Shipley

Blake's preschool class has a monkey mascot named Shipley & this weekend it was Blake's turn to take him home for some adventures. Since we are still getting settled, most of our adventures were in exploring the new house, but he is a glimpse of Blake & Shipley's weekend-

 

Meeting Faffey 

Showing Shipley how fast he could ride his bike down the sidewalk in our front yard!

 

Shipley helped everyone be brave getting flu shots/mists.

Bailey drew a picture of us in our under-the-stairs-hideout!

Shipley got to meet my friend John R and we caught this lizard.

We loved having Shipley!



Halloween Preview 2014

This is a big year for me with Halloween as I let go of the family-theme and let everyone be what they want. It was time, but still a bit sad. If you know me then you know that I have done my trail run with costumes and taken pictures because Halloween day is too crazy.  We actually took pictures the day Beau's costume got here, which was before we moved and each kid had to give me 3 minutes to take their pictures.

Here is Chris Kratt (from Wild Kratts) who has activated lion powers. 

A little back story to this is that there were some Witches on Cordova St in our neighborhood and last year they claimed to have kid stew available to try. Bailey could not stop thinking about it all year and she is going to try to scare them this year with this face!

Opitmus Blake

Two things got him interested in transformers- Nana's vintage transformer toys that were once his dad & Uncle Kyle's, but also on the way home from Trail West he got to watch some of the adult video of Transformers, which was on tv in the restaurant we were eating. The fascination has been there ever since.

This girl LOVES foxes and now she gets to be one!

I mean she really, really likes foxes, which kinda suits her because she is pretty sneaky sometimes.

I had no idea what Beau should be for his first Halloween, but Blake had the perfect idea...

Bumblee Bee Transformer to go with him.

And guess who this guy is looking at in this picture? Blake, talk about brotherly love. 

8 days till Halloween and we are definitely getting our money's worth out of these costumes!

Fall Break

Fall Break came at the perfect time this year for me & the kids to get out of town while Luke did the updates on the new house, but we were actually headed up there anyways to meet our new cousin Caroline!!! Tara had the great idea of having cousin pictures taken and so here they are! Look at that adorable little girl in the middle!

And since my kids were already in nice clothes, I snapped some of the kids with Gigi's pumpkins.

  

Clear Creek Farm animals are always an adventure!

My city girls are country girls at heart.

Beau getting some time with my Nana.

This is my cousin Maryann and we got to hang out with her little guy Sam and catch bugs.

  

 

Uncle Andrew

Nothing like some good ole fun with family on the farm. 

Construction & Moving In Pictures

It will be awhile before life returns to normal and the house is at a good stopping place, but here's a glimpse of the last 2 weeks of our life. None of this would be possible without the help we have had from SOOO many people- sharing in the excitement, watching kids, bringing meals, homeschooling Bailey, taking & picking up kids from preschool, help with packing, help with construction (did I mention Luke did almost all of this himself?), help with moving, help with unpacking, cleaning the old house, & running errands for me. Many hands definitely make less work and we are so thankful for our friends!

These are just some of the moments I caught along the way.

Kitchen Before

Dining Room Before

Stairs Before

Beau just hanging on in the new breakfast nook

Master Bedroom Before

Master Bathroom before

The ceilings in the entryway- that is half-popcorn & half texture.

Picking out wood for the stairs

Prepping the stairs

Living Room

Kitchen

Mr. Craig helping out one day

Scrapping popcorn, texturing, and painting

Blake& Beau's room

Decorating the front door with pumpkins

Mud Room/Laundry Room Shelves

New Carpet

New Outlet Covers

Kitchen cabinets getting primed

Kitchen cabinets getting painted

Before/During of the Living Room

Another look

Moving Day

Grandpa came in to help with the playscape

I love borrowing other people's moving boxes.

One of our housewarming gifts.

Yesterday was our day to be out of our old house and it felt like a photo finish, but now we can focus on our new house. And here's where we are today-

Blake & Beau's room

Blair's room

Luke's office

Mudroom/Laundry Room

Under the stairs hide-out

More after pictures to come eventually...