These are Winners!

I might not have fared well with the storybook character pumpkins, but my real, live storybook characters were awesome. 

 (Kyle's teacher told me twice his costume was her favorite...so that's winning, right?)

 

 

When we were moving I found the DVD to The Princess Bride (I didn't even know we owned it.)  I pretty much forced Kyle and Reed to watch it promising them it wasn't about a princess and that it wasn't a "girl movie". 

 

 

Of course, they loved it and watched it so many times they pretty much have it memorized.  So Reed was quick to ask if he could be Westley/The Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride for storybook character day. 

 

 

(On a side note, I'm actually reading the book to the them and they're enjoying it as much as the movie...or as much as Fred Savage did in the movie.)

 

 

If you aren't familiar with The Princess Bride, here's what we were going for.

And this is our Westley/Dread Pirate Roberts

 

 

Kyle wanted to be Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia books.  He loves the movies, but I haven't read them the books yet.  I think I started reading them to JR when he was in 3rd grade.  I want them to be able to understand them, so I keep putting them off. 

 

 If you haven't read any of the Narnia books, Aslan is a lion.  C.S. Lewis (the author) said that Aslan was supposed to be "the form in which Christ might have appeared in a fantasy world."  So yeah, I want them to be a bit older to understand the imagery better.

 

Whether he "gets it" or not, Kyle made a great Aslan the lion.

 

 

 

And now I'm just sad I don't have an costumes to work on anytime soon.

(Thank goodness for Christmas decorations!)

Squat. Year 2.

Remember last year when I didn't win squat with my awesome Scaredy Squirrel pumpkin?

This year I went back into the storybook character pumpkin contest with confidence...I was sure we had a winner.

 

I had just finished reading The BFG (The Big Friendly Giant) to the kids and we all agreed he'd make a great pumpkin.

Here's the BFG (and Sophie) from the book.

 

And here's mine (with Sophie). I have him wearing a black cape and carrying a black suitcase because that's what he would wear when he went out at night. 

 

 

 

Guess what I won?

 

Squat.

 

 

Here's everything that did win.

I have no words.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There Was Chicken

JR was selected from his school to attend (what I'm going to call because I'm not sure what the name really was) a journalism Q&A with the superintendent. 

 

There were 8 kids from his school that got to go, and he was one of 2 sixth graders. 

(He got picked because of his "status" on the broadcast team.)

 

 He said that the high schools were there, and maybe just one other middle school. I was trying to explain to him that it was a really big deal that he got picked because most kids in a school district our size (35,000+ kids), would never get to go to a meeting with the superintendent.

 

That information seemed to be of such little importance to him when:

 

 A. He got to miss P.E. to attend

and

B. There was free Chick-fil-a

 

This was the picture he sent me. 

Not, "look at me, I got picked to do this really cool thing", but "Look at me, I've got Chick-fil-a."

And yes, I'm very upset his friend is wearing a suit and JR isn't. 

 I thought I was making him "dress-up" by not letting him wear a sports T-shirt. 

 You'd think I'd know better since I've been back in Texas almost 2 years! 

(It's hard to get over 6 years of Colorado casual.)

A Middle School Party in my House

A couple of weeks ago JR asked us if he could have a Halloween party.

After quizzing him with a few questions, here's what he had planned:

 

-It was going to be a boy/girl party

-He would invite people by passing out flyers at school

-And dad and I could just set the food out and leave

 

Of course all I could envision was the party scene from Sixteen Candles.

 

So after telling him that there was no way 2 of the 3 things he envisioned were going to happen, "we" decided that dad and I would put the food out, but we would stay.  That an evite and text messages were a better form of party invitations, and yes, girls could come.

 

His party was this past Saturday night, and if you watch the news at all, you might remember that a hurricane landed in Mexico and drifted over Texas Saturday night. Here's my outside party décor...best picture I could get without getting soaked. 

But even a hurricane can't keep the 6th graders away from a party. 8 girls and 7 boys.

