December 02 Greenleaf Post

Dear Family and Friends,

We just returned from Thanksgiving in Idaho Falls. It was fun to spend time with my parents and have a quiet Thanksgiving day. We hadn't been to Idaho Falls for a Thanksgiving for a number of years and it was really nice. The kids had a great time. They became addicted to Monopoly while they were there and my Mom and Dad were generous enough to send us home with the game as an early Christmas present. On our way home we asked the kids if they liked going to Grandma and Grandpa Packer's house and they all said that they can't wait to go back and that they had a great time. They liked Grandpa's Pancakes and the fact that we had desert after every meal!

The month of November flew past for us. Lareen is back in the Young Women's organization and is excited to whip it into shape. The young women and parent's of our ward were so excited when she was announced as the new President that Lareen was almost tackled at the end of the meeting by excited girls and parents. She will do a fantastic job... again.

The kids had a coloring contest at school and Logan and Jarom both won for their grade level. Hannah was a top contestant as well. It was kind of funny that both of them won - the teachers kept assuring us that the pictures were not labeled so there was no way for the judges to know that they were done by siblings. They all are doing great with Piano Lessons, School and Church.

Logan is preparing her Primary lesson again for this next week. She loves to teach her class and this is her 3rd opportunity. She also loves to prepare quality Family Night lessons and activities.

Jarom sang a solo for the Primary program and did a fantastic job. He has told us that he would like to be a "star" someday (referring to singing). He was also baptized at the beginning of November and it was a fantastic experience. We sang as a family and Jarom had a small solo in that presentation as well. He definitely does not mind being in the limelight.

Hannah's hair is growing, she is 110% girl who loves pink, barbies, dressing-up and laughing. She is not a big fan of the limelight and has a bit of stage fright. She cannot believe that Jarom is brave enough to sing in front of everyone. She is doing very well in the 1st grade and has Jarom's old teacher. She still loves to climb on the counter and help Mom cook.

Emma is really talking now. She has quite a personality. She feels left out every morning when the other 3 get on the bus to go to school and she wants to go too. She gets to visit regularly when Lareen goes to volunteer. Everyone at the school knows her and she puts on the "cute show" very well. I don't remember our other kids playing their "cute" card so often or so well. She is cute, she knows it, and she uses it to get attention from everyone around and does it with such an air of innocense that most others don't realize that they are being played - YIKES!

Otherwise all is well at the Packer place. We are working on finishing the Bonus Room a little at a time. I've finished wiring it and I'm almost done insulating it. It should be in great working order by the time we have the reunion. We also have spent the last couple of weekends getting the yard and pasture ready for next year's planting (re-planting for the yard) of grass. We didn't get things as level as we wanted so we tore up everything and we are living in a dust field for a while. Fortunately a friend from church brought over his road grader and we have everything pretty much leveled and sloped just like we want. Now we just need to get the sprinkler system in next spring and get the grass growing in nicely for the following summer.

We are happy and healthy and plan to have a fantastic holiday season in our new home.