Castles, Gardens, and Household Goods

So much has been going on and I haven't had time to update, ahh! So, this will be a semi-brief post, with lots of information.

First, we got our household goods about two weeks ago. We now have everything of ours. We were blessed in that the only 'severe' damage was the glass on our microwave was shattered and a $20 bookcase was really busted. No biggies! YAY!

The basement was finally taken care of, no more graffiti and mold! Thank GOD! They also fixed the stairs out front and other things. We feel like it's much more liveable now.

Sunday before last, we decided to take our kids to a local castle. It wasn't super fancy, mostly ruins, but we had a wonderful time and really enjoyed ourselves. Here are a few of the pictures we took.

On Saturday, the base did Trick or Treating. It was incredibly packed, but the kids had a blast. This was the best picture we were able to get. We had a dog, a bumble bee, and a butterfly. Afterwards, we put the kids to bed and my good friend and neighbor, Gigi, and another of her friends, all went to the Haunted Tent City on base. The line was incredibly long, but it was a fun experience. I think had I not been leading the way for the truly scared behind me, it would have been more scary ;-)

Then this past Sunday, we took them to the Dinosaur Garden with one of our friends and her two sons. It's an awesome Garden that was decorated in a Storybook theme. We really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, we weren't able to see the whole thing because my husband got called in to work. We're excited to go back next summer when it opens back up and see the whole place. Here's a few pictures of that as well.

Hansel and Gretel

Then on Monday night, we went to the All Saints Vigil Mass.

The kids were able to dress up as a Saint. Here, we have St. Lucia, St. Lydia, and St. Bernard. ;-) That was Jon's idea. I thought it was funny and cleaver. Father C was laughing when we said he was St. Bernard.

We are slowly getting settled in to our place now. The craft room needs a lot of help, I have a lot of things to list on our local craigslist, and we need to hang pictures. Otherwise, that's about it. The apartment is never really clean for more than an hour, but that's what happens with three little ones. I have huge hopes to start working on doing some preschool homeschooling in the coming weeks, now that we're almost settled. I'm also trying to get all our Christmas shopping done now, so that we can spend the Christmas season going to local Christmas markets and because we leave for 10 days prior to Christmas to go to Rome for my brother-in-laws ordination.

And now, I must get busy folding the seven loads of laundry that are waiting for me. :)