Autumn flare!

I have said time and time again all last week, "The leaves are just so beautiful!!!"  I think I admire them more than ever this year.  Maybe it's because we didn't put up much fall decor here in the basement.  :)  The outside is just full of color and the colors that are my all time favorite!!!  I love the oranges and yellows and browns.  I jokingly asked a friend how I can keep our new home from not being all in fall colors!!!  It's the time of year that is so colorful and my eye goes to these colors when it comes to picking out paint colors.

Talking about paint colors had me in a tissy the other week.  I so want the right color for our 'main color' in our new home.  Because of our open floor plan, I will probably not be one of those with a ton of different colors in my house.  So, I want to make sure that the one main color is one that I will love!  For a really long time.  I want a neutral tan color.  I've been searching pinterest but I think when it comes down to it, I will just have to put some colors on the walls and pick from there!  I was nervous that I didn't have all my colors picked out yet, especially my main color, but then I talked to our painter.  He's so easy to work with and he suggested to paint some samples on the walls and then choose.  I like that idea!!!

The house is busy these days!!!  Guys are in and out all day long working on getting our home completed before Christmas!!!  I stopped in today and they were spakling inside, working on the porch roof outside and blowing insulation upstairs!!!  When it rained yesterday, they worked in the garage and hung some peg board.  Some doors were put in place!  The dry wall guys are busy making so much dust and dirt but should be finished soon!!! 

The other night we went over to the house and scrapped off the rest of our old bedroom wallpaper.  The kids had a real blast with it while we jammed out on Hadassah's chic music.  Jamie Grace songs crack me up and it put us right into the working mode.  :)

I can't wait to start seeing the inside of the house get completed.  So far it has been framing, measuring, windows, insulation, dirt, bricks laid, dry wall and trim.  It all takes time but I can't wait for the flooring, painters, kitchen and fixtures to be installed!!!  :)  That's when it will be crazy for me but so much fun!!!  To go through all my decor and sort out what we will use and then put it all in place once again will be so much fun!!!  It will all happen here in a few short weeks!!!  Right between the two busiest holidays of the year ... but, hey, we do it when it's ready, right?!?  We hope the whole project keeps going right on schedule!  So far things have ran along so smoothly! 

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I can just watch Austin grow right before my eyes!  Just this week he started to hold a toy in his hands and put it to his mouth.  When I feed him, he puts his hands up by his bottle and acts like he can hold it himself.  He can't yet.  He is so happy but especially in the morning!  He coos and coos!  He smiles so much!  He loves any attention!  We love him so much!

Ashlyn got a little bit more loved on this week than normally!  Last Friday a little three year old girl was killed by a farming accident.  She had long hair like Ashlyn has.  Her family loved her just as much as we love Ashlyn I'm sure!!!  It is yet another reminder for us to love our children and shower then with kisses and hugs and words of affection!  They are so precious!  Ashlyn loves to play game after game of marbles!  She's good at it!  She wins!

Matthew is loving school this year.  He's learning.  He's reading.  He's doing his work well.  He also loves to be with his daddy.  He's been a real helper at the house!

Hadassah just finished up the volleyball season at school.  They had their last game yesterday!  Her team won every season game!!!  They were so much fun to watch play!  They set well and bumped great and spiked hard.  Their serves were great too!!!  The team really missed Anna on Friday night though.  (It was Anna's cousin that was killed in the farming accident.)  The girls just didn't play very well.  It was hard to focus with knowing how deeply Anna's family was grieving!  Hadassah did get a trophy for being the MVP player of their team!!!  She plays hard and is really good!!!  We are so proud of her!!! 

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I put in my first Christmas CD in this morning while I cleaned!!!  You may call me crazy if you would like but I love Christmas music and the season is just too short!!!  Christmas is only eight weeks away!  I went shopping the other day and the store was full of Christmas decor and candles and glittery things!!!  It must have gotten me in the mode for some Christmas songs!

 

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We all ate lunch on Saturday in our bedroom while we worked at the house!

 

Mike was is impressed of Hadassah playing skills!!!

Our darling little miss!!!  She's so adorable and Hadassah curled her hair all up for fun!!!

