Halloween Festivities

The Halloween festivities kicked off this year with our church's trunk or treat activity. One day we were looking at Target for costumes and Netta became obsessed with this pink Batgirl costume. Seeing as I was not going to spend $25 for a cheaply made costume I decided to hit up the thrift store in hopes of paying less for a still cheaply made costume. The best we could find was this black dress with a pink bat on it. It's not as cool as the original Target costume, but she didn't care so I didn't care. Oh and it cost $6, which honestly is still a rip off for how chintzy it is, but better than $25. I tried to find something for King, but just wasn't feeling inspired this year, so he just got to wear pjs with eyeballs on them.

Part of the trunk or treat included a haunted house, which John helped run, so he got to dress up in some freaky face paint. I think he kind of scared king. EZ has never watched Power Rangers, but he got a Power Ranger toy in a happy meal and decided that is was he wanted to be for Halloween. Luckily, the thrift store was able to help us out with that costume as well.

I took the classic witch route and threw on some stripped tights with a black dress and a kind of small witch hat that I actually bought for Netta last year.

The Halloween fun continued at Netta's preschool. Every year they have a costume parade and the kids march around the school so the parents can take pictures. Of course Netta loved the attention.

I tried to find Netta a headband with bats on it, to try and help out her costume, but I waited to long and this weird pigtail headband with teeny tiny bats on it was all the best could do. Again she didn't care so I didn't care. (Gotta love the girl next to her dressed as a spaceship).

For another example of my poor planning of lameness, we didn't decorate our pumpkin till the 29th. Oops. We went with our now traditional Mr. Potato Head type pumpkin and the kids had hours of fun messing with his face.

We also did the neighborhood trick or treat and ended up with way more candy than any of my kids could ever need, so of course John and I helped them out. I was tempted not to have them do the neighborhood trick or treat, because I have little to no self-control around candy and that is not good for my waistline. Oh the sacrifices we make for our children ;)

Pumpkin Patch

Of course October means pumpkin patch time. Admittedly, it still makes me miss Michigan and Uncle John's Cider Mill, but we have found a patch here that we like. Don't tell EZ we went without him. I think he would be really upset with me, but honestly it was just easier to go during the week and I have to do something to keep King and Netta entertained while he is at school. The minute we got there King made a beeline for the dog sitting by the entrance. He absolutely loves all animals and has no fear. I would say he is ever more fearless than Netta when it comes to animals. I like this picture because I am pretty sure he is having some kind of conversation with the dog and felt the need to point something out.

Once I was able to wrestle him away from the dog we headed out on a hay ride. Here is king with his hair blowing in the wind.

I love this picture of Netta because I think it captures just how very excited she was to be on the hay ride.

After the hay ride the kids were able to decorate pumpkins. As you can see King was more interested in eating the markers than decorating with them.

Netta was more interested in the pumpkin, but even her interest in that couldn't beat her interest in her lunch. The girl likes food and she can pack it away. She kind of has a reputation for mooching food off of all the kids at playgroup. And yes I do pack snacks, but she always finishes those and goes hunting for more.

My Trip to Pittsburgh

When I found out my friend Elly was going to be getting married in Pittsburgh I knew I had to be there. Mainly, because she is awesome and I love her, but also because I wanted an excuse for a weekend away from the kids. So when she got married in October, I flew up to Pittsburgh by myself and John held down the fort. Of course I stayed with my parents and it was so relaxing. It was just me and them, something that rarely if ever happens and I don't know why, but I just loved getting to visit with them by myself. A little added bonus was that my niece Grace was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints while I was there. I was so glad to get to be a part of such a special day.

The wedding took place at Phipp's Conservatory and my gosh it was so beautiful. I had never been there before and I couldn't get over how amazing all the plants and flowers were. Elly looked absolutely stunning and both of them were beaming. I couldn't help but get a little choked up seeing them together.

The reception was at a delicious Italian restaurant in the Strip District that I had also never been to before so I got to experience some new Pittsburgh things on top being part of such a beautiful day.

