October

We had so many things going on... life is getting busy. I am so glad that I have been able to snap a few pictures to help remind me of all the fun things we did.

First on the list this month was painting our brick fireplace. We have been talking for quite some time about building some kind of custom wood piece to cover the brick but the more I looked at the actual brick and all the little corners/turns we would need to make I started to feel like I was in over my head. So we decided one day to just paint the thing. Aaron and Thatcher met me on my lunch hour at home depot so we could get the paint and some less expensive brushes and rollers (I had read online that the rough surface would trash your nice brushes- which it did- so glad we bought some cheap-o disposable ones)

Since we hastily decided to paint the fireplace, I didn't remember to get a good "before shot" so this is the "undecorated and taped off" image :) and sorry for the wonky lighting- light is a bit of an issue in our living room and we had to wait for the baby to go to bed before we got all painty. Oh, and did I mention the reason for our hasty decision making? I was hosting a baby shower for two co-workers at my house... two days after deciding to paint. Nothing like having a bunch of people over to make you want to start a decent sized painting project right?

This is the next morning... it took about a half gallon of paint with primer. I had read that the brick would soak up the paint so I think we did pretty well. It took two-ish coats of paint- our method: roll with a little roller any surface we could (lay it on THICK) then go back with a brush and touch up all the little raised edges and grout lines.

All done- tah dah! This was a quick take a picture after throwing up some fall decor. I am loving the white now, I wasn't so sure after the first coat and a half but I really like it and it has brightened up our dark little corner.

I love fall in Boise. I love seeing all of the trees change color and going for walks in the cool air. We have really enjoyed strapping Thatcher in the stroller and getting out and about and seeing everything through his eyes!

Aaron's parents came for a quick visit- somehow I only managed a few pictures of Thatcher and Grandpa looking at books. I really need to work on the quantity of pictures I take... It was just a quick weekend visit and we seemed to be constantly on the move.

Happy Halloween! We weren't too worked up about Halloween this year (I know bad parents) but with Aaron working Halloween night and Thatcher still young enough to not really know whats going on I decided I didn't need to stress about it. I did find a simple costume for Thatcher (Good Will- a whole $1.50 for and Old Navy costume) and we ended up at "Trunk-or-Treat" at Grammy's church parking lot. So I decided that every frog should have a princess to go with him- I borrowed an old formal from a co-worker and threw my hair up with some glitter/curls/tiara and we were set.

What you can't see in this picture: the dress was a little too long so I had it bunched up and tucked in the pocket of my yoga pants, oh and I was wearing some pink tennis shoes too- no glass slippers for this princess give my my sneakers any day! Aaron was a pirate, it didn't really work into our little theme but we had it on hand from a theme wedding we attended last fall. Maybe next year we will be better...

Thatcher is already 8 months old- how did this happen? Every month I try and snap a few "posed" pictures of him. It is getting a bit harder now that he can move around a little, and Jack the weenie dog as my wonderful "assistant" I took over 100 pictures and I would say I have at least 30 that have some portion of a dog in them. He is a pro photo bomber.

(Thatcher "barking" at Jack once I finally was able to get the dog outside)

(Thatcher's Halloween froggy costume and a pumpkin we grew at Grammy's house)

September

September has been another busy month… We have been working on all kinds of projects! First- we managed to get a quick family picture done (thanks Mary!!) From over 50 shots- only one turned out with all of us smiling and looking in the same direction! Maybe next time we can have a few more workable shots. J 

Fall around here = canning! We have loved being able to feed Thatcher food that we prepare and try to keep as fresh as possible. He loves home canned peaches and pears and my previous stash is quickly dwindling! We called around to a few orchards and found some peaches and pears that were available. The peaches were perfect! The pears were a little (actually a LOT) green! They sat outside for a week before we were finally able to can them- we could have even waited a bit longer. We even managed to get the first session of canning done with just a few phone calls to Grandma Beal in New York aka- canning expert! Her house is perfect for canning- lots of counter space and we set up the propane camping stove on the back porch. 

Thatcher enjoying fresh peaches in the mesh feeder

Cocoa waiting for a snack

Projects this month: “framing” the simple, giant builders grade mirrors in both bathrooms, re-tiling the kids/guest bathroom floor, re-painting the wall in our master bed room. There are still a bunch of projects on the list.

Thatcher helping us at the "Orange Store" pick our moulding for the bathroom mirrors

The "green" wall in our room- it started out with a much different vision that I saw in a magazine, once we painted it didn't work very well... thank goodness its only paint 

Everything taped off- we painted a base coat of grey to match the other three walls 

Tah-dah! We don't have a headboard on our bed- so now this wall-o-stripes is like a giant headboard . In the future  I want to add some vinyl, I haven't decided just what to put yet. 

