Miscellany

I have a few random photos I wanted to put up this week.

During Red Ribbon Spirit Week (aka Just Say No), they had "Hat Day" where you were allowed to wear a hat to school. I snapped this one of Cameron at breakfast time.

Yes, it's "coffee" in the mug - the same way my Granny used to make it for me. A mug full of milk with just a splash of coffee.

Here are the girls with their "take" on Halloween night. All of the candy is now in two large ziploc bags with their name on it. This is dessert and sometimes a treat in their lunch. Mom also sneaks a piece now and then, but always "equally" - one from each bag. Where are all the Butterfingers??

Tonight both girls were playing dress up. I've warned Brenna not to play dress up in her Christmas Dress, but she doesn't listen to me. I just hope she doesn't tear it up, because then she'll have to wear one of the other five really nice hand-me-down Christmas dresses.

From cowgirl to Crystal Princess - Cameron is not too old to dress up yet!

Tonight she brought out a game that she created all by herself. It's a version of Harry Potter. Each player closes their eyes and chooses a game piece (one of the HP characters) and then roll the dice to see who goes first. You advance around the board drawing cards (similar to Candyland) that either advance you spaces, award you points or tell you to go to a classroom.

Writing Workshop

This post is brought to you today by Brenna. She had a "Writer's Workshop Party" today and has been very excited about it since yesterday. Tonight she brought home her essay and wanted me to put it on the blog, since I did Cameron's RenFest essay last week. I'll write it first in her own words, then translate. It appears she wrote this over the course of several days - there are two different dates at the top of the three pages.

"I love rideg wrkse shop because it is fun to do and it helsp me reteg wrse and helsp me to rit wrse. I mit be a aecks ridr win I groe up and I mit rit a wudfll store win I groe up. Mabe the storey mite be ubawt prisasiseis or dragins or Kegs and Qwegse or mabey it mit be ubaut my life with my sister or with my Mom or with my Dad or mabey it mit be faretells with a bestok or with a hat how loves gies and sis on ther hed it can be abaout all of theths tegs or it can be abaowt me and you or it can be ubaout all of my famley and yoer famley to can you guess wish oun it mite be it mite be all uf these things like you and me. I love 1st grade."

(translation) "I love writing workshop because it is fun to do and it helps me read words and helps me to write words. I might be a excellent writer when I grow up and I might write a wonderful story when I grow up. Maybe the story might be about princesses or dragons or Kings and Queens. Or maybe it might be about my life with my sister or with my Mom or with my Dad. Or maybe it might be fairy tales with a beanstalk or with a hat who loves giants and sits on their head. It can be about all of these things or it can be about me and you. Or it can be about all of my family and your family too. Can you guess which one it might be. It might be all of these things like you and me. I love 1st grade!"

Happy Halloween

Looks like I forgot to put their costumes on the blog. They're posted on Facebook and Mommies Board. For some reason when I try to post photos from home, the computer dumps me off the internet. It can take up to an hour or more to blog if I use more than one photo. ATT DSL is ... a word I won't use on the blog.

Here are our Renaissance Lady and Gold Medalist Olympic Equestrian.

And here is our decorated yard. We had a yard full of Hurricake Ike leaves in bags so we drove to Target to get the pumpkin bags. When we got back home - the city had come around and picked up all the bags of leaves! Then the girls wanted to make tombstones, so last weekend Bryan recycled some foam board we had in the garage and I traced some tombstone art for them. I thought the results came out really well!

All of the wording was Cameron's idea - two were found on an internet search.

Pumpkin Decorating Contest

Today was School Picture day, Pumpkin Decorating Contest, Crazy Socks (Spirit Week) day, and report cards. (Whew.)

Here is Cameron's decorated pumpkin.

Here is Brenna's.

Now here is our FIRST PRIZE winner from the 1st Grade. Boy was I surprised. Boy was Cameron jealous. ;-)

ps - Cameron earned all A's on her report card (writing was her highest grade, see her essay below) and Brenna had a row of "SD" (steadily developing) on hers. Looks like we're off to a great start!

School Days at TRF

My Trip to the Ren.Fest

by Cameron Kelly

It all started one night at dinner. Mom said "We're going to the Ren. Fest with some friends." So we went. We woke up at 6:07 exactly. We got dressed, grabbed our coats and headed out the door. First we were going to meet the class (group) that we were going with at Rnadalls. Well, surprise - surprise - 'cause Cheyenne was in my group! Yay! I begged my mom for caramel hot cocoa and she said yes! So I got some and then we left. Off to the time of the Renaissance: Huzzah! (Hurray.)

When we got there we went to the check in counter and put our wristbands on. Then mom's friend said her son was going to be in a fencing school. So we went to that stadium and I joined! I learned a great deal of stuff - lunging, right turn, left turn, and right block.

Then we went to the Jousting stadium and our guy lost - he fell off the horse and soon the other guy fell too. Then they had a sword fight. First our guy stabbed the other guy (all this is fake! but real swords!) Then our guy got stabbed in the heart - that - I believe was the end of our guy's fake life.

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Then came the fun part - eating lunch with the KING! K-I-N-G! King! But, lunch didn't come until half an hour after we sat down. So I chatted wtih some ladies about horsebackriding. Then we took a picture with the King!

Then we had a sloppy Joe lunch. After that I started - Bungee Jumping - I went really high, didn't do a flip, and landed on my feet. It was freakily scary.

Then we went to get my costume. It's what looks like a ren woman walking the streets. Then we went to three gardens: One, a rose weddding chapel garden; Two, a(n) English flower wedding chapel garden; Three, a water wedding chapel garden. They were beautiful!

Then came funnel cake and the bird show - turkey vulture, owl (trained to be non-nocturnal), sparrow, dove. They did back flips to catch food in the air, pecked the meat off a chicken leg in ten seconds and amazingly went into their cages without being told after they're finished. We finished off with an ice cream cone. What an adventure!

Pumpkin Patch

Last weekend after Jeff Dunham, after the Messina Family reunion, we took the girls to the Methodist Church pumpkin patch. It's an annual tradition that we've been doing since Cameron was 8 weeks old.

You might notice that Brenna has an odd scrape on her chin. About two hours earlier, she was running in the parking lot at the reunion and fell. She scraped her chin, elbow, and one knee, and she bit through the inside of her bottom lip.

Jeff Dunham

Bryan LOVES Jeff Dunham. I saw Jeff perform almost twenty years ago when he was doing the college circuit. He is sooo funny. For Bryan's birthday I gave him tickets to Jeff's October appearance last Saturday at the Reliant Center. We saw.....

Walter.


Achmed, the terrifying terrorist. (Say it with me: Silence! I kill you!)


Peanut (with the Guitar Guy, Brian Taner, who was really very funny!) He also did Peanut with Jose - the Jalepeno on a stick.


Jeff and his wife have a foundation they created from their income via ticket sales. To help the area after Hurricane Ike, Jeff and his wife presented a $35,000 check to the Houston/Galveston area Ronald McDonald House. They also presented $100,000 to the Red Cross for their hurricane relief efforts.
Then Jeff brought out Bubba J for an encore.

We laughed so hard at the ad-lib. Jeff said he hadn't performed Bubba Jay in a while, so he had crib notes for the jokes in his other hand. The audience shouted out all the punch lines. Jeff (and Bubba Jay) ad-libbed that it was like the Rocky Horror Bubba Show.