Happy Hall-o-veen!

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Home

I was able to visit home last month. It's amazing how fast the trip flew by... but, that's what happens when you're having fun with family.

Secret Haven (Fall Open House)

My mom owns the cutest home decorating store called, Secret Haven. She is so talented and creative. Every year she has a fall open house... she has her employee's and customer's dress up as witches... the best, most creative "witches" win fun prizes.

This is my belly-babies costume for the open house.

My witchy mom and I.

Susie with "Bestamore"
My brave brother-in-law Nick (love it!) and sister Sadie.
Cute Malia and Susie... love those cousins!
Malia, Susie, Pearl, and Grace. Cutest witches I've ever seen.

Cousin Time
My sister Sadie, her cute girls, Susie and I were able to have lots of fun together. Here we are with the kids at a fun painting-activity shop. Susie could never get enough of Gracie, Pearl, and Fe Fe!
Halloween Party

My parents threw a fun Halloween Party for the kids. (Fun for the adults too!)

The pants I am wearing in this picture used to be worn by my Grandma Tora decades ago... pretty hilarious.

Sadie, Nick, Fe, and Pearl.
Susie and Gracie girl.
Leslie (she made her costume... love it), and Aaron Jr.

Tin-man brother Steve, and Ike man.
Susie and Malia.

Steve and Christa
Wizard Dad, and my mom's Norwegian cousin's Par Ole and Erna dressed as Pirates... they thought the Halloween stuff was a bit crazy. Halloween isn't celebrated in Europe like it is here in America.
Uncle Ole (batman), and Uncle Kenny (whoopie cushin). I don't need to say a word about these character uncles I have... the picture pretty much sums it up.
Aunt Marty (dressed as a Norwegian Troll)... Dave needs to examine those feet.
Treasure hunt for the kiddos. It was fun to watch them run from clue to clue with their little pumpkin lights. The treasure they found was a fun pumpkin bucket full of halloween toys and goodies.
Grandma Dorothy
Susie and I were able to spend a lovely day with Dave's mom, Dorothy.

Rockin' out with Grandma!
Grandpa and Bestemore
Susie loved the time she got to spend with Grandpa and Bestemore. She loved to go pick and eat raspberries ("bear food") from their yard.

Thank you, my wonderful family for the wonderful time. We miss you every day and send you our love from afar!

One Month Away... "I get it out"

My due date is exactly one month from today... crazy! It could really be any day now. I am getting really excited and really nervous as well. Excited for obvious reasons and nervous because of worries of being a mama to two precious souls at the same time. I hope that I will be able to show both of my amazing children how much I treasure them.
I've been a little worried about how Susie will do with a baby brother... worried that she will get jealous, etc. But, last week she did something that eased my worry a bit.

We had gone to the library and I found some children's books about becoming a big sister (sibling). I read them to Susie and it seemed as though she understood better than before what was happening to my belly and that a baby was going to come out of it. After reading one book, she intently looked at my stomach, and then said "I get it out", while trying to lift up my shirt. I asked, "Get what out, Susie?" She replied, while still trying to expose my belly, "I get the baby out!" I explained to her that the baby needed to grow a little bigger before he could come out of my tummy. She stared at my belly for a moment more, then plopped her little body onto it attempting to give the baby inside a hug, then sweetly kissed my round stomach. It melted my heart to see Susie show such accepting love. I am blessed to be a mother.

Dave's Birthday

Dave's birthday was the last of August. We celebrated the night before by going out for dinner at Chilli's, then a homemade dinner the day of... including Dave's favorite Brazilian dessert pudim aka 'flan' (instead of cake...yuck), then to the beach for an evening stroll.

Susie and I are so grateful for him. He is such an amazing man that we absolutely adore.

Counting Crows Concert

Don't we look like hard core Rock-n-Rollers? Some of our friends watched Susie overnight (sooo nice!), a couple of months ago, so we could go to a Counting Crows concert in Milwaukee. Maroon 5 opened the concert. It was fun... mostly because Dave and I got a night out together. Unfortunately, the lead singer of the Counting Crows talked the first half of their songs, which was annoying.

Maroon 5

Counting Crows