Here's What They're Giving

I just got back from volunteering at the kids' school and Kyle's class was so excited about Valentine's Day they could hardly function. 

His teacher even started having them go ahead and pass them out so maybe they could calm down and learn something.

Bless her heart, she's got a long 2 days.

 

 

So here's my disclaimer: I am not giving out candy this year. 

We're just giving out one thing and done.

 

 

These are Kyle's valentines.  I made them for him (from a kit), and he loves them. 

Cause that's the deal Kyle and I have nonverbally agreed on...I do the work, and he acts like it's the best thing ever.

 One of the cute little girls in Kyle's class I was working with saw him putting her valentine in her box and said, "Yessss, I got a pink owl!"

 

 

 

Reed has been slaving over his valentines. He is obsessed with looming these days, so he made everybody in his class a bracelet.  You should see the bracelets the girls he likes are getting!

 

Reed and I sat together and he picked out each bracelet and who it was for and then we made the name tag.  In my head I was thinking, "this is so much fun, the other two would never enjoy doing this."  I guess Reed was thinking the same thing since as soon as we were finished he said, "Well, that was fun."

 

Reed's are entirely homemade since we also made the paper chains as "cards".

This was his idea to write instead of "From". 

As for the child who could care less about Valentines (though he expects presents to be given to him),  best I can tell, he isn't even writing who the cards are to.

He's just going to throw one in each box. 

As much thought as Reed put into his, is how little JR did.

I Win

 When it comes to making Valentine's boxes, I totally win.

 

The kids had to take theirs to school yesterday, and Reed is claiming somebody's pirate ship box is better than his, but I find that hard to believe.

Because, come on, these boxes are awesome.

Reed helped me make his (of course he did) but the other two just ordered up what they wanted and walked away.

Reed and I made the alligator for him, JR wanted the Captain America, and Kyle wanted a cat. 

 

We've also got all the Valentines already addressed, so bring it, Valentine's Day!

5 Shows. 2 Weeks.

I'm about to say something I never thought I'd say:

I think I've had my fill of jazz hands for awhile.

 

 

Now, before you think I've become a different person overnight, let me explain.

JR and I have seen 5 musicals in the last 2 weeks.  That's right 5.

 

 

This is the time of year all the high schools are doing their shows, and JR and I may have gone a little overboard trying to see so many.

And though JR and I saw the most, Granny Sherry saw 4, and Kyle and Reed saw 2. 

(Not surprisingly, Jason's number stands at 0.)

 

Here's what we saw:

 

Show #1: Memorial High School: Drowsy Chaperone. 

 

This is JR eating in the VIP room.  It sounds fancy until I tell you it only cost 5 bucks to be a VIP. 

JR says this was the show (meaning the actual script) that he liked the most...as in, he wants to be in Drowsy Chaperone.

 

 

 

Show #2: Stratford High School: Bye, Bye Birdie.

 

If you aren't familiar with this one it's basically like Elvis (Conrad Birdie) is being sent off to the army.  This was Granny Sherry's favorite.

 

 

Show #3: Spring Woods High School: The Addams Family. 

 

My kids had no idea who the Addams Family were, and they're kind of hard to explain.  I finally said, "They're like a goth family."  The boy who played Gomez was excellent, and oh to be 17 again and have the body to wear Morticia's slinky dress!

 

 

Spring Woods is where Jason went to high school, so we sent him this picture and asked if it looked familiar.

 

 

 

Show #4: Houston Christian High School: Pippin.

 

This one was fantastic.  JR and I both loved every second. I almost cried it was so good...and I don't even know any of the kids!

 

 

Show #5: Seven Lakes High School: The Music Man.

 

This one was out by where we lived when JR was born in Katy.  We wouldn't have driven out there, but since JR is doing The Music Man in May, we wanted to see it. 

I didn't get tickets early enough, so we couldn't sit together.  Kyle sat with Granny Sherry and she said she was worried he was going to sing all the songs during the show since before it started Kyle was singing with the orchestra's instrumental versions!

 

 

JR and I are planning to see Cinderella and A Chorus Line later in the month. But I definitely need a weekend off.

Fashion Fabulous Friday

 

 

You can always count on the 100th day of school for some handcrafted headware.

More Actors Than We Can Shake a Stick At

Look at these faces and tell me these two aren't proud to be following in their big brother's footsteps.

 

 

The 1st grade is having a Texas play at school, and Kyle and Reed are beside themselves that they got speaking parts.

 

"Mom! Not everybody got a speaking part!"

Here they are proudly holding their 2 line scripts.

 

Reed is playing the part of Ice Cream.

And Kyle is Cowboy #7.

And yes, of course, we already have their costumes picked out from the prop closet.



Seven Kids for a Seventh Party

Jason actually heard on the radio that most people with kids who have a late December/early January birthday wait until the end of January to have their birthday party.

 

 

Which is what we did. I scheduled it for January 31st.

 

 

That same radio station also had moms calling in to complain that nobody was coming to their parties because apparently everybody goes out of town for the Superbowl.

 

 

This was the first year we've even been invited to somebody's house to watch the game, much less go out of town.

Where are people going?

Unless you're going to the Superbowl (which I know nobody that was there) why would you leave town?

 

 

But I guess that's a "thing" because of the 25 kids Kyle and Reed invited to their party, they had 7 friends come.

 

 

Luckily, they could have cared less that they had a low turn-out, they loved their party.

(It was at Mad Science; they do a 45 minute fun science show.)

 

 Their party guests (plus JR brought a friend).

Making slime to take home.

 

I finally figured out how to do their birthday cake.

I ordered one cake, and didn't give them a choice of what it was.

(They would have argued just to argue.)

 

I showed up with their cake, and said "Come look at your birthday cake!"

I got a "Thank you, Mommy, I love it" from both of them.  No complaints, no fighting.

 

So I guess that's another mom lesson learned.

No birthday parties over Superbowl weekend.

Super Bummed

JR is very bitter today.

He's still mad at the Seahawks for beating the Broncos last Super Bowl.

I think I've told you he refers to the Seahawks as "the team who must not be named".

 

He's also not a big Patriots fan. 

He's taken "deflate gate" very personally.

 

He said if he had to rank his favorite teams the Patriots are #31 and The Team Who Must not be Named comes in at  #32.

 

He wore this to church this morning in protest.

I emailed him this the other day. 

Grumpy Cat speaks JR's truth.