a spring to remember

As anticipated, life has been busy since spring break. After our trip, we launched right back into practices, tryouts, needing new equipment, etc. Got a little date night with Emma after a softball practice and cleat shopping.

Sara spent the week after break at the high school for cheer clinics and tryouts. She ended the week with a welcome to the team! I'm so excited for her to start high school with an awesome cheer coach and fun group of girls. She's excited about the new uniforms and the coach's plans to compete next year. In June, her team will go to UCA camp at TCU for several days, and they've already started after school practices!

Emma took a field trip to a historical site where they enjoyed a day the old fashioned way! We also had Emma's rescheduled open house after bad storms rolled through on the original day. We couldn't stay long and I didn't take pictures, but it was my first open house to get to attend with Emma (one benefit of my move back to middle school). It was fun to see her at school, and to hear her teachers say great things about her.

And of course it's been weekend after weekend of sports ... the soccer team celebrated St. Paddy's Day with a tournament win. It was a five-game weekend that ended beautifully, but started with winter coats and hats. These girls really wanted that hardware and played every minute for it.

The girls convinced me that a chilly Monday evening after the soccer tournament necessitated cookies!

The following weekend, the Diamond Darlings played in a softball tournament on what turned out to be our first truly beautiful spring weekend. We had sunshine and 70's ... and sunburns! The girls had a rough start to the tournament, but recharged and made a comeback.

Emma kept lots of girls from base running with her great catches and quick reactions.

Just when we thought Sunday might be a short day, they played their hearts out and ended up in the finals against a team they've faced many times over the years ... and came out on top after several close innings! Emma had some great hits and even went in as a pinch runner when the game was on the line and the team needed someone speedy to steal some bases!

After a long weekend of catching, Emma had a swollen hand, but she was sure happy to have that championship ring to take home!

The past weekend, it was finally time for the event Sara had been waiting for ... the Taylor Swift Eras Tour concert! We went with Sara's BFF and her mom, and we had the best day. After hearing that the crowds would be crazy, and knowing that a Rangers game was also happening in the same vicinity, we headed over to Arlington early afternoon and made a day of it.

Everything worked out perfectly! We were let into our pre-paid lot early, caught a shuttle to the stadium, and enjoyed the beautiful day at the stadium's plaza before being allowed inside.

Snacks, drinks, merch shopping, and people watching ... Sara was in her own heaven surrounded by so many Swifties! Her head-to-toe look was weeks in the making and she rocked it!

Our seats were lower bowl, side stage, so we had a great view of the whole set-up, including the band and back-up singers ...

... and we had a perfect view of the comings and goings from backstage. We captured this moment between the openers, Gracie Abrams and beabadoobee. They were both so good and we were lucky to have them at our show.

We also saw the "utility cart" rolled in, which was in fact carrying Taylor herself. Sara had seen talk of this on the Taylor threads, and it's true. They rolled it in, dropped her off, and rolled it back out. After it was all over, we hung around and watched Taylor leave through the same place she'd rolled in on the cart ... but this time she just walked out and waved up to us. 

The show was incredible! It was theatrical at parts, the dancers were amazing, there were lights and pyrotechnics and costume changes and you-name-it ... and then she would shut it all down and stand alone on that huge stage and sing while she played acoustic guitar or piano. 

So, so good. If we could have scored tickets to the next night's show, we definitely would have been back! 

I will cherish this night with Sara. She sang along every word to every song and she was just so, so happy. She didn't miss a moment of the hours-long show ... just took it all in, cheered, danced, and truly had the best time. I loved watching her watch it.

Meanwhile, Steve and Emma had their own fun. They went to Scheel's for a new catcher's glove (see swollen hand above), and then spent the evening at the FC Dallas game.

Everyone was in their happy place!

I'm in Fayetteville for the night at a teacher job fair at University of Arkansas, and this weekend we have another soccer tournament. Thankfully we also get a long weekend for Easter, so maybe we'll get a little rest from all the good-busy. As I scroll through these pics, I realize they also tell the story of our cooking/eating habits, too. Among the memorable events so far this spring, getting to the grocery store has not been a priority - ha!