Ice Skating Excursion

Eliza  made a friend at the Junior Miss pageant in the summer 2017.  Her name is Andie and she lives in McKinney, which isn't too far from us.  We've been trying to organize a get-together since the pageant.  We finally were able to get together one weekend in October.  We met up at the Allen ice rink, which was somewhere in the middle, to ice skate during the afternoon.  I skated too.  It was fun to see the girls click like they never missed a beat even though it had been more than a year since they saw each other.

Peter and the Starcatcher

Our exchange student Benjamin was in the school play, Peter and the Starcatcher, which is a Peter Pan story.  He played the part of Schmee, who ends up being Captain Hook's first mate in Peter Pan.  It's sort of a background story for Peter Pan. 

Rainy Day Game

Here in Texas, rain doesn't stop football unless there is lightning.  But it does stop the band from playing.  So we went to the varsity game hoping to hear the band (it was supposed to let up by halftime) but it was still raining at halftime, so we didn't get to hear the band at all.  We didn't stay very long after finding out the band wouldn't be playing.  It was just too wet!

Homecoming Mums

In Texas, we have this ridiculous tradition of a Homecoming Mum.  Mum is from the flower "chrysanthemum", which is the flower used in the mum (in most cases, a silk flower is used).  Then, ribbons are hung from the flower and all sorts of trinkets are added to represent the person, the school/team they are part of, and anything else.  The mum is usually made in the school colors also.

Well, apparently, the city's peewee football league that we are in likes to see the little kids do this tradition, so we had to get a mum for Eliza to wear.  I ended up not ordering enough mums through the cheerleading organization for my squad (because one parent never responded whether they wanted one or not and then decided they did after the orders were done) so I made this mum for Eliza.  It was a whopping $35!  Ridiculous!  Anyway, it turned out great and looks almost exactly like the other mums that were bought through the organization and all matched.  The girls wear them at the game and then when they are escorted by a football team member on the 50-yard line during halftime (so dumb that they make the kids do this--the boys were totally grossed out having to escort the girls and the girls were especially grossed out being escorted by sweaty football players at halftime and the coaches thought it was dumb taking time from their team meeting at halftime).  But, it's Texas, and we do what the Texans do.

More State Fair Day

Later in the day, we joined up with some other families in our ward to visit an assisted living home where a member of our ward lives and sing some songs.  It was a good experience for the kids.

Annmarie loves to pretend the calculator is a phone and she is using it to call Grandma in this picture.

Pumpkin Patch

Someone told us about this pumpkin patch which was a bit of a drive.  Westley had band rehearsal all day on State Fair Day (Columbus Day) but everyone else was home from school, so we drove out there.  I'm not big into pumpkin patches, but it was fun to take Benjamin to participate in a weird American tradition.  This pumpkin patch had a haybale maze and all these cutouts to take pictures with, plus an awesome old time merry-go-round.  So that was fun.  Not sure it was worth the drive and the $7 to park, but it passed the time on a day home from school. 

Cooper Band Football Game

Every year the Cooper Band gets to sit in the stands and play at a junior high football game.  It's been a rainy season so we weren't sure if they would get to play.  They were able to play and Caleb had fun.  And it made the game more fun.