Letters

Dear PTO President at the kids school,
First off thank you for all you do, for all the countless hours you put into making our school a better place for our kids. I know that what you do is hard work, in fact I was in your shoes just last year. You are putting your whole heart into a mostly thankless job because you love your kids...and mine, and I think you are wonderful. That being said, do we really have to have a different fundraiser every other month? And if we must have them so often can the next one NOT involve smelly wax samples that have somehow ended up in the worst places like in my laundry, or smashed into my floor? Thanks!
Sincerely,
Me

Dear Kids,
I know that you think I am just being grumpy and mean when I tell you, you have to eat and drink in the kitchen, or that crayons and markers are only allowed in the kitchen. I know it is never YOU who spills on my carpet or colors on my walls, your siblings are totally naughty and giving you a bad rap. But here is the deal, your Dad and I have spent the entirety of our adult lives renting places to live from other people, so that means our walls are not OUR walls, and our carpet is not OUR carpet. And while your Dad and I hope to change our status as tenants to owners in the next little while, we aren't there yet and I REALLY would love to get my $900 deposit back on this place. So it would be WONDERFUL if you would cooperate and eat, color, and keep those dang smelly wax candle samples in the kitchen, OK? Thanks!
Love,
Mom

Dear Super Moms,
How do you do it? It seems like your house is always clean, your kids are always happy, you are always happy and calm, and you have everything so organized. I hate you, but I want to be you.
Sincerely,
Me

Dear Jared,
Thank you for all that you do, and thank you for being a Super Dad! Having you travel for work over the past couple of months has really made me realize how much you do and how much I take you for granted. You are the best and I love you!
Love,
Me

Pictures

So ever since I got an IPhone, I have become a bit of a slacker when it comes to taking pictures with my real camera. The IPhone just makes it so easy to be lazy, it is super convenient, and the picture quality is actually pretty decent. While using my DSLR takes a lot more work it is still my first love (well you know, as far, as cameras are concerned) and I hope that my kids can treasure the pictures that I have of them for the rest of their lives.
So here is a jumbled up post of pictures that I took with my DSLR over the past couple of months. I know a lot of them are very similar to my IPhone photos that I have already posted, sorry about that, but I wanted to post them anyways:
First are the pictures from Levi's first day of Sunbeams. It makes me sad that my baby is growing up way too fast. Funny Story about Levi, he is like the sweetest little boy in the whole world, he LOVES babies, and he is just a sweet sweet boy. But for the past few months whenever he gets mad at me he will proclaim "We are not best friends anymore!" Kinda a low blow, but pretty funny. It is OK Levi, I know you don't mean it!

 Next up  are a couple of pictures of Landon that I took on his birthday back in January. I can't believe that Landon is 9 years old! I feel like we have entered uncharted territory with Landon, he is still most definitely a kid, but he is starting to exhibit some of that preteen/ teenage moodiness and independence. It has been a bit of a difficult stage for all of us, probably the most difficult on Landon himself. That being said I love this kid so much, and he really is a great kid. He is the best big brother! He is so kind and patient with his sisters ( usually), and he genuinely likes them and is such a great friend to them.  People always talk about how great it is to have two kids of the same gender one right after the other, because your kids have a built in friend, and I agree that that is true. BUT I am also here to tell you that having kids of the opposite gender one after the other can be just as great! Landon is also an amazing brother to Levi. there are many nights that Landon will stay up and read book after book to Levi, and there are many nights when I go into their room to check on them before I go to bed to find that Landon has fallen asleep next to Levi because that is what Levi wanted. I am super hard on Landon, I expect and demand a lot from him, and I know that sometimes this makes Landon feel like I am picking on him or that I don't like him. Landon I want you to know that I love you so much! I am hard on you because I see your potential, and you have set the bar pretty high for yourself to begin with, I know that it doesn't always seem fair, but I  want you to know that I appreciate you, the great boy that you are, and the even greater man I see you becoming.