I definitely would have stayed longer if I could, but I was also glad to come home to these adorable kids. Kid-free trips are so important, because I always come home refreshed and more appreciative of my kids.

(of course King is included as well even though he isn't in the picture. haha)

Austin City Limits

Austin City Limits is a 3 day music festival and it is out of control. There are so many bands and so many people. Last year John's nephew Winston came to write for the music blog he works for and John got to go with him. This year I didn't want left out of all the fun so John and I both got 3-day passes and then Winston came and John's other nephew Parker and then a guy named Chris that no one had ever actually met in person, but works for the same blog as Winston, came as well. So we had a full house. I was really excited about getting to go this year, but I quickly learned that I am not as into music or concerts as I used to be. I am just not hip and I am fine with that. They moved the concert up to September from October and it was so frickin hot and there was just way too many sweaty people who kept touching me and it was just gross. Plus parking is a beast and you have to walk forever to get to and from the concert and on Saturday we took the kids in the morning so I walked with them, then after a couple hours walked back to the car and drove them home, set them up with a babysitter, drove back to the concert and made the hike again. I get tired again just thinking about it. Oh and I learned that I prefer the radio version of many songs, because I am not particulary fond of the F word. The plus side is that the kids get in for free and there are a ton of activities for them. Next year I think I will save a ton of money on tickets and babysitters by buying just a one day pass for me and taking the kids that day. John is apparently hipper than I am and loved every minute of it and will most likely keep getting 3 day passes as long as we live here. Anyway, here are some pics starting with a rare photo of John and I together, since one of us is usually behind the camera.

They give away a lot of freebies and by far the most popular with my kids were the sunglasses.

The designated kids' area is called Austin Kiddie Limits and it is awesome. They have different areas set up for playing instruments, getting tattoos, doing crafts and all kinds of good stuff. They also have a stage set up where performers can come and do kid friendly acts. They had this 12 year-old boy there singing the blues and playing the guitar. I have never seen anything like it in my life. People with talent like that just blow my mind. Anyway, here are some pics of the kids enjoying all the great activities. First, Netta showing off her airbrush tattoo.

Here is EZ painting his magnet. It looks like he is blowing on the paint, but really he is just yelling NO at King is who is attempting to steal his magnet.

There were a couple areas for playing instruments and one of those was a drum circle. All three kids got really into it.

EZ was so focused on drumming and cowbell that he refused to smile. I think he would have stayed there all day.

I love this one of King and John. He really looks up to his rockin' dad.

One of the other areas was for spraying painting your hair. EZ wanted nothing to do with it, but Netta was all over it. Of course she had to go with pink.

The other instrument area was set up by Austin School of Rock and the kids could play all the typical rock band instruments. Netta basically spent the whole time on the mic. The girl spends most of the day singing made up songs so that was appropriate. EZ decided to give everything a try, but again if he was playing he refused to smile. He takes his music seriously.

While this was not exactly the experience I was hoping for, getting to take the kids there was awesome and this definitely will be a Brown family tradition.

Weekend One of Visitors

September we had a ton of visitors and we loved every second of it. The first weekend of visitors was kicked off with another one of my dad's work trip add-ons. Have I mentioned that I love these and they are all kinds of awesome? We decided one morning to take the kids to Zilker Park and go for a health walk, but of course we got there and one of the tires on our stroller was completely shot. Not flat, but more like exploded. So instead we played on the playground and rode the mini-train, the Zilker Zephyr. I kind of felt bad for Sarah and Casey, because I am not sure how entertaining it was for them, but Casey had a super sweet camera with him that he was using for a photography class and he was able to get some good pics for one of his assignments. These following two are gems of Netta. I love how perfectly he caught her with her hair pulling her lip.

In this one she is just adorable and showing off how she uses her good looks to get away with murder.

