Before we had kids, I thought daylight savings was great. Switch things up a little bit, it's darker or lighter at night than you're used to. Especially in the fall, when we could stay up an extra hour on Saturday night and not pay for it the next morning. But once we had Katelyn, I saw it differently. Suddenly my neat little schedule was thrown off. The last two years have been more difficult because Carter is not a good sleeper to begin with. In fact, he has gone through another phase of waking in the middle of the night over the past couple of months. We finally had our first full week where he slept through the night - a week before the time change. The good news is that he's still sleeping all night long. The bad news is that he now wakes up at 5 am. I should use this as an opportunity to get up and get a jump on the day. But I don't. I try to encourage him to stay in bed until 6 am, which is the earliest acceptable wake up time in my book. And then I lie in bed until 6:30 when John leaves for work, mourning over my lost sleep. I know, I'm a big baby. I think that once his body adjusts - he is going to bed an hour later than he was used to - he'll be back on track, and hopefully sleeping until 6. There is hope.
On a happy note, the fall weather here has been just beautiful. The last two days have been so mild that the kids have spent almost the entire day running around the back yard with sweatshirts on. They're having a blast with the new trampoline, and they're making the most of the track John made for them to ride their Power Wheels on. I will be sad when it's too cold for them to last very long, and when the snow is too deep for them to play with their toys. For now, we'll enjoy the nice autumn weather, and I'll get as much done as possible before I have to start entertaining them inside again.
Here are a few more free things we've gotten over the last week or two:
Here's our version of the living room. Note that the fireplace no longer extends to the ceiling. We still need to build our mantel, and I'm hoping to do that before Christmas, so that we can hang our stockings on it. (It will be the same color as the fireplace, but wood.) The wall color is a warm beige. Also notice the absence of the popcorn ceiling. You probably can't tell, but John did a great job with the new ceiling texture.
This may seem like a small thing, but I get excited every time I use the front door because I love the look of the new light switch and outlet covers, and the clean trim and white door against the beige paint. Unfortunately, new door handles aren't in the budget yet. And the linoleum floor you see in the entryway door will soon be wood!
And now for the kitchen. This little office space has been invaluable. I sit here for hours working on our finances, checking emails, blogging. This is what it looked like before. 
And now. This is the first part of the kitchen to be completed with new antique white paint and sleek new handles. We still need to finish painting the upper section green. And unfortunately the counter will be ugly for quite a while. But we're very pleased with the overall look. The rest of the kitchen is getting close, with just a few doors to paint and hang. I can't wait to post those pictures!
Here's one more picture. This is what it looks like standing in the dining area looking into the living room. When we finish the mantel, we will also put a small ledge on the hole in the wall between the two rooms. Does that make sense? If not, you'll just have to wait for the pictures of the finished product.
John was skeptical about painting the kitchen green, but the color is actually very bright and happy. It's hard to get a feel for it with these pictures. It looks very yellow in the first picture, and too cool and minty in the second. The actual color is somewhere between the two. It's almost the color of a Granny Smith apple, but not that dark. I guess you'll just have to trust me that it's cute.
She laid out his 
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