JD took a red eye flight back from California Friday night and was home yesterday around 10am. He immediately got to work cooking Christmas Eve dinner, which was delicious. We opened gifts this morning around 8am and it has been a great day. The only thing that could make it better would be Uncle Bryan and Karma celebrating with us.
I hope everyone is having a wonderful weekend filled with holiday cheer.
Craft Time
"Let's try to get a semi-decent picture" - me
We picked up Lucky from the vet yesterday afternoon and the vet was optimistic she would survive this. Gaining weight was a good sign although she was dehydrated and we had to start giving her 10mL of water every hour during waking hours. Luke was diligent taking care of her every hour from 3pm to midnight. I went in to say goodnight to her and the poor thing did not look good. When Luke woke up this morning and checked on her, she had passed during the night. He is absolutely devastated and my heart is breaking for him. Lucky has been his constant companion, snuggle buddy, video game buddy and all around best friend for the last 2.5 years. It's never easy to lose a pet and to lose one so young and close to Christmas is just heartbreaking. Please keep Luke in your thoughts this holiday. 
sweet dreams sweet Lucky
Luke and Lucky
High school swim season is in full swing. The Friday before Thanksgiving our team was invited to a TISCA (Texas Interscholastic Swim Coach Association) meet in north Houston. There are various TISCA meets around the state with different qualification times and we were at one of the fastest ones. Only 6 girls from our team qualified and Julia was the only freshman. She made finals in the 50 free and placed 16th with a best time 25.72, finally breaking 26 seconds! She anchored the medley relay (they made finals and placed 10th) and lead off in the 400 free relay (they made finals and placed 14th) and she also had a personal best of 57.57! At the beginning of the season her goal was to break 1min so this was a huge accomplishment. She also swam the 100 free individual and tied her best time (then broke it during the relay). Great job Julia!
TISCA qualifiers
Swim fast! (pics from a different meet)
Kendall cheering her on at a dual meet
Team Christmas party
*1st Place Website Design
*1st Place Exhibit Construction & Design
*1st Place Founder's Award for Creative Design
*BEST Division Robot Finalist (4th place)
*4th Place BEST (overall finish combining marketing, robot, etc.)
It was the first time the WIRED team qualified for Top 4 Finals in the history of the the program, 24 years. Yes, you read that right, 24 YEARS!! How amazing was this accomplishment? Texas BEST had 72 participating teams with high schools, private schools, engineering magnet schools/academies, combined high schools, middle schools and home school associations from across Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas. And they were 4th in the actual competition. Luke is a programmer so he directly helped with that accomplishment. Congratulations WIRED!!!
After a wonderful Thanksgiving at the farm, it was time to head home. We did something new this year and stopped for the night in New Orleans. The hotel was absolutely beautiful decorated for Christmas and we especially loved the giant gingerbread houses! There was a big college football game in New Orleans the night we were there so the streets were packed with people. We left for an early dinner at 5.30pm and it was already getting crazy! 
beautiful lobby
Before we started our drive, JD and the kids took a tour of New Orleans with a tour guide while he surprised me with a morning at the spa. It was the perfect way to end the week!
I hope everyone had a wonderful week!
Gingerbread Houses
After a 2 year hiatus (thanks covid) we were back at the farm for Thanksgiving. Family, fresh air, dogs (uncle Brian now has 5!) and horses. Even more fun? We have some new family members who celebrated with us. Jay brought his girlfriend Rachel and baby Lola while we also got to celebrate with Uncle Brian's new partner, Fernando. I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!!
Horses
The boys LOVED driving around the golf cart
Kick ball (Greg, Rachel, Victoria and I dominated, Greg was definitely MVP)
Julia was required to swim a few days while we were there, Ocala had a beautiful facility
S'mores
We Love baby Lola!
Brian and Fernando
Crafts and more
Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
