Scooters and RC

Here is some live action of the boys with two of their favorite Christmas presents.

Giving Thanks

Thanksgiving was fun and mellow this year. Last year, in addition to my family, we had Doug's parents and sister out, along with Andy who was not yet related, but wanted to make a good impression. (which he did, and now we have a new uncle). This year it was just the seven Larson/Petersons, plus our friend Elizabeth, who often joins us for holidays. We had traditional foods (as the smell of roasting turkey is one of Andrew's favorite things about the holiday) and it was yummy. Andrew made the place cards again - this time teepees.

Andrew had the turkey leg...

I didn't get a picture of the Thanksgiving tree this year, but we did continue the tradition. We write things we are thankful for on fall leaves (construction paper mostly, but some real leaves this year) and decorate the house with them. It is neat way for the kids, adults and guests to express thanks.

Our neighbors, the Kerkhoffs, came over for dessert and then we watched Cars. That is a great movie (we are Pixar-files) and all three generations enjoyed it. It was a good day!

Peace Restored

So R3 and Petunia Mazza were home in time for Christmas. R3 was returned at the staff party, with a bright red bow around her neck and a sign reading "Jamie, take me home!" I will admit that someone I am related to was partially responsible, but it was all in good fun. (And they even got a Starbucks card out of it! Anyone want to borrow something of mine and give me free coffee for the priviledge? :-) )

I wonder what will go missing next year?

Neighborhood crime spree...

So the current Christmas drama has to do with our neighbors and friends, the Mazzas. They have an elaborate Christmas display each year (growing larger this year with the addition of a snow globe, no less). It seems they are now the victims of a holiday crime...

Get the details here:
www.reindeernapped.blogspot.com

The Mazzas responded here:
www.reindeermissing.blogspot.com

and the latest development here:
www.petop.blogspot.com

I'll keep you posted as the drama unfolds. Doug and I might live nearby, but we love Christmas lights and have alibis...

Andrew's view of the Nation's Capital

Our recent trip to DC and Richmond was very fun. Doug's sister's wedding was beautiful and so joyful. I don't remember ever seeing such a happy and relaxed bride! And it was wonderful to be reunited with distant family.

One of my favorite parts of the trip was Andrew's photos. He received a new (to him) digital camera and almost wore it out! He took 246 pictures in 5 days! I think we have a photo of every plane in the National Air and Space Museum, plus the spacecraft. Here is a sampling...

The first photo with the new camera (Zach got a camera too...)


"Rocks in the Crocs"

"On Capitol Hill..."


Portrait of Zachary at the Washington Monument


Mr. Lincoln


"The Amazing Space Shuttle"

C-1 Little Stinker (is that the plane or one of the kids?)


Self portrait

Pup on the plane

Apples to apples ...

Andrew's friend Blake had a neat birthday party a few weeks ago. It was an apple picking party! We drove out to the country near our house and spent the morning picking apples, playing games and eating birthday cupcakes.


Andrew, Zach and I ended up with 19 pounds of apples. Yes, I said 19 pounds...that is a lot of apples! But everyone in the family likes them and we were able to give some to some neighbors. They were very good! It was a very fun fall activity.

Small Group

One of my favorite things to do is to hang out with my small group! These high school girls are some of the coolest on the planet. I always learn something from them and really enjoy our time together, whether it is admiring Hugh Grant and his roommate Spike in Notting Hill, playing Apples to Apples, or talking about God and our lives. Here are some photos of recent times together: (though not everyone is pictured - fall has lots of homework and after school sports...)
And here is Lizz's ghost picture:

(Girls, if you want to see the rest of the zillions of pictures you took that night email me and I will put them on Flickr or send them to you :-)

You know it's fall when the trees smell like butter....

...or slightly rotten pumpkins. The jury is still out on the best description for the fragrance that greets visitors to our front door in the fall. Ahh, autumn in Southern California - not much colorful foliage, but warm weather and stinky trees. It was summer when we bought the house, so we had no idea. Last fall we kept wondering what in the world that smell was. Our jack o lanterns weren't old enough, but it sure smelled like they were getting fuzzy. The neighbors commented on it too, but we finally figured out it was the tree. This year, fall came early, so there's no chance it is fuzzy pumpkins. I don't know what kind of tree it is, but they are all over the neighborhood. Any ideas on the identity of our stinky butter tree?

Zachary's First Day

Today, Zach started at his new preschool! He had a great day, starting with breakfast at Pipes with Olivia (and her Mom and Dad).

Then off to school! Even though they had been together just a few minutes before, Zach and Olivia had a joyful reunion:

Then we put the new dinosaur lunch box on its shelf:

And went to the new classroom.

Zach stayed for lunch and half of nap. After we picked Andrew up from school, we made brownies - or should I say, wore brownies. It was a great day!!

Second Grade!!

Second grade, already?? (Though the current phase of making faces every time the camera turns his way would support the 7 year old boy hypothesis...) Andrew started school two weeks ago and it is going well so far. He is making new friends, and still gets to see old friends on the play ground. His teacher is well loved, with lots of experience and a great reputation. His favorite subject is still recess, but math and science run close behind. We are looking forward to a great year!

Happy Birthday GG!

August 10 was my grandmother's 100th birthday!! She is an amazing example of how to age (or "elder") well. She has a beautiful garden that she works in almost everyday, and is active at church (in a multi-generational small group) and family events. She has never missed a grandchild's graduation - that includes jr high through college, and there are 9 of us! My youngest cousin graduates college next spring and she is planning to be there! Here she is with the grandchildren:

And her kids: (in a great example of an ideal mother in law - she says she has 6 kids, not three and spouses):


So we spent the week camping near her home in Oregon, celebrating with her and many family members. The kids had a great time playing with cousins, riding scooters, picking blackberries next to the campsite for breakfast, making smores.

Doug got in two good rounds of disc golf and we enjoyed late night hours of poker and Scattegories. It took two days to drive home and by the second day, Zach had figured out that if he said he needed a pit stop, we would stop the car as soon as possible. There were more stops (some of them unneccesary) as the day wore on, but we made it home. And just in time for school to start!

Disney Adventure

In June we went to Disneyland with Renee! It was a very fun day - Tom Sawyer's Island, Star Tours, Dumbo, Jungle Cruise, Pirates... it was hot and a little crowded, but ice cream, good company and fun rides made it the perfect day.

Grandparents, Cousins and Sparklers

We just returned from a week in the Twin Cities visiting family. We had a great time getting to know the cousins better. We had balloon races, Mentos/Diet Coke fountains and sparklers. The boys especially enjoyed the Mall of America (for the rides, not the shopping) and Brown's Ice Cream.

Petersons are now blogging online....

So, here we are in the Blog World! We need a place to post photos for distant friends and family. No promises on frequency of posting...but we'll try to post often. You can also keep up with the Petersons on the bimonthly podcast - The Summerhill Gang.

Thanks for visiting!