Reed will Make Sure You are Appreciated

So it looks like saving all JR's projects for Kyle might be a waste of time since Reed's going to be doing all Kyle's work anyway.

 

 

It's teacher appreciation week, and Reed drew the most beautiful picture of his teacher. 

(His teacher is Asian, so she has that awesome Asian hair.) 

Reed drew her with gorgeous flowing black locks and side swept bangs.

Big full lips and long eyelashes.

 

 

He then surrounded her with hearts and flowers.  She looks like something out of Disney cartoon.

(I can't believe I forgot to take a picture of it!) 

 

 

I told Reed, "Don't fold it so it will look smooth when she's frames it."  Reed asked how did I know she's frame it. "Um, because if anybody drew me with hair like that, I'd frame it!"

 

 

 

Reed then drew a picture of his P.E. coach (because he really likes him) and when he was finished with all that, started worrying that Kyle was watching Spy Kids and not drawing pictures.

 

 

 

Reed was so concerned that Kyle's teacher wasn't going to get a picture of herself from Kyle that he took it upon himself to do it. 

He said, "Should I draw it like Kyle would draw it?" 

 

 

I told him no, Kyle's teacher would know Kyle didn't do it no matter what he did.

 

 

Here's what he came up with for Kyle's teacher. Cracks me up.

Kyle definitely scored the best twin ever!

Baptism (by what felt like literal) Fire

It rains a lot in Houston. 

(You wouldn't know that from talking to my parents because they can never get enough rain).

But, yes, most people would say that we get a lot of rain.

 

 

It seems to have rained every Sunday in soccer season, so here we are in hot and humid May, trying to make up soccer games at 1:00 and 2:00 in the afternoon.

 

 

Ya know what you normally do in Texas at 1:00 or 2:00 in the afternoon May-September?

You stay inside in the air-conditioning.

(You actually go in about 9:00 AM and don't come out til 7:00 PM.)

 

 

I thought my poor Colorado babies were going to die, but they held their own, and they didn't look anymore hot and sweaty as the "used to it" Texans.

 

You can almost see how red Reed's face was in this one.

Despite the heat, they've gotten where they can really kick the ball. 

These are pictures of balls they have just kicked (not balls headed toward them). I'm always impressed when the ball goes flying across the field off the ground.

Our poor children drained the 3 water bottles we brought, so Jason and I went right out and bought them a half gallon water jug.  Maybe that will get them through the next game.

I'm Average! I'm Average!

I'm so excited to be average I might just buy myself a little trophy and display it in the house!

If you've been following my blog then you'll know that for about the last 4 years "middle place" has been eluding me.

 

 

In my attempts to run (which have been off and on) I have never finished in the middle of the pack.

Well, finally, I can officially call myself "an average runner".

Just look at my results!

 

Okay, so overall I'm still not average (those men are too fast!), but I'm 90 women better than average in the female category, and I'm 13 better than average in my age group (which they clearly have wrong because I am not that old!)

 

 

The run was completely non eventful except that it was so humid and I was sweating so much that I finally had to take off my sunglasses because they kept slipping off my face.

 (Never had that problem in Colorado!)

 

 

And here I am after my big average race (Kyle was furious I didn't sign him up too, and I promised I would find a 10K for him to run soon).

 

Glowing in my average-ness, smiling a big average runner smile!

 

 

The kids ran the kids K, and Kyle was the big winner in the Ingersoll family competitors.

 

Kyle flexing his muscles at the starting line.

I told Reed he was going to need to let go of Daddy's hand to run.

I couldn't keep up with Kyle, so I'm not sure he's in this picture, he might have already crossed the finish line.  That's JR in the white shirt and orange hat. 

JR and Kyle with their finishers' medals.

 

 

Reed and Jason about to cross the finish line.

 

What a nice, average day.

 

Fashion Fabulous Friday

 

 

I'm 100% sure he didn't realize that volunteering to wear the Easter Bunny costume meant having pink, sequined ears.

 

I was forbidden to take pictures.

Also, Easter baskets as a hat is still a thing.

Wicked Tuna

I believe I can say that I am officially done watching animated kid shows on TV.

They still watch Sponge Bob (I'm convinced it's only because I didn't let them watch it for so long), but other than that, they mainly watch reality shows. 

(And Kyle is addicted to Power Rangers that he binge watches on Netflix.)

 

 

Reed's favorite show is Wicked Tuna on the National Geographic channel.

It is literally a show about catching tuna.

 

 

I think Reed thinks there is an actual fish called a "wicked tuna", the other day they were pretend playing outside and told me they caught a "bull shark, a grouper, and a wicked tuna."

