Oktoberfest 2014

 9/19-9/21 was our 8th annual Oktoberfest celebration with the Hardins and the Buhrles!  Always a great time.  Credit for this first pic goes to Nate.  He also made the cool design on our shirts, screen printed them, had pint glasses engraved, and made coasters.  We look so professional!

Friday night we all went to the Balloon Glow which was amazing to see.

Saturday the adults took turns at Go Ape, which is a ropes/obstacle course.  It was a blast!  Unfortunately we didn't get any pics of the guys on the course...we were wrangling the kids!

We cooked at the Hardin's house - everything was delicious!  German potato salad, pork schnitzel (thanks Buhrles!), cucmber salad, German butter cookies, and of course homemade pretzels.  Here's the pretzel making action:

And the finished product:

Levi got very attached to Miss Jen and didn't want to leave her.  He called her his other mommy.

Josiah was tired of smiling so he looks a little like an attack dog.  But cute picture anyway :)

Kid pyramid...

...and the inevitable collapse.

The kids had fun riding the skateboard down the driveway.

The day we were leaving for St. Louis, I noticed something in Levi's hair which I thought was food (not uncommon).  So I was gently trying to get it out when the whole lump of hairs came out in my hand - about 20 of them.  We called the doctor and they said to bring him in Monday.  We were worried that it might be ringworm, which is a somewhat contagious fungus and involves a 6-12 week treatment with the possibility of permanent hair loss.  Monday we went to the pediatrician and he said he thought it was ringworm, but sent us to a dermatologist to make sure.  After waiting another week, much to our relief, the dermatologist said it was just cradle cap.  I didn't know older kids could get cradle cap, but it does cause temporary hair loss.  Some special shampoo and a week later it was pretty much gone.  He still has this little bald patch, which is not really noticeable unless you are moving his hair around.

Here's another clump of hairs that fell out - this one only has 5-6 hairs in it.

I very thankful that he didn't have ringworm!

Also very thankful for our friends and our fun annual tradition/excuse to get together!