October in Review

Well, would you look at that! Looks like I'm back to doing yearly posts, ugh. I'm actually experimenting with blogging from my phone, since that's where all the pictures are! So, in a no-particular, stream-of-consciousness order, here's what October looked like for us:

Candy corn math. I joke that we always get our best math work of the year done in October because there's candy involved!! This year finds Allen learning all the various combinations of numbers that add up to ten.

I got a new phone!!! The big reason is that I really needed something that takes decent pictures and can FaceTime... Adam just got hired as a sheriff's deputy in town, which means he's going off to police academy on the other side of the state for four months, starting after Thanksgiving. We needed a better device for staying in touch. It's going to be a long winter for our family, but we're all excited to see where this police job goes for Adam!

Next up: Halloween costumes! Oscar wanted to be Link this year. This was the most difficult costume I've made so far! I had to draft my own pattern for the tunic and hat. I used linen instead of the usual fleece for costumes, so I was sweating bullets about the fit! But as you can see, it turned out great. The shield is made from several layers of poster board, which was velcroed to the Master Sword (the one piece we actually bought), which was zip tied to a fabulous leather belt Oscar found at GoodWill. 

Oscar takes things very literally, and any time we addressed him as Link, he'd tell us, "I'm not Link, I'm really Oscar in a costume." Okay, bud. :-)

Allen has been all about Kings lately, so he got to be the real deal! A fur-lined cape (not as difficult to sew as I thought! I've got big Christmas plans for all that leftover fake fur), a metallic tabard, and a scabbard for his sword. We bought a plastic crown from Amazon, but it proved to be really brittle and snapped right out of the box! So with a couple hours to spare before trick-or-treating, I whipped up a felt and cardboard crown. Adam was super impressed, which is always a good feeling. :-D

I told Allen to make a king face

My mom bought Cici's princess costume at Costco. As long as it was pink and floofy, Cici was happy!

The boys have been taking swim lessons, and they love it! We just finished up the last session, but we'll be back!

This corner of the house makes me so happy. It only took me almost ten years of marriage to start decorating seasonally, but after a HUGE decluttering this year, the house was begging for some dressing up! I made the banner and candy corn art and painted the door frames, wainscoting, and little table. Our house is very old and in need of some TLC, so we've been improving it little by little. If I manage to update the blog again before next October (ha ha), you'll be sure to see more!