So Long September, Hello Fall

 

Plano held their fall festival on Friday night.  I wanted to snap some pictures of Karson all dressed up for the Royal Court.  Isn't she just a beauty!  We headed over to the school around 5:30.  I quickly realized that Karson has become too cool to play the classroom games.  She had no desire to participate this year.  SO, I guess this will be the last year I buy her an armband.  The boys, however, were READY.TO.PLAY!  We hit all the classrooms fast and furious.  I snapped a handful of pictures on the camera but later learned my memory card had gone bad (but I'll talk about that later).  I'm fairly certain there were at least 1,000 people in the school.  It was super crowded.  Our night was hectic.  Matt's parents came for a little while, and we, somehow, got split up in the primary wing.  I was reunited with Karson with a 'page' to the library.  Once we were all back together, we started making our way to the gym.  It was around 7 by this time, and I was hopeful the Royal Court was soon.  We really needed to get home by 7:30 because we needed to get Karson changed and ready for her volleyball game at 8.  We made our way to the gym when Isaac noticed his iPod was missing.  GREAT!  Like I said, there was zillions of people there, and we had been ALL over the school.  Where in the world did he lose it?!?  Matt and I split up, he went one way and I went the other.  We just started retracing the classrooms we'd been in.  The second room Matt went in, he was told they'd just found one and turned it into the office.  Hooray!  Isaac's life is on that iPod.  He can't let his You Tube followers down.  Once we located to iPod, we headed back to the gym for the 2nd time.  Around this time, the silent auction was wrapping up, and the royal court was about to start.  Our STLP raised $3500 with this event. The nominations moved quickly, and I was fairly certain Karson would not be winning especially when I saw a 6th grade nominee walking around with a bouquet of flowers all night.  Coincidence?  Maybe? Not sure.  BUT, this nominee ended up winning.  Karson wasn't disappointed and held her head high.  She raised quite a bit of money and was picked by her classmates which is honorable. I snapped a cute picture of all the 5th graders on court and was anxious to get all my fun fall festival pictures downloaded. When I went to download them the next morning, I noticed all these file errors on my camera.  Boo!  I wasn't sure if my camera was going bad or just the memory card.  I called Sony.  Let me just say that Sony has great customer service!  That's hard to find.  The operator I spoke with suggested I try a few things to check.  My camera and memory card are at least 10 years old.  I had a good feeling it was my memory card.  I went to Best Buy on Saturday and got a replacement.  My camera is back in full working order thanks to the gentleman below.

Thanks Best Buy employee for helping me with  my camera.
 You can tell he wasn't interested in having his picture taken.

Lots of projects taking place in the Deaton home.  Both Karson and Miles came home with projects last week.  Miles had to work on a zoo poster, and Karson had to work on a project for Native Americans.  Miles's poster was simply the cutest.  Miles LOVES homework and was anxious to get started on his project.  It quickly fizzled around day 2 and more so on day 3.  We finished it up and took it to school on Friday We formed the poster board into a squid.  He wrote all over the poster and attached underwater stickers all over the tentacles.  I took a picture, but it was on the bad memory card =(.  I'll make sure to snap one when it's returned home.  We are still working on Karson's project which is due this week.  She originally selected a diorama, but I squashed those dreams immediately and convinced her to do a travel brochure.  Don't get me wrong, I love dioramas.  However, they are LOTS of work and require more work than a simple poster or brochure. She's never done a brochure so it will be a learning experience and something different. My creative juices are somewhat limited this time of the year. 

Much of my creative energy is spent on birthday planning this time of the year.  I've been working on planning for Miles's 7th birthday.  We've agreed to do it at Chaney's Dairy Barn this year.  Hopefully, his allergies will be under control later this month. He had to take a sick day on Thursday. His breathing starts acting up this time of the year. I'm sure all the ragweed amplifies it. I give him cocktails of Zyrtec, Ibuprofen and Delsym. We also have a rescue inhaler, but Dr. Paul put him on an inhaler which is steroid based that is supposed to be taken for a week or two.

Isaac's been spending his creative energy decorating his bookshelf with knickknacks.  He's my lil' hoarder.

Shannon hosted her annual pumpkin painting party at her house last night.  I already had an idea of what I wanted to do--minions.  Matt picked up some pumpkins from a local farmer out by SWHS.  I asked him to pick some up for us because I would much rather give my business to a local, than $5.99 to Kroger.  I bought our pumpkins last year from this farmer and thought he was so sweet!  The best part about holiday parties is the FOOD.  I made some yummy snacks and ate most them before they even made it the party.  Good think I also had chips and dip to take too.

Look at all of our pumpkin creations.  Can you spot the minions? 

 

I'm getting in the Halloween spirit even if it is the last day of September.



