Fall Sports

Of course the fall means soccer. This was Netta's first year playing. She did pretty well. She wasn't the most aggressive but she usually at least stayed in the vicinity of the ball, so we will call that good for her age. It was crazy trying to juggle both of their game schedules. One Saturday was particularly busy with John and I both running in different directions. After EZ's game I drove him home and when we got in the driveway I realized that I had left Netta at the fields, which are a good 15 minutes from our house. I immediately started crying and floored it back to the fields. In my defense, I had spent all morning running around with just EZ and then we all met up at the fields and John took King and Conrad home and left Netta with me. Not the best excuse, but I promise if I had brought her I would have remembered her. Haha. Anyway, when I got back to the fields she was sitting with the sports director. I was so embarrassed and a little nervous to explain myself to him, because he doesn't have the friendliest look about him, but to my relief he was totally cool about it. He said it happens all the time and he had even left one of his kids behind once. I take this as a sign that we shouldn't have anymore kids since we can't keep track of the ones we have ;)

This was EZ's 3rd year of soccer and he is definitely improving year to year. He still really likes to play defense and goalie. Offense just doesn't go with his personality at all. The whole aggressive thing isn't really his style.

Of course Aunt Sarah, Uncle Casey and Lincoln came to watch one of the games.

This year they installed one of these Ga Ga Ball courts and EZ was in heaven, since he fell in love with it this summer at the family reunion.

Netta has loved her dance class at the rec center, but she also has been talking about doing gymnastics, so this fall we decided to let her try it out. She really liked it and I was honestly impressed with what she was able to do, especially on the balance beam. In her heart though I know she loves to be on stage so I think she will probably end up doing more dance than gymnastics.

They all got a medal at the end and with no other adult there to help me it was impossible to keep Conrad out of the picture ;)

Halloween Festivities

 Halloween was a blast this year with a ton of different events. Of course we did some pumpkin decorating. We opt for the Mr. Potato Head type decorations and coloring, since as you can see, the kids are in shorts and carved pumpkins just rot. Here are the kids with their master pieces. 

We went trick or treating in our neighborhood. I find it's best to have small buckets, because then they fill up really fast and the kids think they have a ton. Plus they don't have the stamina to walk around and fill a pillow case. We had a slew of costume changes. This year. For trick or treating EZ was Spiderman. 

 

Netta was a Lalaloopsy doll.

And King was Super Why. Both King and EZ both repeated costumes from years before. Hey if they don't want me to go out and buy new costumes that is fine by me. 

Our Church had a party and I was super excited about our costumes this year. In March there was a major sale online and I was able to get all of us angry bird costumes for dirt cheap. When we arrived at the party, kids were going crazy for our outfits. Unfortunately, the costumes were a bit too big for the kids and John couldn't see past his beak so they didn't last very long. At least the kids can grow into them and we should be able to use them again.

Finally, our friends had an adult Halloween party and this year I really wanted a funny and creative couples costume. I found this "deer in headlights" idea online and I would have to say we caused quite the stir. We were robbed of any of the prizes, but I don' think anyone is going to forget about this costume ;)

Other October Fun

I have been teaching for BYU-I again, which is probably why I didn't blog all fall long and now it is March and I am writing about October, but it is also why I had to start wearing glasses when I work on the computer. I am getting old, but at least they are kind of cute.

Conrad has turned into a little Johnny and he is obsessed with fountain drinks. He knows those big cups with straws when he sees them and they should not be left unattended.

John got to go to California for a boys weekend. He was especially excited to eat this Hawaiian monstrosity The Loco Moco, which has rice, 2 eggs, 2 hamburger patty and gravy. Oh and he added some sausage just cause it wasn't disgusting enough.

The whole reason for the trip was so that he could go to a comedy fest called Festival Supreme. Once again Johnny had some bad luck with the festival and it was so crowded that they had to leave. Luckily, he got to see some of the acts he really wanted to and he got them to refund his ticket.

While John was gone we went to our second kids' book club. This time it was about Harry Potter and the kids and I both loved that. Here is EZ with his friend Dallin.

Poor Netta listened to the book with no problem, but then after watching the movie she started to get a little freaked out. She started crying the next night and asked "Why did he try to kill the baby?" Oops

Here are all the wizards together and King picking his nose.

We also went to Wendy's and got is probably the best kid's meal toy ever. I can't get enough of this donkey straw.

EZ is really getting into his piano lessons. So much so that he wrote some music of his own. The lyrics say "I want money. I want to be rich. I want dollars. I want coins. I want to be rich." We couldn't be prouder. 

Finally, just a funny King story. I asked him if he colored on his face with markers and he insisted over and over that he did not. He really needs to work on his lying.

