April 30 - Cupcakes & Pool

Before I head to the grocery store, I ask everyone in the family what they want from HEB. It's usually pretty standard but this past weekend Jillian asked me to buy stuff to make cupcakes. I found a unicorn cupcake kit in the baking aisle and knew she would love it. I went grocery shopping late and told her we had to wait until the following day to bake them. That little stinker woke up at 7am the next morning, walked downstairs to get the box and came upstairs to wake up JD and I, ready to bake! 

Julia helped Jillian make the cupcakes and then I let Jillian decorate them all by herself. She was so excited to do the frosting and sprinkles! She also decided to share the cupcakes with our neighbors, Anna and Sophie. She is so sweet! After dropping off the cupcakes, we filled up the baby pool for Jillian (per Jillian's request). She had fun playing with her toys and someone else had fun too..Bella! Julia eventually came out and set up a slipping slide to join the fun!  

Heading out to Deliver Cupcakes

Backyard Fun

I will stay away from the water, thank you very much

April 28 - Handsome Luke

 

You may be wondering why there are so few pictures of Luke on the blog. Well, he is at the age where he doesn't want me to take a lot of pictures of him (the struggle is real!). Well great news everyone: his spring picture came in and look how handsome he looks! This was a picture retake as the first one he was wearing a white shirt and he blended in with the white background, this time it's much better with some color. Love this little guy!! 

April 26 - Dirt Devils

Who wants to get MUDDY?! This year we invited the Girl Scout troop to participate in our first ever troop mud run with "Mud Girl Run", an organization that supports the Breast Cancer Research Foundation. There are races all over the US and we were lucky enough to have one near Lake Conroe (north Houston). So, what is a mud run exactly? It's a 3mile course with 20 obstacles. As the name implies, there was a lot of mud! This particular event was for females only with a minimum age of 7 to participate. 

Julia and Kendall were the only ones signed up and named themselves "The Dirt Devils." Kendall even made matching t-shirts! We decided on highlighter green shirts for the girls and this proved to be a great decision-in the sea of pink shirts, Candice and I could easily spot our girls in green. Julia and Kendall had an absolute blast! This isn't a timed race but if so, I think they would have been 1st place. They ran through the course (I don't think anyone else did and they said they passed a ton of people). 

And if you are wondering "Did they really get muddy?....100% YES! They crawled in mud pits, slid down dirt hills, waded through a small lake at one point. They were soaking wet and filthy! There was a hose off station after the race and they wiped themselves down with baby wipes and a gallon of water at the car (plus a much needed change of clothes). 

The course

Kendall made the shirts!

Dirt Devils on the Go!

Finish!

April 24 - Tennis Rock Stars

The district tennis tournament was last Monday. Julia and her partner Audrey secured the doubles #2 spot on our team and were seeded fourth (singles 1/2 and doubles 1/2 are the teams that can score points). The top 2 seeded teams (for singles and doubles) were both from Westbrook and Space Center, the only 2 schools that have experienced players. The girls had a bye their first round and won the quarterfinals 6-0. Amazingly, they were the only 7th grade Brookside team that won their quarterfinal match and advanced.

Semi Finals

The girls were against Space Center in the semi-finals. The Space Center team was an experienced pair who has been playing tennis since the 3rd grade. When Brookside competed against them a month ago, Space Center beat them 6-0 in literally 10min (it may have been even faster). I freely admit that I texted JD and said the semi finals shouldn't take long and we'd be home relatively soon. Well Dimpled Munchkin readers, I underestimated Julia and Audrey. While they were clearly less skilled than Space Center, they are both #1-athletic #2-fast & agile #3-endurance athletes #4-don't take themselves too seriously and have fun out there.

You guys, the match took 75 minutes. Yes, you read that correctly, 75min. That is not common in middle school, especially when two teams are so mismatched. While Julia and Audrey ended up losing 7-5, it was "on the edge of your seat" close for quite a while. The Space Center girls just couldn't believe Julia and Audrey were hanging with them and the Space Center parents sat there in shock (I'll be honest, they looked pretty peeved our girls were doing so well, with one dad repeated pointing to his daughter and than his head mouthing "Get your head in the game!"). I am so proud of the girls! 

