First Day of 7th & 9th Grade

I'm not sure how summer flew by so fast, probably because we were gone for most of it, but the girls officially started back to school this week. First up, Sadie - she is a freshman & officially started at Wakeland High School. What?! She had an early morning because she had cross country practice from 6:30 - 7:30 and then she came home to get ready:

She looked beautiful & I cannot wait to see what she does with her high school career. We have been praying for this day for quite some time & we are excited for the adventure ahead. She is officially class of 2030:

While Sadie was at home getting ready, we took Sophie for her first day of 7th grade:

We met early at the park for donuts & pictures with her friends:

Of course we had to take a mom pic:

When we finished at the park, we walked over to the Gator fence, where we always take first day pictures:

Then the girls couldn't grab their stuff fast enough because they were so excited to go inside:

After school we all met up at Braum's for ice cream:

It was a great day for both of the girls & I cannot wait to see what the year brings for us all! Cheers to 7th & 9th grade!

Back to School Prep

 Last week was our first official week back at home and I thought it would be a fun last week of summer, instead we were busy getting ready for back to school. First up - our middle school has Gator Camp for all of the new students & guess who got to cheer at the pep rally to welcome the new students?!

Besides camp, this was their first official time to cheer together:

Sadie had her own camp since she is a freshman & starting high school - Kit Kamp!

They took yearbook pictures, got their Chromebooks, walked their schedule & saw all of their friends:

We had a lot of doctors appointments & ortho appointments. Sophie actually saw Sadie's ortho & he recommended we have her last baby tooth pulled:

As soon as her permanent tooth comes in, she will be ready for braces!

We got the girls' nails done for back to school:

And Sadie has asked for years to get her hair highlighted. I have been tentative because her hair is already blonde & once you start, you can't stop. And it gets expensive! But her hair is still blonde on top but darker underneath, so we finally let her get it done since she is starting high school:

Of course, Sophie got a haircut too. She would love highlights also but I told her she has to wait her turn until she is in high school:

Sophie took their official cheer pictures for school:

We haven't gotten the official pictures yet - these are behind the scenes from my point of view!

Since we are finished traveling, she started working with her cheer coach again:

She has also been practicing volleyball because they have try outs this week. They got to go up to the school the day before to get their athletic gear & lockers so she was excited to get it all set up:

This girl cannot wait to be a lady gator & we can't wait to see what all she does this year at Griffin!

Life Lately - End of Summer

We were gone a lot this summer, especially towards the end but we did have a few days here and there. Right when we came home from Tokyo, Bryan's cousin got married. Unfortunately, the girls were not invited but Bryan & I had a fun date night out:

We had not been to a wedding in a while but there were so many surprises - free swag:

and slurpee's?! They got married on 7/11 so they literally had a slurpee station:

Carlee, we are so proud of you & Hunter and are so glad we got to help celebrate your new life together:

When the girls finished their mission trip to Houston, Sadie stayed in Houston with my parents & went to her first college ID soccer camp at Rice University. I don't have any pictures from camp, but she had fun spending the weekend with them downtown:

We had season passes to Hawaiian Waters so we went one last time the week before school started:

We've made a lot of summer treats too - homemade ice cream, fruity drinks, pudding pops & we even tried our own tunghulu when we got home from Tokyo:

And we have tried to squeeze in a lot of volunteer hours for NCL, specifically with Miracle League. We signed up basketball, bowling & soccer:

It sure has been fun volunteering with both of the girls together!

FC Dallas Blue

Sadie played for the Renegades for 6 years under the same coach and then finally moved over to FC Dallas last year. It was a good transition for her, especially as she finished out middle school and played all of the school sports, but we knew she was ready for a new team this year. Tryouts officially began in May, but she started practicing with another coach in March and by May had officially joined his team. We had their team party & signing day earlier in July:

We had fajitas, a cookie cake & a dirty soda bar:

I couldn't help but take a picture of the tray with the Made Good, Oreo's & Chips Ahoy because that was all gluten free for Sadie! And take a closer look at the cute soda sign our host made:

The girls swam, the parents had a team meeting and then it was officially time to sign:

We are really excited about her new coach because we have heard great things about him & look at this great group of girls:

For those who don't know, soccer has always been based on what year you were born. So Sadie was always the youngest since she was born in December and played with girls a year older than her in school but this year they switched it to school year instead so she is finally playing with all girls in the same grade as her and she is one of the older ones. They have been practicing all summer, but they finally played their first tournament this past weekend:

It is a friendly tournament where there is not bracket play, just 4 guaranteed games which is good practice since their season starts for fall. Since our team is entirely new & none of them have played together, this was a great warm up for them. We saw a lot of soccer friends throughout the weekend and loved watching their new team come together:

It was super-hot out there, but these girls did amazing & went undefeated for the weekend! And technically no one scored on them so go defense! (Actually, one did, but it was off-sides.....) Sadie started & played most of the weekend & already you can see more confidence in her than she has had in a while. We are really excited for the year ahead. Let's go FCD!