Halloween 2010

First up - carving pumpkins. We only got halfway though. We cut off the top and scrapped out the seeds. Then we drew on the faces in the shapes that the kids wanted - but by then everyone was ready for bed so we decided to postpone the rest of the carving until "later". It never happened because we left for our trip to Utah right after that.

Since we already had two costumes in the Winnie the Pooh theme, we decided to go all out and dress all four kids in the theme. I found Sarah's Pooh bear costume and little David's Roo costumes on ebay. They arrived while we were traveling, so we tried them all on when we got home.

On Friday, Sarah and Joseph got to go trick or treating downtown with their friend Sarah L. from school. I think her little brother & sister (twins) are so adorable!

On Saturday, we went to the trunk or treat at the church (late) -- ooops, almost all the candy was gone, but it was better that way, I think.

Then we went to a party at a friend's house. They had some fun games for the kids for lots of great food. The kids had fun trying to eat a swinging popcorn ball and batting at a piñata.  

What a crew! I think there were 20 kids and 10 adults in this small-ish house.

A New House, a Forever Family, and a New PhD

Sorry for not posting any updates in the past two months. We've been extraordinarily busy. At the end of September we bought a house in Lewiston and starting moving in that day. Within 24 hours we had moved all our belongings to the new house and we set to work unpacking and remodeling all at once. Bad idea!

Sept 30 - Day 1 of moving - the kids loaded all their strollers & bikes

I spent my "free" evenings for three weeks repainting three bedrooms, the hallway and entry way (with multiple coats of paint - including the ceilings and closets). We've also had some new windows installed and changed up some doors in the family room. The largest project was installing laminate in the large bonus (play) room. It took a lot longer than we expected because we found some water damaged sub floor boards and mildew/mold when we ripped out the old carpet and baseboard.
Here are some before and after pictures:

The worst room was this neon green one--

Before

In Process...

Pinstripes under window in the green (baby) room

Joseph and Sarah's room - purple & brown to blue & light blue (sorry, I don't have a final photo)

Before

Almost After (the lower part is now a very light blue)

Here is the Bonus room / Play room -- I didn't get a true "before" picture with the old grayish-blue sculpted carpet before we ripped it out. Sorry!

Water stains...ewww! There used to be a hot tub there.

From another angle - we took out all those stained boards

Mold & Mildew

After - replaced old black sliding door

After (we had those exterior doors removed)

In late October our family drove down to St. George, Utah so we could be at Sterling and Emma's sealing. It was a long drive (1000 miles one way), but so worth it to see all of my family and be in the temple with them. The kids did really well considering the long drive -- thanks to my friend Cari and her portable DVD player.

All the ladies

All the gentlemen =)

During all this craziness of moving, remodeling and traveling 2000 miles David managed to finish writing his dissertation and submit it to his committee. On November 19th he presented his defense and passed with flying colors. Half of his committee members received low ranks though because they showed up nearly an hour late for the event. =) He spent a week in sunny Nashville finishing up all the last details before returning home, the triumphant new Doctor on Thanksgiving day.

Thankfully, I didn't have to be a single mom during that full week he was gone because my dad came to visit us for Thanksgiving. The weather turned sour the first day he was here -- snow started falling and hardly stopped for a week...what am I saying? It's still snowing here. We had recording-breaking low temps. Which means we spent most of his visit in the house washing mountains of dirty laundry, scrubbing floors, and preparing pies for the big dinner.

We tried to build a snowman, but no one had waterproof gloves or shoes.

We ate Thanksgiving dinner with some of our new friends here and it was a pleasant evening with plenty of great food to go around. Grandpa Chuck left the next morning and it was back to the old grind around here. David is still just as busy as always, especially since it's publishing time for Hispania (he's the managing editor).

County Fair & Other Random September Activities

Here's a Halloween preview: 

 I bought these costumes last year. They still fit (or rather - they finally fit) so we're using them again. Sarah says she wants to be Winnie the Pooh and the kids decided that baby David should be Roo. I'm searching e-bay for a good deal on those.

 Kathryn is constantly asking if she can hold the baby.

 And feed him...

 Then sit with him again.

 Joseph likes to feed him too. Can you guess what he's eating? Pinto beans...there's nothing like training them early to eat rice and beans all week long. =)

 Flying a kite. This dollar store wonder has served us well.

 Kathryn wanted to do it too, but the wind was so strong she would have lost the kite, so David let her "hold" the string for this picture and she was happy

 Grandma Carol came to visit us the week of Labor Day. She brought Joseph some new clothes for his birthday (see his shirt) and some headbands for the girls.

 Trying to get all the kids to look and smile at the camera is nearly impossible, I think.

 Here's Joseph with his bike at the Labor Day picnic. They had a bike parade -- all the kids from the ward (church group) got to decorate their bikes then show them off before we started eating.

 Sarah's bike.

 Kathryn is saying "Let me see" (meaning, the picture that I am taking).

 "CHEEEESE"

 "Hi baby!" said in a very high-pitched, loud voice.

 Look how long he is stretched from arm to arm of the chair.

Now...the Country Fair! The kids have been waiting all week for this -- ever since David mentioned that we could go there for their special "Daddy time" this week.

 First to see the animals...sheep, goats, cows, horses, pigs, chickens, ducks, geese, rabbits, guinea pigs, and turtles.

 The pigs were really big and just generally "scary" for Kathryn, so she kept her ears covered the whole time we looked at the large animals. She liked the geese and rabbits though. At our house when something is scary (like in a movie, for example) the kids don't cover their eyes, they cover their ears. Don't ask me why.

 This picture was literally 10 seconds before he nodded off to sleep. He mostly slept the whole time and just rode in the stroller. Such an easy baby!
After the animals we looked at all the arts, crafts, and fair booths. The kids got tons of free coloring books, stickers, and other goodies. Then, we went to the rides. They immediately wanted to ride the "pony ride" aka the carousel.

 Sarah and Joseph haven't been on a carousel since we lived in Nashville. This was Kathryn's first time on any sort of ride. At first I thought it was going to go well. She went with me and sat on the horse and was really excited about that. THEN, it started to move and she flipped out! She was clinging to me for dear life. Poor thing.

 This little boy wasn't sure if he wanted to share "his" car with Joseph.

 Kathryn thought these cars were fun. This was her favorite ride.

David woke up and smiled.

Then, they went on the helicopters. This was Joseph and Sarah's new favorite ride. Sorry carousel. They wanted to ride again...but we quickly distracted them by offering to go look for more free trinkets in the craft barn.
When did carnival rides get so expensive? At 3 tickets per ride x 3 kids and 3 different rides = too much$$ (And these were just the "cheap" kiddie rides!) At first we told them they could only choose 2 rides, but somehow those ticket people know that you'll have a few tickets left over, so you'll have to buy just one or two more tickets so you can use those remaining ones. Oh well, I'm glad they had such a good time. Thank heavens the county fair only comes around once a year! (Shhhh...don't tell the kids that it's still there on Saturday).