October Things

These are the old curtains in our bedroom. I actually really like them. They're super nice curtains. But, despite 5 years of trying, I couldn't find a matching third panel. Since Jon likes to sleep in pitch black rooms, we tossed a blackout curtain up and called it good. But I hated it. 

I think COVID is making everyone house crazy and we are no exception. It was time for those curtains to go! I found a great deal on some room darkening curtains that I thought would look nice. Of course, when they arrived only the top part was actually room darkening. And the bottom part was white instead of silver (which I actually ended up liking better). After some grumbling, I sewed some old curtains to the back and voila--room darkening curtains! 

I especially like how it looks when they're all open:

I think Jon still misses his blackout panel, though.

It's not as dark in our room as it was before. 

The price you pay for pretty things, I suppose! Or for a happy wife, anyway.

We pulled out the little red bike for Elijah:

Little did we know that we had created a MONSTER!

He fell in love instantly.

Now if we walk through the garage and he DOESN'T get to ride his bike, he screams.

He will literally ride for hours, which means I get to follow him for hours.

Also, he likes to try to go to the pond by himself. Sigh.

In this case, he was trying to ride INTO the pond.

He could not understand why I kept stopping him.

Photo of what my lap looks like all the time.

Neither one can stand letting the other have my lap to themselves. 

Also, nosepicking.

Catherine has been feeling a bit lonely. She's an introvert, so mostly she doesn't mind the lack of social gatherings. But seeing Seth run off with his buddies (who are within biking distance) on an almost-daily basis made her a bit sad that she never sees her friends. I asked what she wanted to do, and she decided to plan a Girl Party and invite a bunch of her girlfriends to come play (outside, of course). She whipped this up all by herself:

(Don't miss Seth's extra addition--I was very amused)

By some miracle, every single girl she invited was able to attend (we did shift the dates so Sophie and Gabby could come). There was much necklace making, sidewalk painting, playset climbing, and bike riding. And, of course, tree climbing. All the girls had a great time. Catherine has really excellent taste in friends!

Painting the driveway with cornstarch paint.

I'm grateful that despite COVID, we've been able to mostly stay sane! Elise is still struggling the most with missing activities, but hopefully that will be different next year!