Halloween 2018

This evening our family enjoyed trick-or-treating with Grandma Barbara! Savannah dressed up as a mermaid, and Hadley dressed up as Candy Girl. We walked on our street, which is a one-mile circle. It was a beautiful fall evening with temps near 70 degrees. Savannah and Hadley received candy from around 25 houses. It was a fun evening!

All of the candy the girls received:

Grandma's 103rd Birthday!

Today my grandma (my mom's mom) is celebrating her 103rd birthday! The girls and I were blessed to spend some time with Grandma when we traveled to Illinois a couple weeks ago. We're so thankful that Grandma still lives in her own home, has a clear mind and a sense of humor, and is in good health for her age. We love you, Grandma!

Everyday Moments

Life...unedited. 

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

but they capture everyday moments from the last couple weeks.

I baked salmon and flounder for some of our meals this week. Hadley was very excited to shake the seasoning on the seafood:

Savannah helped the PTA decorate for the upcoming Book Fair at our school. She used her fingers to paint a cloud:

The PTA decorated the outside of my media center for our Book Fair. The theme is fairy tales. The cloud that Savannah painted is in the upper left corner.

Savannah finished chapter book #38. She is very interested in babysitting:

On Wednesday night, our family enjoyed going to the fall festival at our school. Hadley dressed up as candy girl. Savannah dressed up as a mermaid.

At the fall festival, the girls played games, walked in the costume parade, and got some candy during Trunk or Treat:

This weekend the girls and I had some girl time while Tal was doing hurricane repairs at his grandparents' house at the beach. On a cold and rainy Friday night, we played in the mall play area, browsed in a couple stores, and ate dinner in the food court:

Over the last 5.5 months, I've lost nearly 55 lbs and 21 inches. This weekend I filled two bags with baggy clothes and donated them to Goodwill

I recently celebrated a non-scale victory. I need to buy a new belt because I've lost 6 inches in my waist, and this one doesn't hold up my pants anymore. When I started Optavia in May, I was using the last hole, and now the first hole is too loose:

This weekend Savannah and I cleaned out her closet. Having all four seasons of clothes in her closet made Savannah feel overwhelmed because her closet was so crowded. We moved her spring and summer clothes into her dresser. We discarded torn and stained clothes. We put clothes that she'd outgrown inside a storage container for Hadley. Then, we sorted Savannah's closet into long sleeve shirts, dresses, and leggings. Savannah loves her simplified and organized closet for fall/winter!

After

After Savannah and I finished cleaning out her closet, we had all these leftover hangers (many of which we donated to Goodwill this weekend):

This weekend the girls and I went shopping at Trader Joe's...

...where Hadley got her face painted like a tiger:

...and Savannah got a heart painting:

This weekend we turned on our fireplace for the first time this season:

So I changed our outfits for our family's photo shoot this weekend. I used Hadley's floral dress as the inspiration for our maroon and navy color scheme. Over the last couple weeks, it's been so darn cold in NC that we needed some warmer clothes. In NC, it feels like we've skipped fall and gone straight to winter. I've lived in NC for 20 years, and I don't remember ever having to wear winter coats and boots starting in mid-October.

Parade of Homes

This weekend I toured 11 homes on the Parade of Homes, which is one of my favorite (and free!) annual events. Nearly 200 new homes in our county are open for public viewing during the first three weekends in October. 

As I toured the homes, I didn't pay attention to a home's layout or consider whether or not I would want to live in the house or neighborhood. Instead, I paid attention to the design choices, including the hardware, lighting, and tile. I was especially interested in the current trends and decorating selections in the bathrooms, kitchens, and laundry rooms since Tal and I are going to renovate these rooms in our house in the future.

For example, I noticed that light wood floors are trending:

...as well as pretty door knobs and gray interior doors:

On Friday afternoon, the girls and I toured three homes on our drive home from school. The homes were in a lovely wooded setting and were listed for $700,000-$850,000.

House #1

House #2

The girls loved the fire pit:

Huge walk-in shower:

House #3

On Saturday afternoon, my friend Amanda and I drove downtown and walked through 8 homes that were listed for $1-1.7 million:

Everyday Moments

Life...unedited. 

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

but they capture everyday moments from this week.

Savannah is going to be a mermaid on Halloween:

We're having our annual family photos taken next weekend. We're doing a navy and purple color scheme and wearing the outfits below:

This is Savannah's last week of track-out, so I took the day off from work yesterday and today, so I could spend some extra time with the girls. During our two-day staycation, we did some fun, inexpensive activities that the girls requested, including shopping, painting pumpkins, baking pumpkin bread, and making slime.

On Day 1 of our staycation, the girls and I went shopping at Walmart. Hadley got $20 as a birthday gift from her babysitter Hiroko. Hadley enjoyed using her birthday money to buy a Minnie Mouse cash register...

...and a doctor kit:

After we got home from Walmart, the girls loved painting a pumpkin: 

Then, we used this recipe to bake two loaves of pumpkin bread (but we added chocolate chips instead of nuts). The pumpkin bread was moist and delicious! 

Hadley mixed the wet and dry ingredients:

After the pumpkin bread cooled, we took some bread to Hadley's babysitter and to our friends who are recovering from surgery: 

On Day 2 of our staycation, the girls and I visited a few stores. At Target, Savannah used her chore money to buy shaving cream, glue, and contact solution. When we got home, Savannah and Hadley used the supplies to make two batches of puffy slime. They did everything independently...without any help from me!

When our family stopped by Walmart this evening, the Eggo Waffle food truck was making FREE waffle concoctions in front of Walmart. Savannah and Hadley enjoyed eating warm waffles topped with cinnamon, whipped cream, strawberries, and pineapple: