Happy Halloween

Eli decided he wanted to be a Panda Bear while watching a zoo movie. I bought him a Monkey costume, because I didn't want to have to make anything this year, and he melted down. He actually threw himself down on the ground, screamed "I hate Monkeys" and insisted he wanted to be a Panda. I thought if I could just get him to try on the costume he would be okay, but it never happened. I returned the monkey and made him a Panda. At first he was excited, but then he said the fur was itchy and then he wouldn't try it on. I ended up having to line it last minute, but it was worth it in the end. He looked really cute, and was happy to be a Panda.

Lilly wore Eli's old bear bunting, but she slept through most of the festivities.

Trunk or treat was great! We had some trouble with regular trick or treating, Eli was tired and then had a dirty diaper (yes, potty training still hasn't happened). We ditched the Christensen's early and Eli fell asleep in the car on the way home. We're going to have an early morning tomorrow, Eli went to bed at 7pm and with the time change he'll probably wake up at 6am. At least we have some hope of being on time to church!

House Work

I was replying to Brian's comment on the last post, it got a little long so I decided this needed a post of it's own.

We've done a lot of work, but nothing major. Ben built the playhouse, changed the built in cabinets to accommodate the computer, replaced the built in microwave, he had to plane lots of doors, some closet remodels, new toilets, paint, light fixtures, filled in a pond (the playhouse foundation), dug drainage ditches, wasp extermination, garage shelving and a garage door opener.

We had someone else install A/C, and put in an attic fan and fans in both the bathrooms.

We had a lot of help from friends and family, both with the work and with childcare. We had horrible timing, we got the keys a week after Lilly was born. We actually signed the papers in the hospital, our lender said that was a first for them.

There are still a lot of things we'd like to do, but we're taking them one thing at a time now.
We'll eventually redo the master bath, and we want to put built in bookcases in the dining room (example below). We'll put raised beds in the garden, new counter tops in the kitchen and a new stove (I really love gas ranges). We need new carpet throughout and still need to paint a room or two. I'm sure all of this will take us years to finish, but all of the priority work is done.

The house was in really good shape, the previous owners took great care of it. Most of the work we'll do is just stuff to make the house our own.

Our New House

Sibling love

Lilly can't do much yet, but Eli constantly asks for his Brother to lay down by him.
Yes, we have some confusion over who is the brother and who is the sister!

I'm excited about our latest Goodwill find, a wooden kitchen.
I had looked at them new and after recovering from sticker shock I decided our plastic one was good enough (also from Goodwill). I found the stove/sink first, and went back the next week and found the matching refrigerator. I love Goodwill and now it's just around the corner.

Hillsboro Airport Open House

Lake View Pumpkin Patch

Tools and Bikes

Eli is such a good helper, he wants to be involved in everything we do. Here he's helping Ben put the computer into our built in shelving. I'll have to post a picture later, it came out beautiful, you can't see any of our electronics when all of the doors are closed. Ben even ran the cable under the house.

We also got a bike trailer, and I got a bike, so we can go on family bike rides. It's nice my Mom is still here, because Lilly is still too small to come with us. She'll have to wait until next summer.

A few more pics

Dinosaurs

Eli cracks me up all the time.

Earlier today we were looking at plastic dinosaurs and he was asking the names of all the different ones

I'm no expert so I was looking for their names on the bottom, triceratops........

Anyways, one didn't have a name so I handed it back and told him "this one just says Made in China".

There were several that looked similar so he says "oh, here's Mommy Made in China and Daddy Made in China, and Baby Made in China".

Sneak Peak

My brother Chris did portraits of the kids all day today, here's a couple of favorites.

Home Repairs

Pirates

Eli went to Sterling's Pirate Party and had a wonderful time!