I decided it was time to finish the entryway. One wall was unprimed texturizer and the other was halfway painted with yellow by the previous owner and left that way. So I taped all the carpet edges on the stairs (wish I'd have done that wall before the carpet went in) and primed everything. I tested painting over the yellow paint edge but the yellow was a different finish than the white they were painting over, so the new paint had a different sheen on the two surfaces. It seemed better to prime everything.
The flash washes out the picture, but the color is a darker peat. It looks much better now. Now for painting the living room...
The only costume I am making this year (that I know of) is Nathaniel's, so we went all out on it. He had a homemade bow made out of a bent stick and string from a friend that he wanted to use. And after seeing a make-your-own moccasin kit at the scout shop, he knew he had to be an indian (or blond indiginous north american).
We found some cool embroidered buckskin-like fabric and a ready-made war bonnet.
Little Hiawatha is on the war path.
Not sure what we'll do on Halloween since it is on Sunday this year. Tomorrow the elementary is having a fall carnival, to which the kids can wear costumes, and next Saturday there is a trunk-or-treat at the church so he will get plenty of costume time and candy. Maybe Sunday will be a night to sit on our porch and give out candy and try to meet neighbors. I wonder what trick or treating will be like in this neighborhood...
Grandma and Grandpa Johansen drove down to see our new house. Nathaniel received a basketball as an early birthday present and he enjoyed learning some skills with Grandpa.
Then we decided to see something new in our area. We went to a teaching zoo at a local community college. It was small and a little sleepy, but it was OK.
There were cockroaches to hold
and condor silhouettes.
It was a very pretty day though. Pretty good for Oct 30.
This was Davis' Halloween Costume. He wore it to a Stake dance and the ward Trunk or Treat. Since Halloween was on a Sunday we didn't plan to go trick or treating, and neither of the boys seemed that keen on it. We bbq-ed with the grandparents and watched a couple movies and met a couple neighbors when they came trick or treating to our door.
We took a drive to the beach to get out of the house. We're looking for a new favorite beach - I don't think this is it, but it was OK.
The boys liked fighting with bamboo sticks they found on the beach.
The life guards aren't around this time of year to enforce the rules about bamboo stick fighting on the lifeguard towers. We'll keep looking for the perfect beach. In the mean time, ask yourself if you wouldn't rather be on a sunny beach instead of the cold state you live in right now... We have a guest room and soon we'll be done with the master closet so we don't have to store all of our clothes in the guest room closet. Come see us - there are vacancies available for the holidays!
Chris is sitting in our "craftsman style chair" next to the tile-top table his brother Matt made for us (We'll have to include it in a new post).
Here is Nathaniel with his class at the elementary school Halloween parade.