Halloween fun

Life has been so busy lately that I haven't had time for any normal festive things. In fact, for the Halloween party at school, I had the kids wear their dragon costumes that they have had for 4 years. Luke convinced me that we should get the kids some new costumes, so after school I took the kids to walmart and they picked out some new costumes. Jack chose a vampire, Lily was the Queen of hearts and Josie didn't get anything. She can wear Lily's old dragon costume...

The kids were so thrilled to have new costumes that I sort of felt bad for making them wear the same costumes the last 4 years...

But then when it comes down to it, all they want is candy so does it really matter to spend money on new costumes when they would get candy either way? Luke's work had a trick or treat party and then our neighborhood had some fun trick or treating. I had to run to the ER (again) for a case of strep throat but then I was able to join Luke and the kids for the neighborhood walk.

So much candy in our house now! Funny how much kids love candy...even gross candy like this Halloween house the kids decorated and then didn't even eat because it was so hard.

Coming together

FINALLY! Things are coming together and it finally is starting to feel like a house we can live in. 

It is non stop construction at our house. People are in and out all day, every day. It is hard to feel comfortable in your house when there are so many people coming through. But finally this week we have seen some major changes...

Our custom walnut bar top going in: 

And our custom walnut island table!! Yay!

New cabinets being installed:

What a difference a day makes:

Finally our microwave can move off the floor!

We had to make a trip to Ikea to get the cabinet handles. It is a 90 minute drive and then several hours of shopping. The poor kids were dying. It was the best they could do to play under the Ikea furniture:

And then there is the Ikea ice cream

But within 10 minutes of driving back home, they were all asleep.

Our new walnut table with the Ikea chairs. Starting to look AMAZING!

And then the countertops were installed. It is a dream come true!

Boys camping weekend

Luke and Jack participated in another Volunteers Outdoor Colorado camping trip this weekend. Camping up in the mountains in October! Thankfully it was a super warm weekend, but in the mountains it was also super windy. The adults spent the weekend trail building while the kids got to participate in many adventure:

Meanwhile, the girls and I hung out at home. We went to the Halloween fun run where they give out big ice creams at the end. And we spent the rest of the weekend working on the house.

Lily birthday

Lily was so exited for her birthday this year! We brought cupcakes to school and her teacher made her a special hat to wear:

Lily had a big party for her birthday last year, so this year we told her she would have to do something smaller. She chose to take a couple friends to get their nails done.

Picking out their colors:

 Silly faces

 Finished nails:

And then we spent the afternoon at our favorite brewery with several other friends: 

Afterwards we came back to our house for cake:

Lily really wanted a smash cake like Josie had, but then when it came time to smash her face in it, she didn't want to do it. But that's where big brother came in...

Just as Lily was "politely" smashing her face in the cake, Jack pushed her face in and she was not happy at all... darn big brothers!

All in all it was a fun birthday for a special little girl!

Kids room projects

One of the first projects I tackled in the new house was the kids rooms. The first item was to install the closet organizers so that they could actually reach their clothes. Jack's room was a cinch since his closet was pretty small 

But then I moved on to the girls room. Their closet was bigger and I was trying to install it when all three kids were around (no school day). During the installation process, I had Josie in the room with me with the other two downstairs and ended up hitting my head on the closet ceiling so hard that blood was dripping down my forehead. I took Josie in my room and called Luke who came and took me to the ER. Four staples later...

After being stapled up, I was able to go back and finish the girls closet.

Next step was to start painting the rooms. Lily asked for a fairy theme so I was able to find some fairy stencils online and started by painting the hills

And then we bought Lily a new "big girl" bed for her birthday that we had to put in the room

And then around the bed, I was able to paint all the fairies: 

Lily's old bed looks so small now, and will soon be Josie's bed. 

Fairies all over the room:

Jack's room is much more sophisticated with a clean painting of Horsetooth mountain and his teepee for reading:

Living through renovations

Renovations suck! I vaguely remember people warning me that living through renovations would be tough... but I guess it's one of those things you don't understand until you live through it. 

We moved into our new house with no working kitchen. We had new appliances but the only thing that worked was our refrigerator. I though a refrigerator would be sufficient during renovations but I soon realized that was wrong... 

We severely needed a kitchen sink! Doing dishes in the bathroom was disgusting!

And... we also needed a microwave! That was our first purchase in the new house. Who knew how critical it was to be able to heat up our food....

Renovations are exhausting!

Despite all the business with the house, life still goes on and kids still have their homework and activities. Jack and Lily are both in music lessons and swim team which take up most our afternoons:

My grandpa came to visit and it just so happened that it was national taco day. Like always, I ordered way too much food... Jack ate tacos until he was practically in a coma

Jack, Luke and Papa

Planning out our custom island table was a huge endeavor. Many, many hours of planning and cutting out cardboard templates...

Living through renovations means constant mess:

I attempted to start running again. It has been so long that Josie is not used to being in the stroller. I had to bribe her with not one, but TWO suckers. She fell asleep mid sucker.

that is how exhausted we all are...

Luke marathon

After a busy weekend of moving and going to a concert, Luke had to complete his first marathon. It was a super hot October day and 3,500ft elevation gain...probably one of the hardest marathons, and he crossed the finish line with a smile: 

Actually the only person I saw cross the finish line with a smile...

What an accomplishment!