Halloween

A pirate and a pantless Santa was the best we could come up with for a costume party on Friday. The party started at 8 and as of 6:00 we had nothing. Michael's friend Jenny pulled through and outfitted us in a jiffy. Remind me never to dye by hair black and lets all hope Michael's tummy never gets this large. :/

Freddos!!!

After months of being tempted by the frozen coffee delights at Peets called Freddos, Michael and I decided we would indulge in this treat as a reward for running 10 miles. It look longer than we thought, but last weekend we tackled a early, freezing 12 mile run that ended at Peets. Sweaty and stinking, I proudly ordered two Extra Bold Coffee Freddos and we savored every sip. One week from today we will hopefully tackle 13.1 miles and then try our best to find a Peets in Monterey.

More Halloween Fun!

Halloween

Ava, Xander and Graeson had a great time Trick-or-Treating in Newcastle tonight. Besides getting a little freaked by some of the creepy houses, they thought it was great walking around in the dark to get candy. Graeson had so much fun he fell asleep in his cozy dinosaur costume. Xander was great at saying, "Trick or treating! I'n a knight." And Ava liked to say "Da-tu, bye!" but had a hard time doing her usual wave while holding her little trick or treat bag. They were a hit.

Peek-A-Boo

Sienna's Baptism Day

It was an honor to witness Sienna's proclamation of her love for Jesus on Sunday. Graeson & Josiah enjoyed the day too!

Brianne turns 6!

Tentative, but happily surprised We love each other SO much and we LOVE parties!
Em & Gen finally realize their thwarted childhood dream of ordering a "Big Kid" sundae

Sir Xander turns 3

All of the noble knights and beautiful princesses had a great time slaying the dragon at Xander's birthday party.

Minnesota Marinara

After wandering around Minneapolis for a few hours (a great adventure, of course) Ava was pretty excited to eat some rockin pasta at a really cool Italian restaurant. It was definitely worth the wait!

Surprise! Papa is 60!

Lots of family and friends gathered to celebrate Papa's 60 years. It was great to hear why other people think Papa is as amazing as we all do. We love you!

post beach s'mores

Altough we've all been on de-tox from all the beach treats...we were sent home with the "shmarshmallows" or "mushrooms" (Maicee) so...we had to give Maicee her much desired s'more. We made it Gentry style in the broiler and as you can see, it was melty and delicious. She LOVED it!

Cousins at the Beach

Could there be a cuter group? Thanks for a great week at the beach Papa and Bita!

My bita and my cousins and my bruthr

bita are yuo happy that Isaiah is able to come to yuor house

strong and courageous

Isaiah and Dad together.

Yum

Ava loved her ladybug cupcake and, unlike a few of the other kids at the party, didn't get red poop from it. She says that if being one means eating cake then she loves it!

One!

She's so big!
Flowers from Daddy.
Some for Mama too.

Magna Cum Sadie

Good Job Sade! We are all so proud of you for working so hard.

59

8 = number of grandkids at Bita's party
4 = number of kids at home for Mom's birthday
2 = parents celebrating LindaandLaura's birthday
1 = happy Bita

happy oates

I wus plaing with Isaiah I wus being so silly.
sienna

tired

Bita, I got tired waiting for my mom and fell asleep on the washer! - Isaiah

let's go find some eggs!

Cheesecake

xander is lovin' NorCal. there's just nothing like hot concrete after a nice naked dip in the pool.

oh, Maicee

I just couldn't pass up the chance to share these other two attempts at a picture of my kids. The first is Maicee being...Maicee. The second is their impersonation of emotions angry, scared and elated.

Peoples Kids

We took this picture of our three kids since we missed having Easter together. They couldn't look more unrelated, in my opinion. They're so different in personality as well. :) Thanks Auntie Gen and Uncle Ryan for Josiah's Easter outfit. He got many compliments at church today.

Josiah's back home

Here's the happy boy - happy to be home and not being bothered by all those doctors and nurses. Thanks for praying!