Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Coat and Tie

JR is in 7th grade this year, which means he gets to do Cotillion.
He does it with kids at his school (and a couple of other schools), and they basically learn etiquette and dancing.

They have lessons and then a dance in the fall and one in the spring.
They have to dress up for both lessons and dances, and I thought JR looked very nice for his first lesson.

We had to go out and buy this whole outfit because the fanciest thing he owns is his Peyton Manning jersey.

JR said he thought it was fun and enjoyed himself.  He said they learned proper introductions, how to properly shake hands, the fox trot, and the jitterbug. 


We'll see what the next lesson brings. 

Monday, August 29, 2016

Most of the Sports

We hit up most of the Houston sports this weekend.

We went to see the Astros win on Friday night.


And The Texans win (even without JJ) on Sunday. 

Friday, August 26, 2016

Week Down

We made it through the first week of school. 
Kyle and Reed love their teachers and love 3rd grade.

JR's only complaint was that he got a bottom locker, but being that he's JR, he's already finagled himself a top one. So, I guess that means he's actually complaint free. 

How many weeks until Christmas vacation?

Monday, August 22, 2016

1 Down

I did more before 10:00 AM this morning than I've done all summer.

Everyone said they had a good 1st day and came home happy.
JR immediately left to ride his bike to Sonic with his friends, and Kyle and Reed are outside swimming with their friends. Success. 


Kyle had to wear his camp shirt on the first day.


And Chloe had to be in the picture too.


I was already gone before JR was ready, but I got this picture this afternoon.


But all he really wanted was a picture of his new JJ Watts.
I went to 4 different stores to find these.


Sunday, August 21, 2016

3 For 3

We did the meet the teacher thing on Friday.
And this is the 3rd year in a row they have cute, young teachers.

They are getting so spoiled.

They switch for language arts and math so they will actually have both teachers, just not at the same time.

Reed's homeroom teacher


Kyle's homeroom teacher


The only teacher we've been concerned about for JR is the new choir teacher, I finally found his name on the middle school website and then quickly googled him.  I'm very happy with what I googled so we are thinking choir will be promising.  

We've asked around about his other teachers and have gotten positive responses, so that's all we can really hope for there. 

Thursday, August 18, 2016

End Days

We are pretty much crawling our way to the finish line of summer.
(Not diving over it like the cheaterpants runner in the Olympics.)

Nobody wants to go back to school, and we aren't even trying to create any "fun" on our last days either. 

Reed and I did finally get to go to ChooChoo Sushi. He's been wanting to go all summer and we finally made it happen.



And I don't really even care how many boys show up to play.  
We just feed whoever is here at mealtimes.

And yes, JR still exists.
He emerged from his bedroom at 1:15 this afternoon.  


Tomorrow is meet the teacher for Kyle and Reed. I hope we can pull ourselves together for it. 


Tuesday, August 16, 2016

GNR

I totally forgot to post about us going to see Guns N' Roses when they were here in Houston.  

You might remember that JR and his friend dressed up as Axl Rose and Slash and sang "Sweet Child of Mine" for the pop show.

And since I supplied the Axl wig for this duo from my prop closet, I just couldn't not wear it myself. 

(I had the cut off jean jacket ready to go, but just couldn't wear it...It was like a million degrees with a million percent humidity that night. )


We had about 22 people over to our house before the show and took a party bus down to the concert.

My down the street neighbor also had a preparty that I snuck down to for a bit, but hers was much fancier than mine. (She had waiters and bartenders.)


The concert was great. They played until 12:30, played everything I wanted to hear, and we had a blast.

But I guess since I'm the mama I have to say I like JR's version better. 



Monday, August 15, 2016

We're Going to Need More Sleep

Everybody in this house whose first name isn't Jason is very upset that this is our last week of sleeping in.


We have all taken full advantage of not having a schedule or any place to be all summer.



JR has been gone to Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw's, but we finally got him home on Saturday.
I think this will be the only full week of summer where all my chicks are in their own nests.

Here's some of the very little we've been doing:

Kyle used his salesman's personality to not only score himself a solo lunch date with Grandpa, but  having that lunch at Dave and Busters! 


We've been taking care of our next door neighbor's dog for 2+ weeks.  They're in New Zealand and Australia. 



 I had 7 boys in my house 2 days in a row last week and was about to add fraternity house mom to my resume. This was a much more manageable day.

Thursday, August 11, 2016

Stick the Landing!

I finally have somebody else in our house who is "all in" these Olympics with me. 
And his name is Reed.

Jason tolerates it enough to sort of watch.
Kyle is too "busy" being Kyle.
And JR is at Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw's.

But Reed is sitting right next to me in prime time cheering on beach volleyball, and Michael Phelps, and of course, gymnastics.

And being that he's "all in", he did exactly what you are supposed to do when you're obsessed with the Olympics...practice your gymnastics skills.

And no, we don't have a trampoline. He's being going next door. 

Tuesday, August 9, 2016

My Mood

I know I'm doing terrible at blogging these days.
But it's just too hot!

Here's my new favorite thing in the world, the Phelps Face.
It perfectly sums up my current mood about how hot it is outside and that school starts soon.

Thursday, August 4, 2016

Schlitterbahn #6

This year was our 6th annual New Braunfels Schlitterbahn trip.
I thought maybe the kids would want to change it up this year, so I asked them if they would rather go to Florida and go to the beach or Schlitterbahn.  

They all looked at me as if I'd asked them if they wanted broccoli or ice cream for dessert and said "Schlitterbahn!" 


We stayed in a different cabin this year. It faced "The Falls" instead of the "Master Blaster".  
There's Jason, Kyle, and Reed on the porch. 


The view from our porch, that's JR going by in the orange hat.

Kyle and Christian going by.


 As usual, everyone had a great time. 


JR and Kyle decided to do the Sky Coaster.
I looked it up and JR did it the 1st time when he was Kyle's age.

(Reed was smart enough to stay on the ground next to me!)

Going up

Here it is.  



And after


Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Texas Ski Ranch

We just got home from our annual pilgrimage to Schlitterbahn. 
We decided to go up a day early and take the kids waterskiing since they all enjoy it so much at camp.


You would think a place called "Texas Ski Ranch" would have waterskis, but no, they only do wakeboarding.

None of the kids had wakeboarded, but they were all able to get up and do it on their first try.
And they all loved it.


(The videos I included have some pretty good falls for your entertainment.)

JR




Reed 


Kyle (look at that smile)