Thatcher got a new outside swing! He has finally outgrown the baby swing inside, but he loves  to swing so we thought this would be a good replacement... at least until the snow comes. 

The green beans from our garden! We waited a bit too long to  pick them so a few weren't edible. We had plenty though to make into fresh baby food for Thatcher and cut into little pieces for him to feed himself in a few more months. 

The "before" shot of our bathroom floor... 

The after shot of our floor and mirror- you can't see the mirror very well- sorry

I used my new "toy" to cut some vinyl to put above Thatcher's crib- It is a portion of a scripture in 1 Samuel - 1:27- where Hannah prayed for her son Samuel. 

We decided to re-paint our backyard swing I built a while ago- it was an old white/pink color. I found the pillows at Savers for $1 each and went from there. We are liking the little pop of color out the back door. 

Our little end of summer surprise! Our itty bitty raspberry plants we planted this spring have berries!!!  I didn't plan on actually having berries this year so the little guys don't even have support posts yet. 

We are loving all the fun things we get to do in our home to add touches to make it “ours”… We have only lived here a few years J Oh- and another hi-light for the month: Thatcher’s first cousin on the Campbell side was born on the 25^th! We can’t wait to see him in November! 

August recap

August has come and gone and we were pretty busy and had a few quick weekend trips. Thatcher is growing and is such a flexible baby, we can hop in the car and go and he is right there with us. 

Munching on the spatula and helping mommy make fresh peas into baby food

One of our quick trips was up to Stanley to help with diabetes camp. Thatcher and I headed up on Friday and enjoyed the drive. Thatcher slept most of the way, we made a quick stop for lunch then around to camp. The big forest fire was only about a week old at that point but the smoke was pretty thick, and had settled in. 

Alturas Lake, Stanley- This is usually one of my favorite pictures but the smoke was too thick to really see the mountains

Thatcher's first trip to the zoo was a hot afternoon. When we left the house it wasn't too warm, but by the time we made it into the Zoo it was pretty warm. Thatcher wasn't too interested in the animals. The larger animals were a little more exciting for him. We will plan to go back in the fall to see if he is a little more excited about it. 

Grandma's raspberry plants were ready to pick and we were up for the task. Thatcher watched from the comfort of the exersaucer in the shade of the  rose arbor while we wandered through the butternut squash jungle 

The butternut squash plant has pretty much taken over the raspberry patch and back garden at Grandma and Grandpa Beals. I didn't realize how much it had really grown until I had to wander through it without trampling the plant too much. The squash has even started growing up the raspberry supports! Good thing Thatcher loves squash, because we will probably have a freezer full in a few more weeks. 

Jack went with us to pick raspberries at Grandmas too, this is about all we saw of him the entire time. He was just the right size to sneak under the squash leaves and behind the other larger garden plants. He slept in the car and took a nap in the sun when we got home. 

We had a fun game night at a friends house, their little girl was born about two weeks before Thatcher. They were great floor buddies and shared toys pretty well. It was fun to watch them play together. 

Our second weekend trip was to visit Lara and Mike in Rexburg. Lara's baby shower was that weekend and we wanted to spend some time with them before their baby comes in a few weeks. 

Cleo helping us pack- we have learned to check all the bags before  putting them in the car or storing them

Thatcher's major photobomb at the baby shower. Somehow I didn't get very many pictures from the shower, I am  guessing it had something to do with the "helper" on my lap. 

Lara opening the present we got for her and baby

Thatcher is getting pretty good at working with the Ipad- we have a little app that makes noise and pops up shapes whenever he touches the screen. 

 Since we were able to go home on Monday we decided to take a little trip on Sunday after church. Mesa Falls is only about an hour drive from Lara and Mikes. It was a fun little car ride and hike/walk to watch the falls. Thatcher was fascinated with the running water and noise. Trying to get him to look away from the water to snap a picture was a challenge but we snagged a few before we loaded back in the car. 

August in Boise isn't complete without a day or two in the scorching heat at the Western Idaho Fair. It was fun to walk around the booths and see all the 4-H projects, animals and other fun things. Thatcher was a ham  when we came to the photo cut outs at the U of I Ag exhibit. 

The last Saturday of August was also the first BSU game, so we crashed the watching party at Grandmas. Thatcher and Cocoa are becoming good friends now that Thatcher has some yummy food in the high chair. 

Thatcher and Grandma on game night