It Just Feels Like Home

It's the little touches that make a house feel like home, and our new house is really taking shape. While we know that there are rooms we need to paint, quite a bit of flooring that we want to replace and some furniture to buy, we have made the home our own through some of the personalized details, like this mantel, that we love.
One of the things we really liked when we saw this house was the openness of the living room and dining room. The way these rooms are bathed in sunlight in the afternoon totally lights up the house. You'll notice boxes leaning against the dining room railing - those are mirrors and prints for our walls that we haven't had time to hang yet. Soon, I hope!!
Are you ready for Christmas? It's hard to believe how quickly it will be here. We don't have snow yet, but here is a peek at what we see out our window each morning - frost! We're looking forward to our first Christmas in this house. I'm also trying to get my scrap space set up - more on the progress there (it's slow but steady!) shortly.

By Request - A Photo and A Tag

I had a few requests for a photo of our finished pumpkin after my Halloween post, but when I took a peek to find one I discovered that this was the only photo I took. Even though it's not a full view of Jack's face, it's enough of a look to give you an idea (and to show you how enamoured the girls were with him!)

This year's design was a composite: the scar was Evan's idea, the eyes are Alicia's design, the teeth are by Vanessa and the Star Trek replica nose was Stephen's contribution. By the time I realized that I didn't have a full on picture taken of this year's Jack, it was too late. He was too soggy and misshapen to photograph. Compost, here he comes!

I was also recently tagged by my friend and awesome scrapbooker Lori to complete this little quiz. I don't do a lot of these, but this one looked like fun, so I completed it last night after the kids were in bed. The trick to this quiz - you must complete it with a one-word answer. Hmmmm - not as easy as it sounds! You may want to give it a try.

RULES
- You can only use ONE word.
- Pass this along to 5 of your favorite bloggers.
- HAVE FUN!

Here goes...
1. Where is your mobile phone? charger
2. Your hair? ponytail
3. Your mother? far
4. Your father? Heaven
5. Your fave food? salmon
6. Your dream last night? forgotten
7. Your fave drink? chai
8. Your dream/goal? retirement
9. What room are you in? loft
10. Your hobby? scrapbooking
11. Your fear? illness
12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? traveling
13. Where you were last night? home
14. Something that you aren't? bored
15. Muffins? bagels!
16. Wish List Item? vacation
17. Where did you grow up? west
18. Last thing you did? laundry
19. What are you wearing? pj's
20. Your TV? quiet
21. Your Pets? fish
22. Friends? treasured
23. Your Life? family
24. Your Mood? optimistic
25. Missing Someone? Cathryn
26. Vehicle? minivan
27. Something your not wearing? socks
28. Your fave store? Scrapalicious :-)
29. Your fave colour? purple
30. Last time you laughed? today
31. Last time you cried? forgotten
32. Your best friend? Stephen
33. One place that you go to over and over? work
34. One person who emails regularly? Leanne
35. Fave place to eat? home

OK, now to tag 5 of my favourite blogging gals, (a few who need a bit of a kick-start) . . .

1. Jennifer H-S
2. Connie
3. Mary
4. Kimmie
5. Tara C

Click on the links above to check out these great gals' blogs. And then check back in a little while to see their answers to this tag. Have fun, ladies!

Smooth Transitions

Happily, the kids have had a adjusted quite well to their new school and our new routine out in the country. Here's a peek at our weekday school departure.

This is a view of our street in the morning as we wait for the school bus. It's quite a change from what we were used to in the city; definitely more scenic and peaceful. Our street is long and straight, but very hilly. That's the bus arriving if you can make it out, and behind it in the distance is the beautiful Niagara Escarpment.
The kids thought it would be really cool to have the school bus stop at the end of our driveway. Then they realized that the walk to the end of our driveway is similar to what the walk used to be to the bus stop at the end of the block back in the city! Our house is set quite far back from the road, so it's a bit of a hike out to the street.
This photo was taken the first morning that the school bus stopped at our house. Because it took a while to re-arrange the bus route to accommodate us, I drove the kids to school for a few weeks. Their first bus ride to their new school was not until mid October. Notice that hats and mitts? It was already quite cold.
Going back in time a few weeks earlier, this was the kids' first day of school at their new school. Starting mid-year was a new experience for us all, and the school made the transition so smooth for them. The principal, vice-principal and their teachers all came to the office to greet us when we arrived. I'm quite pleased with how everyone has adjusted so far.

The arrival of winter is going to add an interesting twist to our new lifestyle, but one thing at a time! We'll cross that bridge as we come to it!

I've had a few requests to post a photo of our finished Halloween pumpkin, so I'll get to that soon. I also was tagged by my friend and awesome scrapbooker Lori, and will be responding to her tag in the next post or two. In the interim, have fun checking out Lori's answers here. She also tagged our friend Lee, whose blog is always a good read.

Thanks for checking in!

Halloween Fun

The whole family had a lot of fun on Halloween this year, and it began with creating the jack-o-lantern. The girls were particularly excited about creating the pumpkin's design, and were ready to start long before we were. Alicia even wore her costume for the task. Don't the girls look anxious to get started?
The final design was a combination of everyone's ideas, which we pulled from a rather large selection of sketches from the kids. While the pumpkin wasn't as frightening as Evan wanted it to be, it was scary enough to please him, while still being sufficiently cute enough to satisfy the girls.
That evening we headed into our town to participate in the community Halloween party. The kids loved the donuts hanging from strings that were intended to be eaten hands free, although a bit of cheating definitely happened! The crafts were fun, the cider was warm and we all had a great time.
I was totally thrilled when Alicia picked this pretty witch costume this year, as it's a favourite of mine and I've wanted one of the girls to wear it for years now. It was a natural for her, since purple is one of her favourite colours. She grabbed this little broom to make the costume complete, and had an absolute blast wearing it.
With the vampire craze so huge right now, Evan was intent on being Dracula, despite that he has such an aversion to face paint that - try as I might - I couldn't even get him to wear a few drops of fake blood dripping from his fangs! After the party, the events continued on the town's main street with trick-or-treating.
Vanessa was a genie this year, and she loved the glitzy pink and teal of her costume. The kids managed to collect enough candy to keep them in treats 'til Christmas! Nan and Ray had dropped by that afternoon with a treat - the Monsters vs. Aliens DVD, which we watched to round out the night.

We're feeling quite settled into our new home now, although our weekends are still filled with juggling furniture and drawers around until we really feel like we've got everything exactly where we want it. It's sure a long process, but we're enjoying it. The scrap room remains mostly boxed, but I (really!) hope to get to it soon.

I hope you all had a fantastic Halloween, too!