We heart October

Fall is my absolute favorite season and I know I've said it before many times.  This has probably been the craziest one yet for us.

In September we found out we were moving; a mile away, but into a different ward.  2 weeks after that we went on the annual work retreat and had a much needed mini family vacation.  The kids really wore themselves out at the water park.  2 weeks later was the Graham County Fair (Stephen and I actually went on a date there, without kids!) and we got the keys to the new house.  We packed and cleaned all of the following week. Crazy, stressful and lots of insanity.  Moving day was that Wednesday and we are so grateful to everyone that came to help.  It went so smoothly, the easiest moving day we've ever had. 
 
We made the mistake of letting the kids hang out a lot in the house because before the move. Every night that week we took another load over so moving day wouldn't be so crazy.  The mistake was Franklin became very obsessed with his green room and every night that we didn't stay there he cried.  Still, the kids got to go visit friends, have play dates, go to grandmas and have lots of time away from home. Surprisingly I didn't get ahead with packing during that time due to LOTS of orders and loads of work from my dad.  I can't get mad at either one because we are thrilled at the success of PaciFashion and I had been challenging my dad all the previous week to give me a work load.  So I got what I asked for, a double whammy.

The following Saturday (I still don't know why I thought I could do it) I had signed up to be a vender at a local school craft/boutique fair.  My mother-in-law did it with me and it really was exciting to see her have so much success!  One woman quickly came to me and asked for a business card because she didn't want her daughter to know she was going to get a Princess Jammie for Christmas while telling her daughter, "No, you can't have one."  There were multiple moms and grandmas buying Sheila's Princess Jammies for Christmas, each purchased followed with; Now forget you saw it.
There are still boxes of various things in the house; mostly pictures waiting to be hung.  Every wall inside the house is nearly a foot wide; an older built home with plaster walls inside drywall.  This house is VERY well insulated.  My point is, I have all these Hercules Hooks and not a single one is useful, so pictures are waiting till we are sure of their placement before we put nails in the walls.

The kids really love it here and so do we.  We all had become sick during the move and for me, I only got worse after the move was complete.  Last weekend we spent a lot of time detail cleaning, mostly the floors (which seemed to almost never have been mopped; please don't quote me) and since then my health has drastically improved. 

We have a large garden, but because of my allergies I cannot pick most of it without long sleeves overlapping garden gloves.  I have yet to do that because Stephen has been so sweet taking care of that for me.  We have LOTS of chili's and peppers, which I will not allow inside due to the extreme nature of my allergy to them.  So if anyone in the area would like to come visit me and wants bags of chili's and/or peppers, feel free to stop by. 

Franklin has been loving every minute of school.  Everyday he makes a deal with me; he will do something I want and then he gets to school after.  So I'm having to create a calender with a picture or drawing of a school on the days he actually goes and have a magnet representing him so he can see if it's a day he gets to go or not.

Franklin strikes a deal for just about everything.  We've have to reason with him so often because of his obsessive nature that I think he's using it back on us.  He's also become extremely bossy to Lisette. He gets in trouble very often for this.  He thinks he won't be in trouble if he repeats anything I've said to her; i.e. Get that out of your mouth; Go to bed; Put that down; Get off the cat; etc. He's also picked up on a few phrases; Oh my gosh; What the heck; You make me sad; Gee whiz; Dagnabit (it doesn't quite sound that way); etc.  Needless to say I'm really trying hard to watch what I say.

I don't know if it's anger, fun, wanting to be bad, or a bad thing she learned in nursery, but Lisette has bitten Franklin a few times lately.  I can count on one hand how many times in the last month, but it's still really bad.  It's not just a bite because she had drawn blood and made bruises.  Now I don't think I've even been that violent, but it's freaky how much Lisette is just like me.  An example is she body slams the cat.  Poor Rizzo and he just won't run away either, so she does it several times in a row.  Honestly I think he's only bitten her once her whole life; I wish he would do it more to protect himself.  Although he has done it to Franklin when he has gone too far.

PaciFashion has been doing very well.  I hit over 1000 sales last month.  October marked my 2nd anniversary.  Keep in mind a sale is usually 3 or more straps together and is rarely 1 by its self.  Stephen and I have been enjoying it and have been staying caught up in just the past week since the move.  Luckily no one made a complaint and I've given away a few extras in some orders that took me way too long to put together as an apology. I've always hated excuses so they received a gift instead of an excuse.

Halloween was so great for the kids.  I made both their costumes.  Lisette, who was supposed to be a pink poodle, wouldn't wait till we were done trick or treating to eat candy.  She even had 2 suckers in one hand, licking them simultaneously or together.  Then when she got cotton candy those uncovered suckers went into the treat bag for later.  Franklin, for the first time in his life, was silent; not a word, no recognition to anyone.  Franklin was a Sheriff, but I think he was acting like a zombie. 6 people asked him to draw and nothing happened; one track mind, must have more candy.  The 7th person didn't even ask about his guns, but out they came anyway.  He finally reacted to someone and lit up.  All the people we went to were familiar, our last ward held Trunk or Treat.

We finished up at home with decorating cookies and when the kids had their sugar crash, it came hard and with a vengeance.  So once they were in bed, sugar washed out of hair, hands and face, they were out.  We had a few trick or treaters at that point and that was enjoyable for me.  We have never had anyone come to us for trick or treating before. We never lived in a location that kids came to, or that we were comfortable with (Tucson).

A slideshow is soon to come.  We took so many pictures last month, way too many things went on, but we had a great October this year.  Don't forget to come and get some chilies!