Happy Halloween!

It's been quite a while since I've had the chance to blog! We just finally got cable and Internet in our new house, so I have some catching up to do!
We've gotten pretty well settled into our new house, we got everything done just in time to celebrate me and my friend, Katy's, 25th birthdays! We had a bunch of people over on October 16 to celebrate!
Since then, Greg, Kyla, and I also took off to Pella for a weekend to see old friends and a new daughter to our friends, Luke and Jean. It was great seeing everyone after being gone for 6 months, but different not being able to go to our old house! Thanks to Greg's aunt and uncle for hosting us!
Tonight Kyla and I went to Inwood to do some trick-or-treating and visit "Mamma." Kyla is pictured above in front of Mamma's giant pumpkin. Kyla was even on the front page of the West Lyon Herald a couple weeks ago sitting atop of the 440-pound pumpkin! It's quite the talk in the small town of Inwood.
It was a nice night to walk around tonight and Kyla and Mason were both a big hit in their costumes. Sioux Falls celebrates Halloween and trick-or-treating tomorrow night, so should be a good time again!
Greg has been working this weekend... next weekend he switches to night shift, which will be yet another adventure for us. Kyla has been going to an in-home daycare on our side of town. Andrea is the babysitter's name, and Kyla loves it there! She gets to play with four other one-year old girls who all appear to have tons of fun together. Kyla will continue to go there two days a week when Greg switches to nights. This way he will get some sleep and Kyla will get out and socialize with other kids.
We are loving Sioux Falls. I think it's the perfect sized small city with everything we need. There are lots of things to do and places to go. But yet, our neighborhood is on the very edge of town with cornfields in sight, so it seems nice and quaint.

Home, Sweet New Home

Closing went well on our house, just signed our names 500 times, then got handed the keys! We took Kyla and Mason along to check out our new home together for the first time. Kyla and Mason both love the yard and all the "puppies" in the neighborhood!
The previous owner left us some muffins on the kitchen counter along with a diagram of the yard which shows all the names of the plants in the yard and included a letter about who the neighbors were, how nice they are, etc. She also explained some of her plants in detail including when they bloom and how to fertilize them. (She apparently knows I will probably kill them all within the first year-- I do NOT have a green thumb!) But anyway, this was so sweet and I will probably cherish that letter for a long time, and hopefully I do all those beautiful plants justice!
We painted all day yesterday and my mom, sister, and I painted this evening. We still don't have the bedrooms complete, but tomorrow we will work some more and also move some of the big furniture. We have suckered a few guys into helping!
Kyla is having fun exploring new things and new places and playing on the nice carpet stairs, which she is doing well with. She has checked out all the kitchen cupboards and has even climbed in a few! (When they have stuff in them, they will be child-proofed!)
It's an exciting process and I'm having fun envisioning how this will all go!