ARLO!!!!!!!!!!

This week we are mourning the loss of our 3rd parent or 4th child (depending on the situation) - Carlos has moved on to his winter gig in Aspen. We are having to finish Battlestar Galactica without him. The kids have no one to play with (except each other and us, which they are not satisfied with). Rebecca has no one to rival her sleeping-in abilities. Maggie thinks every silver car is Arlo's. She also misses her daily "baby 'sage" (baby massage). Owen has no older brother to teach him the ways of the world - business, girls, football, star wars, pushups - general manliness. Kyle has no one to debate with. I have no one to save my dinner-disasters with an arsenal of spices I would never have thought to combine. And we only have 1 brisket left in the freezer. What.Will.We.Do?????

An ode to Carlos' last days with us...

Letting the kids prepare the 64 pounds of brisket to be smoked in our back yard.

Rebecca's glamor shot

Rubbing in the rub

Post rubbing in the rub

Post post rubbing in the rub

Stoking the fire

Let the cooking begin!

Carlos in his element

And some goodbye photos...why is Maggie crying?

That's better.

Someone is always crying or looking away. But Carlos is a professional - he knows that when you take photos with kids you just keep smiling and look at the camera!!!

R & C

O & C - see what I mean about the manliness? (If Carlos had stayed any longer I'm pretty sure Owen would have had a matching beard.)

Blurry Maggie giving Carlos a fist-pump

Carlos was a great first more-than-a-day house-guest. He was part of the family. And we miss him! Happy skiing man!

Gigem' Aggies! Go 'Dores!

According to my sports-savy sources, one of the big topics the last few years in college football has been the changes in conference among teams in Texas (and elsewhere). Texas A&M left the Big 12 for the SEC. What will happen to the age-old rivalry against TU/Texas/those awful Longhorns? Can we still saw varsity's horns off? Will we have anything left to be thankful for on Thanksgiving??? All sports-politics-talking-head-commentator stuff aside, I have been glad about the move because now Kyle and I can hate on some of the same SEC teams! If we're not on the same team, at least we have some of the same enemies. As much as a non-sports-enthusiast can...I hate BAMA, LSU, TENNESSEE (who actually used to be good)... you get the idea. 

So when it was time to plan our one trip to College Station for a game this fall, I pretty much strong-armed him to make it the game against Vandy. (Plus the tickets were significantly cheaper than the ones against BAMA). We were able to get really good seats - we were basically on the front row of the lower deck (alumni side - which basically means the side where you don't have to stand up all the time) at the 30(?) yard line (I sort of forgot exactly where).

The weekend before, the Aggies lost a tough game to Auburn and Vanderbilt beat Georgia, so I was cautiously optimistic that a win was possible. I said possible, not probable. :)  But just like the games of ol' that I remember from undergrad* Vanderbilt didn't show up until a good ways into the first half, made some good strides evening the score, and then pretty much didn't show up for the 2nd half. (*That's why I only went to a few games in college - too much studying to do to waste an afternoon being disappointed. I know: fair-weather.) The final score was 56-24. Ouch.

Next year I think we would both like to go to a game that we can cheer for the same team. I think Kyle felt like he had to temper his excitement (although he still got his touch-down kisses) and I had a hard time cheering (loudly) for Vandy because I was the ONLY black/gold wearer in a very intimidating sea of maroon. Scary! 

I do need to point out that both teams ended their season with 8-4 records (both 4-4 in conference games). And there you have it. 

13 Years

It's our first year at a new school and with that comes lots of new things - mostly for Owen, but also for me! There are SOOOOO many things to potentially get involved in it can be a little overwhelming. And coming from a co-op preschool where our presence on campus was very much a given (in fact mandatory and very scheduled) its hard to know how much to be around and for what. Luckily for me at the very beginning of the year a wise friend who is ahead of me down this path told me unequivocally that the one field trip I had to go on was to Crowe's Nest Farm. There were lots of reasons to make this one a "have to." First, it's a great little spot not far from Austin that we had never been too - it's a farm and a zoo all in one (faaaaar better than the quote "Austin Zoo"). Also, the time of year (weather-wise) is great. But mostly because this is the kindergarten field trip where the seniors at the school who have been there since Kindergarten get to come too! 

Here is my van of kiddos: D, O, B, and D

 I had the great pleasure of having Mrs. Adams ride with us - not only great for car "classroom" management (she had them counting by 5s in a round)! - but also because I got to chat with her about all sorts of other things! This lady is a true gem.

 There are 12 kids in each class - so this times 5, plus teachers, parents and seniors. Crazy!

 Sweet class and teacher.

 With some of the seniors that were in her class 12 years ago!!!

On the tractor-pulled trailer to see some of the more exotic animals.

Cold kindergartener + senior with roomy fleece = so sweet!

 I could tell that moments like this were bittersweet for the senior moms on the trip. Their babies are all grown up!

 In the diary learning about how milk is processed.

 My dear friend Melissa - whose 3rd youngest of 4 - is a senior. So thankful for this lady and her friendship.

 A very docile owl that let the keeper show us all his crazy body parts - fuzzy feathers, giant ear holes, weird eye lids.

