoys all of them!! Then we had the traditional pumpkin pie, ice cream, and eggnog. So we had an amazing day and we feel so blessed that we have so much to be thankful for. Now we just have to get ready for Christmas!

The Big #6!!

Parkers Birthday was a very special day! He had tons of fun and we are so glad he has made so many nice friends. We have met some really amazing people down here in Texas! He has always wanted to do a big friends party at Chuck E. Cheese's and this felt like the right year to do it. The place was a zoo but Parker couldn't have cared less. He did all of the rides and games and had the time of his life. Kids are so cool! He really wanted to invite all of his kindergarten class and his friends from church. He did not like the idea of leaving anyone out. We tried to help him narrow it down by telling him we were just going to do an all boys party. He eventually came up with a narrowed down list of his closest friends and everything was great! He is growing up so fast. I can't believe that I have a six year old son in Kindergarten!

Happy Halloween

Well we had a great Halloween the kids loved it. Parker was a ninja, and Hannah was a ladybug! We did the house to house thing and then our ward held a trunk or treat with another ward. It was really fun and the kids had a blast, even Hannah got into it! Parker is getting ready to turn 6 and he is having his Birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese's, he is way excited. He invited some friends from school and from the ward. He also just recently started to read he is one of the first kids in his class to do so. We are very proud of him! Well I was just recently called into the young women's as laurel adviser. I am really nervous about this calling. This will be a totally new experience for me. I love the women that are in the presidency but I have only met a couple of the girls. I hope all goes well. Peter is really starting to settle into his role as a 10th grade English teacher. His students adore him and he is finally getting over the really stressful parts of beginning a new career. He is also playing a lot of soccer lately since he is the junior varsity soccer coach. He will be holding soccer tryouts for his junior varsity boys team on the 26th of November. There boys team is expected to be the best team in the district and one of the top ones in the State. He feels very fortunate to have received the positions he did at the school he did. He has lots of great colleagues and a great administration to work with. Well as you can see we are still doing a lot of the same things not much else in our lives has changed. We are thankful for the consistency and security our new jobs and new home have brought into our lives and we are just enjoying living our own little life here in Texas.

The weather in Texas finally dipped down into the 80's and we have actually been spending time outside. It has been fabulous. Parker is really getting used to walking again and he has been swimming multiple times. Hannah and I have been going on lots of play dates with some of the other moms and their kids from the ward. It has been great getting out and seeing all the places around us. This place just goes on forever. Hannah and I went to Owens Spring Creek Farm and had a blast. She loved the animals, but each animal we approached she would quietly say "woof, woof." I work with her on all the animal sounds, but that seems to be her favorite! She also picked out a little pumpkin and she tried so hard to carry it but it was just to heavy (I had a good laugh watching her try though). As a family on Friday night we went to the Sachse High Homecoming Football game it was quite the event. The kids have a blast, Parker and Hannah love to dance when the band plays. They sure do take pride in their football in Texas and we have enjoyed getting into it also. There team isn't very good, but the way every one acts you would think they were number 1 and on the way to the championship. They take school spirit in Texas to another level!

Free at last, free at last...

parker missed a lot of swimming with a cast on during the last month of summer! So it was one of the first things he wanted to do with his cast off, it was October!!

After 12 weeks of fun, Parker officially had his cast removed today. Jake can finally rest his guilty conscience from the brutal maiming of his five year old nephew as "the incident on trampoline hill," as it has come to be known, segment in our lives is coming to a close (just kidding, Jake). The doctor threatened four more weeks of the cast unless Parker promised that he would not run or jump for the same period of time if the doctor took it off. Needless to say, Parker did not need to be persuaded that taking it easy without a cast was a better option than staying in one any longer. Hopefully this will be the last that we need to write about broken legs, and the like.

Hawaii

Peter and I recently had the amazing privilege of going to Hawaii. We spent a week there and saw a ton. We visited Pearl Harbor, haunama bay snorkeling, sharks cove snorkeling(where pete and i swam with two sea turtles), and tons of beaches! It was so much fun and we hope to go back soon!

Happy 1st Birthday Hannah!

Today is Hannahs first Birthday, how ecxiting! She is a whole 2ft and some odd inches and around 18-20lbs. It seems like she was just barely born! We love having her as part of our family and could not imagine life without her. She is getting into everything and on her way to walking any minute!

Welcome to our LASSEN family blog!

Hi everybody! Welcome to our blog! We decided to set this up as a means for everyone to stay in touch and to see what is going on in each others lives!! We hope you enjoy it as much as us.