Pre-Halloween Post

I'm trying to get into the blogging routine again, and I didn't think I would have the energy to do a post tonight after trick-or-treating, so here is my "Pre-Halloween" post instead.

Alex went to his school's "Pink Out" football game last night with his four of his friends. They all wore pink shirts for the occasion, four of them with the "official Pink-Out" shirt made for the occasion. Two of his friends were still there when Patrick and I got back from the gym this morning. At least that meant only feeding three for breakfast and lunch unlike the five teenage boys we fed last night for dinner. I saw them playing chess in the dining room with Eric watching intently, and I couldn't resist taking a picture. Later, they played with Eric and taught him some things. Eric is so lucky his older siblings teach him useful things, and we're so lucky that his siblings have friends that are great with Eric.

For those of you that are not on Facebook, Anthony finally posted a photo from Venice this week. This is the first photo we've seen of him since he got there at the end of last week. He is there with one of his fraternity brothers, so I'm sure this was mostly posted for his fraternity's benefit rather than ours. Still, it was good to see proof that he is alive and doing well. He's been super busy this year and we haven't had a chance to communicate as often. He'll be studying in Venice for this quarter (from the end of October to the Christmas Break), and we'll be visiting him for Thanksgiving week. He has an apartment there, provided by the school, and he has apparently already cooked a meal. He has been cooking for himself since this past summer when he was staying at his frat house with no food service.

Yesterday, we got a text from my sister Cynthia that my brother-in-law John and my nephew Nick were headed to San Antonio for a band competition. We met John at North Star Mall so he could grab some dinner. He specifically mentioned wanting to see Eric, but Natalie and I came along for the ride also. We originally thought we might be able to see Nick also, but the band decided to stop elsewhere for dinner after their performance at the Alamodome. We usually go visit family in Houston so we can see my Mom and Dad, who doesn't travel well, so it's nice to have some family come to our hometown once in a while. We're hoping John will be able to stop by for dinner tonight, but we'll see how Nick's band does today.

We went to the annual Halloween Party of some family friends this past Saturday. They had this "swamp house" set up in their garage and everyone got the opportunity to get pictures taken in front of this cool backdrop. I might never have gotten a picture of Natalie in her Halloween costume otherwise. She originally balked at getting her picture taken. She has a matching wooden bow and arrow, but she didn't bring it to the party.

I got Eric his costume months ago when it was on sale. He is the character Ezra from the Star Wars Rebels animated show, one of his favorites. Because he was already in the Star Wars theme, I decided to get a costume for Rey, one of the new characters from the upcoming Star Wars: The Force Awakens movie that comes out next month. I've always disliked the lack of good Star Wars female costumes, and this one was pretty decent. Patrick decided to be a "generic" Jedi complete with hooded robe. I don't think Patrick and I will wear our costumes tonight, but it was fun to dress up for one night.

I'll try to get more pictures tonight and hopefully post them by tomorrow. Happy Halloween!