Back to School

As a testament to how busy I feel I've been this fall, I'm just now posting school photos!

Landon is enjoying this year, especially soccer.  He has an amazing competitive spirit that I've come to realize we better use to our advantage to keep motivating him.  He really excels when a competition is involved.  Landon's outfit is from Crew Cuts.  He prefers his nearly free Under Armour however.  Big surprise.

Etame is making new friends at her school and strengthening existing friendships.  She is increasingly asking for certain friends to come over, both boys and girls, and has a great time playing with the other younger siblings on the soccer field.

I ordered a few new pieces for each of them for school.  A bit of a splurge since nearly all of their clothes come from Goodwill or consignment shops/sales.  I ordered Tea Collection for Etame.  Too bad I ordered from the sale section and they are all a bit big.  Next year!

I'm sure Tosca would have enjoyed some back to school photos as well.  She's increasingly loving the camera and any attention she can garner.

Oh, and an update on Etame's hair.  We have a good system now where I "co-wash" (wash only with conditioner) once a week on Sunday night and brush it with the Tangle Teezer brush.  Then on Monday morning I do one style that I can continue with for the rest of the week with minimal maintenance.  Works for us and I continue to put a ton of product (butters, oils, sprays) on it each day.

Who Needs a Banister Anyhow?

We do!  With a one year old sliding down the stairs several times a day, we need something to keep her from going over the edge. Calvin has been working hard on creating a banister for us since I took down the old iron ones when removing the wallpaper.

Here's one of the banisters that he got up a few weeks ago.

I picked up the hooks when in Oregon at this store in Hood River called "At Home on Oak Street".  I love that little store.  I don't always find something but it's one of those places that you go into and wish you could make your own house feel that cozy.  Nice things and she's a great buyer.  Anyhow, there's one hook for each of the children.  I realized I hadn't explained that to them until this morning, hence the reason they still couldn't find their things easily even though they were right there!

Here's another before/during shot...

Here's the after... 

Who's that pretty girl peeking around the corner?!  Little Miss likes the new entry.  Now we can see outside better too since we took down the decorative iron covering the storm door windows.

Calvin's now working on getting the railing built for going up the stairs.  The post is in!  Now we just need the railings... progress...