Fall....My favorite time of year!!!!!

Ahhhh..... Fall.

This is my favorite time of the year!

I have always wondered if people favor that season in which they are born? It seems be be true for most people I know. I love it because of the colors of nature. Everything is changing. The sunsets are beautiful oranges, pinks and reds. The leaves on all of our maple trees up to our land are turning beautiful shades of red, orange, green and brown. It's just so breathtaking! Even the squirrels coats are turning for the coming winter.

Another reason why I love this time of the year is because it's Halloween time! YIPPEEEE!!!!! Monday we started putting up our decorations! I know... I know... it's early you say...... but not for me! The kids love decorating too!

Speaking of decorating, we have been in the process since before Max came home redecorating/ remodeling and... well.... having a run on things breaking.

We started renovating our master bath the January before Max came. We had put linoleum in our bathroom when we built our house in 1994. We decided we'd go with the middle of the road stuff, as far as quality goes, to save on money, and we knew we'd probably want to change things in about 10 years or so to update it. The linoleum had some water damage to it near our whirlpool bath, so Dan decided he'd take it up and tile. As for the whirlpool tub, we had a small leak and fixing it was going to be a major project due to it being built in so we waited until we were going to do other work. A close family friend is a fantastic carpenter, and does beautiful work, so I thought he could build us a new bath vanity and wall cabinets for storage. He did a phenomenal job! We haven't completed it yet due to Max coming home, having two toddlers 14 months apart, surgeries etc etc. I hope that it's completed soon (hint hint). Thank God we have two other bathrooms or I'd be climbing the walls right about now!

Anyways, we've recently painted in the Great room, foyer and master bedroom hallway. Dan and I LOVE the colors
This is one of the colors in our great room. Yes.. I did say ONE of the colors. We will have four colors (hmmm... maybe five) when we've finished in the great room. Oh....I almost forgot! The day we started painting, Dan took the kids over to his Mom's house for the afternoon for a visit and so we could get some work done. Later on that day, Sonja, Max and Dan's came home. When Dan's mom walked into the back door, she said "OH!" and put her hand to her chest as if she had just seen the boogie monster or something! I said "What's the matter?" (I thought maybe she had a pain, or tripped or something!) She said "Are you painting the whole room that color?" (in that "I hope you're not" tone). I said "Yes....Well most of them. We are going to paint up to the chair rail a cinnamon brown and then we are painting the alcove wall a brownish red" I thought she was going to drop right then and there, but she managed to stay standing.
If she thinks that's bad, she'll really drop when she sees the color we're going to paint the picture wall in the foyer (which is 30 feet high. That's a lot of color!)!
This is the hall near the foyer and picture wall.... a nice neutral color, although I think she wouldn't be too crazy about this either. Oh well. I'll post the picture wall when we get it done (and update you on the reaction we get too :-) I wanted to warm things up inside for the cold winter months ahead, and seeing color sets the mood.... well..... nuff said ;-)

As far as things breaking....

Our microwave went up on us. It was just a fairly cheapo model and it was a counter top one (which I didn't like). Dan went out and purchased an above the range microwave with vent hood. It was kind of a big project because Dan didn't want the cabinet above the Micro/vent higher than the rest (I was hoping he would leave the other cabinets where they were). Dan took all of the cabinets down and rehung them.
Then...
Our T.V. went up on us that day! Dan was switching off breakers (so he wouldn't get electrocuted) and must have tripped the T.V. breaker. Even though it was plugged into a surge protector, it still damaged the T.V. We had a spare in our basement that was once in Max's room before he came. We used it for a while until our new T.V. came. Dan purchased a big LCD T.V. I'm just happy we can mount it on the wall, and away from little hands! We'll do that as soon as the alcove is painted.

Now our refrigerator is also on the blink! Mostly the freezer/ ice maker part. We have a spare in the basement Dan uses for "refreshments" that we can use in a pinch until we get a new one. Ours is 14 years old so it's not new. I've got my eye on the model with the freezers on the bottom. Hopefully our current one will hold out for a little while longer. If it doesn't though, I won't be too terribly upset.
I went out the other night to bring my mom some dinner after the kids went to bed, and the moon was full and the sky looked just like you see in those scary Dracula movies!
"Peek a boo!"
A few years ago, I made these masks. So simple and cheap but the kids just love them! Every year, when I get the decorations out, this is the first thing Sonja and Max grabs!
Oh!!! Sonja has gotten her first party invitation! Well, not really her FIRST. It's her first that she's been able to attend and her second one, other than from family and close family friends. She was invited to another one but she couldn't attend it because it was the same day as her birthday party. The present one is from one of her little dance class friends who is also in her UPK class.

Well, I guess I should close this one here.

Next time I'll post a little about Dan's new invention he made for the kids!

Until next time!!

Much love too all!