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Today was Shawn's 41st birthday!!!  We celebrated him by obliging him at his favorite Mexican food place for breakfast and I'm happy to say that he's the only one that ate mexican food.  I got the pancake plate and the kids all got donuts on the way there. LOL  I just can't do mexican food at breakfast.  Then we spent the day trying to get our house in order for our trip.  This evening, we went to a trunk or treat and people thought Shawn was the Brawny guy, but with an axe. After that, we headed to Mighty Fine Burger, his choice.  Three of us ate there and the other two had eaten at the carnival!  Then we came home and celebrated one last time with homemade coconut cupcakes with blackberry frosting...they were pretty good!  Happy 41st!!!

Taking our Chances

The forecast for Halloween calls for a 40% chance of rain.  On top of that, that's the day Paul and Carolyn are coming in to take care of the kids while Shawn and I head to a gospel meeting that Shawn's doing in Vermont!  So, we decided that we'd jump the gun on Halloween and do our trick trunk or treating tonight at the church of Christ up the road!  The weather was perfectly fall and the kids got PLENTY of candy!  

Carving the Pumpkin

We miraculously had a blank box on the calendar for yesterday so we decided to carve our pumpkin!

Last year, Elle became the one that sketches the face on the pumpkin.  Do you like her use of feet?

Shawn does the heavy carving.

 Ava and Levi are the seed extractors.

Levi is disgusted by getting pumpkin on his hands and only agreed to extract if he could wear gloves.

Final product....scary...just what we were hoping for!

John Knox Campout

This past weekend, we headed out for our first campout with our troop, for this season!  We went down to Wimberly.

We stayed in the Chapel Hill cabins

First things first.  Both girls did their knife safety test so that they could carry around their pocket knife...passed!

Then it was time to create hammock city.

Nothing better than sitting in your hammock and whittling with your pocket knife.

The troop chuck box with a schedule of who does what!

The leaders!

Wharton/El Campo Flood Clean Up

Some of us from Gabriel Oaks headed down to Wharton/El Campo to do whatever we could to help with flood clean up after the hurricanes that came through a little over a month ago.  There was just so much to do and so little time and manpower!  I feel like I need to go back and stay till it's done!  I am thankful we had the time and physical ability to help.  I am thankful that we were able to take our kids with us and have them work along side us.  I pray for these people and the fact that they have to start over, with nothing to start over with.

We carried sheet rock in double sheets...this stuff gets heavy, especially when you have to turn it up to get through doorways!

I learned how to extract a metal tub, a toilet and a sink, in this house.  I also know how to remove sheet rock and insulation now and how it all goes together.  

We found jobs for the littles too.  Levi helped push the sheet rock off the trailer so it would be easier to grab.

Bathroom demo...and I've never sweat this much doing anything before.

Mom and daughter

Our family

The whole gang in front of the last house we worked on

Drywall removal...we have that down now!

Shawn pulled out the big guns when it came to breathing...his allergies are a mess usually and this regulator helped!

Levi bringing the wheelbarrow back inside the house to fill up with more stuff!

Just finished removing custom counters and cabinets that were almost as stubborn as me.