Oh my gosh! I found so, so many pictures from October and I was quickly reminded how crazy BUSY we were that month. Packing and going all over the place. I'm going to "try" to give you the quick and the dirty because it's approaching midnight and I want to be asleep well before 2 AM unlike last night. I'm a glutton for Christmas punishment apparently.
Our very own King Julians!
Oh yeah, I remember home schooling now! ;)
Brooke decked out the kitchen with decorations for Stella's 8th birthday.
A week later it was Brooke's 12th birthday and that night we had a party for both girls. That's a lot of bang for the buck!
This hammock was one of her presents. It was a hit!
#jealous
Birthday Party Time!!
Mid month we tried out a new pumpkin patch. We were kind of disappointed because every attraction required multiple tickets which when you have multiple kids, it gets expensive quickly. We will try a different place next time.
Littlest Sister was ready for a nap.
My salvage window from the antique store worked perfectly.
Ellie's bio mom painted her toe nails during the visit. Ellie is so shy during the visits that she sat perfectly still while she got painted. Shy and still would be lovely now and again. Crazy toddlers!
We finally got a zoo membership again. We didn't get one last year because, well, you can only do so much at one time. It was new all over again and we enjoyed it greatly.
We learned the origin of the term "White Elephant" gift.
See the explanation here.
Awwww!! Cuteness factor was off the charts!
Our zoo it awesome! One of the best!!
This kid is a crack up!
I want a hippopotamus for Christmas...only a hippopotamus will do...
That.face.
Yikes!
Nash's face kills me! He hasn't been wearing his glasses because his good ones broke and the others we have do not fit with his bike helmet and they were perpetually foggy because this active boy never stays still. In January, we are using our vision insurance to get a better pair that works with his active life. He probably will rebel but I'm willing to use candy as an incentive. 😏
I can't help myself..."It's kind of hot in these rhinos!"
Our girls FNE Timberwolves went trail riding. The weather was perfect and it was so much fun!
Stephanie and Brian's first house! It's so darn cute and perfect for them!
They closed at the end of September and then we closed on our farm the next month. My parents have been busy! Do you love the pink in the main living space??!!
Oh, Chief, you are the cutest!
One Saturday I ditched Mark and the kids and went to their house to see what I could help with. We ended up at a few garage sales and then we did get a little trim painted. My sister and I talked more than we painted, but it was a lot of fun. It was a much needed break from my norm.
So we had a FNE girls' camp out scheduled long before we knew we were closing on Oct. 31st. This camp out was the Friday, Saturday, and Sunday before we closed on Halloween Monday. Seriously.
Well, it ended up that the mom that was supposed to chaperone with me backed out days before we were scheduled to go. I scrambled to make other arrangements, but none could be made because everyone had other plans on the books. Mark and I decided that we'd take a break from packing and take our family. It was a great decision as the weekend weather was picture perfect.
Inside the cabin. It has bathrooms and showers!
An oven, microwave and refrigerator.
Lovely family hike. It was fine, but everyone was at least mildly cranky and some more than others. 😏
"I not like it!"
"Horsey ride, Luke!!"
I will take credit for suggesting we take along our pumpkins to carve. I don't know why I feel we have to have one per kid when we buy them, but when it's time to carve, I'm always second guessing that plan.
Stella took this picture while I was helping with her pumpkin.
I printed templates off the Internet which is so handy for us non-artistic types.
We returned home from our camping adventure Sunday afternoon and then went to the closing on Monday morning, followed by a Halloween party in the evening. Just thinking back makes me tired!!
Our very own "Judy Hopps" from Zootopia. Pinterest inspiration...
Nash's SWAT team was a Costco purchase. His face...again...always...He is a hoot!!
An identity thief!! We found a vending machine costume Brooke desperately wanted to be, but our October was so booked we ran out of time to work on it.
Jake from State Farm was very popular Halloween night. My parents ended up pulling the hands free phone and headset out of a drawn at their house. Score!
Our sweet, troublesome toddler butterfly.
Ellie and her big Sis, A.
The entourage...15 people deep at least and that's not counting the half dozen sitting around the fire handing out candy!
Brooke, Luke and I volunteered at a local ministry, Matthew 25 and ran into cousin Joe. So fun!
They do so many wonderful things there, but we just helped with sorting clothes. This picture was actually from Election Day. We hope to go back soon when things "settle down". I think that is a joke a like to tell myself... A coping mechanism of sorts. 😔
In October, Stella began tutoring with an amazing woman named Kim. She is a gift from Heaven. She is trained in the Orton-Gillingham approach which is...
" Orton-Gillingham is an instructional approach intended primarily for use with persons who have difficulty with reading, spelling, and writing of the sort associated with dyslexia. It is most properly understood and practiced as an approach, not a method, program, system or technique. In the hands of a well-trained and experienced instructor, it is a powerful tool of exceptional breadth, depth, and flexibility."
We have not taken Stella for any sort of official diagnosis, but the many different ways I've tried to "skin" the reading cat have lead to frustration and then eventually stalled progress. I found Kim from a home school friend and she is worth her weight in gold. Stella loves her positive, bubbly personality and her cats that she gets to play with when her session is over or for a break. We take her on Monday and Wednesday mornings and Stella is making great progress which has lifted a HUGE weight off my shoulders.
Cosmo is Stella's favorite buddy. He usually falls asleep in some funny location in the office. Stella LOVES going so this is a win-win!!
We joined the YMCA again after taking break for a few years. Nash was in desperate need of swim lessons so he and Stella (who just needs some fine tuning) share a 30 minute private lesson one day a week.
So that's the short and the long of October. I have more pictures still of November (of course!!) and then our pre-Christmas cruise that we took with my parents!! Give me until January and I'll have lots to tell about our biggest Christmas surprise yet. It's going to be epic. 😄
Hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and I'll see you back here soon!
xoxo,
Katie
