Our Little (growing) Family: Fast Fall

About time for an update, right? ;) Where did October go?! It was a fast & furious month, not a favorite for sure. We were in between tenants at our home in Spokane, and sadly, was left in less than ideal conditions, so it meant a 9 day trip up there to get it ready for the next tenants who moved in this month. A few "easy" projects turned into the entire week physically maxed pulling things together there (staining the exterior shingles - with brushes, shingle by shingle, lots of landscape attention, deep cleaning inside, needing to repaint, degrease -- whew, glad that's all over with! Thankful Ken had time to take off work, super thankful for my parents letting us stay with them the whole week (just 5 minutes away from the house), for all the help with the kids so we could get 'er done in time, thankful we got to see my dear Gommie & my aunt & uncle, and a few short run-ins with friends --- oh how we had hoped the week would provide ample time to catch up more with dear friends!.. hopefully next time ;), thankful home school was flexible so we could be on the go like that.... thankful to be back into our routine at home now. ;) Ok wait, and back before all that -- we started the school year. Jack in 1st grade, Maggie in Kindergarten. Homeschooling is... hard. Wonderful, yes, for so many reasons but much tougher this year than I had expected. It feels constant at home. Not necessarily the education piece, but I mean, from the time I rise til the time I fall asleep, the days feel "full" and there's not a lot of down time. We've loved, though, seeing Jack & Maggie's minds just blooming as they discover a love for learning. And I re-learn the basics that I forgot somewhere along the way. ;) At the end of September, Ken's parents came down for a weekend visit & it was a really special weekend together. Meaningful conversations, sweet time together, great weather, a visit to the coast & enjoying home made meals here. It was one of my favorite weekends of this Fall so far. Now fast forward back to a little more recent --- we had Halloween fun at a Harvest party & trick or treating around the neighborhood. In the midst of the day to day that feels like it's flying at a crazy pace, I've been continuing building farm tables & some custom pieces that have been consuming much of the nights (even til 1am some nights), and much of the weekends. I enjoy it, it's a creative outlet for sure, but I'm needing to scale back before I lose my sanity because I can't keep up the pace right now. Ken has been busy with work & kinda waiting to hear what's happening with his job.... as of a few weeks ago, it looks like his contract could extend for a few more months but eventually will run out as Cymbalta goes off patent & when that happens, his division is getting thinned out/eliminated. It's a bit bittersweet: we have fallen in love with the area & made great friendships here -- we feel a part of the community & church body, I've come to love small town living (I know, how did that happen?!)... the kids are thriving... but at the same time, we both feel like the Lord may be gearing us up for inevitable change next year, and that's exciting too. A little bit scary, but mostly exciting. We're looking at a possible move towards Portland, but there's much still to be praying about and talking over before that happens, and for now, we're just carrying on trying to make the most of the time we are planted here. That's about it for an update here, and I'll post some pics from the past 7 or 8 weeks. :) Hugs to you all, hope you are enjoying Fall! :)

The kids with Nana & Grandpa Boggs, Ken's parents

The kids with their great Gommie, my dear Grandma

Jack & his Papa, my Dad :) I know my Dad is Asian (Hawaiian/Chinese) - but I think Jack looks a lot like him in this pic!

After staining the shingles - you should have seen how sun faded they were before

I love their imaginative play - they'd created this whole quary for the trains - yes, that room became a disaster zone of "organized mess" but was so cute to see what they'd created.