Good-bye October...

Well today we say good-bye to October, but boy did we have a full month! We loved being able to be outside, watch the leaves change and gear up for Halloween! We also had a few "firsts" to celebrate this month.
Jakob has always been very interested in being in the kitchen, so as I looked at my pile of apples, I thought that I would give him the challenge of baking his first apple pie....from scratch! With a little instruction, but no assistance, he made a delicious pie from start to finish.
Another first is that at 13.5 months our little Ella started walking. She had been experimenting for a while by taking a couple steps, but now those days are long gone! She has definitely mastered the art, and it getting quite fast! Her brothers have loved watching her go into this next phase. Although she is also learning to get into their things too...good thing she has them wrapped around her finger! She has also started talking quite a bit too. Some of her new words are: cracker, No-No, thank you, and BOO!
After months of premature wiggling, it was a good day in The Sandstedt home this past week when Brayden lost his 1st tooth! He has been patiently waiting as most of his friends lost one and wondering why, why, why??? Now that is is out and the tooth fairy has made her first visit to him, he is starting to think it is really no big deal, although he says it is kind of cool to have a place for his straw!
And lastly we wrapped the month with Halloween. The boys had several candy-bearing events throughout the week leading up to it, so we are pretty set on the sweets around here!
Upcoming events....
* Mom starts working at outside the home one day a week, the 2 little ones will play with their buddies Everett and Solomon on that day.
* A trip to Lansing to celebrate Ethan's 10th birthday!
* A BIG trip to Washington DC to visit our friends the Valbak's for Thanksgiving.

We'll keep you posted.....

October 2008

Apple Picking?

Every October we go to Fennville to pick apples at Cranes. Last year Ella was in a front carrier but this year we anticipated her lending a hand. Well, we made it to Cranes at 6:05 on a Tuesday night only to find out they closed apple picking at 6:00 While the kids were bummed it wasn't long before one of the boys remembered the apple cider donuts which, quickly became just as good as picking apples. Cranes is a unique place that on the the inside is more like an antique shop than a restuarant. We decided to stay for dinner and it was fun to watch the little one's expressions as they observed wooden high chairs, civil war muskets, and things from the good 'ole days. Although we were not able to come home with bags of apples we had a great time as a family.