October is over!

I can't say that I have enjoyed October. It was a stressful month, completely taken up by packing and prepping the house here in Austin for its sale. As we tried to pack things away, it seemed that every room was in chaos. Stuff was everywhere and whenever i needed something I couldn't find it. I am not the world's neatest person in general but this mess really got on my nerves. I was pretty much stressed out throughout the entire process. It seemed that there would be no end to it. But there did come an end to it. It had to as last Sunday we had an open house. Robert worked until about 15 minutes before people started walking into the door. I had taken Evelina for a long walk around town lake as he finished things up, trying (successfully) to take my mind off of things. The FOR SALE sign had gone up the day before while I was shopping with Evelina. As we turned the street, she happily shouted "Thuis!" (Home!) and then I saw it. The combination of her happy exclamation and my stresslevel just popped the tears into my eyes. It is weird to see the house you have lived in for 14 years suddenly slowly becoming not yours anymore. We have been talking about all this for so long, yet this sign made it all truly real and felt like a punch in the stomach. In moments like those I notice the wonderful trees in our street, our wonderful back yard, and now too, the simple fact that this has been Evelina's only home. But no fear... I have no regrets. Moving is an emotional thing to do nomatter how or what the circunstances. On Sunday the house looked fabulous and we left just in time for the crowd to come--cause apparently a crowd it was. The three of us went over to Rebecca's house and relaxed, with all the work behind us. Leave it to a toddler, a dog and a water hose to take your mind off of everything.

















In fact, if you want to share in some of the fun they had go see the video on youtube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWDJSCRRsCY). Yes, Evelina is on youtube now! We made a little video for her Moeke's birthday and this was the only way I could figure out to make it available. So we have started something now. More to come I am sure!

Here is another picture as proof that October was not so great. This is about the only visual we have received from the house in Antwerp where rubble still rules. I just am so ready for some shots where things are actually looking better than when we bought it!

There was one absolutely wonderful thing in October and that was Halloween. It was so much fun to be able to have a holiday such as this one with a child. Last year we did sort of dress her in costume, but we did not take her out. This year, not only was she in full costume, but we took her to the streets, and she actually got really into it. It was so much fun. Evelina as skunk, going trick-or-treating with papa the pirate and mama the heks (witch!) (Which, I know, he didn't actually say it, but Robert found quite an appropriate match to my mood of the month. Never mind, Evelina really liked my hat!) So I will post some pics of the day that made up for all the others in the month. We did quite some seasonal activities as well. I made pumpkin pie which Evelina loved, we painted pumpkins (which turned into total body-painting), carved pumpkins, and put out luminarios. She loved every little bit of it. I have promised her that I will continue the tradition of Halloween regardless of where we are. I am already making plans for a big party next year!











She was a trooper on Halloween night, and stayed up late walking the streets with us admiring people's decorations. She was in awe of all the "spooky spiders and bones and pumpkins and candles." I was relieved that she is still too little to understand the blood and gore that some people get into. Halloween should be spooky, not resemble a stage set of a B-rated horror-flick. She was pretty popular herself, and got many compliments. One man said she was the cutest thing that had come across his porch in years! And that for a skunk. Here is our little stinker after all that, exhausted and very exhausted.




















Well, there was one other highpoint this month. Robert and I saw Sinead O'Conner in concert here in Austin, at a rather small venue. I could write about that experience for a while, but it is late and I am tired. It was by far the ver best performance I have ever seen. We both feel very fortunate to have seen and heard her, but we are bummed too that we will just miss her European section of the tour in the spring. We would travel to experience that performance again, for sure... just not to Australia. Bummer.

Well, wish us luck on the sale of the house, and on the progress on the Antwerp house. November should be a very different month on all fronts! Greetings, with love from Texas.