Christmas and the Aftermath

 JD got this giant nerf fun for Christmas.  Rosie looks worried about being used for target practice.

We continued our day after Christmas tradition of going to Fort Sam Houston.  Here JD posed with Army Santa.

Merry Christmas

The Christmas season is upon us -- even at school.  Every year on the last day of classes before finals begin the choir roams the school caroling. 

I gave my economics students this little economics treat with their final exam.  Since they all snickered at the pun I have decided that we have had a successful semester together. 

 Our last cub scout den meeting of the year involved a craft project.

 The Zilker Trail of Lights has become a tradition for us.

 Since you can buy your way into the trail an hour before they open it to the public it has actually been a pleasant experience the last couple years.

I bribed JD with a hamburger to get him to take this picture with Santa.

Elf on the Shelf

The sad and inevitable day has come when JD has figured out that Santa is not real and that the elf on the shelf doesn't really report to him every night.  We put the elf out but I haven't been moving it around.  This morning though ---- the elf has moved and a sign by him said, "take a selfie."  The elf's handwriting looked suspiciously like JD's!  He tried to selfie this morning and I ended up taking his picture - of course Gumball had to get in on the action.

Camping With the Boy Scouts

 We are still working on our crossover decision and trying to figure out which of the Boy Scout Troops in the area is the best fit for us. We spent our time this weekend with troop 395.

 For boys the main attraction is always the fire.  They sit by the fire during the day . . .

 . . . and sit by the fire at night.  They also did a ceremony by the evening fire to retire several flags.  They tore the flag into strips, dedicated them to several events in U.S. history and then burned them.

 Even these little boys found it to be a pretty serious event.

Of course, when we camp this little girl goes to the kennel.  She was very happy to see us come home!

Happy Thanksgiving

 Our Thanksgiving holiday started out with JD getting a belt promotion.  He now has a red stripe on his blue belt.

 He has been working hard to learn the new techniques that were required to get this advancement.

 Uncle Keith came to visit and it was constant nerf gun battles!  The boys had lots of fun shooting nerf bullets at each other and then chasing Rosie down to get them back from her.

Rosie is Nina's new BFF.  Since nobody here ever pays any attention to her (ha ha  ha ha)  she soaked up all the attention Aunt Nina was willing to give.

Happy Birthday Grandpa

 SO -- I stink as the family photographer!  We took Grandpa to breakfast for his birthday and instead of taking a picture of him with JD -- I took this picture with a silly bird!  Don't ask me why.  I have no explanation.

We also visited Wurstfest.  I have lived in the area my while life and had never been before.  JD ate all kinds of sausage on a stick and proclaimed it delicious.

Last Cub Scout Camp

I can't believe the time has come for us to graduate from Cub Scouts.  We had our last camp out with Pack 535 this weekend.  

 Here is our "bedroom" for the weekend.  We got this instant tent a couple years ago.  It is so easy to set up and take down that even I don't mind doing it.

 Our kitchen and dining room for the weekend had a roof thanks to the family we shared our campsite with.  It was a little rainy and so we were thankful for the covering.

 SMORES!!! Always a favorite with boys and adults!

We have a great cub master who works hard to keep us going.  Here we are at closing ceremonies taking down the flags.

Happy Halloween

Halloween is JD's favorite holiday.  It is quickly becoming my favorite too.  Just some good old fun without too much work. 

 JD's favorite activity is the trunk or treat they have in the church parking lot.  This year we dressed up our truck as Mater.

 My friends at school and I all dress up like Mr. E.  our favorite teacher despite his unique style.

 The martial arts studio JD trains at always has a Halloween party.  They turn their school into a haunted house.  I tried to take pictures while going through but had a little trouble focusing on anything but the floor.  It wasn't scary so much as startling as the fake spiders fell on you.

 Other games at Mu Sool Won were also lots of fun.

JD and his friend Lincoln played for a couple hours until I got tired and insisted it was time to go home.

Scout Oath

I love the fancy new sign we have to help the boys learn the Scout Oath.

Columbus Weekend Happenings

Columbus Day meant a day off of school --- sort of.  What did we do to occupy our time?

 JD spent some time playing first base.

 We harvested some pecans off Grandpa's trees.

Austin Batting Cages hosted a workshop on Monday morning to keep all the kiddos busy.

Troop 61

JD earned his showman badge this weekend with the help of troop 61.

 One of the adult leaders is a magician.  JD got to help with the floating table trick.

It was all pretty amazing!  JD is one step closer to earning his arrow of light award and crossing over to boy scouts.

Fall Ball

In Texas they say there are only two sports --- football and spring football.  That my be true in another household but in our family the two sports are baseball and fall baseball.  We started another season this weekend playing with the Bees.  It's fun to make new friends and eat some popcorn at the ball park.

Express Night

It is the last weekend of Express baseball.  We were enjoying our night at the ballpark when . . .

 . . . JD caught this ball.  He took his glove to the game and waved at the first baseman who tossed it to him.

 After the game he went down to the field hoping to collect an autograph or two.

 Here is the end result.  Lots of signatures and a very very happy little boy!

Are You Ready For Some Football??!!

 It is Friday night lights time again.  JD and I enjoyed a little football and the half time show before we had to go to the airport to pick up Uncle Keith

 JD enjoyed his visit with his favorite Uncle.  We treated Keith to a Round Rock Express game.  It's hard to find something that Uncle Keith hasn't done before --- this was it. 

We'll look forward to another visit at Thanksgiving time.

It's Almost Time

Almost time for school --- We met JD's new teacher on Friday.

 She seems nice and we are happy for a new school year and a new start.

JD had his choice of several things to do on his last weekend before school starts -- he picked fishing.  He and dad caught more fish than ever including this giant.  JD cooked them himself.  They were delicious!

Elvis Night

He may have looked a little like Elvis but when he sang - oh my -- he sounded like @#$%*^@(#

 We had fun at the Dell Diamond despite the bad singing impersonator.

Even Spike was dressed like Elvis for the evening.

Highlights of a Road Trip

Our family seems to have the tradition of taking a short road trip to finish up the last week or so of summer.  This year was no exception.

 Our first vacation stop was Medieval Times.  We visited with the falcon before the show started

 We got hooked on this game at Great Wolf Lodge a couple years ago when we were with the Ridings.  We finished the first game, Magiquest with the cousins that year.  Here we are finishing up Shadow Quest.  It took us part of two trips to finally beat the monster at the end of the game but we did it!

 On to compass quest!  We didn't get very far in this game as our time at the resort came to an end too quickly. 

 JD saw some one's youtube video of Ripley's Believe it or Not and insisted that we stop at this place.  This is the gorilla made from car parts out front. 

It seems all our vacations have to include baseball now!  Here we are at Globe Life Park - home of the Texas Rangers.  Nirvana to little boys everywhere.