Fall activities...Halloween, birthdays, soccer and Thanksgiving

Enjoying a ride through the corn field. It was a hot day.

As I am months and months behind, I am grouping pretty much the past 4 months in one post. This is a difficult post for me to write. Fall and October has always been my favorite season and month, but this year it was not. Very sadly, our brother Clifford, unexpectedly passed away. We drove back to Kansas for a week, but it just wasn't enough time. We all continue to feel the loss and void every day. I feel we somewhat survived the holidays this year. I do give thanks for being able to be all together with my family so we could continue to share our memories of Clifford, as well as our sadness together. But as always, life continues to go on, even if you feel like you have stopped, that's the hardest part to understand. Everything seems normal, but nothing is normal. With that being said, while we were in Kansas, we took an afternoon away and "helped" Papa finish up corn harvest. That was happy.

Once back in Austin, we did the usual October activities. I had another birthday and Quinn and I celebrated our 9th anniversary. We had an amazing dinner out at Barley Swine, super yum!. My dear friends surprised me with a birthday dinner. I was not feeling in the mood at all and really just wanted to hide away in my house,  as each day I was so sad. But spending the evening with some of my closest friends is exactly what I needed at that moment. Feeling that it was ok to smile and laugh felt good and I felt lightened. My friends are the best, they knew what I needed when I didn't.

This year we went to a new Pumpkin patch in Bastrop. It was acers of open area and kid/family friendly activities. Super fun, but we missed Sweet Berry Farms in Marble Falls. Sam was psyched to be Lego Man this year. I worked several days on his costume and have to say it turned out pretty awesome. He wore it for pictures and to the end of the drive way, and then refused to wear for Halloween night. It was to claustrophobic and smelled like paint (it really did) but that didn't stop me from being disappointed after working so hard on it. Lesson learned...make sure the costumes are comfortable, or it's all for not.  Isla, rocked her Lady Bug Girl all day. She wore it to daycare for her party and then all evening. She had adorable lady bug goulashes, a red tutu and shirt, bug wings and antennae headband, adorable.

I only wish I got a group photo, but here is one of my dear

friends Ashley. She does me good :)

Happy birthday to me! I love outdoor eating, and it couldn't have been a lovelier evening.

More birthday spoiling. Verna and Isla took me to the Launderette on my actual birthday day.

Good eating, I love it!

9 years together!! Had another sweet evening with just Quinn and I at Barley Swine.

We had the tasting menu with a wine pairing....so fancy and fun!.

                                                         Back to the Pumpkin patch

Goof ball, who knows what he's doing.

Cutie pie, giving me a nice pose on the pumpkins.

We were able to spend Halloween with our dear friends Jennifer, Vincent, Violet and Christian. The boys had a great time running around the neighborhood, door to door, like crazy people. The girls were a little more reserved, but very strategic about candy gathering. Violet would just continue to hold her bag open until the giver gave double the usual amount. Smart girl.

So since Sam wouldn't wear his costume, Quinn and I took turns. With the head at least.

What a rockin' Dad!

Pretty fantastic...if only he thought so.

For Thanksgiving we stayed home, but Papa and Tanner came to us. It was great, and good timing as I think we were all needing to see family and just be around one another. They drove down on Wednesday and actually stayed an extra day. We are just that fun! Wednesday evening we took them to The Alamo Draft House, which is this super cool movie theater that serves really good food as well a good drinks. Thanksgiving day we celebrated with our dear friends Debbie, Lance, Ian and Eric. They are such comforting and easy people, that everyone very much relaxed and enjoyed themselves. It was an effortless day with good company and conversation, who could ask for more. On Friday, since it had been 8 years since Tanner was last in Austin. We took them to the Texas State Capitol, down South Congress and Torchy's Taco. You can't come to Austin and not eat tacos. And then a not so great drive tour through UT campus. Unknown to us non-sports following people, it was the last home game of the season...at UT. So Tanner saw swarms of people, and a tiny bit of the campus. They planned on heading back on Saturday, but stayed an extra day and we went to the Chuy's children's parade. It was the biggest parade I have every seen. Crazy how we've lived here 13 years, and this was the fist time we've been. The kids loved the giant balloons and it was right down town.

The Monday before Thanksgiving and since Sam had the entire week off school, we made a day trip to Gruen, Texas. It is known to have the oldest dance and music hall in Texas. And it is pretty old, slightly dilapidated, but still functional. It was a pretty day with lots of cute little shops, candy stores and places to peek around. We ate lunch outside at the Grismill, which is an old cotton mill right on the river, very nice.

Sam and Isla doing a little dance and turn on the stage of Gruen Hall.

Grandpa and Isla, doing one of her favorite things. Putting together puzzles and instructing others how to do it.

Where else can you sit on a cannon other than Texas, in front of the state capitol!!

Torchy's, and amazing queso. Sam is a total little Texan. He asked me several months

ago, "Mom, what's queso in Spanish..." It's not cheese sauce, that's for sure.

Ahhhhh, the Salt Lick. The boys approved.

Chuy's day parade. It was actually pretty warm out.

Kung Fu Panda, Super Grover 2.0 and Coca Cola bear were the big floats.

Grandpa holding up the Bitty for a better view.

We loved having Tanner here and getting to know him as a 16 year old.

We still think of him as the little boy, but he is not anymore

Sam and Isla loved having their older cousin here. He is great with them. He chases, plays and loves them. They made him all pretty and put ALL of Isla's hair clips and bows in his hair, and he just laid there and let them. Such a good big cousin!.