Our Beethoven In The Making

When I enrolled the kids in piano lessons this year, I thought the opportunity was perfect. My friend had convinced a teacher from Midland to travel to us and teach at the friend's house, rather than us all traveling there. She was willing, as long as there were at least 4 students. NO PROBLEM! I had to choose just 2 of mine for the slots that were open, and decided on Aimee and Alex, since they needed to continue their previous lessons and I'd just teach Allie on my own for now.

Then, extracurriculars happened. Aimee couldn't do piano because she was staying after school for volleyball. NO PROBLEM! We did a quick switch up and had Alex and Allie scheduled for Monday piano lessons, at the very last minute. Allie screamed and cried and threw tantrums about having to have lessons and we practically had to drag her out of the house (instead of dragging, I carried her).

We were going to let Alex go first to let Allie settle down, but when we arrived, NO PROBLEM! Allie was a complete turn around. She loved the teacher the instant she saw her and said hello. Allie wanted to go first so that she could play with her friend afterward (who, incidentally, also was substituted in for an older sibling who just refused to do lessons.)

After the first week, we found out that Aimee didn't make the volleyball team and Alex was, in fact, supposed to be staying after school for football (as manager this season). NO PROBLEM! After wavering back and forth on the issue of another switch, Alex just decided that Manager wasn't that tricky of a job, and arranged with his coaches to skip Monday practice because, in his words to them, "my mom is making me take piano lessons." LOL...that's okay...I'll take the blame.

Lessons have gone well. Practice is ... well, it's okay. Allie is very good about her half hour, and her favorite song is Yankee Doodle...not sure why; maybe it's because it was already familiar and she loves that she can play a song that she already knows. Alex, insists that I just don't know how to tell time, because he's sure he's practiced for a half hour, when I insist that it's only been 10 minutes. So, while I take a refresher course in time-telling, he is setting timers for practice.

Two weeks ago, Allie spent much more time at the piano than her required 30 minutes a day, because in addition to her assigned pieces, she was hard at work penciling out her own song! She loves it, and I'm sure we'll all be hearing it in the next Batman, or Superman film. John Williams, eat your heart out.

I now reveal to you, "big bad-gi on the loos!" or, if you are unfamiliar with 1st grade phonetic spelling, that translates as, "Big Bad Guy On The Loose" (you should be able to click the image for a larger version, if you so desire.)

Friday Night Lights

Texas is big on football, so it makes perfect sense that the Homecoming game is even bigger. Last year, the giant mums and ribbons hanging from them gave the shock of the season, but this year, I had my wits about me enough to shoot a few pics. Evidence that I'm not exaggerating when I say they are crazy:

Okay, some of the elementary school kids had some reasonable stuff going on. The child in the back, for example, had a sort of wrist corsage, for the arm, with some small ribbons and bells. The girl that I was actually shooting, however, had one that I would refer to as insane. In the center, is a button with her boyfriend's picture, which is surrounded by football badges and just lots of ribbons.

Here's a close up of an arm corsage variety. Again, this was an elementary aged child, so the "mums" are not just reserved for the high schoolers at that dance.

These girls were third or fourth graders...all decked out in the AHS Mustangs Cheer uniform and mums and ribbons.

Two of the girls at the middle school. Not only did these girls get mums and ribbons, they had megaphones, feathers, stars, bells, and maybe more...who knows.

Amusing, yes. I always thought the homecoming stuff was for the high school kids, but at least here, the whole city goes, so we did. We had lots of fun at both the parade and the game, not to mention we still have candy from the parade.
This float was the only one I took a picture of. There were lots "Cage the Wildcats" floats with stuffed animals or kids dressed at wildcats in cages. This one was "Hunt the Wildcats" and in addition to the tree stand, they had a hunting blind in the trailer behind the truck. As a shout out to my dad and hunting cousins, I had to get a picture of this one.

The Andrews Mustang Bowl. This "High School" Football stadium is huge. And unfortunately, my picture shows the opposing team's side. The Mustang side was absolutely packed.
The first touchdown ... Aidan wasn't sure what to make of it. The mascot ran across the track, the spirit guys carrying banners, and a siren car of some sort. GO MUSTANGS!
Loving the game.

Of course, the Andrews Mustangs won. 52-0.

Footballs and Tiaras

Some children can't go to sleep at night without their favorite stuffed animal. Aidan and Allie have never been fans. They don't like to share their space (unless that means taking over mom and dad's bed)...Aidan has actually tried to go to sleep with an animal he was playing with, but got all cozy in bed and chucked the bear over the side to get it out of his way.
Last Saturday night, they made it. Completely asleep and the item they wanted to sleep with stayed with them the entire night.

No teddy bear or stuffed doggy....The football got to come to church with us, the Tiara had to stay home :(

Only In Small Town Texas...

We have heard some concern over the scheduling conflict, but I just heard the solution today.

Next Friday, October 31, happens to be BOTH the last high school football game of the season, a home game, no less, and also HALLOWEEN! There has been some buzz around town about what was going to happen. Well, today I was told that they've moved trick-or-treating. LOL Trick-or-treating will be Thursday night instead of Friday so that everyone will still be able to support the high school football.

This is relatively good news for us, since Aimee and Allie are cheering in the first half of the game, as part of their cheer camp performances. Rock on! We'll be hanging out at the high school football game on Halloween night.