Friday Flashback, Frere Edition

Sheils sent us this article the other day about the eight fried food concoctions premiering at the Texas State Fair this year.  (spoiler alert:  they will cause a heart attack!)   My brother responded that only two of them sounded even remotely tasty--although he neglected to say which ones, making me very curious.  Because we're the quiz-loving Moores, however, his response to my inquiry was that I had to guess which two.  So I did........and I chose exactly the right two, even though we haven't lived under the same roof in 16+ years.  I consider that a MAJOR victory in sibling relations!  :-)

When I was in Dallas earlier this summer, Geoff and I went through a whole bunch of old pics and I came home with enough to have Friday Flashback pics as necessary for years and years.  I was looking through them this morning for something to scan and I figured, in light of my being able to read my brother's fried food brain, I had to post this entertaining pic of us doing....something.  (Was this Halloween or just a random dress-up day, Lyman?)

I also came across this picture which will never not make me smile.  So let's just have it be WIG photo day!   Presenting Gene and Geoff in their renowned production of Greater Tuna:
 

HAPPY FRIDAY!   Call your brother!  Wear a wig!  Do something fun!

Passing The Baton

It's 6:29 AM and I've been up for 90 minutes.   The BG and I have settled on an arrangement where he will leave a little later than usual on Thursday mornings so I can go to a 5:30 AM exercise class.  I leave the class 15 minutes early (at 6:15) so that he doesn't get too twitchy for not getting to school before everyone else!  Granted, we're only two weeks into this schedule but, as much as it is not fun getting up at 5 AM, it's quite fun knowing I've already burned a bunch of calories before the time I'm usually awake!

In related news, I have been using My Fitness Pal for the last three weeks to track my intake and output.  It is FREE and really, really helpful for me to determine what is worth eating on any given day.  I especially love that, at the end of the day when you've entered everything, you hit "Complete This Entry" and a message pops up saying, "If every day is like today, you'll weigh XYZ pounds in 5 weeks."   Some good encouragement!  (Did I mention that I gained 8 lbs this summer from all the Texas eating....and then the post-Texas eating where I said to myself, "Eh, it's okay if I keep doing this!  I'm not THAT bad"? And then the scale finally caught up!?)

Yesterday afternoon, we met B at the bus stop and then left pretty quickly to head to "College" because the Cognitive Neuroscience of Language (aka Linguistics) Department had studies for each of the kids.  We were their last appointment of the day and it was nice to chat with the grad students running the experiments.  (Actually, it was kind of alarming to think it was 10 years ago that I was a grad student, but that's neither here nor there!)  I had decided we'd pop into Jason's Deli for dinner afterward and I had been getting excited all day about the Dr. Pepper I was going to get as a treat.  $1.99 spent on a fountain beverage and you know what?   It was just too sweet!!   Zut alors-- I think I might really be breaking up with soft drinks!  (My body is cheering these words and my brother is saying, "told you so!")

The kids, however, will never break up with their chocolate milk, their joy in putting money in parking meters, or (I hope) their sibling love!

I Could Get Used To This

Since we had visitors on Monday, yesterday was our first real taste of what it's like being on our new school schedule.  And....it was delightful!!  

I'm not sure if I've mentioned in these pages that I joined a gym earlier this summer.   It's a very low-cost membership and, while they have child care, you pay as you go.  I decided to be frugal (and, let's face it, somewhat selfish re: logistics) and only go when the BG could be home with the kids.  I'm really only interested in the group exercise classes and have had fun trying out many of the various options like Body Pump, Total Body Conditioning, Kickboxing, Zumba, etc.    Yesterday marked a new beginning in that Miss C accompanied me-- and, of course, had a blast!   So hooray for me getting exercise and her getting to play with new and different toys!

There are actually two different gym locations within 10 minutes and this particular one happens to be next to a Home Goods.  There are few things more fun than poking around such a store at one's leisure...and it is SO much more pleasant in said scenario to only have one accompanying child!!   So we had a nice stroll through there before heading back home for some playtime, also delightful without another kid trying to pull focus and/or suggest other activities!!

After that came lunch and then nap time, and then it was time to meet the bus!   Since we hadn't documented our day any other way, I took another shades pic while we waited!   Too bad C's glasses wouldn't have fit me since they sure matched my shirt:

 (And, yes, that is a Starburst in her mouth!)

