My office's first Fall Festival

Have I mentioned that I just LOVE Fall?  One of the many things I love about it is the fact that there are many Fall Festivals, full of games, food, cool weather, and...more food!  My office decided to hold one this year for the first time and we all pitched in.  I really got to have fun, as the face-painter and animal balloon sculptor.  Fun times!
-Shirin

Since I was the official face painter, I made this sign on Friday night.  It took a long time to look up what kind of things I thought people would want on their faces and then draw/color them, but it was a lot of fun.

I also had to make sure I remembered how to twist up a balloon animal.  I did!  (Only 2000 more to go!)

The festival wasn't until 1 PM on Saturday, so the boys and I had a special Waffle House breakfast on Sat morning, while Gabriel got some much needed extra sleep.

Kai looks so upset because his shoe got stuck while I was taking this picture.  He actually had an excellent time and cleaned his plate (dry toast, tomatoes, grits, and scrambled eggs are about the healthiest thing I can get here, but they love it).

After we got back, I practiced my face-painting skills on my cutest canvas.  Kai picked the dragon.

And, Cyrus picked Batman.

We got there a little early to set up.  It was drizzling all morning, but the rain let up for most of the time we were there, thankfully.

The game tent was a lot of fun.  Cyrus especially liked the spider-ring-toss.

We had the shelter come out with some babies for adoption on display.

The people in the chairs were owners of the contestants in the doggie Halloween Costume Contest.

The view.

Nate, one of Susan's sons, wanted the dragon too.

There's something so cute about a pug in a costume.  They didn't win the contest (it was the Jack Russell dressed like Woody the Cowboy), but they looked great.

By the end of the festival, Kai was so sleepy, he had to just curl up in my lap and take a nap.  I loved it.  As he grows older, he is ever more independent and less snuggly.  While, I'm glad for that maturing and growth, you can tell how much I was loving the sweetness of that moment.

A very creative story (by Cyrus)

Tonight, instead of reading books, Gabriel and the boys made up stories before bed.  This is an art they've learned to love from their Pappap (Gabriel's dad).  Usually, they are mimed versions of stories they've already heard from Gabriel or Pappap, but tonight Cyrus told an especially creative and well-crafted story.  I personally wonder if it's a combination of hearing lots of made-up stories, listening to well-written stories (like "Harry Potter" and "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe"), and having been read to since the day he came home from the hospital that Cyrus was able to come up with such an interesting little story.  Enjoy!
-Shirin
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Cyrus' bedtime story:

Cyrus and Kai were home alone with Daddy. Daddy said, "I have to go to work for the rest of the day."  He told Cyrus to take care of his brother.  Cyrus and Kai went into Mommy & Daddy's bedroom and looked in Mommy's closet. They saw two doors. One had the word "Electric" on it, and the other had the word "Paper clips" on it.  But there was another door. It had the words "Secret Passage" on it. 
They knocked on the "Electric" door and nothing happened. They knocked on the "Paperclips" door and nothing happened. They knocked on the "Secret Passage" door and it opened all by itself.  They went inside. Maybe it had something good in it; maybe it had something bad in it.

It had all the video games in it.  And a computer with Mario. And it had a game named "Rocket Blaster". In that game you control a man with a rocket that can go straight up like Iron Man.
They played video games for a while and then saw there was another door in this room. It had the words "Door of no secrets...Except one". They went in it and all of the sudden they had space suits on and they were next to a space ship that was going around Mars.

They went into the space ship. They starting looking out the windows and noticed something very strange.  There were no stars, no sun, no planets, except Mars.  They didn't know what to do.  
Then they saw another door outside the spaceship. A door in space!  They got out of the spaceship and went into this door and suddenly they were back in their house.

Their Daddy got home and asked "Did you boys do anything fun today?"  They didn't know what to tell him. Would he believe them?  They told him they went to Mars. The end.

Birthday weekend in RH with Tita

Lucky me; my sister is back in GA and can actually celebrate our birthday with me again.  This year, we decided to go home to RH to be with family.  It was a great time.  Gabriel had just gotten back into town from San Fran on Friday morning, so he had to sleep for a while in Athens, then pick up the boys and meet me in between Athens and Toccoa so we could head up to RH in one car.  He's a trooper, so it worked out well.
Anyone who knows my family knows that food is very important to us.  This weekend was FULL of delicious food.  We ate Persian breakfast, made by my dad on Sunday morning, and on Saturday he made everyone oatmeal for breakfast.  I made lots of Asian food for lunch and dinner on Saturday, and my dad made some yummy veggie concoction with rice and salad for dinner on Sunday.  Earlier that day, the women and children of the house went on a long walk/jog at RiverWalk and enjoyed the beauty of the Catawba River immensely.
I also got some cool presents, one of which is a full DNA mapping by 23andme from Gabriel.  Can't wait to see it!
-Shirin
PS To see my mom's blog about this weekend, click here.

Last week, when Gabriel was out of town to SF, we hit up the pumpkin patch.

 So many pumpkins!

Posing with little baby pumpkins.

Pumpkin-hugging made adorable.

They called this the "scary pumpkin."

Brendan also came over to play games with the boys (to fill the void Gabriel left).

Baked pumpkin seeds, pumpkins, and a cat on a baking sheet.  Seems about right, in my household.

Our tradition when we drive to RH after work on Fridays is to meet at the BK with the playground in Commerce (right off 85), where we eat veggie burgers and then park the extra car at Wal-Mart.  

Then, we hit the road for the three hour drive home with sleeping kids in the back.  I'm lucky they are relatively close or it would be more difficult for us to do these weekend trips.

Baba and Cyrus doing an experiment to see if water or oil was heavier.

Doing a hard Power Rangers puzzle while Gabriel napped for hours on the couch (in the background).

My mom found a really cool story book with puzzles and mysteries to solve in it on sale at the library.  It seems like she and Cyrus did that book together for hours.

Kai is so funny; he will sit on her lap to be part of the group, and then read his own book when he gets bored with the puzzles he can't understand yet.

Anahita and I made this Vietnamese vermicelli noodle bowl together for lunch on Saturday.  We added even more stuff on top of this, if you can believe it!

Happy birthday to us.  We might be almost thirty-three, but we still feel great!

Gabriel awakened from the dead to eat lunch (and birthday cake) and snuggle his bubsy.

Along with our presents, Gabriel brought the boys presents from SF too.  This is a hoodie that looks like Thor's cap, hat, and tunic.  The kids love it.

Saturday night, David came over for dinner and to play us in poker.  Tita, the only one of us who doesn't know much about poker, beat us all solidly.

Sunday morning's breakfast was amazing.

Persian breakfast involves flat bread with paneer (white salty cheese), topped with apples, walnuts, basils/mint/cilantro and drizzled with honey and or dates.  It's pretty much amazing.

My whole family, happy to be together (with my mom behind the camera).

On Sunday, it was so beautiful outside, we women had to get out of the house.  To RiverWalk we went.

Of course, Tita left us behind in her dust so she could run the path, which the rest of us mostly walked with a little jogging in between.

Me and my bubsies, walking hand in hand outdoors.  So lovely for me.

Nama and the boys, enjoying the river and throwing rocks into the water to make a splash.

Poor ChaCha wanted to run around and go crazy, but we didn't dare let him off-leash.

The big Asian salad I made for lunch.

The vegetarian Tum Yum soup I made.

 We had a great weekend.  Today was Picture Day at school.  The boys both had remnants of marker on their face, but oh well.  They are cute anyway.

 The handsomes.