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!!!