 One of these would make a cool pet. The other will make a great dinner.

 Turtle friend eating his salad. Ahhhh the self-discipline. :)

 Sweet times with my boy. Wouldn't miss these moments for anything.

Happy Halloween 2013

We love Halloween over here. Last year I had just about decided to give up the family theme, but this year it just sort of worked out. But first...a little bit about our pre-H celebrations. 

Rebecca's preschool class had some special (very washable) face markers the kids were aloud to play with during their center time the week of Halloween. Most of the kids stayed away. Not my Rebecca. This was Day 1 I think.

 The night before Halloween R went into hysterics because I didn't have a Halloween outfit for her. (Every other year if we've had something theme-y for a holiday she has refused to wear it, so I don't do that stuff anymore.) This year I gave in and drew some pumpkins on an almost-too-small white t-shirt with fabric pens left over from a birthday party. She was happy.

 Her face after school.

Maggie let her teacher draw a kitty cat face on her and she loved it - she meowed all afternoon.

 Because Owen got to help some fun neighbors decorate their porch with all things Halloween he was very concerned that we didn't have enough decorations - this was pretty much an on-going conversation during the month of October. I stepped it up for our Halloween party (more on that in a bit) but in the meantime, this is how Rebecca decorates a mini pumpkin.

 Okay, so here we are in all our glory:

The Sea, The Old Man (think: The Old Man and the Sea) - courtesy of Bee & Jojo. 

Angel Fish, Scuba Diver (me and Kyle)

Angler Fish, Pink Mermaid, Purple Mermaid (O, M, R)

 This is my mom keeping it simple. It's genetic. (And this is JoJo being the world's best sport.)

 After a few hurried photos (did I mention I was still hot-gluing my costume together a few hours before our targeted departure time???)

Some of the neighborhood crew...

 It was fun to be joined by the Murray Knights and other fun neighbor kids!

Kyle feeding the kids dinner from a zip lock baggie while we walk...super dad.

 His costume was pretty awesome if I do say so myself. His gear is made from 2-liter coke bottles, duck tape, a camel back, raisin boxes (weight belt). Props to Carlos for working on the respirator (coke can and cardboard). The flippers were too annoying, but looked good for the photo. This was the first year he said he didn't feel completely ridiculous in his costume. I'm either getting soft or really good at deceiving him. Oh the flip side, I felt completely ridiculous and I made a crinkly sound when I walked.

 Carlos and and a friend - the Outlaw Josey Wales and Sakajawia (who made her own wig out of yarn) - props!

 I am glad Owen was so happy with his simple costume (it's just a cape) - but he was very specific about wanting to be an anglerfish so when I saw this on etsy I had to buy it. No way momma was making that one.

 Same for both the girls - fun mermaid "tales" from etsy that they could actually walk in. Just put some felt "shells" on worn-out tanktops and done. (That's "sea weed" in her hair.) Most of the night Rebecca just seemed like a purple flash - darting from house to house - ahead of the kid pack. Cousin Bailey - you taught her well!!!

 It was SO nice to not be pushing a stroller this year. It didn't take Maggie long to get the hang of the trick-or-treating. She didn't say much except the DIT-DOO after the candy went in her bucket. But she got the job done!

 The Sea and the Angel Fish. I got lots of compliments on my costume. Oh, how cute! Oh, how clever! Are those cupcake liners? Why yes, they are. Do you know what I am? Uh????? An angel cupcake? Nope, I'm an Angel Fish. (Again, thanks to Carlos for the help w/ the skirt portion - yea for old t-shirts) and mom for the wings which helped pull it all together, sort of.

 Making a fish face totally helps. Ha!

And now onto the party...

What party you ask? 

We had the pleasure of hosting the big Halloween party for Bridges International - a great organization at UT that helps international students settle into living in the US. We had between 50-60 folks we think. I'm waiting on the official photos of the party from one of their staff (since I didn't take any) - thanks to Toni and Sally for all of these! They had LOTS of food and a little welcome talk on the history of Halloween then some fun activities - a photo booth, costume contest (we got to judge), and pumpkin carving in our garage - I think there were 24 pumpkins.

For most of these students this is their first time to carve a pumpkin.

Our two "adopted" international students for this year - Sally (bloody soldier) is from China and Toni (Shrek's girl Fiona) is from Ireland.

The party was in full force when we got back from trick-or-treating and Owen and Rebecca "helped' Toni and her boyfriend Shrek carve their pumpkin.

Here is Rebecca's drawing of what they should carve. And instead of saying "oh, that's a cute idea, little girl" and then carving something else...they went for it!

Toni and Rebecca and their contest-finalist pumpkin: Skelly the skeleton.

 Most of the pumpkins lined up along the driveway.

 It was a busy, crazy, fun night. Already looking forward to next year. And unless our newly found family love for Star Wars (more on that in an upcoming post) takes over, I'm going to let the kids each pick their own (probably uncoordinated costumes) and Kyle and I are going to be Where's Waldo and Where's Waldo's girlfriend Walda. Yep, already decided. :)