Consolation Final

After the 75min match, Julia and Audrey thought they were done. Surprise! They had to immediately get on the court again and play for 3rd place. They played against a team they did not see during the regular season, but both teams were well matched. In fact, they both had the style of play. Julia likes to play the back court while Audrey likes to play closer to the net. Julia and Audrey beat the other team...6-0! They came in 3rd place and were the only 7th grade team to score points for Brookside. Great job girls!!!!!!! What a fun first season of tennis!

The girls with their tennis coach, Coach Sellars

April 19 - Bike Bust

It was bound to happen eventually. Jillian does everything with a sense of flare. Wake up in the morning? She puts on a headband before coming downstairs. Walk into the house? She immediately takes off her sneakers (or whatever she's wearing) and puts on her high heels. Heading outside for a walk? She needs to pack a bag with an extra headband and stuffed animals. Going for a bike ride? She packs a small bag to hang off the handlebar with an assortment of things. Last weekend the kids and I went for a bike ride and she had a bag hanging off her handlebar with one of Luke's hardback books. She was unbalanced and doing okay..until she decided to try to keep up with Luke. And this happened:

She veered off the sidewalk and flew over the handlebars. There were tears and she wanted me to carry her home, but we were a mile from the house and I had both dogs. She toughed it out and finished the bike ride (I held onto the book). Of course, she couldn't wait to go to school and tell all her friends about how "I am such a brave girl!". 

Spitfire!!

April 12 - Easter

Like every other holiday over the last year, we had a quiet, relaxing time at home. The kids dyed eggs the night before and woke up bright eyed Easter morning ready for their egg hunt. They had a lot of fun and Jillian ate A LOT of candy before 9am. Love them!

Egg Time

Breakfast

Love them

The Easter Bunny really nailed it with this headband..

Jillian loves these ears so much she wore them all last week..every day

Julia made this delicious brownie dessert

April 6 - Galveston Beach

The kids and I were all off last Friday and I decided to take them to Galveston. We had no plan in place other than to get out of the house and eat lunch.

"We are driving to Galveston to eat lunch? You don't know where? Are you crazy?" - Luke, who likes set plans and wanted to stay in the house

After driving past countless seafood restaurants, we decided on Jimmy Johns for sandwiches. It was really windy and Jillian was wearing heels (because...it's Jillian) so my initial plan of eating on the beach was replaced with a "picnic in the car" but we made it work.

We left Jimmy Johns and found a stretch of the beach that was completely empty. We parked and headed out of the car.

"I am not getting in the water." - Luke

Five minutes later...guess who was soaking wet? Yep, you know it.

We ended up staying at the beach for several hours. The kids played in the sand, the water, the rocks, ran up and down the beach and collected seashells. It's not the most beautiful beach but it was still super fun! All three kids were pretty wet, sandy and had big smiles when we left. A quick stop at Ben & Jerry's for ice cream completed a fabulous day. Jillian was so tired she actually fell asleep in the car on the drive back, something she hasn't done in almost 2 years. It was a great day!

March 30 - Garvan Woodland Gardens

Spring Break 2021

After a relaxing week in the smoky mountains, it was time to head back to Texas. JD planned our trip back and decided to take a different route home with a pit stop in Arkansas. I will admit when JD said we were going to Arkansas I was a tad hesitant, but I did visit Arkansas years ago to visit old neighbors (the Drost family) and it was beautiful. 

We checked into a hotel in downtown Little Rock and walked around the downtown area. We were shocked to find an old farmhouse from the 1850s. Literally downtown! Turns out we found the oldest building in Little Rock, an old farmstead that is part of the Historic Arkansas Museum. The kids (of course) didn't appreciate the find but JD and I loved it! After walking around the historic area, we ordered a pizza to-go from a local pizzeria and headed back to the hotel. 

The next morning we headed to Garvan Woodland Gardens in Hot Springs. Garvan is a 210-acre botanical garden that is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. I could have spent all day walking around the gorgeous trees and flowers. It was so peaceful! If we lived near the gardens we would go all the time. If you are ever near the Little Rock/Hot Springs area, you have to visit these gardens. You won't regret it! It will be hard to add pics to this post because I took so many, but know that I didn't use any filters on these pictures. The flowers were really this vivid!

Gorgeous tulips!

Coolest tree house ever

Awesome kids area