Best of December

Sara's birthday set the stage for a celebratory December around here! She was thrilled with her presents - earrings, a cheer backpack, a tumbling mat, new boots, and a family trip to Great Wolf Lodge. We had the best time! Photo overload below...

The cheer backpack she'd been waiting for!

 The mat actually fits well in our living room and has already gotten tons of use!

 Emma wanted to make sure that she was also invited to GWL! I sent this pic to my mom, and she pointed out that in it, I also captured the canvas in the back, taken when Emma was a week old. She texted, "look at the girls on the right compared to the girls on the left." Wow.

 After presents on her birthday, we had to hit Buffalo Wild Wings.

 And even though the server there brought her chocolate cake and ice cream, we still had round two of dessert once we got home.

 So many candles to blow out!

 On Saturday we headed to GWL. The girls were thrilled. It was decorated beautifully for the holidays, and although there were a lot of people there, the crowds were super manageable and water slide lines were short!

 We were in the water park within minutes after checking in.

 Lazy River floating...

 The girls loved this rope challenge.

 The inventors of GWL knew what they were doing when they planned this place. Fun for kids and adults.

 Happy kid! 

We were up the stairs to the water slides countless times.

 

The girls loved that our room had a Wolf Den especially for them!

 We were thrilled to see Santa and Mrs. Claus at GWL! Personally, I was super relieved because I had no idea when we were going to fit this visit in this year. So ... no matching outfits or Christmas gear, but we had wolf ears and big smiles!

 We got home from GWL and Sara immediately went to a friend's birthday party at Pinstack. She and her BFF Jaxon had the best time, and Sara somehow managed to win the 1,000 ticket jackpot (which bought prizes we totally needed at our house, as you can imagine).

 Sara ended her weekend by completing her application for the Engineering Girls Club at school. Part of the application required that she take a selfie that shows her interests and commitment to hard work. I was proud of her product!

I'd say TEN has been pretty good so far for this cool kid!

Last night, Steve had his work holiday party so the girls and I did some Christmas shopping and went out to eat. Oh, Emma ... having a little low blood sugar in this pic before our food arrived.

This letter she wrote at school made me laugh. She has been talking about getting a cleaning set for a long time, and it's what she talked to Santa about at GWL, too. I think my favorite part of this letter is her acknowledgement of her behavior. Gotta love honesty.

We have 1 1/2 more days of school before our winter break. This is always a fun and festive week of caroling, assemblies, gift giving, and parties. Emma has come down with a cold, and I'm just willing her to make it through Friday. We're all looking forward to celebrating Christmas and lots of R&R!

Double Digits

It is almost impossible for me to believe that our sweet Sara Noel is ten years old today. Double digits feel like such a big deal - a rite of passage into all that comes next. It's also overwhelming to think about everything that has led to TEN: from the chubby baby to the raspy-voiced toddler to the laser-focused little girl to the tween she is now.  

Sara is still a mix of funny and reserved, depending on the company. She has started "borrowing" my clothes, which end up permanently in her closet.  I'm so proud that most of her borrowing has been ISU gear! 

 Sara still loves art, like she always has. She spends hours upon hours drawing, and has acquired quite the collection of drawing pens and pencils. She continues to excel at school, this year participating in both the Word Masters and Math Olympiad extension groups. Sometimes when I listen to her talk, I have to remind myself that she's a kid. I'm so thankful that academic work comes easily to her (for now), and that she works hard at school.

Cheer has become a big part of Sara's life this year. She spends two weekday evenings and Saturday mornings at the gym, and loves it. For all the things she doesn't want to do (and rolls her eyes about what I ask), she never complains about going to cheer. This is a new team and they have a lot of building to do, but their first competition is in February and I can't wait to watch Sara perform. I love seeing her connected and working hard on something that takes mental and physical focus.

 What an incredibly rewarding journey the last decade has been. When I think about having had Sara for ten years, part of me goes straight to thinking about what she'll be like ten years from now ... but that's too much to swallow. I so want to just enjoy this time for what it is. We absolutely hit the jackpot with this amazing kid, and right now, I just love looking forward to each new day with her. 

Happy 10th, Sara Noel!

