A Little Demo...

...Demolition, that is...

We lived in our first home happily for 7 years, not doing much work on it except for paint, until the last two years when we finished the basement, redid the kitchen, and put a deck in the back, not to mention the brand new furnace and central air that we had installed. And then we moved. Well, we've been in this home for 5 years. Aside from tearing apart the front yard to impress the neighbors ;), painting the outside of the house, painting a little here and there inside, and redoing the least-used bathroom, we haven't done very much. Until now *dun, dun, duuun*

Until this:

 Helper Monkey #1

 Helper Monkey #2

 Helper Monkey #3

And there's more! But you'll have to wait for the pictures until it's done. I'm excited for it. But now that we're finally doing some work on our home, does that mean we'll be moving in a few years? Hmmm...

I can feel it coming...

...the mass blog update. I know I've been terribly lax in updating, but I'm pretty sure it's just around the corner. Wait for it -- it won't be long...

And to give you a little taste of what our family's been up to...

Edible Food-like Subtances

A Sonnet by S. Judd

Corn syrup comes in lots of different kinds, 

Like "white," "high fructose," "regular" and more,

This doesn't make a difference how it finds

A way to turn your good health into poor.

Though sugar is all right once in a while, 

Too much will make your body big and fat!

So don't go running down the candy aisle

On ev're trip to grocery stores -- that's that!

Away from artificial you must stay, 

Made out of chemicals and man-made stuff.

So throw away the colors now, today!

Preservatives and flavors -- that's enough!

I'm sure there's more, and in this modern time, 

The fast food numbers are subject to climb.

You're welcome. :)

Halloween

S went to a Halloween party at a friend's house dressed as...

me:

(I'm using this picture as evidence for J that, when I want to chop my hair off and go with the pixie cut, I will totally rock it.)

 S went to school on Halloween dressed like this:

(He was amazed when he won the prize for most original costume: it was thrown together in about 5 minutes the morning of Halloween.)

 O was a dentist:

 H was Yoda:

That night we had our own family party. We all took a trip to the grocery store -- J with dog ears and a painted-on black nose, me in my jammies, bathrobe, and pigtails, and our kids in their costumes -- for a bag of treats each, root beer extract, and dry ice. Then home to hang a sign on the door (Out of Candy), concoct the root beer...

...and introduce our kids to the new Doctor Who. (Christopher Eccleston, you were a good one. And Rose! How we miss Rose!) We skipped the ward Trunk or Treat and neighborhood trick-or-treating, but I don't think my kids missed either one bit. I feel a tradition in the making...