Prelim/Final Meet Awesomeness

Of course, you always want your kids to do their best at every swim meet. Sometimes that happens, and sometimes it doesn't. For our girls, it's usually a toss up, but this weekend they both did amazing! Kacy was in the 10 and under group, so it was tough for her to make it out of the prelims, but she did drop time in each of her races and did a great job. Adilyn surprisingly got into 4 finals out of the 6 races that she swam. She got 6th overall in the 100 backstroke, and 5th overall in the 50 backstroke. We were so proud of her, and we were completely unprepared to stay at the meet for all those hours! Luckily, there were enough restaurants close by that we could grab some dinner! I love her "proud of myself" smile!

A Random Camping/Work Trip

My school decided to have a semi spur of the moment professional development training in Luling, Texas for January. I wasn't in the mood to stay in a hotel with someone, so I decided I was going to drive the camper and stay at an RV park. I asked Lindsay if she wanted to stay with me and have a camping sleepover, and it was so much more fun! We made pizzas and had ice cream in the camper for our first night, and we just hung out and chatted. It was perfect, and I am so glad that we had that time together. Every time we are together, we usually have to chat quick between work stuff or between kids that need us for this or that. I was also proud of myself that I could drive the camper, hook it up, get gas, and do everything else that I needed to do all by myself. I felt so independent!

Adilyn's Fall Champs Meet

Adilyn had a fantastic Fall Champs meet this year! The first hurdle that she had to overcome was completing her first 500 freestyle. I am 100% sure that I was just as nervous as she was. It was so nerve-wracking! As she was waiting for her turn to go, she was getting so anxious. She was breathing super fast and tears were welling up in her eyes. Cory and I both tried to calm her down, but I could tell that she could tell that I was nervous for her! Cory was timing her, and I was counting her laps. That meant that every time she came down for a lap, I placed a plastic number in the water to let her know how many she had done. Every time she came down to flip turn, I would get butterflies in my stomach. I will never forget placing the 13 in the water, feeling like she had been swimming for an hour, and she still had 7 laps to go! Even though she struggled more than she wanted to - she did it in 8:21, which was a B time. Not too bad! When she was done, she was exhausted of course, but I was so proud of her for doing it! After that stressful race, the rest of the weekend went well. She dropped 3-4 seconds in all of her races, and she got 6th place overall in the 50 backstroke.

Christmas Tree Farm

For the last couple of years, we have been lazy and just gone to Home Depot or Lowe's to pick up a tree. This year we decided to head out to the Christmas tree farm. Even though it was a warm day, Kacy brought in the Christmas spirit with her Santa hat! We rode the hayride out to the tree area, and the minute we got off it started to look like rain. We quickly picked out a tree, and the girls ran over to the tree house to play inside for a little bit. Then, it started to pour on us! There was really no place to hide except for under the tree. We huddled under the tree for a bit until it let up, then they went and played in the covered barn in the hay for just a few minutes. It wasn't really a great day at the farm, but we ended up with some giggles and a great tree. I guess that's all that really matters!

Kacy's Fall Champs Meet

Kacy had a great Fall Champs meet this year! Last year, she was so sick, and we shouldn't even have had her swim. This year she was healthy, and she had a great time. It was a beautiful day, and we took her friend with us, so they hung out and were silly all day long. She ended up getting 6th in the 50 backstroke, 7th in the 25 backstroke, and 13th in both the 25 free and 50 free. She was also in both the medley and freestyle relay. Overall, it was a great day for everyone.

Sweetie!!!

The girls woke up on December 1 to a big surprise! Elfina wasn't there, but she sent her cousin, Sweetie. Elfina was apparently sent on a big mission, and she still wasn't done. Every year she comes to stay with us on December 1. Since she wasn't done with her mission from Santa, she sent her cousin. Sweetie, Elfina's cousin, is a Sugar Plum Fairy, and it was so fun to have her with us. She has an adorable little skirt and some colored stripes in her hair. We sure hope Elfina will get to come one day soon!

WOW Word Day!!!

We are almost running out of words to use for WOW word day after all these years :) But, we came up with Elegant for Brooke, Fluorescent for Adilyn (flashback from Kindergarten), and Kacy went with Dichotomy (luminous + monochromatic = dichotomy). Wow, that is a WOW Word day mouthful! They had a great time and Brooke was so excited to be Rapunzel all day!