October part two

Well folks, here we are at the end of October. My goal is to make this a bi-monthly affair, so here's October part two:

Adding on to the house has been a little more tumultuous than we thought it would be. I knew it would be a little challenging living in it as we tore it up, but I had no idea...

We had to have all the kids sleeping in our bedroom, and Amy and I threw down (and picked up every morning, and threw down again the next night..) a mattress on the floor of the living room. We lived this way for probably 2 1/2 weeks. Which wasn't so bad until all the stuff had to come out of the kid's rooms. You have no idea how much junk can fit into a room until you attempt to empty it out!

The good news is that we are all back in our respective beds now and the major construction is finished. We will be finishing up little thing for a while, I'm sure. The kids have been troopers. The mess didn't seem to bother them nearly as much as it did the grown-ups. And as always, God was faithful to bring us through. He has given me a new found appreciation for our home, our family, and the space we have. There are those who have more, but many more have so much less.





Oh yea, Halloween.

We have had a good time this fall carving pumpkins, raking leaves, etc. Halloween always sneaks up and is over so quickly! This year we had a Baby bumble bee (complete with song), Bat-girl (complete with justice), and Darth Vader ("Luke, tell your sister you were right about me!").



Joanna chose a cat design for her jack-o-lantern this year. Andrew designed his on the computer and carved it himself. He said it looks like a weird science teacher. At least he didn't say is was a weird Art and Music teacher! Bethany's is a traditional "Pumpkin parable" style jack-o-lantern.

It's a cat, not a pig!

Every bat-girl needs a side-kick.

Joanna had her first school Halloween party this year. Andrew is officially to old to dress up at school. He didn't seem to mind, though.

Last but not least, Bethany has discovered painting. We let her play with the water colors one afternoon, and the next morning she woke up asking to paint. What fun!