Apple season

I love, love, love this time of the year. And apples are one of the reasons. I have stopped eating apples except for when they are in season so it is even more of a treat to go down to our local apple stand to pick up a bag. Here's Cole with his first apple of the season from Brooklane. It's a Gala - yum!

Back to work

I started back to work this week after a couple wonderful months off. I feel so fortunate to have had two really awesome jobs fall into my lap. Yay for my network! For the next few months I'll be working primarily with OSU Extension and the Majestic Theater with a little bit of work here and there for a couple smaller accounts. We are going to try and keep Anna home (not in day care) for as long as possible and have got an awesome team of people taking turns watching her - me, Cory, my mom, and our new addition Stacey (who we met while she was working at the Toy Factory - go figure!). They say "it takes a village" and it really does! So everyone gets a little Anna time and I get some work time.

Here are a couple photos from one of my mom's afternoons with her this week. We've had some awesome weather so they were heading out to enjoy it.

Dentist

This morning was Cole's second visit to the dentist. Dr. Sparks said that his teeth look great and Cole was a perfect patient!

Detroit Lake

Just got back from Detroit Lake, where we spent the weekend with our friend Dave and his two kids - Perry Jane (PJ) and Levi. Lake house + boat are now both on the dream wish list! Detroit Lake is beautiful and we had great weather. Perfect for exploring and fishing.

Our rental house

The backyard

The view

Friday night - the boys build a campfire in the backyard for smores


Saturday morning - ready to fish!


After just 10 minutes in the boat, Cole caught his first fish! A brown trout.

They ended up catching four fish in total. Cory cooked them up and we ate them for dinner - yum!

Anna and I checked out the lake from the shore.

PJ and Anna - she's a natural with babies! Can't wait until she can babysit.

More costumes

Week at Johnnies

A couple photos from Cole's second week at Johnnies.

Coloring

Golfing

Making coffee cake

All that playing = a sleepy little boy

Favorite reads

A couple current favorites from the bookshelf.

Rainy Day Slug by Mary Palenick Colborn. I've got to get a video of Cory and Cole reading this together. It is the cutest thing ever. My mom picked this book up at the library and Cole loves it. It's just a fun read. And the author is from Seattle, which is cool.


The Hallo-wiener by Dav Pilkey. We spent several hours at the San Francisco airport on our way back from Santa Barbara, which is where I found this book. I just knew that Cole would like it. And he does. We've read it probably 20 times in the last week. He especially likes the graveyard page. A fun October read.

Costumes

There was a week this summer when it was all about costumes on our block. The boys had such a great time dressing up and running around. Every day there were new costumes brought out and different kids wearing them. With Halloween coming up, we've been talking a lot about costumes, and I realized I never posted these photos.





When you ask Cole what he wants to dress up as for Halloween, you never know what he's going to say. To date he probably has over 20 different costume ideas. Some of them include: ghost, witch, Iron Man, Batman, Spiderman, Brainiac, knight, cat ... and the list goes on and on!

Weekend fun

This weekend started with the annual Beaver Game Day Scramble, a golf tournament that Brady and Stan Sahnow organize, on Saturday morning. Cory played with a couple of his buddies and Cole, Anna and I met up with everyone for the BBQ afterwards. Here are the kids with Grandma, who was on the winning team. Check out the sweet hat - a prize for the winners!


It was also the first Beaver home game. We didn't have tickets so we watched it at home with a couple friends. Anna is getting more and more interactive every day and smiling so much. I love the smiles!



Sunday was a lazy day at home - my favorite kind. Lots of good family time. I love the first one where Anna is smiling so big. And Cole is really sweet with her. He wanted to hold her and did such a great job. Lots of kisses, too.

Two month check-up

Anna had her two month check-up today. It went well - not too much to report except that she's a happy and healthy little girl. She was really good for the doctor. Smiled through most of the appointment, except of course when she got stuck three times in the legs for her shots. I'll never get used to that! She cried hard for about 30 seconds and then once it was over, she was smiling again. She's a bit smaller than Cole was at two months. She weighs 11 lbs 6 oz and is 23.5 in long.

Friday at home

Friday playing at home with the kids.

Cole took these two - pretty good, huh?

First week at Johnnies

Cole started at his new day care last Wednesday. He's now in-home with a woman named Johnnie and he loves it. And we love it, too! It's the absolute perfect set-up. She is awesome and the other kids are great, too. One of the things I appreciate the most is that she sends photos during the day of the kids doing various things. Here are some from last week - on the swings, with the banana bread that they helped to make, and picking blackberries.

Santa Barbara

This weekend Anna went on her first airplane trip. My mom, Anna and I flew down to Santa Barbara for my dear friend Kathleen's bachelorette party. Yep, 10 weeks old and she's already been to a bachelorette party! And my mom was kind enough to come along to hang out with Anna at night. Such an amazing mom/grandma!

Anna on the plane - not the best photo of her. It was early :) She was a great traveler.


The girls rented a big house and my mom, Anna and I stayed in an apartment a mile away. Friday and Saturday we spent time with the group - eating, drinking, hiking, shopping - and of course lots of chatting.

The lovely ladies out on Friday night

Here's the view from the big house, ocean in the background.

Anna with the bride-to-be

Anna with the mama-to-be


Sunday my mom, Anna and I spent the day exploring the city. We started with the Mission and Natural History Museum. Then headed down to the waterfront/wharf area where there was an art walk featuring local artists. We stopped in at the Oreana Wine Tasting room and enjoyed some delicious California wine.

From the wharf, looking back at Santa Barbara and the foothills

We ended our day with a delicious dinner at Cava in Montecito. Such a fun girls weekend!

Labor Day weekend

Labor Day weekend activities included:

The first game of the Oregon State football season - we hosted a small get together and Cory made pulled pork - YUM! Love the photo of the boys with the random yard tools. I think I told them to do something funny, which is why Owen hung his off his helmet. Totally cracks me up.



a visit from Aunt Sarah



and a trip to Lebanon to visit with the Badgers.