Halloween 2011

Maneki Neko - "Lucky Cat"

Halloween weekend was fun-filled and jam packed with events.  Friday night we went to a carnival at Amelia's future elementary school which was incredibly fun.  I know that my elementary school carnivals were not this elaborate.  This carnival had a live band, some food vendors (Amy's Ice Cream - always an Austin favorite), a haunted house, a bungee jumper meant for small people and various inflatable slides and obstacle courses.  The sheer number of people there was impressive.  We took Amelia and met up with our neighbors and their daughter.  Amelia was a little intimidated by the crowds at first but warmed up quickly.  She looked so adorable!  And after we had some ice cream, she was all fired up!

On our way to the carnival

With her buddy Piper!

Hugs!

She loves chocolate ice cream

And this is the after-effect of ice cream!  A runaway kitty.

On Saturday we went to a birthday party for one of her class mates and they had a trampoline!  I think this will be on Amelia's Christmas list.  She loved it!  

With her school teacher, Jillian

Bought a new nail polish that she loves

Then we had Halloween on Monday night.  We went to a friends house for some pre-Trick-or-Treating fun and snacks.  Then we went out door to door in her neighborhood.  As I expected, Amelia didn't last long but we had a good time.  She went to each door and said "Trick or Treat" and "Thank you" when she got candy.  She wasn't greedy and only took one piece from each bowl unless the giver told her to go for more.  One funny moment was when the giver put the candy in Amelia's basket and Amelia decided she didn't want it.  She gave the candy back to the lady and said "No, I don't like that one."  We couldn't help but laugh.  I tried to convince Amelia that wasn't very nice and she needs to take it anyway, but no dice.  The lady was nice and didn't seem to mind too much.  Then we went to a house where one lady showed her "scary" mask face through the window and Amelia started crying.  For the rest of the night Amelia would talk about the "Scary Lady".  I spent the rest of the night trying to convince her the lady was just pretending to be scary but she was actually very nice.  We only lasted about one block and then she was done.  Everyone loved her costume and she enjoyed telling everyone she was a "Lucky Cat".


Here are some fun photos!

Scored some Milk Duds

Rejecting candy that she didn't like...

With her buddy Sophia

Pumpkin Patch & Halloween preview

Last weekend we made a trip out to Marble Falls, TX for a Pumpkin Patch day.  It was a nice drive out there and Amelia was in a really good mood.  Sweetberry Farms is normally a strawberry patch in the spring/ summer and then doubles as a pumpkin farm in the fall.  It was very cute and they had lots of entertainment including a hayride, a kids cornfield maze, an adult cornfield maze, petting zoo, horse rides, face painting... the works!  I bought tickets for the kid's maze and Amelia and got about 50 feet into the cornfield when she tells me "I don't like this.  I want out."  Ok.  So we left - luckily we hadn't gone far so I knew the way back.  Her favorite part besides feeding the goats was sitting in the fire truck!  She loved sitting at the wheel and checking out the interior.  We found a nice pumpkin that we brought home and I had every intention of carving it or painting it, but it just never happened.  Still, she likes looking at it on our front porch and talking about "my pumpkin".

Being "silly Amelia"

Is our girl beautiful or what?

Feeding the goats

Found our pumpkin!

Strawberry popsicle - delish!

Lovin' the fire truck

And now we're gearing up for Halloween!!!  Last year Amelia was Salmon Sushi.  This year...

She's a Maneki Neko!  aka "Lucky Cat"

see the resemblance???

I'll make sure to post pictures when she's in full gear with her whiskers and shoes.  We have a busy weekend with carnivals, birthday parties and a Halloween party!  I can't wait!

October updates

We have been a busy family for the last few weeks.  We've had several visitors, Amelia had an ear infection, she started swimming lessons again and I've been in my nesting mode.


My friend Becky came to Austin to visit us and to see a show.  It was so nice to have some of Houston friends in town; I forget how much I miss them.  Amelia loves her Auntie Becky! And of course Becky spoiled her with a new tutu and shirt!!!  I don't know if I'll ever get her out of this tutu.

Amelia with her Auntie Becky

In the middle of a tantrum...  so pathetic.

In her new tutu!  She absolutely loved this.

