To Rachel.

Hey girl.  I found the picture you were looking for.  It was Nov 2008.  Look how much you and Claudia have grown!!

One sick one

Last night the kids and I went trick or treating.  They all loved it and had a great time...except sweet little Morgan.  My friend dropped the girls off about 5:30 after choir and she informed me that Morgan was not feeling very well.  Poor girl, she conked out on the couch just minutes after she got home, threw up a little later and then went to bed.  She missed the whole night and all the events.  Her sweet big sister came to her rescue.  Every single house we went to Claudia said, "My sister is at home sick.  May I please have a piece for her?"  Claudia thinks that Morgan got more candy in her bucket than anyone!!

I didn't get many pics.  Last year I got such a cute one of the 4 of them all dressed up and was determined to do it again this year.  No luck.

"Somethin's in my pants, mom."

Sick girl.

My poor girl.  She worked very hard to pull together her detective costume...and there it sat as I was walking out the door.  Maybe next year she can be a detective.

Claudia and I were pretty proud of her little poodle shirt.  Got the black skirt at Goodwill and we added the poodle.  Not  bad for $1.50.

Don't look too close, it's extremely imperfect.

                                    

Little Miss G would not stay in the pic, that's me trying to keep her there.

Hello, Ohio!

We left Iowa as early as we could on Friday morning and headed to my brother and his family's house in Columbus.  They have been married for over 5 years and this was the first that we were all there as a family to visit them.  We finally made it!
We got in super late on Fri. and spent all day Sat. hanging out and running around.  The kids had tons of fun being together.  It's fun to see my younger 2 have cousins their age, that is something that Claudia and Morgan never had.

Little Avery had a ballet class that morning.  So cute.

My poor, poor son had absolutely no idea that he was dressed up as Wonder Woman.

My brother's homemade swing

The second dress-up outfit: a set of fairy wings. 

I think little miss Afton is stunningly photogenic.

I love this.

My brother is such a dork.  I have no idea how he ended up on this bike.

Good-bye, BC!

We were very sad to have to leave Friday morning, we week went by all too quickly.  Took this picture of the morning sun shining over the freshly harvested corn field.  This is "Iowa beauty" as my husband calls it.

We were all packed in the car and Steve really wanted this pic before we left.  The sun was so bright, no one is even looking at the camera.  And Greta was deathly afraid of the buffalo, or it is a bison, I really have no idea.

Here's another pic I had taken earlier in the week, the other bison/buffalo in town.  Greta would not stand by it, she just ran away.  She was cracking us up.

iphone

While we were at his grandpa's farm, Steve went with his grandpa and Aaron to look at some of their tractors.  He got a few pics with his iphone.  It was at night so they are a bit dark, but certainly very cute.  By the looks of the first photo, someone was not very happy about getting his picture taken!!

Ostermanns

We were very excited to head out the Steve's mom's parents farm.  We all have such great memories of Grandma and Grandpa Ostermann and their place.  It has been 5 years since we had been there and even the girls remember.  Going the the farm you are guaranteed good Iowa beef and some homemade pie.  Grandma delivered once again.
Steve has cousins on that side who are close in age to our girls and they were thrilled about that.  It was so great to see them all again, the time went way too fast.

Gator ride with Aunt Ashley

Claudia and Rebecca

Morgan and Greta with Jessica and Grace

Apparently this toy has been in the family for generations.  Grandma O. said it made her very happy to see Aaron playing with it.

I love this next series of photos.  Though they are not great shots, I was trying quickly to catch the interaction with Aaron and his great grandpa.  G-pa had brought out some antique toy (I'm not sure what piece of farm equipment it was) to show him and Aaron was asking all kinds of questions about it.  It was so cute.

Morgan and Grace became fast friends

Our kids with their great Grandpa and Grandma Ostermann