We did it! We finally scheduled a professional photo shoot with my friend,
Annie Schilperoort (click on her name to check out her website). I need to mention that my brother is also a wonderful photographer but is currently serving our country by flying Chinook helicopters in Afghanistan (thank you, Kyle).
Annie met with us for the shoot at the George Fox University campus where Mike and I met and fell in love :) It was meaningful to us to have our photos taken in a place that holds so many wonderful memories. Who would have guessed 12 years later we'd be sitting on campus for a photo shoot with our 4 children! The day was beautiful but very cold (especially for early September). Annie was wonderful with the kids and knew just what to say to get them laughing. It was a miracle in itself to get some photos with all 4 kids looking in the same direction, let alone smiling or laughing!
The Dahl girls! Mike loves this one :)
I love their bare feet on the stump in this one.
Noah looks especially cute here.
Handsome 7 year-old! Getting a real smile out of this boy is very hard to do.
Fun candid shot.
We were having a good time!
Sweet sister shot. Elsie was also a tough nut to crack for a real smile, but Annie got a few :)
This nut is not hard to crack. He rotated between laughing and temper tantrums the entire time.
10 years of marriage and we don't look a day older (we don't do we? oh wait, we kinda do...)
We almost didn't try for this part of the photo shoot since the kids were starting to fuss about the cold. I'm sooooo glad we did! I LOVE this picture!
I'll post some of the black and white photos later. Thanks again, Annie! I know we'll treasure these photos for many years to come!
The other day I asked Weston and Grace to finish pulling and wash the carrots from our garden. I couldn't figure out what was taking them so long. There were more carrots than I realized, but they were also being very detailed with their washing and drying. Notice the drying system they came up with. 
Unfortunately, the carrots were getting dirty again from the dirt on top of the wood. Oops.
Today Mike helped me finish up some homeschooling I didn't quite finish this week. We are studying the history of the United States and are at the Revolutionary War. The kids made their own tricorn hats and goatees. I don't think the Yankees wore goatees, but the kids looked cute anyway! They even practiced their marching to "Yankee Doodle Dandy".
Watch out Redcoats!
Noah came in from playing to say "hi" to me the other day. I'm not even sure what to say to this one. I think you can tell he's got an older brother AND older sisters :)
