Fall Means . . .

Soccer! EZ wanted to do soccer at the Y again and even though last year was a little painful to watch, we really want him to keep trying and keep learning so we signed him up. He is still one of the slower kids on the team and can be a bit of a space cadet, but there was definitely a big improvement from last year. He had two great coaches and it was kind of funny, because the head coach was French and fit the European stereotype of knowing a lot about soccer and his son was amazingly good. Towards the end of the season EZ really surprised me when he asked to play goalie. He had never shown any interest in it before. I have to say I was on pins and needles every time he got to play it. I was so worried the other team would score a bazillion points while he was in there. Amazingly enough no one ever scored while he was in goal! I think he liked it because he could play and dance around a bit while the ball was on the other side of the field and there was enough of a commotion when it came back to his end to get his attention. He also really liked the fact that the team was all boys this year. He is definitely getting into the girls are gross and boys are awesome phase. 

Fall also means I get to take a trip by myself! Well this year it meant a trip with only Conrad, but that is close enough. I was definitely in need of some time away. I love my kids, but 4 is a lot of work and I was feeling a bit overwhelmed. Well I still am, but the vacation definitely helped. I decided to visit my family in Pittsburgh and I used some of my down time to make this Steelers football hat and learned the Conrad hates hats. 

Since I failed miserably at getting pictures of my parents with Conrad when they came in August, I made sure  I took some this time. 

One of the bonuses of going now was that my sister Sarah was still staying with my parents and my sister Katie was able to fly up from El Paso as well, so we got to have a little new cousins reunion. Unfortunately, it didn't work for Meghan to come out with Timmy. I swear one day we will get all 4 boys together. 

We didn't do anything amazingly exciting while I was there, but that is exactly what I wanted. I really enjoyed the trip, but I did learn that 4 days is not quite enough time away to make me start missing my kids. HaHa. Maybe someday I can take a longer trip, but for now I am grateful for what I can get. 

October Part 2

The second half of October of course revolved all around Halloween. Netta, King, Conrad and I all made the annual trek to the Pumpkin Patch. I feel bad doing it while EZ is at school, but I don't want to deal with the crowds on the weekend and I need something to keep the other kiddos entertained while he is gone. Here is a group shot that my friend took of the kids in our group. I really thought I had taken some photos with my camera, but apparently not and really I can't blame myself since I was chasing 2 kids and carrying 1 in the baby bjorn. Thank goodness for friends. 

We also had multiple Halloween activities. The first was a Trunk or Treat at our church building. Conrad went as this absolutely adorable bat, thanks to my friend Sandy's costume. 

 Netta obviously was a Pirate. 

Here we have Sir EZ. 

And King as Buzz Lightyear, with his father the pimp. So classy. (in the September post I talked about Dell buying John and other managers costumes and this gem was one of them as well).

One last one of Conrad just because he is so dang cute.

Netta got the most bang for her buck since she also had a Halloween costume parade at school.  

A girl in her class came as a jellyfish, which has to be the coolest costume ever. 

On Halloween we went trick or treating in our neighborhood. We were really torn as to whether we should stay in our neighborhood or go somewhere else. I always complain about our neighborhood being lame and it was tempting to leave, but we decided that if we want it to get better we have to stay and support it. So we stayed in the neighborhood and it was good, but kind of lame. The kids got plenty of candy, but it took forever because maybe every 3rd house was actually handing out candy. I am glad we stayed though, because I felt bad for the other kids who were hiking all over and I didn't want our house to be another empty one and I wanted to support those people who did hand out candy. Here are the kids with their pumpkins. EZ and King both had costume changes. King is so obsessed with that Super Why costume that he is still wearing it out and about months later. 

John and I got to have a little fun at our friends' adult Halloween party. I was so excited to be out with only Conrad, but then I had a bit of an emotional break down as we were trying to get ready. It really isn't fun trying to come up with a costume when you are in the middle of trying to lose a bunch of baby weight. Especially since almost every Halloween costume out there is made for a hooker. Plus I was trying to shop for a costume with my kids in tow. Never a good idea. I actually almost bailed on the party and then I came up with this gem of a costume: the frazzled housewife. It was super easy to through together and it went with my mood perfectly. In the end the costume got a lot of laughs and I was glad I went and got some adult interaction.

October Part 1

So here it is the end of December and I am just posting about October. I am going to do my best to crank out posts about the last 3 months while I have John home to help entertain the kids over Christmas break. Life with 4 is great, but we are in basic survival mode right now and unfortunately that means anything that doesn't keep my kids alive, aka blogging, goes on the back burner. So the beginning of October our neighborhood had a block party. Now for the most part our HOA sucks and I really wish we didn't have one, but last year and this year they did host a sweet block party as part of National Night Out. We made the most of the food, the bounce house, the raffles and of course the face painting. The best part for me was when the IPod someone was using to play music started playing some song that said the F word every other word. It took a while for the person in charge to notice and turn it off. Luckily my kids didn't notice and their favorite part was of course the face painting. 

Fall in Austin means Austin City Limits and of course John got his 3 day pass last year the minute they went on sale. He was supposed to get me a 1 day pass, but he "missed that email" and then they sold out. Really it was ok, because the whether wasn't great and I would have had to take Conrad and I am not sure how much pot I want him exposed to just yet ;). John of course took EZ and Netta one day to Austin Kiddie Limits. They always have so much fun and it makes for some really cute pictures. 

They always have someone spray painting hair and Netta always wants it and EZ always wants nothing to do with it.  

They both however love getting the tattoos . . .

. . . and rocking out with the kids from Austin School of Rock.

I was a little bit sad I missed all this fun with the kids, and my hormones may have made me cry over it a little, but I am glad they had so much fun with their dad and maybe I will brave the crowds next year.