Monday, May 26, 2014

Memorial Day Vacation

I'll be extending my 3 day weekend for the rest of the month. 
I'll be back in June with plenty of things to blog about!

Friday, May 23, 2014

The Best Day of School is The Last Day of School

I'm not usually a fan of the last day of school (since it puts me on "full time"), but with all the homework these kids have (I find kindergarten homework ridiculous!) I'm just as excited as they are about the last day of school.
 
 
I don't have them together for a picture since JR's last day was yesterday and Kyle and Reed's was today.
First day on the far left (I miss our Broomfield house!) and then last day pics.

As for end of the year honors:
Reed received the "good sport" award, and Kyle received the "cheerful heart" award.
JR said he and one other boy were the only ones to not get any awards in the 4th grade.
 
 
Woo-hoo for no spelling tests, history tests, flash card tests, bible verse tests, science tests, vocabulary tests, (I'm not mentioning all the home reading since I don't really mind doing that with them) but I'm especially happy there will be no projects!
 
Here's to my new 5th and 1st graders.

Thursday, May 22, 2014

Pac-Man Fever

When JR found out one of his dress-up days was decades day (dress from the 50's, 60's, 70's...) he immediately wanted to dress-up from the 80's.
 
Due mostly from amazing parenting, JR has a fine appreciation for the 80's.
His original idea was to go as Marty McFly from Back to the Future. But, since this is Texas, we decided he wouldn't last 5 minutes in a T-shirt, long-sleeve shirt, jean jacket, and vest before he sweated to death.
 
 
I told him I thought I could make a Pac-Man costume, and since he loves video games, he was all for it. 
 I had an extra Science Fair board and I drew both Pac-Man and a ghost, (I know, my drawing skills are amazing) cut them out, and painted them.
 
I hot glued and Duck taped elastic to the back so he could slip them up his arms.  (You have to hot glue the Duck tape down or it won't stay.) Then my engineering husband told me to make handles so he could hold on to it. Those are made out of Duck tape too.



And here he is.
When he turned his arms forward, you could see both.





 
On a side note, yesterday was beach day and I sent him with a blow-up crab attached to a hat.
(I can't even explain how I got it to stay since it's a combination of trial and error that involved sewing, hot glue, and Duck tape.)

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

Finding Stuff Out

It's amazing what you can find out just using social media.
 
I knew Reed's picture from the Texas beach contest was on display in Austin this week, but with this being the end of school and Memorial Day weekend, I just couldn't figure out how to get us up there to see it.

I was so glad when this came across my Facebook feed last night. 
Here's a picture of the display...and I'm actually very happy we didn't make the 3 hour drive to Austin for this. 
I'm not sure what I was expecting, but in my head it was more.
 I was even able to find his picture. It's in the 2nd column from the far right (or 2nd to last column going left to right), 4th one down.
 
 
I've also started checking the schools' Twitter feed each evening since my kids seem to show up in it almost every day. 
Here's JR donating his book to the library.
(He's wearing a Pac-Man costume, I'll discuss that tomorrow.)
On the way to school this morning I said, "So, did you donate a book to the library yesterday?"
He said, "Oh yeah, it's cool, it says 'JR Ingersoll' in it and everything."
 
These poor kids aren't going to be able to get away with anything. 
 Just think what I could find out if I actually tried!

Tuesday, May 20, 2014

Magic Mike's Last Week of School

It's dress up week for JR since this is the last week of school.
 
Yesterday was career day, and he went as an academy award winning actor.
 
(This is our "it's too hot in Texas to wear pants and sleeves" version of Oscar fashion.)
 
I was worried most of the kids were going to show up as doctors, but when I saw only one, I felt pretty good about his choice, especially since most of the boys came dressed as basketball players.
 
I'd put more money on JR being an academy award winner than short, little boys being professional basketball players.
 
 
(And somebody was Where's Waldo and I still don't understand how that's a career.)
 
 
On the way home he told me one of the boys came as a preacher, and that he told everybody he was Matthew McConaughey. 
 
 
So yes, my child showed up at his private, Baptist school and told people he was an actor whose latest two movie roles were a male strip club owner, and a cocaine addicted AIDS patient.
 
And another child came as a preacher....
 
Awesome.

