I couldn't really come up with a better name for this topic. Everything sounded way too serious. So, that's where I landed. I get a lot of questions/comments about my older two children being involved in sports so I decided to delve into that a little more. 

People comment all the time about how they are, "so athletic" and I just have to giggle and I usually respond with, "you only say that because you haven't seen them swim".  I mean they are little balls of muscle and so far appear to have some little athletic gifts but mainly they have so much dang energy that they need to burn in order to be nice productive people. I swear, they rarely get tired. When they just can't get it together I send them outside to burn off some energy and they come back inside so much more well behaved.

Georgia (will be 10 in May) is a competitive gymnast. There are two routes you can go. Xcel and JO. She is in Xcel which does not feed into collegiate or Olympic events. So, she competes for the fun of it and we are not doing this with hopes that she will be a college or professional athlete. Georgia was always my little monkey...as soon as she could crawl she was climbing. So, we put her in gymnastics because it seemed to be something she would be naturally good at...and she was. Aside from all the physical benefits it has really helped her in so many other ways. She's learned about hard work and goal setting and also about following directions and having a longer attention span. It has been so great for her and made her more confident. She goes to practice from 4:30-7:30 on MWF and she usually has practice over holidays. Honestly, if she wasn't in gym 9 hours a week she wouldn't know what to do with herself. Before gym, after gym, and on the weekends I swear she spends most of her time still doing gymnastics. Her competition season starts at the end of January and runs through early April. This year she only had 3 meets not including state. The season before she about 7 I think. She got her first gold medal (in vault) this season. She was SO proud of herself.

Milam (age 4) is a registered BMX rider. (That is bicycle racing). There are literally only three places to do this in the greater Houston area so this one is a bit tricky. He started riding a two wheeled bike with no training wheels at age two and REALLY got into it during the beginning of the quarantine. There is a BMX park nearish our house and we decided to give it a try and he LOVED it. Jonathan really jumped on the idea because they love to ride bikes together. Milam loves his little bikes so much. I always say they are an extension of his body. Milam rides all the time but practices at the park for a couple of hours on Thursday and then races on Friday. He has gotten 5 trophies so far and got his first FIRST place trophy the week after Georgia got her first gold medal.

We do not make our kids do these sports. We don't let them quit on a whim but we don't make them do it. If they really didn't want to do these things we wouldn't make them. I love watching their faces when they finally get a new skill...or, watching them work so hard to get that new skill and not quitting. It is such an amazing learning process. 

I do often think about all the things we could do with that money other than paying for practices and lessons...or what we could do with a little more free time or flexible schedule. It takes a lot out of a family to have your kids super involved in something. Which, is why they only do ONE thing.

We often joke about what Barrett will be into and always say he'll be a competitive eater. We're actually hoping he decides to do BMX since it takes a lot of time (because there aren't a lot of tracks so we spend time driving) and he's already very interested in bikes but we'll see. If he doesn't like it then we'll try to figure out where is interests and talents converge. 

What are your kids into? 

2020 in Review (isn't that bad!)

According to all social media and every news outlet 2020 was a crap shoot of a year BUT according to me it wasn't all bad once you remove all the sensationalism the media likes to hype up. As a family 2020 was mostly good to us and I praise God that it was that way for us. Looking back through all of these photos made me realize what an amazing year we had with our family. I'm a stay at home mom (mostly) so I do get a lot of time with my family and kids but this was on a whole new level and I'm very thankful for the opportunity. It had it's challenges and we were ready to get back into our routine but it is a moment in time that I will look back on fondly despite the politics involved.

January

This year started off with a bang. Georgia had her first meet in Galveston and we took the whole family to the beach for the weekend. It was cold but it was fun to travel as a family of five for the first time. Milam loved the beach. SO MUCH. Jonathan and Georgia actually went back again for another meet and Georgia did amazing! She has a lot of anxiety so this has been a good stretch for her.

February

Georgia and I were able to travel for a long weekend to New Orleans for another meet. Traveling for gym was stressful but a lot of fun and a good experience for all of us.

