Jason Day

Jason's birthday was Saturday and since we were at sea that day, we had a full day on the boat where all we could do was celebrate him. 

The room was supposed to be decorated to surprise him the night before, but instead we were greeted by this towel animal awesomeness. (Just what he's always wanted.)

One of the birthday highlights was our 2nd annual Ingersoll shuffleboard tournament.
Unfortunately for Reed and me, Jason and Little Jason are still the champions.

They were happy to repeat their victory from 2 years ago. 

We ended the day by singing happy birthday at dinner.

The boys all think there isn't anything Jason can't do (which is pretty much true).

And I think he's pretty great too.

Roatan and Cozumel

As I've said before, we don't really care where a cruise is going...we just like to be on the boat.  And since we don't pick a cruise based on its ports, this was my 3rd time to Roatan and my 5th time to Cozumel.

It was a bit rainy in Roatan, but the boys and Granny were still able to zipline.

Kyle and Reed (and the guide because they don't weigh enough)

Granny Sherry and JR

And I was able to find a Christmas tree.

I believe there were 6 cruise ships in port in Cozumel.  Crazy!

The Fish are Back

JR wasn't dancing with street performers in Costa Maya since he was busy at the Fish Spa.

He even used his Spanish to get himself all set up.

What I can't believe is how much JR has grown since the last time he did a Fish Spa 2 years ago.

Paw-Paw decided he wanted to do the Fish Spa too, but he did his in Honduras. 

Costa Maya

Our first stop on our cruise was Costa Maya, Mexico.

Kyle was less than impressed with his first impression of Costa Maya. 

But Kyle and Reed both soon became huge fans when they found themselves the stars of a street performance.

Jason and I were in a store when Granny Sherry came running in to tell me to come watch Kyle hula-hoop.  By the time I got there the hula-hooping was over but there was plenty more left. 

Thanksgiving Trip

We just got home this morning from a week long Thanksgiving cruise with my parents and Granny Sherry.

All the boys said it was their favorite Thanksgiving ever, and I have to agree with them, it was pretty awesome.

Jason was the only person in the family who actually ate turkey on Thanksgiving day.  The rest of us were quite happy to eat from the "non-traditional" menu!

We all gave it a big thumbs-up!

Kyle and Me Trip

Kyle and I have been on a little trip to Austin these last few days.

I got him out of school early on Thursday and we went up to watch a UT diving meet.

(U of H and Rice only have women's diving, so UT is the closest school to us with men's.)

We couldn't believe we have to pay $3 for a middle school sporting event, but a college diving meet is free!

The Longhorn Network was broadcasting live from all the final rounds.

You can see them above Kyle's head. 

I think Kyle videoed every single dive. 

We found the Longhorn Network truck outside.

We saw diving Thursday night (men's 1 meter springboard finals), Friday afternoon (men's 3 meter springboard prelims) and Friday night (men's 3 meter springboard finals).  As an added bonus all the divers were practicing for their platform competition that was Saturday afternoon, so we got to see all kinds of platform diving too.

We had a great time and were super impressed with all the divers.

Science Fair

I've been holding on to JR's science fair project since he was in the 5th grade.

He turned it in in both the 4th and 5th grade, and I've always known that Kyle would turn it in when he had to do one.

Unfortunately for me, they wouldn't accept JR's science fair project because it wasn't "scientific" enough (even though he turned it in to the exact same school 3 years ago).

Science Fair is optional for extra credit, so Kyle was perfectly fine not turning a project in.

Reed was dead-set on turning in a project, so I told him he was going to have to hook up with somebody because I didn't have it in me to do one.

Luckily for Reed, Sean's brother's old science fair project was approved.

They actually re-did the experiment (mentos in soda bottles).

And Wendy did an amazing job on their board!

I did absolutely nothing for this project so I told her I owe her a girls night out, and I"ll have to do their science fair project next year. 

2 More

Like I said, I have eyes and ears everywhere.  

These 2 pictures were sent to me just today and I love them so much I had to post them.

Veteran's Day Assemblies

Kyle, Reed, and JR all had their Veteran's Day assemblies at the same time. 

 Kyle had a speaking part and Reed had a "solo with Sean and 3 other girls" (as he told me), so for the first time in their lives, Kyle and Reed trumped JR in the singing and speaking department.  

(Plus I went to JR's last year and missed theirs.)

I was volunteering in the front office the day before, so I snuck in during Kyle and Reed's rehearsal so I wouldn't have to video during the show and could just enjoy it.

I so wish I had videoed Kyle during the show.  He was hands down-no contest the absolute best speaker in the show.  Much better than in this video.