Sunday, May 18, 2014

Chick-fil-A Day

Friday was JR's big Chick-fil-A lunch he bought at the points for pages auction.
There were 3 Chick-fil-A lunches up for auction, and one girl bought 2 of them which meant she could bring 3 guests.
 
Being way nicer than I would have ever been, she invited her brother, her teacher, and the librarian.
JR invited his friend, Olivia.
(Yet again, I was able to get photographic evidence of the day by checking Twitter.)

JR was still on a high when I picked him up, and couldn't wait to tell me dessert had been petit fours.
(So yes, that high was definitely a sugar one.)
 
Grandpa Gary and Jason decided that if they'd had a points for pages auction, they would have had negative points to spend, but they'd have been at the Chick-fil-A lunch because they would have convinced somebody to bring them as the guests. 
 
 That sounds about right.

Friday, May 16, 2014

Fabulous Art Friday

It's amazing what you can find on Pinterest.  I searched "how to draw..." and about a million things popped up.
 
 
I made Reed his own little board, and started pinning pictures I thought he might like to draw.  Everyday he gets the ipad, goes to his Pinterest board, and starts drawing. But Reed has figured out how to go to other people's art boards, and from there he follows links to YouTube and watches drawing videos...because it's also amazing what you can find on YouTube.
 
 
As you'll see, it's crazy how much better he can draw when somebody shows and tells him what to do..Reed does love following directions.
 
 
He was so unimpressed with this turtle he didn't even Sharpie it, I had to ask him to color it because I thought it was so good.
 



He did like his hedgehog.
I was working with JR on homework when he brought it to me, and for minute I thought, he must have traced this.  But there's no way he could have; he drew it.



This one wasn't a video, just a picture. Still really good for a 6 year old, but you can see the difference.



Now here's what his drawings look like if he doesn't have a picture (or a tutorial) to follow. He brought this home from school.

Totally adorable llamas, right? Except...they aren't llamas, they're horses.
I told him to tell everyone they were llamas, but he's sticking with horses.

Wednesday, May 14, 2014

Book Winner

The kids' school had a reading program over a 12 week period where if you read a certain amount of books you got to go to a pizza party, and if you read even more books, a free dress pass.
(My kids will do anything for pizza and a free dress pass.)
 
 
I wasn't even aware there was a contest for the top reader of the grade until I found out JR had won. (He read 15 books.)
Cause if I had known, I'd have made sure one of the other Ingersoll boys won for kindergarten.
 
 
We know for sure some of the girls in 4th grade read more than 15 books, but for some reason they didn't write their books down. Only 5 kids in the 4th grade turned in their reading sheets, so JR was the winner.
 
His prize was to have a book dedicated in his honor in the library.
Pretty cool!
 
 
I took these pictures off the schools' Twitter feed.
(Obviously the other winners were using their free dress passes.)


Here's JR at his pizza party, he's in the right hand picture in the very front.

Tuesday, May 13, 2014

Field Trip...Bleh

I'm sure I've said it on here a million times, but I'm not a fan of field trips.
They are tons of work, and they always wear me out.
 
 
I tried really hard to not go on the kindergarten field trip to Moody Gardens (it's an aquarium/rain forest/tourist trap in Galveston).
 
 
I think Moody Gardens is highly overrated, very unimpressive, and very expensive.  I would put the Lufkin Zoo's rain forest display up against Moody Gardens any day, and the aquarium is pitiful.
 
 
I asked the boys if they wanted to just hang out with their friends that day and me not tag along, but they wanted me to go. So I went.
 
 
Reed's class. He's next to the girl with the giant pink head-flower

 
Kyle's class, he's the short one in between 2 boys in the middle.
 
 
Most exciting thing we could find in the rain forest.
 
 
Kyle checking out a penguin at the aquarium.



The best thing about the day?
Taking a picture of the class in a shark cage...We told them, what would you do if a shark was coming toward you? This was their reaction.
Hilarious.
(Kyle has his arms out, and Reed is right behind him.)

Monday, May 12, 2014

Mother's Day with two Salesman and two Non.

Jason is a salesman through and through. 
Sometimes it can be frustrating, (like when I don't want to be talked into doing something his way) but most of the time, it comes in super handy.
 
