Kick Master of the Week!

Yep! That's my girl! At last night's Homecoming Football game, during half time, Heather was announced this week's Kick Master! Woo hoo! Go Heather! You rock (or in this case--KICK!)

Homecoming Pep Rally

As the rain poured down yesterday I was sure the Homecoming Parade and Pep Rally would be cancelled. My daughter called late in the day to say it still wasn't being cancelled, but that there was talk of cancelling the parade and moving the pep rally inside, into the gym. The parade was scheduled to begin at 7 pm and at 6:15 the rain was still coming down pretty hard out here where we live. Heather called and said it still wasn't cancelled so into town we drove wondering just how drenched we'd get!

When we arrived at our usual spot to watch the parade the rain had slowed to barely a drizzle. Yay! By the time it began we'd feel a sprinkle now and then but that was all. The parade was very short due to several groups deciding not to participate because of the weather.

"Pepe" the school mascot...aka Heather's friend Ryan...rode by on the cheerleaders' float.

At the end of the parade our group walked over to the stadium to watch the pep rally...in a very wet stadium! We had not even considered bringing anything to sit on, that the seats would be wet! Oh well, we'd just look like all the other Matador fans and have wet backsides!

Pepe again!

The dance team put on a great show! Heather is in the middle (50 yard line), 2nd girl back.

Heather "owning" that 50 yard line she loves so much!

The traditional burning of the "M"

Go Matadors!!!!

Mums and Garters and Ribbons...Oh My!

It's Homecoming week at Heather's high school. With that comes the trip to the Homecoming Store for all the stuff to make the garters and/or mums, the upcoming parade and pep rally, the Homecoming Football game on Friday night and the dance on Saturday.


Heather likes to have her hand in picking out what goes on the garters, etc., but this year found her too busy to make the trip to the store with me. So today on my lunch hour I headed into town to pick out the stuff I was sure she'd like....only to find the Homecoming Store had closed! I drove over to a florist that I thought I'd heard carried the goodies too and was in luck. I found ribbons, flowers, stars (Starsteppers have to have lots of stars you know!), a french horn, ribbons that say "This Band Rocks!", music notes, dance boots, bells, a football, etc.


When Heather was through with band and dance practice for the night I picked her up but rather than get home so we could make her garter, I persuaded her to join me at the walking track to go walking. I started yesterday and walked 2 miles. It felt great! She was in a great mood tonight and didn't grumble a bit about having to walk after rigorous dance and band practices back to back. We walked our 2 miles, ran some errands and came home.



Before moving to Texas I'd never even heard of Homecoming Mums and Garters. When Heather was in Middle School a lady at church told us all about the tradition when Heather announced her friend Ryan was getting her a mum. Barbara took Heather under her wing and helped her make Ryan a garter. After that each year, now that we know what's expected, we buy the supplies and make them ourselves.

Here we are getting stuff glued and ribbons attached.

Heather worked intently on her garter.

Voila! The finished garter:

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Spreading Bloggy Love!

Lisa sent me this award tonight (Thanks Lisa!). In turn I'm supposed to list 6 THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY and send this award on to 6 bloggers.

THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY

1. Chocolate! (Come on, you KNEW that would be there!)

2. Floating peacefully in the pool on a hot summer day.

3. Going to the beach

4. Fun family time, when no one is fighting.

5. Receiving an honest to goodness letter in the mail from a loved one.

6. Being in the right place at the right time to capture a great photo.

Now to send some bloggy love on to 6 bloggers I enjoy reading:

(Thien I 'd send it to you, but Lisa already did!)

1. Erica at Scottsville

2. Dan at McKinney Daily Photo

3. Carmen at Mom to the Screaming Masses (You Rock Carmen!!!)

4. Arija at Garden Delights

5. Sherri at Sherri K Photography

6. Suzanne at Busy Singer's Mom


Be sure to visit them all.

Homecoming Football Game

Sorry guys I just could not keep my eyes open to finish this post last night! It was an exciting night and our boys won their first football game of the season. It was also the first district game! Final score: 29 to 23! Go Mats Go!!!!

As part of Homecoming week, there were many spirit activities held at the high school each day. Every year each class has a door decorating contest. My friend Lisa is Heather's home room teacher. Lisa and Heather asked me to help them with a "Super Mat" for their door. They wanted a Superman figure with an "M" on his chest, holding a football. I created one for them and printed him really big on several sheets of paper and sent him with Heather to be taped together. She said the kids loved him and I got an email from Lisa yesterday saying their class won the contest!!! Here's SuperMat.:

Here Marty and I are all decked out in our Matador t-shirts, ready to watch some football.

Our friend's daughter Terryn came to meet the dance team as they were warming up. This is Carley with Terryn. Thanks Carley!

Heather lined up with her team mates for the pre-game Homecoming festivities. The mums and garters are a Texas Homecoming tradition.

Heather with some of her pals. From the left: Brooke, Heather, Ashley and Carley.

Heather's section in band, the mellophones, was announced last night as the Section of the Week. Go Mellos! Heather as she performs with the band during part of the half time show:

The dance team performed their kick routine. This was the first time Heather was part of the kick routine at half time. She was sick and missed the last game. The girls did an excellent job!!! I was very impressed with how together they were.

Heather is in the center.

Heather's in the center.

Our boys in action (in black):

My friend Erica doesn't get to watch Matador football games with us this year. Her kids go to another school and her son plays football there now. Mathew's homecoming game was tonight as well, but unfortunately they lost their game. Erica and the kids joined us for coffee after the games were over. Riley was so beat she fell asleep before our food arrived. Here's Erica being her fun, goofy self. I'm glad you're enjoying your games, but we sure miss you at our games!!!

Erica's lei and the flower in Riley's hair are part of their school's spirit week:

Black and Gold Attack!!!

It's Homecoming Week here and tonight was the Homecoming Parade and Pep Rally at the high school. This week's theme is "Black and Gold Attack." Marty opted not to join in the fun and Heather was practicing after school so I tagged along with Larry, Pat, Lisa, Cheney and Chandler for the evening. We met for dinner at Kirby's and headed to the school. Thank you, Cheney for riding with me so I wouldn't be lonely!!! You rock!

After dinner we watched the parade together with more friends and then walked over to the stadium for the pep rally.

Cheney being a great big brother and walking his sister Chandler to the parade:

Cheney is the biggest Matador fan I know, even if he does come in a small package! Some day we'll all be out there cheering for Cheney when he's on the football field.....

The Starsteppers float (sans Heather--she marched in the band)

I barely caught a glimpse of Heather as she marched with the Mighty Matador Marching Band.

The cheerleaders host a clinic for "Mini Mats" each year and all the participants help cheer and dance at the pep rally. This is Micayla, Heather's dance teacher's daughter.

The dance team (Starsteppers) perform:

It is a tradition at the end of every Homecoming Pep Rally that an "M" be lit on fire on the visitors' side of the stadium. All the lights are turned down low as it burns and the school song is sung.

Win big tomorrow night Mats!!!!