It's Halloween Night, Tonight!

Little pumpkin french toast

Costume parade at Campbell's school

Papa Murphy's pumpkin pizza for dinner

Our neighbor's the P's over for dinner before Trick or Treating

Campbell was a princess during the day at school, but after dinner she dug around in the costume bin and added a silly wig and ladybug wings to her costume.  Ladybug princess? Blake was SUPER BLAKE! Couldn't decide which super hero he wanted to be, so I added a 'B' to the Hulk body and he had a Superman cape and Captain America shield. Hodgepodge this year all around!

Getting ready to head out for the night....

   

Cracks me up. Blake was nervous about going up to  the first house, so he hid behind the bushes and wouldn't go to the door.  Pretty soon, he was sprinting to each house YELLING "full speed ahead!" And frequently commenting, "I can do this all night!"

The kids had a blast running with the P kids from house to house. Campbell was quite the Chatty Cathy, complimenting people on their pumpkins and decorations at each house. Don't know why Blake decided this was the night to start taking responsibility for his allergies, but out of no where after saying Trick or Treat, he'd inform the person handing out candy that he was allergic to peanuts and asking "Does this have nuts?" Pretty funny. We hadn't talked about this before hand, but I was planning on swapping out his peanut candy for safe candy for him. He just decided to take matters into his own hands! 

Neighborhood friends: 

  

Checking out the haul

Heading to bed after a great night. 

 

October

 

Bad idea but funny they can both squeeze in there.

This boy loves spaghetti. Also discovered he wants his soup right out of the can....no heating required. Now that's an easy lunch! Plus he gets tons of vegetables in his favorite minestrone.

 

School has been a rough start. I was fully prepared for the Spanish immersion to be a tough transition. The full day has really thrown her for a loop too. She misses her Mama. She's also experiencing some anxiety, but the teacher has been very understanding and accommodating, which I'm very thankful for. But the worst part....starting from the first day of school a girl was BULLYING her! The first day of school Campbell came home and told me this girl said Campbell's name was dumb.  Campbell stood up for herself by saying, "You may be all Fancy Nancy, but you are totally rude." I was so proud of her for standing up. The name calling (dumb, ugly, stupid, weird) continued every day and when it progressed to Campbell's hair being pulled and the girl pushing Campbell over is when I talked to the teacher. Senora W didn't realize that was going on and put a quick end to it. It took Campbell quite a while to recover.  She just wanted to play with that girl and didn't understand why that girl was so mean. I tried to coach and try to get her to focus her efforts on playing with other kids on the class. I felt so bad for Campbell. What a rough start to kindergarten. My poor baby. I feel horrible and also quite mad. I am VERY thankful that Campbell told me about what was going on.

Mama's helper

Our house is covered in box elder bugs. The kids have a blast spraying them off the walls with water.

Happy half birthday Blake! 3 and 1/2! Celebrating by making chocolate chip muffins.

Cute things Blake has said lately: 

• But mom! You are my best mom ever! 
• On way to his first trip to the dentist. "Essentially, I don't like the dentist." He did great though. I wasn't sure what to expect since on Campbell's first visit she refused to open her mouth. He just sat there with his mouth wide open the whole time. Good job Blake!
• Blake: "Why does Santa live at the North Pole?" Me: "I don't know, you'll have to ask him." Blake: "Do you know his phone address?"
• "No indeed!" Can't remember the context of this one, but cute!

Pumpkin Carving

Eeeewwww! That feels weird!

Daddy brings out the power tools....

  

Blake wanted a truck

Campbell's very own design....a sleeping kitty cat

Closing Up

Kids were so excited to see the first snow of the season at Nana & Papa's!

We picked up Jim & headed up to the cabin. Because the bedrooms/loft were all cleared out to do flooring, this is what the living room looks like. 

And these are our deluxe sleeping arrangements.

Loft looks so nice! Just need it sanded & sealed.

Random picture. How did I get Starbucks at the lake? 

Finished insulating and put down the floor. Started paneling the ceiling and walls. Fresh cedar smells so good!

 

Called in the chimney expert, Garet. 

  

  

Started working on sanding the floors. Think we're going to have to rent a big floor sander for the loft. This took forever by hand. I think I can still feel my hand vibrating.

Woke up to this on Sunday.....Mother Nature is telling us it's time to close up and head out!

   

   

Campbell had a fun weekend at Grammy & Papa's cabin. She wrote 'Obie' starting with each letter of the alphabet. And below that a picture of Peanut. She is OBSESSED with those dogs! 

  

Finished oiling the guest bedroom floor just as we were heading out. Love the rich color!

Goodbye for a while cabin! We sure enjoy visiting you! 

Grand total for the season: First weekend up April 7th/last weekend October 27th. Out of those 30 weekends, we were at the cabin 24!!!! We were home for only 6 weekends for the entire spring, summer & fall. Of those 6 weekends at home, Gabe had been traveling for work so wasn't even home the whole weekend. 

From home to the dock at the marina is 266 miles. 532 miles round trip. 12,768 miles. For a little reference, it's 2,776 miles from NY to LA. So that's like driving from coast to coast just over 4.5 times. Good thing we all enjoy each other's company so much!

Llama Llama

The kids like these books:

  

So I had lines running through my head during Blake's preschool field trip to a llama farm.... 'Baby Llama what's the tizzy! sometimes Mama's very busy!'

Look Mom, I'm walking a llama!

 

Blake spent most of the time feeding hay to the llamas. They liked him.

Getting a llama kiss