Happy Halloween

Nora was an elephant and Gus was Adrian Peterson.  The slowest vs the fastest.

School Pictures 2013

How did they get so big so fast??

His first tooth!

Gus lost his first tooth while driving on a family road trip to Minneapolis.  He ripped it out without even noticing. I thought I saw something white in his hand (it was dark in the car, we were driving at night), and when I flipped the light on, the poor guy had a tooth in his hand, blood running down his chin, and a freaked-out look on his face!

After I told him how tough he was, he smiled and enjoyed it.  Then promptly asked if the tooth fairy would find him in Minneapolis.

(She did.)

Another gymnastics season in the books

Nora finished up another session of gymnastics at American Gold this fall.  This was her first non-parent session so when the last day came around and I could come into the gym to see her perform, she was pumped!

Her and her BFF, Peyton, were attached at the hip the whole session.

Congrats, Nora!  So proud of you.

Announcing Owen

Our newest nephew, Owen Ray, was born October 7th in Sandpoint, ID.  Josh and Christy are now the proud parents of 2 handsome boys!

Will loves his little brother.  And we miss them here in Fargo like crazy.

Fall Activities

We spent as much time as we could outside this fall by hitting up all the fall festivals, pumpkin patches, and state parks in the region.  I'll go with any excuse to pull out the scarves and apple cider.  Let's get the fall party started!

Meanwhile, since fall has rolled around and Gus has started school, he really into projects and drawing.  So when it was Nora's first fall share day at preschool, it was a no-brainer that she'd bring her Cinderella doll plus a Gus original watercolor, entitled 'Cinderella'.

She couldn't have been more excited or proud to share it.

We also hit up the Fall Home Show as a family, including Grandpa Steve and Grandma Debi.  We're so thrilled that Grandpa Steve is now in Fargo full-time!

Nora and Ava at the Buffalo River Pumpkin Patch.

The 1st weekend of October, I took a weekend trip down to Minneapolis to spend with the gals and run the Twin Cities 10 Mile.  It was a chilly but beautiful run!  Michelle broke all sorts of records, and I just finished without walking.  Yes!

We took an afternoon family road trip to Maplewood State Park to see the fall colors.

And finally, we experienced another bountiful harvest - in our backyard.  This is the 2nd year that our precious tiny honeycrisp apple tree produced fruit.

What a great fall!

The race is on

Gus and his friend, Ava, took part in the Roger Maris run for the 2nd year in a row.  They were bundled up and ready to go at 9:30a when the race started.  It was chilly start, 50 degrees.  They sprinted their 1/4 mile lap around Scheels arena and then were ready for a hot cocoa at Starbucks.

Congrats, kids!

And right back into preschool we go

Gus finished up preschool with Mrs. Julie at Small Wonders this past May, so we decided to keep it going without taking a year off, and enrolled Nora in the 2-day program.

She was most excited about her new backpack.

Can't wait to see her in her first school program.

Kindergarten

Thursday, August 22 marked Gus's first day of Kindergarten.  He was ready to go!

Age: 5
Grade: K
School: Centennial Elementary
Teacher: Mrs. Linstaedt

He had no nerves, and I had no tears (I was surprised).

It helped that he walked in with his best buddy, Caleb, a 1st grader.  He showed Gus the ropes.

We were so proud of him! Go, Gus!