Lea started playing soccer with girls from school. She enjoys it a lot but I have to admit she's not very good. Kind of standing picking flowers or dancing instead of watching the ball, but she's out there and she tries. She is definitely getting better and most of the other girls played last year so they have an advantage over Lea (another advantage would be that Dan and I would much rather WATCH hockey than PLAY soccer — so we're not the best role models).
Tonight we are headed to the Perot museum to spend the night for a members only event. It sounds very exciting to me, but a bit annoying to Dan. Sleeping on the floor, or rather "sleeping" at all will be uncomfortable, but as I understand it we get to pick where we sleep — under the dino, under the stars, in the life lab next to the life game which is Lea's favorite spot. We know 3 other families who are going to so I think it will be a lot of fun for Lea and Dan will manage to enjoy himself some too. Perhaps I should pack a camp chair for him instead of a sleeping bag. I think he'd rather sit than sleep in the floor. I haven't planned anything for the rest of the weekend as I assume many naps will be in the Neal family future. Lea does have a soccer game on Saturday (with the three other familes who are going) so we'll see how they do when sleep deprived. Children have the benefit of sleeping whereever they land though so they'll probably fare better than us old folks!
Halloween was a blast. Lea was a book character at school for their book parade from "Dork Diaries" about a girl with a diary. I think maybe she wanted to carry around her diary more than anything else. For Tricks or Treats we went with the same family we've been going with since Lea was 3 months old. It is great to see the photos of them together and see how they've grown. It is really a sight. I've found a cute craft to make an accordion photo holder and I hope to have that done by next year to showcase all their costumes and their toddlerness to their kiddo looks. Lea was a vampire cheerleader for trick or treat. Tonight she can dress in a science costume so she — on her own, despite my other bright ideas — chose to be gravity. She said "I'll just wear a sign that says gravity and jump up and down a lot." So Gravity it is because, oh my goodness I think that's cute!
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| Dork Diaries at Book Parade |
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| Vampire Cheerleader with home made pom poms |
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| The first stop on Tricks or Treats with Cleopatra, Flutterby My Little Pony, Vampire Cheerleader, Princess Leia and Bumble bee. |
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| Oh so much walking and so little candy — oh wait that's because the candy was so heavy it was dumped into another bag for mom to carry! |
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| The Candy Haul. |
I dressed as the fox from "What the fox says," a viral video that is a song that gets stuck in my head. I made my mask, but didn't wear it too long. Randomly my trick or treating mom pal chose the same costume.
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| Fox back up dancer costume. |
We went to church this morning for All Saints day. I had Lea miss the first hour of school since we have to hit the museum tonight before mass would be over in the evening. It was nice to go at that time because at 8am the Catholic school kids were there. About 15 students were dressed as saints and Lea got to see them in their uniforms. Lea has to wear a uniform, but it is not very strict, in fact this year they added a third shirt color so its really not very formal. Lea whispered "I don't think the girls can wear pants with their uniform. They are all wearing skirts!" The funny thing is she said it like it was horrible, and yet she seldom wears the pants I bought her! Crazy girl. I guess she just likes to keep her options open.
Speaking of school there's been a bit of an upheaval among the parents. The kiddos are going on about their business. Some parents who fought very hard for the school for years up until this year left to home school and they got a story published in the Dallas Morning News. From a journalistic background and knowing them pretty well I can read between the lines to what they tried to say and what got printed by a reported who did not work to interview extra sources, visit the school or do much digging. I know of a lot of their complaints and don't think they were voiced well by the article. Unfortunately a lot of parents found it to be malicious (which knowing the people in the article is hard for me to even entertain such an idea) and felt betrayed since they had worked along side so many parents to get the neighborhood to view the school in a positive light. It really felt like a step backwards. But there is always a silver lining. It has motivated the school and thanks to D Magazine's attack of the poor journalistic style and posting a link to the PTA's store donations poured in. I guess what they say is true that any publicity is good publicity.
The DMN original article
The D response
The Advocate wrap up
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