Halloween

Halloween did not shine quite as brightly as it has in years past for the king. Last year the weather was great, and he had finally trained the children to make the most of all his trick-or-treating skills. They knew to avoid dark houses (chances of loot are slim), try to find neighborhoods where the houses are a little closer together, use a pillowcase so you don't have to come back so often, don't put your coat in the bag as it looks like you have more than you really do...He's a trick-or-treating expert.

Alas, this year, his children have about out-grown trick-or-treating. The prince didn't go at all (he's a sophomore after all!) But the princess did go with friends, and they did try to put his tricks, tips, and words of advice to work.

But before that could happen, there were pumpkins to carve. Oh, the sadness. Oh, the shock. Oh, the shame. Look who had to carve the pumpkins (donated from our neighbor's garden--no tornado could hold them down!) all by himself. Sniff, sniff. I'm not even sure we'll worry about pumpkins next year. The kids didn't. They were too busy living their more exciting lives! Please join me in a moment of silence for the king's lost dream.

He patterned them off a Halloween card one of the kids got, and they sure did turn out cute!

Cute! At 9:15 I texted the girls to head home. The princess quickly called back to ask us to come get them, as they were quite a distance from the house, and they were tired. When we came upon them, they weren't even trying to walk home. They were sitting on the wet sidewalk (it had been raining) waiting for us! If you're too tired to hoist your bag-o-loot (some people gave out cans of soda, not to mention all the candy they got), then it must be time to go home!

And here's a close up of her cute Ring Master costume taken the night before on her way to the school dance.

Famous!

The prince is famous. Just ask him! :) He and some other stunt team members were featured in the paper yesterday. I hope these links work. One is the article, and one is the video, both featured in The Gazette yesterday. Excuse me sir, may I have your autograph?


http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/vmix_67bcbdba-e399-11df-8364-001cc4c002e0.html

http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/education/article_cf8bb7df-500f-53f8-a876-1b85d7f4049d.html

Happy Birthday Beautiful Birthday Girl!

13!

Stop getting older!

Have a wonderful year.

We love you!

Happy Birthday Isaiah!

Happy 5th birthday, Buddy.

Have a GRRRRRRREAT day!

Happy Halloween!

Guess who?

Hint: She was rarely this witchy when I was growing up.

Party #2

Early out at school, then home to hang for a little bit, off to see "You Again" at the theater--Betty White is the highlight of that movie, then a little shopping at Kohles--the great thing here is that you can try on all the pretty dresses for FREE and are not required to buy them (definitely the cheapest part of the night), stop at Cold Stone for some birthday ice cream, then back home for Wii fun, dancing, movies, and staying up most of the night. They were up about 9:00 for breakfast. Is anyone else tired? But I believe a good time was had by all!

I promised to not show their legs as a couple of them still had their jeans on and at least one of them was sure their hairy legs would show! :)

By the way, the most expensive part of the evening? Not the movie, not Cold Stone where I bought extra ice cream to take home to the men in the house, but the popcorn and pop at the movie!!! What a racket, as I KNOW how much popcorn and soda cost in the real world. I'm positive pop and popcorn is how the theater pays its overhead.

And so it begins...

And so begins the crazy that is late October, early November at our house. We had our "family" party for the princess last night. The prince was unable to attend as he was dressed in the chicken suit for a playoff game (we lost :( ). But we had lots of fun at home, celebrating with "the cake with the most frosting", which was the criteria when she was choosing said cake.

13!

She has learned to hold her hair back to avoid catching fire. (It's been known to happen at our house!)

In order to get this...

You must first do this--not that it looks either of us is enjoying the required birthday hug!

Friends over for movie, Cold Stone, and sleep-over tonight. Movie for the prince and school dance for the princess tomorrow night. Trick-or-treating for the princess with friends Sunday. The real birthday Monday. TWIRP next Saturday. The princess' fall choir concert the next Monday...

Bring it on!

Shoulda known better!

Never anger a woman who knows how to operate a backhoe!

Pack the Place in Pink Video

If all goes according to my plan, when you click the link below, you'll get a nice video from the Gazette web site that features a certain blue-feathered bird at the end! :)

http://billingsgazette.com/schools/aa/billings-skyview/vmix_fc734ed2-e188-11df-b6a1-001cc4c002e0.html

Pack The Place In Pink

By way of background, 4 years ago the girls' volleyball coach at our high school was diagnosed with breast cancer. She survived, and that year the girls wore pink socks and had a few more people in the stands than usual for the first event. As you can see, it has grown considerably. The place was "packed"! The mayor was there and had declared it "wear pink" day. News media, 100s of kids, cancer awareness groups, and both hospitals were in attendance. They played West High, and in the photos the pockets of black you see are West supporters. Their t-shirts (which were supposed to be pink but were made in black with pink writing accidentally) said "West Thinks Pink". Although we lost the match, the event was a huge success. The event will go state-wide next year as there were regional reps here last night to check out how it's done. Six weeks ago this same coach was diagnosed with breast cancer again. She caught it early, had surgery, and won't need radiation. It was an inspirational night. And of course, our favorite Falcoe was there to entertain the masses! Awesome!

