Happy Halloween

Yes, they are going for increasingly scary costumes each year.
Emma is dressing like a pre-teen, which is scariest of all.

Joey visits Mrs. Black's house.

How many more years will I see this scene?

The loot!

Max is always the leader in candy acquisition. We think he is young enough to want the candy and his hands are big enough to really grab a nice big handful when offered.

Today was actually a real scare. About mid-morning I checked my email from work to see one from the kids' principal. He said the school was under modified lockdown. Apparently, someone robbed McBride's gun shop which is less than a mile from our school. The Austin Swat team was trying to figure out if the crook had actually been cornered in the store, so as a precaution, the daycare and three nearby schools were on lock down.

Today the store was having a Beretta show. It really makes me question the wisdom of gun rights, knowing that semi automatic weapon shows are being held just up the road. I'm not against guns that are designed for hunters, but ones that really are only good for killing people would be better left out of my neighborhood.

I never worried about our kids. Our school is amazing and kept them all safe. I'm very thankful that this was a non-story.

Catching up...

Today was a wonderful day. Full of adventure! Documented with fabulous photos! Inspiring! Awesome!.....but you won't hear about it until Wednesday at the earliest.

That's because today when I was taking all the good photos, I realized I'd never posted any of the others on the camera during the last month. So today, you'll see : Picking out Pumpkins!

Tomorrow... Halloween!

and Wednesday.... well, you'll have to wait and see......

Max and his friend Uma. She has been pumpkin shopping for each of the last three years. It is sort of a tradition to take her along.

Joey age 6

....and at age 2!

I've got ART!

Today, I bought TWO beautiful pieces of art. I couldn't afford the Three Muses in my earlier post (Robbin is painting me a smaller version after her big show in the Bahamas). But today's purchases were by my friend Luis Abreux.

I met Luis about two months ago. Each Friday, we have Art Day at Robbin's house. Luis joined the three of us, Robbin, Connie and I, and he is fantastic. Watching him work is hypnotic and apparently the city is starting to notice him. He escaped from Cuba two years ago, in a dramatic, multi-stop plane flight. Connie and Robbin met him at an art show at Austin Interreligious Ministries. He even won a recent Best of Austin Award in the Austin Chronicle:

Best Surprise! We Have an Art Show Here!: Austin Area Interreligious Ministries Hosting Luis Abreux
One step in the door of the agency’s Eastside location, and all eyes become riveted to Luis Abreux’s vibrant, fantastical work. Vivid colors reminiscent of the painter's native Cuba and the dynamism of the topics command attention; it's as if his subjects were run through a Chuck Jones-meets-Picasso daydream. You may be tempted to stay and gaze for hours or wish you could take them all home. The local nonprofit gave the honor of their first foray into the art world to Abreux, whose recent situation qualified him for their services, allowing him to participate in his own assistance.
701 Tillery #8, 386-9145 www.aaimaustin.org


So today, I visited his house and saw the dozens of paintings he has in every room, more than dozens, at least a hundred! I picked two small ones, and fell in love. He let me have a "friend rate" and wished them well in their new home. Photos will be posted momentarily!

The Three Graces

My friend Robbin painted this wonderful picture, it is called Three Graces and guess who is in the middle! It is the first time I've been painted into someone's artwork, and I love it. Connie is on the left and Robbin, the artist, is on the right.

I love love love it.

What we Saw at Maker Faire!!!....

David and Emma watch the Ping Pong ball projectiles that the Robot beyond just shot out

What a wonderfully fun day today. We went to Maker Faire at the Expo Center. We first heard of it from a Seatte friend who told us he was coming down. He backed out, but we are glad we didn't. What is Maker Faire you ask? Hmmm... a carnival for techhies? a geek convention? crafter's paradise? circus of the bizarre? YES, it is!

Someone rigged up a big screen TV, with a video game and some buttons to make this video pinball game.

Emma uses the motion thingie on her hand to make a robot pick up a can

Max watches an automatic sand art machine

Life sized Mousetrap Game. By the way, the big thing rolling by in the background is a human powered Ferris wheel. Three riders made it move forward by swinging in their seats. It was very cool. It rolled across while the mousetrap went off.

