HHHS Band Christmas concert 12/3/17, part 1

Here is the first four songs of the high school band (Marcus).  It's a big band and fills the stage.  Pretty cool to see. Enjoy listening!

HHMS Honor Band 12/3/17

The full Honor Band, sounding terrific.

HHMS Honor Band Brass Ensemble 12/3/17

Continuing with the concert uploads: the middle school honor band brass ensemble

Halloween 2017

\This year was a year that we actually put some effort into the Halloween costumes.  I know, surprising, since this is one of my least favorite holidays.  But, it's for the kids and they had a good time.

Kella's 3 headed dog costume turned out great.  Thanks to my friend, Amanda, for the idea.

Then, we have Liam Potter.

And, Kinley Kitty.

Here is the crew before the older ones ran off with their friends.  Cale dressed as the Phantom from Phantom of the Opera (my suggestion as he was looking for a last minute costume) and Ewan was Thor.  I even got/forced him to wear a beautiful blond wig for the pictures.  

So pretty.

Andy did a great job finishing up some very last minute pumpkin carving.  Then, he helped pass out candy and got to walk Kella to some houses.

We finished the evening by watching the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and eating lots of candy.

more time with Kinley

Kinley get a fair amount of 1 on 1 time.  She also is pretty good about letting me take her picture.  

Of course, we jump on our beds.  It's so much fun.

And, we have tea parties with the dolls.  

HHMS 7th grade band 12/3/17

Here and following are the 3 songs that the 7th grade band (Cale) performed at their Christmas concert.  No video as I was more concerned about just getting the audio recorded.  Enjoy!

HHMS 7th grade band 12/3/17 song #2

HHMS 7th grade band 12/3/17 song #3

got this new camera, and....

My lovely purple camera was finally replaced this fall by a beautiful red camera that sat in it's box for probably 3 weeks before I had time to take the camera out and start figuring out how to use it.  Since then, it has taken another several months to download some of the pictures to share.  But, here they are.  The pictures show some cute kids, but the photographer has some learning to do with the new gadget. 

Kinley at her preschool pumpkin patch field trip in October.  The day was drizzly and cold and I was not sad when the director said they were going back to the preschool to eat their sack lunches.  Kinley and I bailed on the group and had a lovely lunch at the golden arches.

Also in October, apparently a much nicer day, was Cale and Ewan's last soccer game of the season.  They played on the same rec-plus team this year, which meant that Ewan played up an age group.  

I think these are both pictures of Ewan-the shoes seem to look the same, at least.  I love trying to take "action shots".  

The team.  Cale and Ewan had fun and didn't want it to end.  No complaints from the parents, though.  I'm hoping they get the team back together for the spring season.

Also, I remember we took the kids out to eat after the game.  We went to the Mexican restaurant in Noblesville and might have alarmed the staff when the 8 of us walked in.  A fun memory, for sure.

snapshot of October

Here we are in November.  And, here is a look at some of the things that happened in October through the eyes of my phone.

Cale got in to the All-Region Junior High Band.  Pretty good for a 7th grade French horn player.  He follows in his brother's footstep as Marcus was in this same band last year as an 8th grader.  He will have a day of practice and then a concert the next day.

One last pumpkin patch field trip for Kinley and me.  The weather was cold and drizzly.  I was not sad to wrap up this trip and go to the golden arches for lunch.

For fun, I ordered blood typing kits for anyone who wanted to do it.  Namely, the boys.  They were all game to this and the results came back:  Marcus A-, Cale and Ewan A+ and Liam AB+.  None of that standard O+ blood for this house of gingers.

Liam and I like to have sleeping contests after I get home from a night of work.  Guess who wins?

Over fall break, we got to see our friends and Kella and Emma started working on their Christmas lists.  One thing on Kella's list: she wants to dye her hair-half purple and half black.  Andy says that girl has seen too many super hero shows.

I hauled the troops to IKEA.  Mostly cause I hate myself and I like to go shopping with 6 distractions.  Tactical error on my part, we got there at lunch time and I had some very hangry children until we got to the food court-halfway through the store, no less.

Winter is coming.

Winter is still coming.  Honestly, does anyone really buy the fur or is it there for a Game of Thrones pic?

Almost done shopping...

Making great use of some nice weather-the sandbox becomes the ocean front and I get to imagine what our next water bill will be.  Fun fact: everyone playing in the sandbox in this pic is over the age of 11.

Cale got braces.  This means 2 of the boys now have metal mouths (Ewan) and Liam will get an expander placed in November so we will be sending all our extra money to the orthodontist.  (Just kidding.  But, dang.)

We put the missus in karate.  She pretty much knows all the stuff anyway, because she has been around karate with her brothers since she was born.  So, why not make it official.  She has already leveled up to a yellow striped belt.  And, it's super cute to see such a little karate gi.

Oh, the love of siblings....

Halloween prep:  Kella as a 3 headed dog.

Liam Potter

Kitty Kinley

I have a couple more pics on my actual camera that I will actually share when I actually get a longer chance to sit at the computer.  Let's just say we had a good candy haul, I overbought for the trick-or-treaters, and we have no self-control or discipline with regards to how much candy to eat.  I guess that makes the candy not last as long in the long run.

Many days my time is spend playing with Kinley.  She likes to change the dolls outfits like they are teenagers and serve them tea.  I try to get them to sing Broadway show tunes (Empty Chairs at Empty Tables, The Story of Tonight).  Mostly I get shot down.  Tea parties are very serious here.

A full October here for the gingers.