Here is Matthew on a class field trip! 

And the little guy that loves all my attention!!!  :)))

 

4 months old

To sit down and blog right now is just down right tough.  I wish it wouldn't be that way but is.  Why?  Maybe because our Internet service is bad here in the basement and to always use my hot spot on my phone drains all the battery!  Maybe because this week has been crazy to go get things for the house.  We NEED to order our fireplace and sofa's.  Mike and I went racing over to Ephrata the other night to look at some but they didn't have what we will need.  So now we need to go look elsewhere tomorrow.  Maybe it's hard to find time to blog because we were also shopping for furniture.  We have used the same sofa set for fourteen years and it really needs replaced.  But what do we get?  We went from one store to the next and we know that if we don't order something soon we will move into our house without a sofa seat!  :(  (It's such a good feeling to know our weeks are counting down to our move in day!!!)  Also, the cabinet maker needs my washer and dryer specs so Ashlyn and I went looking for a front loader set yesterday.  I was looking at paint colors too because the painters will need my color choices here soon.  All this takes up so much time but we are enjoying the ride!  :)  We've had so many people say to us, "Well, you guys are probably at the stage with this remodel job where you are in need of some counseling!"  We kinda laugh and respond back, "We decided to not make it that way!!!"  There are so many choices that need to be made and decisions daily but Mike and I both try to focus on our blessings and not always having or getting it "my way".  Plus, we do really think alike in most areas!!!  I'm not saying that it is always easy or fun, no I would love to have Mike home more evenings instead of us here in the basement and him over working at the house, but it's temporary!!!  Maybe another reason for blogging to be hard right now is that we have a fun four month old baby that loves our time and we love giving it to him.  Also, I hate typing with just one hand and so when he's napping, that's when I need to blog.  So, with all those excuses, I tend to make a quick post here.  :))))

Austin turned four months this week.  I can hardly believe that he's that old already!  He's calmed down a lot since birth.  When people asked me if he is a good baby I wasn't always sure what to say.?.  It takes me a little while to figure out my newborn cries.  Hungry?  Tired?  To get them on a feeding schedule does not happen overnight.  I thought he was a good baby but he did seem to cry a lot.  Maybe all babies do?  I think I was more on edge here in the basement because I didn't want his crying to disturb dad's upstairs.  He is so happy now and still loves to lay on the floor and kick and coo and now pull at his toys on his gym set.  He calmed down 100% in his car seat!!!  Yes!!!  Boy, those days were stressful when we had to put him in his car seat!  He hated it!  Now, he plays with some toys.  Or just sits there and enjoys the ride!  It's much better!!!  Yesterday, when I picked up Hadassah at school after volleyball practice, I got the car seat out of the Yukon when we got back home.  She said, "Oh, I didn't even know Austin was along."  :)

  We play marble's so much!  Ashlyn is really good at it!

He is at 5 oz. of formula each feeding.  His sleeping during the night has gotten much better too!  I just love it when I can get a full nights rest!!!  :)  He loves his nuk when it's time to sleep.  He rolled over once from back to belly!  I put him in the johnny jump the other day for the first but he's still a little wobbly with his balance.  He lifts his head up when laying on his belly and looks all around.  He loves to be fussed to and smiles all the time.  He started to cry at times when I lay him down and walk away.  All I need to do to make him smile again is go right back and fuss to him!  :)  We all love him so much and couldn't imagine life without him.

The house project is coming along well!  The dry wallers are hanging the dry wall this week.  The masons are on the home stretch with the brick.  The flooring was all ordered this week.  I also talked to the cabinet man and painter this week.  Looking ahead at the next few weeks is so exciting but full of lots of work.  We will soon be packing up our bags again and moving back home!  We are all ready to be home again!!!  We still hope to be settled in our new home by Christmas.  Christmas is only nine weeks away!!! 

Kitchen ...

 The back yard ...

 

Insolation ...

Ginger has a birthday today!  She is five years old and we love that she is a part of our family!

The fall leaves are so beautiful right now!  I drove through some wooded areas yesterday and just awed at the sights!!!  I love the fall colors!  God made this time of year so pretty!!!

