Yes, we have already started celebrating Halloween.  That happens when you have a little one in preschool.  Since I have to dress Madison up anyway, I threw Will’s costume on too.

This would win any 2 and under cutest costume contest, right? I love this costume. It does come with a cute little hat. However, no matter how hard I try, he won’t keep it on. Madison came home already with an entire bag of candy from preschool. She’s already figured out how to sneak some of it already too! They trick or treated in her preschool building. Plus, all of us parent brought candy too! I do feel the need to smack the parents that brought pure sugar candy. Trust me, Madison does not need sugar to bounce off walls. You can only imagine how she is with sugar.

Madison would win for cutest costume 3 and up, don’t you think?  I love this costume.  It sucks that I caught the window glare in her glasses, but she looks super cute in her Cinderella costume.  It is suppose to be in the high sixties tomorrow, so we shouldn’t have to wear our coats out trick or treating.  We then are meeting at my sister-in-laws and going trick or treating by her house.  We also have a Halloween party on Saturday.  We have quite a busy couple of days just to celebrate Halloween!

Though I’d have to say that the best photo I took so far, I took at her preschool today:

She looks so excited and happy!  What are you doing for Halloween?

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I have looked at more showers in the last year than I ever have wanted to.  We remodeled my upstairs bathroom and added a new shower last summer.  We also added a new tub and had to tear down all the tile that was there before (good times, let me tell you).  This summer we added a new bathroom to the basement downstairs.  I don’t miss living in a construction zone.  However, it is very nice to have two full bathrooms now.  However, both of my bathrooms spaces are small, so I could not go all out like I wanted to.

In the basement, we had very little space to work with due to the configuration of my basement.  We ended up putting up a shower enclosure (However, I had no idea that you could get a shower enclosures online.  If I would have known that, I would not have let my husband pick it out.  Somebody had to stay home with the kids, so I let him pick it out by himself.  He did do a good job, but I probably would have picked something different.)  However, if you only have a small space and want to add a full bath, I definitely recommend shower enclosures.  They offer a lot more room than they look, and it is nice having two showers when you are trying to get ready for parties and such.

Eventually, when we add on to upstairs, I am going to check out the shower store and look into getting discount steam shower.  We are going to add in a hot tub up there, so we need the shower to be seperate.  What would be better than a steam shower?  They look awesome and extremely relaxing.  If you are lacking on space, they even offer steam showers with minitubs attached!

I personally can’t wait to remodel again, so we can spruce up our house.  Even the economy is in the tank, houses still are a good value.  Even though houses prices have dropped for the time being, they will bounce back.  Remodeling also makes it more enjoyable for you to stay in the house you are in.  By building out our basement, we can definitely stay in this house a lot longer (my upstairs only has 980 square feet, so we were a little cramped up here).

What does your bathroom look like?  What kind of upgrades would you like to make?

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Ever have one of those days?  I did today. Instead of my normal Tuesday routine, I got stuck doing other things I didn’t really feel like doing.  If you read my last update from when we went to the doctor’s office, Madison needs to get a hearing test done. I finally got around to calling the school district today, and what a mess.  Instead of being able just to schedule her for hearing test, they are making her go through an entire preschool screening again. Unfortunately, this means I had to prove residency once again. This is no easy task. To prove residency in my district, you have to bring in your tax bill, two utility bills, an original birth certificate, and your drivers license. Unfortunately, that isn’t always so easy to find. I spent the entire time while Madison was a preschool looking for these items.  My other problem was that the school closed at 4 PM.This normally wouldn’t be an issue except Madison had preschool until 3:30 PM. It takes me around 15 minutes to get from my house to her preschool. In theory, I should have made a back In plenty of time. However, I got stuck by two trains. I then turned on the wrong street to go to the school and got a bit turned around. What a mess!  Luckily, I got there with five minutes to spare. I literally ran into the building with the kids. Thank goodness the woman was nice, because it actually took me till five after four for me to finish all the paperwork. Seriously, there was so much paperwork it was like signing mortgage papers.  Now, I have to sit and wait for school to call me back and schedule a screening for preschool. I seriously don’t understand why they just can’t do the hearing screening like I asked. I think the lady said that testing would start November 7, so at least we don’t have to wait that long. It’s just frustrating because Madison won’t qualify for free preschool, so this is just a waste of my time.

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I have missed quite a few of these listings. However, my goal is to make sure that each week I get this up. These men and women are fighting for our freedom.

L/Cpl. Jason Hanson
21 years old from Forks, Washington
3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force
July 29, 2006

L/Cpl. Jason Hanson died when a gasoline truck near a building he was in exploded, causing the building to collapse in Al Anbar province, Iraq. Three other Marines were also killed in the blast. Lance Cpl. Anthony E. Butterfield, 19 yrs. old, of Clovis, California; Cpl. Phillip E. Baucus, 28 yrs. old, of Wolf Creek, Montana; Sgt. Christian B. Williams, 27 yrs. old, of Winter Haven, Florida.

Hanson graduated in 2003 and joined the Marines in 2005. He married his wife just before shipping out.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.

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