Halloween Costumes

So here's the costumes. Jacob is a ghost (with a really goofy smile) and Bridget is a fairy. David's boss covered for a couple of hours so we could go trick or treating as a family. The kids had a great time. Jacob kept telling me all day that he was going to say Boo to everybody and scare them. In the end, he barely looked people in the eye and hid behind my legs. We did manage to get him to say trick or treat a couple of times, so I think that's progress with this people-shy little kid.

Jack-o-Lanterns and Heat

David finished the ductwork last night, so now we have heat! We carved our pumpkins (in a nice warm house), and had a great time. I love all the little traditions that give us a chance to do something fun as a family.

Carving away

We told Jacob to draw a face on his pumpkin so we could carve it. He drew 6 or 7 all the way around. 3 year olds are so much fun.

If you look close, you can Jacob's face in the left hand side of the picture. He thought they were really neat.

You'll notice that my pumpkin has a scared face as it is looking at Bridget's pumpkin. That is because it has discovered yet another poopy diaper.

Mud Puddle Study

I did this one last night. The water was actually a lot of fun to do, and I'm getting a better feel for the brushes and how to apply the paint. I've decided that the type of brush you use makes a big difference in how the paint goes on, and that perhaps my WalMart brushes should be replaced by some real artists brushes sometime soon. But until I can get into town, I'm pretty sure I can survive.

First Side

We finished the siding on this side yesterday. It might seem like a small thing, but it's huge for us. Yesterday I came walking down the alley and saw our place from a new perspective, and thought, " Uh, oh. We're WHITE TRASH!" I try to think of it like a butterfly...or just maybe a fly. When we're done it won't be quite as repulsive as the thing it began as.

Sloped Laundry Room

Our laundry room is sloped, so we had a wild and crazy day of leveling it up. We took the windows out so they wouldn't break, and the back door so it wouldn't get stuck. We jacked it up from underneath using a pneumatic bottle jack, and then put in pressurized wood to keep it up. Then we put the windows back in, put in a new door, and went to bed. It was 10:00pm before we were done. This is the before picture.

These two do everything together. It's so fun to see them playing and being friends. The other day Jacob told me that Bridget was his best friend.

Lightning study

I haven't painted for a while, but I had a minute to myself when we were visiting David's family, so I picked up the brushes again. I've missed it. I picked an easier one since I wasn't sure about how I'd do after being out of practice.

Racing the cold

The weather has taken a turn, and it's been cold over here. We've been working like mad to try to get the heating system in before it gets worse. Over the last 3 days we've relocated and cut out floor vents, attached the boots (believe it or not I can work a drill now), built and ran insulated ductwork under the house, built return airvents, and the stackpipes that go in the walls. We figure we've got 2 more days of work until we can have the heater reconnected, but it's going to be a bit delayed.

Tomorrow we're going to Boise for a few days for a medical seminar. We had been planning all spring and summer to ride the greenbelt with our kids during this trip, but it's supposed to rain, with a high of 48, so we won't be doing that until next year. Bad luck!

When we get back we have to delay the heating system a few more days so David can jack up the back corner of the house. It slopes down toward the back corner and we'd like to have it straight before we put the siding on. The reason we have to do it right now is because we have to take the windows out to do it, and this is the only time David has a few days in a row to do it. The weather is cold, so we have to do it as quickly as possible.

I'm really looking forward to getting through the madness and having a little more family time. Hopefully by the end of October. Some days I feel like I've jumped on a bicycle that's going down a really steep hill. It keeps going faster, but I don't dare jump off. Help meeeeeee!