Enjoy the leaves before they all fall down and before the weather gets colder!

I love autumn! 

Decisions ...

We've been making so many decisions recently.  Mostly with the house project going on.  I've been searching the web to find bar stools, look at moldings for the kitchen cabinets, bed comforts, etc..  The list seems never ending with furnishing a whole new house.  The bed we ordered online just got delivered here.  That means we now have things and furniture at three different locations.  This could get very interesting when time comes to move back home!!!  Smile.

Mike makes decisions almost daily for the house.  The brick are still being laid and every time I go over there I tell them that I'm glad to see them at another wall.  The heating and air guys are working there today and moved our momma cat and kittens outside.  The cat keeps thinking that she owns the place and moves her kittens inside.  The front doors got installed yesterday and looks great!  We need it stained yet.  Lantz Insulation is there also today putting insulation in the walls.  When I walked in today to go see the project, I told these guys that it looks like they sprayed graphite at a birthday party.  Insulation pieces were everywhere!  :)  Dry wall is next stage and I am SO excited to have this done.  I keep hearing that it makes a lot of dirt (there's no use trying to keep anything over there clean or not dusty anyway).  I also keep hearing that after the dry wall is up, it really starts to feel like a house inside again.  I'm ready for that!  :)))  The flooring company was out to look and measure. 

Choosing paint colors is on my list for this week.  The kids had only a half day today at school and off the rest of the week.  This will give Hadassah and I some time to pick out colors.  She wants to go along and really gets a big kick out of designing and projects like this!  I on the other hand, love to decorate but I'm not real sure exactly what colors I want where.  I will rely heavily on the paint store staff to help me out!!!  Yikes! 

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Austin just rolled from his belly to his back!!!  He is 15 weeks old today and loves to coo, laugh and lay on the floor.  I love to fuss to him because he always is so smiley when he's being entertained by his mom!  :)

I put him in a bumbo seat a little bit at a time.  He seems to like that.  I think he will be ready for a johnny jump soon?  Or maybe I'm thinking this too soon?  I need to look back when I started Ashlyn in it when she was a baby.  He loves to kick his legs.

He moved from 3 months clothing to 6 months clothes now.  We wear him long sleeves because it's starting to get that autumn brisk air feeling outside!

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The next few days will be relaxing and extra busy with the kids home from school but I'm all into it!  We will get to sleep in a bit longer and hopefully do some fun activities together!  Even if it's just going over the house for a hours to work!?!  :)

Enjoy the season!  The holidays are approaching us!  :)

Enjoying autumn but missing home!

Autumn has arrived with it's beauty starting to show!!!  The leaves on the trees are just starting to change colors and look so pretty!  I've been enjoying hot apple cider!!!  Last night we sat around a campfire with church friends because Uncle John made chili right on the fire in a dutch oven pan.  The weather is getting cooler and we used some heat in the basement already during the chilly nights.  FALL is a fun season!

I mentioned about the chili supper last night.  John and Kathy invited some families over from church to eat their yummy chili.  Made right on the campfire.  We sat around the fire and watched them stir, fry hamburger, add tomatoes and beans and seasonings.  Kathy dumped in the onions while John just kept on stirring.  :)  The ladies all brought some delicious foods to add to the menu.  After we ate the kids all went up to their barn and played some football and basketball.  They had a blast.  The adults sat around the campfire and chatted and then later we moved in closer toward the fire so we would stay warm!  The night was relaxing and thanks John and Kathy for the fun night!  The kids were tired and Ashlyn was carried right to her bed.  Hadassah was tired from the volleyball games that afternoon at Courtney's house.  Matthew loved the football and basketball games!  Austin was ready to be tucked in and sleep.

