Mow the grass or shovel snow....???

We have been blessed with great weather for November and everything continues to be very green (this makes up for the often grey sky!). The locals are still needing to mow the grass weekly. We've decided that we prefer the smell of fresh cut grass in November over shoveling icy sidewalks.

Things here are as busy as ever. We are working away to build up our food storage, exploring the neighborhood, and spending plenty of time with the Little Guy. For Halloween we enjoyed a lunch with some other Canadian couples who have some young babies. Atticus was dressed up as a Little Ranch Hand and looked very handsome (naturally). This weekend we will be cooking a belated Canadian Thanksgiving and have invited over another Canadian couple who missed the festivities to enjoy the feast.

Atticus is rolling over, chatting, blowing bubbles, laughing, grabbing his toes, sticking his bum in the air, drooling and teething. Poor kid, we hope some of those teeth pop through soon! He loves music and books and gets very excited about both. Here's a link to a few more recent video clips of him that we've spliced together: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8Mr85AHosB8.

Work is keeping Jason on his toes and he is now the ward pianist and is looking forward to being able to practice his piano/organ playing again. Laura is down to the final crunch for her courses before she gets a break for the holidays. We're getting very excited for Christmas and the tree has already been set up. The decorations haven't gone on yet as we've made an agreement that we will withhold Christmas decorations until the 4th Monday before Christmas. In the meantime we will each be tying a ribbon on the tree daily. On each ribbon we will write something that we are thankful for. It is a tradition that we hope to continue each year and it will commence during Canadian Thanksgiving. By the time Christmas arrives we will have a tree full of beautiful ribbons, each representing a blessing in our life, and in the end all of those blessings are thanks to the Savior, whose birth we celebrate. We love the Christmas season!

Well, it's time for us to enjoy a peaceful nights rest *fingers crossed*. We've loaded some photos for you to take a peek at. Enjoy!

We love and miss you all.

Love,
Laura, Jason and Atticus

Our little ranch hand

Leiden City Hall

Jason showing a bicycle traffic circle. You should see them during rush hour!

Laura enjoying a fresh Stroopwafel

Little Man being cute

Sporting the fantastic hat from Great Grandma Hochstein

Already looking more grown up!

LOVE those cheeks!

And let the drool flow.

Yummmmmmm...FINGERS!