The student section beginning to fill up.

This was still during the warm ups. That side was full by game time, and I'm sure our side was too.

The first game was over, and he was already sweaty. That's the mayor in the back with the pink shirt on and his face 1/2 cut out.

Hip Hop Day 3

This video is a little longer. It's actually three shorter parts that he taught them and then put all together. You'll see a small group of dancers to begin with, then girls in the back join in. Finally there's a pause as he changes the music while more girls join. If you turn it up, you'll probably recognize the Michael Jackson music. The instructor was chosen to perform as Michael, duplicating the Smooth Criminal dance (and two others) shortly after Michael passed away at the VMA awards, so much of the weekend was spent learning Michael's moves. What was impressive to me is that I remember these dances from the 80's which means that maybe Hip Hop has its roots in Michael Jackson. I don't know that for sure, but I'm thinking it's possible!

While the cat's away...

While the princess and I were out of town and the king was at work, the prince and a friend borrowed (yep, they did have permission) the falcon suits (the new one is so much cooler than the old one!), and headed to the top of the town to make a video on their longboards. (Yes, the same longboard he broke his arm riding, but he is a little more cautious now...or so he claims.) The video is too long for Blogger, and it's purpose was some longboard company contest, but here are some cool still photos. Dorks--must I end every post about him like that???

He did insist that he wear the cooler of the two costumes!

Showcase!

After a long day of dance yesterday, we headed to pizza and a dance showcase. The princess did Halo with her peeps once last time--but then, everytime I think it's the last time I'll see them perform Halo, another opportunity presents itself. We'll see how that pans out. Other dance schools from across the state also showed off their dancers. It was GREAT! More dance this morning and then we head home! (Insert Snoopy Happy Dance here!)

The princess, Christian and Megan...our roommates!

Mary Beth and Christian

The Princess and Yours Truly

Dance Workshop--Day Two--Hip Hop

Dance Workshop--Day Two--Jazz

Hip Hop and Modern--Day 1

The princess is feeling sore this morning. Hip hop was quite a workout. There were also 2 modern classes, a jazz class, and a theater class that was really just more hip hop. Her favorite this fall is the hip hop, but it's also the class making her sore as the teacher does an intense core workout as a warm up. We're off to the same classes today with a little ballet thrown in for fun and a "show" tonight where each dance school will feature one dance. Woot Woot!

The first two photos are from hip hop III.

These are from modern "leaps, turns, and jumps" class. They are leaping!

Dance Workshop--Day One--Hip Hop

Internet Thief!

I must confess that I am an internet thief. I don't steal access, but I do steal photos. The last 4 blog posts were all photos taken from other people's facebook accounts. And I feel no remorse. This photo was taken from a blog I stalk! Is her hair hilarious or what??? It makes me smile! We are off on a dance/road trip adventure later today. I hope to be a faithful blogger while on the road, but time (and internet access) will tell!

More Cousins

Silly!

Great shot! We're talking Christmas Card quality!

Oops! Snuck a sisty in there too! :)

And for the record, I'm thinking Becky looks more like her mother...not so much like me!

Hee hee!

Homecoming 2010

My sister is "lucky" enough to have 2 kids in high school right now. Twice the fun for homecoming! And their homecoming is a little more formal than ours, as you can see by how nicely Mariah and Tyson were dressed!

Mariah

Tyson and Friend

I'm Ready For My Close-Up

The cheer team went down-town last week with a professional photographer for a photo shoot. These photos were taken with someone's cell phone as they were waiting their turn. The photographer wanted an "urban" look so they were in a nasty alley, and it's probably good they are all current on their tetanus shots. As you can see, the prince has recruited his friend, Lakota, to cheer with him--a little more testosterone was apparently needed on the stunt squad. Also, the prince likes this cheer shirt much less than his blue one. He's pretty sure the white makes him look fat! :)

School Should Be Harder!

I don't remember if the princess told me this happened in Health or Social Studies on Friday, but either way, they had way too much free time on their hands. When they got done with their assignment, the teacher let them socialize. It went something like this:

Hey, Bailey, let me French braid you bangs.




