The night I fell....

This past weekend we saw cooler temps during the day and evening. Saturday night we decided to have our first campfire of the fall season.....

Daddy and his boy

Larissa continuing the tradition of telling stories

Alaina & Charlotte with their buddy, Clark

love watching a fire at night

He's mesmerized by the flames

Alaina's turn

This November will be ten years. Time has just flown by!

Singing for us

Mmmmm! Marshmallows and the girl without her front teeth!

We love fall!

Our roasters

Love this boy like crazy...and sometimes he drives me crazy!

Landon started to get tired so I put him to bed. Anne was sleeping in the crib in his room, so I picked her up after I put him down. I wanted to feed her one last time before I went to bed and wanted her up for a little bit. I got her bundled up to go outside. I walked outside and down the sidewalk. There was no moon and the night sky was cloudy (do you see where this is going?). I missed the step at the end of the walk. Yup. I totally biffed it. I fell down, twisted my right ankle bad, banged my left knee up, but somehow, through the grace of God, kept baby Anne Noelle up so she didn't hit her head or get hurt. She did cry but I think the whole fall scared her.
I lay there for a second, wondering what just happened. Then I had to call for help because I was afraid to walk with Anne. Luckily the girls came running over and helped me up and our friend, Clark, took the baby for me. I hobbled over to the fire and sat down. My ankle hurt but didn't feel too bad. I got some pictures of Anne at the fire....

All in all, she wasn't that impressed! I think the flames kind of overstimulated her. She was ready to go in after a few minutes. Nate carried her in for me, still in disbelief at how I missed the end step. It's only been there for the last five years! :) He was in the house getting a cup of coffee when I had my mishap and missed the whole thing.
After I got Anne down the bed, took a shower and sat down, I noticed my ankle starting to swell and throb in pain. I could move my toes and could rotate my ankle, so I was thinking it was probably just a bad sprain.
So that's where I am today. I am still hobbling a little. My ankle is still swollen some, and the skin is starting to bruise. I have been trying to keep it up (haha...like with five kids and homeschooling that happens) and I have been rubbing arnica on it. I never realized how often people step on my feet until I got hurt. I am hoping it will be better soon, because we could be painting  next week. Yes, I said PAINTING!!!! Can you tell I am excited? It's finally feeling "for real". We might actually be moving into this thing! I have not forgotten about my "project restoration", it was just slow going. But the drywall guy should finish this week. I already have my paint! :)
And this is totally for my mom....here are the colors. The lighting is probably not the best, but it's the best I could do...

Martha Stewart China Green Marble, this will be in our south room, which is my laundry/office/TV room. There will be expose brick on the other three walls.

MS Cayenne: hallway and girls bathroom

MS Buckwheat Flour: this is kitchen/dining/living

MS Arrowroot & MS Salt Glaze: darker color is our bedroom, lighter color our bathroom

MS Thistle Blue: Landon's room

MS Plum Pudding: girls room

After much going back and forth we decided to go with white trim and doors. We are wood people, but honestly, we didn't want to do the extra work of staining and polying. Especially because mistakes are much more noticeable.  Our ceiling color is Behr's Antique White. All my colors are from Home Depot. Martha Stewart has this awesome symbol system, where you pick a color you like and then find colors with the same symbol and those colors go together! That was one thing I always struggled with; picking colors that go together. This made is SO much easier.
Hopefully I will have actual rooms to show soon!

I read a book this summer called 7. It's by Jen Hatmaker, and if you are looking for a good read, you should pick it up. There were times I laughed out loud because she is just so real....there is nothing put on with her. So I would be laughing one second and feeling seriously convicted the next. Anyway, the gist of the book is her going for seven months fasting different things. To give you an idea, the first month she fasted food. She only allowed herself to eat 7 foods for an entire month, not including water.  She wanted to get a small idea of how most of the world lives. Although most of the world might not even have 7 options to eat.  The next month she fasted clothing. She could  only wear 7 pieces of clothing, not including under clothing (grin). Each month there is something new that she fasts from. The last month was stress. The focus was on rest and prayer. One area she focused on was the Sabbath. They observed the Sabbath from Saturday evening until Sunday evening. I was challenged on this particular one because I can honestly say we don't observe the Sabbath. Saturday nights are usually a zoo, trying to get 5 kids bathed and in bed on time so they can wake up for church Sunday morning. The morning can be a little hectic as we try to get seven people ready for church and out the door on time because we travel an hour and fifteen just to get to church. Sunday isn't usually a day of rest 'round here.
So, three weeks ago I decided I was going to try something different. Saturday night is pizza night around here, so I made pizza, set the table with nicer dishes, let the girls drink out of wine glasses, and I made challah bread. We broke bread, read Psalm 19 and prayed together before eating.....

It's been a special time that the kids look forward to now on Saturday nights. But lest you be misled, it's not always a happy go lucky family time. Last weekend I was grumbling and yelling at fighting kids while making supper. I felt pretty hypocritical when it came time to read Scripture and pray. But thankfully, He's forgiving!
Just wanted to share a little of what we've been doing around here. Have a great week!