February 22 - Snuggle Buddies

 These two, I cannot get enough of their cuteness! They go from WWF to snuggling every day. So sweet!

February 15 - School Fair

Julia & Kendall

The elementary school fair was this past Saturday. Like last year, it was an overcast, chilly day. Unlike like year, we didn't have gusting winds, so while it was cold, it was a definite improvement!  Julia, Luke and I volunteered at the fair all day while Jillian was at the fair all day with her babysitter, Jillian. The Jillian's had a blast together while they rest of us worked and tried to stay warm. JD was out of town for 2 weeks in California and was scheduled to fly home that night. He hopped on an earlier flight and surprised us at the fair, flowers in hand for my birthday! I was completely blindsided! Of course, he was put to work and became part of the cleanup crew, taking down tables and moving chairs all around the school. The PTA takes advantage of any dad there willing to work!

That evening, we went out for pizza to celebrate my birthday and opened presents at home. Great day!

School Fair Fun

The Jillian's

Modeling my birthday presents

February 9 - Houston Food Bank

Luke & Chris

The 6th grade magnet program at Luke's school went to the Houston Food Bank today for a field trip. The kids (approx. 100) were divided into 2 groups. Luke's group worked in the warehouse, putting together food boxes. The kids were divided into smaller groups and did a variety of tasks, including building the boxes, stocking items, filling the boxes with food, weighing the boxes and cleanup (tearing down the boxes and recycle the materials). Luke was in the part of the stocking team and also helped with cleanup. Our team leader from the food bank was awesome! She had music pumping and the kids and parents were dancing and singing while working. It was a great way to spend the morning! I've been to many field trips over the years and this was one of the best ones yet!

Afterwards, the kids went to a local park for lunch and had fun running around, enjoying the sunny weather. It's been raining A LOT here recently so it was nice to have a dry day. 

Happy Thursday everyone!

Food Bank Fun

February 8 - Regions

Last swim post for awhile, I promise!

The high school region swim meet was this past weekend. The meet was held at the nicest HS facility I've ever seen in Cypress, a solid hour northwest of us (a solid 1.5h drive on Friday afternoon). The region meet contains swimmers from Houston and the surrounding areas and was a prelims/finals meet. Prelims were Friday and top 16 qualifiers competed on Saturday in finals. 

Prelims: Meet start time, 5.30pm.Jillian and I went to cheer on Julia and after battling horrible Friday traffic, we made it just in time for the first event. It was a hot, long meet and we got home just before 11pm, but Jillian had a great time cheering for her sister. The girls qualified for the A (top 8) final for the medley relay and 400 free relay, while Julia qualified for the B final (9-16) in her individual events. She didn't have any best times but it was a decent night. 

Finals: Meet start time, 5.30pm. Jillian slept over at a friend's house while Luke and I went to cheer on the team. The whole environment was pretty exciting with music playing when the swimmers walked out to the blocks. The medley relay placed 5th, 400 free relay was 8th, Julia was 11th in the 50 free (best time!) and 12th in the 100 free (just .02 off her best time). She did a fabulous job! She was one of 2 Lake girls that swam 8 races over 2 days and the highest point earner (for the girls). The boys did AMAZING and finished 4th (best placement in 10+ years) while the girls were 8th. Luke and I saw two region records broken and some exciting races. The top 2 finishers earn spots to states so the stands were electric with excitement. 

It was a great end to freshman swimming!! Go Falcons!

Cheering on Julia!

Go Falcons! On the podium!

Coach Abby came to cheer on Julia too

Counting for Mia in the 500

Go Lake!

February 2 - BFF Status: Complete

 We've all seen adorable pictures and videos of cats and dogs snuggling, playing, etc. That type of relationship was not in the cards for Bella, Apollo and Lucky but I'm thrilled to report that Bella and Crumble are now BFF!! They play together for hours every day and take naps together. So adorable!