Casa de Catterfeld

It's the time of year where race season is wrapping up for me. Since moving to TX, I haven't had the time to train for many races, but this one popped up on my radar- the Austin 1020. It was 10 miles and 20 bands. Sort of flat and fast, I'd run it again. The best part was seeing Derek and the boys at the end though, with shaving 6 minutes off my PR a near second. I can't complain about either one of those!

Derek is also gearing up for a race in almost 2 weeks. This one will also be his first in TX, and he's starting to get his duckies in a row with the car, the trailer and the truck. The boys and I won't be attending, but I hope to have a few pictures to share, as well as a great race experience for him too.

The Easter bunny did come to visit, but no pictures were taken. Our morning was spent trying to get out the door to attend church and celebrate Christ's resurrection. However I was able to snap a quick picture of the kiddos in front of the flower cross. It's a tradition at our new church for people to fill the cross with flowers. Aside from going to church, we spent Easter chillin' at home. We did get to video chat with Aunt Gwenn and Uncle Dave- which really means the kids goofed off for them, but mostly we enjoyed family time at home.







And of course, a post wouldn't be complete without a few shots of the wildlife...some inside and some out.

Texas is in full bloom with wild flowers everywhere: along the highways, on the hills and in the yard. It's really very beautiful, and it's been so much fun to be somewhere that seasons are more defined. But the down side to all that beauty is the pollen....and it's really taken a toll. Ethan started seeing a new allergist and tolerated another round of allergy testing. He did very well, but is most certainly allergic to many of the blooming trees here. So he'll continue with allergy shots. Hopefully this will help him in the long run. We're keeping an eye on Logan too. The amount of pollen is so high that it can be hard to tell when sneezing and runny noses are from an allergic reaction or due to the sheer volume of pollen in the air.



Despite the pollen, we're still getting outside and enjoying the weather. Whenever possible, Ethan, Logan and Wesley are playing in the yard, playground, or rolling down the driveway and enjoying the still-cool springtime temperatures. I've also been taking Logan and Wesley to the play group with our Sunday School class. I can't believe it, but the boys have about a month and a half before summer break, and then the real craziness begins!

I really don't think this tarantula on the front porch really needs much introduction. We sure ain't in Kansas anymore.

The kids' playground is officially open for business, minus the slide that cracked in the move. It is our daily dose of outside time and is perfectly situated for the kids to go back and forth between riding their bikes on the driveway and using their see saw. Oh, and did I happen to mention that there's lots of shade for Mommy and Daddy to chill in while the kids run themselves ragged? Oh yes, the playground is a very good thing.

Ethan's first grade class recently completed a social studies unit about settlers: the tools they used, living conditions, the food they ate and trials they faced. As a part of that, his class planted and has been tending a garden, from which they will sample the various veggies and fruits. The garden also served as a backdrop for their settler's night- where the first grade and Ethan sang families settler songs, gave us a tour of the garden and showed us materials they created during the unit of study. Ethan is the handsome cutie in the blue plaid shirt, and in one picture you can see he was selected as one of the speakers for the event. He did great, memorizing his lines and didn't show an ounce of stage fright. We are so proud!

Every year since 1929, Zilker Park hosts a kite festival, the longest running festival of it's kind in the United States. Given that kind of history and the promise of seeing tons of kites up in the air, we packed our own kite, a blanket, cash for trailer food, and set out. It did not disappoint! We heard there were as many as 30,000 people there, and I tell you- there must have been hundreds of kites in the air too. And in trees. And dive bombing people, whacking them upside the head. All part of the ambiance, I assure you. There were venders hawking their wares, climbing walls and bounce houses for the kids, and lots of food. It was a busy, wonderful carnival-like atmosphere. We stayed through early afternoon, eating lots of junk food- kettle corn, hot dogs, and veggie wontons...just long enough to turn pink in the sunshine and enjoy a great nap in the afternoon.

With spring nearly upon us, the whole family is doing a little bit of building. Well, Ethan's multilevel house for Monkey and Snoopy is mostly just for fun, but I put it up here because it's rather impressive. The other picture is the kids' fort and swing set. We're nearly done putting it up, and I can already tell it is going to be well loved. The kids are so excited about having it up, and honestly it's generated quite a bit of conversation in the neighborhood. Nothing like a giant re-engineered fort and swing set to initiate an introduction to the neighbors!








This beautiful creature is one of the deer that visits our house regularly. We refer to her as "Chaw Mama" because she has a bulging cheek that looks like she's chewing a wad of tobacco. We save our veggie and fruit kitchen scraps and toss them into the yard for her when she comes around, usually with a younger deer we call "Baby."










