Happy Halloween!

Tonight our family had a great time celebrating Halloween! Savannah dressed up as a mermaid, while Hadley was a butterfly. For 1.5 hours, we went trick-or-treating on our street, which is a one-mile circle. Lots of houses passed out candy, and we talked to many students from our school who live in our neighborhood. It was a fun evening!

Savannah and Hadley and all of the candy they received:

Everyday Moments

Life...unedited. 

These random iPhone photos are dark, blurry, and untouched,

but they capture everyday moments from the last couple weeks.

Savannah's neighborhood friends Liza, Sky, and Madison played with Play-doh at our house. These girls often spend 4-6 hours every Saturday and Sunday going to and from each other's houses and playing inside and outside:

Hadley did flips in our living room:

Two nights this week, Savannah climbed into Hadley's bed and slept with her:

After being on vacation for the last three weeks, Savannah tracked into school this week. She was exhausted at the end of the first day:

While Savannah was at gymnastics, Hadley and I went to the inflatable playground. Hadley enjoyed riding this bus, as well as sliding in the bouncy houses:

On Thursday, I had a workday, which means a sub taught my 6 classes, while I worked in the library office. During my planning period, I picked up lunch from PDQ. Savannah and I ate chicken tenders and fries in the cafeteria. We love this tradition!

Savannah LOVES gifts and is always looking forward to Christmas and her birthday. On her iPad, she keeps a running list of gift ideas. Savannah used my phone to take this picture, so I would know what she wanted for Christmas:

At Walmart, Savannah got a turquoise laundry basket for her clothes, while I picked up a couple $1 baskets to corral swim stuff, costumes, and painting clothes in my closet:

This week Savannah took over the responsibility of washing, drying, hanging, and putting away all of her clothes. She did an excellent job!

During the last 1.5 years, my girls have broken two living room ottomans. Savannah and Hadley love to sit, stand, and play on them:

I've learned my lesson. The next time I buy an ottoman, I'm going to invest in a large, padded one without legs that can withstand the girls sitting, standing, and playing on it (like the navy velvet ottoman in the picture below):

Savannah and Hadley did some pretty finger paintings at our kitchen table:

Savannah loved getting this thoughtful, hand-written note from Gran in the mail this week. (During her track-out, Savannah spent a week in Salter Path with Grandma Barbara, Gran, and Grandaddy.):

"You were such a good, good girl. No problem at all. We really, really thank you for staying with us, even though I could not win a game of Parcheesi. I sure tried. Come back anytime you want. Give Hadley a hug and a kiss for us and be as good at home like you are here with us. Jesus loves you very much and so do we."  Gran-Gran and Grand-daddy

I spotted Hadley's name in the Ballard's catalog I got in the mail this week:

More than a year ago, I removed Hadley's earrings because she kept pulling them out and causing her earlobes to bleed. Well, today, Hadley asked me to put in her earrings, and she loved looking at herself in mirror for a few minutes before I removed her earrings:

Today I spent several hours decluttering and organizing my side of our closet. It was a mess, and I hadn't purged much since Tal laid hardwood floors in our closet a year ago:

Before

To get started, I removed everything from the floor. I vacuumed and cleaned the floor with Bona hardwood floor cleaner:

During

When I was done, I threw away two bags of trash and donated three bags of clothes to Goodwill. I'm happy that my closet is neat and organized again (and that the floor is clear). It's obvious that I'm not a minimalist with a capsule wardrobe. I still have over 100 pieces of clothing hanging in my closet, so my goal is to be more intentional about purging items that I don't wear often:

After

While I was cleaning out my closet, Hadley found my "Thing 1 and 2" wig that I wear during Dr. Seuss week at school:

While I was cleaning out my closet, Tal cooked gumbo and cheesy chicken rigatoni for our meals this week: 

Then, I used this recipe to make some yummy pumpkin muffins. Hadley did a great job sprinkling chocolate chips in the muffin tins before baking:

After the muffins cooled, Savannah put them in individual baggies for her six teachers:

Grandma's 102nd Birthday!

Happy Birthday to my Grandma Rowell (my mom's mom), who is celebrating her 102nd birthday today!  Throughout her life, Grandma has instilled the importance of love, family, godliness, and hard work. Amazingly, Grandma still lives in her home, has a sound mind, and is in good health for her age. We are blessed that she is still with us!

