Fall Beauties

In Grandpa Dennis and Tammy's yard in Bend

Riding with Aunties Devin and Meagan (Shane's sisters)

Pumpkin Patch Kids

Baking, Ballet, Birthdays and Apples

Last week for my 31st birthday my mom had a little party for me. Here are all the girls....

Annah picks apples from Mimi's tree. My friend Katie also gave us two big buckets of apples and I processed and canned about 15 quarts of apple sauce. I just got another two huge boxes of apples from family in Hood River so we're eating lots of apples around here!


The girls had fun harvesting the last of the peas in Mimi's garden this month.
Mira plays Swedish girl with Kirsten, Mimi's doll. The girls both spend hours at Mimi's house every week playing with her dolls and like to play "Doll Museum".


Annah has "Baking Classes" with Mimi every Thursday. She LOVES to help in the kitchen.

Annah started ballet this fall. She's the one in black with pink legwarmers. She loves to dance and sing.

Last Photos from Denmark

Here are a couple photos from our last night in Denmark. My dad and I made traditional Danish pancakes for dinner and the kids had fun raising the Danish flag in the yard in honor of our last night.

Mira Turns Seven!

I can't believe it! Mira turned seven and she's turning into quite a little lady, isn't she?

Yep, she decorated her own cake. It's become sort of a tradition for the girls to decorate their own birthday cakes.


Mira got her greatest wish, an American Girl Doll, from Grammie and Grandpa and Shane and I. Mimi (my mom) made her a matching doll and girl dress in the same 1930's style and we spent the day having a party and going to Portland to see the Kit movie about the same American Girl. Mira is obsessed with these books. Today (Sunday) she read four entire American Girl books front to back in one day! She was reading all day obviously which is what she'd rather do than anything else....

(Home)School Days

Homeschool Day at the Oregon Garden learning about animal habitats and plants and trees

At Silver Falls during one of our weekly Science Nature Walks

Drawing in our sketch books from inside the cave behind North Falls waterfall

1st day of ballet for Annah
On another hike

1st day of school
Pioneer Days Festival!

School....

Last Couple Weeks In Denmark

Our family in front of Egskov castel on the island of Fyn. The castel is privatly owned - a rich guy actually lives in it! - but the grounds, nine museums and a portion of the castle are open to the public. There were three labyrinths there and we got quite lost in them! Sadly I also lost our new camera at this castle although we still had Mira's camera to use.

The climb (238 steps to the top) up a nearby lighthouse was incredible - especially crawling out through a shoebox sized door at the top to go out onto a tiny balcony overlooking the sea and only being guarded by a 4 foot high rail! I held onto the girls tight up there!

Shane, my sister Lissa and the girls begin the walk back down.

We enjoyed visiting Hjerd Hede, a nearby living museum with people in costume and getting to experience what a Danish village was like long ago. Our favorite part was the Stone Age settlement. While in Denmark we've visted a Middle Ages living museum, a viking living museum, and an 1800's and stone age museum.

The girls in the Tasinge church tower.

Mira on the street where Tirza lived as a child in Tasinge.

Tirza and Annah picking raspberries in the same garden where Tirza enjoyed picking peas as a three-year-old!

Fishing on Kirsten's (my dad's wife) family lake. Shane caught two rainbow trout! We had a wonderful picnic here and also picked cherries in their orchard.

The last couple weeks have been busy with lots of day trips to castles, beaches, lighthouses, farms, living museums and nearby towns. We also spent a couple days on a tiny Danish island called Tasinge and stayed in the same home where Tirza lived with her parents as a young child - an old timber framed house built in the 1800's. We stayed in the guest cottage in the back garden and "enjoyed" being woken by the garden rooster at 3:30 am each morning (it starts getting light early in Denmark and the sun doesn't set until after 10 pm).

We leave on Friday to return to Oregon. It has been a very eventful yet relaxing trip and we are so grateful for the opportunity to spend an entire month here!