Walking around showing off how cute she is.

Amelia started going to swim lessons again.  We did this when she was a baby - like 6 months old.  Now she really needs to learn how to stay afloat in the water and find the side quickly.  She loves being in the water and the lessons have been good.  It's only been a month but I can already see improvement.  I'm getting more and more pregnant so it's hard for me to get in the water with her and do some of the activities especially since she likes to kick me.  So Martin has been the primary swim parent and he loves it.  They have a good time together doing this.

And I mentioned I'm in a nesting phase.  It's definitely a biological instinct to have the need to start preparing your home for a new baby.  I feel as though my time is very limited; which it is and it's not.  I'm trying to get random projects around the house completed and I have decided to sew many of the new bedding items and accessories for the babies room.  After researching online, I just couldn't find exactly what I wanted and everything I did want was an obscene amount of money.  So I have taught myself to sew and have worked on some starter projects like dresses for Amelia and her Halloween costume.  I have to say, I've done a pretty darn good job.  When the baby bedding is done I'll make sure to post some photos to have the masses decide if I should quit my day job or not.  

Halloween is also around the corner and we're super excited!  Last year Amelia was a piece of Salmon Sushi.  This year we're sticking with the Japanese theme and she'll be a "Lucky Cat".  If you're having trouble imagining it, don't worry because I'll post some photos soon.  We've practicing with Amelia what she needs to do when she knocks on doors. She's knows she'll get candy so she just gets right to asking:  "Trick or Treat - I want candy."  We'll keep working on it.

Here are some other photos for you to enjoy!

Being sweet to Dexter.  A rare moment.

My little princess.

Ready for school

At Avery's birthday party

Hook 'em Horns!

Swimming Holes of Texas

Over Labor Day weekend we found the best swimming holes!  I can't believe it took us this long to investigate these gems but now that we have found them, we will be returning often.  Let me also say that this summer has been absolutely brutal for heat and drought.  In Austin we had over 70 consecutive days above 100 degrees!  That kind of heat makes you want to stay comfortable inside your air conditioned home; the thought of going outside is exhausting.  Over this past weekend we had a slight reprieve and it dipped just below the 100 degree marker so we ventured away from a/c.  On Sunday we tried taking a trip to the famous Hamilton Pool Preserve near Dripping Springs.  It's a beautiful water hole with a waterfall.  Unfortunately we didn't know that they limit the number of people in the Preserve at any given time so when we got there it would be at least a 2 1/2 hour wait to get in.  Luckily the park ranger informed us there was another area we could go to just a quarter mile up the road that was nice and you could swim in the Pedernales River.  So we went there instead.  It's called Reimer Ranch and it was perfect!  There is a large rock beach area where you can spread out and the water was a perfect temperature - probably 75 degrees and came up to my shoulders.  We spent a couple of hours there and Amelia had so much fun.  We still wanted to see what Hamilton Pool was all about so we decided to go the following day since it was a day off for us.  We got up early on Monday and planned to be at Hamilton Pool no later than 9am when the gates opened.  At 9 am we pulled up to the gates only to find out it was closed due to the wild fires in the area.  It's important to note that so much of Central Texas is currently on fire and it's extremely devastating; we can only hope they get the fires under control quickly.  Like I mentioned earlier, we have had unbelievable drought in this region so everything is as dry as a bone.  So, it was a bummer we couldn't go to Hamilton Pool again, but we weren't going to stop there.  Amelia kept asking us when we were going to go swimming because she was dressed and ready for the occasion.  Thanks to our trusty smart phones we were able to find another swimming hole in Wimberley that had good prospects.  So we set out for The Blue Hole in Wimberley and it was  a great find!  The water was absolutely freezing at first touch but it warmed up as the day went on.  Overall it was such a fun weekend!  I'm glad we have these kinds of adventures to be had in our back yard.  Enjoy the photos.

Enjoying a PB&J

Mommy & Amelia in the Pedernales River!

Daddy & his little girl

Amelia had so much fun!!

Yes, that's another PB&J.

We don't have enough of these photos.

Fun at The Blue Hole in Wimberley

"Blast off!"

"It's cold, Daddy!"

Little Burrito

Family:)

"Ta-daa!"

All smiles!