Now that most of the unpacking is finished, we're using downtime to chill out. One lazy afternoon, Piper decided to park herself on Derek's back. Ethan and I thought this was very funny. Piper likes to be in the thick of it, but this was definitely above and beyond, even for her.

With most of the drama of the move behind us, as well as the holidays, we're getting used to our new normal. Well, actually it's more like our typical day-to-dayness- TX version. It's been fun though. We live close to downtown, so we try to make a point of going to the activities the city puts on. Austin has so much to offer, this tiny blip of 'weirdness' in TX. It suites our family well. Even the cats are getting into the action of settling in....well, Piper likes to try and sneak outside, so we've been putting her on a lead. Pathetic cat acts like she can't walk when we do, which is huge entertainment for the kids. The last picture is a shot of the longhorn steers around here. That's definitely not a sight we'd see in FL!











Part of our exploration of Austin has been checking out the outstanding food scene here. The real reason why Austinites bike and run isn't for health; they run to burn off the calories from all the amazing food! This place is foodie heaven, and they aren't particular about the delivery either. Some of the best food we've had has been from one of the many food trailers that populate the city.












I'm still trying to find fun things to do with Logan and Wesley while Ethan is in school. Logan built and painted a birdhouse, which now hangs in our backyard. We also meet friends- who have dogs- at the park for 'playdates'. Which leads me to another unusual Austin characteristic: everyone seems to have a dog, and they are part of the culture here. Dog parks, doggie daycare, restaurants and stores that allow dogs....they are everywhere and definitely are a major component in the 'weirdness' of this city. Of course seeing all these dogs everywhere has resulted in the kids asking about dogs....well, really FOR a dog. So far I'm holding firm in my rule: no dogs in this house until every boy can wipe his own tushy.












We did have a little excitement one night though. Derek was speaking at the University of Texas, and I was on kiddo duty. I heard a huge crash in Ethan and Logan's room, only to find that they had opened all the drawers in their dresser, resulting in the entire thing tipping over. It was definitely a near miss, with Ethan walking out of it with tears and Logan a small scrape. Lesson learned for Mommy and Daddy: DO NOT PROCRASTINATE STRAPPING THE DRESSER TO THE WALL! It's been taken care of, but some of the drawers suffered a little damage. Thankfully not Ethan or Logan.

Heck, it's been a blur since we moved here. Unpacking, getting the kids settled into schools, learning the people/roads/weird TX customs. Ok, maybe not that last part, but Texans really love their state....and I think I might be understating that some. Logan celebrated his 4th birthday in the new house. He was excited about that too. As usual, we had cupcakes for breakfast and opened presents midday to have time to play at Zilker Park. It was a good day, and Logan amazes me how fast he's growing and learning.






















We also celebrated our first Christmas in TX too. It was a wonderful quiet day. Of course, we set out goodies for Santa, read the story of Jesus' birth, and spent time together as a family. The kids enjoyed seeing where James, the elf assigned to our family, would end up. Man, that elf got around. Sometimes the kids were really stumped how James got into and out of his hiding places. Trust me, Derek and I were too. We also have deer in the backyard that visit us regularly. I save my fruit and veggie kitchen scraps, and we feed them when we see them.























And then, of course, we just had fun too. As usual, I still have the kids help out in the kitchen with the cooking. Nothing like training them up right when they're nice and young!

Usually we have the Christmas tree up and going by this time, but we're a little slow on the uptake these days. Anyway, the guy who sold us our tree brought them in from the mountains of NC, which we thought is ironic, or from Oregon. Because we've always had a NC Christmas tree- a Frasier Fir, we decided to try out the Oregon Christmas tree- a Noble Fir. They have that amazing blue-green color that, from my memory, defines Oregon. It's a beautiful tree.

This year it was Wesley's turn to put up the star. You can see from the pictures that he had no hesitation about being so high. And to make it even more fun, I happened upon a string of chili pepper lights from a party I'd hosted several years ago, so those definitely went on our first Texas tree. It's official: Christmas in Texas.

Well, it's done. The packing, the sweat, and most of the tears: we have moved to Austin. I have no idea how to even begin describing what it's like to move across the country, let alone doing it with 3 kids and 4 cats on a holiday. But I took a few pictures along the way that I can share.

