project kid room is finally complete!

the kids finally have a playroom! we've wanted to convert our unused attic into a kid room since we first saw the cute little kid door in the boy's bedroom. it was begging to be a kids play area, since it's only 6' tall at the peak and slants down to 1'! it was SO hard for allen and i to work in there hunched over! but so worth it now that the kids have a place for all their toys. they love it and want to camp out in there tonight.
the room's 8x30 with a boy side and a girl side (and threats from each camp to the other to leave their side alone!) we're not painting, but just letting the kids color on the drywall if they wish. lizzy drew a butterfly already and matt drew daddy in his tool belt. :)
allen built a bench over the air ducts so they'd be safe (smart man) and that makes a great shelf for the toys. so now all the toys are in the kid room and their rooms are empty. maybe now they can keep them clean! (oh, one can dream!) :)

first snow!

it wasn't much, but we had our first real snow for the year already. ugh, only november 15th! i'm not ready for a snovember! :) the kids loved it though. they tried awfully hard to sled on what little snow they could find. they even threw snowballs, which were more like mushy piles of wetness. but they were happy! (click to see the photos up close. squint to see the actual snow!)

Thanks to my veterans!!

On Veterans Day, I want to say THANK YOU to my two favorite veterans, my dad and my husband. Dad served in the Navy during the Vietnam War and Allen served in the Army during Desert Storm. Take time to thank a veteran!

November is National Adoption Month.

You don't have to be perfect to be a perfect parent. There are thousands of kids in foster care who would love to put up with you.
Ours are managing just fine! :)

National Adoption Month link with more info.

Introducing Bethany and Eric Weeks

my little cousin bethany got married today! of course she's not the little girl i used to babysit, but a gorgeous bride. this was the first wedding the kids have gone to and they enjoyed it. lizzy much more than the boys, she was in a beautiful ceremony induced trance! it was fun to see our family again. we all realized that allen and my wedding was the last one in the family, and that was 11 years ago! ryan and joey need to get on the ball! the kids had a great time with their cousins and they even gained three new ones at the wedding!

the BIG day in the Lundy family

today was the big one! halloween AND allen's birthday AND josh's adoption day (7 years) AND lizzy and matt's adoption days (2 years)! we went back home to visit the grands and even took the scenic route so we could enjoy the fall leaves, hills, and beautiful views of southern ohio. we sure miss those. mom had a great ohio state party ready for us! it was great to hang out with them this weekend.

Happy Halloween!

the kids had a blast trick or treating tonight we had an army sniper, the incredible hulk, and hannah montana. josh looked so cute and took his new position with the army very seriously. he wore allen's old army clothes (all tucked in and belted up). allen cut some branches and helped fix him all up. people kept answering the door saying they couldn't see anyone. :)
matt was very muscular and very green! he loved having black hair and was so sad to wash it out. lizzy was totally hannah, but that's pretty much every day, not just trick or treat. :) besides the wig and crazy high heeled boots, she was just her rock star self. and boy did they bring home lots of candy!

football is over

the football playoffs are over. josh's team was kinda trounced, but josh had a great game! here he is (#2) taking down #18. and yes, he's still too young!

they won! football playoffs, game #1

on this freezing cold evening, josh's team won their first playoff game, so they play again next week. he had a really good game and got in on some tackles. it's fun to hear the announcer say tackle by number 2, josh lundy!
he was pumped after the game and even helped me make this animated gif of one of his tackles. he's #2 and helped #75 bring down #14.
does it look a bit violent for 7-8 year olds?! it does to this mom! :)

finally, his first lost tooth!

matt has been waiting so long to lose a tooth and finally did tonight at church! it's been loose for a while and he's tried everything: wiggling, pushing, pulling, even getting kicked in the mouth! (yeah, he wanted it out bad!) so tonight when we went in to pick him up, they told us it fell out and a leader had it. i figured it was during game time, he fell or was kicked or something, but nope. it was during class, you know, the quiet listening time. he said he just used his fingernails to get in there and pulled as hard as he could. he's one tough boy! and now one very proud and excited boy! oh, and it was western night, hence the bandana. :)

My only political care this year...

Even in tough economic times, we want to make sure the next president, no matter who that is, keeps his commitment to fighting global poverty.

The total spent on all poverty-fighting programs make up less than one percent of the entire U.S. budget, yet we are saving millions of lives and helping the world's poorest people break free from crippling poverty. These efforts will be even more critical as the effects of any global economic slowdown are magnified in already struggling countries.

I just took action with ONE to tell my leaders to keep their promises to the world's poor, and you can too, click here:
http://www.one.org/keepourcommitments/?rc=koctaf

Spooky, eh? Had some scary fun in Photoshop!

At DSP, we're having a Super Spooktacular fun time in October on the website. I had to try a gothic tutorial to make my avatar (little profile picture so I could "dress up" for Halloween) and had a ball doing it. Pretty scary though!! People weren't sure it was really me, so I had to post the transformation. Spooky!

New Buckeyes room!

Go Bucks! Just finished painting (the two finished walls anyway) the Ohio State game room in the barn. We painted a white stripe then used small black and red wallpaper border strips. Like the Michigan logo on the punching bag?! :) We’re not sure how this room will end up. For now it’s for drums, workout, poker, couch/chair, tv, so just a man cave. For those of you local, you’re welcome anytime!

Soccer season comes to a close

soccer season is over for matt and lizzy, but both had great years! we were proud to watch them all season, although a few times we had a hard time watching both in two different places at the same time, with josh also in a third place playing football!

organized office!

i arranged for beth ann miller to speak to our moms group at church about organization. as a wonderful bonus, she came and helped me organize my office! what you can't see in the pictures is that everything you could see before was mostly clutter, long-term storage stuff that i didn't need out and easy to get to. plus it was hiding all the things i did need to get to. and for all my neat storage containers that looked so tidy, they weren't organized on the inside at all! just stuff shoved into drawer after drawer. when i'd run out of room, i'd get another to fill up. i seem to just fight the fires on my desk and in my inbox and all the rest just sits there and mocks me. but no, more! everything has a place now and i'm keeping it that way! now the things i use daily are at the ready and the other things are tucked away neatly in categories. if only she could organize my overflowing inbox!! :)

my cute little football player

josh is not so little now, but he's still cute! :)