Halloween 2021

Even tho Halloween is my least favorite "holiday", it was still fun to be able to do a more "normal" night compared to last year when the pandemic was in full swing.

The kids went their separate ways tonight, as Evelyn went to Ellie's and Matthew went to his friend Xavier's. Both kids had a fun night and I enjoyed going with Matthew and hanging out with other parents in the Minor's garage while the boys did their thing. 

Our Astronaut, Flapper Girl, and King 😂

Needless to say he was NOT thrilled about his costume.. but he was SO cute!!

Matthew had a good time with his friends. Us parents were brave and let the 10 boys go trick-or-treating by themselves for the first time. Although Matthew shared later that there were some not-so-good moments behavior-wise, for the most part they did great and follwed our directions. Big step of independence for sure!

Some of the boys... pizza and chili were a hit!!

Meanwhile, Evelyn and Ellie were beuing their usual selves...😂

I swear these two take the best candid shots!

The girls were out walking and decided to come to the Minor's house to say hi! It was fun to see them out getting exercise and having fun!

The boys went out twice and reeled in quite the haul of candy. They all had fun. 

I think they will always sort their candy together as long as they trick or treat.. and I love it!

Happy Halloween, friends!

Evelyn's First Homecoming Dance

I am not sure how we got here, but Evelyn went to her first Homecoming dance last night!! 😲 

She actually was pretty low key about it and didn't want a big fuss made. She just wanted to go with friends and have fun. And that's what she did. 

Ellie's grandma treated the girls to a mani/pedi the day of the dance, which was perfect since Doug and I were in Forest Grove at Matthew's football game. 

After the game we picked up the girls and brought them home to get ready. Their friend Amy would join them later. 

Evelyn borrowed a dress from our dear friends daughter (a senior this year). We are so fortunate for friends with older girls who we can borrow from! 

Getting ready...

Amy arrived and we took a bunch of photos outside. 

Ellie...

Amy....

And our beautiful Evelyn Joy...

I am so thankful for the friendship these three have. They are hilarious together and they care for one another so well. Love them so much!

These two... besties for 8 years now. 

So much silliness out of these three...

Love her so much!

We had pizza for the girls here and then I took them to the dance. They had a fun time and are glad they went. 

I am so thankful and grateful to watch Evelyn grow into who the Lord wants her to be. So fun to watch her go thru these "firsts" and love being her mom!!

Are You Ready For Some Football?

 Matthew's football season has started!! He has been at it since early August and has been working hard and improving all the time.

Here are some pics from the past few weeks...

He's number 8!

The team goes to the high school football games in their game jersies to show support!

Sadly he has had some knee trouble and has missed two games... BUT... we are on a new stretching plan and he is doing SO much better and we are excited. This is his knee at it's worst! 😔

He played so good in his game last week! Made a great catch for a first down and had some amazing tackles. SO proud of him!

Matthew and his buddy Xavier after the game.

Grandma and Grandad came to watch too!

Thankful for this chance for Matthew to play and make good friends. Looking forward to the rest of the season!

544

 When the kids headed back to school today, it marked 544 days since I have been away from them for more than 3 or 4 hours other than the occasional sleepover at a friends or my mom's. Doug has been working at home since the pandemic started which means it has been 544 days since I have been ALONE in the house for more than 3 or 4 hours. 

544. 

Yes, I counted. 

Needless to say I have been looking forward to school starting a litte more than past years. 😁

At the same time, I am SO grateful for the extra time I have had with my family during the pandemic. Yes, we drove each other nuts sometimes, and we definitely struggled like most everyone else during this time. But, I hope we all will remember the good times we have had that we wouldn't have had otherwise. 

The day before school started I wanted to make sure we had one last day of fun together. 

So yesterday morning, went for a walk to Starbucks...

We got blizzards at DQ....

We went for a long walk at Commenwealth Park after the above ice cream....

And Matthew got a haircut!

Both kids were excited and nervous about their first day. Both are in new schools this year, and not really being IN school for 18 months it all seems a bit foreign. But they both got up and got ready this morning and were in good spirits. 

Our beautiful freshman...

These two... BFF's since 1st grade!

My handsome 6th grader...

Both of them had a great first day and seem to like their classes/teachers just fine. Not a lot of homework for a bit as the teachers try to ease the kids back into full day school. Fine by me!

Thankful for a good launch day! Trusting the Lord will bless them and keep them safe and healthy!

Our Shed Project

 We have talked about replacing our old rundown shed for several years now, but purchasing the boat and wanting a place (other than the driveway) to park the boat gave us the boost we needed to get started on a new shed. We started in January and finally completed and moved into the shed this weekend. Doug (and Matthew) have worked so hard the past 9 months or so to design and build our new and amazing shed. 

Back to the old shed... here she is. 

It was old and rusty when we bought the house almost 20 years ago, and it hasn't aged well.😂 We knew this spot would be a perfect spot to make a parking spot for the boat, so we decided to build the new shed on the other side of the backyard. 

Matthew and his friend Cannon did a great job digging up dirt and getting the shed spot ready to go. They even worked several hours in the rain one Saturday to get it done. They really were a huge help. 

Next came laying down gravel, which again Matthew did a lot of the labor. Good life skills for our boy for sure!

Doug then set forms for the concrete slab.

If you look closely you can also see electrical conduit sticking up. Doug also wired the shop for lights....YAY!

We had someone come and pour the slab just to make sure it was done right. 

And of course, in true Bodie fashion, he left his mark in the wet cement. 😏

He was so proud.... 😂

Doug and Matthew did the concrete work for the ramp up to the shed slab.. and it turned out so good. So proud of them!

Framing Day! It was so fun to watch. Doug is so patient and an excellent teacher and he and Matthew got the walls up!

Bodie, of course, was right in the middle of it all. HA!

Time for siding!

Our crazy General Contractor...haha!

The kids painted the paw prints that Bodie so graciously left on the freshly poured slab... and I LOVE it!!

Siding done!

Putting up the barn door... my favorite thing about the project.

Priming for paint.

I did the exterior painting then Doug started on the roofing.

Almost done!

Move in day! Doug built a place for wood storage on one side. 

Finished! I LOVE LOVE LOVE the blue color and we plan to paint the entire house the same color next summer.

And Bodie approves...haha!

Here is a link to a video montage of the whole project. Doug set up a video camera and Evelyn edited the video to make this 3 minute clip. 

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1v-DD7oAMy5y1UWbFgor8h0zY2zOvclmK/view

Thankful for such a handy (and handsome) husband and thankful that this project is done! 😀