hAlLoWeEn 2009

Evan was supposed to be a pumpkin (jack-o-lantern), but he insisted on wearing his pirate hat and taking is sword from his costume last year. I wore this pumpkin costume when I was a little kid. My mom made it.

He loved trick-or-treating and made Daddy run to each house (he was in a wagon). woops--Braden at the pumpkin patch again.

Braden was a lion!

Aunty Mary wore a costume that she bought for Ludo. Meanwhile, Ludo was dressed as a banana.

annual trip to the apple orchard

For Mary's birthday, we always go to Pinetree Apple Orchard and then out to eat. Here are our pics this year. By the way, my little sister is 28 now!!!

Grandma's 90th birthday party

I took a trip to ND with my mom and sister over MEA for my Grandma's 90th birthday party! It was my first trip away from my family by myself. At first it was awkward...I felt naked! But I was quickly reminded of how wonderful sleeping in is.

Doesn't my Grandma look great! I can't believe she's 90! She still lives on her own! Go G-ma!!

These are most of Grandma's grandkids and great grandkids (missing John, Adam, Zach, Caleb, Evan, and Braden).

My mom and her sister, Sandy, wore some of my grandma's dresses that she owned in the 1940s (or so) to the party. Isn't that cool?!

Each family made a picture board to display our memories of her. I came across this photo from the Schlag/Selzler board. It's my cousin, Luke, with Grandma. I couldn't believe how much it looks like Braden!!!

Braden: 6 months

I'm a month behind in uploading photos. It's all because our society doesn't have 3 day weekends as the norm!

Anyway, at Braden's 6th month appointment, he weighed 17 pounds 1 ounce (50%), and he is 26 1/2 inches tall (50%).

He really likes eating food now. He cries for his food as soon as we put him in his high chair, and he holds his mouth open while he waits for us to put in the good stuff. He sits up by himself, and he likes to chew on anything he can get his hands on. His two bottom teeth popped out of the gums on Oct. 23rd. Hence, all the chewing action. Braden can roll and spin on the floor. Now we just need to get him on his knees so he can start crawling (or not. I'd like him to stay stationary for a while yet!). He really loves watching his brother too!

jumpin' time

Lately, Braden has been jumping in his exersaucer (like crazy!) and when Ben holds him, so Ben finally decided to dig out the ol' jumperoo! Braden loves it.

My Minnesota Twins

These top two pictures are Evan when he was about 6 months old. The bottom two are Braden at 6 months too. I thought it was neat to see the similarities and differences.

crazy ducks

Last week, we had a couple ducks that wanted to adopt us as their ducklings. They would not leave our property. They even would hang out in our garage under my car. Those crazy ducks were not scared of us at all!