October 2015

October was a big month for projects! Russ started to build the tv wall in September and continued to work on it all the way through October as well. The best decision we made with the tv wall process was to purchase the pallet wood, already pulled off of the pallets. Russ built out the wall and I sanded and stained the boards. We used a mixture of two different stains (gray and brown) but with each batch we changed up the ratio of the two colors. Our backyard has looked like a construction zone for way too long!

One of the things Russ really wanted for the pallet wall, was a moose head. I found one at Hobby Lobby and he hung it before even finishing the wall. Then one day while pounding something, it fell and broke. Back to Hobby Lobby we went for another moose!

Here are some pictures of the process... (we stained the plywood behind the pallet wood, so that if there were any spaces between the wood planks, the color showing through would be similar)

We went to the lake with Jared and Shanda Adams during mid-October and it was lots of fun. I was surprised that getting in the water wasn't actually too bad!

I took the above picture of Russ and remembered that he has a doppelganger - only when wearing his sunglasses and hat on backwards though! On the left is country music singer Chase Rice.

 We surfed and rode the hot dog tube! Even Abby got on the tube between Noah and I - but we did tip over and she was done. Poor girl!

Abby and Davis riding the carousel at kids club!

The Standage family came to town and took Noah with them to the ASU football game. Afterward, he got to meet Mike Bercovichi, the quarterback!

Sweet sleeper with her Minnie Mouse high heels on.

Russ probably did a little bit of work on this tv wall every single day. It was fun to watch it come to life!

Abby & Grandpa Price trying to take selfies together!

Noah had fall break during mid-October. We did a food packing session at "Feed My Starving Children" and took Suzanne, Ellie, and Wyatt with us. It was an awesome experience!

More kids club fun!

 Abby's window was down so she thought it would be fitting to put her leg outside and relax! haha!

Abby already knows what she's asking Santa for!

Noah's playing a season of basketball and doing awesome!

Sophie was "grandchild of the month" for October and got to go out to eat with grandma & poppy. They went to IHOP.

We took Abby's binky away this month and made a new rule, that she only gets it at nap time and bed time. She has been really good about it and usually just hands it over before we even say anything to her about it. Every once in awhile though, she sneaks it and "hides"! haha

Noah had a birthday! He woke up to cinnamon rolls in the oven and got a new bike before he went to school that morning.

As soon as he left for school, Russ and I rushed around to make-over his bedroom. He's a seahawks fan and asked us before moving into this house, if he could have a seahawks room. 

He LOVED it! Up until this day, he had his "surfer" bedroom since the time he was 18 months. In fact, his crib bedding was the same surfer collection. So this is the first change for him in 11 years.

That night to celebrate Noah's birthday, he picked where we ate and we took Wyatt with us. We went to Teriyaki Madness and then to Jaxen's football game against Mesa High. 

Ellie, Taryn, and Roxy with Lucy, Davis and Abby.

Now that Abby sleeps in a bed at night, she can get out and just come and climb in bed with me in the morning. I love the cuddles!

For the last few months, I've been working on a new room for Sophie. She's had her own bedroom since we moved here almost a year ago, but she hasn't had a bed to sleep in there. I painted my old furniture and created a million other projects for myself! It was easy to keep it a secret from Sophie because I could work on things when she wasn't at our house, and then put it away when she came over. After Noah's birthday project was done, we had a week without Sophie at our house. Here's the before picture. Notice the headboard had been painted but the hope chest hadn't been yet.

Russ doing more work on the new wall (installing a cabinet door in this picture)

We did a family outing to TopGolf one night. Noah and Russ were supposed to go on a campout this night but we figured out that morning that we weren't prepared for it and it was going to be really hard to make it work. So we did TopGolf instead. We loved the food and the music and being together. 

The next day, Russ took the kids out for a Teryx ride while I stayed home and worked on more projects for Sophie's room. 

 

Abby is such a crack up - she finds weird ways to fit inside of cupboards and this time she was using my caboodle as a chair!

Just hanging out with some really bad bed head...

Abby & Davis on grandma & poppy's back porch, loving the iPad!

I finished up Sophie's room a few days before her birthday, just in time for her to see it when she came on a Tuesday night. Here are a few up close pictures as well as a pic of the whole room (most of it anyway)...

Sophie loved her room when she found it!

She also loved her new bike!

These are our cute neighbors / Abby's BFFs Kozie and Boston. They got to spend a day with us and enjoy a wagon ride around the neighborhood, in some great weather! (October / November are the best as far as weather in AZ goes!)

Abby in her huge bow!

Working out with mom :)

Jaxen's football season sadly came to an end... it was so fun to hang out with my family on Wednesday nights and watch him play - he was awesome!

Another project we had on our plates during October was Halloween costumes. Namely Abby's since we couldn't buy her's in a package at the store. She wanted to be Daisy Duck which isn't sold as a set, so Russ and I made it a team effort to make her the cutest Daisy Duck you've ever seen. Russ made her this hat using a white hat and felt... it turned out so perfect!

The night before Halloween, we went to a fall festival at Noah's school. Sophie and Abby's favorite part of the night was just dancing to the music...

... and riding in the back of Dad's truck to and from the school. 

On Halloween day, Sophie and Abby went to Lucy & Davis's Halloween party. Here are some cute pictures Alisse took... 

I didn't love the way Abby looked for the party, so I decided to leave her hair down and put makeup on her for trick or treating that night...

Trick or treaters came to our door before we were ready to leave, and these 2 girls loved handing candy out.

Sophie = Queen of Hearts

Noah = a prisoner

Abby = Daisy Duck 

I'm never in to dressing up for Halloween but all month long, Abby asked us "who's gonna be Donald Duck?" She really wanted Noah to be Donald but of course he refused. He is 11 years old afterall. Haha! I found a Minnie Mouse headband and hoped it would make Abby feel better that Daisy Duck had her girlfriend trick-or-treating with her.

I took Sophie and Abby trick-or-treating while Noah went with his friends, and Russ stayed home to pass out candy.

The one block we collected candy from took quite awhile. With both girls wearing high heels, they were done after that one block. Abby in fact had me hold her all the way down our street at the end. We then cuddled up in blankets and helped Dad pass out candy. Sophie and Abby loved handing out candy just as much as collecting the candy. It was fun to see everyone's costumes, and Halloween is always the most fun with Russ by our side!

Noah and his friends roamed the neighborhood together - Noah's first time without us - and had so much fun. There was even a haunted house around the corner from us that they went through!

Noah's friend Wyatt was an attorney for Halloween, which is what helped Noah decide on his costume as the attorney's client. Wyatt was awesome, his attorney name was Bob Loblaw (pronounced "ba-blah-blah) and he handed out business cards with his picture and name on it!

This technically happened in November (the 1st) but I'll include it in the October blog post since both of these kids have October birthdays. We celebrated their birthdays at grandma & poppy's house with the whole Sherwood family.

11-year-olds!