Oh Christmas Tree

We put up our Christmas tree on Saturday.  This year it is absent of anything even remotely breakable, thanks to Landon being two years old.  But he is loving it nonetheless and rearranges it for us on a daily basis.  This afternoon I finished decorating the rest of the house while Landon was taking his nap.  He came out and said "Wow, Christmas!  Pretty, Mom!" over and over again. 

 

 

 

Can you tell how much Zach "loves" to have his picture taken lately?

Just to make you smile

Landon has discovered the dress-up bin.  Connor never really got into dressing up very much, so it's kind of fun to see a little Spiderman hopping through the kitchen again.  He also loves to play peek-a-boo.  He hides and then jumps out and yells "PEE-BOO!"  It's fun times here.

Biker Chick

Savannah has been wanting to learn to ride her bike for a couple of years.  But she was very nervous, and it didn't help that we live on a sloped street.  She's been practicing lately, but was always going too fast downhill or had a hard time getting fast enough to go uphill.  On Thanksgiving after my parents left I took Savannah and Connor over to the school parking lot to practice.  After about a minute she was riding on her own.  Way to go Savannah!

 Connor is very fearful about some things and has always been terrified of any bike taller than a big wheel.  He finally overcame that fear and was loving riding all over the parking lot.  I was so proud of both of them.

 

 If you went to elementary school in the 80's you might remember this.  It's called the "Flying Turtle" and I remember using them in P.E.  It's an old school version of a plasma car, but you have to work even harder.  I found this one at a yard sale and the kids love it, although they mostly just like to ride it down the hill and then carry it back up.

Thanksgiving 2012

 This was the first time we've ever had grandparents at our house for Thanksgiving!  It was so nice to have my parents here for a visit, and it was even better to have them share our Thanksgiving dinner with us.  We were sad to see them go after we finished, but they had to travel to my brother's house that day too.

 

 

 We have much to be thankful for this holiday season, including these five amazing kids.

Hiking with Grandpa

On Wednesday morning the kids and I went hiking with Grandpa in the Barton Creek Greenbelt.  Landon stayed home to play with Grandma.  Hiking is something that I always enjoyed doing with my dad, so it was fun to do it with both my dad and my kids.

 Jacob liked using the hiking sticks that he "won" at the family reunion.

 

 

 

 Savannah loves her grandpa and made sure she was holding his hand for the ENTIRE hike.

 Connor loved being the leader at the front.  At one point he found a huge leaf and used it as his "flag" to wave around while he was marching.

 After our hike we stopped at Zilker Park for a few minutes to play.  I just love that Connor smile.

Fun with LeSueurs

We had a fun time hanging out with my parents while they were here.  Grandpa took each of the kids on a little outing alone, which they loved.  Grandma spent many hours playing with legos on this visit.  Jacob made a "ramp" to race lego cars down.  

 

 There are always balls nearby when Landon is around.

 

 

 Grandma also brought some silly string that never got used at the family reunion during the summer.  Most of it was dried out, but we still had some fun with it.

 

 The boys liked playing Mario Kart with Grandpa and were surprised at how well he could play!

 Grandpa can't visit without a good round of "pillow monster."  This was the first time that Landon got into it though, which was very cute to watch.

 

School Surprise

Grandma & Grandpa were not supposed to arrive until later in the afternoon, but they surprised the kids by coming to the school for lunch with them.  The look on Connor's face when he first saw them across the cafeteria was priceless.  He was SO happy to have them at school with him.

 

 We also sat with Savannah for a while and they got to meet all of her friends.

 After Connor's lunch was finished we went with him back to his classroom so that Grandma could read a Thanksgiving story to the class.

Connor could listen to Grandma read to him all day long.

Grandpa took Zach out of school when he came down for lunch and took him to the Texas State History Museum in downtown Austin.  At our school they learn Texas history in 4th grade and always go to this museum for their field trip.  Zach loves history and has been looking forward to it for a couple of years.  Then last minute they decided to change it up and went to McKinney Roughs for his field trip, and he was pretty bummed.  So he was very excited to go to the museum, but also have some one on one time with Grandpa.  Thanks Grandpa!

The Quack Quacks

Landon's absolute favorite thing to do lately is go to the lake near our house and feed the "quack quacks."  We usually go 2-3 times each week now, and the ducks know us well.  They know Landon well enough to keep their distance when he runs all around them, but they follow close because eventually he slows enough to throw the cheerios in his hand.

 

 Grandma & Grandpa LeSueur arrived for a visit on Tuesday morning, just in time to visit the ducks with Landon.  They stayed until Thursday after our Thanksgiving lunch and we loved having them here!

 You can see part of our kids' elementary school in the background.  It is huge!

Joseph LeSueur

Welcome Baby Joey! 

My brother Justin and his wife Ana Paula welcomed their new baby boy, Joseph Oliveira LeSueur on November 15.  Ana Paula went to Brazil to have the baby and see her family for an extended time, but we're excited to see him sometime next year!

 Joey & Joshua

Veteran's Day 2012

On Monday I went to watch the kids sing songs to all the veterans in a great program they do every year.  I love that the kids learn all these patriotic songs and get to refresh them every year too.  Connor has gone to watch this program since he was a baby, and was so excited to finally get to be a part of it.

 

 The cub scouts do a full flag ceremony with the Pledge of Allegiance and National Anthem and then all of the veterans are introduced.  They tell the area of the armed forces they served in, when they served, and who they are related to that attends the school.  Then the kids sing a few songs with them and to them, including My Country Tis of Thee and God Bless America.

 They also sing a medley of all the different songs of the various branches of the military.  The veterans stand when their branch is being sung and sing along with the kids.  This grandpa on the front row really got into it and the kids loved it.

 Savannah and Zach's grades were the third performance of the day (they separate it into three groups).  Savannah has been singing these songs for a couple of weeks now around the house.

 Zach really enjoys hearing when all of the people served and which wars they may have been a part of.

 

"When we're helping we're happy..."

On Friday night Jacob and Dallin attended the Stake 11-Year-Old Campout...which I have no pictures of.  I always send a camera, but they're too busy having fun to take pictures.  They were gone almost all day Saturday as well.  Here at home we had a movie night on Friday (The Lorax) and worked on a project all day Saturday.  I put together a new dresser for Connor and Landon's room, and Savannah was my main helper.  Zach wasn't too interested and Connor really wanted to help, but I had to keep his "help" at minimum for my own sanity.  She helped me with every step of the building and did a GREAT job! 

I asked her to open all the bags with the screws and hardware.  I turned around to see this...that's my girl!

After lunch I helped Zach finish up a few things for his Bear in cub scouts.  By helping me build a drawer he now has enough electives for three arrow points too.

We moved the drawer building to Savannah's room while Landon was sleeping.  I let Connor be the photographer and that kept him happy for a few minutes.

But all he wanted to do was hammer.  I found the perfect job for him, hammering in all the wooden pegs.  Too bad it only lasted 10 minutes.

Connor and Landon both LOVE the new dresser.  I love that I can actually fit all their clothes in one place and have more storage in the closet for other things.


What fun is a building project without playing in the boxes afterward?  I let Zach use this one for the afternoon.  Savannah and Connor used markers to completely decorate the other box, but then Connor got upset about something Savannah did and tore the box to shreds before I could get a pictures of it.