A Week of Snow....

What a treat we had at the end of January!

A winter storm blew through on Friday evening and we ended up having early release that Friday and the entire following week out of school!

It was a week that blurred together in a jumble of ski clothes, sledding, playing, staying up late, sleeping in, cabin fever for some of us, Elle-fever for others.... magical, cozy, winter bliss for others!

You are getting all my pictures at once! No need to explain, it was either pure chaos or an embarrassing level of lazy...

*please notice I even got out Little Anne's old winter wear to dress Lady up... I mean, a tiny, toot of a poodle, in a pink coat, prancing in the snow.... sign me up every single time!

JV Wildcat Basketball...

Well, we were a little late to the game with basketball this year! 

Roen was certain he did not want to play because it would cut into his golf practice. However, during Christmas Break, he mentioned that he really regretted not playing. I encouraged him to talk to his cocah when they went back to school instead of just waiting until next year. What started off as "No, it's already too far into the season" ended up being "we have two hurt and one failing, would you still be willing to join the team?". 

So, here we are! Just in time for district and he is loving it. Their team isn't great and have lost most of their games, but he isn't regretting jumping back in, and I love getting to see him out on the court again!

So far, two loses, one win, and Miss Brynlee has even come to cheer him on!

And that last picture.... I sure do love my little shorty pants!!

UIL State Cheer Competition...

This year, we had two very special cheerleaders participating in this competition!

Elle's squad had a little practice round earlier in the week, so Remi and I got to go watch that as well! She is the most precious and peppy little Ram and she had quite the fan club show up to cheer her on!

Thursday, the students got an excused absence if they chose to check out early and go support our Wildcat cheerleaders. It just so happened that Elle and Berkleigh were preforming within 30 minutes of each other. This meant the boys could check out in time to see them both! Micah and I also let Remi and Roen drive down to Ft. Worth all by themselves! I rode with Taryn and we left pretty early to squeeze in a bit of shopping and lunch.

Icing on the cake, our Wildcats made it to the final round and ended up bringing home 3rd place! We were all so proud of these girls! What an incredible squad they had this year! And for our favorite senior, what a special way to end her Wildcat cheering days!

Our Rams did not advance to the final round, and for that we were sad, but I was so proud of Miss Elle! Remi ended up leaving (with Elle in tow) early to meet up with her family for dinner at Babe's and to take her home... he was one happy boy and felt pretty big getting to drive in the big city!

It was a fun little day, venturing out of our neck of the woods and I love these people big!!

Ringing in 2026...

We rang in the New Year at home, with a quiet little evening. 

The girls were able to come over for some hot tub time, s'mores, and of course, a kiss to ring in 2026! We had some good friends come over for games and dinner. It was fun little evening and perfect in every way!

Happy New Year from our family to yours!!

Robotics Meet #3...

We didn't quite fare as well at this meet as the first two. 

The boy who drives with Remi was sick, and so another kiddo had to fill in. It was his first time driving and bless his heart, it was a lot of pressure. I thought he handled it well and despite us being short one of our team leaders, they did the best they could! 

And, Pops came to watch the meet, which I am always grateful for!

Duck Hunting in Nocona...

Micah and Ryan took the boys on another duck hunting adventure this year! Although, the hunting itself wasn't great in comparison to their Arkansas trip, I think getting up early, geared up in camo and having to be reeeal quiet, all while holding guns with your buddies, is half the fun!

Brownie points for Micah, who snagged these pictures!

Fairground Fun...

As a sophomore, Remi is currently in his second year of welding. Oh, how this boy loves to be in the ag shop welding, torching, building and creating!

As a part of the welding 2 class, they were required to complete a project to show in the Cooke County Livestock Show. Remi partnered up with a sweet little boy named Zachary. Together, they designed and welded a smoker. I really had no idea what he had been working so hard on until I showed up at the fairgrounds. He did bring it home the small smoker box one weekend to so some grinding on, but other than that, it was a complete surprise. He was up at the school until 10:30 days leading up to the show, and even got permission to spend the entire school day in the shop welding on Thursday and Friday.

I was beyond proud of these boys! Their smoker was massive and I could not believe they had built it all by themselves! I think one of my favorite things about their piece, was knowing that they did it all on their own. There were tons of projects showed, everything from leather, to wood, to metal, but my favorites were the ones that had the craftsmanship of a student. I wan't real awed by the ones that moms and dads obviously did, that's not what this was about. For me, this was about kids having free riegn to create, trial and error, make mistakes, figure out better ways, and to do it all on their own. When I looked at Remi's project, I knew without a doubt he had done it with a shop buddy in shop class... well done, boys!!

They ended up placing 6th and though I thought they were easily top 3 out of 'student projects',  I was one proud mama!

During the day, they put on a torching competition and Remi nearly ran away with it! I loved watching him in his element... that boy sure is something! Had his torch not flickered out, I have a feeling he would have won the whole thing! Even so, he was in the last 3 out of 40. And Pops showed up to show his support to his mini me, who somehow inherited all his skills!

This was such a fun day!