Grant, cousin Nicole, Aubrey, and cousin Alayna

Aubrey and Nicole


Aunt Cass and cousin Andrew


Dave, Jacob (climbing the pole) Cass, Kyle

Alayna

Another messy face picture of Grant...his goal is to go straight to the bath after eating.

Dallin earns his red belt!! Wahoo! He is only 1 belt from black!! Next is red with a black stripe!

Free at last

With chagrin I looked at my blog and realized that Christmas photos were the last thing I posted. I knew that I had been busy but wondered for a moment how time could slip by so quickly...then I rememered what had taken over every spare moment of my time since the last blog post. And I blame you, my friends, for so highly recommending the Twilight series to me. I finally started them and I don't have to explain why I haven't been blogging. Sucked in like the rest of you, I have been in the Twilight zone. And yes, they were fantastic even on my ipod while doing laundry and dishes (couldn't let EVERYTHING go).

Among our news, Dallin started playing basketball and earned his red belt in karate! We lost the snake for awhile but it turned up safe and sound after 4 WEEKS!! We thought we might have to warn impending visitors. Jacob is the pogo stick king and Aubrey is enjoying preschool with Mom. Grant is a busy guy now that he has learned to climb...it's a whole new world to explore.

Kyle just became the ward mission leader and I am still teaching the 6-7 yr olds. We are not too mad at the groundhog because we still need to go skiing. Which I can do now, because at long last-I am free!

An Eve to Remember

Jacob's RC Snowman cake,

he turned 6 yrs on 12/23!

One more dart gun toy for the playroom!


Jacob has waited ALL year for this day!!

2nd year of acting out the nativity

Guess who couldn't resist hopping into the manger!

Jacob and Aubrey took their roles seriously...

Thanks to the friends and family who sent Christmas updates and pictures. We loved seeing how much everyone has changed and what you are up to. We hope the next year is a happy one and that the Lord will continue to bless you in all that you are doing...

love,

the Wassmer family

Stained fingers

Here's my recent accomplishment...haven't painted for awhile so it felt good to have stained fingers again. When my grandpa requested a painting I thought, "yeah right, I have 4 kids" but I have to say I am glad he gave me a reason to try to find the time.

Ten boys, whips, darts...and only 3 bandaids

Saturday night was Dallin's Indiana Jones adventure birthday party. Kyle and I exchanged worried glances as the boys started the evening with "whip practice" to hone their Indi skills. The boys made their way through the adventure, earning clues written in code...across the hot lava, past the wild swordsman, the poisonous dart challenge, into the dark cave, out of the snake pit, and away from the reeking special soup they had to dig through. It was a lot of fun and more screaming then I've ever heard from a group of boys. Thanks to Uncle Marc and Aunt Sharon for helping me come up with the theme for Dallin's 9th birthday.

W'z up with us...

Okay, am I the only one who still gets freaked out every time I find the pretend plastic spiders all over the house? It doesn't seem to matter where they end up...even the one in the dishwasher sent my heart racing. We even have several from the dollar store that are way too big to look realistic but for some reason, if it's dark and they are lurking under a bed, it just seems possible. I mention this because we have accumulated these spiders from our annual tradition of spinning Halloween spider webs and it's about time to break out the stringy stuff again.

As I exchanged summer grapevines for autumn leaves in our kitchen, my kindergartner wandered in and protested, "Put those back! I'm not ready for summer to be over!" I feel the same way. We ended our summer with a visit to Coure d'Alene, ID for a family reunion and the opportunity to see friends from dental school and friends who have moved away. With the start of school came our old routines, karate, gymnastics, scouts, music lessons, soccer....Our seasoned 3rd grader adjusted fine, but Jacob was shocked when I woke him up to go to school AGAIN the 2nd day! Aubrey goes to preschool 1 day a week (it's supposed to be 3 days but we would miss her too much!) and Grant is beginning to talk- he can say Daddy, doggie, and sit. He is quite enamored with both Daddy, and our doggie (who is learning to sit, of course).

