It's Almost Halloween...

... and still doing things. What a crazy week!!

I am just going to say these two words about crafting and Halloween that has helped me get this entire week literally "together".  It's called ... SPRAY GLUE!! and my new favorite thing.

Now, back to Halloween...

The kids did so much this week! Not only did they spend the whole week decorating and getting ready for Halloween, they also enjoyed dressing up for school on Friday and going to a small school Fall Festival Friday night.  On Friday, Hannah wore two costumes. The first was a last minute put together by Mom as to not mess up the original outfit that I had spent a few hours perfecting.  The things you do, I suppose. Ha :) However, I loved every minute of all the crafting I did this year and loved it last year in Kenya too.  

For school Hannah was a fancy (and scary- at her request) witch and Chase was Batman.  And for the Fall Festival that night Hannah was a princess, of course! Chase ended up being an army soldier in his camo after he refused to put on his spider man jacket. He was all about the pants, just didn't want to wear the jacket.  He did however want to wear Hannah's tutu, but we decided against that and went for the soldier look. Ha

The kids dressed up for school...

Chase in his batman shirt (actually a pajama top) with cape and Hannah as the fancy (and also scary) witch. I added feathers to the hat brim and collar to spruce it up a bit.

First United Methodist School Fall Festival

My absolute NEW favorite picture!! Its actually real folks, they are not faking the love!! Its precious! :)

Hannah as a Medieval Princess and Chase as Camo Chase! I made the hat, wand and sparkling gold slippers to match this adorable princess dress. :)

Papa Andy joined us for the festivities, thank goodness! This place was a mad house! You could tell however the kids had a lot of fun as they have never seen a gymnasium like this one before.  They had three bouncy castles, face painting, games for the kids to play, popcorn, cotton candy, cookie decorating and crafts upstairs.  And all for the price of two canned goods.  It was great! I can also say it was well worth the headache after we left with all the kids still screaming in our heads.  It was also worth the snippy father who let his four kids jump in front of us in line after we were waiting for 10 minutes for that darn put put golf that Chase was overly anxious to play.  

I promise, it was ALL worth it! Right Dad? Ha Ha :)

  Hannah making a necklace and Papa Andy at the end of the night with ALL the "Stuff".

 Had to capture the moment. :)

Thanks Papa Andy!

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...

Decorating is so FUN for HALLOWEEN!!!

We had a fun and busy week getting ready for Halloween. Enjoy!

I can't help but love our new next door neighbors, Kathy and Randy (who do not have kids) inviting Hannah, Chase and her new BFF Sabrina and her brothers and sister over to help out with decorating their house. It was really nice of them and much appreciated by the kids especially after they gave them balloons, cookies and little goodies to take home. So sweet...literally! :)

At home, we made a Candy Haunted House!

We also enjoyed carving pumpkins with Papa Andy and Papa Scott. Papa Scott did a great job. It was his first time and we couldn't be more proud. Ha It was perfect!  :) 

... The Pumpkins!

The Results Are In!

We are headed back to Africa!

We just found out this morning we are headed to Harare, Zimbabwe!

Tom and I couldn't be more excited to go back to this beautiful continent of Africa but most importantly be together as a family again.  Looks like it will be quite the adventure! Check out the maps below. :)



Hannah's first Field Trip!

Hannah had her first FIELD TRIP to Stone Mountain Park!

Oh how I wish I had a picture of me somewhere at Stone Mountain to compare with Hannah.  It is pretty neat that my daughter went on her first field trip where I have taken so many myself.  Being overseas certainly does not allow you to have this at home connection and I must admit, it's a nice feeling. As you will see she has adapted quite quickly and seems to be enjoying her time with friends and in school.  I was so glad to be able to participate in the trip, it was so much fun.

They had a scavenger hunt, roasted marshmallows and climbed a little of the rock!

Hannah with her teacher, Mrs. Howard

Two of the four year old classes went on the field trip (at bon fire) and Roasting her first Marshmallow

Hannah and her new BFFs, Sabrina (her neighbor across the street)- they are holding hands, and Luci.

The class :)

Busy Bees...

It’s been busy around the new Rhodes house. We have been getting settled of course with just our small shipment of furniture, but doing fine. However, last week our shipments from Kenya and Israel joined us. Wow! I mean, I knew we had a lot of stuff, but I had no idea. We did have the largest amount of crates come onto the Shanzu compound in Kenya, so I am not sure why I am surprised. Ha But, here we are...in the mess. Or I guess I should say, here "I" am...in the mess. It is not the easiest task trying to unload boxes with two small kids running around but yet again my family here in Atlanta has come to the rescue and helped me out on numerous occasions and I could not be more grateful. Whether it is helping me unpack and being here for me with the movers- Thanks Dad! or just watching the kids for me the WHOLE day the movers were here- Thanks Mom! It’s been wonderful help!! I still have loads to do, but I could not have done it without them...no way, no how, so... Thank you!!

As you can see below there is still quite a bit to do. Ha ha. My goal? Just finish it all by the time Tom comes home. :) Good goal, right honey? Ha By the way, this was just the "rest" of the stuff that I did not what to do with. Oh yeah...the rest has been put away.  Just need a day to open, sort and throw away...just one day, or two or maybe three!!

So, as we sit amidst our chaos, trying yet again to make order of our life we still are left with a very tight and busy busy schedule in between.

We have just gotten over what seems to be a month of sickness, ear infections and "possible" strep for the whole family, but luckily we missed that one. I guess we had what 95% of what everyone else had- just yuck! We have been recuperating but we have also had lots going on and visitors too.

Nonne came to see us for a weekend from Charleston and helped us put up Halloween decorations! We had a ball! :) Aunt KK came to see us as well! We took a great trip to the Botanical Gardens and Piedmont Park which the kids also really enjoyed. :) Uncle Justin and Aunt Christin have come to visit us a few times bringing us dinner and playing with the kids, which was great. Gam Gam (Grandma) also took us to see Disney's Toy Story on Ice where we got front row seats! What a wonderful treat!!! And Hannah took her first school field trip to Stone Mountain Park with Mom (my old stomping ground). Luckily, we also had our first NO cry drop off with Chase at school this past Friday. This is also wonderful. And last but not least, I also had a chance to go out with my sorority sisters for a night from college. Some of us had not seen each other in over 10 years. That was so much fun!

All in all, things are busy but super fun and everything is finally falling into place at our new little home here in Decatur. We love the neighborhood and are looking forward to our first real Halloween in the USA for the kids! It should be a blast!

Thanks to all of you for reaching out, checking in and just saying Hi. It really means so much! I know Tom appreciates it too. :) Only 7 more weeks and he will be home for Christmas!! We can’t wait!!

Enjoy the below pics from October. More soon!

Above Pictures - Front Row at Toy Story's Disney on Ice :)

Aunt KK and our trip to Piedmont Park, the Botanical Gardens and putting up Halloween Decor :)

Uncle Justin and Aunt Christin..having fun!

There are so many more pictures (although Nonne would not let me take any of her)...I will get you this weekend Nonne, don't worry.  :) .  I still have not even downloaded my iPhone pics...I'm so bad! and yes I know, these all should have been separate blogs. It seems however that getting on the computer has been difficult for me lately as it is impossible during the day and then I end up falling asleep at 8:30 pm with Hannah... and I still have so many boxes to unpack. I am working on it though. I promise, I'm working on it. Ha

Hope you enjoy this beautiful fall weather. I know I am!! Seeing the leaves change colors for the first time in

four years is absolutely incredible. :)

P.S. We are still waiting to hear on our next posting. We keep waiting, and waiting and waiting....eeggh!