Trick or Treat!

Janni is helping hand out candy.....they DO celebrate Halloween in Germany but don't go door-to-door for candy so this is a new experience:

Finally Fall Y'all!!

It's finally crisp and cool here in Houston and we are all enjoying the break from the heat. The kids have been taking advantage of the weather, carving pumpkins and spending time roasting marshmallows around the fire pit...

The girls felt compelled to dress Janni - in a scarf and a snuggie....notice the Nebraska print on the snuggie. Tom has him brainwashed.

The curse is broken!

I think athletes are a bit superstitious by nature. When Tom was playing professional baseball there were so many of the guys who had lucky items of clothing or rituals that they had to perform before playing or even talking the field.

Janni was convinced that it was his fault that the Mustangs lost two of their games. When he wasn't in the stands they pulled out a few amazing comeback wins. Yesterday we started joking that maybe he should stay at home....after all, we are talking about the rivalry game of the year!!

The booster club sponsored a "White Out", handing out white Kingwood t-shirts to everyone who entered. Though we were playing at our home stadium, the Eagles were considered the home team. Which really isn't fair. 

While both teams were bragging about their upcoming wins, the reality was that AHS had the better record, 5-2 against out 2-5. So while we were optimistic we also knew that the Mustangs would really have to play a great game to win.

All kidding about superstitions aside, I think Janni was a little nervous and the first half of the game seemed to reinforce his fear that the team couldn't win with him in the stands. It really looked like the Atascocita Eagles were going to pull out a win - I think we were down 21-9 at the half.

But then the tide turned. In a big way. In an incredible combination of turnovers, defense, and sheer will to win, the Mustangs ended the game victorious, 38-27. Janni was in the student section with many of his teammates and a lot of his friends. It was, he said, "Awesome."

It was one of those games that everyone will remember. And Janni was there to experience the win!!

Ketchup, Catching up

As usual, things have been moving at a pretty frantic pace around our house!
After the Homecoming excitement died down it was time for all of the teens to turn their focus to academics as it was the final week of the grading period and all of the teachers were cramming in final tests, papers, and projects.

Janni is doing well in school. Incredibly well considering he is learning in his fourth tongue...

I still get a lot of questions about our situation from friends and acquaintances. It's tough to answer a lot of them, to be quite honest. Yesterday a friend asked if we had gotten to the point where we had "quit being polite and start being real" (to quote The Real World).

That's an easy one: YES!

Janni has had a front row seat for some REAL family moments. Hailey has challenged me on multiple things on multiple occassions (and apparently I am M.E.A.N.) and we've argued as only mothers and teen daughters can. Despite this he says he STILL loves having a sister. I keep teasing him that one day he will look at me and tell me she is no longer fun to have around :)

One thing we all tease Janni about is ketchup. He loves it. On everything. Baked potatoes, tortillas, eggs, tacquitos...pretty much everything. In fact, I now buy the ginormous size:

In addition to Homecoming and football games, it's also time for KHS basketball to start gearing up. Janni played in his first American tournament with his team and they WON ALL OF THE GAMES. He's spending quite a bit of time with these great guys and really seems to be enjoying himself.

This Friday is what will likely be the biggest football game of the year - it's against Atascocita HS, Kingwood's biggest rival. In addition to the rivalry, many of the students are good friends with kids from other schools so there has been quite a bit of trash-talking back and forth. Hailey Z, bff to Hailey and a second sister to Janni, attends AHS so it will be a fun game - as long as the Mustangs win.

Homecoming 2012

Janni is one handsome guy.....as evidenced by all of these photos!!!

And yesterday was the Homecoming Dance. One of the few times each year when all of the kids get dressed up.

With his host siblings



With his favorite sister :)

 His buddy Wes

Taking the traditional "date" group photos

Janni and his date, Amanda

So cute!

With Jorge, another exchange student who is from Spain

Yes, there is Texas-themed formal wear :)

Our family - Tom and I are underdressed!

Leaving for the dance...

Opa!

We went Greek!!!
This weekend was the annual Houston Greek Festival. Since our family now boasts a Greek member we HAD to check it out!
First of all, it's huge. Really huge.

Literally thousands of people converged on the Greek Orthodox Church. We were invited by a Kingwood family who is involved with the festival. They're Greek (the grandparents still live there!) and the dad, though he goes by "John" actually share Janni's name - Ioannis.

Their son, Zack, is a sophomore at KHS and was one of the dancers at the festival.

In addition to dancing there was a lot of food - which we tried, of course!

Janni said the food was pretty good but plans to get some recipes from his family and make us "better" Greek food. I can't wait!

We also enjoyed some more high school football this week. It was the Homecoming game so it was great fun...even though we didn't win! A bunch of the guys tailgated before the game...

 Janni seems to be enjoying all of the fun associated with Homecoming - even the mums! He and his darling date Amanda exchanged them Thursday night:

It's been fun to watch Janni find his friends and branch out and do things with them. After the game on Friday night he hung out with these guys, staying up late and playing video games. I know I keep saying (writing?!) this but he's adapted so well. A true testament to the amazing child he is :)

 It was a gorgeous  weekend here in Houston - finally felt a little like fall! Since the temperature dropped below 90 degrees the kids dusted off the fire pit and enjoyed the great outdoors Sunday night, staying up late talking and celebrating the fact that they did not have school Monday. Janni tried another new American icon - the s'more....

Yum!

It's another busy week for our family - Tom is in Canada so I'm completely outnumbered by the teens! Luckily I am not afraid.

Last night marked an exciting milestone for our family. Hunter officially (verbally) committed to play basketball at Pittsburg State University. He's excited about his future and loves the coach and the variety and depth of technology degrees offered. We are thrilled as well. Knowing that your child has a bright future in the classroom and on the court makes the heart happy. One sad side note was when we were all talking about how we could watch the games that we can't attend online. Janni pointed out that he will be able to watch them in Germany. My heart stopped a little when I realized that he won't be around next fall. I can't even think about him leaving and can't imagine how much his family must be missing him.

So my plan is to enjoy every day of this amazing experience and try not to think about the fact that it will end in June.

Denial. It's my new coping technique.

Don't judge.

OhMyGoodness

This photo pretty much sums up the funny relationship between Hailey and Janni. She absolutely adores him and I think he loves his sister. She took this last night while we were waiting for Tom to get off of the phone so we could have a family dinner. Janni and Hailey are always making funny faces at each other and she just happened to capture this one. And post it on Instagram. You'll note that he got 47 "likes" - Janni is one popular kid!

And don't you just love the shirt?!