First Day of Sofia's Senior Year!

 Where has the time gone? Sofia is off to her first day of Senior Year and it seems like we were just sending her off to Kindergarten not too long ago. She recently turned 17 and is loving her job working at Menchie's frozen yogurt, loves drawing and being creative and spending time with friends (playing Dungeon and Dragons, mainly). She has had a range of passions over the years - cars and trains, dinosaurs, solar system/space travel, gems/minerals, writing, and now marine biology.  She loves cartoons and science fiction and enjoys Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and other things. She desperately wants to study sharks and focus on marine animals.  We hope she enjoys her senior year by taking challenging classes, spending time with her friends and focusing on her future. She's super creative and loves to draw and write and I hope she continues with those passions.  

Sofia on her first day of Kindergarten!

Off to her first day of Senior Year!

She wanted to have a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle backpack for her first few days of school.  Apparently it is a trend. 

Homecoming 2022!

Sofia was super excited to go to Homecoming this year and planned to go with her crew of friends, but wanted to have a date, so she asked her good friend Carson and he said yes!  The Tuesday before Homecoming Sofia said she had something to tell me and that I wouldn't be happy about it.  She told me Carson's mom had made her a mum!  I've always thought the mum exchange that is a tradition in Texas is weird and have been vocal about it, apparently.  She was so super excited she'd have a mum and I agreed! So, the next day, which was my birthday, I headed to Hobby Lobby to figure out how to make a mum for Carson!  Thankfully, another mom was also looking for supplies and I asked her some questions and she was a fountain of knowledge!  She was actually there to make the mum for her daughter for NEXT year and had made at least 12 already for friends, etc.  She gave me all the information I needed, helped me pick out supplies and off I went to warm up my hot glue gun!   It ended up being very fun and did't take very long.  Plus, I think it turned out pretty cute.

Sofia really wanted to wear her mum to school on Friday, but the kids had an away tennis match on Thursday and weren't back until around 8:30pm, so Carson's mom Jody and I decided that we should just meet at the tennis court parking lot and the kids could exchange their mums then.  There wasn't really another option.  The kids got off the bus, collected their backpacks and met us by our cars.  They were obviously a little embarrassed because all of their tennis friends were watching!  They nervously exchanged their mums and actually posed for a few photos together before saying goodbye and heading home after a long day!

Sofia was super excited to wear her mum to school and looked so great as she headed out the door.  I was even lucky enough to get a few pictures of her!  She and her friends had no interest in going to the homecoming football game that night, so instead we hung out and got ready to host her friends the next night for dinner before homecoming.  I made a crockpot pulled pork recipe so the kids could have BBQ pulled pork sliders, macaroni and cheese, coleslaw and fruit.  There were a few vegetarians, so the mac and cheese was for them.  

The girls and I spend Saturday looking for a homecoming dress for that night!  I wanted to start at a new shop I'd heard about called Niko Blu and then we could go into Southlake Town Square for other options.  However, we ended up finding a dress Sofia LOVED immediately!  The saleswoman helped us pick out a few options and she found the perfect dress immediately!  It was great!  From there, we headed to buy Sofia some nice shoes.  She picked out some great low heals that she could wear with other outfits.  Or I might even borrow them - they are so cute! 

Sofia's friends arrived around 5pm so they would have time to hang out, take pictures, eat and get to the homecoming dance at 7pm.  The dance was set for 7-9pm in the GHS gym and then Colin's mom offered to host the kids at their house until whenever we wanted to pick them up.  The kids had a fun time at our house, talking, joking and eating.  We also took a few group pictures and Jody and I were able to get a picture of Carson and Sofia together before the whole group showed up. Mikaela and I drove and dropped the kids off at high school and it was fun to watch all the other kids as they headed into the school all dressed up!

Sofia went to Colin's house until about 11:30pm, when I couldn't stay awake any longer and told her that I would be picking her up, but I would be in my pjs, so she would need to say her thank you and head out to the car by herself.  She said she'd had the best time, even if the music they played wasn't that great.  She said they played a lot of rap and music that no one could dance to.  Plus, it got really hot inside the gym, so the kids spend about half of the dance outside, where it was more comfortable and they could hear each other talk!  She had so much fun!  

My supplies for Carson's mum. 

The mum made for Carson.  So cute. 

Carson and Sofia exchange mums after their tennis match. 

So cute and they are going to have a great time together. 

Sweet girl is ready to wear her mum to school!

A close up of Sofia's mum!  

Sofia and Olivia ready for her friends to arrive. 

Olivia and me. 

Sofia and me. 

All dressed up and ready for some fun!

