Fall & Love in Wisconsin

Two weeks ago we all traveled back to Oconomowoc to attend my cousin Claude's wedding. It was beautiful, creative and drenched in beautiful sunshine! One of the highlights of the trip was seeing all my siblings and meeting Matthew's lovely girlfriend, Kelly. For my parents, the highlight had to be seeing their pack of grandchildren that has grown from zero to six (almost seven) in less than 5 years. Because gatherings like this are so rare, we hired a photographer to take photos and the session went as well as we could have hoped. We have at least one photo where everyone is looking at the camera with eyes open!

My mom did an amazing job of coordinating housing, food, babysitters and people all while hosting the rehearsal dinner, wedding and Sunday-brunch in their gorgeous, restored carriage barn. As a bonus, she even offered to keep Louisa for a special "grandma week" while Cora, Nate and I flew back to San Jose after the wedding weekend. All of these events made October fly by and I'm not at all surprised that November is nearly here. I'm confident that November and December will pass quickly too, which makes me realize that soon enough, I'll be done with these varicose veins in my left (yes, only left) leg and we'll be learning how to parent a little baby boy, most likely to be endearingly referred to as Peter _____ Bosscher!

Alongside all the events of October and the upcoming months, I finally found the courage to launch my mini-business endeavor on Etsy. See my newest blog tab, My Etsy Shop, to read more about it. Or if you don't have time to read the update posted today, here's the short version: it's so FUN and I've sold 10 sets (30 burp cloths) and continued to gift sets to friends!

Enough about me and onto my favorite pictures from our visit!

Thankful for a layover in Denver so we could stretch our legs

"My fingers are cold and it's windy in my eyes, Mom"

Cora took to Uncle JP wonderfully

Sarah's Japanese bike quickly became a favorite of Cora's

The barn, all spruced up

Prepped for a beautiful ceremony

Fun on the "farm" with Oliver, Sarah's oldest

Matthew, Cohen (JP's oldest), Oliver & Kelly

Louisa quickly warmed up, apparently

Chilly, but sunny Saturday morning

Nate being squished by silly LouBear

You really do need a professional to capture this bunch

I'm still not convinced we're twins, but I will agree that Cora and I look more alike than Lou and I

Killing time in the Milwaukee airport

My Apple Girls, Captured on Film

Our real camera whispers to me from it's shelf every so often. Use me! I take better photos than your phone! I swore I'd never sacrifice "good" pictures just because I have a decent camera on my iPhone, but sadly, I have. So earlier this week, I tried to capture some cute but normal moments during our post-nap hours of 4-7 pm, when I'm making dinner, the girls are making a mess, and we're all counting down the minutes before Nate gets home.

I think this apple break was snack time at Louisa's make-believe school, where Cora is the only pupil. Actually, while editing the photos, I noticed for the first time that they each have a lunch bag next to them, so maybe the apple was part of lunch. Naturally, Louisa is the teacher. My instinct is to stop Lou from being bossy in make-believe games such as this, but then messages from articles like this ring through my head, so I bite my tongue.

The attire you see the girls in is rather representative of the norm: Louisa dressed as a princess/ballerina and Cora wearing mostly what I dressed her in, except for her shoes, which she is very particular about. The only exception to this rule is that if Louisa picks shoes for Cora (which is the case here), she generally doesn't object. The ones she's wearing are a size 8 and she wears size 5. Me to myself, constantly: Let it go! Let it go!