Wrapping up October!

Sydni made a scarf just for Natasha. :) Natasha rrreally likes it. So does everyone else. :)





Haha, the kiddos made a dude!



Justus under a pile of leaves.



This picture is a mite concerning.... It appeared on the door of Justus's bedroom a few days ago. By way of explanation, Natasha has yet to earn back her privilege of being in Justus's bedroom; within just days of moving into this house a year and a half ago, the girl lost that privilege due to her 'terroristic'/bossy/manipulative behavior toward Justus. Since then there has been much training and talking, and many ups and downs, but so far she's still not allowed in there. By nature Justus is compliant and passive. By nature Natasha is defiant and aggressive. It creates many opportunities for each of them to practice controlling him/herself in order to be the very best person he/she can be.... (Read: Many tough parenting moments!!!!!!) So anyway, we work on Natasha a lot to not be so controlling, but we also work a lot on Justus to be brave, courageous, and hold his ground ... and when he does, we are pleased, and encourage him. I hope that is enough explanation so you can be a little less concerned about this picture than you otherwise might be. Additionally, Justus said the sword is a picture of his Nerf sword. :)



A picture Justus drew of some dudes fighting a monster.



Justus's drawing of Saul, David, & Goliath.



Here is a picture of Jeremy modeling the scarf I made him, ha. It was my first project, and ... he doesn't wear scarves, but ... he's the one I wanted to make my first project for, and a scarf is all I could make! (It might be all I still can make, since I have yet to complete the only project of a different design that I have started, ha.) I have another picture of the scarf; I'll post it later.



We have an AMAAAAZING Goodwill store close to us. All of these items are in good, if not excellent, condition. We got eight shirts, four amazing sweaters, a dress shirt for Jeremy, four pairs of pants, and two pairs of jeans. $35.



We carved pumpkins a week or two before Halloween. :) Here is the masterpiece Jeremy carved.







N's pumpkin in the dark.



N's pumpkin in the light. The pirate eye is "Plan B". I think she did a great job of covering up her mistake! :)



J's in the dark.



J's in the light. This is a great effort, for an 8yo's first carving effort! lol We giggled a lot.



Jeremy's in the dark.








I have three funnies that Justus said during the last, oh, six months.... (I had them on post-its that I recently uncovered in this pile of "important papers" on my desk, ugh!)

First, Ah!, I can remember the date of this because it was during the week after the fire! The Siegles took us to supper at Lonestar Steakhouse!! What a lovely evening that was! Anyway, as we were ordering, Justus tried to quote Jeremy, so he said to Natasha and me, "Tonight don't eat any chicken or you'll be disabled from the family."

Justus's lazy eye issues mean he's had the 'privilege' of having his eyes dilated at both of his two annual eye exams. He and I were sitting in the waiting room waiting to be called back in following the drops being placed in his eyes. He squinted up at me and said, "Mom, I think my eyes are through digesting."

A couple weeks ago Justus and I were listening to a CD of the group Acappella. I told him that when Jeremy and I were teenagers, we often got to listen to the group perform live. Justus said, "So, the guys singing these songs, you and Dad got to see in real life?" I said, "Yes!" He concluded, "So they're dead, right?"

Actually, Natasha did something similar a couple days ago! We were looking at an old photo album, and I told her Jeremy's introduction to his marriage proposal. We were in Laughlin, NV, for the Marine Corps Ball, and Jeremy said to me, "You know we could go to Vegas tomorrow and get married by Elvis." Natasha said, "Ohhh, right, because Elvis was still alive then, right?" *sigh* FOSSILS. Jeremy and I are evidently ancient.

One afternoon Natasha spent a lot longer outside than she usually does. When she came back in, she presented this to me.



She said she used muddy/clay dirt, and ... spit. lol!




I'll leave you with this video. You'll want to turn DOWN your volume 'til you know how loud Natasha is. She's pretending to be scared, like Justus is the Grim Reaper coming after her, weird. lol