Carson and Sofia - so sweet!

Sofia and her friends!  Such a great group of kids.

Dinner!  Kids helping themselves to food.

Dinner together before the dance. 

Sofia and her friend Emily at the dance. 

At Colin's house after the dance.  Still having fun together. 

Sofia at 15 Years Old!

Sofia is now 15 years old and is growing up into a wonderful young woman! She is now 5' 71/2" and trying to get taller than I am.  She already wears all my clothes sizes and wears a size 10 shoe, a full size bigger than me.  Everyday she wears what we call her "uniform" which includes a t-shirt and a skort or longer tennis skirt.  She wears that every single day! She has terrific hair, which she now wears down most of the time. She likes when I flat-iron it, but she doesn't want me to straighten it very often.  She looks great wavy or straight!

She spent the weeks before her birthday doing on-line driving classes through Green Light Driving School, and took her permit test through them after a few classes.  She passed easily and now we just wait until her DMV appointment to turn in her completed test and she will be legal to drive with one of her parents in the car.  I can't believe it!  Thankfully, while spending a week at her Grandparent's farm earlier this summer, her Grandpa put her behind the wheel of his truck and told her to drive all over the farm.  He also set up cones for her to practice driving around and getting comfortable behind the wheel.  Before then, she wasn't terribly excited to get her permit, but now she can't wait to get started!  

We were planning on leaving for a week in the Bahamas on the 29th, so we had a low-key birthday planned for Sofia that included her favorite dinner - spaghetti casserole followed by her favorite cake - vanilla with vanilla ice cream.  Earlier that day, she and I went for a pedicure to relax and get ready for our trip to the Bahamas. The one thing that Sofia really wanted for her birthday was a dragon cake.  So, I used her red 3D printed dragon that she got in middle school as a cake topper and asked the bakers at Market Street to use their imagination to decorate the cake.  It turned out SUPER cute!

After dinner, we sang Happy Birthday to Sofia, enjoyed her cake and then she opened up her presents.  The best part was Sofia's reaction to her birthday candles - they are like a mini-sparkler and were a lot!  My friend Sian, who has literally never been late with even one gift for the girls or me, sent a bunch of fun puzzles for the girls!  They will be fun to put together.  As a sort of joke, I bought Sofia a light-up ladybug that she used to have when she was little, but somehow lost or something. She was recently talking about how much she loved and missed that light-up ladybug, so I thought it would be a very cute gift.  Olivia got Sofia a pool inflatable shaped like a popsicle, that they could play with together.  CK probably got the best gift for Sofia in a pair of wireless earbuds, which made her super happy!

Sofia is by far the most naturally happy girl I think I've ever met.  I can pick her up after high school tennis practice where she's had particularly difficult time with coach and after being upset for a minute, she will then say "I actually had a great day today...." and will start with her first period and tell me all about each class and how much she enjoyed it.  She might get angry and upset at things, but she cools quickly and honestly has the best outlook on life. She definitely follows the beat of her own drum and has strong convictions about what is right and what is wrong.  She has also developed a strong group of friends that include Liam, Carson, Colin, Finley and a few others who she has lunch every day with.  She's a great kid, even if she doesn't love doing her chores. We can't wait to see what she choses to do in the coming years. 

A few of her favorite things include:

Favorite breakfast:  Egg and cheese breakfast sandwich on a Hawaiian bun.  So delicious!

Favorite Lunch:  Last year, she ate a ham and cheese sandwich on baguette every single day of school and loved it.  It's still a favorite lunch, but she also loves sushi, ramen and just about anything Japanese

Favorite Dinner: Spaghetti Casserole

She wants to be: A microbiologist.  She has loved learning about viruses for the past few years. 

Favorite thing to do:  She loves to spend hours on her phone either texting or talking to her friends.  She also loves playing her video game on her phone called Genshin Impact.  She'll spend hours playing and sharing ideas on a server of other friends.  

Relaxing on her big day!

The dragon cake turned out GREAT!

Sofia's birthday fell on a Wednesday night, so I made these chocolate cupcakes to enjoy with our Meeting.  We sang her Happy Birthday and they were a big hit!

Sofia and her dragon cake. 

LOVE this picture!  Olivia had just lit the candle and it was a lot of sparkles and flames! 

The look on Sofia's face is how I feel at our oldest being 15 years old!

The gifts!

Sofia's favorite gift - wireless earbuds!

One of several puzzles Sian sent.  So fun!

Skipper loved the presents as much as Sofia!

Megan Visits!