Oh, the apple orchard, again

Kinley's last preschool field trip to the apple orchard was while ago.  I think I (along with any of the teachers, I'm sure) know the entire tour by heart.  The biggest reason I like going is to get some delicious Honeycrisp apples and homemade apple cider.  The kids all get to go on a tractor ride and pick an apple from the trees.  Super fun for the littles.  And, the local paper was out photographing the visit.  If you scroll down to the photo gallery in the article, you will see that Kinley was included.

http://www.kokomotribune.com/news/family-trees-farlow-s-has-borne-fruit-at-howard-county/article_a288ce6c-a899-11e7-8bdc-0b10419ce99c.html

Let's hear from 11 year old Ewan!

Here we go.  Our yearly questionnaire for our birthday boy.  The older the boys get, they act like I'm torturing them by filling this out.  Too bad.  It's my right as the mother to get what I want.  And, I want to know what Ewan likes as a new 11 year old.

Ewan.  What is your favorite....

color?...green

toy?...phone

stuffed animal?...Buddy (a stuffed husky dog)

thing to sleep with?...stuffed animals

fruit?...banana

thing to eat for breakfast?...food

thing to eat for lunch?...food (ha, ha. so funny)

dessert?...ice cream

drink?...Dr. Pepper

birthday dinner?...pizza (I know Ewan likes Little Caesar's best)

animal?...pig

book?...Captain Underpants

song?...My House (as in,  "Welcome to my House")

game?...Star Wars Battlefront

TV show?...Teen Titans Go

movie?...Lego Batman

thing to do outside?...jump on the trampoline

Who is your best friend?...Owen Hunt

What do you want to be when you grow up?...a NBA star

Here are Ewan's answers as a 10 year old, as a 9 year old, and as an 8 year old.

Ewan turned 11!

Right after Labor Day, our Ewan turned 11 years old.  No lies, he had been looking forward to his birthday for a long time.  I paid attention and had a nice list of present ideas to go from.  I think the only downer for his birthday was that he had to wait until after soccer practice to open presents.  

Pre-opening.  Andy hid his presents, of course, and gave Ewan a list of riddles to solve to find the presents.

Oh yes, 11 years old in this house gets you a phone.  Reality is, Ewan is really only going to use the phone to play games on and watch videos.  At least for now.  But, ever since Marcus got his at 11, the expectation is there for the other kids.

The phone was cool, of course, but, this was Ewan's favorite gift: a gigantic nerf gun.  I think the thing shoots out 5 darts at time which means lots more darts to find in the yard.

Our boy asked for the Reece's cake that I've made before.  Talk about a sugar rush.

Yearly baby pic with Dad.

Yearly pic with Mom.  He's catching up to me, but not yet.

Ewan loved his birthday and we love our Ewan!

Last year of preschool

This is it for Kinley-her last year of preschool.  She stared back at the end of August with much excitement.  She is in the "Pickles" class this year and loves it.  Preschool is 3 mornings a week, which keeps us busy.  If I drive Kinley up, I spend her class time going to the YMCA or running errands-or trying to squeeze in both.  If Andy drives Kinley, that's because I worked the night before and am getting a nap in before I have to come pick Kinley up.  It's a good arrangement, either way. You know, this is the 13th year we have sent a child to this preschool.  That's a lot of preschool.

Looking cute and ready to go!

Sporting her "pickles" shirt-the pre-Ks are the green class.

Here's to a great year for Kinley and her teachers!

Let's hear from 14 year old Marcus!

We may have just celebrated Ewan's birthday...but we need to know what things Marcus likes as a 14 year old.

Marcus, what is your...

favorite color?...purple

favorite toy?...phone

favorite stuffed animal?...don't have

favorite thing to sleep with?...nothing

favorite fruit?...apple

favorite cereal?...frosted flakes

favorite thing to eat for breakfast?...cereal

favorite thing to eat for lunch?...sandwiches

favorite dessert?...ice cream

favorite drink?...milk

favorite birthday dinner?...steak

favorite animal?...dog

favorite book?...Ender's Game

favorite song?...don't have one (but, I know he really likes the Hamilton soundtrack)

favorite game?...Assassin's Creed

favorite TV show?...Psych

favorite movie?...don't have one

favorite thing to do outside?...play soccer

Who is your best friend?...Brennan

What do you want to be when you grow up?...I don't know

Because it's fun, here are Marcus's answers

as a 13 year old

as a 12 year old
as an 11 year old

what we do now that school has started...

Our school routine is almost in full swing.  Preschool starts next week and then all the gingers will have some sort of organized instruction.  The girls' dance classes have started.  The older 3 boys are all doing soccer.  My favorite part of the soccer schedule this fall is that only Marcus, Cale and Ewan are playing and Cale and Ewan are playing on the same team.  Two teams, two practice schedules, two game schedules.  What should we do with all our extra free time?

Here's Marcus, an official member of the high school JV team.  It's all-consuming right now.  

Cool.

And, cool.  These things line the path to the high school soccer fields.

Liam has been working on his blue belt advancement.  Fingers crossed that he promotes next Thursday.

Some of what Kinley and I do-dress and re-dress the ladies.  Then we play school or house or whatever Kinley wants.  Who says the youngest gets the least attention?

We also play games.

So, the eclipse happened.  I did not have glasses, nor did I make a pinhole projector.  I thought it would get a lot darker by us.  Turns out, the eclipse in our area looked more like a cloudy day.  Or, those were the actual storm clouds moving in.  I couldn't tell. The kids in the primary and elementary got to go out and watch.  The older boys did not get to see anything outside.  Instead, they got to watch a live stream from the comfort of the indoors.  I got some nice pictures of fluffy clouds.  That's all.