Cael was a great date!

Yesterday, Brad Dahlstrom got married to Erin Strausser in Cedar Falls. Jonathan made a last minute decision to go to Chicago to visit family, so Cael was my date for the wedding! He was so handsome dressed in his tie and all!

He fell asleep at the end of the wedding...

He wasn't sure what to think of the lights and the loud music!

We tried to make Paige and Cael dance together, but that didn't work too well!
What a fun get-together it was...It has been a long time since we have all been together, and now we all have little ones...all 1 year old and younger! Without thinking about it, we were lined up from the youngest to the oldest! Ethan is 7 weeks old, Cael 9.5 months, Paige turns 1 on Friday, and Karson turned 1 last Friday!

Recent favorites

Cael has been photogenic lately, so I thought I would share a few favorites! He is definitely getting into everything he isn't supposed to, and doesn't really listen very well. It is constantly "Cael...Cael, no...Cael, come here...Cael?!?! Where did you go, Cael?"

Enough said...he LOVES his baths!

He LOVES to eat...PANCAKES!!!

He tries to help "fold" clothes!

He pulls himself up on EVERYTHING

This shirt says it all...

9 month stats

Cael had his 9 month check up yesterday...he is a very healthy boy...except he has yet another double ear infection!! You would never know it, though! Since we were last in about a month ago, Cael has only gained 2 oz! He is weighing in at 21 lb 14 oz, 28 inches long! He doesn't stop moving! Now it is..."Cael?! Come here Cael! No, Cael" He only listens about 5% of the time! Oh well! I will try to upload a video that shows off Cael's new trick!

Apple orchard, pumpkin patch, corn maze...oh, my!!

Sunday was a beautiful fall day...so we took advantage of it!!

While the squirrels were eating my tulip bulbs, we went to the orchard with the Simone's! It was a beautiful day to be outdoors!! We went through the corn maze, arranged a "pumpkin mountain" specifically for pictures, and observed the apple trees! Cael loved the backpack! We had several picture opportunities, and I think we took advantage of all of them! We had a great day...and Cael was a trooper!

Yardwork

Jonathan and my dad worked really hard on the lawn this past weekend, and the layout looks great! They shoveled a lot of rock, laid down weed barrier, threw down dirt, and finally we planted some grass seed. The leaves are still falling, so I guess the rest of the leaves are becoming mulch! This is ok with us, since we already filled 7 bags of leaves from just the backyard! The area of dirt is where there used to be rocks...3-4 inches of rock!!

Thanks, dad, for your hard work!

On Sunday, I planted 24 tulip bulbs which Grandma Strike gave me. I was really excited about it...to have a little flower bed next spring. Well...we came back later in the afternoon to find a flowerbed nearly empty! The squirrels attacked the flowerbed, and come to find out...they really LOVE tulip bulbs! I guess I will need to literally build a cage around any plants I want to actually survive! Sorry, Grandma! I tried!!!

I warned it was a busy October!

October began with a trip to Cedar Falls to visit Molly and Jarod for family weekend! It was a very fun weekend, filled with eating, swimming, tours, shopping, riding the carousel with Gramma, driving, and sleeping!

I believe Jonathan's quote was "This is my dream!!"

Cael got to check out the new turf...UNI FIGHT, UNI FIGHT!!

I spent Oct 7-9 in a continuing education class, followed by a different CE class on Oct 10. We drove to Waukon Oct 10 after my class for a quick trip to see Eric, Cyndy and the kids! On October 11, Kjetil was baptized, which was a great family gathering with EVERYONE THERE!!

It was fun to watch Cael and Kjetil crawl all over together...they played very well together!


Of course we tried to get a picture of the 5 grandchildren together. You can watch how that played out!


Kjetil was baptized...


And everyone was together! It truly was a joyous occasion!!



This weekend we are preparing for a relaxing weekend at home. My parents are coming up to tear apart our backyard, pick up rock, lay down dirt and hopefully plant grass seed. While in the meantime, Cael and I have a gathering to go to on Saturday afternoon, and hopefully going to the apple orchard/pumpkin patch on Sunday afternoon. We'll see how much we get done! At least right now the weather is supposed to cooperate!