My niece Megan visited us for a few days before Christmas and we had so much fun together! I've been trying to get her out to visit us for months and was so excited that she finally found the time to spend some time with us. She arrived the day before CK's birthday and we had a bunch of fun ideas of things to do during her visit. Of course the first thing Olivia had to do was show Megan how much fun they could have on the trampoline. 

On CK's birthday, CK went flying and Megan, the girls and I decided to test out rock climbing at Summit Climbing. Megan suggested it since she has recently started climbing at home and enjoys it. Megan gave the girls some pointers and off they went. Sofia actually had a great time and was surprisingly good at it. Olivia got frustreated at not immediately being good at it, but she kept at it. The three of them climbed every wall they could at least once, so after about an hour or more, Sofia was sprawled out on the ground and Olivia was completely done! Sofia said her forearms were already super sore! After fun at the climbing wall, we drove down Main Street in Grapevine to show Megan how cute the area is and originally planned to stop somewhere and grab a snack, but there were so many cars and people that we could barely drive down the street! We headed to Southlake Town Center where we ended up grabbing a snack at TruFire. It was just what we needed before heading home. 

We celebrated CK that night with one of his favorite meals: grilled steak, roasted brussel sprouts, and roashed potatoes. After dinner, we sang Happy Birthday to CK and he blew out his candles. He opened a couple of gifts and had a good birthday. 

The next day Sofia wasn't feeling great so we left her at home and took Megan to see Bass Pro Shop. Once inside I noticed that the line to visit Santa was completely empty! We used to take the girls to visit the Bass Pro Shop every year but haven't visited in years. I asked the assistants when the next "time card" was available to visit with Santa and they laughed and told me that they haven't used time cards in years and have switched to an on-line time reservation system! They then said that Santa didn't have anyone to visit with and let Megan and Olivia go up and tell him what they wanted! So sweet!  We walked around a little longer and then headed to the Red Door Escape Room to do our very first escape room!  Megan has done them before several times and it was really helpful to have her experience or else I don't think we would have made it past the first room!  It was a ton of fun and very interesting!  We didn't escape but we were minutes away from getting out and it was such a fun thing to do.  Sofia would love it! 

After the Escape Room experience we decided to take Megan to the most wonderful store in Texas....Buc-ee's!  We told Megan all about Buc-ee's and she just had to go.  We got a package of sour cherry candies (the best) and Olivia got a snack as well as chocolate chip cookie dough balls.  We all decided we were hungry so we also got a brisket sandwich each! So delicious.  We headed home and ended up ordering pizza since the three of us weren't hungry for dinner. 

The next day, Sofia was feeling better and Olivia headed off with her friends Hannah and Marisa on the Polar Express.  We headed into Ft. Worth to watch the Longhorns walk down the historic downtown area followed by lunch at Joe T. Garcia's.  Of course, before that Sofia and Megan had to take turns "riding" the longhorn. It never gets old and it was the first time for Megan.  We also stopped at the H3 Ranch bar to sit in the saddles and have a drink.  We all decided the saddles aren't actually that comfortable, but you have to do it when visiting Ft. Worth!  We sat outside at Joe T. Garcia's which was lovely!  The food is delicious and the weather was decent, but the heat lamps provided the perfect temperature!  So much fun!

After lunch, we drove over to the Ft. Worth Water Gardens, which is always a great place to visit.  We walked around, took some photos and then headed to Summer Moon Coffee Shop for the best coffee ever!  Then home.  Megan left the next day and we had so much fun with her! We hope she comes back in the summer so we can take her to the lake house and enjoy some water time.  She also said she'd love to have one or both girls visit her in California for a few days.  Sofia thought that was the best idea ever!  Maybe this summer we'll see the girls' cousin again and hang out!  Such a fun visit!

Olivia, Hannah and Marisa at Grapevine's Polar Express.

Sweet friends.

They have their tickets.

Best friends!

With Santa!

Megan and Olivia jumping on the trampoline.

Megan is ready to show Sofia and Olivia how to rock climb.

Off they go!

Sofia climbing to the top!

She made it to the top!

Down she goes!

Megan and Sofia climb together!

Sofia loved it but was also exhausted!

Olivia wasn't a huge fan....

Megan showing the girls how it's done!

CK's birthday dinner!

Make a wish!

Megan and Olivia at Bass Pro Shop!

We (almost) escaped the Escape Room!

At Buckee's!

Watching the Longhorns in Ft. Worth.

When at the Ft. Worth's Stockyards....

Having a drink in Ft. Worth.

At Joe T. Garcia's for lunch.

At the Ft. Worth Water Gardens.

Sofia in a nut shell!