This was one of our favorite parts... Mentos and Diet Coke! These two guys had spent three hours setting up the display and it all went off in a three minute fizz of glory!

Where else do nerds get to sign autographs like rock stars?
We got to help decorate an Art Car

Other Art Cars included this Yarn Car...

...and the Camera Van

Astroturf car with gnome hood ornament

The End

Architect again...

I started a new job today.

I'm an Architect again. I work at Chris Lewis Architects. It was a good first day. More later.

Two inspirational links....

Elisa's blog was perfect today, so all I can do is copy it.....

inspiration 1

and

inspiration 2

and Trey's was perfect too... but you'll have to read it for yourself....

goofing around

Joey and I played with the camera last night....

In the teepee

Cutie Joe

clowning around

Joey posed himself for this shot

My best haircut ever... from Darlene earlier on Thursday

Good editorial

I am ready for a 9/12 candidate. So I loved this editorial by Thomas Friedman.

Mister SIX

Yippee for Joey who is SIX years old today.
We love you Jo-Jo!

We had a Ben 10 birthday party for him at Zilker Park. If you are not "in the know" Ben 10 is a show on Cartoon Network. Ben is a little boy who can turn into any one of ten aliens. The beauty of this is that it gives the loving parent an almost endless supply of things to buy. But that's another story.... Today we used those ten aliens to make ten birthday games. I remembered to take photos of a couple of them! The names of the aliens are highlighted.

Four Arms/ Three-legged Race

Upgrade-ing their cupcakes

We missed the Zilker Train - twice!
So on the fly, David and I invented this "train game" which was really Crack the Whip.
The train motif was to honor the alien named XLR8.

Joey had a good time, and the guests seemed to as well. We are having pizza for dinner and opening presents. The fun continues.....

The other blog.....

I feel like I'm cheating on Rocket Tots. For years, it has been the little task that, at times, I eagerly poured my thoughts into. Other times, when life gets dull, it nags me like a report I need to write for school.

Then, a new feeling, I started a blog called "Estate Sale Mama" about my hobby. I'm all fired up to post photos of the things I find, and write about eBay. It is so new, so fresh, so easy. But poor old neglected R.T. just sits here. So, here I am, with something not so dull to report, hoping that I appease the Rocket Tot task master:

I'll let you know that David and I had a nice date on Saturday. Our priest at church has a daughter we love, and we asked to have her come babysit/sleepover, then we would drive her to church the following morning. My kids were looking forward to it all week. (of course I did too!)

We went out to the Alamo to see Superbad and I give it a rave review. ALTHOUGH, it is not a film I would actually recommend to many people, a few, yes, but most, no. It is very full of cuss words, and high school boy fixations on sex and booze. But it is by Judd Aptow, who makes the funniest comedies (40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up) and this was funnier than both of those. David and I bought our tickets online, but because we tried to play it cheap and eat at home before we went, we got to the theater right as it started. Not a problem with pre-sold tickets, yet still a problem when there was only one seat on the very back row. The theater accommodated us with folding chairs in the handicap spot. Not comfy but smack in the center, so we did OK. We were probably better off than if we had gotten there 15 minutes earlier.

I did Girl Scout training for five hours (!!!) on Saturday, so that movie was just the raunchy counterpoint to all the Girl Scout goodness I was exposed to.

Now, go check out my other blog.

http://estatesalemama.blogspot.com

I'll try to post here or there semi-frequently.

yippee!

I just got new tennis shoes!

September 11

I completely agree with Leonard Pitts' editorial published yesterday.

stocking up

Sometimes there are little ideas (often of interest only to me) that keep popping into my head that make me think I should write about them in some way. Weird facts about life or what have you. Here is one that I can't believe I'm remembering when I'm actually sitting at the computer.