 

Here's the only picture they let me snap.

There wasn't near as much eating as I thought would go on, but not surprisingly, lots of silliness.

Fashion Fabulous Friday on Saturday

 

 

Kyle and Reed had a Halloween party at school last night. 

 (It wasn't exactly school sponsored since it was an auction party and we paid for them to go.)

 

 

They had a DJ and a game truck and fun was had by all.

 

 

Kyle and Reed didn't even glance at store bought Halloween costumes this year.  They just kept telling me they wanted me to make them.  Their choices this year were so easy I was able to "make" them without buying anything.

 

 

Reed went as Jose Altuve.

 

 

Kyle went as Owen (Chris Pratt) from Jurassic World.

 

 

If you haven't seen Jurassic World, this is what we were going for.

 

 

Kyle even won most original costume at the party.

(I asked him what he was doing, and he told me he was "fighting the indominus rex".)

 

 

I'm not sure if Reed will stick with Jose Altuve for actual trick-or-treating (he was miffed he didn't win a costume award) but that's the wonderful thing about dressing up from the closet, we can easily change it for Halloween. 

Choir Kid

JR has been busy with his school choir lately.  This weekend he competed in the UIL solo and ensemble competition. Usually 6th graders don't compete, but his teacher let a few of them do it and JR got a "1".  (You get a 1, 2 , or 3 and 1 is the best.)

 

 

He looked cute dressed up for it, but I forgot to take a picture because there was so much complaining about how his dress shoes hurt his feet...and I was trying to keep him from hobbling into the competition like he couldn't walk.  Oh, the dramatics of everything.

 

 

Then he had his school choir concert.  It was very nice and I was as impressed as you can be with middle school singing. He sang 2 songs with the beginning choir and then all the choirs sang a song together at the end. Here he is eating an after concert cupcake.

 

Before the concert he was telling me all about a song they were going to sing, and giving me the background on it and on and on...turned out the song was Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.  I had to explain to him that it was one of Paw-Paw's favorite songs...and then felt some good Baptist guilt that my child had never heard of it...until he sang it at public school.

 

 

Speaking of Swing Low, here they are singing the chorus.

Just Like Us

Wanna see my school picture?

 

 

 

Wanna see Jason's?

 

And then Reed's school picture.

Houseguests

It has definitely felt like something is missing not having Hunter in the house. 

So we were super excited to welcome our houseguests for the weekend yesterday!

 

 

I'll Take a Dozen

A picture with donuts...because who doesn't love donuts?

I Tricked Them

Kyle and Reed act like they can't get up for school in the mornings, yet on the weekends they're up before they would even need to get up for school.

 

JR and I didn't tell them that today was a holiday.  They went to bed last night thinking it was a school night.

 

Kyle slept until 7:50 and Reed until 8:40...and since they thought it was a school morning they didn't start screaming over video games, they were just watching their movies....and JR and I got to sleep in.  Score one for us!

 

And this is how you celebrate a holiday in October in Texas...

They were so sweaty after playing front yard kickball with our neighbors they all jumped in the pool.

 

If this weather stays the same I guess I'll be wearing a bikini as a Halloween costume.

I Might Have Been Really Loud

We learned our lesson about tackle football, and Kyle and Reed are playing flag this year.

 

Their team is 3-1 (they only won 2 games last year, so we've already got a better record no matter what else happens)

 

At the game Saturday Reed caught a 10 yard pass for a 1st down.

You can only imagine how "calmly" I reacted.

 

I'm not sure if what came out of me is referred to as a shriek, squeal, or screech...maybe a combo of all of them.  

 

10 Years in the Making

I think the Astros won their game last night and made the playoffs for the 1st time in 10 years in part due to these superfans.

 

 

 

JR is so excited you'd think he was part of the actual team.

Inside

I finally got the inside of the house decorated for Halloween like I want it.  I replaced most of our everyday pictures with Halloween ones, which I think makes it fun.