Wednesday, May 30, 2018

Memorial Weekend

I'd say that hanging out with African Desert Turtles



And on one of the Houston Party Boats



makes it a successful 3 day weekend.

Tuesday, May 29, 2018

15

I'm not really sure how to process that this person turned 15 today.



In my head he still looks like this.

.
Happy Birthday "Jar".

Sunday, May 27, 2018

Not Such a "Waste of Time"

Every year I write about the elementary school's "Winds of Time" that we "lovingly" refer to as "Waste of Time".  The parents have complained about going to "Waste of Time" so much that I think this is the last year they are going to have it. (That, and no moms will volunteer to chair it next year.)


Kyle and Reed both had big parts in Winds of Time this year.


4th grade studies The Middle Ages, and I just had Reed wear what I made for JR to wear in 5th grade for The Renaissance.  (Close enough, right?)
Kyle was a juggler this year, so he wore a hand-me-down shirt from a past juggling friend.



Reed's class of Middle Ages kids



Reed was picked to play his recorder, so he went to school early a couple of days a week to learn his songs.  They played 2 different songs.





Kyle was picked as a juggler.



 He went during recess and PE for a couple of weeks to learn how to juggle.


One day while he was juggling he asked if he could bring his stilts and walk on them during Winds of Time.  He brought them to school, proved he could do it, and they gave him the OK.


They had him open the whole program.
This is a video I took and one that one of my friends took.  Yes, that's Jason helping to stand him up and get back down.



In this video you'll see him stop and and stand still for a few seconds.  The principal was taking his picture, which she used in the parent newsletter (which was a total shock to see because kids are never featured in the parent newsletter).







Friday, May 25, 2018

A Whole Lotta Choir

On Wednesday Kyle and Reed had their 4th grade choir field trip to the Spring Branch ISD Choir Festival.

I was a chaperone and didn't really know what to expect, especially since their choir teacher has been out for 2 weeks (her grandson is very sick) and they had a substitute choir teacher directing them. 


I found out the night before that Kyle and Reed were chosen to introduce them, so we didn't have much time to practice!


They did great.



They sang 2 songs, and this one just nearly brought all us mams to tears.

They kept asking if they won (it wasn't a contest) and we kept saying "If it was a contest, there would be no contest, y'all would win hands down!"


Reed with all his girlfriends of past 
(and I think one is back to being the present girlfriend, maybe.)



Everyone getting in on Reed's action. 


Then Wednesday night was JR's final middle school pop show.

Since the advanced boys were only allowed to sing ONE song in an hour and a half show, I don't really have a lot to say.  Here are a few seconds of their one song "Stand By Me".




But the night wasn't a total loss.  
After 3 years of trying, I finally got a picture of JR and next-door neighbor Mary together! 

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Where Was JR?

So where was JR this weekend?


Well, JR started his weekend with a Friday night trip to Taste of Texas for his birthday with Grandpa Gary and Granny Buffie.  

(It was supposed to be the "Golden Child" by himself, but Reed got to come along when he stayed in town.)


Then Saturday night was the big 8th grade dance.  

They aren't allowed to take dates, limos, or do any of the ridiculousness that ruins the fun of 8th grade dances.


JR looked very nice...I can't begin to tell you how hard it is to find dress clothes to fit him.
  


And since we use our neighbor's door for our photo ops, you can see her giggling and looking out the window. 


Dylan and JR rode together to the dance.



JR reported that he had lots of fun even though the music was terrible and nobody danced. 

Tuesday, May 22, 2018

Tennis Man

Since Kyle was getting picked up early from school on Friday to head to San Antonio, I let Reed get picked up early too and we went to lunch.

He picked sushi.


Originally Reed was supposed to go to San Antonio and hang out with us this weekend, but then he was asked to play in a tennis tournament, so he stayed back to do that instead. 

He's just moved up a level (to green dot ball) so he went in to this tournament thinking he'd do it just for the experience. 

Turns out he did great!

Grandpa Gary got him there for his 1st match and Jason was able to get there in time to see him play his other 2 matches. 


Here he is with Grandpa and his Houston Racquet Club Jr. Grand Prix Runner-Up trophy. 

I love watching Reed play tennis, and I'm sad I missed his big tournament (runner-up) win! 

Monday, May 21, 2018

Diving in SA

We started bright and early Saturday morning at Kyle's 3 meter diving competition.

3 meters is pretty high up (but nothing compared to the 10 meter platform). 


We were pretty confidant Kyle would do well because his degree of difficulty on his dives were higher than all the other kids in his group.


