Another 80th

After celebrating my dad's 80th in March, we had another one to celebrate in September as Gary turned 80.  We had the party Saturday night and lots of fun was had by all.

I picked up the cake and I was so nervous I was going to mess it up before I got it there I actually seat- belted it to the car! 

But it arrived safe and sound. 

I did balloons for centerpieces and I absolutely loved the way they turned out! 

Once the evening started we didn't take any pictures (of course) but we did get these with the family. Minus JR who had already left, and Kyle and Reed who were running around downstairs with their friends. 

Jason and I dropped by Gary's house for the after party, and finally had a chance to get a picture.  And sit down! 

Cast Photo

I think I mentioned that JR got the lead in the fall musical (it's in October). 

 I got my hands on the cast photo yesterday (since I do the newsletter for the high school) and it's so cute. 

There's JR in the middle, and then his love interest Peyton (our across the street neighbor) is the one turned toward him in the black and green dress.

His homecoming date is also in the picture, but I'll let you guess which one she might be. 

Another Cute Advertiser

I recently ran across this familiar face advertising his diving group in the team handbook and website. 

Double Ply

According to Reed the 6th grade girls think Kyle is "hot".

According to Kyle, Reed has already been asked out by a girl and broken up with her.

So it came as no surprise that our house was wrapped Friday night.  

t was clearly a 6th grade girl job (easy clean-up.)

But what I wasn't expecting is that they (or another group of 6th grade girls) would wrap us again Saturday night.  They either came back with more toilet paper, or this group did a "better" job.

Techy Tattling

So glad we got them phones so they have yet another way to bother me with their tattling.

And FYI, Reed is trying to say "piece of your gum".

Making a Splash Again

Kyle started back diving on Saturday which meant we took a trip up to College Station.

Long story short, there's no place in the city of Houston that will let our kids dive platform, so we have to drive an hour and 1/2 up the road to A&M.  

Since it was a game day (and there was no place to park) we dropped Kyle off and went to entertain ourselves for a few hours.

We went to re-visit where Jason used to live.

And went to eat at The Dixie Chicken to make JR jealous.

After lunch we were able to figure out the parking situation, so we got to see a bit of his practice.

Here they are holding their pikes (I circled Kyle).

And here he is up on the 10 meter.  (He's the little one). 

He didn't dive off, just jumped...which is still plenty scary.

Here's a back fall off from the 5 meter.

And a front dive from the 3m platform.

It was fun to see him diving again after about a month and 1/2 off! 

So We had a Tropical Depression

I was completely unaware that we even had a disturbance in the gulf.

Usually we are inundated with news and worse case scenarios.

But it seems the TV let us know that Tropical Depression Imelda was going to hit us as it was coming ashore night before last.  

I wasn't too concerned, and didn't really think about it.

I was a little more concerned trying to drive home from Kyle's diving lessons yesterday evening (he got nervous and videoed us) but, this is Houston, and it rains all the time so I still didn't give it much of a thought after I got home and it had quit raining. 

Then this morning everything was normal. 

My friend that I jog with and I were happy that it was overcast so it wasn't so hot.  We got back to the Racquet Club around 10:00 and we sat outside talking and drinking coffee like we always do.  

Then about 10:30 this happened.  Look, it's so dark the lights came on! 

We tried to wait it out there, but they lost electricity so we made a run for our cars (the lighting was scaring me to death!)

I took this picture trying to get home.

I made it home, and then our street disappeared.

 The kids were calling and texting me to come get them (which the news just kept saying to stay put) and I told them to just stay at school where they were safe and wait it out.

The electricity went out at JR's school and I got this message.

I love that I get a "Fine". 

I'm know, I'm literally the meanest mom in the world for not letting my kid skip school during a major flood and go to a girl's house.  

The rain stopped about 3:00, and JR was able to drive home.  I was able to get out and get Kyle and Reed.  After more than 8.5 inches of rain, we are all home and staying put! 

Fashion on a Friday

I had to go to a fashion show on Friday to support our school district. 

And, as I always say, when you have too much fun you don't get any pictures.

Jason will be happy to know that I didn't buy any of the fashions...I just watched them go down the runway. 

Choir Concert

JR had his first choir concert of the year the other night.

As usual, they sounded great.

There's JR.

They sang the school song

Let it Be, which JR didn't like because as a "true fan", he doesn't think any of The Beatles songs should be re-arranged. 

And they ended with Bless You and Keep You, which is a tradition they always end with. 

Kick Axe

Jason had a axe throwing competition as a team building.  

Jason had only thrown axes one other time (when we went to "adult camp" a couple of years ago while the kids were all at camp).

One guess who won (and who was the most proud that he won.)

Cute Advertiser

I love finding one of my kids in unexpected places, I just wish he got a kick-back for his "modeling". 

I'm Sure it won't be the Last

JR drove home Friday night with his car looking like this.

His friends in theater were supposed to decorate one of the football player's cars, but added JR to their list. 

Kyle came running in the house tattling that JR had written on his car...anything to get JR in trouble. 

No to Glasses

As soon as we walked into the eye doctor yesterday the receptionist said, "Hey Kyle!", which should have tipped me off that he was not their normal patient since we haven't been in in a year.

Turns out she remembered him because she said he's the youngest kid she's ever seen able to wear contacts. 

Kyle's eyes have gotten even worse, the doctor said they've gotten worse than what's normal, but not enough to be concerned.  Without his contacts the poor kid can't even read a fast food menu on the wall. 

Jason said before he got Lasik he couldn't see the big E.  So not only does Kyle look and act just like Jason, he sees like him too. 

Kyle left with new contacts to try out for a week, and they were again super impressed with his speed of putting them in. 

You'd think he'd be ok with glasses since he loved them so much when he was little.