In case you're wondering, the waist is the perfect sunglasses resting place according to this girl:

Our schoolboy reported that the 2nd day was even better than the first!   We'll see how that continues....!

The First Day Report

I pretty much had my act together getting B out the door yesterday, except that my "let's snap pictures up against a tree" plan did not take into account the morning lighting and shadows.  Eh, you can't win 'em all-- at least we had time to get a few pics!!

The big kindergartener:

The sister:

Love these expressions...just ignore the giant bruise-like stripe/shadow across his face:

Waiting to walk to the bus stop:

Waiting some more, this time with the big kids from the street:

It's here!!  (Guided by neighbor and 5th Grade bus patrol leader!):

We actually had a friend and her two kids drive about an hour to come to our house for a morning playdate so the day zoomed by.  I got C up from nap in time to meet the bus after school, although it was about 15 minutes later than I expected (which makes sense given what inevitably has to be a lot of logistical ironing-out on the first day).  We snapped a shades pic while we waited:

There he is!!!!

I couldn't hope for a better first day experience for the B-man.  He was just beaming and saying things like "It was just TOO MUCH FUN" and talking about the "bus that went very fast," etc, etc, etc.  Kinda hard to believe we have to get up and do this every single day but hey-- at least he loves it so far!

And, finally-- what's the point of taking pics if you're not gonna make a master coming-of-age collage, right?!

First days 2010-2013 (left to right).   The little guy is getting big!

Saturday Scrimmage

It has started again!  (And last year's T-shirts still fit!)

Bench-sitting with some other school athletic staff spawn:

 

 When B's fave coach offspring arrived, they got to work the concession stand:

And C got in on the playtime action later in the long jump pit:

In other news, if you're reading this between the hours of 8:20-3:20, the B-man is off at his first day of Kindergarten.  Oh, to be a fly on that wall!!!   More to come tomorrow...

Family Bonding

Last night was the meeting at B's school for the parents of incoming kindergarteners.  Of the three class lists posted on the front door, B's teacher is the one that used a "fun" font, so I'm taking that to mean he's going to have a creative year!   :-)   I was happy to see also on the list the name of the girl with whom he spent almost the entire "playground playdate" (held last Saturday) as well as a couple of other people whose parents I met that day.  Nice to see some familiar faces in the meeting!

Since we don't really have much access to babysitters, I dropped off the kids with the BG at the high school while I went to the meeting.  He had to be up there until after 9 last night (why, yes, that IS a 15-hour workday!) and they had big fun hanging out with him and seeing lots of football players during the hour they were there:

We've been enjoying this last "free" week in true "us" style:  by wandering around malls for funsies!   Monday morning, we even took a train ride:

Tuesday afternoon, we picked up a friend at the train station and met up with some other friends at a different mall for dinner and playtime....and some sibling hugs:

Don't have a mall on the agenda today-- we'll be heading back to the elementary school for an Open House this afternoon!

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Happiness Is...

...my kids playing with their Fake Auntie Chisty:

(make sure to click on it so you can zoom in and see Miss C's face!  She LOVES her across-the-pool runs with Christy and Baby Olive!)

Insert Cheesy Metaphor Here

Since we were just talking about flowers....

When the B-man attended Kindergarten orientation in the spring, he received a packet of sunflower seeds.  It was accompanied by a poem that I'm sure most sentimental parents would have kept for a scrapbook but that probably was long ago carted to the recycling center from this house.  It said something about how the flower(s) that grow from the seed(s) will bloom just as it's time to go to Kindergarten.

They weren't kidding.

It's like there's a science to germination times or something!   ;-)

In all seriousness, this project was perfect for B.  He has loved watching every stage of the growth all summer long.  And they're even the same height!

Floral Fun

Since they say that you should never stop learning, I decided to capitalize on the BG's one free afternoon of the week to attend the kick-off event for the local Baylor Women's Council on Sunday.  Alison hosted and brought in a friend of hers to teach us how to arrange flowers!   Whether or not this newfound "Baylor-sponsored" knowledge will help me more than Advanced French Grammar, Literature of the South, or History of The American Presidency of yore remains to be seen........nah, actually, I'm pretty sure I'll be more likely to use this again!

