Thursday, June 29, 2017

Hamster Nascar

Kyle and Reed are at MawmMaw and PawPaw's this week. They took their hamsters with them, and have already been to Pet's Mart to buy more stuff for them. 

Reed was telling me that they bought the hamsters cars to race in, which really made me laugh. I told him I couldn't wait to see that, and lucky me, they had already posted a video of it to YouTube. (Of course they had). 


Tuesday, June 27, 2017

Not Michael Phelps

Our swim team season continued in to this weekend since Reed actually qualified for the "championship" swim meet.  

It was Saturday, and it's officially called "The Country Club Invitational".  I'm positive there are way more competitive swim leagues, so it was nice that everyone there was the opposite of a crazy sports parent.  In fact, I was even chatting with one of the dads whose only complaint was that there wasn't a Bloody Mary bar.  


Each team got to have 2 swimmers per event.
Reed swam freestyle and butterfly.


It was at the University of Houston natatorium, and I never dreamed it would be so nice.  I was very impressed. 


Reed was most excited that his name was on the big board! 

He's the one in the middle

It was just like the Olympics where they get disqualified for starting early, and they had to touch the pad underwater to stop the clock.   (And I'm only comparing it to the Olympics because that's the only other time I've watching swimming.) 

He didn't place, but he didn't come in last in either event either.
Here you can see he got 5th in his heat (you'll see the kid above him got disqualified, so that was helpful) 

Here's the Houston Racquet Club Team.  
Reed is on the top row 2nd kid from the left and he's not wearing a swim cap.


And they came in 2nd in the meet.


We were very proud of his 1st ever swim season. 


And I didn't even notice until that night that they wrote on his arm to make sure he knew when to swim.

Sunday, June 25, 2017

Sweet 16

Jason and I celebrated our 16th anniversary this weekend.

We spent the night at the new Marriott Marquis that was built for the Superbowl. 
 It was awesome...but with a lazy river like this how could it not be?


We stayed on the 14th floor and the pool is on the 6th floor.

We had a massage and hung out by the pool.

We also celebrated with dinner at the revolving, rooftop restaurant, Spindletop, on the 34th floor of the Hyatt.  Neither of us had ever been, so we had lots of fun.

And we looked like this.

Saturday, June 24, 2017

Swim Team

Kyle and Reed have never done swim team in their lives, but Jason and I made them do it this year.
I emphasize the 'made' because they literally couldn't have complained about having to do it more. 


They were in the 9-10 year old boys group, and for never being on swim team and being 9, I think they did great.
They eventually admitted they liked the meets, they just didn't like to practice. 



I didn't take many pictures because I could never figure out who was who. They all look alike! 

 Reed is on the far left with the cut on his face, and Kyle is on the right behind the boy with no cap. 


They swam in 5 meets (they missed one because of camp) and I think Reed got 1st in his heat in backstroke in every meet. 



Reed specifically asked me to take a picture of him on the blocks.



Kyle did great, and even beat his brother in breaststroke a few times. 


But no matter how much swimming was going on, Kyle was more interested in sneaking off to the diving boards during the meets. He even taught himself how to backdive!  



But the best part of the season was when they raced each other and this happened.
I love it when twins tie!

Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Choir Tour

At this point JR just comes home to exchange his suitcase for a newly packed one.

I dropped him off on Sunday at the church for his choir tour.

They are going to Ft. Worth, Dallas, and Austin.  And he was excited to leave, as usual. 

Monday, June 19, 2017

Father's Day

We had a very nice father's day yesterday with all of the fathers in attendance.

Jason

Gary

And my Daddy


We even got a grandfather picture

Which, as you can see, has been awhile since the last one. 

Friday, June 16, 2017

Middle of June

Kyle and Reed went to church camp from Sunday-Wednesday.  They said they had fun and that they want to go back next year. 

 They also reported that they "had to get baptized"...which Jason and I knew was coming.  In fact, we joked that if they came home and didn't mention being baptized, the Baptists had totally failed at church camp. 


They spent the day at the pool yesterday showing off their flips.  They aren't allowed to do back flips, which really upsets them.




  I got this picture from my dad, which I thought was such a pretty background it almost looks fake.  Clearly JR is enjoying Paw-Paw's new, fancy 4-wheeler. 


Thursday, June 15, 2017

Trump's Birthday

Yesterday was Flag Day.  

JR is at my parents this week so I got this text from my mom (which means either JR or my dad sent it) of him celebrating the big day.


JR called me to wish me a "Happy Flag Day" and I said, "Did Maw-Maw tell you to call me?"  He said, "No, Dad texted me, but I knew because I knew it was Donald Trump's birthday." 


Jason took me to dinner last night to celebrate "Trump's Birthday".  We went to State of Grace with our next door neighbors (all of which was a surprise to me) so it was a good day. 

Tuesday, June 13, 2017

Prettiest Girls in the Show

The day before the last day of school was my big hurrah.

I had 144 kids in the talent show this year.

And I had to get all the acts finished before lunch started at 10:50.  I almost made it, I think they had to start lunch at 11:00.

And while Kyle and Reed's act didn't have the most "talent", it was definitely the funniest. 

I planned the act for the boys with different cuts of music, and one cut of music was a "ballet" section. They liked it so much they asked if they could do the whole act as ballet...and dress up like girls.

They got their wish.

These are literally the 4 most athletic boys in the 3rd grade.

Here's the full group

Best part?  I finally know what it would have been like to have a girl!



Here's their act.  It's only 30 seconds, but you get the added "bonus" of my "be a good audience speech to the kids".  Please just fast forward through that!  

The kids are laughing so loud you can't hear their music until the end.  