That's w'z up with the Wassmers. Enjoy those last dregs of summer while you can. And happy hanging of spider webs...

Good Times

For those of you who battled your way through dental school with us...here are a few pics of us with the Townsend family. Our first Saturday adventure together was a hike...Doug led the way with his gun to protect us from the bears. The kids enjoyed exploring the woods and the little ones tasted the dirt. We had so much fun we agreed to take the kids fishing the next Saturday. Melissa and I were able to take a relaxing walk with Lydia and Grant while Remington and Kyle kept busy baiting hooks. Aubrey was the first to hook a blue gill and soon all the kids were proudly displaying their fish...(Jacob wants everyone to know that yes, he caught a fish too, but Dad's hands were too messy to take a picture)

Boys Only

Another Wazzee first...Dad took the two older boys on a Father-son camp out in the real woods. Events included: hiking, fishing, campfire, sleeping in a tent, mosquito bites, and these words uttered every ten minutes since their return "I can't believe I caught a bigger fish than Dad!"

Dress up Party

A. just turned 4! We celebrated with a Dress Up Party...all girls, of course. Instead of presents, everyone brought a dress up item to donate to A's dress-up collection. The girls had fun dressing up and modeling for their glamour photos. We also decorated headbands with ribbon and flowers. Thanks to my sister for helping!

Watch Out!

The long-awaited video of Grant...crawling. Our life just became a little busier!!

Jacob's First Recital

Jacob has been taking lessons now for a whole semester! He can play Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star beautifully...he was a little nervous at the recital but did a fabulous job. Silly Mom forgot to push the record button but we have part of it for you to see.

I am working on developing a better sense of humor...here's the latest thing that made me laugh...Jacob talking to Aubrey: Are you going on a mission, Aubrey?

A: Oh, I might go on a girl mission. Are you going on a mission, Jacob?

J:Yeah, wanna know why I'm going?

A: Why?

J:Cuz I'm gonna crack a whip and a coconut! (his dad served in Australia...I guess these are the two things Jacob remembers from our family home evening about missions)

Cool House

How would you like to live here?

Baby Joy

We recently made a collage of pictures for K's office. These are a few of Grant that we loved.

Baseball vs Teeball

This is our first year with both boys in some form of baseball. Dallin has moved on to machine pitch and it is serious stuff. His coach has scheduled 3 extra practices and gives moving speeches about sportsmanship and dedication. The boys on his team are competitive and focused...and then, there's teeball...Jacob will sometimes hit the ball and get so excited that he goes back to the bench to sit down and do it again. They enjoy sifting the dirt of the field through their hands and picking weeds while they are waiting for a ball to come their way. It is a thrill to watch both boys learn the game and improve...and they will both tell you that the most important part of practice is the snack. Play ball!

dancing drama

This past weekend we were initiated into the culture of dancing drama...it was picture time for A's dance class and I was a little stunned by the detailed page of instructions that accompanied her 2 costumes. I found myself driving 40min to pick up the "suntan glossy" tights at the store specified in the note. The morning of pictures we were both a little stressed...because no one should have to put eyeliner and mascara on a 3yr old. We learned later that most moms skip that step. Finally it was time to go...and we had the matching gloves, hair ribbons, hats, and shoes. She was adorable but I had to laugh when we got home and she asked me if she could go put on her pajamas. I said yes and when we washed her face she peeked at herself in the mirror and smiled, "Mom, it's ME again!"

First Place in the Derby!

Dallin took home first place yesterday in the Pine Wood Derby...he goes to the city finals in 2 weeks. Dad helped by testing it thoroughly at the church to make sure the wheels ran smooth and straight. Dallin helped by sanding, painting, and cheering it on! We especially like the flames.

Jacob was very brave and decided to go to a group practice with kids who play the violin. He was fantastic and even took the stage to play a duet with Miss Laura.

Aubrey has contributed a picture to this blog...her X's and O's cover the page and mean that she loves you.