Saturday night Hadassah and I enjoyed a fun outing together!  She loves to spend one on one time together and so she asked if we could have some time out.  Just her and I.  We left soon after Mike got home from working at the house and went to Park City.  We grabbed a bite to eat and then did some shopping.  We ended with some frozen yogurt and toppings!  The night was fun together!  We came back home to a house full of children and people.  Some of Mike's family were at dads and the kids were having a blast and the adults were chatting and playing games.  We joined in on the fun and it was nice to simply come down the stairs and go to bed.  :)

Austin is 3 1/2 months old and growing.  He loves to be fussed to and he smiles so much.  Especially when he wakes up from his naps or after being fed.  He sucks on his fingers all the time.  He's still struggling to get his FULL night of sleep.  I'm not sure why it's so hard for this little guy to sack it out during the night ever since Labor Day Weekend?.  He wakes up around 2 AM for a nuk and then 5 for a bottle.  I wish he would sleep straight till 5!  This too shall pass.  I know that.  Maybe tonight he will sleep ALL night long!?!  :)

The house project is more and more on his way to getting completed.  The plumbers are there.  The electrician is nearly finished for now.  The roofers were there today to finish up.  Brick upon brick are being mortared around the house.  Insulation and dry wall are showing up this week.  Mike and I went to finish up the flooring order the other day.  That was a good feeling to have that done.  Picking out paint colors is next on the list.  And talk about lists, I made a list the other day of things we will need for the house when time gets closer to moving in.  I hope there will be great deals on Black Friday and any other shopping spree's we will be doing.  :)  We are still hoping to be settled in and moved by Christmas!!!  And I really hope that can happen because I am getting home sick for 'home'.  It's all going fine in the basement, don't get me wrong, but I was never on such a journey like this before in my life.  I like my routines and normals.  We have adjusted well to living here in the basement but some days I just miss home.  I miss going outside in my little garden.  I miss mowing the green grass.  I miss sending the kids out to the swing.  Or see them ride their bikes.  Being outside is something I did when I worked outside and now that isn't happening.  I went over to the house the other day to 'work outside'.  What a joke!  I really wanted to because I miss being at home.  I got the blower out of the barn after having Austin and Ashlyn in the gazebo.  I blew a few leaves but then realized how crazy I was.  I hoped to mow the little bit of grass we have left but again ... I couldn't.  There are trucks in the yard.  Nails and shingles and boards and stacks of brick and a big pile of sand and on and on in the grass.  Please don't get me wrong, I am not complaining because we couldn't wait for all this happen!!!  I am just missing being at home and working there.  I put the blower back in the barn and loaded up the two little kids and came back to the basement.  Then on Saturday, Mike was working over at the house all day and I wanted to do something there too.  The kids and I went over and I thought that maybe Hadassah and I could try to organize the basement a little.  Again, what a joke.  Everything is so dirty but to clean it now and try to put things in any form of organization ... well, it would be pointless.  I know my time is coming when I can clean and organize at the house!!!  I will be doing it the rest of my life.  :)  So, we press on.  We keep working to get the house completed.  We keep living in the basement.  We stay positive even when I get home sick.  It should be only a few more months until we can move back home!!!  Yeah!!!

Autumn is right now.  I am going to keep enjoying the foods and smells that this season brings.  Pumpkin pie and apple cider are my favorite!!!

I love autumn!

     

Cincinnati, Ohio = football

Mike and I had such a fun weekend together.  Just him and I ... OK, and with two other couples.  The kids stayed back home with family while Mike and I got a weekend outing!  We look forward to this weekend now that we make it a tradition.  Or annually.  We started this three years ago.  Mike simply loves to be with his King Uncles and so planning a football getaway with Uncle John and Kathy was much to look forward too.  John and Suz Smoker were invited to go along too!  The first year we went to Dallas, Texas and watched the Cowboys.  We flew down and got to tour the city too.  John took Damien with him while Suz stayed back with their baby and little boys.  We had such a great trip!  We knew that we wanted to keep this trend going!  :)  Last year we went to Pittsburgh to watch the Steelers game.  John and Suz needed to stay home because of Damien doing cancer treatments.  We missed them SO much and I could not wait for them to both join us this year!!!

Last weekend, John and Suz decided that they would again miss out and stay home for a wedding and extended family time.  I was disappointed but really couldn't wait to our weekend away again with John and Kathy!  They are so much fun to hang out with!!!  :)  We started early on Saturday morning to head for Cincinnati.  It was just way too quiet on Friday night because we had all the children at their sitters already.  My parents picked up the three oldest and took them along to the mountains.  They had a total blast and saw deer, a 7x7 huge elk and a mother bear with three cubs.  Little Austin was with my sister Jody all weekend.  I knew I didn't have to worry one little bit about him ... so I didn't!  :)  He did great for her and many, many thanks to my family for making it possible for us to do this trip!

