Can you believe it? Ryan is 16!

Yep, you read correctly, we celebrated Ryan's 16th birthday this month. He turned 16 on Oct.15th. He was so excited that the school decided to celebrate his birthday by having all the sophomores take a practice PSAT test...to get them ready for next year when he is suppose to take it for real. Ryan was not to thrilled about getting up and going to school early for that.

On Oct. 11th, Ryan and Andy headed to Corvallis, OR for the Beaver Football game (I gave my ticket to Ryan so he and Andy could have a "man" day). While in town, they also got together with Kevin and his girlfriend, Anne.

On the 12th we had Grandma Donna, Grandpa Paul, and Brother David (the neighbor from across the street and Ryan's good friend) for a gourmet dinner of Lamb chops, asparagus, and garlic mashed potatoes, and for dessert - birthday pie (thank you Grandma Donna for the pie, it was delicious)

On Ryan's actual birthday, the 15th, Ryan took the said PSAT, and after school had some buddies come over, eat pizza, play video games and watch movies/TV.

But the celebrations did not end there, for Ryan. Over the weekend of Oct. 18-19th, Ryan, his mom Katy, and Kevin went out for dinner and out for a movie.

I think all in all, Ryan had a pretty good birthday, but I still can't believe he is 16! Where did the time go?

Below are some pictures to remember the celebrations.

"Brother" David and Ryan

Andy, the Proud Father

Grandpa Paul and Grandma Donna

He wanted Monopoly

Rosie helping blow out candles

Selle's in September

As Rose is taking a nap, I have a little quite time to myself and thought I would post some new pictures on the blog and let you know what we did the last part of September.

Mt Angel Oktoberfest:

There is no more appropriate setting for an American version of the "Old World" Oktoberfest than in Mount Angel, Oregon. The small community was settled by German pioneers in the 1800s and readily reminds one of the rich Bavarian countryside. Oregon's oldest and best-loved Oktoberfest began in 1966 as a traditional harvest festival to celebrate the bounty of the earth and the goodness of creation. It is Oregon's largest folk festival.

On Sept. 14th, after church, the Selle's (minus Ryan) and the Spencer's headed to Mt. Angel for there annual Oktoberfest. It's something I've wanted to do for many years, and this year we did. We ate great food and listened to some great music. Andy and Chris decided that next year they would wear lederhosen.
According to Wikipedia, "Traditionally, lederhosen were worn by Germanic men of the Alpine and surrounding regions, including Austria, the highlands and mountains of Southern Germany, the German-speaking part of Italy's province of Bolzano-Bozen (formerly part of Austria until after WWI) and Switzerland . Lederhosen have remained regionally popular and are commonly associated with virility and brawn. Some men enjoy wearing them when... attending folk festivals and beer gardens; they are rarely seen elsewhere..."

That would be a sight to see Andy and Chris wearing Lederhosen...maybe next year.

Rose and I danced to the polka band, well we actually just went in circles. She LOVED it, as you can see by the smile on her face. And the Mt. Angel Oktoberfest wouldn't be complete without seeing the Glockenspiel play its song and do its little show.

The Mount Angel Community Glockenspiel, with its hand carved-figures and beautiful music plays daily at 11 a.m., 1, 4 and 7 p.m. The Glockenspiel celebrates Mount Angel’s rich history, Germanic culture and our world famous Oktoberfest.

Visiting Daisy and Baby Carter:

Wednesday, Sept. 17th, Rose and I took a road trip for the day and went to visit our friends at the beach, the Woika's. Rose and Daisy are only 4 weeks apart in age, and Daisy has a new baby brother, Carter. The weather was wet and cold, so we just hung out at the house, the girls played with play-doh, danced, played music, and did some "cooking" with the pretend food. And of course they watched an episode or two of their favorite show, Yo Gabba Gabba! You can see what all the rage about is here on the Yo Gabba Gabba website.

Daisy and Rose

Sitting on the couch eating a snack

Rose and Daisy being silly

Baby Carter

Here is a little video of the girls being silly.


Making Muffins and Tea Party with Daddy:

Rosie decided she wanted to make muffins and have a tea party when Daddy got home...so I helped her make muffins. She is a very good baker.