I just love this photo. All of my favorites in one photo...and all in boots!

March

The month the entire world stopped. We left school for spring break and just never went back. Luckily we live on an acre and our entire yard just opened up to us. We had so much fun coming up with things to do. Lots of fires, ninja lines, bow and arrows, soccer, hammocks, gymnastics outside and on and on. Our huge yard made living is 2300 sq ft with a family of five far less claustrophobic. I did question a lot why we didn't buy a bigger house. Ha.

April

Things got weird this month! Tiger King...need I say more.

May

Georgia turned NINE and we hosted a "Sea Turtle // VSCO girl" party. 

We finished school early and threw all our papers out! Felt so good to be DONE but felt cheated not getting to say bye to friends and teachers. 

We went to the Target parking lot and waited for the Blue Angels to fly down 45. It was a lot of fun to see everyone out and happy!

I celebrated my first Mother's Day as a mom of three.

June

One of our favorite summer event is picking blueberries. It's hot but fun.

July

I love July because I think the Fourth of July is my new favorite holiday. I love our neighborhood bike parade. It's so cute!

Milam got really into BMX riding and is so naturally good at it! It's amazing to watch him ride.

We went to the lake. Barrett wasn't a super huge fan.

My family humored me and went on a crazy hunt for sunflowers. SO hot but SO cool! Plus, they're cute.

We took advantage of the shopping centers being closed and totally empty. Kind of weird but also fun.

We had friends over for the first time in FOREVER!

August

August was hot as usual but we made the best of it. Lots of family time and long summer nights.

September

This is the month where we realized hurricane season had gone all out bizarre. We got through the entire alphabet plus the greek alphabet and had two hurricanes in the gulf at the same time. Total insanity.

Georgia went back to in person school...thank goodness.

We filled the long evenings with park visits.

We got a new couch, spruced up the master bath, and redid the formal dining room.

Georgia occasionally started helping me during photo shoots.

Started wearing a lot of fall ware!

October

October was a full month. We went to Florida...the day after a hurricane went through LA.

Had so much fun going trick or treating!

Matched some more.

Did The Office as our first family costume.

And, most importantly celebrated Barrett turning ONE! Our baby bear had a pumpkin patch party!

November

We celebrated Thanksgiving with our family and Barrett was dedicated at church and looked like a little angel. Love him.

December

We had a great Christmas. We saw all of our family and found a lot of outdoor activities and light displays.

Bring it 2021! We're ready for you!

.JANUARY FUN FRIDAY.

I've been working away on my 2019 goals but I haven't yet started saving all of my unsaved blogs so things are still quiet over here.  All that aside I wanted to post about our first Fun Friday of the year.  I did a girly theme and Jonathan was welcome.  Plus, we had HEB's Unicorn ice cream.

Boerne, TX - Summer 2018

We made a really short trip with Jonathan's family to Boerne, Texas.  We stayed in Comfort, TX which was only about a 15 minute drive.  It was such a nice area and a really fun trip.

We rented a house with Jonathan's sister and her family and his parents were supposed to come but ended up not being able to make it.

We drove into Boerne first for lunch, dessert, and shopping.  We ate at Soda Pops, looked in Sugar Shack, and then had a cupcake at Small Cakes.

 Then, we met the fam at the lake.  Boerne Lake is a gem y'all!  We had a great time there!

 Where our house was located was also a wedding venue so it had a lot of cool vacant buildings that were fun to look through and play in. On HomeAway the property ID is 13377433. If you're in the area this is a must stay.  Super cute, historic home.

Jonathan's mom wanted one good picture for her Christmas card...we tried!

Then, we headed to the river that was on the property to swim and play. It was really pretty.  I'm fairly certain it is the Guadalupe River.

 Washing the river dirt off in the pretty claw foot tub.

The next day we hit the river again!

 After we played we headed into town for lunch and to walk around by the river.  The food at Cibolo Creek was delicious and the location was really pretty.

If you're ever in Texas, give Boerne a shot!