The last 5 months!

The last five months have been crazy!  Once Little Man and I went back to school, it was a matter of getting from one day to the next without forgetting anything.  Our normal responsibilities combined with school projects, assignments, studying for exams, choir and the holidays made the last few months a blur!

Here is a quick rundown:

The Boosterthon Fundraiser at school!

LM is 2nd from the left.

Attending a University of Oklahoma game!

Go Sooners!

Celebrating Uncle Lonnie's Birthday at the Horse Track!

Henry in his festive Halloween bandana.

Discovered the neighborhood rats are being eaten by our resident owl.  This could be a squirrel, maybe?

Little Man's "Mad Scientist" costume for Halloween

The crew for the 5th Grade Boys Haunted House

The Mad Scientist and his victims

Lunch with Loved Ones Day at school

Lieutenant Commander John Hamlett, United States Navy (Ret.),

was generous enough to agree to an interview for my history project.

Bulls-eye in archery!

Lost the last baby tooth!

Thanksgiving with the cousins!

The school choir performed at the mall for Christmas shoppers.  After the concert, the kids had 3 hours to shop before hopping the bus back to school.  I was lucky enough to chaperone these six!

My crew (LM far left)

Christmas in Oklahoma

Building a gingerbread house with Grandma M, Aunt R, J and Little J.

The action camera he wanted!

The Amigos! Christmas 2017

Mom and Dads 2 days before Christmas!

Snow!

The Last Jedi movie with his buddy B

Ringing in the New Year with B and A

(sparkling grape juice)

Our handsome 5th Grader!

Back to School!

Little Man is a 5th Grader this year!  Waaaahhhh!  Where did my LM go?  He insisted on riding his bike to school by himself and I was lucky to get this one picture.  Sigh.  Needless to say, I was a little tearful for the rest of the day.

First Day of 5th Grade

First Day of 4th Grade

First Day of 3rd Grade

First Day of 2nd Grade

First Day of 1st Grade

First Day of Kindergarten

And guess what?!  I've gone back to school myself!  I earned my Assoc. in Arts Degree (Psychology) WAY back in the day but never finished my B.S.  Life got busy...and it got away from me.  Now that Little Man isn't so little and according to him, "very independent", I figured it was time to do something for me.

I put in my application, got accepted, transferred A TON of credits from Oklahoma and enrolled in 3 online classes and 1 on campus class.  12 credit hours!

Its been an adjustment.  EVERYTHING is done online.  I have a school email account, turn in my papers online and check grades and other "To Do" items online.  Even the notes from the Professor of one of my classes is online because he doesn't use a textbook.  CRAZY!  I'm old school and personally prefer holding a book in my hands and being face to face with my professor but these classes are what worked with my "still have to parent my kid" schedule.

The UTD campus is awesome!  Not much has changed as far as college goes.  Student Unions are still a thing but much more updated and it has a food court and a Starbucks on campus.  Oh yeh!  Students are different...more culturally diverse but the Professors still seem to be the same.  Although I do have a young newlywed couple in my Educational Psychology class that is WORKING MY LAST NERVE.  

I have found in my advanced age that I am easily distracted by all sorts of things!  Anything going on in my line of sight to the Professor.  The guy picking his nose, the girl clicking her pen, another girl picking out movies on Netflix on her laptop...and The Newlyweds.  Don't get me wrong, they're "darling" but when they sit  this.close.to.each.other and write little notes to each other on their spirals and give each other "looks" and hes playing with her hair, has to have his hand on her leg and is all up in her face with his kissy-face.  Its a little hard to pay attention in class. SO, I moved WAY DOWN to the end of the row.  I can still see them in my periphery but its a little less annoying.  I feel bad for the two guys that sit directly behind them.  Sigh.  Just gotta power through it dudes.

Little Man was excited about me going back to school! He gave me the same advice that I gave him when he first started Kinder.  "Just make one friend and it will be easy from there."  I tried to explain that I wasn't there to make friends but he's determined that I will.  I did chat it up with a girl and her therapy dog!  LM said, "it figures that you would find the one person with a dog". :D Oh, and did talk to the "Goth Girl" from class on the elevator.  She's really nice!

LM told one of his friends that I went back to school and that friend told his parents that, "J's mom went back to school and shes going to be REALLY smart!"  Well I hope so!  Feeling a little like I'm a  juggling clown right now...trying to make sure I don't drop any balls!  We'll see if I can maintain this new College Student / Housewife / Mom life balance thing.

Transfer Student Orientation Day at UTD!  

Free Breakfast, Lunch and UTD Swag!

Random Summer Pics!

Spent most of July in Oklahoma visiting family!  With a quick side trip to Kansas City.

On the drive up to OK, someone (The Hubs) thought it would be great to let Little Man try Twinkies for the first time.  I know, I'm a mean Mom not to let the boy eat whatever he wants. (eye roll).

So excited!

Yummy!

Once in T-Town, we met up with family at The Dilly Deli for dinner.  So good!

The chicken fried steak was bigger than my Dad's face!  Woah!

 Saw this character at an Led Zeppelin cover band show.

LM was like, "hey mom!  Look at his shirt!" while snickering because of the "bad word".

4th of July was spent at the River Spirit Casino - Jimmy Buffet Resort.  You would be surprised at how many kids were there!  The weather was great!  The pool was packed but the buffet was great!

Why yes, I do like Pina Coladas!

Chillin'

The Hubs showing off his strength.

Waiting for nightfall to see the fireworks show over the river.

Meowrica!

LM and cousin J

My Hubs family used to own and operate the Circle Cinema theater which was celebrating its 89th Birthday while we were there.  Attended a special showing of "Wait Until Dark" with its famous scene which scared the crap out of everyone!

LM and cousins with the original projector.

 Uncle Eric stopped by for some RC car fun!

Splash pad with the cousins.

Once the Houston cousins made it to Tulsa, we moved to the indoor activity pool at their hotel..much cooler for the parents to hang out while the kids played.

We've taken his picture on this slide before.

10 years old

2 years old.

I was lucky enough to have lunch with 2 of my friends from 

Elem / Jr. High!

They haven't changed a bit!

Carmen, Me and Ann-Marie!

The group visiting GiGi (front and center)

4 generations

 Pickle Boy!  This kid loves pickles!

LM developed Swimmers Ear after 3 days of non-stop swimming.   Ouch!  Not fun! But ear drops and alternating kids Tylenol and Motrin seemed to do the trick. 

Someone was not happy that Wonder Woman was the toy in a surprise pack.

LM with Mitsy - Grandpa Jim and Grandma Marty's dog. 

Last day with the cousins!