We're moving

The blog, that is. This one's attached to an old e-mail address that's since been deleted. Makes it a bit more complicated to navigate. You can find all the stuff from this blog, plus all our new posts (no promises about them getting any more frequent) at this address:
http://thepetersenclanblog.blogspot.com/

Still Winter Fun

Just last week, when we had so many warm sunny days, I got my first tinges of longing for spring. But it's not yet March even, so we've still got plenty of winter fun to play in - and I'm okay with that.

Last week Thursday the boys and I met Grandma and Grandpa Traxler at the lake house to see how the construction was coming. We also played down by the lake, which was very pleasant in the sun. Not to mention that the men who were trimming up trees at the house and started a fire in the fire pit with the brush they were getting rid of. We're looking forward to next winter when Grandpa keeps and ice rink cleared and we can have hot chocolate around the fire there.








Then on Saturday, we went to Holland to hike Sanctuary Woods. Grandma and Grandpa Traxler met us there, too, and we celebrated Jeff's birthday at New Holland
afterward.




















We live in a beautiful state!

Boys and Friends.

Our boys are starting to play with each other more and more. Most of the time, it's a good thing. So we've been learning together what it means to share toys and play games that Asher can play, too. One of our favorites right now is to play tag - Asher plays along by laughing joyfully while mom or dad carry him running through the house after Eli - or Eli after us.

We've also had lots of fun playing with friends this past month. At the beginning of the month some friends from seminary came over for a play date. Four moms, seven boys all under the age of four, plus to more babies on the way (one of which we know is also a boy). And this morning we got to play with our good friends Isaac and Cannan. They are each three months older than our boys. (From left to right - Jen with Max and Grahm, Me with Eli and Asher, Heather with Josiah and baby on the way, Rebecca with Simon and Jonah and baby boy on the way).













That's a lot of boys!

Cake in Hair

Asher turned one! It was a week and a half ago already and unfortunately fell in the midst of a couple of pretty taxing weeks for us all. In the midst of stress and grieving, we took delight in celebrating Asher's first year and all the joy crammed into one little body.

Enjoy some pictures of the festivities!

Hot Chocolate

It's the staple after playing outside in the winter. Even though, it seems to me, running around the back yard (no matter how cold) makes one really thirsty and a big glass of water is more appropriate, there's still nothing more (oddly) natural than coming in to a big steaming cup of good old hot chocolate. Yesterday, Eli drank his from the mug of a Peter Rabbit place setting that my Grandma Smit gave me probably nearly two decades ago. Eli never met this grandma, but he hears about her every time he uses that mug. Who ever says that icons cannot be sacred never tried to help their three year old know an ancestor without any tangible evidence.

Eli's a great big brother

Case in point.

Christmas has begun

This weekend started our Christmas celebrations with two different festivities.

For the last four or five years, a group of friends have gotten together for a "White Christmas" party. This beautiful festivity involved sharing a meal, decorating cookies and sharing in a sing-along-viewing of "White Christmas" - you know, with Bing Crosby and Danny Kay. Another tradition that started along the way is taking horribly cheesy family pictures around the tree. Now that there are kids involved, it's fun to try and get this accomplished. Here's a few of the family portraits from our friends as well.

Brian and Liz with Raven.

Kurt and Matteah with Raiya.

Jonathan, Hollie, Shelby and, of course, Asher.

Then, on Saturday, we celebrated Christmas with the Petersen side of the family.
It's hard to believe this is Asher's first Christmas celebration - he was around most of the winter last year and he's just so big. He had a great time. Now Ei's learning what it's like for Asher to have toys that were given to him that Asher gets first dibs on:)