Gearing up for the holidays!

We've a bit of a busy week around here.  I had my first ever Mathlete competition this week.   I was one of 8 kids from my class to go.  It was an all day thing, which means I got to miss school.  (That may have been my true motivation for doing it).  And we did math all day.  Mom can't imagine much worse but I had a great time and we had a great team.  Overall, our team came in 6th place but I have no idea how I did.  The results are posted by initials only and there are two JGs on the team.  One came in twelfth out of 96 and qualified for state and the other came in 50th and didn't qualify.  We are all thinking I'm the twelfth one but we'll see.  Hopefully, I find out next week....

This is my math team- Alexa, Scarlett, Jack, me, Audrey, Connor, Christopher and Luc.  Pretty good group of kids, per mom.

 This is Ms. Gould, our fearless leader.

The competition was held at University High School which is a nationally recognized hight school for academics and I have already decided that is where I want to go for hight school.  Mom is thrilled that I think that high school is cool but sad that we are already thinking about that.....

Thursday night, Charlie Brown's Christmas was on.  Mom and dad were much more excited about it than I was.  They had their feet up, wine/beer poured and settled in for a long winter's night.  I was on my iPad.

On Friday, my class had a field trip to Agua Caliente Park for a little science stuff.  It was a great field trip- I love hangin' with my home girls.

Friday night, dad and I held down the fort while mom went out with some friends to see the UofA theater program's presentation of "A Streetcar Named Desire".  It was really, really good.  Mom didn't know what to expect of college level productions but she was really impressed and would encourage you check out your local campus.

On Saturday, we had my end of season softball party.  We had a huge party and mom called ahead and suggested outside seating if it was available.  If you think 11 year old girls are quiet, you haven't spent much time with 11 year old girls.  We gave Meghan a nick name of "The Mouth", so you know where we're at.

On Sunday, mom and I went to see the movie "Wonder".  We read the book awhile ago and loved it so couldn't wait for the movie.  It was great and we would totally recommend it to anyone looking for a little light in their day.  Oh.  And bring some kleenex.  But they're happy tears.  I promise.

Have a great week!

We're Baaaaack!!

 Whew!  We haven't blogged in a looooong time!  We were having some technical difficulties way back in September and then mom never bothered to figure them out until inspiration struck her tonight and we are back on line.  Woot woot!!
So. Because we have so very much to report on, it's going to be a bunch of picture and not a lot of comment.  But enjoy!

We'll start back in September when mom when back to St. Louis for her 25 year college reunion.  So awesome to see all these ladies again.  PT school was a special kind of hell and they were each others support.  It was a fantastic weekend!

 The obligatory Budweiser brewery tour with free beer at the end...

 The Cheryl Cavallo Annual 5K Hustle for Your Health, sponsored by the Physical Therapy School

 The obligatory visit to Ted Drewes- can't miss it!

 Hanging with the President of St. Louis U.  Felt a little bad that we were all so stinky from the 5K

 Michelle and Heidi snagging a plate of appetizers at the reunion- crazy I tell you!

 The magnificent 6.  So much history, so much fun!

 The view from the reunion venue- perfect!

 One more fun picture.

 Cousin time in Pine Top.

 Dad waiting on mom to catch up.  Not really- we were all resting from the hard ride.  Not really either!

 Mom and dad post ride- all smiles!

 Putt putt action in Pine Top

 Mom and dad finishing up their ride.

 Mon won!  Not really.

 Me and Isabel on a girl's day out.

 Downtown Tucson getting ready for Halloween.

 Sharing a frappucino with mom.

 Mom made an apple pie.

 Grandparent's Day at school.

Ginger saw a squirrel.....

 Mom ventured out to happy hour with her co-workers.

We took Ella camping- it was super fun!!

 Ginger dressed up for Halloween- Devil Dog

 Me dressed up.

More of me dressed up.

 My first night of trick or treating without adult supervision- it was pretty spectacular!

 Mr. Walker grew his own pumpkins this year!

 Dad and Ginger had a loooong week.

 Between game dinner break with the Thundercats.

 Spirit Week at school- first up was duct tape day.

 Then was "twins day".  We were fraternal triplets.

 The fall end of season tournament.

 Getting our third place medals in the tournament.

 Pictures from my photography club's trip to San Xavier Mission- pretty cool!

 5th Annual Thanksgiving Campout!

 Christmas decorating in the bag!

 Thanksgiving.  Round 2!

 Grandpa Vern's teeny tiny piece of pumpkin pie.


Have a great week!

MIsh Mash

It's been kind of a mish mash the past two weeks.  I'm used to school now and have had a small meltdown or maybe two because I thought I had too much homework.  But really, I think it's just poor time management on my part- I like to come home and read and eat a snack before diving in but usually my reading and snacking end up lasting an hour which then drags out the whole evening.  And then mom has to leave the room while I try to do my homework because she is much more interesting to talk to than doing my homework.  That's how much I dislike my homework.  

I did manage to get my spear for history class done.  Mom and I headed out to the dry creek behind our house to find my stick.  She made me dig through the piles of dead branches to find my stick.  I wasn't loving that but apparently this is my project.  Whatevs, brah.  ( That's 6th grade talk for "eye roll")

I got my stick home and felt like I needed to do some sharpening so I found a rock and began pounding away.  It was actually kind of cathartic.

Mom then did some bartering for me and managed to talk one of her patients into giving me a piece obsidian shaped like a spear head and then she talked one of her co-workers into borrowing a deer antler to do some flinting to the obsidian.  My spear ended up looking pretty cool but didn't work worth a darn.  Hopefully, I get graded on the effort and not the functionality!

In case you missed it, mom's birthday was last Saturday and since it was a long weekend, we headed back to Albuquerque for a quick birthday weekend.  The weather was perfect and we got to see everyone, play a good game of darts  AND celebrate mom's birthday.  No matter how old you get, you can't beat celebrating your birthday in your old house.

 This past weekend, we had my first softball games of the fall season and it looks like we might actually win a game or two.  During our spring season, our league had two 12U teams and neither of the teams were any good but in fall season we only have one team and all of the girls who have their heads in the game and have been playing awhile and have some skill are all on one team.  And it's pretty cool.  We ended up losing the first game but not without a fight (and an amazing triple play) and we tied the second game.  It was a very exciting night and we'll keep you updated!

 And that's about it for the week for us.  We'll see you next week!