It seems lately, these last ten years, my brain doesn't work quite right. Take grocery shopping for instance. When I go, which is at least four trips per week, I don't use a shopping list, I rely on my faulty memory. So I cruise the aisles hoping to have the item itself trigger my memory. I will get on a kick where I am so thankful that I remembered, let's say, MAYONAISE because I know we were very low and I'd hate to run out. Well, there are about 3 big jars of mayonaise in my pantry right now. There are 4 1/2 bottles of dish soap under the sink. For a while it was margerine. For a while eggs. David says nothing, but keeps storing away my mistakes as though I'm stocking a bomb shelter.

The one item that doesn't worry me is my toilet paper hoarding. I swear I didn't dream this, but when we lived in Seattle, there was all that fighting about the spotted owl and logging. I clearly remember hearing a story on the radio that the loggers would protest by cornering the market on toilet paper to teach us all a lesson about the importance of paper products that their logging provides. Ever since then I hoard TP. When we get down to 6 rolls, I start to get a little worried.

Anyway, that is a strange fact about Kathy that I'll bet you didn't know until just now.

what's up

Boring stuff to report. I'm starting to jog daily... actually, I've been doing it for a month. I'm up to walking two blocks and then jogging every third which is more than I did when I started.

The kids are loving school. They dig into homework without problems. They aren't yet griping about the repetitious lunches I invariably make.

I'm polishing up my resume. Getting ready to apply for a couple of jobs. Got one Architecture job in the back pocket, I think. Not sure if it's a good fit, project wise, but I would have flexible hours which is important at this stage. And it is not computer system research which is the last real "job" I had.... it kicked my bootie.

Did the photo albums - Huge Achievement! -

House was very clean, but not so much anymore. Our life is just messy.

I guess that's it.

I'm going to make you jealous (if you are a mom anyway...)

I just finished putting all my photos into photo albums.

First Day of School Photos

Tomorrow, three Bryker Woods students!

I wrote an email to a friend recently, and I did such a good job of describing the kids' teachers I thought I'd just copy that and post it here. (Friend: hope you don't mind!) Anyway, here is what we have in store for tomorrow. The biggest change is that I'm no longer the mother of a pre-schooler. Now they all attend Bryker Woods. I guess this means I'm not the same kind of a stay at home mom, and very shortly I'll be a part time working mom again. One door closes and another opens....... here's the copied info:


Yes, Emma, my oldest, has a new teacher. But even that teacher is known to us, since her daughter is one of my Girl Scouts and a member of Emma's grade at school. So we know her as a fellow "Mom" at the moment. I've heard wonderful things about her as a teacher. I had a friend who was a clerk in the office and she said Mrs. Spain was the only teacher who never sent kids to the office, she takes care of all the discipline in her room. Impressive....

Max, 3rd grader, will have a lady we've had with Emma two years ago. She is about a year or two from retirement and a very impressive teacher. She gives them each hugs at the end of the day as they leave the room. She asks them about their day, and what they'll be working on that night for homework. It takes almost 20 minutes to get the whole class outside after the bell rings. Her students are "her babies" for the year, and she loves them. Great teacher.

Joey's Kindergarten teacher is a family friend. When Emma was in her class 4 years ago, I volunteered to be a reader on Fridays. Joey was a one year old then, and she would take him to the teacher's lounge for the half hour. When I got him back, he would have cookie crumbs and strawberry juice on his shirt, and lipstick kisses around his cheeks. She even offered to babysit Joey when the other four of us went to movies and she and Joey were special friends... she was like an aunt to him. Now she is teaching him. She will have to train him not to dig through her desk drawers for candy. I asked if she would prefer not to have him be a student, but she is very excited to teach him. She is only a year or two from retirement as well.

We live about three blocks down the street from the school. My husband attended it as a kid. So that is another good thing, we can all walk to school, and actually, I may let the kids walk home by themselves later in the year.

Kathy's Last Temptation

OK, so who's got Kathy's number?
Randall's, that's who!

Not only do I shop there once a day, sometimes more.
Not only do they take more and more of my money each month.
Now they have developed the one impulse purchase that I simply couldn't resist.

I just went ahead and grabbed them and kept on walking.
The oddly hued, over-bright flowers. No way they are really this color, but they were like catnip to me.

Had to have them,
and had just the perfect vase for them.
Now washing the dishes isn't too bad.