Cheerleaders!

We made it through a pretty rough week. Aside from Dad being out of town for a couple of days with work, the girls were extremely busy. We had cheerleader tryouts this week. Elizabeth and Emily have been working hard over the past few weeks preparing for tryouts with Sharon, a friend that was once a cheer judge. I am proud to say the hard work with Sharon really paid off. Elizabeth made the varsity cheer squad! There were 38 girls trying out for 12 positions. E is still floating on cloud 9. Em made the middle school cheer squad! There were 16 girls trying out for 8 positions for 7th grade. Em is really excited too. We are so proud of them and how hard they worked. What a great way to go into Spring Break!!!

SNOW!!!!

What a great day! We had about 7 inches of snow fall on Tuesday, February 23rd. The girls had an early dismissal that day because of the weather. Dad was in Fort Worth and came home early to miss some the snow and ice we were getting. We got home and decided we had to play since we never get snow. The girls had so much fun making a snowman in the front yard. They took time out to make snow-angels. Em was making hers and Erin got her with a snowball. That started the first snowball fight. We finished the snowman (I thought she looked great!) and went inside for snow-cream and to warm up. The girls didn't take too long to decide it was time for round 2 in the backyard. The snowball fight lasted a good hour. When we couldn't feel our hands or feet, they finally came inside. Times like these remind us of what's truly important. Can't wait for the next snow...

February 2010

We are back in the middle of our busy schedules. It is getting harder to find time to sit down and think of everything that has been going on since our last post. Here's our best effort:
Erin - doing great in school. She is really excited about science and the experiments they have been doing in class. Great to hear excitement about something other than recess (my best subject by the way). We are told Erin is reading on a 5th grade level. This is fun because she gets a broader selection of books to choose from to take AR tests. Erin is still dancing away...she is soooo ready for her recital already. Erin is the artist in the family. She was pretty excited shen she found out she could take art in middle school as a class. We are considering her taking an art class for fun.
Emily - doing great in school. Em has been really busy in the last couple of weeks. Soccer practice has started back up. She was asked to play with the 8th grade team against Midway's 8th grade team next week. She is excited to get out there and see how she compares. Em had cotillion last month...the theme was country and western. There are more kids from Academy in cotillion than any 2 schools put together. Em had a great time at the dance. She is a really good dancer...we know she didn't get that from Dad! Em considered switching instruments to the saxophone, but decided to stay with the clarinet. Em has decided to tryout for middle school cheerleader. Tryouts are in a couple of months.
Elizabeth - doing great in school. E has been juggling cheering at basketball games and the crazy amount of homework she been doing. E is reading "Catcher in the Rye" for her AR book. Dad has been excited to discuss it with her, but she hasn't had much time to do so yet. We are doing good to keep up with all the homework right now. She has also been reading "Great Expectations" for her class assignment. So far, she likes this book better than the others. Unfortunately, there aren't too many books she will read that have happy endings the way she likes. Cheerleader tryouts are in a few months. There are 32 girls trying out for 15 spots at the high school. Tryouts are in a couple of months. Wish E and Em luck!!!

Melinda's mom, Nancy, is having surgery tomorrow. We are praying everything goes well.

Latest Breaking News: Emily got braces!
More news soon.............

Christmas 2009

We hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We sure did. Holidays are just what we need to rest up and enjoy family time. We had a little bit of snow on Christmas Eve. The girls got to play in it a little, but none of it stuck to the ground. We had some ribs on Christmas Eve...this may be a new tradition. We watched "It's a Wonderful Life" - we used to be able to see the movie throughout December and not just Christmas Eve. Had a little hot chocolate and got ready for Santa. Santa was very kind to all...especially Dad. Dad got a Texas Longhorn snuggie. If you're nice, maybe he will let you borrow it when you come see us.
We got to spend all of Christmas day at our house. We had Nana, Papa, Lita, and Delane's family over for Christmas dinner. Aside from no football on TV, it was a great time.
The day after Christmas was spent at Nana and Papa's. We did gifts then. Amazing how big the family has gotten. It was a lot of fun watching the kids open gifts and spend it with Shelley's family (BJ, Hunter, and Charles).
Dad would love for the old days of football on TV. Anyone else remember having 3 channels worth of games to choose from all day long. It even seemed to go on for days. Guess that's what they mean by the good ole days.

We send Blessed Wishes for the new year and hope all are happy and healthy!

Thanksgiving

We are through November and looking at Christmas...where does the time go? This year has gone by so fast. We had a great Thanksgiving gathering with family and watching some football. Everyone ate too much, but it wouldn't be the holiday if we didn't. Hope everyone enjoyed it as much as we did.
Erin - still doing great at dance. She really enjoys dance, but is thinking about doing something else next year. She has mentioned soccer and wants Dad to coach. Does she really know what she would be getting herself into with Dad coaching? We'll see if she still wants to when sign-ups start. Erin is doing great at school. When we discuss the favorite part of your day, Erin always mentions recess and lunch (my 2 favorite subjects too). She really likes science and math. She is reading the American Girl series and really likes it.
Emily - finished the soccer season. Her team finished in 3rd place (just missed the playoffs). Em had a good season. We are considering letting Em go to Houston for the ODP (Olympic Development Program) tryouts in January. I think she may still be a year away, but who knows. Em is competing in UIL again this year. She is an alternate for ready writing (creative writing), and is competing in math and calculator. They go to competition this Thursday, so wish her luck. Em has a 102 average in math...pretty bad when a 100 brings down your average.
Elizabeth - E finished cheering at her last football game of the season. It was cold, but she did great! The girls will be cheering at home basketball games this year. E has been really busy managing the workload of her freshman year. She just finished reading "Animal Farm" and hated it. She enjoys a simple, happy ending just like her Mom. She reads "Great Expectations" next.
All the girls continue to take gymnastics/tumbling. E is so close to having her roundoff backhandspring. Em is close to having her back-tuck. Erin is working on getting her roundoff into her backhandspring. So much fun to watch them get better every week.
After next week, we are on vacation....YEA!!!! Christmas will be here at the blink of an eye.