 
Being a salesman, Jason gives excellent gifts and always comes through big time on holidays/events.
This Mother's Day we had brunch at Brenner's (my favorite restaurant) and went to see Evita (which is in town right now.)


And so it seems that one of my children is following in his father's footsteps.
 
Last week I had parent/teacher conferences with Kyle and Reed's teachers.  Besides that they are both well behaved and sweet, the conferences couldn't have been more different.
 
At one point Kyle's teacher said, "I don't want you to take this the wrong way...but...he seems to have a real salesman's personality."
 
I laughed and said, "No, we take that as a compliment."
 
Case in point, here are my Mother's day gifts from my children.
 
Reed
 
I guess I should feel pretty good about that. Reed loves school, so me taking him there is probably pretty important to him.
 
 
 
Here's what this one had to say to me for a "present"...
 
"I didn't make you anything for Mother's Day 'cause I don't love you as much as Kyle and Reed do."
Yep, that's JR.
 
 
 
 
And here's what Kyle gave me for Mother's Day.
This little salesman made my day. I literally shrieked and hugged him when I read it.
 
And we have a winner!
Salesman indeed.
 

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Happy Mother's Day!

Happy Mother's Day to the mothers in my (and my kids') life!
We love you!
 
 
Granny Buffie...where JR gets his love for all things Republican.
 
 


Granny Sherry...where my husband and my kids get their blue eyes that I think are so pretty!
 
 
 
 
And my mom...where my kids get their love for Christmas decorating.
That's a Christmas tree on the table next to her right?
(You can see here how she expertly decorated the wall with a picture of them.)

Friday, May 9, 2014

Fashion Fabulous Friday

 
 
I somehow wound up decorating all 13 shirts for the kids in Kyle's class (they are wearing them on their field trip to Moody Gardens and the last day of school).
 
 
The teacher wrote everything, the kids put their fingerprints on them, and then I made all the fingerprints into sea creatures.
(I only had to draw a crab on the shirts in Reed's class...those moms are a well-oiled machine!)
 
Go ahead...oooh and ahhh. 
 
 (Did I mention I did 13 shirts?!)

Thursday, May 8, 2014

Everybody Was Too Hot

Well thank goodness I wasn't the only one who was too hot at soccer!
 
We still had 2 games we needed to make up, but the soccer league pretty much said "just forget about it".
Sounds good to me.
 
Kyle and Reed's little team was actually pretty good.  They won all their games, and though we weren't supposed to keep score, JR always did. 
 
 
So here's to spring soccer that quickly felt too much like summer soccer!
(We celebrated at Dairy Queen.)

Wednesday, May 7, 2014

Nothing Like Storage Wars

Every year the 4th grade does a "points for pages" auction.  Every page you read gets you a point, and at the end of the year, you get to buy things with your points at a live auction.
 
 
JR's teacher let him count all the books he read in Denver (which would have been more if he'd known he'd get to use them to buy stuff) and he wound up with 10,376 points for the auction.
 
 
The kids were super excited about the auction and the ones that watch Storage Wars (like JR) were planning to run up the prices.  (They were told they would not be allowed to bid on the next 5 items if they did that.)
 
 
JR also asked if they could say "yep" to show they were bidding (like Dave Hester does on Storage Wars) but they were told the same thing.
 
 
 
So with no "yeps" and just a paddle for bidding, the kids entered to find the auction items set up. 
 Just look at all this cool stuff (over 200 items)!


I was a point keeper (so this was my view).  I had about 6 kids I was in charge of.  I kept track of what they bought, and how many points they had left to spend.
Sometimes they would try to bid more than they had, so I had to stop them.

There was 1 ipad up for auction and the kids really couldn't get into the grove until that came up.
The kids that thought they might have a chance at it wouldn't bid at all.
The girl who had the most points had 26,000 and they knew she wanted it, but JR wasn't going to let her have it without paying for it.
 
 
When the ipad went up, all the paddles shot up, but JR called out, "All in!"
JR had the most points of any boy, and was in the top 5 of all the kids.
 
 
JR put up all his 10,376, so she had to out bid him, which she did.  She got the ipad (I think she had to pay 10,500), but he brought her down to where she had about as many points as the top 5 kids.
 
(And yes, I think she totally deserved the ipad. She read the most, so she should get it.)
 
