Life Lately - September

September came & went but unfortunately, it did not take summer with it because it has been hot. We have had extremely mild temperatures & zero rain but it looks like that might change moving into October. But that hasn't stopped us from being outside & being busy. Sophie is in the throes of football season & is loving cheering. In fact, they had their first pep rally last week:

Both of the girls volunteered with Miracle League cheerleading for the first time:

They had a whole cheering section from Griffin:

Sophie had a few birthday parties:

KLife small groups have officially started back up:

Monthly NCL meetings:

And somehow Sadie always has a doctor's appointment. Fun fact, she has a few loose blood vessels in one nostril & a few years ago they cauterized the inside of her nose & she hasn't had a nosebleed in years until a month or so ago & then she started having them so often, it was super disruptive to her life. Like multiple times per day, every day so we went back in & had her nose cauterized again but this time we saw Bryan's college roommate:

Sadie is still running a lot, but she missed a XC meet because she had a morning club soccer game, so she was finally back last weekend, it was the first time it felt really nice outside:

Bryan & I have been watching a lot of college football, specifically one particular team, but we haven't made it to a game yet:

And we had a night to ourselves when we met friends for dinner in Dallas:

Finally, Sophie & I got invited to a Hello Dolly party on Friday night for 9-2-5, since it was 9/25. There were lots of pink & cowboy boots. They had fried chicken, creamed corn, mashed potatoes & cornbread. A real southern meal Dolly would have been proud of! Before the meal, she had charcuterie & she even made me my own small board with gf crackers where nothing would get contaminated. Now that's a good friend!

The girls made bows for their boots:

Then sang Dolly & took a lot of pictures. Ha!

It was such a fun night with the girls & their moms:

GMS Cheer - Week 2

Since last week was a short week, Sophie did not have volleyball or cheer, but they had finally had their 2nd football game Tuesday night:

It was hot, again - literally over 100 degrees but the boys played awesome & won both games. Of course, Liz took tons of cute pictures & I can't help but share. I don't even have much to say, I just like to share the pictures since she does such a good job:

They always have the best student section, so this is a picture with our Pink girls:

And a few of the cheerleaders on the other team were on the Cowboys and cheered together when they were younger so that was fun also catching up with them after the game:

Usually, the boys go to Raising Cane's, but a few of the girls decided to go to Bahama Bucks. It is a favorite on our side of town, and it is closing for good. Insert all of us crying right here because that's how sad we are! So the girls got snow cones for the very last time because they literally shut down that night:

We're ready for week 3!

WHS Homecoming 2026

Sadie is loving high school, and the transition has gone smoother than we expected. Any guesses what's been our biggest stressor over the past couple of weeks though? Homecoming! Unfortunately, our school did it extremely early, so it felt like there was a lot of pressure to make plans, find a group all while trying to settle in at a new school with new friends. And let's be honest, Sadie isn't my super social or girlie girl who would be normally into this, but I didn't want her to miss out or regret it later, so we started with the crazy tradition of the mum. Our cheerleaders do a fundraiser if you order yours through the Mum Shop, which was a whole experience in itself:

It is a large space with every ribbon and trinket you can imagine for any school. In the back, they even had all of the made mums on display so we could use them as examples:

This is how many schools they work with:

And of course, ours is the 2nd name on the list because we were so early. I worked with a personal shopper who helped me build Sadie's:

She could have cared less about this, so I tried to keep it simple & focused on her. I knew she would not want any trinkets, feather boas or cowbells. Basically, anything that would bring attention to herself. But we did include a soccer ball & XC:

Everyone wore them to school on game day. She had cross country practice early before school so a few of them got ready together & she sent me a picture from school:

Then they all wore them to the game thtat night:

And check out our sunset - it couldn't have been better weather for a football game:

Sophie sat with all of her friends in the middle school section, and we all celebrated with a nail-biting victory - we literally kicked a field goal in the last few seconds to win!

Instead of going with a huge group or going with any boys, Sadie decided to go with some girlfriends and on Saturday, they kicked off the morning early with brunch:

If you didn't notice, Sadie was in her soccer uniform while the rest of the girls had the pajamas on. That's because we had to leave early to head straight to her game. I had hoped to make her a hair appointment but instead she played soccer in 100+ degrees, and was a sweaty mess:

I don't know how she did it, but she had less than an hour to shower, blow dry her hair, curl it & get ready & somehow, she pulled it off! I found this picture on Sophie's phone and it cracked me up. I guess Bryan wanted to take a picture with her before she left, but check out the second picture - he is doing the girls new pose with the popped hand & Sadie's face cracks me up:

Her friends met at 5:15 for pictures and we came in at 5:30, so we missed a few but at least we got there in time for a mini photo session:

Then we quickly headed to dinner:

We made the girls reservations at one restaraunt and one for the moms next door:

and then they went to the dance. From what I hear, no one goes to the dance but most of the freshman did. Or at least they made an "appearance" since they didn't stay long. But I think personally it's a rite of passage & I'm glad they did. This is my only proof they were there. Ha!

To wrap up their day, we threw an after party at our house. I made warm brownies & had everything set up for an ice cream sundae bar:

Instead of doing orange & navy for Wakeland, I put out all of our Longhorn & football decor but in case you didn't hear, there was a big game Saturday night so while they were at the dance, I snuck home to watch the game with Bryan. Not only did we have fun celebrating HOCO with the girls, but we also celebrated a BIG win for the Horns. It ended up being a fun, late night at our house!

It was a fun and exhausting few days for HOCO and next year we will know better what we are doing. By the time Sophie gets to Wakeland, I'll be a pro, which will be helpful because she is already full of ideas for homecoming. Go Wolverines!