Halloween 2019

So Halloween at ages 5 and 8 happened and here is the skinny.

In the pumpkin department: 
The usual scooping out of the guts and all that. Alex commanded me to do a skull and crossbones and I modeled mine after my favorite emoji.

I didn't do too bad! Jason and Ashton did pointy teeth AGAIN. That's all they ever do - have some creativity, sheesh.

In the costume department:
For a long time Alex wanted to be a parrot. Parrot as in the bird and if this choice is a mystery to you, well, same. But then after about a month he was like, "Now I want to be a vending machine. I will walk around and pass out snacks." Well that was sufficiently funny so I said fine. But it turns out making a vending machine costume is no small feat so on the weekend before Halloween, Jason took both boys to Party City in hopes of inspiration/diversion from the parrot and the vending machine.

Now, this whole time Ashton was easy because he was just going to wear his football uniform and go as, you guessed it, a football player. But he scored himself a funny wig at Party City and Alex, oh Alex. He came home with an <adult sized> zombie hunter outfit that was basically a vest wrapped with faux bullets, camo pants and a bloody ax. He was so happy. Me on the other hand? Well there was no way he could wear that to school - like the principal would have called me (no violent costumes).

And so, on the day of the Halloween parade, Alex had to wear a hand-me-down ninja and he was, shall we say, quite grumpy.

Up close, that's:

By the time we saw him for the K parade at school though it was all smiles.

And then the rest of the day was sort of, like, crazy smooth?! Grandma and Grandpa came up, the kids got off the bus, and our usual crew (Elijah and Crosby) went out to trick or treat.

There was a little mayhem afterwards with the sorting, trading, and inventory, but when I told the boys they could not eat more than three pieces they said "Ok Mommy, no problem" and didn't protest their 8:30 bedtime. Not going to lie, I pinched myself haha.

So yeah ummm that's pretty much it lol. No severe maniacal behavior or candy craziness in 2019! I wonder if that will carry over into the Christmas season, we shall see... :)

Before and After: Family Room Fireplace and General Overhaul :)

So this is a monster. Our living area has been pretty much totally transformed since we bought our house (we just hit our 4 year anniversary on 9/30/19!). 

Here is the main listing photo:

And here is what it looks like now:

I can break it down in small steps. We added a really really long curtain rod and hung panels on the entire back wall. We got some chairs, a new rug, and a huge sectional. But all of that is really brought together by our fireplace, which is now several months into its existence but hey. 

So basically we were working with this:

I mean, it was fine. But the cabinets on either side were actually not even secured, the doors were warped, and the TV blocked the windows behind it. There is literally not one wall to put a TV on in this room so above the fireplace is the only option. And we just wanted to do something a little... grander. 

So Jason sat down to think about it. Here is a picture of Jason thinking about it. 

The first thing we did was take out the cabinets - we knew we had to just box in the existing fireplace surround (and that we would be covering those smaller windows in the process) and it needed to be a certain size. See the blue tape?

So we took out the cabinets and of course the floors were unfinished, so we had to get that fixed before we could do anything. It looked very naked.

We I mean Jason also did lots of research on the stone we were going to use - it ended up being a super cool product with interlocking corners.

And now I'm just going to give it to you. In between January 24 and February 5th, 2019... 

Notice the PVC pipes behind the TV mount - those are built in for the cables so we appear wireless ;)

There were a lot of very tricky parts. We had to stack the stones in the right pattern (they all had different reliefs) so that it was consistent overall, and also our ceiling is slanted so Jason had to get those cuts just right. But of course it's Jason and he did.

I am loving decorating the mantel for all the holidays and seasons and the added texture warms the living room up so much. Another project: CHECK!

Family Pictures 2019

Well we decided to switch things up this year for our family photos. Instead of our usual fall theme, when the photographer we use announced she was doing beach sessions, I thought hmmm, that could work!

And it pretty much did! Although the weather was totally dark and stormy, and I felt like the wind was whipping my hair in every direction. It was damp, our feet were freezing because the sand was wet from the rain earlier that day, and it took an hour to get there so the boys were a bit crazed.

But you would never be able to tell :) Here are the best ones! I can't figure out why they aren't posting like crystal clear but sometimes the internet is mysterious.

Nill Family Photos - September 14, 2019, Crane's Beach

First Days of School - Fall 2019!

Well, my official first day of school photos are here!

Ashton: Wednesday, August 28

Age 8, 2nd grade, Mrs. Chase

Alex: Thursday, August 29

Age 5, Kindergarten, Mrs. Gregg

They stagger the Kindergartners (and it's a shortened day) so half started Wednesday with the rest of the school and the other half Thursday (which was Alex's group). Friday was the first real, full day, with the bus and everything!

Ashton of course did fine. And honestly, so did Alex. He has been waiting to go to Lilja Elementary since Ashton started two years ago so it was like his time had finally come. I didn't even cry :) He was too happy and too ready!

So this school year will bring a lot of things. The first big change is that we've said goodbye to our beloved nanny Jen. 

Her boyfriend Mike was a regular as well

And the four of them had a blast this summer. It is definitely the end of an era. Alex doesn't know a life without her! She started when he was 3 months old and they have a really special bond. We all cried and hugged when we said goodbye but she will definitely be back to babysit! 

Mondays and Tuesdays, the boys will be taking Bus 20 home. Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays, they'll go straight from Lilja to the after school program at Longfellow. We layer in football, hockey, CCD and other fall activities and that's what's up! Bring it on, Fall...