Here's the thing . . .: And now for the rest of the story . . .

So, Curlyboy is a senior at Martin High School. A longstanding Homecoming tradition for senior boys at Martin is the Fundancers. (And, if you happen to be reading this and are not from Texas, you might want to Google "homecoming" or "homecoming mums" just to read up on this Texas phenomenon of ridiculously oversized corsages/arm garters and all the other over the top traditions that accompany this most hallowed of all traditions in the most hallowed of all sports in Texas - high school football.)

So, Fundancers is a wholesome and heartwarming tradition where the senior boys, of all shapes and sizes, including big hulking football players (are you getting a visual here yet?) dress up as cheerleaders and the real cheerleaders teach them a dance routine, which they perform at the Homecoming pep rally. Hence, the aforementioned skirt - I should probably say the first one he's ever worn (that I know of . . .). Curlyboy advised me that "I've been waiting four years for this." So, being the beanpole that he is, he actually fit into a REAL cheerleading uniform, as evidenced here:

You know, you wish and hope and dream about all the wonderful things your child will accomplish in their high school career, and then they get to be part of the proud tradition of dressing up like a girl . . . makes a mother proud . . .

In case you were wondering (and you know you were), he is wearing boxers AND for extra coverage, a pair of white girls' Soffe shorts UNDER the aforementioned (in previous post) SKIRT. Said shorts had the letter R painted on them, as one highlight of the "dance routine" involved the boys lifting up the back of their skirts (or whatever else they had on if the skirts didn't fit) to spell out WARRIORS (the mascot) and some other words I could not read from my vantage point - this during a particularly slinky portion of the dance where they were sort of crawling forward on the floor in what might have been intended to be a "catlike" manner. SNORT.

At one point, he was also wearing some sort of sparkly silvery mask which you can see atop his curly head in the photos above. I particularly enjoyed the Caution Tape/Pageant Sash accent, and the red knee socks and matching headband are a jaunty touch (all his own idea - I did not have any input into this getup . . . er . . . ensemble). (Sorry, when I uploaded the pictures below, most of them are pretty small - I got them off Andy's Facebook so I can't make them bigger.)

Of course, the highlight of the routine, aside from the skirt-lifting, letter-embossed booty showing part, was the two boys who did tumbling runs across the gym at the beginning, and of course the stunts which involved tossing "flyers" in the air, a la REAL cheerleaders, and catching them. There was only one small problem - I believe the laws of nature dictate that if a bunch of very strong boys toss a smaller boy in the air, he will, ergo, fly VERY HIGH in the air. Meaning, 10 feet, maybe more, ABOVE THE HEADS of the tall boys doing the tossing.

This of course caused most of the adults in the room to gasp and say a quick Hail Mary that said flying boys would in fact be caught on their way back down. And they were. Mostly. One group had a bit of a stumble, but I don't think they actually dropped the boy, they just sort of fell over in a slow motion heap. But I did hear that a few were dropped during practice. They don't know their own strength, apparently. And high school senior boys will generally do pretty much anything, if someone suggests it and it sounds particularly ridiculous or foolhardy. In fact, the higher the exponential ridiculous and foolhardiness factor, the more you are pretty much guaranteed that they will do it. Fortunately, for the most part, this was just good, clean, ridiculous fun.

And of course, another Homecoming tradition is various theme days. Here is the Camo Day picture . . . see if you can find him hidden in the photo . . .

And just to show that Curlyboy cleans up pretty well when he wants to, here are a few photos from his regular Homecoming day attire and Homecoming game attire. The guys are all friends from school, and his date for the game was a girl he's known since they were babies in the church nursery. His girl is in college in Oklahoma, and the date is single, so they just decided to go together along with a big group of friends. Big fun was had by all.