The dining room workstation.  There were 5 buckets of flowers (the same buds in each) for two women each to share.  You can also see the foam bricks that we cut to fit into the hammered metal bowl (immediately behind the brick in the forefront) to serve as the base of our arrangement:

Close-up view of the flowers in the bucket:  ivory big roses, spray roses in ivory and an orange-ish color, thistle, stock (the tall pink ones) and I have no memory of the name of the little round pink ones:
 

There also was a communal bucket in the middle with all manner of greenery and "filler"...as well as a delightful hostess captured amidst the light streaks:

Snipping some "pitt" (no, I had never heard this term before):

Thankfully, my bucket-sharer had a completely different plan of attack and color scheme.  She also does art installations for a local Pottery Barn store so her arrangement (on the right) looked like something out of a magazine.   (I was just happy she didn't like the bright colors because I was all over those!):

At the last minute, I decided to add some heather for a little POP....or something:

Reeeeaaaallllly should have had a dinner party this week so that this collection o' blooms could get more appreciation than the 4 of us have been giving it in the midst of all our living room clutter.   Oh well!   ;-)

Fluttering By

I've been hearing for years about a live butterfly exhibit that the local gardens hosts each summer.  Now that we live only 10 minutes away, we finally made it to check out all the winged creatures!

Waiting for our friends:

Ruby may be looking skeptical, but we had a grand adventure with her and mama Alison!

So many fun flying things!

This blue guy almost hitched a ride home:

Gone Skiing

Okay, maybe not real skiing.  It's not quite that cold.   But in case you thought these were just regular foam fingers...:

 ...you would be wrong.  They are actually the B-man's "skis":

I snapped this pic to show the ensemble in which C emerged from her room upon waking up one morning (complete with red belly chain and attached bracelet) but if you look over her shoulder, you'll see her brother "skiing" away:

Happy Friday!

Our October Day

Oh wait, it's only August.

But it was 55 degrees yesterday morning.  Seriously.  

I decided it would be fun to eat breakfast al fresco and the kids agreed-- but then they demanded coats and long pants!  Craziness!

We even had to have some hot (er, "warm") chocolate:

We had plans to meet friends at a pool when it opened at 11 but there was no way it was going to be warm enough for that!   Thankfully, they invited us over to play instead and we had so much fun!   The little girls enjoyed some time on the see-saw:

And while B's play partners did include his beloved Katie, he also got to play with big brother Drew, who was always away at kindergarten at our playdates over the last year!

B spent the whole drive home telling me how much he loves Drew and how he wants to move in with them, so suffice it to say it was a successful day o' play!!

No More Brownies

It was rainy all yesterday morning so the kids might have spent some time in front of one screen or another while I worked at my own.   To make up for it, we did some "chalking" on the driveway later after it cleared up.   B has never really been into drawing of any kind and C's repertoire is basically lines right now so we ended up getting a bit creative.

The little miss:

The B-Man:

And.....Mommy:

Nothing like a good self-esteem boost!  :-)

Double The Swinging

Well, the swing indeed did get moved from one side of the backyard to the other, where it was just yesterday joined by its more rugged twin:  the rope swing!

Insert "weeeeeeee" sound here:

While it looks like she gave him a push, I'm pretty sure she's actually angling for it to be her turn!

End-of-Summer Surprises

Okay, technically, we still have 2 weeks of summer before the guys in this house start school but we're counting this past weekend as the end since the BG enters full football mode this week.  Saturday was his birthday and we had a photo-less (but nonetheless delightful) day before embarking yesterday on a rather spontaneous adventure.

A former work friend who moved to California 7 years ago has now moved back to this general area....with two girls on either side of Brooks in age!  Although they live at the opposite far reaches of this metro area, she contacted me the other day to see if we might want to have the families meet up at a centrally-located museum yesterday morning.  We decided it would be a fun trip.....and that we'd keep it a secret from the kiddos.  So we only told them we were leaving in the car at 8 AM!

Upon departing, we hit up Dunkin Donuts for munchkins because it's been quite awhile since the B-man has enjoyed his beloved poppable treats.  Then we drove on to surprise #2:  the metro station where it was on to surprise #3:  the big city!   Although the museums don't open until 10, we decided we'd go in early so as not to just be killing time at home.  So we got there shortly after 9 and had quite the touristy walk-about-town which was lovely if you don't count all the times the 5 year old was just too tired to walk any farther!

Getting ready to board the train:

Look!  You can see the other two of us in the reflection!

But here we are fo' real:

Ah, "sasses" with sass:

Managed to get all 4 of them in a pic!