 
It was fun to see what the kids would get into heated bids over (Nerf guns and a Sharknado poster),
but when the smoke cleared JR walked away with:
-a $10 itunes gift card
-a $15 itunes gift card
-a $15 Target gift card
-a $25 Game Stop gift card
-a hardback copy of Diary of a Wimpy Kid. (He wanted the hardback for his collection.)
-a Duck Dynasty board game
-a homework pass
-a Chick-fil-A lunch this Friday at school for himself and a friend where they will sit at a special reserved table and also have a special dessert (he's picked his friend, Olivia)
 
 
And what he's most excited about....
 
That's right, it's a snow cone machine. (We've already made snow cones twice.)
 
 
 
All the kids after the auction with their winnings.

It really was the most fun I've had at school in a long time!

Tuesday, May 6, 2014

So Xylophones are Making a Comeback

 If having JR's first performance of Seussical wasn't enough for a Thursday night, it was also the night of the kids' school Spring Concert. 

 
Obviously JR told them he wouldn't be in the show, but Kyle and Reed were super excited about playing the xylophones.
 
 
Can you see Kyle and Reed back there? 
Reed is 2nd from the left in a blue shirt and Kyle is standing next to him on the front row.
 
The little boy next to Reed (with his arms crossed) got quite the earful from him during practice. According to Reed, the little boy was being silly.
 
Reed told me he said to him, "Do you plan on acting like this for the real show?"
 So much fun to hear your own words come out of your child's mouth.
 
 
I couldn't see Reed from where I was sitting, but I had a great shot of Kyle.
(front and center, yellow shirt).
 
I'll spare you the video footage. You can thank me later.

Sunday, May 4, 2014

"Seussical the Musical" by Horton's Mom

It was a very busy week and weekend, and we were happy to finish up the 2nd performance of Seussical the Musical yesterday.
 
JR really has a knack for playing the "poor, pitiful, mistreated hero", and his Horton the Elephant was no exception.  I thought he did a fantastic job.  Seussical is a hard script, as almost every line is sung, and he was onstage almost the whole time.
 
 
We weren't allowed to video, and I don't know the directors at this theater well enough to just ignore the rules, so all I have to show are pictures.
 
 
So if you haven't seen the show, the best way to describe it is that they took the books Horton Hatches the Egg and Horton Hears a Who and kind of smushed them together into a show. 
Then there are other Dr. Seuss characters who are worked into those stories with the Cat in the Hat as the narrator.
 
 
Here's my best at walking you through it:
 
 
Opening song: Oh the Thinks you can Think (also a title of a Dr. Seuss book)



Horton enjoying the cool of the pool in the Jungle of Nool with Mayzie La Bird in the background.


 
Hearing the "Help!" of the Whos.




Horton (with the Bird Girls as back-up singers) save the Whos and place them on a clover.
 
 
 
 
All the other animals laugh at Horton for "talking to a speck of dust".




Singing Alone in the Universe.
 
 
 
 
 
The Wickersham brothers make fun of him and steal the clover with the Whos.
 
 


Gertrude shows off her new, big tail like Mayzie's so Horton will notice her (he doesn't, he keeps looking for the clover). 




Mayzie about to convince Horton to sit on her nest
(she was down in Fort Worth where she met Tweat McFirth, he flew off to San Juan and left her with the egg).
 
 
 
Horton sitting on Mayzie's egg.
 



Gertrude got rid of her tail and found Horton's Whos for him. (He finally notices her.)
 


Horton goes on trial for "talking to a speck, disturbing the peace, and loitering on an egg". 
Here he awaits the verdict from Judge Yertle the Turtle



Gertrude and Horton trying to save the Whos from being boiled in a hot steaming kettle of beezlenut oil.
(Those are the Whos with The Grinch..he's a Who too! Who knew?)


Everyone finally hears the Whos and The Sour Kangaroo says she will help Horton take care of them. 
(Horton doesn't look like he believes her in this picture, but why would he...she's called him "the biggest blame fool in the Jungle of the Nool" the entire show).


 
Everyone is happy, and start the last song and dance number.

 
 Dancing and singing ensue.



And Horton finally gets to meet JoJo the Who, who he's been talking to (even sang a duet with), but never sees until now.

End Show.