New Attic Space

 Just a little mess, compared to the messes that we have seen come through this house! Marcus took a couple of days and installed an attic drop-down, so that we have greater access to the attic. We have a nice, spacious attic, but the entry was just a tiny rectangle measuring no more than 1 foot by 2 feet. I have no idea how my husband squeezed himself through that hole, but he has done it. Now we can lay attic flooring and move the majority of things we have stored in various places, all into one common area. No more climbing over boxes to find things. No more tight squeezes. Hallelujah!

This is the only attic access point that we had. If you can use the stuffed animals and light fixture as something to compare the size, you can see that this opening could not meet our needs!

 

 The initial mess and the uninstalled drop-down stairs.

 

He got through the ceiling with only one casualty...the globe to the hallway light.

 



 

Finished product

Pink

 

 We have enjoyed some left over remnants of the red Pebbles hair coloring in Lottie's hair after our Trunk or Treat adventures. The photos do not do it justice at all, but Lottie's hair has been pink for weeks! So much for "temporary" spray hair dye. We feel like she was channeling Jem and the Holograms or Cyndi Lauper just a bit. I love a stroll down memory lane.
 



Clementine: 4 months

 

 

 

Our sweet babe is four months old and quite the active little bug. She squeals and laughs at all of us, especially her siblings. She shakes her rattles and whacks her bouncy seat toys, sending them spinning. The girl has an arm on her! She chews on everything she can, mostly her thumb that has gotten stuck inside her sleeve. She loves to be held, but has grown a bit weary of strangers. She has just started staying in the nursery at church. She is still exclusively nursing all day and night it seems, 6-7 times each day and 2 times each night. I will sleep when she is in college.

 





Leaves



 

When this is what we see of the mammoth tree in our side yard, we know what time it is!! Leaf raking time!! Our children talk fondly of it throughout the end of summer in anticipation of the upcoming season. The kids actually look forward to it, because they know that we give them the day to play in all of the huge leaf piles that they work hard creating. We have A LOT of trees in our yard. With the fall season, our entire yard becomes covered in leaves. Usually the first weekend in November means yard work. It never really feels like work because everyone wants a turn with the  rake. Would you believe that we only have one rake? We will surely be investing in several more for next year. After all of the leaves are in piles, we load as many into the back of Dad's truck and haul to the bone fire pile. When every leaf (as best as we can get) are in the pile, that night we light them ablaze. The kids love to try to roast marshmallows and make smores, but the fire has to die down first. This is one of the most enjoyable parts of autumn.

 



 

Hay 2016

Although we did not have a hayride this year, we did get our traditional overalls in the hay photo.

WOW, it amazes me that there are TEN people in this photo! 

Cotton 2016



This year it was much too hard to choose just one picture. We continued on with out cotton picture tradition. I think they might be the cutest kids on earth!!

 



Trunk or Treat

 

 

 This was the year of the DIY costumes.

It is always much more fun when you can make it yourself...SAID NO ONE EVER!

Nonetheless, we threw some things together and here is what we came up with!

 

**Our minion refused to be photo'd after this due to

goggle malfunction, general fatigue and sugar overload. 

 

 

 Pebbles and Bam Bam

 

 A Gumball Machine

 

 A cat and mouse

 

 A bat

 

Luke Skywalker (Return of the Jedi)