8th Grade Cross Country

This fall is flying by & I don't think I've kept up very well on our blog. Volleyball wrapped up at the end of October while cross country simultaneously started at the same time. It is a short season, but they finished tonight. There were 3 regular meets the last 3 Wednesdays & the weather couldn't have been better this season:

Their first 3 meets were at different schools & we always see lots of friends along the way. I love it whenever we get pictures from friends who see her on the course:

That's our friend Adalyn running beside her in the yellow penny:

This is one of my favorite pictures as she sprints towards the finish line:

Lots of celebrating when the race is actually over:

because this is the picture I found on her phone on her way to their first meet:

Ha ha! I don't know if any of them really love to run, but they all do it for conditioning. Most of them are basketball or soccer players. 

Tonight they had their last meet, which was the FISD district meet at Warren Sports Complex. It was a little over 2 miles & definitely more of a cross country course with a few hills. Beautiful day but I think we broke a record for heat this late in November. It was 86. Sadie showed up ready to run with 180 of her peers:

Yep, that's just 8th grade girls. There were 18 schools & each school could bring their top 10. Somehow, she made it through the crowd, sprinted at the end & got 21st place:

I think she was disappointed she didn't crack the top 20, but still 21 out of 180?! I think that is amazing! She definitely beat her place & time from last year. Afterwards, she had fun celebrating with friends from other schools & then we stayed to watch the boy's race:

 So proud of her & all that she gives. Can you imagine going to cross country practice after school, then straight to basketball tryouts followed by club soccer practice that night?! I am exhausted just thinking about it. All of these girls did amazing & I am excited another sport wrapped up so we can move on to the next - basketball, here we come!

Halloween 2025

We may have 2 daughters in middle school, but that didn't stop them from being kids at heart & wanting to trick or treat this past weekend! Did anyone else love that Halloween was on a Friday night?! I felt like it was way more than normal - more trick or treaters, more parties & an even later night! I'll start with Sadie because I don't have much to report on. Ha! She invited 6 friends over, so I had snacks & they got ready together. I left while most of them were arriving & unfortunately, this is the only picture I found on Sadie's phone of her or her friends:

Can you tell who they are? Disney princesses! Sadie is Cinderella & her friend is Snow White. They did walk around the neighborhood & trick or treat some, but mostly they met up with friends & stopped by a party. Thank goodness a few friends sent me pictures throughout the night:

Sophie got ready at home by herself & thankfully we were able to get a picture or her before she headed out:

She LOVES Dr. Pepper, so her & her friend came up with the idea of being Dr. Pepper cowgirls. And Bryan? I think his shirt & hat speak for itself. Ha!

We went to one of her friend's house for a pre-party where we met up with all of her friends. She had an awesome CharBOOterie spread:

Once all of their friends got there, we took a few pictures of the girls:

and the moms:

That's what happens when you have a friend who is a photographer. She is always staging us!

Eventually, the girls went out on their own so after we visited for a while, Bryan & I went home to pass out candy. We saw both of the girls eventually when they stopped by our house, but for the most part, they both stayed out for several hours:

Blake & Sophie came home first & had fun drinking their Dr. Pepper & trading candy:

Sadie had a late night with her friends, but they both had sleepovers & thank goodness no one had early games Saturday morning, so everyone got to sleep in. Such a fun Halloween weekend!

Life Lately - October

As expected, this month is flying by & I cannot believe Halloween is next week! We bought a porch pumpkin pile at a silent auction earlier this year & were pleasantly surprised when they came & did it for us at the end of September. It was the perfect way to kick off fall:

The month has also flown by because the girls are beyond busy with their fall activities. They've had fun going to the Griffin & Wakeland football games:

along with Griffin & Wakeland volleyball:

And how could I forget Fieldhouse volleyball, where Sophie's team is playing this season:

Of course, FFL is still going strong & Sophie got to be head cheerleader with Sloane:

Sadie & I have done a few things with NCL. They had an awards banquet to celebrate all of the hours they served last year:

Sadie got the spirit of NCL award for serving over 30 hours, which is more than double their requirement. They also had a meeting this month to celebrate haunted harmonies:

The girls are both actively involved in KLife & meet multiple times a week but their favorite night of the year with KLife is the progressive riot. Sadie has gone twice & Sophie has been patiently waiting to go:

We drop them off at 8:00 on Friday night & pick them up at 7:00 the next morning! It is literally an all nighter where they have charter buses drive them around from place to place. The 6th grade girls went with a beach/Hawaiian theme:

While the 8th grade girls went with a black & gold theme:

They started at Ninja Nation, then went to Pin Stack followed by Fritz Adventure. With a whole lot of snacks & fun in between. They ended the night at a local church whey they got to watch a movie & play before heading home. Apparently by the time they got to the church, they were barely hanging on:

Thank goodness they had afternoon games & could sleep all morning!

We also had a long weekend for fall break & the girls both had sleepovers with friends:

and my sister came to visit with her kids. I surprised them & took them to the Haunted Castle Cafe:

It is a spooky restaurant that fit the mood this time of year. The girls got fun mocktails that bubbled & smoked:

We were going to carve pumpkins while they were here, but instead we made haunted houses instead:

We also had fun baking with them. I made pumpkin donuts for breakfast & the girls had fun making spider cookies:

Last fun note - while they were here, Sadie ran a nail salon. She literally did dipped nails on Natalie, Sophie, Zoe & herself:

It's been a busy month, but we are loving every minute leading up to Halloween next week!