It's fall?

Looking at some of the trees in my yard, it's hard to tell it's fall. There are a few brown or yellow leaves here and there, but that's about it.

An oak

An elm

A crape myrtle early in the morning

Same crape myrtle, later in the day when it was windier!

Kira's volleyball team

Kira's volleyball coach sent this on Saturday. There are really 8 or 9 girls on the team, but here is her coach and the 5 girls who were there early for photos. Kira is seated at the left.



UPDATE: For some reason incomprehensible to me, Kira's coach announced her resignation on Tuesday. Blew me away! It'll be interesting to see what happens.

UPDATE 2: One of the moms stepped up and took over the coaching job. All is well, and the girls are winning more often than losing! Nice!

College touring

On Oct 10, Austen and I drove to Austin, TX. We played tourists for the rest of that day, got lots of sleep, and then got up early on the 11th (Monday) and went to the University of Texas's Discover UT Day, filled with programs and tours and beautiful places! Here are some photos Austen took on one of his walking tours.






And here's a view of the capitol building from in front of the Tower building. The dome is surrounded by scaffolding, but it's still impressive. We need to go back some day when construction is not going on.

Contest Send-Off

Tonight is the first marching band contest of this fall, and here are photos and a video of the send-off that families gave the band and color guard as they left for Leonard George Stadium in Spring. It's all VERY impressive!




It takes 3 of these big Ryder trucks full of drums, percussion, and other instruments plus 9 buses and who knows how many cars to get the entire group anywhere ... to a game, to a contest, wherever! Such organization! And such support from all the families!!




And here's a video of the buses as they left ...

Happy Birthday to Robert!

Happy, happy birthday to my son!

Here's hoping you have a WONDERFUL day with your fave people and pets!

Robert and Ollie (12/09)

Robert, Danielle, and Simone (12/09)

(showing the snow in Simone's hair!)

And a couple of my faves from Robert's Facebook page:

Robert and Simone!

Robert in full dive gear!

Honoring Band Seniors and Families

Thursday night, Sept 23, was when the Band Seniors were honored before that night's football game. What a nice, big, talented group of students!

Here are the seniors and their families as they were grouping themselves before walking onto the sidelines of the field. If you click to "biggify" this photo, you can see Ken in the red shirt at the very left of the photo. Anne is visible a bit more to the right (blonde, sunglasses), then Parker's head and shoulders (yellow shirt), and Austen's shoulders! Kira was there, but she's not tall enough to be visible!!

Here they are on the field: Parker, Ken, Austen in band uniform, Anne, and Kira. I'll add a video of all this if I can figure out how to get it off the camera and onto my computer!

Some pre-game shots of the Panther cheerleaders and others preparing for the football team to run out onto the field.

The band is preparing for their "stand music" which will include the National Anthem. It's a very large high school band -- well over 200 students.

September 11th at KOHS

As they did last year (<~~click here to see last year's photos), many students at Austen and Parker's high school set up this display in remembrance of all those who lost their lives in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. There are 2,976 flags on the huge corner of the campus. It's a stunning display.


The school's Young Conservatives Club and some of the band members put these flags out Thursday night. This afternoon, we could see the band members and color guard preparing to leave for their performances at tonight's football game.



----------------------------------------------
ADDITION: Here are 3 news videos about the KOHS display of flags:

http://www.click2houston.com/video/24961948/index.html
and
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news%2Flocal&id=7660676
and
http://www.khou.com/video?id=102643749&sec=548547

The last one was taken from a helicopter, I think. (Doesn't sound like an airplane.) There's no narrative. You have to get to the point at which there are about 2:50 minutes remaining before it zeroes in on the kids' 9/11 memorial. The first part shows the entire school and its surroundings.

Growing up!

Today Kira and Abbi got their ears pierced! They are now both 10 years old, and they've hoped for this for a while. Such beautiful little ladies!

Ken helped Kira pick out her earrings - rubies for her July birthday.

Kira's are all done! What a happy girl!!

See them close up? Very nice!

Then it was Abbi's turn - so beautiful!

Two girls who are very pleased with themselves!

First day of school -- again!

Kira starts fifth grade today. Very cute!

And her shoes and laces are trendy, too!

Austen starts his senior year in high school today; Parker starts his freshman year. Where did time go, anyway??

Austen REALLY didn't want his photo taken, so posting this one is his penalty for non-cooperation! This is a good one of Parker!!

Memorable days

Anne's surgery was on August 5, and she came home from the hospital today. She's very happy to be home, and her family is happy to have her back, too.

Thanks to all our family and friends who kept Anne in their thoughts and prayers. =)

Here are a couple of photos of Kira, modeling some of her new school clothes for her mom! What a darling girl!!

A Simone painting!

Robert sent this in email today. They are in Aix-en-Provence this month, and Simone has been painting! How marvelous!!



UPDATE: And here's her second painting - or at least the second that Robert emailed me on August 11th!

BIG high school!

Here are some photos of the high school where Parker and Austen will be next year. It'll be Austen's senior year and Parker's freshman year. The district and school are expecting over 3,900 students for the 2010-2011 year! Yikes!!

Main entrance

The front of the school and one of the parking lots

The new Ninth Grade building - just completed!

The auditorium at the left and the front entrance toward the right

Looking through the trees at the band hall and the marching band's practice area - which also serves as the bus parking area before and after each school day.

The band hall, closer up. Orchestra and choir have their practice halls nearby.

On the other side of the band hall is another wing of classrooms - and yet another parking lot!

Tennis courts are behind the green fencing.

Track and field

Needless to say, it's a BIG high school!