Non-stop Nockinbird fun times...

I'm not sure where she picked up this pose, but it's become a favorite.  The Nockinbirds went to the movies Friday night--in 3D no less!  Megamind--it got three feathers up from the Nockinbirds, as did getting to wear 3D glasses again.

We opted out of going to the the high school football playoff game in favor of the movie...and the fact that it was ridiculously cold and windy.  It was "twins" day at school...and we take spirit days seriously in our department!  The game...didn't go so well.  BUT the looooong dry spell has been broken and I'm sure we'll have another chance to make it to a playoff game soon...sooner than the 33 years it's been this time...

My first attempt to "french" braid.  Little Miss was pleased.  And cute.

Since Loverboy had a Longhorns game to attend, Molly accompanied us to the Build and Grow.

She seemed to enjoy the experience.

The project was a periscope.

She found a lovely lavender/gold headband/wig at the dollar store.

We found a couple of good books at the library and got in some play time of their computers.

For dinner, we tried edamame for the first time.  It was a big hit...probably because of the fun involved in squeezing out the beans.

Here's her pose again.  Little Miss insists on having a picture made with this statue every time we're on the square.

After visiting Molly at the hotel on the square, we went to Chili's to get warm.  Little Miss was very impressed with the root beer in a BOTTLE!

After cheer practice, we hit our favorite burger joint where Little Miss is fine tuning her peanut cracking skills.  She doesn't particularly like to eat them herself, just shell them.  She's quite a labor saving device.

One the way home, we stopped for gas at the newly reopened station near our house.  It's good to know I can fill up and cleanse my system all in one stop.  And I wonder how well they'll get to know me before they let me pump my gas before paying...

If you haven't had enough Nockinbird adorableness yet, let me give you one more story.  The other night Little Miss was pretending to shave her armpits with a bathtub marker while she showered.  I noticed she was starting up near her wrist.  Seizing on the mother-daughter bonding/teaching moment, I told her she didn't need to start way up there if she's shaving her armpits--just shave under her arm.  She turned to me, gave me her scrunched up "you are so dumb" face and said, "Listen!  You don't know what I got!"  Lord, help me.

Better late than never

So...we finally got around to carving a pumpkin last night...our Veteran's Day Eve pumpkin, I suppose.  Our big pumpkin, AKA Mr. Potato Head Pumpkin Pirate, had gone a little mushy...the little pumpkin from the pumpkin patch had likewise gone to the great compost pile in the sky...the little one Little Miss painted at school is looking good, but she didn't want to mess up her beautiful painting...so we settled on the decorated one that she made at Calloway's.

She felt the feel of the pumpkin "guts" was a little too...icky, so Loverboy found her a pair of gloves she could use to pick out all the seeds so we could roast them.  MMMMmmmm pumpkin seeds, butter and seasoning salt....mmmmm.

And to add a little more seasonality to the evening, Little Miss donned the classic "Indian crown" (her words) and danced around the Veteran's Day Eve pumpkin.  It's just a mishmash of Fall festivities around here!

And, just to mention it, for the first time in ten years of teaching U. S. History, I managed to wrap up World War I on November 11th!  No one seemed as impressed as I was.  Sigh.

One cheer competition down...

Thank goodness Aunt Toni found some curlers in her beauty stash--Walmart was sold out by the time I got there Friday and we HAD to have curly ponytails for the competition Saturday!  And these were quite the curlers...I've never seen any like them.  I always had the pink foam ones with the plastic snap arms.  These weren't even round--square foam with wire twisties covered in a pink silky material.  These looked much more comfortable.

Little Miss was not at all sure about this process.

She was even less sure about the makeup the next day.

She got used to it pretty quick--lipstick, blush,silver and teal glitter eyeshadow, mascara...the whole nine yards.  In fact, she asked if she could wear it to school Monday.  Uh...no.

She's the first one on the left, mugging over her shoulder no less!  They were all cute...in a sort of scary way.

The coaches and mothers, including me, had "blinged out" matching t-shirts.  Six years ago, I never foresaw my future including this.  What a ride.

I just liked the sign.  But it really made me want to stunt right there in the lobby.  But they said "please" so I managed to control the urge.

Judges!!

I was pretty impressed with the little girls.  This was a BIG auditorium and a BIG stage.  But they all got right on their marks and off they went.

They didn't even drop the poor little girl that they lift (like they usually do during practice).

About half way through they got lost, but everyone ended up together.  All's well that ends well.  It was scary to watch the other teams though.  Some of those little kids must have been born with pom-poms and yelling "5-6-7-8!"  Serious precision.  And you could pick out the seasoned parents as well.  At practice tonight, the cheer moms were talking about how we need to make signs for the next competition and we need to have a chant to do from the stands...seriously.  I'm getting afraid of how far this could all go.  Note bene gentlereaders:  I wear the t-shirt, I may make a sign, BUT I will NOT, never ever, wear the matching teal glittery eyeshadow. 

All the junior competitors on the floor for the awards.  I do question the "junior" designation for some of the girls on the other teams--they had boobs and looked like they drove themselves to the events center.  Can five and six year olds really compete with that?

Doesn't she look pleased, though?  Maybe I'd do a light dusting of  glittery teal eyeshadow...for that smile...

And she was very excited that her girl cousins got to see her cheer.

 

While were eating Salvadorean food with the McKinney Bandys, she turned to me and I finally realized just who all the makeup reminded me of--Mimi from The Drew Carey Show. 

We wandered around the shopping center "village" after we ate.  It was a pretty nice place.

Lolo was ready to hit the play area, even if she had to drive herself.

And quite a play area it is.  Pretty standard playground equipment, but also...

a volleyball area, with volleyballs...

washer and horseshoe games,

and a beanbag toss game (at which my sister-in-law stomped my brother). 

There are also raised bed gardens that families can rent and grow their own "crops."  It was really a nice place to spend an afternoon--and decompress from the cheer stress (though I am apparently the only one who suffers from that!).

One holiday down...

Trick or Treating was a smashing success this year.  I feel like we got a lot of mileage, and a lot of candy, out of our first homemade costume.  Didn't get any of this litter sold, though.

Molly fortified us with some soupy-goodness before we hit the candy trail.

And Aunt Toni hit another Halloween homerun (ouch! That hurts after watching the Rangers lose their first ever World Series last night, sigh.) with chocolate and a spinning-lights-jack-o-latern.

This town of mine...the Friday before Halloween the city elves were out putting up the Christmas decorations--wreaths around the square and tinsel Santas/drummer-boys at the marina and city hall...with the fall decor all still in its glory no less.  I'm sure there will jeers about this in the paper tomorrow, but I like the blending of the seasons and holidays.  Stretches all the excitement out.  Maybe I'll burrow my way to the Christmas tree in the garage this weekend...start early and do a little everyday...kind of sneak up on Christmas, if you will.