Happy Halloween!!

Homecoming

This weekend is homecoming for our city. Where I grew up, homecoming was a high school thing - big football game, a dance, etc. But just at the high school. Here, everyone gets in on the homecoming fun.

At my kids' school, the PTA put on a special lunch for the teachers - stadium foods including hot dogs, popcorn (somehow the most unhealthy thing offered) and nachos complete with cheez (because "cheese" its not) sauce from a can. Of course the teachers were thrilled.

On Friday afternoon I got an email from our cheerleading coach letting me know that the girls' parents would be giving them "mums" before the game the following day, and then the girls' would be giving little gifts to the boys. I suddenly realized that I had no idea that this was a big deal at all and better do some quick thinking.

I actually found some little stuffed alligators a while ago, and was planning to give them to the cheerleaders at some point. A late night trip to Wal-mart yielded some goody bags, and we were set.

The cheerleaders had handmade, numbered cookies for each football player. We managed to pass out our little gifts to the girls, despite hands being full of drinks, snacks, and the cookies.

I still have so much to learn about Texas culture...

Its hard to see, but if you enlarge this you can see the mums on the girls' uniforms - a big (I'm pretty sure fake) flower adorned with copious amounts of ribbon. I googled this and see that its big business around here and if you are buying one for a high school girl, you could easily spend $100 or more.

Ben's cookie - #10!

And Ben got two touchdowns again and led his team to victory!

Bathroom tech

Ben came home from school today and filled us in on his classroom job-of-the-week: bathroom tech. Of course I hadn't heard of this before and asked for some clarification as to what that job entails. Apparently he is responsible for checking the boys bathroom in the hall outside his classroom and making sure that it is tidy. If it is not, he has to pick up whatever is on the floor, but [thankfully] not pee or poo.

Still, I wonder if they issue gloves?

Touchdown!

Today Ben's game was played in the high school stadium, which made it extra-exciting. The boys are finally starting to get it. Ben had a great game with 2 touchdowns. For the second, he caught a pass and ran for victory.

Here he is - of course he is the one in front!

We are so proud of our little Gator!

Stick bug

I went outside to move my car tonight and this little fellow was sitting on the mirror. I drove very slowly through the alley and into my garage, and he continued to wait on the mirror while I ran inside to grab my camera. He just looked at me inquisitively as I snapped lots of photos. When I was done, he jumped down. Hopefully he found a safe place to hang out.

Being green

Most people who have or have had a child in kindergarten are probably familiar with the color system for communicating behavior. Each day, the kids are given a color based on how their day went - Green for a good day, Yellow for a bit of trouble, Orange for more trouble, and if you get Red, you probably visited the principal. Each day, the color is marked on a calendar, and a parent must sign to show they've seen it.

When school first started, it was fun (is that the word?) to hear the stories of other people's children coming home with a rainbow-colored calendar. Boys (and maybe girls) all around were getting yellows and oranges (not sure I've heard about reds, but maybe that isn't something anyone would talk about.)

My child, of course, got greens. Every day.

These other children have learned from their mistakes and are much more inclined to get green these days. Now I see them after school proudly announcing to their mothers, "I got green today." Then Ben makes the same announcement to me, and I'm thinking, "of course you did! What other color would you get??"

I realized the other day that I should probably be a bit more enthusiastic about Ben's green-ness. I know that I am lucky to have a child who can keep it together while at school (at home, sometimes notsomuch) and he deserves to be praised and encouraged.

So today we celebrated four weeks (almost) of greens with dinner of his choice. His choice? McDonalds. I need to start thinking of a "better" prize for next time!

Football for kindergarteners

Football has started and is off to a good start. One game down, seven to go. Hopefully we'll win at least one!

The thing is, if you start your boy in football when he starts kindergarten, you are already late to the game. Some boys already have two seasons under their belts. When it comes to throwing, catching, flag pulling and knowing which way to run, that can make a huge difference.

Coach Brad started up with all kinds of great plans all diagrammed out in PowerPoint. He made it look so easy - even I could understand! But one of his greatest challenges has been getting the boys to line up on their own. In the same.spot.every.single.time. It is not as easy as one might think.

But no matter their ability, its a fun thing to do on a Saturday morning. Our team has cheerleaders (only 6 of the 12 kindergarten teams have them) and they add a lot to the atmosphere, plus they bring their families so a lot more people are at the game.

And even if they never win, Coach Brad is determined that they learn about football and learn to love football. He's giving everyone a chance and teaching them to play fair. I'm not quite sure all the football coaches in this town could say the same.