boo bowl pics

 so many parents have been sharing their up close pics from last friday night.  here are the best i've seen featuring the girls.

lady lobos v eagles

 tonight little sister was told she wasn't going to play, since she is choosing to miss the game coming up on friday to be able to attend a full football game instead.  so i decided not to travel to this away game just to watch her sit, which little sister was fine with.

well.......guess who played anyway!  it's pretty funny that the coaches keep trying to penalize her for splitting her time between band & volleyball, yet they don't want to admit they need her as only 1 of 2 blockers in their roster.

mudroom makeover

 i completed a simple update today to our mudroom - using peel n stick wallpaper!  with such a vibrant pattern, it's nice in a small dose within this compact space.  i think that it really brings new life and freshness to this daily-used part of the house.

i found the paper online and it ended up taking more rolls than i expected (5 ea. 16' rolls to be exact), partly due to the 24" repeat being so large.  i ended up with a lot of small pieces that where virtually unusable.  but i like the cheeriness of it and how it plays well with the neighboring laundry room that had its own paint redo recently.  only four years into living here and rooms are finally beginning to have their own personalities!

happy halloween!

i do miss the days of taking the girls trick-or-treating around our neighborhood....but it was also nice to spend a quiet saturday night (in a dark back corner of the house) just relaxing!  the girls know that daddy will hit the candy clearance sales on monday and get them their favorite candies of choice.  little sister was invited to about three parties, and decided to go to bailey's house for a sleepover.  no costume, just a halloween shirt and shorts. happy halloween!!

boo bowl

last week 10/23 was originally supposed to be a friday night football game with boo bowl as the halftime show.  that game moved to saturday 10/24, and the "boo bowl" portion was postponed to be part of a parent performance/booster club meeting scheduled for tonight. (confused yet?!)

well, tonight's new parent performance has complicated things on little sister's schedule.  instead of having no conflicts with the usual friday volleyball game, she found herself once again double-booked!  she was forced to choose between the 6:45pm volleyball game and this 7:00pm parent performance.  since she and her fellow front ensemble friends have been planning their boo bowl group costume for weeks, it was a no-brainer that she chose boo bowl.  when she relayed that message to her coach on tuesday, she was met with anything but support and understanding.  her coach flat-out told her, "if you make this decision, you will be benched for the volleyball game next week."  no discussion.

well, that response did not sit well with me (nor little sister), so after reaching out to the head athletic director, i found myself in a parent-coach conference with the varsity coach.  (not her freshman coach, but the varsity coach).  coach tried to argue that she had spoken with the band director and learned that tonight's performance was not mandatory.  (therefore, she should attend volleyball because all things volleyball are mandatory?!)  we explained that little sister still wanted to attend the band performance, and the coach reluctantly agreed to allow little sister to play in tonight's game given the fact that she had already prearranged with the band director to hold the music performance part of the meeting until little sister and another volleyball player arrived from the volleyball game.  this was news to me & little sister, so after confirming myself with the band director, we proceeded to let little sister play in her volleyball game with the intent to rush her over to the band performance after, which would start at approx. 7:40pm.  i felt this was the least we could do since the coach seemed to be offering a (sort of?) compromise.

well, as most other friday night games have gone, little sister's freshman game did not begin until around 7:05pm, due to the varsity game that started at 5:30pm running long.  *sigh*  little sister's game started out with them winning at first, so i hoped it would end quickly.  then the score evened up, and they ended up losing the first game 22-25 right around 7:30pm.  knowing it was now or never, i quickly approached the coach between games and informed her that i was pulling little sister so she could get to band.  the coach was not happy, but let her go knowing she could submit a new lineup for game 2 without little sister on it.

by this time, i was so worried that we had made the wrong decision and feared she would miss the music performance.  little sister rushed to the lockerroom to change, and then we sped over to the stadium.  she made it to her spot on the field and was able to play all the songs with the rest of the band, including "thriller" for the boo bowl portion.

another mom still at volleyball let me know that the freshman team went on to win game 2, so they had to go to a tie-breaker game 3, and that match didn't end until about 8:20pm.  so yeah, i have zero regrets pulling her when i did and am so thankful that it all worked out.

now for the band performance:

after the booster meeting during the first 20 minutes, parents were invited onto the field to stand beside their marcher and learn a few steps.  big sister requested that daddy do this portion, which was fine by me - plus, i was at volleyball.  it was during this time on the field with parents that little sister and i arrived. *whew*

at approx. 7:58pm, the performance began.  and i could breath easy knowing we had gotten there in time!

first the band took the field and then played the fight song.  you can see little sister dancing along with the rest of the front ensemble.

then they played the alma mater, again with the front ensemble just swaying along to the music.

then the main attraction: "thriller" and the marching show.

lastly, they announced the costume winners - with best group costume going to little sister and the front ensemble (!) and then they ended the night around 8:35pm with "amazing grace."

daddy & i were able to go down onto the field and get some close-up pics of our girls.  i'd say all in all it was a very successful night!

lady lobos v bengals (take 2)

 little sister & her team played very well tonight at their 5:30pm game.  they won in two (27-25, 25-11) against a team they have already beaten this season. it was nice for a change just to have one activity tonight, and not have to rush off to something else.

monster cookies

 i've always seen the fully loaded m&m cookies but never tried making them.

until today....

i used the nestle tollhouse chocolate chip cookie recipe, then after i scooped the dough i pressed it on all but the bottom side with m&ms.  like 12-15 m&ms per cookie by the looks of it.  they turned out very nice, but next time i need to cut the chocolate chips down.  way. lots. of. chocolate. overloadness!  but very, very pretty.