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Sometimes, someone gets to be the supervisor.

Other times, you have to do the sharp and pokey work.

Kids don’t really need furniture…

Getting rid of popcorn ceilings is cool, as long as you’re not the one doing the work.

The same could be said about painting.

Installing floors involves a lot of staring.

But, sometimes, taking pictures of the people working is fun and rewarding.

Greetings from remodel central. We’ve made the move upstairs, the bedrooms are empty of furniture, the living room is full of furniture, new doors and molding are ordered, some of the ceilings are no longer popcorned, the carpet is gone from most areas, some of the walls are painted fresh new colors and there’s pretty bamboo flooring in the master bedroom. It’s been a big week!

The remodeling is going pretty well. There have been minor skirmishes, but nothing too serious. All of us sleeping in one room has actually gone much better than I anticipated, though keeping the kids occupied while they’re awake is more of a challenge with most of the toys, activities and supplies packed away. The girls have enjoyed having Chris’ folks around, though! It’s always fun to have a new audience…

The animals are adjusting to the change in routine. Mostly, the cats hide and the dogs try to check everything out by getting in the way.

We had some fun, too, though. We got the house (the outside, anyway) decorated for Halloween! I haven’t taken any good pictures, yet, but I will. CareBear loved all of the spookiness and decorations, but LiliBee wasn’t too sure. She seems to be more of a “pretty twinkly lights” girl so far.

CareBear had a big sleepover with cousin H, which I hear was lots of fun and involved pony movies and baking cookies. LiliBee and I took advantage of the one-on-one time to visit my folks and get her some undivided attention.

Quick Fundraising n=Note: If you know anyone who’s planning on going to the “Magical Night of Giving” at the Supermall next month, we’re selling tickets to it for $5 each. I hear it’s fun and the savings are pretty good, but I’ve never been to it myself. More info about the event can be found here.

This week we get to go on our first, official school field trip! We’re heading to Spooner’s pumpkin patch with CareBear’s class to ride the Pumpkin Express (whatever that is) and visit the corn maze. Lilia and I get to tag along and the weather isn’t supposed to be too bad, so it should be a fun outing. And, of course, this weekend is Halloween! Too bad I don’t have a costume that fits this year… maybe I’ll figure something out.

This week, I learned a new skill… I cut Chris’ hair. He usually gets it cut by an actual stylist but thought maybe I should give it a shot, in the interest of saving a bit of money. I told him that I was willing to cut his hair so long as he didn’t mind being a little funny looking when he went to work.

We forgot to take a “before picture, but here’s about halfway through. His hair gets pretty poofy when it grows out.

Using the clippers wasn’t too hard, other than figuring out which comb thing to use. And figuring out how far up to go. And trying to make it even all the way around. And trying to get it blended with the top.

What really took some practice was using the scissors. Between trying not to cut myself or Chris, figuring out which hand to hold the comb in and making sure things were mostly even, I felt like I was all thumbs! I think the back actually turned out pretty good, though.

It took me a very long time to cut his hair, but I’ll probably get faster. Anyway, there were only a couple of “ooops” spots.

Not bad for my first attempt, if I do say so myself.

Of course, then CareBear had to have a turn. Her first haircut!

And then LiliBee… not that she has enough hair with which to actually do anything.

Well, it’s official… Fall has arrived. We’ve had lots of rain and wind and mud and puddles this week. It’s also getting a little chilly, which means now I have to keep track of coats when we’re out and about!

We’ve had a productive, if a little boring, week. We’re almost ready to move into the bonus room and get started on the new floors. We still need to finalize some of the paint colors and get the new doors. And I need to finish up with the kids’ clothes and figure out where to put everything while the rooms are “empty”. But we’re getting there.

LiliBee had her staples removed on Friday! She was a very brave and cooperative patient. The doctor says that her head is healing well and that there shouldn’t be any problems with it. So far, she hasn’t managed to injure herself too badly this week, which makes for a nice change of pace.

CareBear started gymnastics class again. She’s pretty good at the balance beam and the jumps, but her favorite is always the obstacle course. That kid loves to run around and climb over things.

We attended our first, official preschool birthday party (of the non-family variety, anyway) this weekend. CareBear was invited to one of her classmates’ pizza party. It was very exciting and just a little chaotic, but Carys had a great time picking out a present for the birthday girl and playing with all of her friends from school. LiliBee was too little to play on the outdoor “playground” but she really enjoyed her pizza and salad and cake.

This week will be interesting. There’s remodeling and a sleepover and I’m “working” at school. I get tired just thinking about it!

