Pumpkin patch

September was a really rainy month, so when the first weekend in October was sunny, we thought we'd better get out to the pumpkin patch.  Our first stop was the hay tower ...

From Sept/Oct2013

From Sept/Oct2013

From the top, the girls tried to see if they could see the path through the corn maze.  They couldn't see the exit but were still excited to be our fearless leaders.

From Sept/Oct2013

From Sept/Oct2013

I'm not sure if we've ever actually completed a corn maze before ...

From Sept/Oct2013

With only a few wrong turns, they quickly led us out the other side.

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Then we climbed around on the big pumpkins while we waited for the tractor to return for the hayride out to the pumpkin patch.

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Annikka was invited to drive the tractor out the pumpkins!  She was very excited.

From Sept/Oct2013

From Sept/Oct2013

From Sept/Oct2013

Eila quickly identified her pumpkin and Joel helped her bring it to the road.

From Sept/Oct2013

Joel and Annikka had to do more exploring, but eventually Annikka found her prefect pumpkin too.

From Sept/Oct2013

From Sept/Oct2013

It was a wonderful fall day ... until the hayride back with our pumpkins.  Eila got stung by a bee on her finger.  There was a little swelling and lots of tears, but luckily it was much better by the time she woke up from her afternoon nap.

Riding Mathoo

Eila could not have been more happy at the Eugene Candlelighters horseback riding event.  Although it was a really rainy day, we were able to ride horses around inside a big barn.

From Sept/Oct2013

She was the smallest kid there but she got the biggest horse, Mathoo.  For the first several loops around the barn, she laid forward in the saddle, holding on tightly to the horn.

From Sept/Oct2013

From Sept/Oct2013

But the smile on her face was constant!  She was so happy and her confidence improved (as did her posture).  Other kids switched horses and rode on a little wagon, but Eila just wanted to keep riding on Mathoo.

From Sept/Oct2013

We joked with the girl walking Mathoo that she should have counted her laps - Eila probably had her walk a couple of miles.

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Thank you Candlelighters for this wonderful day full of amazing memories.

From Sept/Oct2013

And before we left, Eila got to feed a horse too.

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Romeo was happy to get a carrot from her.

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Annikka's 6th birthday

We have a 6 year old!  Every year it still surprises me that we have this big kid (who just keeps getting bigger) in our family.  Annikka is such a sweet sister, excited learner, constant presence, and caring kid.  She is a joy in our lives and we will treasure these days (as they are going by so fast).

From Sept/Oct2013

Eila was very excited to celebrate with Annikka.  And everyone enjoyed the cake Grandpa made for her.

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Happy birthday our dear Annikka, it's going to be another fun year together.

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Annikka's birthday party was last weekend - she chose to have 4 of her best girl friends over for pizza and a movie (our first all girl party).  It was a little loud and crazy at our house, but Annikka thought it was the best party ever.

From Sept/Oct2013

The girls all decorated their own cupcake with an assortment of candies Annikka had chosen. 

From Sept/Oct2013

It got a little quieter when they watched Alice in Wonderland. 

From Sept/Oct2013

6 month check

Eila's 6 month post-chemo check up was today.  We were very nervous -- this was the appointment last year when her second tumor was found, so today felt like a big deal to Joel and me.  Eila, however, was her usual happy, squeaky, bouncy self.

From Sept/Oct2013

Her ultrasound and x-rays can back all clear, so Eila's cancer-free still after 6 months!!  We are VERY excited to be starting our first cancer-free Fall in two years (August was not been a good month for us in 2011 or 2012).  We will be scheduling a surgery to remove her port soon, and she won't have another check up until December.  Yay Eila!

From Sept/Oct2013

This check up was also different because Eila is getting old enough to have her own understanding of cancer.  Does she know that it's good news that no new tumors were found?  She says it means that she can keep going to school with her friends and doesn't have to stay at home with Grandma & Grandpa -- so yes, at a 3 year-old level, she does seem to understand that this is a big deal.  (But thank you Grandma and Grandpa for all your help!)

Specs

From Sept/Oct2013

When Annikka went to the eye doctor last month, he recommended that she get reading glasses.  He said that her eyes are actually prefect right now, but that's the problem, they're prefect too soon.  As kids grow, their eyes grow and change size - Annikka's are progressing more quickly than they should.  He said that current research shows that we may slow down the rate of change if she wears reading glasses (although with 2 near-sighted parents, she was bound to need glasses at some point).  I was skeptical at first and didn't think she would wear them if she didn't actually have a vision problem.  But she found these ones which she described as her "heart's desire", so she glads wears them when reading or playing on the ipad.

From Sept/Oct2013

School starts

From Sept/Oct2013

Today was Annikka's first day of first grade!  Her school had an open house yesterday so we were able to go see her classroom and meet her teacher.  She moved to our neighborhood school this year (after private kindergarten), and it was nice for her to get to see everything ahead of time.

Eila was very excited for her, too.

From Sept/Oct2013

She seemed a little nervous when she went into her classroom; she didn't even turn around to wave good-bye.

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But when I picked her up at the end of the day, she said she had so much fun she didn't want the day to end.  Her favorite things were math and the "get to know your classmates" worksheet (she's the only one with a September birthday).  We are all very excited to see what lies ahead for her this year.

Camping weekend

Months and months ago, we agreed to go camping over Labor Day weekend with 6 other families we know through our daycare.  As the weekend grew closer, I began to wonder if we were crazy - I don't think of us as a camping family.  But luckily several of the other families were much more experienced, so we followed their lead and packed up the car for Loon Lake. 

From Sept/Oct2013

It turned out to be a great weekend, with lots of fun around the camp site.  The girls had so much fun with all the other kids around, the activities were endless.

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Eila and John were bike buddies, cruising through everyone's camp sites.

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From Sept/Oct2013

The girls loved the tent, and luckily slept great at night.

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From Sept/Oct2013

But probably the best part was Loon Lake.  We spent lots of time at the lake, playing in both the sand and water:

From Sept/Oct2013

From Sept/Oct2013

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The girls were sad to see the weekend end.  And I was happy with how smoothly it went.  So I think there will be more camping again in our future, but maybe not until next summer.