Living in Munchkinland

It was bitterly cold, and rainy, but we had a great time at my friend Stacey's birthday campout in Bastrop. We all stayed in cabins, which was wonderful, and spent our waking ours gathered around a campfire. The kids built an amazing fort out in the woods and named it the "hobbit house". The grown ups cooked communally, played frisbee, strummed instruments, tended the fire and spent time catching up. Our friend Elizabeth was in town for the weekend and it was so fun to get to spend time with her! I really love all our friends, we are so lucky to have them.

My sweet, silly, sensitive, wonderful boy is eight! He brought home his journal on Friday and I got to read his daily thoughts. I am so in love with my boy. He cares so much and just wants everyone to be happy. He was so excited about his birthday this year. We celebrated it twice. We had a campout with friends in Bastrop last weekend for my friend Stacey's 40th birthday (Who-Wee Jamboree! Pictures up next.) and we were able to sing to Samuel with all his friends and have a big scavenger hunt and eat cake balls and oreos. He loved it. Samuel's actual birthday coincided with his last day at his current school. (We decided to withdraw the boys.) We picked him up from school along with six of his friends and drove them to my parent's house where we had a pile of legos waiting for them. Several more boys of the seven and eight year old variety were dropped off at the house and we had a sweet, happy, lego party complete with the Lego movie and apple pie and both se

The seasons are changing. A cold front blew in yesterday and we pulled out our coats and hats and lit our first fire of the season. The boys are changing. They are growing so fast and becoming independent, interesting little people. I am changing too. I feel the change within me. I am in a period of growing and adapting. I have fought change for a couple of years in a row and now I am accepting and even embracing it. I am afraid, like most people I know, of the unknown. I do not like it when change is not on my terms. But change is seldom on our terms and the older I get, the more comfortable I am with that. I've started doing hot yoga. When we start the class we set an intention and we breathe in and through that intention all class and then carry that intention out into our day. Often, my intention is strength. Strength to hold my center, be true to myself, trust myself. Strength to power through the day and to stay healthy. I am embracing who I am and starting-

Samuel finished his soccer season strong with six goals in his last game. We spent the whole day on the fields on a gorgeous November Saturday, laughing with our friends, basking in the sunshine and cheering for our boy. Davis spent the day with a friend at a play date and we all had a good time. Samuel really enjoyed soccer and his team and will probably continue to play next season. I really enjoyed going to the games and Michael enjoyed running the track during his practices. This was our first venture into sports and I would call it a success!

We continued our tour of festivals this weekend with two afternoons at Wurstfest in New Braunfels. Though I did not have a sausage, I did indulge my love of fried potatoes and I poisoned myself with beer. Good beer. Mmmmmmmm. We spent Friday afternoon with our friends Odille and Tom and their little boy and with Martha and Clark, who scored us some amazing parking at their condo across the street. Woot! We let the kids ride the carnival rides and listened to music and then walked outside and watched a melodrama, "Fiddler on the Wurst". The kids thought it hilarious to throw popcorn at the stage, and Davis got to go up on the stage and participate. We went back on Sunday afternoon with Lilly and Paul and met up with more friends there. Samuel thought it a good idea to get on the spinny spaceship ride and puked his guts out, but luckily, we were able to send him across the street to his grandparents' condo for some rest while we continued to party. (We are awesom

The other day there was traffic on my morning commute.

We had a ranch happy hour on Wednesday to celebrate my Grandma's 88th birthday. It was so fun. We lavished her with gifts, had a cake, drank lots of wine, admired the cards she had been sent. I cherish these weekly get togethers with my family so much and this one was extra special. Happy Birthday, G.G.!

Last Sunday we drove out to Barton Hills Farm with the kids to meet up with our friends Ali and Josh and their kids and Cheris and Rob and their family. It was one of those perfect fall days. We got lost in the corn maze, had a picnic, took pictures of the kids on the cow train and had a wonderful afternoon. This is our third year in a row to attend and I have to say that this is my favorite fall festival. They keep adding fun features each year and it is never too crowded.