Clay and I and our granddaughter Elaine, flew to south Texas to visit our son Todd and his wife Gloria and their older two daughters Nikki and Julia! Always a fun time when we all get together whether it be in Kansas or Texas! The three sisters have a ton of giggles as girls will do! This was an extra-special trip because the oldest two girls, both in high school now, were having a big weekend of sports, dance, and homecoming and we would get to be front and center!
The weekend started out with a beautiful night of football - now I loved nothing more than Waconda East football in our small town school - and have lots of great memories, but we were very impressed with football Texas style . . . The high school has a beautiful football field and stadium! Complete with a huge jumbo tron viewer for replays and vendors selling everything you need to show Bobcat Pride! T shirts, posters, free cups, greeted us at the gate. Cheerleaders, dance team, and the marching band lined the field and student section.
Homecoming was the next big surprise for us - Nikki was one of three queen candidates with escorts and three king candidates were escorted in also. Teachers were voted by each class and were recognized as part of the Homecoming Royalty Court. Each class also had a couple escorted in to represent them. Red and blue covered the field. The prettiest of course - was Nikki says a proud grandma!
Cody and Nikki
Julia was part of the festivities also - she is a freshman and on the dance team:
Julia and Nikki and their mums
The outfits they wore were beautiful and we were so proud of both girls! We enjoyed a private dance "performance" at home later in the weekend. Good job Julia!! Great dancing!
Along with the festivities for homecoming were a couple other traditions we thought were awesome! The first one was "the mum"! I had never heard of the "homecoming mum" but it was beautiful! And looked like something I would love to try and make!! I remember from my own queen candidate experience that we carried a single chrysanthemum long-stemmed flower, and the Texas mums had a red mum right in the center. Then it included red and blue long flowing ribbons with glittered words on them - the girls name - the school name - a sport - etc. Also included curling ribbon, sparkles, stuffed animals, etc. whatever best represented the girl it was made for! The guys also wore smaller ones on a garter around their arm. The second one was the tradition of getting all dressed back up in your fancy dress, hair styled, make-up perfect, the day after the football game and homecoming crowning, and going to school for picture taking! This was when we got to meet Cody (Nikki's friend) take some pictures at home, etc. After pictures were taken then the kids would go in groups and go out for a nice supper at a fancy restaurant! I especially loved this tradition as it gave the beautiful young ladies a chance to wear their new dresses TWICE and such a good lesson in looking beautiful and acting the same!
The weekend was still filled with more excitement as we cheered on the Bobcats in volleyball on Saturday morning! And the Lady Cats took a victory in 3!! Nikki is a senior on the team. The family quickly got all decked out in red and blue attire for the game.
Todd, Gloria, Nikki and Elaine
As always the time to come home came too soon but it was a great time together! Times for talks, laughs, movies, shopping, ballgames, smores around the fire, playing catch with the dogs, and food around the table! Blessings found in Texas and in our family.
Todd, Elaine, and Julia at Bass Pro Shop!
What an awesome family! The homecoming is so pretty. Lots of schools don't have the fancy homecoming court and dance any more. Nice to see someone continuing the tradition.
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