Sunday, September 28, 2014

Low on Pictures, but High on Fun

We've been quite busy having fun over the last few days.
Our friends, Scott and Debbie, from Denver arrived on Wednesday and then we drove over to New Orleans for the weekend.
 
(You might remember we "won" a trip to New Orleans at the JDRF fundraiser we went to in March.)
 
This is the only picture of us altogether. It's fuzzy, but the only proof I have.


We did the "have to" stop at Pat O' brien's for a hurricane.


And Jason was super excited to get a Lucky Dog. 
 (He and Debbie also snuck off for chicken legs, but those got eaten too fast for a picture.)
 
 
I was super excited about my Shark Attack, and Kyle is very happy to be the proud new owner of the pictured shark.
 
 
We ate at Jaques Imo's where we all agreed it was some of the best food we've ever had.
(I was scared to try the shrimp and alligator cheesecake, but it was awesome!)
 
Then Saturday night we ate at Dickie Brennan's Steakhouse which was also great.
 
We wrapped up a fun weekend this morning by riding in the elevator with Darryl from The Office. 
 He was very nice and I'm sure he was appreciative that we didn't ask for a selfie.
 
We couldn't figure out why he was in New Orleans until we saw the nerdy looking guy that's also in Hot Tub Time Machine getting in the airport van, so we figured they were there promoting Hot Tub Time Machine 2.
 
And you know it's time for a post to wrap up if I keep dropping Hot Tub Time Machine references.

Tuesday, September 23, 2014

More Like Mug Shots

That was the fastest school picture turn around I've ever seen.
The kids had their pictures made a week ago. (As in Tuesday!)
 
My mom was here so she can attest that their hair was brushed before they left the house, because you'd never know looking at these pictures.
 
I'm also already saving my money for Kyle's future dental work.

 

 

Friday, September 19, 2014

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

If You Don't Have an Opera Singer in your Friend List, You Should Get One

Not only do we have Kyle and Reed playing soccer and tackle football, but on the other extreme we have JR doing a musical, taking a musical theater class, and now...an opera.
Oh yes, you read that right, an opera.
 
 
I'll have to back up to explain how an opera even came about.
 
 
JR was never 100% okay with not being a lead in Annie this summer.  There's another theater here in town that just happened to be doing Annie this fall so, of course, he wanted to give it another go. 
 
 
And this time around he was cast as Daddy Warbucks.
 
 
The same night he got his email about being cast as Daddy Warbucks, he got another email saying that the theater had chosen him to be in the children's chorus of Hansel and Gretel for Opera in the Heights if he wanted to do it.
 
 
I immediately put in a call to JD (who knew there was some sort of emergency if I was calling him at 8:30 on a Thursday night...luckily it was a "showbiz" emergency) because who best to ask about an opera than an actual opera singer?
 
 
Not only did JD know all about the opera company, but even better, JD had just finished starring in Hansel and Gretel this summer, so he knew all about the actual show. 
He was super helpful with all kinds of information like that the children's chorus is only on stage the last 15 minutes of the show and the show is in German.
 
 
I tried to talk JR out of this show every which way I could think of:
-Practices are 3 days a week, with 7 shows for only 15 minutes of stage time.
 -I told him the show was in German. 
 (He just looked at me, said, "guten tag", and asked if he should start working on his German accent.)
-Then we brought out the big guns and said that since practices are on Saturdays he won't be able to go deer hunting this year.
 
He still picked the opera!
 
 
So, it looks like we have an opera in our future, I'm crossing my fingers he has to wear lederhosen for his costume!!!
 
 
With all these theatrical going ons I went ahead and redid his headshot.  I'm sure one day I'll have to spend a bunch of money for a "real" one, but for now I'm still taking them and printing them out at Costco.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

The Favorite Season of Texans has Begun

I haven't been posting lately because nobody wants to hear about me driving the kids to football, soccer, play practice, musical theater class, and another biggie I'll tell you about tomorrow.
 
The little guys finally had all their football practicing (3-4 days a week 2 hours a time) pay off with a game. 
 
(I didn't get a yard sign until I was in high school, they get one at 6!)
 
 
 
And when I say "pay off" I mean they got to wear their uniforms and step on the field for a few plays.
 
 
Football practice is hard.
I mean, I had no idea how hard it was. 
They practice in full pads and helmet, which makes sense since that's how they play the game, but they quickly found out that the helmet hurts and it's hard to move in the pads.
 
I thought we were going to lose Kyle before the season even started over wearing the helmet, but he's gotten used to it now, so he's good.
 
 
 
Reed even wears his helmet when he practices at home with Jason.
(Cause you know Reed's gonna practice extra.)
 
Their division is 6-8 year olds, so they don't see much playing time, but they are learning a lot, and understand that they will be the 8 year olds one day and then they'll be the ones playing. 
(Just check out my kids (#3 and #4) compared to the others. It's almost comical.)
 
 
Here's one of Kyle's big plays as a defender.  He's pretty easy to spot...just look for the tiny one.
 


And though they didn't throw him the ball, I had to take a picture of Reed as a running back!
 
 
I have to say, if nothing else, they sure look cute in the uniforms!
 

Monday, September 8, 2014

I thought Durango had the Market Cornered on Weird

JR and I went to see the show Memphis at Memorial High School Saturday night.

The show was good, but what was more surprising was what we found in the parking lot.
 
It's The Hippo Car, and it even has its on Facebook page.
 
I'm not sure of its purpose, (I think it's considered an "art car") but JR thought it was cool.
I'm thinking weird is a better description.

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Hurry Up So We Can Eat Cake Smiles

 
It's Grandpa Gary's Birthday.
We celebrated with ribs, cake, and ice cream.
 
And a picture where 3 out of the 4 subjects are smiling appropriately.

Friday, September 5, 2014

Helpers

There's not much to report around here unless you want to hear about me driving to and from school and driving to and from kids' activities. I've also cooked 3 nights this week (which you know I hate.)

As for the driving, I always seem to have a different assortment of dogs for school pick-up. 
Today there were so many they barely all fit in the front seat.
 

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

A Few More

I thought I'd finished with summer, but I have a few more:
 
Reed ate a corndog while wearing formal-wear
 
 
JR's attire was much more appropriate for eating a chili dog at James Coney Island with Grandpa.



We visited foreign lands.


 
 
 And the Houston zoo.

 
 
 
This is what the "before" shot of a belly flop looks like.
 
 
And this is what Jason's foot and a roomservice cheese plate looks like.
 
 
 
 I'm pretty sure I never included the kids' awesome costumes for Pirate Night...which is kinda hard to believe I would ever forget a costume picture.
 
(He thought he was Johnny Depp.)
 
 
 
OK, now I'm finished with summer.
 

Monday, September 1, 2014

Summer Wrap Up

I think today is the official last day of summer (except that it will feel like summer here until at least November), so I decided to throw in any pictures that didn't make the cut these last 3 months.
 
In no particular order...
 
There was alligator wrestling
 
 
 and snow cone eating.
 
 
 
 We went to Space Center Houston.
 
 
And I stuffed envelopes for a Republican Women fundraiser...one or two impressed me.

 
 
We rode our bikes to get donuts. (Cause that burns off all the donut calories, right?)



And went to a few Astros games.





Movies were watched and dogs were used as cushions.
 
 
 
Thankfully there was always plenty of TexMex to be had.
 
 
 
And, yes, we bought the cheesy family cruise pictures.
If it's the only family photo we take before December, please act surprised when you see it on our Christmas card.