I'm Over Balloons

 The 3-day homecoming experience has come to an end, and I'm still tired.  

Homecoming weekend actually started on Thursday with Kyle's mum exchange, but I'm going to jump to Friday and go back to Thursday later. 

 We hosted the mum exchange before the game Friday night, and I decided balloons would be the way to go.

With the help of a friend, I had the stairs already done by Friday morning

By Friday afternoon, my floor looked like this. 

Everyone was arriving at 6:00, and by 5:30 we had 2 balloon poles and an adorable sign that Reed's date's sister had made (she has a little business) all set up on the ledge of the pool for pictures.  I didn't get a picture of it because I was so rushed to run inside to get dressed. 

About 5:45 I heard Jason yelling for help.  And I went outside and found my beautiful photo station like this.

We were able to save the balloons, but not the sign.

And though photo-op tragedy had struck, by 5:55 we were back in business looking like this. 

And by 6:03 we had a house full of people.

All that to say, I'll be totally ok if I don't have to blow up a balloon anytime soon. 

I Spoke Too Soon

 I really did think all my mum posts were over.  But then Kyle's date's mom called me to bring over her mum and get Kyle's garter so they can do the exchange.  I asked her if I could embellish it, or did all the drill team mums have to look the same.  

Obviously, I was super excited when she told me I could add to it.

 I can't believe I forgot to take a before picture.  But here is their advertisement picture. When you order a mum from the drill team they give you a plain mum, some trinkets to put on, and the stickers that spell out the names.  So imagine this, but without the names and other stickers on it. 

And here's what I did with it.

I Think He Goes to School

 Apparently JR is enrolled in classes and goes to school.  But I've yet to hear about anything education related.  Instead, I've heard all about his musical escapades as of recent. 

First, he was invited on stage to "sing" a little Kid Rock with a band he knows from his job this summer.

Then he and some buddies drove down to Jackson (2 1/2 hours away) to see Creed (on a school night). The family got this text about that. 

And then his band played a sorority date party last week. They work cheap.

So yeah. Clearly lots of schooling going on. 

A 13 and a 10

 Reed had his last two cross country meets before district.  Last week he finished 13th and this week he finished in 10th place. 

Here's last week's start

If you medal, they usually give it to you as soon as you cross the finish line, but they had an award's ceremony after all the races. 

Then at this week's meet the fog was insane! 

Here's the foggy start

He had a great season.  Since he was on varsity, we really expected him to be finishing in the middle of the pack.  But instead, he medaled at every meet but 1, and he ran a 16:47 (5K) at that meet. 

(Hopefully) The Last of the Mum Updates

 You'll be proud of me, I've had 2 requests to do mums this week and I've turned them both down. I said I didn't have the supplies, which is true, it would require a trip to the store to do them, but what I really wanted to say was "Homecoming is next weekend, and it's not my fault you waited until the last minute!" 

So here are the ones I did this year.

On the Subject of Mums

 While we're talking about mums, Kyle had to make a garter for his floral design class.  Now, I know what you're thinking.  Why is Kyle taking floral design?  Well, not only does it count as his FFA class so he can show an animal, but it also counts as his fine art credit.

He's been texting the family group chat to show his progress, and "prove how easy it is to make a mum". (I'm not sure I ever said it was hard.)

And here's his finished garter, which he said he made a 97 on because the ribbon on the right hand side sticks out too far.  If those are the rules, then I definitely don't want any of my mums to be graded! 

Mum Update

It's homecoming time, and my mum game has been elevated! My new purchases have been life changing.  I bought myself a rolling cutter, a cutting mat with measurements, and an industrial stapler! 

I was going to update on Wednesday, but then Jason chopped off his finger, so I've gotten further along since then.  Here's where I was on Wednesday. 

And here's where I am now.

If you're wondering where Kyle's is, he's taking a girl on drill team and they have their own mums, so I don't have to do one for his date.  His garter is hanging in the back on the left. 

This is Why I Don't Cook

 So I actually made something to feed the kids for dinner Wednesday night, but since I'm not good at anything that involves chopping, I asked Jason to make them a salad (which he does all the time and is way better than me).

He was talking to Kyle as he chopped....and....you know where this is going.

Immediately I said, "let's go to the emergency room", which I'm 100% sure would have been Margaret Reynolds's immediate response, so add that to the list of things I learned from her. 

Jason was saying "it's not that bad" and Kyle was saying "it's not that bad", but while I was in the bathroom looking for gauze, I heard Kyle say, "Oh...that is bad".  And since Little Jason had declared it was, in fact, bad, Big Jason let me take him to the ER. 

I texted the family group chat, mainly to let JR know.  And if you're worried college might have changed JR.  Nope, he's still the same and was able to make it about himself.

(Thankfully the burned hand didn't require JR getting medevacked to Memphis.)

The doctor told him he took his pinky 60% of the way off! 

Here's what it looked like after they cleaned him up.

Here he is stitched up.

And here he is good as new. 

9/11

 I thought all the flags at JR's house looked so nice for today. 

Meet #3

 It was absolutely beautiful on Saturday morning...not our usual hot and humid September. I mean, I'm sure it has something to do with the hurricane in the gulf that may or may not hit us on Wednesday, but at least it was cool and pretty on Saturday! 

I'm not sure what was up with the course, but it felt more like a steeplechase race than a cross country meet.  There were trees in the middle of the course, sharp turns, and ditches filled with water. 

Here's the start, I have no idea where Reed is in that pack of 137 kids.

And here's another ditch, at least this one doesn't have water. 

He ran a 16:50 and came in 19th which earned him a medal.

My Birthday Revisited

 We finally got the pictures from my birthday parade, and they are really fun! 

Tiny Mic

 JR might be back at school, but at least they're still putting out new JR content from this summer so we can all enjoy his Alabama/Mississippi accent. 

Beaver Nuggets

 Kyle seems to always be off to somewhere these days. 

And I guess all roads lead to Bucee's. 

XC2

 Reed had his second cross country meet of the year on Saturday and he was very excited with his time.  They ran a 5K this week and he wanted to do a sub 17.  He finished in 16:47 so he was very happy.  This was a very competitive meet with 150 runners, and he came in 28th place.  

And I always have to video the start as I so enjoy the craziness when they all take off.