Reed's group was the finale and they were great! 

As one mom told me. "I kept waiting for them to go off key and they never did! God Bless America is hard."

I also didn't take pictures during the show, but I knew I'd have lots of friends that would. 

My kids refused to wear "collared shirts", so yes, everyone else around them looks so much more presentable.  

Kyle's group

Reed's group

Grandpa Gary and PawPaw were both there and got to stand up and be honored for being veterans of the army.  I missed getting a picture with Grandpa, but here's PawPaw.

And since I have eyes and ears everywhere, I don't feel like I missed a thing from JR's program.

And they really did sound fantastic.

Their patriotic medley was great!

And they have got the National Anthem down!

Diving Clinic

A few weekends back, Kyle and I got up early on a Saturday morning and drove out to Pearland to a diving clinic.

He was in heaven with all the diving, and he got some great coaching.

Here are all the diving kids that were there.

(Kyle is the only boy on the diving board.)

In the afternoon we headed over to a gym that was equipped with all kinds of dry land diving equipment. After a pep talk from to Olympic diving gold medalist, Laura Wilkinson, (and Kyle getting to hold her gold medal from the Sydney Games) they spent about 2 hours in the gym. 

He said their "real" Olympic trampolines are way better than the "fake" Olympic trampolines they have at trampoline parks.

Here he is jumping on the trampoline, and then how that helps him at the pool.

He also spent lots of time on the dry board.

Here he is doing the same dive (a front flip with a twist) on the dry board and at the pool. 

 He still has a way to go....

The Same Every Year

I will forever buy school pictures just so when they come in I can text Jason and ask him if he wants to see his school picture.  

This year's text to him was:

Your 4th grade school picture came out great.

Reed actually looks more like Jason than he ever has

JR didn't even bring home and order form, just these little stickers that I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do with.  

At least he still looks like me.

First and Last Season

JR's first, only, and absolutely last football season is over.

Some of the Ingersolls did a better job of watching his games than others.

He Found a Ride

Just like I promised, I was nowhere near the Astros World Series parade on Friday afternoon.

There were 1 million crazies who did turn out for it, one of which was JR.

He never could find any of his friends' parents that were going, so he wound up going with our next door neighbor's brother's family.

Oh yes, you read that right.  My next door neighbor...her brother was taking his family, and JR finagled a ride with them...we've never even met these people (nor had JR).  

It was very sweet of them to take a stranger with them to the parade, and JR said it was awesome and totally worth it.

Here he is, enjoying his view from a 2nd story parking garage. 

Just look at all those people! No thank you!!! 

Lights, Camera, Auction

Jason and I went to the elementary school auction on Saturday night.

The best part about it was that I wasn't an auction chair! 

It was a movie theme, and when I asked Jason what he wanted to be he thought of his favorite scene in all of cinematic history:

The dart scene from Old School.  If you haven't seen it, here it is:

And here's my version...Jason wore a baseball cap because I don't have a Will Ferrell wig in my prop closet (I only have an afro.)

(Yes, I made Jason's dart out of a left over party horn I had lying around.)

I had a last minute costume change (like 15 minutes before we walked out the door) and went as Dolly Parton's character Miss Mona in Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. 

Miss Mona may or may not have wound up on stage with the DJ for most of the night, but if you know Miss Mona, then you know she probably did. 

Yay Texas, not The Texans

I'm behind on what's been going on, so I'm just going to start with today and work backwards.

We went to The Texans game today.

I'm mad at the The Texans for kneeling during the National Anthem last week so I refused to wear any of their gear.

I wasn't the only one, as most of the stadium was in orange instead of red.  

And the most cheers of the whole game was for The Astros that appeared with the World Series trophy on the sidelines.

My favorite moment was Reed trying to kick a field goal in the Kids Zone.

This clip is so funny I have it regular speed and slow motion.  

Watch how his shoe flies off during his kick!

Houston Strong

 The Astros won the World Series.

JR didn't get to go to the World Series, but I never saw this picture of him until he showed it to me last night...one of his teachers sent it to him. 

Here's JR with just 1 out left to go in the game.

On the other hand, Chloe was cool as a cucumber.

Here's the big win

Like JR, all of Houston has lost their minds.  HISD has cancelled school tomorrow for the parade downtown. (Luckily, we are not in HISD.) 

 JR thinks he's going to the parade; hopefully he has a friend with a nicer mom than me.
Now don't get me wrong, I'm excited for Houston and excited for the Astros, but I'm not about to go get in the middle of all that insaneness.