October days

Time has really flown by on us. We've been so busy lately, we haven't had much time for anything other than our routines. Here's the latest for each:
Erin - Erin has been working hard in her dance and gymnastics classes. She is going to start taking some private tumbling lessons with a guy (Levi) that teaches Em and Elizabeth. He is great with the girls and Erin really likes him. We start that next week. Erin just completed a school play. It was titled, "A Kid's Life". Erin dressed as a cheerleader and had the opening speaking part. She did a great job and had a lot of fun. Erin loved Halloween. She dressed as a purple witch. She got to make the rounds with Mom and Dad alone this year. We caught up with some friends after a little while and Erin was ready to keep walking and talking. Mom and Dad were worn out. Erin is doing great in school with straight A's on her progress report again!
Emily - Emily has had a busy month. She is doing really well with her tumbling class. She is doing a round off triple back-handspring..next up is learning her tuck. Em has been playing really well in soccer too. Right now, she is our team's leading scorer. Most of her goals have come off free kicks...she has a hard shot. The team is in 3rd place, but has a chance to move to first....wish them luck! Em just found out she made the UIL creative writing team for Academy. She is still waiting to hear about calculator and math. Em had her first cotillion dance - 70's theme. She wanted to know if people really dressed like this...believe it or not, WE did. She had a great time! Em got to dress up in her Halloween costume for school. She had a great time, since she is too old to Trick-or-Treat with her parents. Instead of going with us, she went to a football game with Mikayla and her parents (Texas A&M). Em had fun, but was completely wiped out when she got home. Em has been going to every dance at the high school following football games. The school dances are usually middle school kids with some Freshman sprinkled about.
Elizabeth - E has been really busy too. She has 1 football game left to cheer at and then they will probably do some basketball games. E has had a great time cheering. E is doing incredible with her tumbling. She has just about got her round off back-handspring. She just amazes us everytime she does it! The guy (Levi) she works with is terrific and has been a blessing. E just started reading "Of Mice and Men". She was sad after the first chapter of reading...she's a happy-ending kind of girl. Wait until she gets to the end...I didn't have the heart to tell her what was going to happen. E is still doing great at school. E went to a Halloween party. She dressed as Minnie Mouse - too cute! Evidently, she was too cool to cruise with her parents and Erin Trick-or-Treating.
Melinda - Mel has a new principal at school. She really like him so far, and is hoping things will get better with the kids. She has had a challenging year so far.
Eric - Eric is traveling more now than he ever has. Still covering most of the DFW area, East Texas, and Central Texas through Austin. Eric highly recommends eating at the Salt Lick barbecue joint. It was absolutely great...aside from eating too much.

Back at school

Finally took a moment to look at our blog and realized we hadn't posted anything since July (oops!). We started school and are in the middle of all the activities and school work, so we are very busy nowadays. Here are some highlights for everyone:
Erin - Erin is doing very well in 3rd grade. We just got her 6-week progress report @ 5 weeks (go figure) and she has all A's. There is more homework this year, but she is enjoying it. She loves her teacher, Mrs. Wilde. Erin is taking a hip-hop dance class this year. Erin participated in the Lil' Bee Cheer Camp. She got to spend 4 hours with some varsity and JV cheerleaders learning cheers and a dance. The girls got to perform at a varsity game for the entire 1st quarter. Erin had a great time and wants to do it again next year. Erin was bummin' a little that she didn't get to be in Eliazabeth's group.
Emily - Em is starting 6th grade the way she finished 5th grade...strong. She has all A's on her progress report too. Em got to start band this year. She is playing the clarinet. They had had 3 chair tests and she has been 1st chair 2 out of 3. This last Friday, she got 2nd chair and wasn't happy about it. There are 20 kids playing the clarinet this year. Em is back playing soccer again. Her team won a tournament in Austin right before the season started. They have played 3 games and are 2-1. Em may play up with the 13 year olds next year (96's).
Elizabeth - E is adjusting to high school life very well. She did not make the volleyball team. She is a JV cheerleader and that is taking up some time. She had such a great time with the cheer camp kids. E and another girls were in charge of the little guys (pre-K and K). E has been really busy with school work so far this year. She loves her teachers which makes it even better we made the school change. E is taking honors Geometry and English. E just read a Virginia Wolf book, "To the Lighthouse". We sat down and read with her and none of us can figure out what the book was about. We won't be reading anything else by her now. E is taking a tumbling class, with Emily, and doing well.
Melinda - Mel is off to a challenging year. She is not serving multiple roles and just being a teacher this year (YEA!!). She moved up a grade to 5th and is still teaching math. She is getting a new principal in December. Looks like there will be more of an adjustment period with that too. Remember Mel in your prayers.
Eric - the new (?) area Eric covers is requiring more travel than he has done in along time. Eric is also covering the open Austin sales position, so things have been a little crazy for the last month. It doesn't look like anyone will be hired soon, so he will keep covering both areas through the end of the year...if not longer.