Our first Fall in the Valley

 October began with a very fun surprise visit from Haylee's bff Makenna. :)  I knew for a couple weeks before she came and it was hard to keep the secret when we knew how much she was missing her.  Brandon (her Dad) works in Spokane every few months so he brought her over from Bellingham to stay with us while he worked for a few days and it was very fun to have her.  We miss them very much and to see her sweet smile and listen to them laugh and talk the days away was just what we needed to cure a little home sickness we've all been having a touch of since moving.

Even Gavin was thrilled to have a play mate all to himself during the day, they played so well together.

Then.....we had the 24 hr flu bug for this little man it was very sad. :(  I must say though that he was so snugly and sweet I secretly loved every minute except for those when i was catching his vomit in my hands.

So how do we know he's feeling better you ask???  Fire engines in the toilet paper are a sure sign he's playing and back to his old self again. :)

We've also started to tackle a little home preschooling when we can.  He does really well with workbooks but does not love to sit and write so we are trying to be creative. I love how he sticks out his tongue when he concentrates, makes me smile.

We had to take another trip to Hogan's after the Johnson family introduced us to the delicious tuna melts and malts........I'm sure there are many more cravings to come???

A Saturday pit stop at the Spirit Halloween brought us some fun entertainment.  Who's it gonna be folks???? 

Grace's Fall soccer season is now wrapped up and they had an excellent season!  We love the coaches and she is actually going to continue indoor with the same team in Feb then on to Spring season as well.  The coaches say they hope to keep these girls together through high school which is great because there are no complaints after what we saw this fall.  These girls worked their tails off and this being Grace's first time playing they did not go easy on her which is just what she needs sometimes to keep moving!  It's been very fun to watch her and even though the weather got nasty at the end she went out and didn't complain.  We are very proud of her and the progress she made.

 I am mother of the year who did not take one picture of my kids in their costumes this Halloween....yes I know I am lame!  Grace however did get me to take a quick one the night she found her costume so here is the nerd making her best nerd face and Haylee a little freaked out by what her sister has become. ;)  (Haylee was candy corn princess and Gavin went in his warm snow leopard costume.)

We did pumpkins and once again I got action shots but none of the finished product!  What is my deal???  Must be baby brain or something????  Anyway, Grace got all dolled up for carving night....not sure why ripping guts from a pumpkin requires lip stick and eye shadow but whatever! 

 Always one of these poses......not old yet. ;)

Then there's these two, Haylee my neat freak who loves to dig out the insides then Gavin my dirty little boy who feels it and says "ewww that's yucky!"  What?????

Look, even for the gross picture he's still not touching it........funny boy. 

We have loved our neighborhood and the Fall is beautiful where we are.  I love that we can walk out the front door and go for a walk without worry of being hit on a curvy steep road.  I love that even though everything is really close (stores,etc) we can walk around our neighborhood and feel like we are away from that a little bit. 

 Our cute crew!

So last but not least this month I managed to get the majority of the painting done in our kitchen!  With exception of the trim (hopefully this week), wainscoting (next month), and the cupboards (next summer).

This is before we moved in but the only pic of the yellow that I had, so here is before:

 And after: Sherman Williams "Perfect Greige"

 Sort of hard to tell with pictures and lighting but you can see against the white a little better that it's a warm grey with beige undertones.  It's a very pretty color and a big thanks to Aunt Vicki for suggesting it. :)

So I think that about sums it up for October around our house.  Halloween was fun, it was nice to just walk out the front door and go trick or treating. Girls had parties at school and got to wear their costumes so that was fun and something their old school didn't let them do. 

We have had some fun family time with cousins out at the lake enjoying the fall colors.

Justin took Grace to see Needtobreathe for her first concert experience and they had such a great time.  She was so grown up about it and even though she was squished in with all the other adults down on the floor where they had to stand through the whole thing they both came home glowing. :) 

I am about to pop and am feeling very ready for a baby.  Few more weeks and little Paige will be here. :)  We are really trying to soak in this last little bit we have as a 5 person family and I am getting my snuggles in with my boy before his Mom is taken over by a screaming hungry thing that he doesn't quite understand.  I know it will be fun to finally have her here I just can't help but think it bitter sweet that it's been like this for almost 5 years and it's all about to change.  The girls are excited and it will be so fun to see them with her now that they are truly old enough to understand it all.  Besides how great is it that I have little diaper changers and babysitters???? ;) 

So I will try and blog about November before it's next year but who knows what the next few weeks will bring????  Snow!  I know that one for a fact! UGH!!!

September in a nut shell!

September arrived and the kids got to start their new school thank the Lord!! This was a busy, crazy, rough summer and we needed some good routine back in this house. The girls were anxious but got excited after they got to meet teachers and see inside the school.  It is right down the street from us so they get to walk or scooter which is great!  Grace started choir right away and is loving it,she has made some good friends and is also teaching herself guitar. 

1st day of 5th grade!

Haylee has lots of friends and hasn't missed a beat when it comes to being the little social butterfly.  We are

trying to get her to play basketball or something this winter but she's not very confident in that stuff so we'll see.  We got a YMCA family pass when we moved and the kids have all loved swimming throughout the week.   

1st day of 3rd grade.

This little boy is amazing in the water!  We are thinking of doing some official swim lessons this winter to give him some pointers because he loves the deep water, already loves to dive, swims across the whole pool in the 12 ft, but he's so little the life guards all think he's drowning.  Maybe if he knows proper strokes he can have a little more freedom.  This is how he looked on the first day of school. ;)  We like to be in our jammies as long as we can.

After the kids got their school pictures taken by Kristen's amazing friend photographer we all headed out to lunch together for tuna melts and malts! :) It is so fun to live by some family now after so long we are feeling spoiled with all the events we've gotten to see and be invited to. 

Aunt Vicki, River and Stacey

 Kelley and Elle

 The rest of the kiddos.

 Kristen and Tyler

Afterwards the "Sister's Creed" ladies took me shopping with them to some of the fun places they find their treasures for sales and where some of their stuff also gets sold.  We may or may not have also stopped to pig out eat gelato and cupcakes but where else would we get the energy for all that shopping?? ;)

This is one of their sales we drove out to in Sandpoint, Id.  I had never been there and it's GORGEOUS!!  The sale was out of town a little ways in an old grange.  The weather was a bit windy but beautiful and we had fun looking at all the fun things for sale.

Gavin was very fond of the old ice cream stand and asked everyone about 20 times "what can i get you?" :)  He wanted to take it home.

 After looking around town for the afternoon and visiting the lake for a bit we headed out to Vicki's house for some pizza and a bonfire.  Gavin and Elle were fast friends.

Adult table

 Beautiful garden and view.

Ended the night with a warm fire and some yummy ice cream!

We also got a girls night out to attend Riley's school dance/dinner fundraiser.  We had a very fun time and the girls loved seeing her dance. :)  Complete awe when she came out!

 It was a fun night with my girls.

The whole family!

So to wrap up the month we did a little of this:

Gavin and I discovered the Centennial Trail one afternoon and had lunch by the river.

We have spent a lot of time in our backyard just soaking in the fact that we now have one. :)  Jake is a happy dog in the sunshine and the kids head out to the swings/tree house the minute they get home from school.

We have a ton of projects to get done outside but I think we'll wait until next year.  For now we will just enjoy the last bit of warm weather we can get.