More of the Same, but good!!

 A couple weeks ago, we were thrilled to play host to Kori!!  Kori was out east for Claire's graduation from Army boot camp in South Carolina.  After those festivities, she came down to Jacksonville for a few days with us!  She had never been to our little neck of the woods, so this was a real treat for us.  She came to a football game with us:

Maddie, Aunt Kori, Rozzie - Maddie towers over everyone now.

 She even met the mascots, Swoop and Swoopette!!  I think she had a good time and so did we.  As I said, we don't see each other often, but we've known each other long enough to have a great relationship and it picks up right where it was left off last time!!

The only thing we do anymore is go to football games.  

This past week's game was against Bolles.  Bolles is a private school that has won more state championships than anyone else.  It was a close game right down to the last second.  They said it couldn't be done, but we beat them!  The last 5 minutes of the game, Bolles had the ball and threatened to score.  The cheerleaders quit their organized cheering and commenced their emotional cheering.  They have never cared so much for the outcome of a game! As you can see in the background, none of the fans left early.

Go Eagles!

After the game all the cheerleaders, dancers, and football players gather by the band for the Alma Mater.  After this game, much of the students section joined them on the track.  It was a really fun evening.  

I wish I had more to report.  I made a fantastic salad tonight.  Mikkyn made it many years ago at a family reunion and I copied the recipe and it has just been sitting here.  I finally  told myself to do and and now Travis and I keep going back to the fridge to steal extra bites!!

Mikkyn's Avocado Salad:
1 avocado - diced
2 cans of canned corn
1 can of black beans (rinsed)
1/2 chopped red onion
1 "thing" of cherry tomatoes - I cut them in half
I forgot the cilantro
douse it all with a vinaigrette dressing (I used an olive oil vinaigrette because I don't like Balsamic)
Salt & pepper to taste (and you'll keep tasting!!)

Performances Galore

 I am ready for this three-day weekend!  Those five-day weeks are killer.  As I always say, I love my job.  I love the people I work with.  I love the kids.  My days go by very fast.  HOWEVER...I just was not made to work full-time.  Poor me.  Things are finally starting to stabilize at school and I found myself going home only 1/2 hour after quitting time on Monday.  I felt like I was surely missing something very important at school.  I even made dinner a few times this week!!

Last weekend I had noticed that our pineapple had turned bright yellow and knew that it was time to harvest the sucker.  Travis went out and cut it off the stalk.  It smelled divine!  On Wednesday morning I got brave enough to cut it up and it was so juicy and sweet.  As you can see, it was very little.  Travis and I split the spoils and we each got about 10 pieces of pineapple.  I talked about it all day to my students and they were adequately impressed.  We are going to get another planter and more dirt to plant the crown from this one and start a new one.  Not bad for 4 years work!!  haha  I don't think we'll be living off our crop any time soon.

Travis with our bounteous harvest!

 Friday brought the first pep rally of the year.  I woke up thinking that it had already happened, but then realized that I still had that to get through, in addition to a football game.  It was great to be there are they announced the captains of the dance team and I got to hear them say "Rozzie ____".  She is dancing much more confidently this year and smiling like she knows she belongs out there.

 And then there was Maddie!!  This was her first pep rally and she was nervous.  She did just fine and she had a great time, too.

Our new principal is a really great man!!  

The football game was against our cross-county rivals, Clay High School.  There is plenty of hatred to go around!!  Actually most of the kids have friends at the other schools and so the rivalry is friendly, as long as we win!!  Due to the large crowds expected (over 5,000), we needed to get to the school early so my girls would have parking and we'd be on time.  The cheer parents organized a tail-gate party with food and music.  A lot of students were already there having fun.  The kids played Twister and other games.  Then our new principal drove up on the golf cart.  All the kids think he is the greatest because he knows them.  He talks to them.  He knows their names.  He wants them to have fun and be proud of their school and he does it in a way that they buy into it and believe it and BEHAVE!!  So he was out there making sure that there weren't any shenanigans going on in the parking lot.  The kids all thought he was out there to hang out with them!!  So my cheerleaders talked him into a stunt!!  Who would have ever thought??

Then next thing I knew, they were grabbing me and I was saying that I had the wrong shoes, too fat, too old and then I was up.  At least I have coached long enough to know to lock my legs, tighten all my muscles, and look up!!

Scaring the daylights out of the coach!

It was finally game time, so we headed to the field.  Travis has always wanted to coach our kids' teams.  Then we never had any boys.  Then the girls danced and banded.  There was no one to coach.  I have never dreamed of coaching a team and yet, I am the one coaching.  To make it even, I have named Travis as my "Assistant to the Coach".  He is so helpful.  He leads the dads who lay out the cheer mats on the track.  This week, the parents who were supposed to bring drinks for the team didn't do it.  Travis ran back to my classroom where I had a spare 24 pack of water and brought it out for them.  It was incredibly hot and they needed it!!  This picture is also doubling as our 23-year anniversary picture as it was taken the day before and isn't that bad!!

Then the dance team went out and did their thing.  Maddie is in the row that is standing and has the big hair (2nd from the right).  Rozzie is standing on her face (on the right end).  Notice the moon!!  

 Here is another, closer shot of the team where you can see Rozzie near the front, and Maddie on the end.  They are a talented team this year.  Maddie was a little wishy-washy at first, but she has really enjoyed performing these past two weeks.

They are thrilled to have black pants this year!!

 At the end of a game, win or lose, the team, cheerleaders, and dance team all gather in front of the band and the band plays the alma mater.  The kids sway and sing.  This is probably my favorite part of the game!!

 Thursday night was exciting for Morgan as it was the home/season opener for BYU.  Since we live 2254 miles from the school, we can't go to her games.  We watched it on ESPN, though.  We are usually in bed by 9:30, but we stayed up to see if they would show the band and they did!!  Travis stayed up and watched the 1st half.  I went to bed; I'd seen what Morgan was doing and was satisfied.  Today I was looking at pictures from the game and found this!!  She is down there making that "Y" thing on the field!!  I think she is on the far side of the "Y" in the upper arm.

And there you have it.  That is what we did this week.  I just want to say how much I enjoy reading all of your blog posts, too.  It doesn't seem to matter how many pictures of the same stuff you post, or if the week was just the usual stuff, I really like to read about it and see any pictures you post.  I REALLY like reading Sara's blog she keeps for EJ in TJ.  Thanks for reading, commenting, and keeping your own blogs!!