Christmas Lights! Thank you Damma!!

This year, courtesy of my parents, we have beautiful Christmas lights (profesionally strung) on our house! Mom knew if we were left to our own devices, we would only get a measly string of lights up - where's the spirit in that? :) So, a big thank you to my folks for the lovely, early Christmas gift!

Pumpkin Hunting and Apple Snatching

Every year we go to Greenbluff to pick pumpkins and apples.

This year we steered clear of the Harvest House and Walter's Fruit Ranch - too many people... Siemers was still pretty popular but the pumpkin patch was easier to walk to and from.

We found apples at Hansen's Orchard - a nice, small farm. It was a beautiful day. The kids helped, as you can see, and selected many (many) pumpkins and apples - my personal favorites are the "Ghost Pumpkins", the white ones that are really pie pumpkins...

After I use them for decorating purposes, maybe I'll turn them into pie... or maybe not.

Johannes has a couple of loose teeth and I was hoping that the caramel apple he ate would help to make him look like a jack-o-lantern for Halloween, no such luck today. But we did have a break-through on shoe-lace tying... :)

Picture Day

My dear friend, Shae Fasbender, is a wonderful photographer and agreed to photograph my crazy family yesterday. Bless her heart she took a couple hours out of her day and took some lovely pictures of the kids and us. Here is a sample of her work.

Thank you, Shae!!

Rainy Day

Check out our "poser" girl. She loves to have her picture taken (can you tell). And I am a willing participant in her "take a picture of me Mommy" game. After many months (years maybe) of thinking blogging was a waste of time, I now choose to use my time for this (very useful) activity. It just makes so much sense with in-laws 1/2 a world away and a Daddy (and Mommy sometimes) that travel. Now we can stay in touch and share pictures and words in addition to email and text...

Nothing like putting on the heavy-duty rain-gear and letting Oleanna enjoy a puddle in our cul-de-sac.

Trond - Johannes might have a surprise for you when you get home -- one of his front teeth is loose... :)