I Go, You Go, We All Go To Hoco!

 Daisy and I spent time mumming at Cougar Corner this fall. I volunteered to make mums for students in general, and Daisy made her own. I still think they are the most ridonky-donk thing ever. Even though I swore I would never buy them for my kids, here we are.

I also made one for my senior boy.

 I'm not a native Texan, but my children are native mum-wearing Texans. So there's that.

Homecoming was full of Zeke and Daisy marching in the parade, leading the pep rally, performing at the game, and then dancing the night away. 

Friday morning I used the Swag Wag to shuttle cheerleaders, band kids and ROTC kids to a nearby church, where they were fed pizza by Cougar Pride Alliance.

Then came the parade.

Because the temps are still in the upper 90s, Miss Hinds asked me to follow right behind the parade just in case anyone became too hot and needed a ride back to school.  So Gloria and I were part of the parade, too. 

Next Zeke and Daisy led the pep rally. 

The last activity of Friday was the game.

Daisy is helping the band with their halftime performance by playing the synthesizer. That means she is in the pit, playing next to Zeke.

The dance was on Saturday. These two clean up pretty well.

This guy couldn't care less about homecoming.

Daisy's friend Haley got ready with her. This picture was taken right outside of school when I dropped them off.

 Daisy will say I'm doing her dirty by posting this, but this is her with some friends during the dance.

I caught Zeke with his friends making plans after the dance while I was cleaning up.

Great memories were made at Homecoming 2023.

[September 22-23]

Senior Sunrise

Ready or not, the senior activities are getting underway, which means every day we're one day closer to Zeke leaving us. 

Senior Sunrise greeted us with the remnants of the blue moon from the night before.

I know it was super embarrassing, but I lingered to take a few pics. When Zeke came up to grab a snack I grabbed a picture.

There Zeke is, at the bottom left, growing up.

[August 31]

Cougar Nation

This year both of my bigs are spreading school spirit, and they're doing it together.💚💛💚

Daisy is on varsity cheer and Zekers is back with the band.

Abe and I were super stealth and snuck into the first pep rally. The cheerleaders danced their way down the aisles and onto the stage (literally).

Looky there. My girl and my boy are both leading the pep rally to watch them.

Zeke's head is poking out from behind the bass drum.

Each pep rally they have a contest to see which class cheers the loudest to be the recipient of the spirit stick. Daisy is the only sophomore on both the cheer and dance teams, so she rep'ed 10th grade on stage all by herself.

This is the view from the stage. That's Zekers in the bottom right corner looking up at the camera.

Before the band bus left the section leaders did a check to be sure everyone was ready. Zeke is keeping the drum line in order.

Fellow percussionists Braxton, Dom, and Maddi with Zeke.

Last year Abe and I had to split some of the games because volleyball and football sometimes overlapped. Daisy really wanted to try cheer this year, which meant she had to give up volleyball. It was a tough decision for her that was not completely solidified until right before school started. But it sure does make Abe and my life easier when they're both in the same place at the same time!

Daisy is down on the field, bringing on the football boys whilst Zeke is playing the music.

There was one member of DanFam5 that was not happy to be with both of his siblings in the same place at the same time. In his defense, it was still 103° at 9:00pm. 

The band was getting ready for their halftime performance. 

Zeke is excited to be 'in the pit' for the halftime show this year. The front ensemble (aka the pit) was chosen as section of the week!

He's playing the vibraphone.

Daisy came to visit her parents in the stands at halftime.

After the game, win or lose, the band plays the alma mater as the cheerleaders and football players sing along. Go Hills!

[August 27]