Movie Time

If there's one thing this family loves, it's holiday movies. Last weekend, after a day of our regular Sunday to-do list around the house, we hit Studio Movie Grill for the new "Grinch" movie. It was so good. Even Steve laughed out loud multiple times, and of course the girls loved it. 

 Last night, we headed to old downtown Garland for their annual free showing of "White Christmas". Even though we own the movie, it's more fun to go watch it and sing along in an old theater with a bunch of strangers! 

It was super cold and rainy so we didn't take a lot of pictures outside, which was unfortunate because the square was decorated so nicely. 

 I think teeth were chattering in this pic! I always love going to see "White Christmas" in this type of setting because it's this great combo of older people who were young when Bing and Danny were, and then people like us - parents building traditions with our kids.  I hope the girls will look back someday on these simple activities and smile.

 "To kindness and love, the things we need most." 

-The Grinch

Fun in the Sun

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break in Florida. Emma still gets confused as to whether we are headed to MN or FL when we get on a plane, and we were all thankful to be headed to the warm temps and water views in Cape Coral this time.

We had the most beautiful weather! We enjoyed beach time at Captiva, and the girls quickly assumed some of their favorite activities.

 Cabana Girls!

 They had the best time boogie boarding. The water was so beautiful and calm, so they rode the low-key waves and loved it.

Emma was proud of the coconut she found. She tried with all her might to throw it out to sea, but it kept washing back to shore! Grandpa helped her hurl it out there.

 These two enjoyed the sunset, and then of course we all sang "Day is Done".

I love stress-free vacay time with this guy.

 Of course there has to be a pic of one of the *many* tropical delicacies we enjoyed throughout the week. All calorie-free, of course. Not pictured: the rum bucket something-or-another that we shared at one point.

 My favorite beach crew!

 After lots of beach and pool time, the girls slept hard in their "suite" at G & G's condo.

 We saw Todd's FL band, The Tap Monkeys, play at Scotty's Beirworks. Lots of fun to hear them play. We also visited the beach spot they play at on Sundays on Ft. Myers Beach. Patrons literally sit with their toes in the sand while listening to music and drinking a cold one. Who can argue with that?  I love seeing my parents so happy and enjoying the good life!

 And here's my whole heart in one pic:

 I had to snap this picture of the girls swapping secrets under their towels. After this moment, they spent a good hour building a fort, making up "routines" in the pool, playing, eating snacks, and laughing together. Totally made my Thanksgiving!

 We overlapped with Melissa and Adam for less than 24 hours, but it was great nonetheless. We surprised Melissa with birthday candles in the pumpkin pie!

It was so hard to leave after such a great week, but the to-do list at home is plenty long before we go back to school Monday. Today I hit the grocery store and tackled ALL the laundry, then we headed outside to decorate the house for Christmas. It was beautiful outside today, and tomorrow is supposed to get cool and windy, so today was the day. This year we bought a second tree and we put it up today, too. We will still have our old tree in our traditional spot (I proposed moving it but nobody liked that idea) and now a second one in a front window. "Clark" in action ...

And the finished product!

We'll finish decorating inside tomorrow. This year, I have one of G Lou's nativity scene weavings to hang. It's a bittersweet honor. Looking forward to having our home decorated as we celebrate my favorite season!

Thanksgiving Break

When we started school back in early August, Thanksgiving break felt so far away ... and now here we are! The last couple of weeks have been packed with - among all the other things - a soccer tournament, cheer, l-o-n-g hours at work, and a little furniture shopping as it's time to update some spaces.

A few Sundays ago, we actually found ourselves with a quiet afternoon so the girls and I had a little date to Paint 'n Party and Henry's ice cream. Emma decided to make her painting project for her teacher.

 Both girls spent a long time painting to perfection!

 Henry's has the best ice cream in Plano.

 This past week, the girls had field day at their school. Many activities had to be moved inside because of cool morning temps, though it was beautiful by the afternoon. I'm not a fan of fall field day, but the girls had a blast, of course. I pulled these pics off of their teachers' pages and obviously didn't bother to crop them.

 Steve is a great field day volunteer. This year, he made the school's FB page!

Tomorrow is laundry and packing day, and Sunday we're off to Florida for a beach Thanksgiving! We've had cold weather this week (as in below freezing, not just "Texas cold"), so the warm sunshine will feel great. Really, though, I'm just looking forward to - and very grateful for - a get-away and some R & R with family. Happy Thanksgiving!