But I was still too nervous to video him at competition, so I only videoed during warm-ups.



We were so excited that he won, we forgot to let him take a picture of just himself and his medal! 


We were done by 10:00, and Jason had to head back to Houston, so Granny and I decided to show Kyle San Antonio.

We did the Riverwalk

Ate Mexican food

And went to the Alamo.

Which pretty much checks all the boxes for San Antonio.

Sunday Kyle was diving Junior Olympic 1 meter.
 I Face-timed Jason and Reed (and Chloe and Daisy) so they could watch from home.  

Our only goal for him was that he score at least 100.  He scored 118!

Here are his warm-up dives. 


And Granny and I let him have a picture with just his medals. 

But we got pictures with him too!



Sunday, May 20, 2018

More Impressed with Him than When He Made a Balloon Animal

I don't even know where to start with the craziness that was this weekend, so I guess I'll start at the beginning.

If going to see Kenny Chesney after 20 years didn't make me feel old, going to our flower girl's wedding on Friday night certainly did.


Kyle had a diving meet in San Antonio this weekend, so Jason and I had plans to drive to San Antonio and meet up with Kyle and Granny Sherry after the wedding.


But on the way to the wedding, Jason's car got a flat tire.


I can't even begin to tell you how hot it was...except that I took a picture...and it was 1,000% humidity. 

We pulled over in a hospital parking lot (where Kyle and Reed were born) and Jason jumped out and changed the tire in a suit!  

He never even turned the car off (so I wouldn't have to sweat) and he didn't get one speck of dirt or grime on his white shirt.


I've never seen anything like it!


We were only 3 minutes late to the wedding, which, oh my goodness...
was an outdoor wedding (more heat!).


Other people were walking in after us and in my head I was like "we had a flat tire and we still beat you!"


Unfortunately, we couldn't drive Jason's car to San Antonio with the spare so we had to leave the reception early (we didn't get to eat) to drive an hour back home and change cars. 


I did make Jason take a quick picture of us on our way out of the reception to prove how good he looked after changing a tire and sitting through an outdoor wedding! 

We got back home, changed cars, and were off...we rolled in to San Antonio about 12:30.
Then we were up at 7:00 to start Kyle's diving meet...which I'll write about tomorrow. 


Friday, May 18, 2018

20 Years Later

 I went to the Kenny Chesney concert last night.
The last time I saw him was almost exactly 20 years ago.  

Which makes both Kenny and me sound really old. 



20 years later Kenny is still singing about sitting on a beach and drinking a beer.
(He is such a tiny little man.)


But he still puts on a very good (and fun) show!



Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Still Mad

Reed had his last baseball game on Saturday.  I'm still mad and can't talk about it, but I guess I'll write this anyway.

His little team that I didn't think would win 3 games all season made it to the 3rd round of playoffs. (And should have gone to the championship!)

They were ranked high enough that they had a bye for the 1st round.

And then in the 2nd round they were high enough to get to be the home team.  So JR got to announce and I got to run the scoreboard. 

Saturday was the 3rd playoff game and let's just say that an umpire made a call so bad that our entire stands booed, the other team admitted the call was wrong, and the other umpire on the field said the call was wrong.  But he refused to change his call.  

 It changed the whole game (that up until then we had been winning) and obviously I'm still mad about it. 

 Even though I will remember this team for getting robbed of going to the championship, Reed had a great season, and here are some fun pictures. 










Sunday, May 13, 2018

Happy Mother's Day!

Mother's Day has been celebrated.

There wasn't time for before church pictures, so everyone had to wait until I could totally re-do my hair since it's already so hot and humid in Houston that I had completely sweated my hair flat on the way to and from church.  

Then we all lined up in front of my next door neighbor's door 
(because it's a better photo backdrop than mine).


My favorite sons and daughter.


My mom and her favorite daughter and grandsons.


Granny with her favorite son and grandsons.


Then we went to the best Mother's Day buffet in town at the Racquet Club.  
We had our "professional" pictures made there, which my mom said  were "shelf  worthy". 




Happy Mother's Day to the mamas!

Saturday, May 12, 2018

Stretching it Out

I took a page from JR's "celebrate as many days as you can" playbook and started celebrating Mother's Day on Thursday.
We had our annual Mother's Day luncheon on Thursday and we had lots of fun!

There were about 40 of us, and this was my table.


I kept celebrating today as I got a massage this morning!

Though I'm spending this "exciting" Saturday night doing laundry as people in this house think they need clean clothes...and I really didn't want to spend actual Mother's Day doing that.