Last up are some more pictures of my cute little Valentines.  You will probably notice the scraps on Levi's face. Sad story. Levi and I were holding hands walking up a curb to get to Sally's Beauty Supply. As Levi climbs up I notice that the curb is pretty high, I make a mental note of it, but apparently a little too late, Levi made it up just fine but I tripped and fell to the ground on my way up. I scraped up my hand a little bit and was pretty embarrassed, but then I realized Levi was crying. I pulled the poor kid down with me, and unfortunately for him his face got the worst of it. Not my finest Mommy moment.  We got a few strange looks as we both sat on the concrete as I tried to asses the damage and then console a very sad little boy ( who has been very hesitant to hold my hand ever since, by the way).

Happy Valentines Day!

We have had a great Valentine's Day in the Peterson home. I feel so lucky to be surrounded by the people I love the most today! Also it is 75 degrees outside so I can't complain! Happy Valentine's Day!

The girls begged me for heart hair for Valentine's Day

Here's Ella's hair:

Here is Tori's hair:

Sunbeam

Yesterday was Levi's first day in Primary at church. It is crazy to think that my baby is growing up so fast. When Landon was Levi's age it seemed like it took so long for him to hit each big milestone, but with Levi it seems like time is moving so quickly. I love this kid so much, he definitely has my heart. 

Halloween 2013

I know this post is late, but I have been lazy. I haven't uploaded the pictures I took on my camera  from Halloween onto my computer yet, and so today I decided to tryout blogger's phone app to see if I might become better at blogging if I could just do it from my phone. 

We had a good Halloween this year, though we quickly learned that the warm costumes we always looked for in Indiana just aren't going to work here in Texas. With temperatures in the mid to high 80's poor Levi was so sweaty in his dragon costume. As you can see we recycled some costumes from last year :).

Leaving Home...

A little over 6 years ago we moved to Elkhart, Indiana. It is kinda weird to think back on that time, I was a young 24 year old girl, with two babies, a sweet husband, and we were embarking on the biggest adventure of our lives.
When we first got here I hated it. I was convinced we had made a huge mistake. Everything about this new  place made me want to cry. It was so foreign to me, I had spent my whole life out West, and the Midwest was so different. I don't remember when my feelings for this place started to change, but gradually they did change, and before I knew it I felt like I was home.
The time has come to leave this place that we have called home for the past 6 years behind, and I am not going to lie I am sad, not a little sad, sad like I have forced myself not to think about it too much because it hurts, sad.  So before we leave I wanted to write a post to say "goodbye" goodbye to our home, and the people who have made my experience here so wonderful.
 First off I want to thank and  say goodbye to our Elkhart 2nd Ward family (in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints we call our congregations wards). Thank you for your examples of kindness, selflessness, and love. We loved our ward in Reno so much and when we moved here we didn't think that we could love our  new ward as much as we had loved our previous one. We were pleasantly  surprised to find a group of some of the best people we have ever known. We love you all and we will miss you, and if our new ward in Texas is full of people half as good as all of you we will be happy.
Next I want to say goodbye to my friends at Woodland Elementary School. When Landon turned 5 and was getting ready to start school  I was a little hesitant to send him off to all day Kindergarten to spend the day with a bunch of people I didn't know. What I found at Woodland was a great learning environment full of some of the  best educators I have ever known, people who genuinely care about their students. Thank you for giving me such a positive introduction into the public school system, and thank you for allowing me to be part of your school community. I will miss you guys so much! Also I don't want to leave out Miss Debbie, our much loved preschool teacher, I don't know if Levi will ever forgive us for moving before he could finish at least a year in your class.
Lastly I want to say goodbye to the Smiths, we know we will see you all again, but it has been such a great blessing to have lived so close to you all for the past 3 years. It makes me so sad to think  about my kids growing up without any of their cousins around. We love you and we will miss you like crazy!

I know that I have have missed people, so to everyone that has contributed to our wonderful experience in Indiana over the past 6 years, thank you! Part of me doesn't want to go, but I think that is how you are supposed to feel when something good comes to an end.

*I started writing this post a few weeks back before we moved, but packing, Jared graduating (that's right! he is Dr. Jared Peterson now!), moving across the country, Jared starting a new job, and the kids starting school all got in the way of me posting it until now. Sorry!*

Back to School 2013

We have had an exciting summer here in the Peterson home and we can't believe it is already coming to an end! The kids started school today. Landon is in 3rd grade, Tori is in 1st, and Ella is in Kindergarten. I can't believe how old my kids are getting!