Halloween Fun

October flew by and Halloween was here before we knew it! Luckily we had purchased costumes earlier in the month, but I waited so long to buy pumpkins that I had to make multiple stops to find some good ones. We always have a fun time carving our pumpkins and listening to Halloween music.

The girls separated the seeds from the slime so I could roast them for us to munch on.

 As Steve said, we went with "the classics" this year.

On Halloween, the girls' school always has book character dress up day. Sara's costume was a legit book character, but Emma really wanted to be a nurse (and I wasn't doing two separate costumes for her), so we found a book that worked with her costume. Sara's teacher was kind to snap pics for me!

 In sticking with the theme of our fall, it poured rain all day on Halloween. Luckily, it lightened up significantly and then went away altogether right around trick-or-treat time!

 Best part is always assessing the loot and test-testing.

 Everyone was tired Thursday and Friday, but it was a small price to pay for a fun Halloween. I still think we should just officially move Halloween to always be on a Saturday. It's hard to believe that now, we just have two weeks of school until Thanksgiving break. We'll be packing for Florida soon!

Rainy October

I think it's been the rainiest October (and September, too) ever in North Texas. Until this weekend, nearly every weekend has been a rain out, and may weekdays, too. Most of our soccer games have been moved indoors, although tomorrow's make-up game should happen under sunny skies. In other October news, the Cyclones have gone 3-0 (with a bye week), and we love it. When I told Emma we wouldn't be able to go to today's alumni group game-watch and she responded with disappointment, my cardinal & gold heart swelled with pride.

A couple of weeks ago, the girls had bike rodeo at school. I think it was the only day that week it didn't rain, thankfully! Sara was very serious about the whole event, apparently. I'm proud of this girl - she stepped out of her comfort zone and ran for student council this year, and was elected to represent her class!

 I guess I could have cropped these photos that I pulled off of their teachers' sites, but I don't feel like going back to do that now. Emma was pretty thrilled to be one of only a few kindergartners without training wheels at bike rodeo. She is still loving kinder, and has been super excited about her daily reading homework. 

We had a day off in early October, so I got in a special date with the girls. We went to Jump Street at their request, followed by a late lunch at The Lazy Dog. Even though it was sprinkling (and sunny - weird), we enjoyed lunch on the covered patio surrounded by butterflies and other peoples' pups. 

 My parents recently drove through on their way (sort of) to Florida for the winter. We were thankful for a day of sunshine while they were here, and even enjoyed a backyard day (the girls tested the pool but it was cold after lots of cool rain - earlier that week, the high had been 40 ... so crazy in October!).

School lunch with G & G never gets old. It's fun that the girls' lunch times overlap by 15 minutes this year, so they all got to eat together for a bit.

 I thought the girls looked so cute in Grandpa's glasses. Luckily they don't need their own yet.

Of course we had to have dinner at Ojeda's while they were here, and my mom and I couldn't pass up the Halloween margarita. It was delish. The guys went for the traditional variety, but were probably jealous of ours.

 And everyone enjoyed the eyeball souvenir. Lots of "Captain Ron" references ... but we watched "The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" instead!

Since we can't pass up a good marketing ploy (thanks, Target), we had to buy and decorate a Halloween haunted house. Coming soon, a very similar looking gingerbread house, I'm sure.

 I just got back from 5th grade camp, which was great as always. We had rain and cold and LOTS of mud (which the kids thought was awesome), but one night we had this amazing sky. So peaceful and beautiful. This year was especially fun because at campfire, our teacher skit ended with a pregnancy announcement for one of the 5th grade teachers, and the kids were thrilled!

 I canoed with multiple groups of students and we only ended up in the reeds a few times. Many of our students have never had a camping (or even vacation) experience, and it's so fun to watch them enjoy the outdoors. On one of my rounds, I had a group of boys who had never been in a boat, and they wanted to canoe with me because - in their words - "Mrs. Brittain won't let us die." The ended up being sad when our time was up!

 While I was at camp, the girls had their Color Run at school. Steve said Emma sprinted the whole thing because she thought it was a legit race, and Sara ran hard but with her friends. Looks like they had a great time!

We're looking forward to a fun Halloween and an eventful November!