We drove that long 7 hour drive out to Ohio again.  It just don't seem any closer.  Because it's not.  But I wish it were closer.  But it's not.  OK ... I'll move on.  We got there in good time and checked in at our really cool, old motel.  It was huge and so neat!  Our room had a king size bed and plenty of space.  We had a view of the river right from our room.  We were on the top floor.  Mike loves that!  We got refreshed and then went to an IMax theater and watched "Jerusalem".  It took us through the streets of where Jesus lived, died and rose again.  That would be really neat to actually walk those same streets.  Then we walked through the city and spent some time in the clean park.  We ate dinner at a pizza shop and then ate dessert and drank coffee at a restaurant right across from our motel.  It was rainy but the forecast said "sun and nice" for the rest of the weekend!

 Cincinnati Reds Stadium ... we walked to see it.  Go baseball!

Sunday was a gorgeous day!  Mike went out for a run across the big bridge that connects Ohio state and Kentucky state.  Meanwhile, I got ready for the day of football, fun and sunshine.  I just had to start out with some worship music!  Then I talked on the phone with my dad and the kids while they were out looking for elk and even saw some big horns!!!  I was so happy that we were all having fun right where we were!  Mike came back and after a shower, we were ready for breakfast and football.  Now, going to football games with John and Kathy get us into some insiders all the time.  They went out biking together that morning and stopped at the motel right next to where we were staying and ate breakfast.  While they were there, big buses pulled up to the front doors.  They soon realized that some of the football players were going out to the buses.  They called us and said that if we come, we can see some of the Kansas City Chief players.  We went and joined in on the breakfast.  Mike recognized some of the players. 

It was a sunny nice day.  We walked to the stadium.  We found our seats and watched the players do their warm ups and practice.  We also knew that someone was coming to fill in John and Suz's seats.  Who?  We didn't know.  All they said was to not sell the tickets.  The game was about to begin and John and Suz came to claim their seats!!!  We gave them big hugs and we were excited that they decided to join us at least for 1 1/2 days!  The Chiefs lost against the Bengals but it was exciting and a good time. 

 

That night we all walked the clean streets together.  The bridge is so pretty with the night lights lite.  We walked across and then back over.  From Ohio to Kentucky.  :)  We sat on the really cool swings in the park again.  We enjoyed dinner at Montgomery Inn and ate ribs and delicious sides.  When you go to a big city we like to eat dessert some place different.  The night before we had coffee and dessert near our motel.  We did the same thing but with John and Suz along this time too.  It was a late night but we laughed and had and really fun day!

Monday we checked out of our motel rooms early and headed back home by 9.  We towed John and Suz's car behind our Yukon.  Our conversations are always so much fun with these two couples and so of course the ride home was no different.  Time goes fast with good company.  We were back into our own small town by 6:30.  We made our rounds with picking up the kids, getting the mail at the house and picking up Ginger.  Everyone was happy to be back home and in our 'basement' again.  I missed them all but I was ready to love on little Austin.  I missed him so much!  Many thanks to Jody and mom for babysitting!!!  We love you so much!


 

No spare time!!!

I've been waiting for the perfect moment to finally blog again but it just never seems to happen right now.  So, it's nine o'clock right now and the kids need to be tucked into bed but I am just starting to blog.  :()  Not the best timing and I'll need to stop before too long and get them to bed.  Austin is already peacefully sleeping in the pack in play just outside the kitchen.  That's where he sleeps at night time.  During the day, he naps in the crib which is in our one bedroom basement.  When he wakes up for his early morning feeding, I then put him in the crib so that he doesn't get disturbed from the morning school crew!  :)  Did I confuse you yet?  The main fact is that I sleep much better if he's not right next to me during the night.  I tend to hear every move, every noise, every stir if he does.  To have him sleep just outside of the bedroom works best! 