Bike Ridin', Volleyball'n Kind of Weekend

Look who started riding his bike without training wheels!?!?!  Miles the brave took his wheels off on Friday afternoon and off he went.  He's such a coordinated kid, I'm not at all surprised by how easy it was for him. He's a bike riding machine.  At one point Saturday, he had about three different cars stopped on our road.  He hasn't really learned the "rules of the road" yet. The no-training-wheels achievement has given him a sense of entitlement when it comes to the road.  And, he wants to ride ALL.THE.TIME. and in the middle of the road =). His favorite path--riding back and forth to our neighbors house.  

Love this little guy.  I'm thinking he may need a bigger bike soon. EH-hum, Meme, his birthday is coming up real soon.

Had to throw this precious picture of Karson and her cats into this post.  These are her three little balls of happiness.  We make a trip to Pap and Nana's almost daily to visit these cuties. They adore Karson and follow her around like a queen.

Speaking of queen's, Karson was chosen as a 5th grade representative in her class to participate in the STLP's Royal Court at Plano.  The contest runs through this Friday at noon.  She has to raise money from family and friends for votes.  One penny equals one vote.  She was selected back in 2011 to represent her 3rd grade class.  It's quite an honor to be chosen by your classmates, the 'win', however, is based on how much money is turned in.  SO, if any of my blog readers out there want to chip in a dollar or two, she'd appreciate it.  The winners are crowned at Fall Festival which is Friday night. 

Karson and her team the Spikers have been gearing up for volleyball season.  They've had two practices a week for the last couple of weeks.  I mentioned in earlier post that Karson has usually played for a team with the word 'spike' in it, but what I failed to mention is that she has always played for a pink team too.  I was glad her team colors this year are black and white.  This is the first year she hasn't been in PINK.

The girls had their first game on Saturday.  They also got their first win!

Team picture, post game.  Their next game is tomorrow night.

 

Her small cheering squad.  I think we took up about half the bleachers at Phil Moore park.

The sweetest kids on the planet.

We were short staffed Saturday night for Ring of Fire so I decided to help out in the ticket office.  Ou marketing team did a photo booth which was fun for the patrons but even MORE fun for our staff!  What a fun weekend!

Poster Contest

I mailed off Karson's entry today for the Public Service Recognition poster contest. I think her poster is simply precious!  We're incredibly thankful for all the ways these individuals serve!

Fall in September

It's Friday the 13th and there is no better time for a post about Halloween than today.  Every year it seems like the fall/Halloween decor starts appearing earlier and earlier.  The giant orange tent has already gone up, and the kids are already begging to go.  Up until today, it's been TOO HOT to go to that sweat lodge.  Plus, I only have one child that has made a decision about a costume, and that is Isaac Matthew who will be sporting a Chuck Norris number. I love the website vistaprint--there are always great deals on there.  I was able to get Isaac this personalized t-shirt.  All we need now is a couple of uzi's, camouflage pants and a red bandanna (and roundhouse kick attitude).

I have been working on costumes for our adult Halloween party.  I have some big shoes to fill from last year's last minute creation (Malibu Barbie and Ken).I can't give away any details of this year's because I like the "wow" factor, but I think it's pretty creative.  We'll see.  I was able to get most of my costume supplies from Amazon points. 



 In other news, I am completely addicted to the game Candy Crush. It's a guilty pleasure I can't resist and find myself waking up at 6:30 a.m. ready.to.play!  I've made it to level 150 without purchasing anything.  I never thought I would be this addicted to an APP of all things.  I don't consider myself a gamer and can't think of any game besides Tetris that I've played this much.  I have a love/hate relationship with certain boards and find myself google searching tips and tricks to beating different levels. 

Not sure if they two are related, but I've recently realized that I eat much like a grade schooler and love ALL the things that are bad for me like candy, cookies and donuts.  I have little to no fiber in my diet and decided I needed to make a change.  I purchased some soluble fiber along with some fiber-packed cereal which resembles that of cat food (and it tastes a lot like it too).  I can stomach it with a giant banana cut up on top of it. If I combine both the powder and the Kashi cereal, I get about half the recommended dosage of fiber for a female my age.  It sure is work trying to eat "healthier".  Ugh. 

Karson's volleyball practice has officially begun.  She's playing for the Spikers this season.  Apparently every team she's going to play for will have the word 'spike' in the title.  She's played for the Sassy Spikers and Spikettes in season's past.  Looking forward to an exciting season!

We're gearing up for Fall Festival which takes place at the end of the month.  The kids are collecting for raffle baskets and small prizes for games.  On top of that PTO usually has contests for Box Tops and Coke rewards.  I'm a scavenger when it comes to these items.  I'm always trimming a box top off of something or rummaging through people's recycle bins on Fridays when I'm out walking.  Potlucks are awesome places to collect Coke rewards.  I wish I could raid the recycle bins at South Warren High which are PACKED with Coke products, but it would look odd and be incredibly sticky.  Ooooh, the things we do for our kids.  More fall posts coming--I got out all my fall decorations this weekend.