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!

Winter Storm Fern

In case you haven't heard, it had been an unseasonably warm winter until this past weekend when winter storm fern decided to blow through. This was some of the coldest weather we have had since several years ago when we had out last big ice storm so this time, I was ready! I went to the store early in the week & stocked up so we were ready for a few days at home. The temperatures started dropping on Friday & it rained all day but somehow overnight it turned from regular rain to freezing rain/sleet/thundersleet - whatever you want to call it! It looked pretty when we woke up the next morning, but it wasn't the pretty fluffy stuff, it was ice I heard it hitting our windows all night long:

The girls wasted no time getting ready to head outside to meet their friends! In fact, they have spent the past couple of days walking back & forth between each other's houses:

There has been lots of snacking, lots of hot cocoa, lots of late nights & multiple sleepovers:

Of course, with cold weather come lots of gear:

Ha! I had a few old towels on the floor to collect ice/water, but this slowly became their dumping ground every time they came home. Thank goodness we only get this a few days a year or this would drive me crazy! 

The first 48 hours were full of precipitation & mostly ice. And since I hate the cold, I stayed inside the entire time & only took pictures through the window:

That's the advantage of having older kids who can go outside & play by themselves now! By Sunday morning, we finally had the fluffy white snow:

 

and then it finally moved on by that afternoon. So here we are a few days later & we haven't had any precipitation since Sunday afternoon, but nothing has melted either, so the girls had school cancelled Monday thru Thursday. They are loving life & I am over it. Ha! I hate to say that I am ready for basketball games & volleyball tournaments again. A few days at home is fun but I think we are all ready to get back to life as we know it.