January 31 - First USA Swim Meet

Feel the HEAT! Jillian competed in her first USA meet last night (25's in all four strokes, 1 lap each) and had so much fun. She was DQ'd in fly and breast but placed 3rd in free and back. I think her favorite part of the meet was chit chatting with Adelyn the whole time. And "I made a friend on the other team, she was so nice!"

We love our little fish!

January 27 - Welcome to HEAT

Jillian has dabbled in a lot of activities over the years:

*Ballet: I had to bribe her with cupcakes to complete the classes; recital was cancelled due to COVID

*Hip Hop: she did a trial class, looked like she was having a BLAST..told me in the car "Yeah, I don't want to do that again." 

* Soccer: never wanted to practice; left the field MID GAME one time "well, I already scored several goals so I thought I was done."

*Gymnastics: it was a fight going to practice every week. "I don't want to go."

*Fencing: she actually loved fencing but the program we were doing was the same every month. I found a club to try and..you guessed it "No thanks." 

*Cheer: she does this through school and it's been a success (every other week, with a bunch of friends, helps)

So imagine my surprise when she asked to try out for the club swim team in November. I assumed it was fleeting and didn't take any action until she brought it up multiple times. Two weeks ago I finally contacted the coach and she tried out. She worked her little heart out (practices are much harder than Orcas) but she is now officially part of the team. And her BFF Adelyn is also on HEAT so the girls are excited to spend more time together. 

January 25 - Snow in H-Town!

Happy New Year everyone! Sorry for the lack of posts this month, it's been busy getting back into the swing of things after our long winter break. Julia is busy with school, swim and studying for the SAT/ACT, Luke is busy with band (and he is swimming again), while Jillian is doing Spirit Squad at school, Girl Scouts and she just joined HEAT swim team. Busy little bees!

I've lived in Texas for a combined 19 years (4 - Austin, 15 - Houston) and this past Tuesday and Wednesday were my FAVORITE days ever living in Texas. Last week we kept hearing that a winter storm was coming. I didn't get my hopes up because we've heard that before and nothing really happened (we had a dusting of snow when Julia was in 4th or 5th grade). However, the forecast didn't change all weekend and after a cold Monday, sleet started Monday evening. It sleeted all night, very loud against the windows. When we got up Tuesday morning, it was legit SNOWING! I never appreciated snow growing up in NY ( I never thought too much about it in general because it's normal) but seeing snow here was simply magical. Yes, school was cancelled and the entire city shut down (there are no plows or ways to de-ice the roads) but I had the best day every playing outside with the girls. Luke ventured out briefly but otherwise stayed inside. 

Neighborhood - beautiful white!

Snow Dogs

Sisters having Fun

Park fun

3rd time outside on Tuesday, fun with Ella!

Soaking in every last minute of snow on Wednesday

Luke - shorts, t-shirt and crocs