Downstairs Bathroom: Before & After

The before picture really doesn't show how nasty this bathroom was.  The flooring was disgusting!!!  Here's the before -

Here's the after-

Octoberfest

My parents had their annual Octoberfest.  We were all ready for some Halloween fun!

 My mom had everything all set up, including goodie bags.  She's the best!

 We played a few games - Don't eat frank and Halloween bingo.

 We painted pillow cases to use as trick-or-treat bags.  Keller and Vance both had more fun with this activity than I thought they would.

 The finished product -

 Logan got paint all over his clothes.  David didn't want to let him hang out in his underwear so his only option was Vance's pajama pants.  They looked like small capris but Logan wore them anyway.  He looked hilarious!

 Keller spent a lot of the evening watching Hotel Transylvania.  At the end they have a music video thingy.  Keller was obsessed with it.  He had us watch it again and again and again.  Then he started dancing and made everyone dance with him.   

 It was HILARIOUS!!!

 For dessert I made ice cream cookie sandwiches.  I bought different kinds of cookies and ice cream and let everyone create their own masterpieces.  

 They were a hit!

Thanks Mom and Dad for a fun evening.  The Octoberfest never disappoints!

Home projects

 We have started round 2 of the home improvement projects.  Our house is a disaster but I'm excited about making progress.  The latest projects are bathroom floor - 

 fireplace - 

 and stairs -

Vance loves a good home project.  He is Chad's shadow.  He would drive me nuts but Chad is so patient with him.  He lets Vance help when he can and when he can't Vance just watches.  Here he is learning how to use a drill -

 Keller on the other hand is more like me.  He found the one clear spot on the rug and took a nap :)

Hopefully I'll have pictures of the finished product before too long!

Pumpkin Patch

I took the boys to a pumpkin patch.  They had a blast!

Vance wanted to take a picture as a scarecrow -

 Then Keller wanted one.  This cracks me up!!! 

 The boys played and played and played in the bounce houses and slides.

 I thought Keller might be afraid but he didn't hold back.  He hung with Vance and did everything he did.  When he wasn't quite big enough to climb up something, Vance would help push him up and then they would move on.

 They had a small petting zoo too.  Keller was content to watch from the outside while Vance went in at first.  Then eventually he wanted to go in too.  

 Vance rode the ride a few times -

Then we headed home with our pumpkins. Pumpkin patch success!

VIP

Vance was chosen to be the VIP in his kindergarten class for the week.  He was very, VERY excited.  So excited that he could hardly ever remember "VIP."  Most of the time it was "VMP" or "IGV" or some other combination of letters.

As VIP he got to bring home Mickey in the special VIP bag for a week.  The teacher gave him instructions to wash Mickey on the gentle cycle and Vance was ADAMANT about it.  His teacher is turning him into quite the germaphobe.  

He usually isn't into stuffed animals but he loved having Mickey sit on his shoulders throughout the week.

 Vance also got to select 8 pictures to put up on the bulletin board.  I gave him tons to chose from and these were the 8 he selected.  It was cute to see which pictures he wanted.  He definitely did a good job of representing how active he is!

 He also filled out a quick questionnaire

I love - mom

I like me because - I'm fast

My favorite food - ice cream. Hobby - camping.  Color - green.

I'm good at - gymnastics

When I grow up - cop.

Name - Vance, Age - 5, Weight 50 lbs, Height 43"

 He had to keep a journal of what he did with Mickey throughout the week. They were supposed to decorate the page so I gave him some stickers and crayons and let him go to town.  Here's what he came up with -

At school he got to be the line leader and could sit in the special VIP desk.  His favorite part was that he didn't have to share any of crayons, scissors, glue with anyone.  He was so excited about the desk he asked me to stay late after school so I could come see it.  :)

We're so proud to have VIP in the family!

Pink

I love pink.  I thought it was something I would outgrow, but that is definitely not the case with me.  I would still choose to have everything pink if I could.  So you can imagine how excited I was when Chad brought these home for me -

Pink tennis balls!  

Thanks hubby - you're the best!!!

PS - I'm pretty sure I play better with my new pink balls :)

Trampoline Sleepover

Vance has been asking to sleep on the trampoline ever since we set it up but the weather has to be just right for trampoline sleepovers.  Finally the weather and our schedules aligned and we had our long awaited family sleepover (yes, even me) on the trampoline.  

First the boys carried all of the blankets and pillows onto the trampoline.  Even Keller tried to help!

 Then I had Chad snap a quick picture of me and the boys to prove I was part of the fun too.  Just look closely at the boys' faces.  They were so VERY excited!!!

 Then Dad hopped on too and we got comfortable -

 First we watched a quick cartoon on Netflix on the iPad -  

 They we told the boys it was time to close their eyes and go to sleep.  It took about a half hour but they finally crashed, even our biggest boy -

 I on the other hand had no intentions of actually sleeping on the trampoline so I took a few more pictures -

Then I realized it would probably be too cold to let the boys sleep out there all night.  I woke up Chad and we took our sleeping boys into their beds and cleaned up the blankets.  The boys didn't even really care the next morning.  I think the real thrill is getting to fall asleep out on the tramp.

Now we're off the hook for trampoline sleepovers until spring!