Halloween is so much fun! It is one of my very favorite holidays. Every year our little neighborhood gets together and has a party. Just before the party, we trick or treat. Like I mentioned, the neighborhood is really small so it's all of about 2 blocks of trick or treating but the kids love it of course. This year Sayer was Indiana Jones!

I asked him to give me his very best Indiana Jones faces and this is what I got. I'm not sure how they are quintessential Indian Jones but they sure are cute!

Finn wasn't interested in modeling for me so this is all I have of the little "dragon rider" as he called himself.

This is our neighbor Allison, cutest Tinkerbell ever!

and her new baby brother...He spent the entire night nestled in Mommy's sling or resting curled up in someone's arms.

Here are Finn, Sayer and Allison trick or treating at our door. Seeing as the neighborhood is so small Sayer and Finn make a stop at their own house too (maximizes candy collection).

I dressed our front porch up with lots of carved pumpkins and candles. We also had this crawling mummy guy. He says "where are my legs?! I can't feel my legs!" and "I'm so hungry!!". It freaked all the kids out.

More from the porch!

My job this year was to sit, wait and dispense candy.

My contribution to the block party was this lovely pumpkin cheesecake with praline topping and a gingersnap crust. It's super delicious!

This year we also had a partcularly interesting candy to give out. It is totally in line with my recent post about living with boys. This candy selection kind of sums up life at our house, super cute and kind of gross all at the same time.

I was at my personal "wits end" a day ago.  I was on my way home from my studio.  I had just called the Hyatt Hill Country resort in San Antonio to see if they had rooms open and was planning to just get out of here and escape with the kids.  I walked into my house and something was different...it was cool!  The power was on!  I almost cried I was so happy. 

That night we celebrated with friends at Danny's studio (where he took this portrait of Steven and I).  The truck belongs to Gonzo (check out  the Aerosol Warfare Gallery in Houston if you get a chance).  Lastnight, we celebrated with neighbors, cooked food, drank way too much wine and let the kids play until way past their bedtime.  Their favorite new play area?  The downed tree in my neighbors yard.

Life is still not back to normal but it is getting better everyday.  Central Market is open and stocked with food and I have a full tank of gas in my car.  Best of all, my kids are home (they went to stay in Austin before the hurricane).

While things may be getting better for us, it's hard to fathom the road ahead for some.  There are people who literally lost everything.  Whole houses just blew away.  A photographer friend here not only lost their house but also the studio and their workshop.  Everything that they had been working so hard to build is in a state of ruin.  It's heartbreaking.

Oh, and Danny told me that he saw a sign in a guy's yard that said "Free beer to the first Centerpoint Energy guy to come to my house" and then gave the address.  Centerpoint Energy is the power company here.  Supposedly, this is one of the largest power outages in history.  Right now many of my friends are still without power.  One of my clients just had her first baby and is home with a newborn without power and water.  It's a difficult time for so many.  Keep us in your thoughts and prayers.

Many thanks to everyone who emailed me and sent messages on Facebook, I appreciate you checking up on me!

Our poor house...Other than the trees leaning to the side and a ton of leaves in our pool, we came out ok. We are still without power, which has been very hard. My studio is also without power.

This is our neighbor's house. They lost some shingles and took some water but they are all ok too.

Our other neighbor lost her tree and only narrowly kept the front of her house.

Here are 2 of our other neighbors checking out the damage. Steven was very grateful when this neighbor brought him a hot cup of coffee. It's the simple things that make a huge difference.

This is our street from one end of the block.

These neighbors have TWO trees in their house and lost their entire fence.

I love how, in this picture, you can see how the wind swept across hitting the far left tree the hardest.

I took this out of the window while the last of the storm was blowing through. This bamboo was fully covered in leaves before the storm and now you can see where the wind stripped most of the leaves off.

Basically, we are doing ok. We feel grateful to still have our home. We see the images from Galveston and just sit in shock. People lost everything. LIterally some homes just blew completely away. It's shocking. We are trying to be resilient, up beat and grateful but we are also having moments of irritation, defeat and sadness.

I am thankful to get online though. Blogging is making me feel a bit more "normal". I did have to drag my CPU up to a friend's apartment though in order to get online. Life is still not normal at all. There is no fresh food in the stores. I have 3 bags of ice in a cooler in my car waiting to take home in an effort to save what food I have. People's conversations are centering around who has power, ice, gas and food. It's weird for sure.

Our kids are still with my parents in Austin. We are missing them terribly but I am so happy that they are away from all of this. I think it would all be too scary.

I am holding out hope that the lights come on soon, in more ways than one. Thanks for listening.

My son started kindergarten on Monday. I knew it would be hard but it was really, really hard. I wasn't the only one. One of my great clients called me shortly after I arrived at work. She needed to book a session but before we could do that she told me all about dropping her daughter off on her first day and how she cried. Then I got a message on Facebook from another Mom asking me if I had cried and told me that she had lost it too. I guess the kindergarten struggle is universal.

I held it together (barely) but Sayer cried. It was terrible! I felt like I was leaving him in a den of lions. I finally left but I was a zombie for the first half of the day. I couldn't concentrate and I kept thinking about him and wondering how he was doing. Finally it was pick up time. I waited outside with a few other anxious Moms. I felt like I hadn't seen him in weeks. It was crazy. I've never been so happy to see him after such a short absence.

This morning I dropped Finn off at his school and Sayer's old teacher (now Finn's teacher) asked how Sayer had done on his first day. I told her and she started crying. Like I said, I guess it's universal.

So, to all you other Mommies out there recovering from day one of kindergarten, hang in there. We're all going to be just fine.

In all of my first day craziness, I forgot my camera.  Yes, I forgot my camera.  Luckily my amazing friend, Danny Clark, had his and hooked me up with some day one shots.  Enjoy, and thank you Danny!