Girl Scout Cookies 2020

For the past 2 years, I have been the troop cookie manager for Sadie's girl scout troop but since she is not doing girl scouts anymore, I stepped up to do it again for Sophie's new troop. It only made sense since I had already done it before so I knew what to expect. 

We had our troop cookie meeting last Monday to educate the girls on all things cookie:

We held the meeting at our house, I taught them all about cookies, we roll played selling to each other & then we got to try some cookies for a snack! The girls were so excited & I had fun watching them in action:

Then the big day was Friday! Unfortunately, it was raining & cold so my cookie pick up was delayed over an hour. By the time I got there for my designated time slot, there were already 6 lanes with probably 10 cars in each:

See?! I wasn't exaggerating! We were all waiting to pick up our cookies & rumor has it that this location had over $2 million cookies in those tents up there waiting for us:

Thank goodness I am helping kindergarteners who aren't overly ambitious yet because luckily I can still fit that many boxes in Bryan's SUV:

And thank goodness I had a few moms meet me at our house to unload the car, sort the boxes, unpack the boxes & then fill their orders. That night it was still cold & raining but Sophie put on her vest & called a few of our family members to start selling:

She definitely knew what she was doing since she has been watching her sister for the past 2 years! Sadie has been an awesome helper also. The next day was beautiful so we hit the pavement & went door to door:

Can you tell how she excited she is?! Her original sales goal was 100 but I think she has already sold a few extra & we are only 4 days in! I am so proud of her & can't wait to watch her as she continues to sale. If anyone is reading & is hungry for a girl scout cookie, let me know & I will have her give you a call!

Winter Weekend

We've had unusually warm weather until an artic blast blew in this weekend. Friday morning it was mid to upper 60's & I met my girlfriends to walk outside. By that night, everything was cancelled because we had a major storm blow in & they were predicting high winds, hail & possible tornadoes. Thankfully, all we got was a lot of rain but the next morning I woke up to the sound of sleet. I ran to look out the window excited to see something & all I saw was a wet ground. By the time the girls woke up, it had changed from sleet to snow:

It was too early & I was too cold to go out there so this is the picture from our front porch. After breakfast, the girls ventured out in their pajamas & rain boots:

They didn't stay our there long because we had basketball games to get to. We were hoping the snow would still be out there when we left Fieldhouse, but most of it had melted. Actually, let me clarify. It never got out of the 30's which is cold for here, so the snow in the shade stayed but the snow in the sun melted. Sadie was so excited when we got home because the trampoline was covered still so she played for a while & I caught a picture of her making snow angels:

And yes, that is our crazy child. Outside in rain boots, snow gloves, ear muffs with shorts!

By Sunday, it had warmed up to the 50's so most of the snow was gone except for a small patch left on the trampoline in the back. Sophie had a friend over to play so they had fun bouncing around in the snow also:

Later that night, our neighbors had a bonfire. This is an annual tradition for them where they burn their Christmas tree. Can you tell the kids had so much fun helping chop up the tree to throw in?!

Did I mention that they also set up a tv so we could watch football by the bonfire?! So the adults had just as much fun as the kids!

It was the perfect way to end the weekend. Thank you Baird Family for throwing an impromptu neighborhood block party & bonfire at your house!

Life Lately - Winter Break

I already mentioned that we didn't do much over winter break, but we did have a few fun surprises here & there. Before Christmas, Sadie got invited to a birthday party with some of her friends. They rode around in a hot pink limo & looked at Christmas lights. So fun, right?! Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures from their party, but when I dropped Sadie off, the limo driver let Sophie check out the inside. She was SO excited:

Sophie also went to party for her friend KJ:

Even over the holidays, the birthdays don't stop!

When we spent the night with Bryan's parents, Sherry took the girls roller skating while Bryan was golfing & I was hitting up the after Christmas sales:

The girls went to a winter soccer camp for a few days last week with Sadie's club team:

These kids are troopers. Getting up at 7:00 on their winter break to go play soccer in 30 degree weather?!

We snuck in a game to see the Texas Legends with Sutton's family:

The girls played outside a lot. It is the most they have played outside with all of our neighbors in a long time. We truly lucked out with phenomenal weather over the holiday. So we had kids in & out of the house all last week, but we finally let Sadie end our break with a sleepover. We took the girls to get ice cream before they stayed up late:

As much as we love traveling, I am so glad we spent the entire break at home. It was some much needed r&r for this family!