We had a fun trip to the farm to make cider!

Out to the orchard!

CareBear picks an apple.

LiliBee picks an apple.

A little teamwork.

LiliBee checks the apple stash.

Clean and ready to press. The apples, not the kids.

Crank it, Papa!

Mmmm, apple mush.

And then my camera battery died. But picture a couple of gallons of tasty cider and all of us enjoying it!

We spent a lovely autumn morning at Scholz Farms in Orting. Pumpkins and farm animals and corn mazes, oh my!

Let’s go, Grams!

Poke.

Let’s go!

Chickens!

Gingerbread girl.

Into the unknown.

CareBear is tall!

LiliBee is small!

We had a big, fun week around here!

The girls and I took a trip to Scholz Farm down in the valley with my folks. It’s a great size for little kids and just about everything is free!  Carys led us through the “pumpkin maze” (the field of pumpkins) from one end to the other while Lilia touched a lot of pumpkins very tentatively.

They have a big sawdust hill for kids to play on so the girls played with the other kids for awhile, with varying degrees of success at getting to the top of the hill. We fed chickens and a donkey before heading into the gingerbread-man-themed corn maze. Then it was time to pick out a couple of pumpkins and head home for lunch! Quite a nice way to spend the morning.

And then we spent the next day in the ER… Lilia managed to split her head open in the back on our fireplace hearth (I’m not entirely sure what happened as I was in the kitchen at the time). Head wounds bleed a lot, which was really impressive and kind of makes me glad that we’re getting new floors next week as I don’t have to figure out how to get blood out of the carpet! By the time we made it through triage, Lilia was running around dancing with Carys in the waiting room. After much cleaning and numbing and waiting, Lilia got two staples in her head and we were on our way. She’s fine and it hasn’t slowed her down a bit. Danger baby.

This weekend brought more fun, though. We headed out to the farm for apple cider! We trekked out to the orchard to pick our own apples (we visited the beehives on our way, which Carys found fascinating) and the girls had a good time picking the ones they could reach.

We then washed and ground and pressed them into cider. Both girls had a chance to crank the wheel and feed the apples and, surprisingly, didn’t get bored! It was a nice little outing and we’re all enjoying the cider.

No-Pressure School Fundraising update: It’s the last week for Entertainment books. We’re also selling Ram Cards (for the restaurant) and I think we’re doing an auction in a couple of months if anyone has something they’d like to donate.

This week will probably be a little more busy. We’ve got to finish up our preparations for the remodel and there are 3 different doctors appointments and Carys has school, of course, and classes start at the Y. And I still need to decorate for Halloween! I need more pumpkins.

True to her nature as a little sister, LiliBee has to do everything CareBear does (you’ll notice her “coach” in the corner)… here are her “posing” shots… and a couple of head shots, just for fun.

Work it, baby!

CareBear’s been into “posing” for pictures lately… she even stands up on the ottoman for better showmanship.

Think she has a shot?

We had a pretty mellow week for the first week of October. With no fairs to go to and no remodeling going on yet, I think we’re in a lull.

I had lots of fun “working” at CareBear’s class. I was the “art mom” this time around and we did really messy things with paint and rocks and shaving cream. I spent half of my time trying to get the right kid’s name on their work before they took off to do something else and the other half trying to wipe up the paint drips so that they weren’t tracking it all over the place on their shoes! It was very chaotic, but we like that.

LiliBee took a nice crash into a rack of clothes over the weekend while we were browsing maternity pants. She went face first, so she ended up scraping her chin and split open her lip. It was very dramatic! She’s fine and still has all of her teeth, but she points out her “boo-boo” several times a day for sympathy.

The turn in the weather last week was a nice change of pace. I love it when it gets chilly (and I’m usually overheated these days so it’s extra welcome) and the girls spent a lot of time playing in the rain and the mud. I was only partially successful in talking them into getting dressed first… if I could catch them before they ran outside, I had a good chance of at least one of them putting on some clothes! You’d think they’d get cold, but apparently not.

We spent some time being productive over the weekend and sent another big pile of stuff off for donation. I’m finally getting rid of all of my text books. I’m still attached to them, but they’re 15-20 years old now and there are better references out there. I’ll still miss them.

This week should be mellow and fun. I think we’re visiting a pumpkin patch and I’m hoping to go press some cider at the farm. With any luck, I’ll make some more progress on the kids’ clothes and start purging my massive crafting collection. I might even start cooking dinner more regularly now that I feel a bit better about food!