That Sunday morning my dad left but then John's cousins David and Colt came to visit. The older gentlemen is actually John's first cousin, which is a little weird to me, but that is what happens when your dad is from a huge family and then he has a huge family and you are at the tail end. I am not sure how exactly Colt is related to John. I really can't keep John's family straight. Anyway, they were in town for the BYU/UT came. It was not pretty for BYU. But luckily, Colt is a diehard UT fan, which is why David brought him, and so he was in heaven. He was in UT gear from head to toe. You can't see but I am pretty sure he had UT sneakers on as well.

They were only able to visit for a short while that day, but it was still so great to see them. It is always hard to say bye to visitors, but luckily the next weekend we had more family coming for Austin City Limits, which helps, but that is for another post.

Back to School

This year was a big school year for all of us. EZ started kindergarten. Netta started preschool and I went back to teaching Arabic at Austin Community College. We were really excited for EZ to start his Spanish immersion program, but I was also super stressed. I cried a couple of times just thinking about EZ being at school all day and me having no control over what he was doing. I never thought I would be that mom. In fact, I had always said how I couldn't wait for EZ to start kinder so I could have less kids at home and that was true, but for some reason the reality finally set in and I was struggling for a while. Of course it took about 2 days of EZ being at school for me to get over it. He LOVES his program and I can already tell his is learning a ton. The only downside is that we have to drive him to another school in the district and pick up and drop of can be a logistical nightmare. So a move closer to his school may be in our future. Oh that and elementary school starts at 7:40 here, which I had never heard of and it is killing me. Anyway, here he is beaming and ready to go on the first day.

Netta also started preschool, but there was no stressed involved in that because she has been begging to go for the last year and I have no problem with someone else entertaining her for a couple hours twice a week. Plus she is going to EZ's preschool and we know that they do a great job.

I started back to school as well and that ended up being way more stressful than I thought it would be. First they hired me and then called me a week later and told me that I am not qualified to teach. I was really confused, because why would they have interviewed me? But it turns out they shouldn't have. The accrediting board for ACC says that a language teacher has to basically have a masters in the language and since my masters is in language teaching with an emphasis in Arabic they say I need to go back to school and take more graduate level Arabic classes, which is just not going to happen. So I get to teach this semester and that is it. Then the authors of the book had to go and write a new addition, which I received on the Friday before classes started. The last time they wrote a new addition the changes were minor, but this time they completely revamped it and I had to spent all weekend completely redoing my syllabus and schedule. And I probably won't ever even teach this class again. Ugh I was not a happy camper and it did not help that I was also freaking out about EZ. So it was a stressful start, but once things got rolling everything worked out fine and I am excited about getting to teach again.

Swim Lessons

We decided to enroll both kids in swim lessons this summer. We decided to wait til later in the summer in hopes that EZ would get a chance to warm up to swimming again. Seriously at the beginning of the summer I thought he and Netta would be in the same level, but after just a couple weeks of going to the pool he all of a sudden decided that he loved swimming and he wanted to try to swim on his own. This was a HUGE breakthrough for him. I just kept saying "Who is this child?" I guess it's true that you can't force kids to do things but they will usually come around when they are ready. He had a blast at swim lessons and he was not in the same level as Netta. His teacher was awesome and really helped him a lot. The only problem was that they messed up our sign up and registered him for the 2 week session after Netta. I was so irritated. Of course the session I actually signed him up for was full and the best they could do was have him go in the time slot after Netta which meant sitting for around an hour and half in the hot muggy indoor pool and not getting to work out as I had planned. While I was still irritated in the end it was ok because EZ's new session hardly had any kids and he was able to get a lot of one on one attention.

Netta actually pulled a bit of a reversal on us and acted really scared at her lessons and for the first little while wouldn't do the basic bubble blowing and what not. Again I was thinking "Who is this child?" Luckily, she got over it and started swimming around the pool with floaties on.

The day I decided to take pictures they had some water safety lesson and the kids got to practice pulling each other to the side with a noodle. I am not sure why they think a 3 year old could save another 3 year old, but the kids did have fun and I guess it never hurts to teach them young.