Our Day in Dallas

Hello 2020! We have enjoyed a long winter break, but the girls officially went back to school today so we are back to reality! We already had 4 games this past weekend & our practice schedule started back up last night. It was a blissful 2 weeks being at home with no schedule or activities but now we are back to normal. We spent a lot of time being lazy, watching movies, playing outside - but we did surprise the girls & spent a full day in Dallas together. We started here:

Avanti. This is a small restaurant down on McKinney Avenue where Bryan & I had our first date. The girls enjoyed going to the hotel where we got married so we thought they would get a kick out of going here. They told everyone that worked there our story!

Next stop, down town:

The girls have always asked to go to Reunion Tower & it was a beautiful day so it turned out perfectly. It was a little chilly when we got to the top but we could see all the way to Fort Worth:

Since they are a little older, we were able to point out Fair Park, Frisco, the Galleria, which way to Houston, which way to Austin, etc.

And how could we leave without our free cheesy picture in front of the green screen?!

Our next stop wasn't too far from Reunion Tower - we went to Dealey Plaza to see where JFK was assasinated:

Sadie was so excited because she has been learning a lot about this at school. Our original plans were to walk around Dealey Plaza but to also visit the 6th Floor Museum. It wasn't that bad walking around but unfortunately, they had oversold the museum & weren't letting anymore visitors in. The good news is that you were able to see quite a bit just from walking around outside so we'll have to try the museum again, maybe when they are both a little older. But we could see the 6th floor on the museum & the window where a box was set up for the rifle & they have x's painted on the road where the shots were fired:

Can you see it up there? Since it was a nice day, we walked around & explored old Dallas & you can even see Reunion Tower in the background:

Our final stop was at the Dallas Galleria. We take the girls to the American Girl Store every Christmas because they usually have a gift card or a free gift for their birthday. And we took the girls ice skating!

We have taken them ice skating the past couple of years, but the first year we went to the ice skating rink where the Dallas Stars practice in Frisco. But after coming to the Galleria last year, nothing compares:

This is by far our favorite! The girls talked about going all month so when we finally came they were thrilled! Definitely the highlight of their winter break:

We had such a great time spending the day together & going new places around town. We have already created a list of other places we hope to visit soon!

Family Christmas 2019

Later Christmas afternoon, we drove to Grammy & Grandpa's house to celebrate with Bryan's family. His mom cooked Christmas dinner, we opened presents & we even spent the night. It's always nice to spend extra time with everyone over the holidays but of course the girls' favorite part was opening gifts again:

Clearly I didn't take many pictures because we were just enjoying the moment! The girls' favorite gift were Heely's, which are shoes with wheels on them. Sadie has been asking for years, but I thought she was a little young, so she finally got them this year. They are a little trickier than you think, so she spent a lot of time in the garage practicing:

As the old saying goes "practice makes perfect" because she has practiced a lot over the break & now she is a pro!

The next day, Bryan & Robert golfed, the girls hung out with Sherry & I spent most of the day shopping! I hit up a lot of sales after Christmas, even went & saw a movie that afternoon & enjoyed the time to myself. Until that night. On our way home from his parents, Bryan had to pull over on the side of the road & I got sick. Not fun. I ended up having a stomach bug for a couple of days & then Sadie got it, so we spent the weekend after Christmas at home. The good news is that we enjoyed the downtime. Lots of family time & lots of movies!

But we did have a surprise visitor: Mimi came! Unfortunately, our schedules did not align with my sister's this year & my dad worked a lot, so we couldn't find a time to get my family together. But my mom came anyway & even though she only made a day trip, we still loved getting to see her. And as the girls say "getting to open presents again!"

Mimi surprised the girls with a really big present this year:

We got a basketball goal for the pool! We've always had a little floating one but this is one of those really nice ones that go on the side of your pool. I thought this would be fun now that they are getting older. I mean now we can play basketball in the pool, on the trampoline or in the front yard:

By the way, these pictures crack me up because Sadie has learned that this is her serious "baller" face! Ha Ha! 

Besides getting sick, we had an awesome Christmas. We got to spend lots of time at home with our little family of 4, but also lots of extra time with extended family as well. We were all spoiled with gifts for each other & the weather was awesome. The girls have spent a lot of time outside jumping in the backyard & playing out front with friends. What an awesome way to spend winter break!