And it begins...

Life has been busy. It's about to get more tiring. Tomorrow The Field of Screams officially opens, which means very late weekend nights, selling tickets.

At the same time school/work started up, Reece began soccer, Riley began bowling and I began working every weekend in Wichita to help prepare the field to open. So we have been busy, just nothing too "blog worthy" busy. The only days I've had off since mid August, have been the two days Reece had games in Salina. He has now scored two goals, and I accidentally started the new tradition of "celebration" milk shakes for goals. Oh well, it keeps him going!

Just for fun, here are a few shots of Clown Town 3D. Happy haunting!! (Ps...you actually need 3D glasses to see the 3D part)

Real Soccer

Reece had his first real soccer game today. In fact he had two games. It's amazing how much change I've seen in him and how quickly he's picked up the sport, even from a month ago when he did several camps. My soccer stud even scored his first official goal too!! Yay! I hope he sticks with it!!

2nd Grade Pressures

Friday morning, in the chaos of all four of us getting around to get school and work, Jake and  I were teasing Reece about something (which slipped my mind what that something was...) and I joked to Jake to not stress Reece out before he has to go to school and think all day. Well, this caused Reece to confess about the stress he feels at school.

Reece: I do get stressed out at school. (In a very serious voice.)
Me: You do? Why?
Reece: Because at recess people are always calling "REDO" during 4 square, and it makes me stay in line the entire time!

For anyone who knows Reece well, he takes 2 things very seriously.... dessert and 4 square. I can hear in my head his little voice saying, "Oh, come on!" every time someone calls "REDO!"

I could only wish this was the only stress I felt while at work. The pressure of 2nd grade sounds pretty rough... ;)

The Lion King

Friday night, we were so very lucky to go see "The Lion King" in Wichita! I was slightly nervous, wondering how my boys would do, this being their first musical...but years ago, when it came to Kansas City, Jake and I had kicked ourselves for not taking the boys, and when it was announced it was coming to Wichita, I was not going to miss it. I am glad I waited for them to be older before I took them, it is a long show. It was just AMAZING!! I imagined it being this way, but it exceeded all of my expectations and now I'm ready to see it again! 

(Why does the flash on my phone have to be so blinding??? This was the best I could get.)

So, what did the boys think?

Well, Reece agrees with me, and wants to see it again. He couldn't pick out one thing that was his favorite, because it was ALL great! The second half was a little less action packed, and it was way past his bedtime, so he was a bit tired, but it didn't change his review. He gave it a 10 out of 10. Our seats were in the very last row in the balcony, and at first we were worried we were going to be disappointed with the view, but it turned out to be the best place for us. You see, Reece is literally a ball of energy.... and in the back row, we didn't have to worry about containing him too much. He could stand, sit, sit on his feet and we didn't have anyone behind us to worry about. Which made it stress free for us, and as for the view, we saw it all and loved it all!

Riley, however, only gave it a 7 out of 10. Riley went into this show not thinking he was going enjoy it, and I think he made sure that happened. This is just Riley for you, it's hard to get excitement from him, and although it stresses me out, I better get used to it. He doesn't really like to try to enjoy things that aren't his idea. We had storms during the day, on Friday, and Riley was actually hoping the storms would keep us from going.... yeah right! Not sure what would keep me from going to see Lion King, but it would have to be way more than a thunderstorm! I will have to be happy with his 7. 

If this show comes back, we will not miss it. It was incredible! So happy we got to go!

More Harry Potter

We did it! Possibly in record time too.... We finished another Harry Potter book. This time it was "HP and the Order of the Phoenix." Things are definitely getting more intense, and Riley and I had a hard time putting this one down, even though it was the largest book yet, almost 900 pages! Now the debate is if we start the next one right away, or take a break since our schedules are so crazy right now..... I guess I'll let Riley choose. Here are his thoughts on HP5...in his own words.

At the beginning, Dudley and Harry are at the park when dementors attack Dudley and Harry. Harry stops them before one kisses Dudley. So then Mad-Eye, Lupin, Kingsley, Tonks, and other wizards come and bring Harry to Grimmauld Place, where the Order of the Phoenix headquarters for the Order and Sirius lives there. Then Harry has to go to a hearing at the Ministry of Magic and Harry doesn't get expelled from Hogwarts. When Harry, Ron and Hermoine get to Hogwarts, Umbridge from his hearing is now a teacher for Defense Against the Dark Arts and the sorting hat has a new song. So later Sirius has a talk with Harry, Ron, and Hermoine. After that Percy sent a letter about don't follow Harry's steps. Then Harry, Ron and Hermoine went to the Hog's Head for a secret Defense Against the Dark Arts meeting since Professor Umbridge isn't teaching anything useful they become Dumbledore's Army. Then Griffendor beats Slytherins in Quidditch. Harry, Fred and George got banned from Quidditch. Later, Harry is sleeping when he has a vision of being a snake which attacked Mr. Weasley. Then Harry and the rest went back to Grimmauld Place then they went to St. Mungo's Hospital. Later Professor Trelawney gets sacked. During O.W.L.s Hagrid gets sacked too, but when they are trying to stun him when Professor McGonagall tries to stop them and the 4 stunners hit her in the chest. Then Harry, Ron, Ginny, Neville, Luna and Hermoine go to the Department of Mysteries. Later there is a battler with the Death Eaters when Mad-Eye, Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley, and Sirius show up. Then Sirius gets hit by a spell and dies in a veil. Then Voldemort and Dumbledore battle and Fudge now knows that Voldemort is back.
The End
By Riley  

Summarizing is a very hard lesson to learn, but at least I know he is paying attention when I'm reading an hour to him daily... if this confuses you, guess you'll have to pick up the book yourself. 

***

I had a "feel good" moment this past week at school. Due to budget cuts, McPherson has a lot of job sharing with Music/PE/Library and Art. So most of these positions have teachers working at 2 different elementary schools. Well, the music teacher that Riley had the last two years, is no longer at his school, but she does still work at my school. I saw her in the hall and she asked, "How that Riley boy was?" I, of course, said great and she went on to tell me what a neat kid he was and she missed him. I said it was so nice and sweet to hear that. I also mentioned I think he's going to have a good year, and 4th grade was slightly a rough year for him. And she just said he was a "trooper." Not sure what that meant, but I know it was a good thing. 

Overall, Riley is in a great place. I think he is feeling more comfortable in his own skin. He even chose to do Strings this year, and he chose the Viola. Here, the 5th graders get this choice, and Riley doesn't like to try new things very often, but he did this time. He will have Strings twice a week, and a couple concerts this year. I think 5th grade is going to be a great year!