March 30 - ChrisCo Photoshoot

In the fall, Julia and Kendall joined ChrisCo (Christmas Committee), a student run club that fundraises, plans and executes the winter formal dance for juniors and seniors. The girls applied to be fundraising chairs for the 2024 dance and are co-chairs with Hannah and Lily. Hannah and Lily just managed an Easter lily fundraiser while Julia and Kendall will take the lead for poinsettias in the fall. Yesterday, the sophomores had a photoshoot and some of the pictures will be included in the fall football guide (I'm not really sure but I guess we'll find in the fall). All of the girls in ChrisCo are on the dance/cheer team except Julia and Kendall so this was their first time doing a shoot like this. So fun!

The Fundraising Chairs (Hannah, Julia, Lily, Kendall)

ChrisCo 

March 29 - Spring Egg Hunt & Scholar Award

The first grade Spring Egg Hunt was this past week at our house. Traditionally parents "chalk the walk" from school to whoever is hosting but this time, I decided to try something new by arranging peeps along the walking path with fun things for the kids to do. It was a huge time saver for me (chalking the walk takes forever) and the kids loved it! They hunted for eggs, played games (duck duck goose, egg spoon race and hoola hoops), played with chalk and then ate pizza and cupcakes. Awesome day! I loved celebrating with the little ones. 

Last night, we attended a ceremony at school for the 2nd and 3rd year Superintendent Scholar awards (straight A's award). Julia and a few of her friends received the award, very proud of their hard work! The award is given to 10-12th graders so I'm not sure how many sophomores received it, but I'd estimate about 50 total (out of 700 in the class). Great job Julia!

To my utter shock, Luke has been practicing trumpet recently and is motivated to make first chair in the symphonic band next year. Tryouts will be in a month or so and he's getting ready. I'm very proud that he is finally putting time in!

Spring Egg Hunt

Scholar Ceremony

March 28 - Picture Perfect

I'll be honest. I usually forget about spring picture day. You know who didn't forget about spring picture day? And insisted on curls? And dressed up? And wore high heels at school ALL DAY? Jillian, that's who! She was, without question, the most dressed up child at pickup LOL. 

 

March 18 - Rodeo Houston

The girls and I wrapped up spring break with a trip to Rodeo Houston yesterday. It was certainly a day to remember. Julia and her friends (Madi & Mia) spent half the day on their own while Jillian and I did our thing. I initially took her to the livestock part of the rodeo but little miss Sassy had ZERO interest in the animals or booths. She wanted the carnival rides! So rides we did. She is a little daredevil and did almost everything! We eventually met up with the big girls around 6pm and the girls all did rides together from that point on. We were having a blast and were at the far back section of the carnival when the sky opened and it started to torrential downpour. I had a rain coat for Jillian and I but surprise, surprise-my raincoat's waterproof coating must have worn off from use because I was fully saturated within a minute. Jillian was already soaking wet before she put hers on. The big girls had no raingear and just embraced the weather (even doing a photoshoot in the pouring rain in front of a Ferris wheel. In a comedy of errors, the parking bus (we parked in a lot off site) dropped us off at the wrong location in the huge parking lot, so it took a little while to find the car but we made it home safely. What a day to remember!

Making memories!

March 16 - Boiler Up!

College visit #1 is officially in the books! JD and Julia flew into Chicago on Saturday and drove to West Lafayette, IN, home of Purdue University. They went to a basketball game on Sunday which was super fun. Purdue is ranked #3 in the country and they won the game. Boiler Up! (this is apparently want everyone cheers in the stands LOL).

On Monday, Julia met with the College of Science recruiter and another recruiter for the Heath & Human Science departments. After that, she met with the assistant swim coach for the women's team and checked out the pool.

Julia was very honest that she isn't sure she wants to swim in college and if so, isn't fast enough for D1A but the coach was great and said there are other ways to be involved like volunteering at meets or working as a team manager. 

The next day, they headed to Chicago and went to the Museum of Illusions and the Medieval Torture Museum. A highlight of the day was seeing Jeremy Allen White walking down the street. 

Overall, great visit!!  

Awesome Purdue pool

Delicious Dessert in Chicago

Museum of Illusions

Medieval Torture Museum

March 12 - Zoo Day

Spring Break 2024! JD and Julia are currently out of town for Julia's first official college visit (what happened to my baby?!) and I am home with the littles for a staycation. Luke has been feeling down with a horrible head cold so hasn't done too much. Jillian had a playdate with her friend Scarlett from school and they played outside for hours and then we saw Gung Fu Panda 4 which the girls loved. After hours at our house, they played at Scarlett's house for a few hours too. The girls spent a solid 12h together! Last night, Jillian's school friend and girl scout sister Guinevere slept over. We got up super early and headed to the Houston Zoo for the day. There was an accident near the zoo parking lot so we parked in a garage kind of far away, but the girls were troopers and didn't complain once. We had a great time at the zoo!! Beautiful weather, great attitudes and fun memories. 

Zoo fun