her favorite place

 Elsa's happiest place is her changing table.  It's during diaper changes that we see the most smiles.  She's so interactive, it's become a favorite time for all of us!  That's one way to make us eager to change poopy diapers!  :P

 The things a mama will do to get a smile.  Certainly not a flattering photo of me, but smiles are worth it!

Photos by Kenton

pumpkin carving

 We've been carving pumpkins with our Bible study group since before any of us had any children.

 We realized that this Fall marked the 9 year anniversary of our group forming!  Amazing!

 This evening, we had 11 children added to the mix.  Pumpkin carving night sure has changed since the beginning!  ;)  Not all of the kids were carving pumpkins. of course.  And not all of them needed help.  But as you can imagine, it was organized chaos for a bit!  ;)

 Cedar was quick to draw a face on his pumpkin!

 Finley worked hard on making a scary face!

 Macey & Ethan working hard too!

 Carving away!

 Such a sweet jack-o-lantern!

 Very focused!

 Eli & Emma working on their pumpkins.

 Colin was holding Elsa for us!  Everyone was put to work!  ;)

 The finished products!  Spooky!

Finley's scary face & Cedar's sweet face.  Love it!  

Now if we can just keep the squirrels from eating our jack-o-lanterns until after Halloween!  Who knew?!  We keep coming home to more nibbles, a missing jack-o-lantern lid, an uncarved pumpkin that's been completely opened & halfway eaten!  What in the world?!

the annual barn party

 We met up with several friends for the annual Barn Party at the Schar's farm.

Elsa & I were honey bees, Kenton was a beekeeper, Cedar was a knight, & Finley was a vampire!

 The Williamses

Harriet wore honeybee wings & Alma was Pippi Longstockings!

 The Farmer Gosses!

 Edison was pretty cozy in his dino hat & mittens.

 Lauren, Everett & Tom!

Our very good friends from college (& high school for Kenton & Tom) recently moved from Berkeley, California back to Corvallis!  We're so excited to have them close by!  They came down for the evening to attend the Barn Party & they dressed as Lois Lane, Clark Kent & Superman, of course!  ;)

 Pippi enjoying a 25 cent hot dog!  My favorite meal of the year!  ;)

 Everett's trying to figure out what's so funny.  :P

 Finley loves to hang out with Stu & tends to follow him around all evening, chatting about video games.  Stu is a good sport & has definitely made Finley feel important.  It's very sweet.  :)

 Playing carnival games for candy was very motivating for Cedar!

 Visiting the horses.

Finley got an apple!  Must've been those vampire teeth!  ;)

two months old

 October 26th, 2013

 Two months old already!

 Not too happy here.

 Not too sad here.  ;)

Elsa weighed 10 lbs 15 oz at her 2 month check up, which is in the 43rd percentile.  Her height was in the 91st percentile.  She's already sounding like her brothers, as far as height & weight.  She sure hated getting her vaccinations & was so very sleepy all day.  She woke up so sad & had a hard time being soothed, even when nursing.  It was really hard for me to see her so sad.  It made me realize that she is generally easy going & rarely gets so upset that I can't soothe her.  So glad she's generally happy!

celebrating papa's birthday

 We celebrated Papa's birthday 8 days after his actual birthday.  But he spent his actual birthday up in Seattle with Erik, so at least he got to celebrate with everyone at one time or another.  ;)

Eight of the nine grandchildren.  Elsa was snoozing in Aunt Gretchen's arms.  :)

 Cedar was VERY excited to give his card to Papa.

 Opening his fake-out gift...

 ...some new brewing equipment is on its way!  ;)

 Papa with his daughters (& Elsa).

Papa with the guys (missing Erik & Aaron, who had to leave early).

8 weeks old

 A little photo shoot of our sweet, 8 week old daughter.

 Mama too!