Saturday, June 10, 2017

Bubba Gump

I think I only have 2 or 3 more posts from May and then I'll finally be done with the end of school ridiculousness.

After the Winds of Time parade we took the boys out of school and down to Kemah to eat at Bubba Gump Shrimp.  (JR had finals so he didn't get to go.) We did this last year, so now it's become sort of a tradition.

Both Kyle and Reed love Forrest Gump, and the food is decent, so it's a fun lunch.



After lunch Kyle wanted to ride all of the roller coasters on the boardwalk, and Reed wanted to ride none of them. 
 Jason and Kyle rode one of the big ones, while Reed and I discussed how happy we were that we weren't riding a roller coaster.


I took a picture as they came out, and both of their faces crack me up.
 Kyle is definitely proud of himself, and Jason is wondering when roller coasters became not as fun as they used to be!  (I figured that out a few years ago.)


Thumbs up for riding, and that Reed and I didn't have to ride! 

Friday, June 9, 2017

Just Like his Dad

Jason's big claim to fame is that back in elementary school he was in the Ft. Bend Boys Choir and sang on Channel 13 for Kathy Whitmire (she was the mayor of Houston back in the 80's).  


So, I had to giggle when Reed brought a note home from school saying that he had been chosen by his music teacher to audition for the Spring Branch Boys Choir.


This all went down right at the end of the year, and in fact, Reed just so happened to be going through his backpack one night and said "Oh, I forgot to give this to you."  It was the invitation to audition, and the last day listed to audition was the next day.  No telling how long he had been carrying it around.


I don't ever think auditions are a sure thing/formality because I've been to way too many of them with JR.  Things we think he's a shoo-in for he usually winds up not getting.


Reed went to the audition and they told us they would send us a letter to let us know.


Since a letter hadn't turned up, I was assuming he didn't get in. 
 But on Wednesday we got a letter telling us he'd been chosen.

I'm not sure how we'll work this in with all his sports teams, but we're going to give it a go.


Thursday, June 8, 2017

Where's JR?

So if you're feeling sorry for JR because it seems like he didn't get to do anything fun as school was ending...

 Don't.

As you can see, he was enjoying his end of school parties just fine.  

Wednesday, June 7, 2017

Winds of Time

So a few days after the big chariot races, the school had their annual Winds of Time ceremony,  My kids call it "Waste of Time", but even so, the parents are all required to go and take pictures.


We were actually going to just skip the whole day this year, but Kyle was picked to be one of the banner carriers, so we couldn't miss that "excitement". 


You also get a front row seat at the ceremony when you're a banner carrier


Reed was a Roman soldier



My little Romans

Tuesday, June 6, 2017

3-0 Winners!

Stepping away from my May recaps, this weekend the boys played in their first baseball tournament.

They could have played as many as 5 games, but since they won every game they played, they only had to play 3.

I got to do the commentating on Friday night (my announcing included intros like..."he's got the best hair on the field") but JR was back in action (with real sports talk) for the championship game on Sunday.  (JR had been at his friend's ranch for the weekend.)

They had lots of friends from other schools on their team, and we wound up having an impromptu celebration party at our house after the big win.



And though both the boys played great in all the games, Kyle batted in the winning run for the championship game, which was very exciting.  Here he is getting the game ball.


After cookie cake blue teeth and the game ball. 


And they may look like loving brothers in the picture above, but this was Reed this morning.

Kyle got mad at him for getting him "out" when they were playing baseball upstairs and threw one of the cardboard "bases" at him Sunday night.  

It's always something. 

Sunday, June 4, 2017

Chariot Races

In 3rd grade the kids study Ancient Rome, and the highlight of the 3rd grade is the chariot races.
The whole school comes out to watch and it's a huge deal. 

Kyle and Reed have been planning their chariots since the first day of school: you need a pusher, a puller, and a sitter. 

Unfortunately for them, the teachers pick the groups. But fortunately for them, their teachers like me (and them) so even though they didn't get the groups they had picked out, they wound up with pretty good groups.  

Lots of Kyle's class with his teacher

Reed's chariot group with his teacher

There are 8 groups in each of  the 8 heats, and then the winner of each heat goes to the finals. 


This is Kyle's race heat.
I missed videoing, but another mom got it (which is why you can't hear me screaming for them.)

The puller of Kyle's group has on yellow and takes an early lead.  
Kyle is pushing in back in red.


Here's Reed's race heat.
Yes, I'm loosing my mind screaming for him, (I told you, it's a big deal.)

His puller has on black, and what I didn't get on video is Reed (white T-shirt) jumping up and down like a crazy person (can't imagine where he gets it) when he found out they won.
Reed's teacher was also excited because she said she's never had a group make it to the finals before.


Reed's team came in 4th in the finals, but they had just run the last heat, so I do believe if they had had time to catch their breath they might have made it on the podium and won a crown leaves. 
Kyle's group came in 5th or 6th.


I don't have video  because I was having a hard enough time just trying to cheer for 2 groups.
And I might have been busy bragging about "all the Ingersolls" being in the finals. 

It was a super fun morning! 




Saturday, June 3, 2017

Why We Have Hamsters

So here's the backstory on the hamsters.

Kyle made the honor roll for the first time this year.  (Actually, first time ever I think.)

Reed made the principal's honor roll for the entire year. 
 (And he also made it for the whole year for 1st and 2nd.)

So that's why we let them get hamsters. (both girl hamsters)

Reed named his hamster "Tickle".

Kyle named his hamster "Mandie", after his teacher. 

She was very honored to have a hamster named after her. 


Our only incident (so far) is when Kyle dropped Mandie inside the couch. 
I literally thought I was going to have the rip the couch apart.

Thankfully she just magically appeared back on the couch cushions and a serious crisis was averted.