Rose mixing up the dough

Filling the muffin tins

See Daddy's great form, pinky finger is even up in the air

Rose and Daddy having a tea party

Princess Time:
Rose wanted to dress up in her princess skirt and wear her rubber boots one day. She had to put her boots on herself. If you look closely, her boots are on the wrong feet...but she looked really cute.

1st Dentist Visit

Rose got to visit the dentist this week. I really had to talk it up about how fun it will be to sit in the big chair and move up and down, and how nice the dentist is. (I particularly don't like to visit the dentist, b/c I usually have to have work done on my teeth, that involves needles - ouch!)

It was a very proud mommy moment for me. Rose did SO GOOD at the dentist. She got her teeth cleaned and fluoride - beautiful teeth, no cavities - YEAH! The dentist looked at her teeth and some spots I was concerned about...he said they looked good, and Rose didn't hardly cry at all.

She was excited because she got to where some really cool sunglasses, a neat looking bib, and suck on the straw sucky thing (the spit sucker, as I call it). Also, take a ride on the dentist chair going up and down. I'd say the highlight of her trip to the dentist was picking out her toy for being so good.

Since Rose got to visit the dentist...she shows us many times a day how clean her teeth are..she is pretty proud of having clean teeth.

I am happy she had a good 1st dentist experience and I hope for more good experiences at the dentist, a.k.a. no cavities.

Rose getting ready to have her teeth cleaned

Cleaning and counting teeth

The sucky thing


Rosie showing off her clean teeth with the dental hygienist

Playing with her toy...a green camera

In a Box

We recently purchased some furniture for our basement, as we have been tackling remodeling projects all summer. The furniture was delivered in some large boxes and Andy decided to save one for Rose to play in. So, here she got everyone to sit in the box with her.

Kevin, Rose, Hannah, Ryan, & David

The New Baby Elephant

On August 23rd, there was a new addition to the Oregon Zoo....a new baby elephant. We happen to be a the zoo that day but didn't go see the elephants because we knew it would be a busy exhibit. We waited a couple of weeks and in early September, Rose, myself, and Hannah (our neighbor) went to the zoo to see the new baby elephant. According to the Oregon Zoo website, the baby elephant was recently named Samudra, or Sam for short. Samudra is Hindi for "lord of the ocean."

When he was born he weighed in at 286 lbs (and I thought Rose was a big girl at 8 lbs). As of Sept. 5th Sam (the elephant) weighs 310 lbs. He is so cute! Here are few pictures from our trip to the zoo. Enjoy.

Sam and his mom Rose-Tu

The baby elephant is so cute

Giraffes

Hannah & Rose

Pink Poncho

I was bored one day so decided to stop by Joann's (the local craft store) to see what I could find to do. This is very dangerous for me, because I already have countless craft projects I've started and not finished, or have purchased patterns and material for and not started at all. Well, this day I decided I was going to knit a poncho for Rose. I had a poncho when I was a little girl (I still have the poncho, but it's still to big for Rose) and thought I would knit one for my little girl. Besides, she could where it when it got a little cooler outside, but didn't' need to have a sweater on. So, I picked out a pattern, yarn, knitting needles (as I didn't currently have the correct size needles) and came home and started knitting. Its a great activity to do in front of the TV, as I get to relax, but not feel guilty about not doing anything and wasting time. Also, I can knit in the car on road trips, when Andy is driving, of course. Over the course of a couple weeks, I completed the poncho, even stayed up a little later than usual on a Saturday night to sew it all together so Rose could where it to church on Sunday.

I was so proud the next day. I got Rose all dressed for church and told her I had a surprise for her...a pink poncho. We put it on her...she smiled, ran down the hall and said, "Mommy, I no like it", and took it off. Needless to say I was so sad. After church I had her put it on again to get these pictures. I told her she needed to put on her poncho and take some pictures then she could watch the mouse movie - Ratatouille, it's her favorite movie right now. She obliged me, put the poncho on, I took my pictures, and she promptly took the poncho off. Oh well, I'll keep trying and who knows, maybe someday she will always want to wear the poncho. But I do have to say, I did finish the project.

Rosie Hanging

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Rose learned to hang from the bar in her Wiggle & Giggle class this summer. Here is Rosie putting her new found skill to work in the back yard, hanging from the swing set. Yes, her feet are not touching the ground. She is so proud of herself.