March Madness

Yep, March is busy already but I'm not talking about basketball! School basketball ended so Sadie is in the midst of track. They have had 3 track meets so far and she has her zone qualifying meet this week. She may not love it, but she is determined to run the 2400 every week & she usually is right in the middle of the pack. I don't think she personally loves running long distance, but she is conditioned from soccer and determined enough to do it. She runs it with 2 of her friends:

Her surprise distance this year is the 400! She ran the 1600 in the first meet but then she killed it in the 400 so they moved her off the 1600 so she could run the 400-meter dash & the 4 x 400 relay. She holds the fastest time at her school, so she is the anchor & loving it:

They start soccer try outs at school this week & she is excited! Besides sports, she is still active in NJHS, Student Council, FCA, K-Life and NCL. We went to Sr. Recognition this week & it was just a reminder that after spring break, school will fly by & it's almost summer.

Sophie is just as busy since it is tournament season for volleyball. Their last tournament they made the gold bracket & never lost a single match until the championship game. It was a long day, but so much fun watching these girls:

She is also working HARD on cheerleading! Seriously, she has been in cheer boot camp since January 1 & she has worked harder than I have ever seen for cheer try outs, which are in 2 weeks. 

She also had fun this week at their 6th grade field trip to the Perot museum. I got to chaperone & she had a few of her closest friends in our group:

I didn't take any pictures inside because they are old enough to run around & kind of do their own thing now. Thankfully I got them when they stopped for a lunch break outside:

I am so glad my girls aren't embarrassed of me so at least they like it when I tag along still!

And I had fun hanging out with this great group of ladies - some of us have been volunteering as room mom or chaperoning together since kindergarten:

I also got invited to help chaperone a birthday party a few weeks ago also & I'm not sure who had more fun - the girls or us moms?!

Finally, since we had a warm winter, I started prepping for spring early. We cleaned out closets, I have already done a lot of yard work, the girls & I did feet masks together and got pedicures:

We are ready for spring & maybe a trip somewhere tropical!

Lite Lately - January & February

 I'm not sure where winter has gone, because January & February have flown by. It's been an unseasonably warm winter the past few weeks, so I hope March doesn't trick us because I am ready for spring! Sadie wrapped up basketball season & we had their end of the season team party:

After 4 weeks in a cast, she finally got it off:

Thankfully her new scan looked good & physically, she wasn't in any pain when they evaluated it. She wore a brace for a week & eased into anything upper body but now she is back to normal. She actually started track the past few weeks & is running quite a bit. 

We celebrated the Super Bowl at church with a tailgate party with our small group & our group won the food competition:

Sophie has been the busiest. She is a social butterfly who is always hanging out with friends or going to a birthday party:

She had cotillion in January:

and again, in February:

And her volleyball team finally kicked off tournament season in February:

They were supposed to play in January, but their first tournament got cancelled because of the winter storm so instead their first tournament was in Grapevine earlier this month. We were a little rusty the first day since they were started so late, but they came together & ended up winning the silver bracket:

It was extra fun because she saw a few friends on other teams there & my parents were visiting for the weekend with Max, so she had her own fan club:

Finally, Sophie has cheered since kindergarten for the FFL, which is just our recreational flag football team. However, she is trying out in March for 7th grade cheerleader for our middle school. She has been working hard for the past year, but especially since the holidays passed, she has turned it up a notch. This girl has done a lot of clinics, camps, bootcamps, classes & private lessons - with & without her friends:

We finally had the official school try out meeting for the parents too so that is our focus right now. I don't know officially how many are trying out but there are a lot. I think it will be a fun & stressful month for these girls:

Valentine's 2026

Our Valentine weekend kicked off Thursday night when Sadie & I had a mother/daughter NCL Galentine meeting:

We had snacks, the girls made flower bouquets to take home & we made Valentine's to pass out at a Retirement Center:

It really was a fun evening & the perfect way to kick off the long weekend since the girls didn't have school on Friday or Monday:

On Friday, Sophie's volleyball team had a Valentine's party:

They had a volleyball tournament all day Saturday & Sunday, so it was a good way to bond & kick off the weekend together. 

My parents came to visit for the weekend & watch her play volleyball, so we had a few sweet treats to celebrate. I found these cute heart shaped Valentine macarons at Trader Joe's:

When I went to the grocery store on Friday, they had a huge tent set up with Valentine goodies, including a ton of chocolate covered strawberries. I saw these covered in nerds & knew my family had to try them:

Sophie also made homemade sugar cookies that she had fun cutting into heart shapes & decorating:

Finally, this is the first year Sophie had a Valentine. She had a friend from school ask her & her best friend got asked by his friend, so they kind of had a double date. One of the moms had them over so they could exchange gifts, have lunch & hang out. Sophie was so shy but secretly excited at the same time:

She didn't want to do anything too romantic or girlie, so we came up with a sports themed basket. A little salty, a little sweet - we even included a protein shake:

He is a Longhorn also so he got her a Longhorn warmie stuffed animal that is weighted & can be heated up in the microwave. She LOVED it!

I think 12 is a good age to practice - it's not like they are dating at this age, but it was super sweet to see these 2 be Valentine's for the first time.

8th Grade Lady Gator Basketball

 I haven't posted much about basketball, but the season started in November. I always feel like it is the longest middle school sport because of the holidays in between. Sadie made the A team & it was mostly the same group of girls that played together last year. Out of all of the girl sports for their grade, they definitely excel at basketball!

They kicked off the first weekend of December with a tournament, The Collin County Hoop Fest, where they dominated the competition & easily won the championship:

We lucked out & hosted the tournament which also meant we were in charge of the hospitality room so that was my job for the day. Sophie had fun because she had friends come up for certain games:

The girls had a break between games & since the tournament was at our school, they were able to go back to someone's house in between games to hang out & rest:

Fast forward to January, when they only had 2 games left but that's when Sadie broke her wrist so unfortunately her basketball career was over. I think Bryan & I were more disappointed than she was because we absolutely love basketball & know she won't get to play in high school. She still went to every practice & game & got to sit on the bench & take stats:

Last week was our final game, against our rivalry school at our high school where both schools feed into. It was a lot of fun and secured our spot into the FISD district tournament this past weekend. Thankfully it was a quick tournament - we went in, won all 3 games & took home the championship trophy again:

She still got to celebrate with the team even though she didn't play:

It was the perfect way to end the season. This group of girls played 28 games in 2 years during middle school & only lost 1 game! And not to be petty, but that game they lost Sadie didn't play because she had a broken toe & 2 of our players had the flu so it was a hard loss. So proud of these girls & I cannot wait to watch most of them play at Wakeland next year!