Below is a picture of our Rowell family in 2015 (only 2 members were missing) at Grandma's 100th birthday party in Illinois:

Grandma's legacy spans 4 generations and includes 5 children, 12 grandchildren, and 21 great-grandchildren (shown below):

At 102 years old and 3 years old, Grandma and Hadley are the oldest and youngest members of our Rowell family.  The picture below is from 2015 when Grandma turned 100 years old and Hadley turned 1 year old:

Sisterly Love

Savannah said, "Take our picture and put it on the wall." :)

Everyday Moments

Life...unedited. 

These random iPhone photos are dark, blurry, and untouched,

but they capture everyday moments from the last couple weeks.

While I got ready for church in the bathroom, Hadley hung out with me and played inside Tal's bathroom vanity:

Hadley loves the sound and feel of a hair dryer:

My library is the voting precinct for our neighborhood. The good news is that I can walk across my library and vote during my lunch break:

On October 10, Tal and I voted in my library. We voted as conservatives. We voted pro life, for religious freedom, for traditional marriage, and for lower taxes. Unfortunately, none of the candidates that we voted for won the election, but we exercised our right to vote nonetheless:

On October 10, Hadley played in the mall play area after I got a school iPad repaired at the Apple store:

Hadley's crazy hair after a bath:

Hadley ate a snack, while Tal got a new phone at the Verizon store:

Hadley loved wearing her Halloween outfit (from her cousin Harper) to church on Sunday:

This week we finally had some cool fall weather. Savannah was excited to wear her new fall shirts from Grandma Barbara:

On Tuesday, I worked in the morning, and then Savannah and I had a girls date in the afternoon (since Savannah is tracked-out from school). We ate lunch at Moe's because kids eat free on Tuesdays: 

Then, we shopped for fall shoes. Savannah was excited to buy these black boots:

She loved trying on these red high heels:

The Pirate Book Fair is coming to my library from November 1-17, and our PTA did an amazing job decorating the outside of my library to resemble a pirate ship:

Our goal is to sell over $20,000 in books at the Book Fair, so I can buy 200 new library books, as well as new technology and equipment for our school:

On Thursday night, our family went to the Fall Festival at our school:

Savannah and Hadley enjoyed playing games, seeing everyone's Halloween costumes, and trunk or treating with their friends. Also, since our school surpassed our fundraiser goal and raised $56,000 for our school, our principals camped out overnight in a luxury RV (not pictured) at our school:

For the last 7 years, our family has had a family closet...meaning that nearly all of the girls' clothes have been organized in our master closet. This system has worked great for us because the girls take showers and get dressed in our bathroom. It's also been easier to put away laundry since everyone's clothes are in the same closet. 

However, today Savannah and I moved her clothes to her bedroom closet (at her request). Tal and I are glad that Savannah wants to be responsible for maintaining her clothes. For years, Savannah has done a great job putting her dirty clothes in the hamper, making outfits, and setting out her clothes for the next day. Over the last few weeks, Tal and I have been teaching Savannah how to wash/dry and put away her clothes:

After

Today Savannah and I pared down her size L/10-12 clothes to 10 short-sleeve shirts/tank tops, 10 long-sleeve shirts, 10 shorts, 10 pants, and 5 dresses:

After

In her closet, Savannah also practiced sorting and hanging her clothes in categories, as well as organizing her socks and underwear in the labeled drawers in the plastic container on the floor. Then, she sorted all of the extra clothes by throwing away stained clothes, putting good-condition clothes in a box for Hadley, and giving away unwanted clothes to Goodwill. 

After

Savannah is sooo excited about her clean and organized closet!
She is embracing her new independence and responsibilities!

Savannah put her size M/7-8 clothes in a storage container for Hadley and put them in the attic. In our attic, we have 22 storage containers that are filled with girls' clothes and sorted by size from newborn to size 7-8.  Savannah, Hadley, and their cousin Harper share these clothes. Storing and sharing clothes has saved our family a ton of money over the years!

After we decluttered Savannah's closet this morning, our family ate burgers, fries, and milkshakes for lunch at Steak 'n Shake: