February 29 - Secret Chili

Last Friday was "Go Texan Day." In preparation of the Houston Rodeo, the kids dress in their country best, learn how to cook chili with some special classroom guests (4 dads in Jillian's class) and do some country dancing. So fun! JD came in and the kids helped him cook up a delicious beef chili with a few secret ingredients: cocoa powder, coffee and brown sugar. Delicious! The kids had to name their chili and they decided on "Secret Chili." The other groups were "The Boys" (after the Cowboys LOL), "The Cookers" and "The Best Chili." So cute! The principal, assistant principal and school counselor came in to do a taste test and their group won "Most Surprising Chili." What a great morning at school! 

After school, Adelyn came over and the girls played outside behind the house for hours. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Great Friday all around!

Chili Cookoff

Team "Secret Chili"

Dancing

The Cutest Little Cowgirls west of the Mississippi

February 25 - 101 Dalmations

My birthday weekend was busy with the region swim meet, the elementary school fair and the Superbowl. In belated news, thank you all for the birthday wishes. I celebrated by sleeping in, taking the dogs on a 4 mile walk and then watching the Superbowl at Tammy's with the kids. JD made me a delicious walnut cake for dessert. A perfect, relaxing day! And super funny, look at the picture below of who thought he was human and tried to join us for cake. 

The following day, February 12th, was the 101st day of school. The 1st graders dressed like 101 Dalmations to celebrate. So adorable! This was not a tradition when Julia and Luke were in school and I love this new addition to the school year. It was so fun for the kids! 

In other news (the same week), Luke tried out for the middle school golf team. Twelve boys tried out for 5 slots (5 total for 7th and 8th grade combined) and he did not make it, but I'm very proud of him for trying. The boy next to him (who also didn't make it) came with his own private golf coach. Wowsa!

The day after golf tryouts, Jillian came home from school and went to a dinosaur education event at a local elementary school with her friend Leeya. She left after 45min not feeling well and threw up that night. The next day she spiked a 105.5 fever and a quick trip to urgent care yielded a positive test for flu A. Never a dull moment!

"I'm ready for some cake." - Louie T Muffin 

Golf Tryouts

Flu strikes again

 

February 23 - Nighttime Rituals

Just had to share this adorable pictures. Jillian reads to Louie T Muffin most nights and it's beyond adorable. Love this little sprite!

February 20 - Regions

After Luke's band concert and Jillian's reader's theater, it was Julia's turn. We finished off the week with the region swim meet, the biggest HS meet for most swimmers. Julia had three goals for the meet:

*Make the A final in the 50F
*Break 25 in the 50F
*Break 56 in the 100F

She achieved 2 of the three goals! She qualified 7th in the 50F prelims and made the A final, placing 8th. She had a best time but just missed 24. She swim the 100F 4x between prelims and finals (individual and she was the leadoff in the 400F relay) and she swam faster each time, breaking 56 in 3 of the 4 swims. GREAT JOB Julia!! 

*50F - 8th place
*100F - 12th place
*200F relay (anchor) - 4th place
*400F relay (leadoff) - 5th place
*Girls Team: 5th place, highest finish in 10+ years
*Boys Team: 5th place

Congratulations Lake!! So proud of everyone's hard work and dedication. 

Go Lake!

February 14 - Charlotte's Web Reader's Theater

This year, every student at North Pointe was given a copy of Charlotte's Web for a school-wide book club. They had chapters to read every night and classes answered trivia questions based on the assigned chapters. Students were given the opportunity to audition for a 'readers theater' and Jillian auditioned! She was assigned the roles of Mr. Arable and Baby Spider #2. She was initially very upset (very) that she was cast "as a boy" but she eventually came around to the idea. The kids performed last week and she rocked it! 

Mr. Arable/Baby Spider #2...but she insisted on dressing like a magician LOL

February 13 - Polka Time

Westbrook hosted a Solo Band Recital last week and we got to hear 13 students perform, including Luke. He performed "Polka Time" and did a great job. My favorite part was seeing him all dressed up for the performance! This Friday he is excited for a band lock-in at school. And then next month he has a Pre-UIL concert followed by a UIL Concert (I think these are similar to competitions against other schools) in April. He has a goal of being first chair in the symphonic band next year (the top band at the school, he's currently in the middle tier band) and he signed up to be a "Band-Aide" which is an assistant to the band teacher for 6th graders. 

February 5 - Girls Day

Two weeks ago, Luke ate dinner and then immediately developed a horrible headache. He became weak and started running a 103 fever. The following day, his headache continued to get worse and his headache went up to 105.9 (I was able to get it down quickly with a high dose of ibuprofen and cool washcloths). A trip to urgent care yielded a positive test for Flu B. Luke is VERY lucky that he only had a fever and headache as opposed to the traditional flu B symptoms of nasal congestion combined with stomach flu. They prescribed a 1-pill treatment and Luke was unable to swallow the pill (my shouts of "Just swallow it" were not successful LOL). As the pill was disintegrating in his hand, I yelled him to "lick it!" and he got at least half of it down. He was luckily okay 3 days later but we still kept him quarantined away from the other kids. 

While Luke was quarantined one day over the weekend, I took Jillian, Penny and Leeya out for a girls today. We saw Migration at the movie theater, ate lunch and then went to the park for 5 hours. It was a great day!

Soaking up all the time with these giggly littles

 

January 31 - Lake Girls WIN Districts!

Swim districts were last Friday and the Lake Girls won 1st place for the first time in over 10 years. GREAT job ladies! The boys placed 2nd and did great too. Julia swam 4 events:

*50F: 3rd place and best time!

*100F: 4th place and best time!

*200F relay: 1st place; she anchored the relay and had the fastest split on the team and her best split ever!

*400F relay: 2nd place; she anchored the relay and had the fastest split on the team and her best split ever!

So proud Jules, great job to you and the team. Next stop, regions!

Congratulations Lake!

January 30 - Baby It's Cold Outside

Only 16 days into the new year and Houston already broke a record-record cold! After a mild Christmas and New Years, winter finally arrived with a cold long weekend. On the 16th, it was 18 degrees with a wind chill of 5, making it the coldest January day since 1985. There was a little precipitation so schools were closed due to ice on the roads. As you can imagine, very few people were out walking their dogs but I was LOL. The dogs were so excited about the cold weather and I loved lighting the fireplace. It felt like a "real winter" even if it was for a few days. 

Of course, after a few cold days, it was warm again. So what do Texans do when it's winter, warm outside, but you want to experience all the "fun" of a real winter? You bring in truckloads of ice to create a sledding hill in the neighborhood. Jillian went to Leeya's neighborhood and the girls got to sled, build a little snowman and play in the snow. They loved it!

January 19 - "D" for Disappointed

"Jillian, are you still thirsty? Do you want to finish this milk before I put your cup in the dishwasher?" - me

"No, I'm not thirsty anymore. Thanks Mom." - Jillian

2 minutes later:

"Mom, I'm thirsty. Can you get me a drink?" - Jillian

"I literally just asked you if you were thirsty and you told me no. Get your own drink this time." - me 

1 minute later:

Jillian sits down next to me at the kitchen table with a coffee mug that has the initial D on it.

"Do you know why this cup has a D? It's "D" for disappointed because I'm disappointed you didn't get me this drink" - Jillian

*****

"Mom, do my eyebrows look any different?" - Jillian

"No." - me

"Well, I took mascara out of your purse and put it on my eyebrows because I wanted to enhance them but your mascara is dried out. You need a new tube." - Jillian

***

People-she is SEVEN! Never a dull moment.