Halloween

The day of Halloween was a pretty typical one around here. I can't even remember what we did. We'd been getting Papa John's ads for pumpkin-shaped pizza for $12. I took that as a challenge and made one, too. Mine was probably more like $3 or $4? Probably not as cool looking, though. Humor me.

 We went out around 7 and just did a few streets. The kids have enough candy from the trunk-or-treat and I've basically been the only one eating it...

 Our sweet girl.

 Dan's scary face pumpkin that decayed in like 2 days thanks to high-80-degree weather.

 He is just the cutest!

Kid pictures

To get more photography practice, I took the kids out a few weeks ago to snap some pictures. It was only 9am but already too sunny. Here are some of the better ones.

Trunk or Treat

Lots to catch up on, but for now, here are some pictures from the church Trunk or Treat last night.

Magician and indian.

 Dan and I never really go all-out for Halloween so we decided to step it up this year. Frankenstein and his bride.

 Frankenstein had to make a last-minute stop at the redbox.

 And here's the sideview of my hair. There's a styrofoam cone in there.

It was a pain to wash out. I still have a black scalp in some places.

Happy Halloween!

Austin

Sorry for the lull. I've been both lazy and busy for the past few weeks.

At the end of September we headed over to Austin to visit Dan's brother's family and attend Carmen's baptism. Dan's parents also came into town for the big occasion.

Friday I dubbed "Dan Day" because we all did things that Dan wanted to do. After seeing my brother's post about the fun things they did in Austin, Dan wanted to do the same. So first up was a trip to Hamilton Pool. It was a beautiful morning and it wasn't too crowded, thanks to school. The water was freezing! Dan was the only one of us daring enough to brave the icy temps. I got in up to my knees and the kids enjoyed playing with the rocks.

 We forgot Sam's bathing suit so he swam in his skivies.

 After Hamilton Pool we headed to the Salt Lick. A barbecue joint. I'm not that big on Texas barbecue, but it was good and really filling. REALLY filling.

We went back to Adam's that night and watched a lot of The Voice.

Saturday was Carmen's baptism. She was beautiful and it was a really nice service. I think 9 kids got baptized that day.

We came home to a delicious lunch and spent time playing games and relaxing. We came home the next day. It was a great trip!

Sing a song

Afton really loves to sing lately. She was on a big "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star" kick for a few days there. Now it's "Ring Around the Rosy." When she wakes up from her nap in a happy mood, she'll talk to herself and sing. I caught her doing it the other day. It's hard to hear through the closed door (She also mentions "ice water") so I opened it and asked her to sing for me.

Comings and Goings

Sam started "preschool" a few weeks ago. Our school district offers a free 90-minute preschool four days a week. You have to sign up a month at a time and you can pick which days you want to go. Spaces fill up in about 8 minutes. So we've only been able to go a handful of times so far. I go with him. He likes it. I was quick on the trigger for October, so I was able to get us signed up every Tues/Thurs of next month.

Here he is on his first day of school.

Sam also started soccer on a YMCA team with lots of friends. His first practice was pretty fun to watch. They haven't yet grasped the concept of only using their feet.

Afton and Wendy both had fun until they got attacked by fire ants.

Those girls are so cute together. We watched Carter and Wendy a few weeks ago and we put Wendy in Afton's crib when she woke up from her nap. They had fun jumping around.

We watched them again last night and the girls had lots of fun dancing after dinner. When I pulled out the camera, they mellowed a bit, but it's still cute.

What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger - Like Attending a Concert in 90 degree heat

I like Kelly Clarkson. I didn't watch her on American Idol because our dorm didn't have a TV, but I remember going next door to watch a little bit. I only have one of her albums but I think she's got an amazing voice.

Kelly Clarkson came to town a year or two ago for an Apple Store opening. It was downtown and I didn't dare try to take two kids to that madhouse. So instead I asked Dan if we could go to a concert the next time she came to town. Well, she came. And we went. It was awesome!

We got seats on the lawn. It was about 95 degrees when the show started. H.O.T. Speaking of hot...

 Carolina Liar was the opener to the opener. They were okay. The singer kept asking us to "make some noise" and that drove me crazy. I will make noise when I want to make noise.

 The Fray.

 At one point the singer came to the back, really close to us. And played a song. That was cool. He was super sweaty.

 The Fray was pretty good. They played for a long time. Then we waited for Kelly.

 Yay! She was so cute and spunky. She sang all her hits and jumped around and was funny.

 She sang the duet she does with Jason Aldean so they projected his image onto a curtain. It was cool, but he was like three times the size of Kelly which I thought was funny.

 She also came out kind of close to us.

 Outfit change.

A group came and stood next to us, but they kept getting closer and closer until finally this was Dan's view.

Nice. It was a fun night. We wish that she had taken more time and that the other acts hadn't, but she rocked out and sang my fav: Since U Been Gone.