Austin City Limits

This year John and I both got 3 day passes to Austin City Limits. There were actually bands I wanted to see and it was in October instead of September this year, which helped a lot with the heat. I would say it was much more enjoyable this time around then when I went 2 years ago. Friday night we were able to go for a date night with just the 2 of us.

John's nephews Mitchell, Mason and Parker all came for the show. On Saturday morning the nephews, John and EZ all headed down bright and early. . .

. . . and then I showed up later in the afternoon with the rest of the crew. Thank goodness kids under 10 are free.

There was so much free swag this year thanks to Samsung. John and his nephews were able to get there early enough to go through all the booths and stock up. They also got us all passes to the Samsung tent, which served free drinks and free meals. Kind of unbelievably awesome. Here is EZ showing off some of his super cool swag.

Of course we took advantage of all the awesome activities in Austin Kiddie Limits. Netta had to get her hair spray painted as usual. We decided to have Conrad get it done as well and then quickly regretted choosing red since it made him look like his head was bleeding and it literally took weeks to get it all out of his scalp.

There was also magnet painting . . 

. . . and tattoos. King basically refused to do most of the activities. That's my little stinker. 

They also had this awesome booth were some dj's would come and freestyle while the kids got to work the turn table. Netta loved it. Their main line was "Nobody does it better than DJ Anetta." There was also a karaoke booth for the kids that had too long of a line. I felt bad for the people working there because basically it was 10 year old girls singing the same Adele song over and over and over again.

Netta and EZ always love the booth set up by Austin's School of Rock. EZ just started piano lessons so he really liked watching the kid playing on the keyboard. He also went frickin crazy on the drums, so I think those may be in his future as well.

The kids were so excited to have their cousins here and Conrad really liked Mason.

Here we are looking like the coolest family on the block. Especially Netta with her shades. Those are what she picked for her souvenir. Always a diva.

That night John was gracious enough to take the kids home so that I could stay for The Cure, which made my day. The plan was for just John and the nephews to go for all day Sunday. There had been some rain, but nothing too bad by us, so that morning they headed down. Little did we know there had been flooding at Zilker park and when they got their they found out it was cancelled for the day. Needless to say John was a bit upset. They refunded us the money, but he was still mad because this was supposed to be his one full day at the concert. Also, it was just stupid that they didn't use the email list to notify people that it had been cancelled. A little bit of a downer after what had been a great weekend. But let's just focus on the cute picture of us as a family having so much fun together ;)

September Happenings

We love having Sarah and he family so close. And we especially love watching Lincoln and Conrad grow up together. Here they are enjoying a cousin cart ride at Costco.

Conrad is a bit obsessed with John, which is awesome for me. As soon as John walks in the door Conrad is all over him and wants nothing to do with mom. What a welcome relief after King who was attached to my hip from ages 4 months to a year and wouldn't go to anyone, not even John. Conrad's attachment to John is so obvious that even King has picked up on it and included it in this lovely preschool picture of our family.

My friend Valerie started a kids' book club where you read a longer book with your children and then we get together to talk about it and watch the movie. This month was Indian in the Cupboard. Not my favorite book and the stereotypes in it are painful at times, but the kids liked it and loved getting together with their buddies to make crafts and watch the movie.

Another big September event was Katie and Noah coming to visit. We have to get in all the visits we can while Noah still flies for free. We took the kids to the train at Zilker park. It was hot as all get out, but that only seemed to bother me and Katie. For some reason kids didn't seem bothered even though they were all beat red. 

Back to School

This was a big year for back to school. Netta started Kindergarten. Of course she was a rock star from day one and loves being at school and socializing. I was a bit of a mess when EZ started Kinder, but I had no trouble this time. Probably because I have felt Netta was ready for Kinder for like the last 2 years. Plus I needed her out of the house so her and King wouldn't kill each other.

EZ started second grade. The transition to first grade was really rough, but luckily second has gone a lot smoother.

John asked EZ if he would help walk Netta to her classroom and he said no at first, but then once they got there he held her hand and walked her down the hall. What a good big brother.

Two weeks after regular school started, King started preschool. Now here is where the anxiety kicked in. King is a momma's boy and I wasn't too sure how things were going to go. The week before classes started they had a meet the teacher day and as soon as we pulled into the school King said "This is Netta's school." Then he cried and clung to me the entire meeting and refused to interact with his teacher. A couple days later they had a playground social so that all the 3 year olds could play together. He wasn't super interactive, but he didn't cry the whole time so that gave me hope. The first day of school they had to pry him off him me and shut the door, but then his teacher said that he was fine within a couple of minutes. Poor King I think will always have hard transitions, but in the end he makes them and adjusts so I am hopeful that the rest of the year will be fine.