LBJ Selfie

Some of my colleagues and I had a great weekend at the LBJ library learning about the civil rights movement. 

 Let me share a teacher secret with you.  When we get together away from school we do the same silly things kids do.  We take selfies with a statue of LBJ.

 We selfie ourselves in the meetings to prove we were there.

AND - we play on the elevator.

Broadway Anyone?

JD had a cultural extravaganza this weekend.  I didn't do this to us on purpose but we ended up seeing two magnificent performances.

 On Friday evening we went to see Evita at Bowie.  I'm always amazed at what high school kids are able to do when I go to their events.  Some of them have extraordinary talent.

We also went to see Mamma Mia!  This was a traveling Broadway show that was playing at UT for a couple of days.  The show features the music of ABBA and is just FUN!

Science Project

The last couple of weeks have been filled with JD's science project.  He chose to do his project on static electricity.

 Since little boy hair doesn't have much room to stand up with static my hair was the subject of lots of experimenting.  I won't show you what that looked like at the end of the day  ----  it wasn't pretty.

FINALLY FINISHED!!!  It took lots of work and patience but JD finished everything and was ready to turn it in to school this morning.  WHEW -- We are both glad that project is done.

Another Round of Ridings

We are SO EXCITED to that another group of Ridings came to visit us!

 Everyone wore their matching Texas shirts for a round of jumping at an indoor inflatables place.  Baby Ruth has a longhorn shirt but just wasn't in the mood to wear hers. 

 Jumping really works up the appetite and so a trip to orange leaf was our next order of business.

 Don't they look cozy all tucked into bed. 

Annie and I took this selfie just before she left.  She told me I could look at it if I got sad and missed her.  AHHH -- sweet Annie - we miss you already.  Come again soon!

Christmas

Let the Christmas season begin.  In Austin that means a trip to the trail of lights.  Since we discovered the early bird tickets that let you in an hour before the trail opens to the public it has actually become a fun evening. 

 YES --- it was warm enough that night we were able to walk the trail in our shirt sleeves.  Gotta love Christmas in Texas. 

 It really is pretty with the Zilker Park tree in the background.

 Of course, as the sign indicates, it is a HOLIDAY tree.  Don't make the mistake of calling it a Christmas tree. 

 JD was a shepperd in the little nativity pageant we had at church.

The children were all very cute.  They each said their part and then sang Away in the Manger.  My piano accompaniment had a few missed notes but I'm getting better.

JD visited  with Ralph Melgosa dressed as Santa.  It didn't fool JD one bit - he knew right away that Ralph was not the REAL Santa.  He played along anyway so I could get a photo.

Graffiti

The children are smarter than me!  How do I know?  This is the graffiti they leave behind on my chalkboards.  After I watched a group of them work through this problem I told them I was making a new rule -- no Calculus in Economics class.

Thanksgiving Week

Our new puppy Rosie has been going to dog school.

 This week she graduated.  It was more of a "participation" graduation since she STILL isn't the most obedient dog around.

JD got to participate in science day at Bowie.  This balloon with a pointed stick  through it is one of the experiments he brought back.  Thanks to Alex who did a great job as escort.

 Uncle Keith and Aunt Nina came to visit.  Aunt Nina was kind enough to make the obligatory climb up the tower at the Wildflower center.

Just in case you forgot where you can find us --- check out this picture.  AND YES --- we are wearing shorts on Thanksgiving weekend.  Gotta love that Austin weather.