Oktoberfest

At the end of September is one of our favorite weekends - the Rochester Oktoberfest!  We go every year with the Lange family, and any of the Holz family who wants to come with us.  Every year we eat great food, listen to wonderful music and have a blast dancing.  And we drink a bit of beer, of course.

This year, it was our family and the Lange family, and then Omi, Opa and Amanda.  The kids were so happy to have Amanda there; they love to spend time with her.

Aaron hanging out with Opa

Two German cuties

Omi and Opa with the kiddos

All of the German kids - Cameron, Aaron, Amanda, Bridgette, Leah and Abby

Outtake picture - not sure whose face is the best in this one!

Leah loves taking silly face pictures!  (And checkout Aaron's chubber knee in the background!)

Such a handsome guy.  I wonder how many more years he'll let us dress him up like a little German boy?  Hopefully at least a few more.

Our three gorgeous German kids

Aaron took a snooze early on so that he could party late into the evening.

Hanging out with Daddy

Silly Bridgette

Aaron in his version of lederhosen - an adorable shirt that Jaime made for him.

Bridgette dancing with baby Aaron

Cuties

Omi and Opa with Aaron

Daddy and Cam on the dance floor

Opa dancing with Aaron and Leah

Bridgette and Cameron dancing

So serious!

Mama's turn to dance with Cameron

This is much easier (for him anyway!)

I love watching them dance together

Omi piggy-back ride!

Amanda and Cameron's turn on the dancefloor

Amanda loves to dance

Bridgette and Leah getting ready for the chicken dance

Can you tell tha tLeah LOVES the chicken dance?

A little bit of this, and a little bit of that and clap your hands....

And around they go.

Flapping her wings

I love Leah's face in this picture, she is having a blast!

Cameron and Abby spun each other around at top speed

Such cute little German kids

They are having a blast too

Abby's turn to hold Aaron

And Amanda's turn

Amanda, Aaron and Leah

After lots of dancing and yummy food in their bellies, the kiddos dropped like flies, one by one.  Bridgette was the first to go, but I don't have a picture of her.

Leah followed soon after, sitting on a chair with her head on the table.

Abby stretched out on a few chairs

As did Cameron (although he requested a pillow for his chair - we used the diaper changing pad)

Out like a light

Party hard and pass out.  I imagine most good Oktoberfests end pretty much like this.

And look who is still going strong!  Aaron stayed awake later than all of the other kids, only going to sleep once we put him into his car seat.

Another great year!!!

Leah Lovely: Dancing Girl

There are two things that Leah loves: dancing and dressing up.   Oh and let's add a third - her new baby brother.  Here she combines all of them into a cute video!

LMEA Christmas Party

The next weekend in December was the LMEA Christmas party.  We went for the first time last year and enjoyed it, so we figured we'd go again.

At the beginning, they gathered all of the kids on the dance floor to call Santa to the party.

Apparently, to do that, one needs a dance floor full of kids doing the chicken dance.  Braden, Leah and Cameron (and a ton of other kids) were more than happy to oblige.

"A little bit of that..."

What a cutie, peeking at Mama and Daddy

Emily wanted to come join in the dancing but was most comfortable doing so from the safety of her mama's arms.

More dancing

There were snacks and lunch, but the part that the kids liked the best was the decorate-your-own-cookie station.  Leah decorated hers with LOTS of frosting.

Tasting her handiwork

I think she likes it!

The big excitement of the day was going up to see Santa.  Leah wrote her letter to him, but was very tentative during the wait to see him.  She is not a big fan of Santa.

Cameron was a very good big brother and tried to take Leah up with him and show her that Santa wasn't scary.  She wasn't having any of that.

Then it was Mama's turn to try to coax Leah over to see Santa.

That didn't work either so it was our second year in a row that Mama was in the Santa picture with the kids!

They both got very nice gifts from Santa.  Cameron got a really cool rocket kit and Leah got a Silvermist fairy doll.  Both of them loved their gift.  The entertainment during the party was a guy who did bubbles.  I was thinking it was going to be really cool but he turned out to take way too long with the setup of each "trick" and got a ton of the kids, dressed in their nice clothes, soaked in bubbly mess.  Most of the kids, including Cameron and Leah, got bored and came back to the table.  It was still a fun party and the kids were really upset to leave at the end because they were having so much fun.