 

 

Reed also whispered to me at the grocery store the other day, "Do you think any of the tuna fish we have at home is one of those wicked tunas?"  When I told him "yes, probably so", it pretty much made his day.

 

 

So I wasn't surprised at all when he asked me how to spell "wicked tuna".  And when I found this, I just had to laugh.

 

 

He doesn't think it's good at all, and doesn't understand why I like it so much.

And Here's Your Next Book Report

I was talking to a mom at school pick-up yesterday and I mentioned something about how my kids didn't like all the homework.  Then she added "and there's a lot of projects".

 

 

Oh, yeah, but I thought the dislike of projects was just understood.

 

 

JR had a book report to turn in today.  The reading part wasn't hard for him (he read it in less than 2 days), and the answering questions about the book wasn't hard for him (if you actually read a book, it's surprisingly easy to answer questions about it).

 

 

It's the craft portion of the report that kills him.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again:

JR has his niche in the arts world (theater, singing, even his dancing has gotten better). 

But the visual arts is not his thing.

 

 

And seriously, what is he going to learn about the book by making a diorama of it?

Um, nothing.

 

 

This project actually cracks me up because I had to do a project of Joan of Arc in the 4th grade.  I took a Barbie doll, cut off her hair, tied her up and added fake flames.

 

 

This is pretty similar except we pulled the head off a baby doll (I made the clothes), and substituted fake flames for army men. 

His diorama is so "awesome" you can probably name the book even if you haven't read it.

That's right. It's Gulliver's Travels.

 

And you now have your next book report diorama ready to go...you'll just have to make your own, cause, ya know...this one is being saved for Kyle.

No Frozen Eggs Here

We certainly didn't have to hunt Easter eggs in the snow and muddy slush this year!

 

The kids came home from church and changed immediately into their bathing suits...I'm pretty sure this is the only way they are going to survive an entire Texas summer.

 

Really Good Friday

I was so excited when Granny Buffie invited the boys over for Good Friday. 

She always does all the Easter things that I don't want to do.

 

She also invited her great nieces over, so it was one big kid party.

I'm most happy she dyes eggs with the kids.  They didn't even know it was a thing until she did it with them a few years ago.

And they made a bunny cake.  Not surprisingly, I was told Kyle didn't help with the cake at all (he went outside to do yard work with Grandpa Gary).

 

They even did cascarones (confetti eggs).

And when the eggs ran out they just beat each other with the cartons.

 

Kyle's yard work continued into the driveway.

And it gets better....they even all spent the night! Yes, a really Good Friday indeed.

Big Ears, Full Bakets, Can't Lose.

It was a very exciting day at school yesterday.

They got to wear "Easter clothes" instead of their uniforms, and have an egg hunt.

 

 

Reed was slightly happy.

 

 

Here's Reed with some of his classmates, look how gorgeous the girls' Easter baskets are.

 If you're wondering about his jeans, he did that himself because he was "sweating hot". 

I told him to wear shorts!

 

In all the hoopla, this is the best I could get of Kyle with some of his class.

 

 

They told the kids they could get 12 eggs. Reed found his 12 in 15 seconds, Kyle came back with a basket full so we had to put back a dozen or so for the other kids to find.

 

 

They all got an egg with a number on it and their number was which order they got to choose from the prize table.  They both picked exactly what I thought they would.

 

Kyle picked a stuffed animal.

 

Reed picked a light-up ball.

Let's Talk about Me!

JR's Seussical the Musical performances are coming up here in a couple of weeks.

I went to help paint scenery the other day, and I must say, it's looking very Dr. Seuss-y.

I can't take full credit for anything since I'm not tall enough to reach the tops of the clouds and trees (even when standing on the chairs), so another taller mom had to come in behind me and fill in what I couldn't reach.

 

 

We're very excited for the show, and all the songs are super catchy.  I find all of us (except Jason) singing them quite a bit.

There's one part in the show where Mazie La Bird sings, "Enough about Horton! Let's talk about me!"

 

 

We started teasing Reed that that should be his line since everytime I give anybody else in the family a compliment he pipes up with, "What about me?! I can do/am good at (insert whatever the compliment was)."

 

 

 On the way to school this morning Reed started singing,  "Let's talk about, talk about, talk about, talk about meeeeeee!"

 

 

"Let's talk about me," Hummm, I have no idea where he gets it. ;-)

A Lot of the Same

I'm not sure why I haven't mentioned it, but the little guys have been playing spring soccer again this year.  They've been playing since February, and I still haven't bothered to take my nice camera to get some pictures.  I finally decided to snap some with my phone on Sunday.