While I am talking about Austin here, I'll do his update first.  He's another week older and is becoming so much fun to care for!!!  He smiles so much.  He even gave us a giggle the other night.  I feel like this is a recording but he still loves his gym set the most.  I'm totally fine with that!  I put him in the swing every now and then just to switch things up but he often whines his way back to the mat on the floor.  :)  He's doing better at night again too!  When he caught a cold in Ohio, he went from sleeping good at night to waking up several times a night.  It was challenging because I knew he could sleep much better!  I tried hard to not give in and feed him during the night hours.  Even if he waits till 4:00 AM to have his bottle, that is better than 2:30 AM!!!  We hear all the time that he looks like Matthew!  Or like Hunter.  I agree when I look at past pictures.  He's also doing better in his car seat.  He first would cry and cry every time we would strap him in.  The minute we got him out, he stopped crying.  He just hated it!  He still cries now and then but does a whole lot better!!!  :)  That makes any road trip a much more pleasant experience now!!! 

Ashlyn had a real blast this week with some of her cousins.  On Monday, she was with Kia and Shae for the day.  I was out for lunch, did some shopping for the house and then took the two oldest to the dentist after school.  Tuesday night, we took family pictures with my whole family.  It was a circus to finally decide if we should take them or cancel because of the rainy forecast.  We decided to stick to the plans and take photos.  We hope they turn out and not be too dark or dreary!  We all ate hot dogs and soup at dad's after all so Ashlyn got to play with the twins and all her girl cousins that night!  Then on Wednesday, we were down at moms helping her house clean.  Again, she got to play with Shakia, Shaylyn, Addison and Olivia.  The fun didn't stop there!  After Mike got home from work, we all went to the fair.  We got pretzel wraps, fries and cheese steak for supper.  Then we all enjoyed some Hershey's ice cream on a warm waffle sandwich.  Matt and Lena and the boys met us over there.  Ashlyn and Hunter took two rides together.  One of motorcycles and another on the merry go round.  Both times they giggled and laughed!  Such fun!  Then we watched the parade.  That is until about 10 minutes into it, Austin starts crying.  He cried and just didn't seem to like all the blankets wrapped around him and like he had a belly ache.  I went out to the Yukon with him and tried to calm him down.  Nothing seemed to help.  I finally called Mike and he came out and drove us home.  The other children were still having a ball collecting candy from the parade floats and so they came home with Matt's.  They all swished in their car!  :)  Austin relaxed after we got home and even enjoyed some "gym" time before bed time.  Ashlyn had a fun day!!!

 

 

Of course, we must do a crazy pose...

 

 

Matthew has been busy with school work.  Book reports and spelling words and bible memory and homework has kept him with very little chill out time.  It's different seeing him with so much school work.  We see it all the time with Hadassah.  It was a fun night for him at the fair and parade though.  He squeezed himself right in beside Jayden and Darell.  He brought home a few pieces of candy.

Hadassah is always working on something for school.  It's else volleyball practice, studying for tests or working on algebra!  She loves school and does well with her grades.  She works very hard and deserves all her good grades!  She loves her cousins too and had a blast with everyone on Tuesday night.  The pictures that I took of her turned out nice.  We are excited to see what Martha Rose took!

 

 

 

 

My man ... I LOVE HIM SO MUCH!

 

The house project is coming along well.  Things are a total mess over there and very much under contruction.  I'm not sure how else a big remodel would get done?  Dirt, mud, nails and workers!!!  This week the garage and new basement floors got concreted.  The brick are being laid.  The roofers are done for now.  They ran out of material and need to come back one more day to finish up.  The plumbers are there installing pipes, floor heat and heating units.  The electrician is putting lots of recess lighting in our home.  The Smucker Brothers have their crew there almost day to do all the framing.  Wood Art, the cabinet company, came one morning to do some measuring.  He will be back next week to get the final measurements.  It's exciting to stop in almost every day and see the work get done!

 

 

 

 

 

We have a fun weekend ahead of us so I'm off to bed and then pack up some bags tomorrow!!!

 

Through the busyness of life, I am loving the Fall smells, tastes and season!!!  Just today, I went over to the house to find some warmer clothes for us.  The chills are coming.  The daylight is shorter.  I love autumn time!