Hey! Princess! That's hurting a little!

Come on, Mason. Hannah and I will show you how it's done.

Dorks!

Commas Matter

Go eat Grandma.

Go eat, Grandma.

Here's another one

This happened yesterday too. I was helping a 7th grader with some vocabulary. He was having to write a sentence with certain words in it. He came to the word "wean". He asked what it meant so I said, "You know, like a puppy has to be weaned from it's mother's milk before it can go to a new home."

He thought for a minute and then said, "Can I write, 'My dad is being weaned off Zoloft.'?"

"Sure."

Laughing on the inside and a little bit of "too much information"!

LOL

Sometimes it's the little things that make me laugh out loud.

For example, yesterday my sister sent me a test. She decided to take her 4 year old to McDonald's to play while she tried to read the last 3 days' worth of newspapers. Alas, it was not meant to be. All those screaming kids gave her a huge headache!

Sorry sisty, but that made me laugh out loud!

Today during 7th period( the end of the day!!!) an 8th grader asked me if he could finish his lunch in class.

Okay.

So I could hear him mumbling away. When I looked over at him, he was having a long conversation with his cheese stick. Upon further listen, it was clear he was impressed with the nutritional value of the cheese stick and then went on to apologize to the cheese stick for pulling him apart.

Seriously, I was laughing out loud.

But he topped it off when after he finished his soda, he got up to throw the can away, and as he walked to the garbage he said, "This is the saddest part about drinking a soda...finishing it."

I was trying NOT TO roll on the floor laughing because I don't want to encourage this late-afternoon feasting, but he was cracking me up today!!!

Finally, after school, I stopped by the office for a minute, and the secretary and I were laughing at all the kids who say that teachers "make" them do work. The princess was there and added that her English teacher is "making" her read a book she's not interested in. There was a boy standing there so I asked him, "What are they making you do?"

I fully expected him to answer, "Social Studies or Science," or something along those lines.

Nope! His answer, "Community service."

Oh my! I did have the presence of mind to laugh under my breath at that one.

So thanks for the laughs and keep 'em comin'!

Happy Birthday Marty!

Happy Birthday your royal Martiness! :)

Happy Birthday Robin!

Hey Robin! Hope you had a great day. Sorry this is late. For some reason I was thinking you were the day before Marty (who's birthday is in a couple of days) instead of the day before Kathi! My apologies. Hope it was a great day!

Autism--A Boy's View

At school we see many kids with Autism. It's diagnosis continues to grow. There is a spectrum of Autism, and some kids function quite well. I would venture to guess that one of my kids might have been (maybe still is) mildly, mildly autistic as a toddler. Or maybe that was just toddlerism at its finest. Autistic children are often very gifted and/or intelligent though breaking through their walls to discover their gifts is very often difficult.

At any rate, I just finished reading an article written by a mom whose son is autistic. He just started school. She believes that on the autism scale, he's probably moderately autistic. One night, as she was sitting in his room, he told her how his brain works. She happened to have her computer with her so typed up, verbatim, what he said. It's fascinating.

"I have a little doorknob on a little door that has 10,000 computers in it," he said. "There are even little doors that have more. I have this control panel with two levers. You pull the lever, and then I can think of something. So that's how my brain works.

"I count the ABC's and then I try to get the letters. So that's how I know the ABC's. And now I don't forget them anymore. I go ABC, DEFG, HIJK, LMNOP, QRS, TUV, WXY and Z. Now I know my ABC's, next time won't you germ with me."

He paused. I did not want him to stop. I wanted to know everything, because I think that knowing him will let me protect him. I am wrong, of course.

"Is that how you do math?" I asked, quietly. I was afraid to move his train of thought. "Do you do math with the levers?"

He shook his head no.

"This door called the Multiplication Center is almost as close as the library in my brain. It has one computer, and then I have four, and tomorrow I will have 16. And then I have these little flaps that you flip and you color them and see if you make some multiplication, the math, the worksheets."

He continued down the hallway of his mind.

"Down in my lab I think about germs. I think about Pull-Ups and I think about 'Star Wars,' Indiana Jones, Batman. Legos are in my lab.

"And guess what else? Next over there I got the attic. That attic is full of junk. There are beach balls and stuff everywhere, a lot of things in there. And I think people have played with them.

"I have a school place. This one is kind of like my classrooms, but mine is mixed up. It is upside down, kind of. I have the school Legos, they go right there, because I have this little shelf that we can put things, but we don't put things at the bottom."

Happy Birthday Kathi!

Enjoy your day!

10-10-10

Now that's a cool date!