 

Everything is about the same here as it was in Broomfield:

 

They're still playing 3 on 3 with no goalies and no penalties.

 

 

They're still enjoying it and doing a good job. 

Reed still scores more goals in a game, but Kyle is a really good defensive player.

 

 

 

They even have red jerseys like before!

 

 

The only difference is the website is also in Spanish (which is always a good thing when it comes to soccer), and we now have a view of a trailer park instead of the mountains.

 

 

 

I'm guessing they will play in the fall if it fits their schedule, they both really want to do football again...they're just trying to decide if they want to play tackle or flag. 

(Kyle says tackle, Reed is "thinking about it".)

Pot Boiling

One of our silent auction "winnings" from the JDF ball was a gift certificate to the Melting Pot.  Luckily, Jason read the fine print and figured out it expired at the end of April.

 

Not wanting it to go to waste, we were in a mad rush to get ourselves there.

 

We took the kids along for their first fondue experience.  We told them it was kinda like Benihana's since there's cooking at the table, but we would be doing the cooking.

 

Poor Kyle couldn't get the name right and called it everything from "Pot Boiling" to "The Melting Spot".

 

Jason and I learned that fondue with just us (or other adults) is about a million times easier than with 3 kids, but they loved it. 

 

Now they're not sure if Benihana's is still their favorite since 

they got pretty swayed during the chocolate portion of the evening. (But who doesn't?)

Look With Your Special Eyes

Allergies have about done Reed in this year.

 

His eyes have been so red and swollen that this is actually an improvement.

Mr. Freeze

Seems like everybody has lost their minds over the movie Frozen.

I haven't seen it, and the kids said they felt like they were "tricked into seeing a princess movie". (Since when the previews first came out the only characters you saw were a snowman and a reindeer.)

 

 

Kyle was invited to a Frozen birthday party for 2 girls in his class, and the invitation also requested you come dressed as your favorite Frozen character.

 

 

 

Kyle went as Olaf the snowman. 

 

 

 I love it when I can make a "costume" just using the glue gun!

I did have to buy a cheapy bunny that was holding a carrot (which was easy to find in the Easter aisle), but the rest of it was just pipe cleaners and felt squares.

 

Kyle was excited to get to the party, so I couldn't get him to be much of a model.

 Reed didn't mind being the Olaf model, and asked if I'd make him one too.

 

Pretty Much the Same

We went to see the Astros play Friday night, and it was pretty much the same as going to see the Rockies.

 

 

 

 JR was the best fan/cheerleader you could ever want to have.

 

 

Reed stayed as close to Jason as possible.

 

 

And Kyle entertained himself by not watching the game.

 

Yep, just how I thought it would go.

 

Just Beachy

Y'all know I'm always looking for things for my kids to do
(especially now that we're in this tiny house).

 

I came across the Treasures of the Texas Coast Children’s Art Contest put on by the Texas General Land Office.  I figured Reed would have fun drawing a picture of a beach (which he did) and sent it in.

 

They sent out an email during spring break confirming they had gotten our entry, along with 4,168 others (not that anybody was counting).

 

The grand prize winner (not Reed), along with his teacher, won all kinds of amazing things: airplane tickets, a 7 day cruise, and a class party at Schlitterbahn. (No wonder there were over 4,000 entries!)

 

They picked 39 "runners-up" (as they called them) and Reed was one of them!

 They picked 10 kids from each category: K-2nd, 3-4th, 5th, and 6th.

 

And though he didn't win a 7 day cruise, he won some totally cool stuff:

 

-Two all-day passes to Schlitterbahn Waterpark in New Braunfels

 - A ticket to the Texas State Aquarium in Corpus Christi

-A ticket to the permanent exhibit hall at the Houston Museum of Natural Science

-A ticket to the Houston Zoo

-A certificate of recognition and prizes from the Texas General Land Office

-And a calendar displaying the winning artwork.

 

 

I feel terrible that this is the only picture I got of it, I snapped it with my phone before we mailed it in, I didn't even get it all in the frame.

 

You can see the entire picture (along with the other 39 winners) here.

 

BTW, that's supposed to be our family at the beach (I have blonde hair because he had already used too much brown for the sand, and hunter is brown because he doesn't like to leave white areas.)

 

At least I'll have a chance to take a better picture of it since it will be on display at the Texas Capitol in Austin from May 20th-May 27th.


And if I haven't bragged enough for ya, here is the press release: http://www.glo.texas.gov/glo_news/press_releases/2014/april/aab-childrens-art-contest-winners.html