December 27 - We Wish You a Merry Christmas

We wish you a Merry Christmas.

We wish you a Merry Christmas.

We wish you a Merry Christmas,

And a Happy New Year.  

Merry Christmas everyone! JD cooked a delicious Christmas eve dinner (turkey, scalloped potatoes, mint peas, homemade mac and cheese and pumpkin pie) and Jillian (wearing a Leprechaun hat for some reason LOL) left cookies for Santa and carrots for the reindeer. Luke and Julia read "The Night Before Christmas" to Jillian and we woke up to presents under the tree! We came downstairs around 8am and started on presents. My favorite gift was addressed to "Mom's sanity and Luke's laziness", the Litter Robot! Thank you JD! Thank you everyone for your generosity and I hope your day was both amazing and relaxing. 

Good morning

Stockings

Jules

Luke

Jillian

JD (I couldn't resist this shirt LOL)

Cool ornament my friend Teresa had made

Thank you everyone!

December 23 - Masquerade Ball

Winter formal was last night at the Tremont House, a beautiful hotel in Galveston. The theme was 'Masquerade Ball' although I didn't see anyone with masks LOL (I chaperoned half the dance). This is a Sadie Hawkins dance and Julia asked her middle school friend, Eddie, who attends another high school, to go with her. They went with a group of 10 and besides homecoming, this was everyone's first 'big' dance. 

Having a fancy dance so close to Christmas was a little crazy. Julia's hair appointment was at 2pm and while the woman who did her hair was fast, it took us 30min to get out of the parking lot. The shopping plaza was packed. I dropped her off at home to get ready and then went and picked up her date, who lives about 30min away. We then drove to a park in Nassau Bay for meet everyone for pictures at 4.15pm. After pictures, the kids all traveled via limo to dinner in Galveston, to the dance and back to one of the girl's houses for an after party (they ate, bounced on the trampoline and watched a movie). What a night! 

Blessed by the hair gods

The winter dance crew

Julia and Eddie

Julia and Kendall

Julia and Hannah

Julia and Reese

Love her!

December 21 - Jules

Quick Julia update! She has been busy with school and swim. Physics is her most challenging class and she is very lucky to have a live-in tutor helping her (clearly that is NOT me lol). Overall, the coursework is significantly higher than last year but she's handling it well. She also joined the winter formal planning committee called "ChrisCo." The winter formal dance is for juniors and seniors, however sophomores members of the committee are allowed to attend. The dance is tomorrow night in Galveston so pictures will be posted soon! She also joined the National Science Honor Society and has volunteer work for that organization. Otherwise, swim swim swim! She competed in a USA winter champ meet with her club team the same weekend Luke and JD were at the robotics state competition and did okay and has had several high school meets. If you are wondering if she gets a break over the holiday the answer is...no. They have practice at 6.45am every day. An hour later than normal though so we'll take it!

Swim meet fun

December 19 - Busy Bee Jillian

I'm not sure which month of the year is the craziest but it's definitely between December and May in terms of kid activities. Non-stop! Jillian has been to multiple birthday parties every weekend in addition to playdates (she even went ice skating downtown with a friend), Girl Scouts and today she had a holiday party at school complete with a Grinch performance. She's a busy little bee!

Birthday party fun

Girl Scouts

Winter party fun!

December 17 - Getting in the Holiday Spirit

 "It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas.."

We put our tree up last weekend and we are finally getting in the holiday spirit! It's tough when we come back from Thanksgiving and then JD and Luke leave almost immediately for robotics (and then JD was out for the next 2 weeks traveling). 

Attempting a pic for the Christmas card (Julia refusing to take out the braids), always an adventure

December 15 - Jazz Band and More

Luke is taking 'Jazz Band' for his 2nd 9 week mini-course and performed in a Christmas Concert with the Clear Lake HS jazz band earlier this week. All of the players did a great job and the music was so fun! We also found out after the concert that the top trumpet player in the state plays for the Clear Lake Jazz Band. Wow! Honestly, as a non-musician they all sounded great to me but what great experience for the middle schoolers. 

The following night, Luke had another band concert, this one with the entire honors band from his middle school. The holiday music was so fun! Very proud of all these kids. 

December 13 - XC Districts

Two days after returning from the robotics competition, Luke had cross country districts. We were not sure if he would be allowed to participate since he missed two meets and almost every practice due to robotics, but the coach allowed him to run. The kids run in two different groups. The top 6 runners from every school run in the elite division and the rest of the kids run in the open division. Luke ran in the open division and did great (especially considering he hasn't practiced in about a month). 70th place out of 150! Very proud. 

Now that we know the XC season has been shortened to 4 weeks (compared to 3 months when Julia ran in middle school), he won't do it next year due to the robotics conflict. Next up, he's trying out for the golf team (tryouts are in January). And his school came in 2nd place for the XC meet, their highest finish in 10+ years. Go Timberwolves!

December 11 - BEST Robot Finish EVER!

The weekend after Thanksgiving, Luke and JD traveled to Fort Worth, TX for the BEST state competition. What an INCREDIBLE experience for Luke and the team. After prelims, WIRED was in 2nd place out of 72 teams (almost all high school). They also won the 'Top Gun' award for highest scoring prelim round, the first time the school has ever won that distinction. Scores reset for semi's and they did not have great rounds. However, they scored enough points to make it into finals. My favorite driver, Luke, was the driver chosen for finals and they placed 3rd, the highest ever in the history of the program. HIGHEST EVER! Go WIRED! In the overall BEST competition (robot plus marketing), they placed 3rd. Congratulations WIRED!