Ethan and Logan both had "Texas Parties" for their respective classes. As part of that, each chose what kind of treat to bring in for their friends. Logan wanted cake pops with sprinkles and chocolate milk, so that's what I made for the class to eat. Here's what I can tell you about that experience, making the cake pops aside: 12 three years olds and cake pops have a high likelihood of not mixing well. Those poor kids were trying to lick them like suckers, which meant that the pops rolled off the stick and onto the floor. (On Top of Old Smokey, anyone?!?!) But Logan loved them and ate his fair share, and that's what it was all about.











Ethan decided that he wanted cowboy cupcakes. Thank goodness one of my best friends gave me a really cool cupcake book so I had something to work from. I'm going to let you figure out how long it took to put those suckers together, but they looked spectacular. Ethan's teacher and class loved them, and most importantly Ethan loved them.











As for the rest of it, here's how it all went down- Sunday before Thanksgiving, Uncle Joey arrived, and we put him to work. Monday, the movers arrived...and got stuck in the sand trying to back their big rig up the driveway. They were eventually successful, and it literally took them all day to pack our house. Tuesday was spent wrapping up last minute packing in the garage and house for us to load onto our own trailer. And finally, the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, we headed out.












Uncle Joey manned the 'cat car,' and Derek and I loaded 3 kids into the truck, pulling the trailer. Our goal was to make it to Baton Rouge that day. It was a long, long day and may I say this: as we drove farther west, the roads went downhill. By Louisiana, I was desperately trying to keep the kids' heads from bouncing off the car seats and waking them up...that's how bad the roads were. We made it Baton Rouge, thank the good Lord and crashed for the night.











Thanksgiving morning we all got up with the kids, ate an awesome breakfast at our hotel and headed out for the final stretch. We definitely weren't in FL anymore; the landscape was so different. Swampy and lots of refineries. Of course, we had to stop at the Texas border to do a little happy dance and stretch our legs. Only 5 more hours to go!

























We finally, finally arrived about 5 pm Thanksgiving night. After putting the kids to bed, Derek, Uncle Joey and I sat in our lawn chairs in the new place and had a drink. We made it. But the story doesn't end there. Friday was uneventful, spent cleaning the house top to bottom. Saturday was when the fun began. Texas has been in a severe drought the last 12 months, but it rained buckets Friday night and Saturday- which meant wet, slick roads. Top that off with the fact that we live on top of a mountain/hill, and what do you get? One stuck truck, round two! The rig just couldn't make it up our hill and literally slid off the road. They called Derek and he helped tow them out with his diesel truck. The movers eventually made it to our house and unloaded in record time.

So now we're just unpacking and adjusting to our new normal in Austin. Ethan started school this past Monday, Uncle Joey flew home, and Derek started work. As for Thanksgiving....well it just didn't really happen. I guess we'll have it with Christmas.

Yep, so that's the big news. In the spring of this year, we knew the time had come for us to say goodbye to FL and open our hearts to the possibility of living somewhere else. Since the beginning of the summer, we've been totally swamped with researching jobs, trying out different cities, looking at schools- all things associated with making a locational change. Oh, man- and let me tell you that it wasn't easy. We prayed about it a lot and really tried to listen to where God wants us to be. And do you know what? Derek and I were directed over and over to Austin and the opportunity that had presented itself there. So we said a prayer and jumped head first into making this cross country move happen.

So where are we now in the plans? Well, we'll be moving to Austin in about 2 weeks. Our goal is to have the kids settled before Christmas and the second half of the school year. Derek will be taking a senior engineer position at a really awesome company, COBB Tuning. Fortunately, we've already secured a house, which we fondly refer to as "Green Door House" (yep, you'll see why below...I kinda dig the crazy color. ), and it's in the best school district the area has to offer. All in all, we're still very excited about what this move means and the prospect for the future of our family.

Our Wessie-Bear turns 2 years old today! Can't believe how fast time flies. Wesley goes and goes and goes, keeping up with his brothers. He loves to learn and try saying new words. He's a little snuggler though and still likes to sit with Derek and me for a book. He makes us laugh at his antics and gasp at his daring. Wesley is our unique, special, little boy, and we're so glad God blessed our family with him.








And here are just a few silly pics of Wesley being Wesley....












(I know we haven't been posting as much these last few months, but there's a reason why....BIG news coming later this week!)

Just for fun, I picked up some Halloween socks for the boys, who are enjoying all things Halloween right now. What I didn't realize is that the socks are really tall and come up to their knees! It didn't really matter to the boys anyway; they just skated around the house and had a 'sock party'. I even got in on the fun and pulled out a silly pair of socks to wear while I made supper. Nothing like a little silly entertainment at the 5 o'clock crazy hour.