SO BUSY...

I NEVER remember holidays being as busy as we were/are this year. As the family grows there is so many more places to visit and people to see. While it was fun, we were more than happy to come home on Christmas night. This year was an awesome milestone in our little family it was our first child's first Christmas. Landon was so spoiled by his aunts, uncles, grandparents, great grandparents, great aunts.... you get the picture he got ALOT of stuff. This year we decided to make all the gifts. I (April) made a hat for almost everyone in both families (13 total), 5 ear warmers for the older girls, 6 scarves, 2 tutus, and 2 duct tape wallets.Together we went to the dancing brush and painted ceramics for grandparents and great grandparents. It was alot of fun and I think we will make it a family tradition. However, we had this bright idea the 2nd week of December. This gave us approx. 13 days to complete all the gifts. I think we will plan ahead a little better in the future.  After all that I forgot to take pictures of all of it... bummer. I found a couple but I will try to get more.

Great Granparent gifts

Girl's TuTus turned out pretty cute

Girl's hats and  rag scarves

Caleb is wearing the hat that I made him

Maryann modeling it all for me....

Chrismas eve and Christmas day were a little hectic for us. We tried to split up our time between the families somewhat equally. Here are a few pics from all our visiting....

First present

Watching Grandpa's train 

Helping Grandpa build his train

Love how Blaine doesn't care how ridiculous he looks as long as it makes people around him happy :) 

Landon and Uncle William

They liked them... SUCCESS

After a long holiday weekend we were able to spend monday relaxing and just enjoying our little family. Tuesday we got to go see Landon's first cousin Jessie Ann and her proud parents Baylan and Hannah. It was great to FINALLY meet this little girl. CONGRATS BRAYLAN and HANNAH!!!

To finish off the business aunt Cassie came and stayed the night on Tuesday. 

Hate how I look in this picture but I ADORE his face... You can almost hear his giggle. He was loving on Mommy!
 LOVE IT!

Sorry for the long post there is so much more that I could do but I figure this is already long enough. ;)

Busy, BuSy, BUSY

Okay... so it has been a little while since I last posted... again. I really have been trying to get to the computer but now that landon moves it is slightly more tricky to be on while he is awake. I will try to upload the video of him and the computer at the end of this post. I have tried several times and it does not want to work with me. These past couple weeks have been busy ones for us. Blaine has had 3 interviews (UT, CA, & ID) and has one more on Thursday this week. This time he is going to Selah,WA. We heard back from California and Idaho and we are not going to either of those stores. Utah is supposed to let us know by the 20th. That has kept Blaine pretty busy. For our family this is the busy season anyway with birthdays and the holidays. This year we decided (last week) to do only handmade gifts. With a family as big as ours, that is keeping me very busy! Landon is just busy learning new things everyday. We can't take our eyes off of him for a minute when he is awake. If he sees something he wants he WILL find a way to get it!

Yes that is Landon PULLING the drawer OPEN!

Landon was such a good boy a dancing brush while we painted for nearly 4 hours..

He even let me get his hand print... kinda :)

First balloon

Happy bday MOM!

Landon absolutely LOVED grandma n Grandpas piano!

We made mom's cakes this year .... this one was just a box cake...

this one very sweet  but it was delicious!

trying not to spit on the cake

Took some quick pics of the whole family...Jacques side...

and our little Peterson family

Monday we visited Zoolights at point defiance zoo int tacoma.

Tacoma narrows bridge

Tacoma narrows and mt rainier

Landon and Blaine in the aquarium

Game day...

A little Family update... Blaine heard back from Cali. and we are NOT going toVacaville. As much as we are willing and wanting to follow God's will wherever he has for us, we are really hoping that He has chosen a place that is not in California! Speaking of places we did not want to go... Blaine has another interview in Utah. At first we REALLY did not want to got to Utah (Blaine considered not even applying for positions in Utah) but after his first interview and seeing how pretty it is there, we are actually kind of excited about the idea. Crazy how God changes our minds sometimes. Just shows us how little we know until we just trust and follow. :)

 Landon is doing better. We took him in this past Friday because of his little seal bark. We came out of the office with an information on "how to take car of croup" and a prescription for amoxicillin for his DOUBLE ear infection.  We NEVER would have known that he was sick. This kid is tough! He did not even slow down. He was a little more needy than usual but other than that he was exactly the same! So he is on the mend and still into everything he can reach.... :)

Yesterday we went to the Grandpa and Grandma's house and watched the Packers game. I am pretty sure more than once Caleb's hat was thrown at the TV and Grandpa Jacques was on the edge of his seat for most of the game. After a couple hours of telling the players and Refs what they should have done, they had no fingernails left and a knot in their stomachs but they claimed the victory... 12-0!

A sick day...

April and Landon started off the week with a head/ chest cold. It hit Landon pretty hard. He has been a trooper though. He still wants to play and skip his naps. How do you make a baby rest??? We have decided that it is nearly impossible especially now that he is somewhat mobile (rolling everywhere). We lay him down for a nap with his inkie and his blankie and he rolls over on his tummy spits out his inkie and just smiles. There are times, however, that he cannot fight the sleep anymore....

He finally gave up after two feedings and removal of all of his clothes... this baby will NOT sleep for any length of time with his clothes on :)

Putting Daddy down for his nap...

Wondering why on earth we have a tree in our tiny living room...

Since we have no idea where we will be this Christmas, we decided to put up our Christmas tree yesterday.

A big toy!!! I think I know how we will spend our days this month...

After a long day of doing nothing!