Genentech Party

Last night was Genentech's Halloween party. Abra was REALLY excited!! She got to see her friends and show off her beautiful princess costume.

To the left, Bobbilee and Abra are holding hands waiting for costume contest.

To the top, Carl (her betrothed) are coloring after going through the haunted house.

Orange, really

Monday there is an extra garbage pick-up day so I decided to get the curtains in the family room taken down. Underneath the whatever color that is I found the original paint job!

Weekend fun

I got a call Thursday night asking if we wanted visitors. I said OF COURSE!! I know that all of my local friends are tired of hearing and seeing my house:) So, Friday night, Jim, Dorothy, Ethan and Andrew arrived on our doorstep. It was a COMPLETE surprise for Abra and she didn't know what to think!! Friday night was spent playing and playing and playing!!

Like most celebrations, there was a dance on Saturday night. Ethan and Abra were HILARIOUS!! They started dancing and then Ethan tried to "dip"her and they fell over!! They figured out the whole dipping problem by Abra just looking up at the ceiling. Then they started to twirl eachother!! It was GREAT!! I can't figure out how to uplaod videos, but it is on facebook if you want to see!

After the dance, it was TRANSFORMERS time!! Ethan got ready by getting his guns out.

Cookie time

A few weeks ago, I got to some fun cookie cutters from Ikea. There is a moose, fox, squirrel, porcupine, and some other things that I don't remember. Last week was just wet and yucky, so we invited Bobbie Lee over to make Halloween cookies and funny animal cookies.( I also made 2 pumpkin pies and 2 apple pies) It was a great fun day!!

Pumpkin time

Our neighbor gave Abra a pumpkin for Halloween. It wasn't really big enough to carve (plus she doesn't get to do much of the creative work) so this morning we got the paints out and I let her paint her pumpkin.

After it was dry, she wanted to put the halloween foam stickers all over the painted pumpkin.

What a weekend!

Saturday I decided to make pies. In total I made 7 pies and have enough stuff to make at least 4 more pies!!

Abra helped the first batch and then had a great time playing in the flour. She quickly got bored and decided to go to the backyard and "work" with daddy.

Sunday we went to church and then the real fun began!! Rich and Rick decided at "drunk campfire" the night before that they were going to cut trees down. Our yard looks HUGE with these trees gone (and there are more things that are waiting to get cut down)

Here is the five in one tree that they cut down

The winch got it's first real use

And now look at that space. This is going to be where my garden will be next spring.

Any of you who have seen the backyard know that there are TONS of trees. My goal is get rid of most of the trees and bushes in the backyard and replace them with fruit trees and bushes and a little larger grass space. This tree was one that Rich didn't want to cut down, but again, at the drunk campfire, it was decided that he would suprise me and cut it down. We got both trees cut up and this week (in between raindrops) are going to be chipping the branches and cutting some of the larger branches for firewood!

Friends

We had the old neighborhood friends over to play/show off the house. It was a great time since there was NO school for the older ones and Mc Donald's for lunch! I forgot to get pictures (and trust me, they enjoyed the playroom!) But thank you for everyone coming over to play. We will have to do it again or Abra and I can "go into town"

Busy Sunday

Rich and I both had our own To Do lists yesterday and got alot done!!
Rich spent his time outside Here is the the overgrown bushes behind the house:

Here is the after:

And my project was the kitchen. I painted the ceiling and the walls. First the before:

And the after:

Fall harvest

Granted it isn't MY fall harvest, however, yesterday Abra and I had a mission to buy apples, pears and tomatoes! Mission was accomplished, however not as cheap as I was hoping, but still there is nothing better then taking fresh food and canning or freezing for those cold winter nights:)

Also, we had to return some things that we borrowed from our friends and pick-up this fabulous rug that they gave to us because it made their house too dark. I am still trying to make the SEVERAL different shades of brown mesh together, but the rug instantly warmed up the room and made it feel useful. Now if I could only get a free flat screen TV my room would be complete:)

New LOVESEAT

I got my new loveseat today. Sadly, the matching couch is on backorder, but that will give me PLENTY of time to figure out what the heck I am going to do in that room!!! I thought there was going to be too much extra space, but turns out, I might feel a little overwhelmed with my new space!! Here is the loveseat and Abra so fabulously modeling. I think that I am going to seriously enjoy being able to STRETCH OUT on either piece of furniture!! Now, what is the BEST way to arrange so everything looks great!!!

Playroom

Today's task was getting boxes unpacked or moved to their proper rooms and getting the playroom set up! I am getting much closer to being FULLY moved into my house. At our Ikea trip, I broke down and bout this really cool shelf. It actually cost more then the bookshelf in this room and I think that is better and took less time to put together!! Now this room isn't done, as you can tell by my computer desk, but I am hoping to paint this room in the next few weeks. I was thinking a chocolate brown and copy the idea of dots from my friend Lauren's playroom. Rich told me no, but I might do it anyway:) I am taking other ideas of colors for this room!!

Rich's Fun

Rich bought a new ax last week and tested it out by chopping two trees down in the backyard. Well, on Saturday, he got to use another toy..I mean tool, to clean up his mess...the chainsaw!!! He then made himself a fire pit to burn the scrap branches that couldn't be used as firewood.

Is my kid retarded?

So. Abra has been "gardening" in the backyard. Cute, right. Well, lately she has been "tasting" her garden. (aka eating the leaves and berries of bushes and trees we don't know what they are!!) Dispite several attempts to discourage this behavior, she still does it!!! I don't know what else to do next to dig everything up or never let her outside!

No carpet

Alright, none is not correct, but I pulled the carpet in the hallway and living room, the pad and all the staples BY MYSELF!! So proud!! I even hauled the carpet out to the trailer!! Rich was very impressed. So, here is the fabulous room!!

Okay, the room actually looks bigger then the picture gives credit. My camera is running on no battery power, but I had to get this out:)

THE HOUSE

I have some MAJOR catching up to do!!!

Tuesday, September 23

We got the keys!!!I added the sold sign, becuase they don't do that anymore:(

Thursday, September 25

We (JT, Abra and I) painted Abra's room PRINCESS PINK!!Abra picked the color out!

Then that night, Rich and co-workers loaded almost the whole house up (which was good because all the co-workers that were going to help on the weekend ended up working so there was just enough left for Rich and Rick to manage alone!)

Monday, September 28

Abra is TIRED and is feeling neglected so we went to the store and got stickers to decorate her wall in her room and found the things to decorate her bed. To the left is the before and below are the afters. There are more things to be added to her walls, but I can't find my straight pins right now:)

Tuesday, September 29

JT and I got our paint clothes on and PAINTED!!! We painted the living room (waiting to show until after today), the hallway and the master bedroom. Sad note, I found out that the master was prepped for hardwood, but it was never laid down:( We are going to deal with the carpet and save up to have hardwood put in !

after picture before picture

Wednesday, September 30

1) rental house is cleaned and keys turned-over. David didn't see any problems!!

2) went on a little shopping spree because none of our phones worked anymore, so I got new ones. I never did find the ones with the room monitor, but oh well:)

3) I got my washing machine!! It is my first one ever!!

4) We set up the master bedroom today and the frame matches the trim REALLY WELL!!

After Before