Happy Halloween

I had hoped for some better pictures this year. Life is busy and time just slips away.

Anyway, this year I made the girls' their costumes. Henry was an elephant - a costume I bought 3 years ago. Gabi wanted to be a ghost. I asked her if she was thinking about a sheet over her head with the holes cut out for the eyes. She said no. So, I had no idea what she was thinking. So, we looked on the internet and found a costume on Pinterest.

Tillie - I was trying to figure out what she could be. I had started getting into liking owls and while I was looking for Gabi's costume, I came across this owl one for Tillie. She was pretty excited to be an owl. The skirt was not part of the original costume.

This is a picture of all 3 little kids after we went trick or treating. Gabi was very nervous to participate in trick or treating. She wouldn't leave my side. Tillie got the hang of it after the first couple of times. Henry was just happy enough sitting in the stroller with a sucker :)

outside

We've been having some nice warm fall weather lately and the kids really enjoy playing outside.

Gabi and Tillie found interest in picking the leaves off of the trees that hadn't fallen yet.

Tillie concentrating on pulling the leaves apart.

Gabi liked to have bunches of leaves and then do a great pose for the camera!

Henry...I couldn't get him to hold still long enough to get a front shot of him. He had places to go and things to explore.

Pumpkin Pickin'

Tonight we went to a local pumpkin patch - The White Family Farm Pumpkin Patch. It was just a street over from where we live - nice and close.

Gabi and Tillie liked running around for a few minutes and then Gabi found the "perfect pumpkin".

"the perfect pumpkin"

Henry thought that this was a drum :)

Gabi is becoming quite photo genetic er photogenic. She wanted me to take one last picture of her. She is holding my pumpkin.

growing up fast

Henry is walking! Every where. He started walking just before October. He picked it up fast. He is 13 months old. He was my fastest learner. The girls were both about 15+ months. He also mastered the stairs about the same time. He goes down them forwards. He's big stuff now.

Daddy Daughter Breakfast

Emmi, Dad at Jim's Family Restaurant!
So Good. - Those pancakes were HUGE!

Deep Fried Twinkie!

Only at the state fair...
Oskar and I went to see Weird Al!
Great show.
And we picked up a deep fried twinkie!
Fan-spankin-tastic!

Backpacking with Dad

Took Oskar and Gabi backbacking this fall.  Started out great - got a little rough - finished up great.

swinging like a pendulum

Every once in a while we can get the girls to dance for us and actually let us record it. Gabi and Tillie both like to dance where ever they hear music. It's mostly on movies. Right now their favorite movie to dance to is Tangled. In this video, Gabi and Tillie are dancing to Elvis at my mom's house.

Oskar's 13

Oskar's birthday is at the end of August (this post is not past due).

 Oskar got the privilege to unwrap a gift from Papa - Papa style. There were 3 layers.
The 1st layer was the comics from the local newspaper.

 2nd layer was 15 feet of bubble wrap taped with packaging tape.

 The 3rd layer was an ad from the Army Navy store.
Oskar had a good time un-wrapping it.

 His turn for the money bag. Oskar got only one reach because he got everything that there was in the bag. (He's a growing boy).

Oskar is using his money towards a bird.

Emmi's 14

(this post is past due)
Emmi's birthday falls on July 3rd. She gets fireworks for her birthday. Also, my parents have started a tradition with Emmi (and Oskar) - one that I had when I was growing up - reaching into the money bag!
The rules are: NO scooping. NO holding the bag with your other hand. You can reach in once, decide if you want to keep what's there (no counting) or put in back, see if you can do better, but you have to keep the next reach.
That's the gift from Nana and Papa.

She ended up putting back her first reach and kept the second. She really liked what she ended up with. What a great tradition!

Henry's ONE!

We had a construction party for Henry. I kind of waited until the last minute to do the decorations so there are only a few. The pictures of the decorations are not very good - I forgot to take a picture of them while they were hanging up.

DECORATIONS

I made the orange construction signs and the tractors I got at Zurchers. They are table decorations, but I hung them from the ceiling with fish line. I also had brown, orange and light blue balloons in the corners of the kitchen.

OPENING PRESENTS

THE CAKE

Thanks to everyone who helped us celebrate his special day.

Happy Birthday, Abigail!

Gabi turned 4 years old today. It doesn't seem that long ago when she was just a baby. How fast time flies. This year she wanted a butterfly birthday. I also told her she could invite 4 friends since she was turning 4. She only wanted to invite 2, but that's okay. They had a lot of fun.

ACTIVITIES

creating beautiful foam butterflies with craft foam stickers

decorating butterfly shaped cookies

Emmi, Tillie, Gabi, Kylie Bollard, Sarah showing their butterflies off. (cousin Maylee also came to the party, but was unable to be in the picture)

OPENING PRESENTS

Gabi's haul. She wanted to play with everything all at once. She had a great birthday and thanked everyone for their gifts and for coming to her party. What a sweet, wonderful girl.

DECORATIONS

I made these butterfly clips for each of the girls. They were in their party bags.

(and lunch with Dad at Wingers) - the popcorn restaurant she said)