New Do

Chloe got her hair cut yesterday.

The poor mobile groomers was outside my house for 2 hours. 

And since she looked so pretty, everyone wanted to have a photo shoot with her.

Even Chloe knows she looks good.  She is giving me all kinds of attitude...

Field Tripping

Before the freeze, frost, and ice hit, I went on a field trip with the 4th grade.

I notoriously hate field trips, but I volunteered since this one was "leave the school at 10:45 and be back by 1:00".

Turns out it was one of the best field trips I've ever been on.

We went to the Houston Museum of Fine Arts and were split up in groups of 10.  

This was my 10ish.

We had our own tour guide assigned to our group, and it was actually really interesting.  

The kids enjoyed it and so did I.

No pictures of Kyle since I was chaperoning for Reed's class and I only saw him 1 time for a quick second. 

Distinguished

The kids went back to school yesterday and I had JR's awards assembly first thing in the morning. I was there to see him get his award for honor roll, and was pleasantly surprised when they announced he was the distinguished student for his history teacher (who is also the basketball coach JR is the manager for).

The grade level principal was reading out the award and since he announced him as "JaaaaaaaaR Ingersoll" like JR says his name on the announcements, I had time to grab my camera and start videoing 

It's always fun to hear nice things about your kid, and we are always proud to have a distinguished student in the house. 

Clarification

Reed is upset that I said there was "no snow".

Ok, so there was enough snow for Kyle and Reed to make this awesome snowman. 

Oh, and if you'd like to see how big he really is, here you go.

And Reed was able to do this

In other exciting news, the kids went back to school today!

(If you're counting they've missed 12 days this year due to hurricanes and ice.)

No School Again

I guess the theme of this school year is "let's not go to school".

We are on our 2nd day of a "snow day", though there's no snow.

Even Jason's office is closed today, confirming this:

Chloe and I have been doing this for 2 days.

Which also confirms:

Kyle and Reed have been staying active.

This shows why we can't have nice things...and why we have no use for toys.

They needed me to video, but they were able to take these pictures on their own.

And I really need them to go back to school before they tear something else up...or break a foot like Kyle did during Harvey.

JR has had friends spend the night the last 2 nights. 

Thankfully they just sit around and watch things on TV.

All Celebrated

Kyle and Reed's 10th birthday celebrations have come to a close.

They started on the night before their birthday when Granny Sherry took them to Saltgrass to eat ribs.

(They wore the left over NYE party hats for the picture only, not the rib eating.)

 When they got home they made sure to remind me no less than 10 times that the "Birthday Fairy" needed to come and decorate their doors.

 Unbeknownst to them, the Birthday Fairy had already made arrangements for the yard to be decorated...but not wanting the new ten year olds to be sad when they woke up, she (and he) went ahead and decorated the doors.

And here's the yard decorations The Birthday Fairy had planned.

For dinner they said they wanted Jason to cook them a steak, so here they are showing off their "favorite" dinner.

Birthday cake for dessert

They decided that instead of a big party, they each wanted to invite 2 friends each to Benihanas and have a sleepover (DONE!) We had that "party" on Saturday. 

 And instead of a cake, we let them make S'mores.

Fire is a huge hit with boys.

And if you're wondering why Kyle had so many clothes on, don't worry, that didn't last long.

Special Guest

On the way home from Breckenridge, JR asked if Steven (his BFF from Durango that now lives close to Ft. Worth) could come and spend a few days with him over Christmas break. 

A couple of texts and a  phone call with his mama (my friend, Liz) later, Jason and JR found themselves picking up Steven from the airport on the 26th.

JR and Steven have always been kindred spirits and have been friends since they were 6 or 7, it's been so long I can't even remember. 

It was funny having Steven here and not seeing him for so long, because in the 2 or 3 years since I've seen him, he's turned in to his dad...looks, talks, and acts just like him. 

  The boys had lots of fun.  They went to the movies, out to eat, went to the Texas Bowl (the UT/Missouri game), and did whatever else 14 year old boys do.

This was the only picture I got of them (as soon as Steven walked in the house) and I'm glad I did since I didn't get any others.

JR is already planning when he can go up and visit Steven.