Why Yes, Yes I Am.

When I took this picture Saturday morning one of the boys asked me "Are you going to put this on your blog."

And the answer is: 

Yes, Yes I am.  

Because this little well dressed team won, and will be competing at state at the end of the month.

They wrote a 7 page paper, and gave a 7 minute presentation on Investing in the Digital Age. 

Now I still don't understand everything they talked about, but (I think) it was mainly about how social media can influence investments. 

They worked really hard, and we are pretty impressed by them. 

District 24

 Kyle competed at district on Thursday night.  

Here are some of his dives, and I think our commentary is at a minimum (for us anyway)

He placed 4th which means he'll compete again at regionals in a few weeks.

The Great Flood of '24

 I didn't want to tell this story until it had a full happy ending, so here we go. 

Our pipes here in Houston just can't handle any kind of freezing, so when it froze last week they turned off the water to the pig barn.  (The kids have to take water out to their animals, where they normally have a little spout in their pen that they can drink from anytime they want.) 

When they turned the water back on at 8:00 am on Wednesday, one of the pipes burst.  And nobody went back out to the pig barn until after school when the kids showed up to start feeding their pigs.

By the time Kyle arrived after dive practice (which gets out at 5:00) this is what he was dealing with.  

They got all the pigs in the show barn and made temporary pens for them until they could get the pig barn cleaned up.  And when I say "they", I mean the kids.  Kyle had to completely clean out and sanitize Willie's pen. 

Willie was able to move back home on Saturday, which he was very happy about.  

And here he is enjoying an applesauce under his heat lamp. 

 

All snug as a bug in a rug.

Snow Pretty

 JR was supposed to start school yesterday, but most of the state of Mississippi has been shut down for over a week.  We got an email last week that they were delaying the start of school until Thursday and, oh by the way, don't even think about sending your kids back until Wednesday. 

Looking at the weather, yesterday looked like our best option of getting JR back as it was going to be above freezing, and not raining. 

Here he is loaded up, all while Chloe gives me the stink eye because I told her she couldn't go.

He made it back just fine, and look how pretty his house looks in all that snow!

My Flower Pictures are the Best too

I made 5 nosegays for Cotillion and not to toot my own horn, but toot-toot, they looked awesome. 

This is what my car looks like on the way home from flowering shopping.

I was happy to pose with my own handiwork for this picture with Reed.

Kyle told me his date wanted all white.  I had no idea she was wearing an emerald dress when I put in the green, and the contrast looked so good!

Because we had been up early for the marathon, I didn't want to have to deal with everyone coming all day to pick theirs up.  I just put them on the porch for pick-up, and since it was cold outside, it was like they were in the refrigerator.

And I even got a picture of how pretty the red rose one looked. 

Monkey Pictures are the Best

We started Sunday morning off with the marathon and ended it with cotillion, so yeah, it was a big day.

The best thing about cotillion is that it's a girl thing, so as a boy mom, I didn't have to plan anything! All I had to do was get the boys a tux and make a few nosegays. 

Here's what they look like in tuxes.

And here's what they look like with us in tuxes.

Kyle and Reed were in different groups (of course they were) but Jason and I were able to snap a few pictures of both of them. 

Reed's date

Reed's group

Kyle's date

Kyle's group (Kyle's on the right hand side)

They said they had lots of fun at the party, but this best part was obviously getting their pictures made with the monkeys...which I guess were there because it was an Arbian Nights theme.

Not Kyle's date

Kyle with 3 monkeys

Reed with a monkey

I picked Reed up from his afterparty at 1:00 am, while Kyle ubered home at that same time, which means we started the day at 5:00am and ended at 1:00 am the next. 

I was happy for a holiday Monday and an extra (it's too cold to go to school) holiday Tuesday. 

1/2 #2

 Reed ran his second 1/2 marathon yesterday.

Reed and I went and picked up his packet on Saturday.  It's a big deal to get in the A group, you have to turning in official race times, and they have to approve you, so getting an A number is pretty cool. 

Quite a few of the cross country kids ran, and here are some of them along with their coach (who also ran it really fast).

Here's Reed's view at the starting line.  This is what it looks like at the "official" start time since he was in the first group.

Jason and I were able to see him after mile 4 where Reed gave us his pullover.

The lady looking on was super impressed with how fast Reed was going.

Speaking of fast...with the traffic, road closures, and getting stuck by the longest train I've ever seen we were never able to catch him again.  We've made a plan that next year we are going to go straight to the finish line from mile 4. 

Here he is with cross country friends that he finished with. 

And after we found him.  We were very proud.

Kyle Has a Driver's License

 So finally Kyle has a driver's license, but I still believe the DPS hates me.

He passed his back alley $50 private test with flying colors, but I had to wait until Friday to get him back in to the DPS.  On Monday when I took Reed they took the paperwork that the driving center gave us, and asked for his permit.  So if I had I taken this exact same paperwork that Reed needed, we would have left without a license.  But since I know the DPS hates me, I had every piece of paperwork that they could think up to ask for.

They never once asked for Reed's birth certificate.  I had to present Kyle's birth certificate 3 separate times. They also made Kyle pass an eye test (Kyle and Reed both wear contacts). And those of you that know how blind Kyle is know I was holding my breath during that!

 The one thing they never asked for either of them was their proof they are enrolled in school (and this is supposedly a requirement).

Anway, everyone in this house now has a driver's license...except Chloe. 

The DPS Hates Me

 I dreamed all Sunday night that I wouldn't be able to get Kyle's driver's license, and guess what, I was right.

We got there and all checked in, and then they called over everybody that was there for a driving test.  She informed us that an 18-wheeler had hit the top of the carport where they do part of the test and so it would be unsafe to administer the test.  She offered to reschedule our test, but didn't know how long it would take to fix it, so she didn't know when they could actually reschedule the test for.

So needless to say, Kyle didn't get his driver's license yesterday.

I had Reed scheduled at a different place in the afternoon, so he was able to get his. But JR was in such a hurry for them to leave (they went to the National Championship last night) and it also looked like a tornado was about to touch down, that I didn't even get a good picture.

But here he is with his truck, which he drove to school today (well, sort of, we are renting one of his friend's driveways near the school since they can't park at school as sophomores.)

I was able to get Kyle in this morning to take his test at a 3rd party site, but I wasn't able to get him back in to the DPS for them to give him his license until Friday. (Which was the only appointment not 2 weeks out in the whole entire city, suburbs, and surrounding areas of Houston) So we'll be off to the DPS again on Friday. Bless my heart. 

16

 We left Colorado yesterday morning about 7:15 and we rolled in last night at 12:45.

We didn't get too much snow, but we got this much over about 2 days. 

This morning we woke up to 2 people being 16.

Reed told me my display was "a bit excessive", but Kyle (and Chloe) seemed to think it was ok. 

I will be receiving guests all day tomorrow at the DPS if you'd like to come visit with me since I have a morning appointment and an afternoon appointment. You know I'm known to have problems at the DPS, so here's hoping I have good news to report. 

Ruined Skiing

 I was told that nobody wants to ski with me because I'm so slow I "ruin it for everybody".

That might be true, but I still got a few pictures with them. 

Almost everybody in the family.

Everybody in the family

And with the people I ruin skiing for. 

2nd Day of the Year

 So far 2024 is a lot like 2023.

Reed's been running.

Kyle's been working.

And we've all been skiing.

Some way more than others. 

Yes, we are the others. 

It was a Good Year