February

First weekend of February kicked off with our favorite days of the year…Friday was the Daddy/Daughter Dance and Saturday was the Mommy/Son Dance! Per usual, Ellis would not let me help her with her hair or makeup, but again, I love that fierce independence!

She still insists that Daddy can’t see her dress before the dance so she can make this grand entrance! She just tells him the color so he can match her!

This was the first year they did the boutonnière and corsage!

Ellis is wearing a woman’s size six heel. She quickly learned that beauty is pain, lol, but you can’t tell her anything. She has to learn everything the hard way!

Love these two and their special bond so much!

He was pretending like he was going to throw her in the pool…

Daddy’s and Daughter’s

Beautiful girls!

Handsome Daddy’s!

This picture makes me smile so big!

Teaching her how to two step…be still my heart!

Daddy/Daughter Dance was at the country club with a fancy sit down dinner and full bar, while the Mommy/Son dance was in a high school cafeteria with punch and cookies and a glow in the dark theme, lol. We DEFINITELY had more fun though! We met for dinner beforehand with a bunch of our friends!

It was just Shep and I this year, as Brooks “aged out” of the dance (I’m not crying, you’re crying)!

We love a good theme!

Adam is my favorite dance partner in the world, but my boys are a close second!

Shep with one of his BFF’s, London…

He get’s it from his Daddy!

Shep was leading the train! I had to turn the sound off so YouTube would let me post it (darn music infringement)…

Shep with his other two BFF’s, Connor and Ben!

Me with two of my BFF’s, Breea and Nancy, who just happen to be Connor and Ben’s moms!

The whole Wilmeth Elementary gang that was at the dance!

Had to turn the sound off again, but Shep was getting down!

Not sure if I’ve posted about this yet or not, but we recently started Shep on ADHD medicine, and he is just soaring in school now! He’s always struggled and had a hard time sitting still in school, but he never got into trouble and was never at risk of failing, so we waited as long as possible to put him on medication, even though we knew it was coming. There is a significant jump in third grade, and when he came home several days in tears saying how hard third grade was, we knew it was time. No way in the world did I ever think Shep would read a book on his own for fun, but here he is devouring a “Dog Man” book all weekend!

I’ve got to brag on this kid too, and want to save this memory forever. Shep had an early morning game, and Ellis had a sleepover, so we weren’t going to go to church this particular Sunday, BUT…this sweet boy asked me if I would take him! How in the world could I say no to that! My heart burst with pride walking in to church, just him and I!

And for the BESTEST BEST BEST news of all……Ellis went back to school!!!!! She made up her mind she wanted to go back in February after being home all of November, December, and January, and not only did she go back full time, she went back without missing a beat!

By day 2 she was riding her scooter all on her own! Going from riding her scooter, being in choir and student council, and on the gymnastics team, to quitting everything and not being able to go to school at all, was the biggest gut punch. This PANS condition and brain inflammation is wild, with so many ups and downs, but the resiliency and determination of this girl is truly awe inspiring!

Shep was due for another injury, but thankfully nothing was broken, just bruised and sprained….

He got to sport this splint for a week!

The self discipline of Brooks blows my mind. He’s such a good kid! He sets his alarm to wake up before school to work out on this sweet set up we have in the garage!

Sometimes he recruits Shep to work out with him on the weekend!

Kids have started begging us to play games before bed on school nights, and I couldn’t love this more if I tried. Best way to get ready for bed!

I have prayed and prayed for days like this for Brooks. After school play dates with buddies! He’s completely fine coming home and relaxing by himself, and I know he has lots of friends, but my momma heart is happy to see him hanging out with them!

I did a thing with my tennis team….I learned how to play Mahjong! Well sort of, it’s a very confusing game, lol, but we had fun!

Ready for Valentine’s Day!

Oh my gosh, Ellis actually wore the matching headband I bought for her AND took a pic with me at her school party!!!

So darn thankful she’s back in school and not missing anymore of her last elementary school events!

Ms. Loya’s 5th Grade class!

During Shep’s party I had to help Nancy. Her and her husband are opening an online (for now) meatball shop where they will be catering “Sunday Dinners” to families locally. Joe was miserable with his banking job and decided to leave that world and take a leap of faith doing what he loves to do. Nancy is scared out of her mind and not so sure, but she’s trying to be supportive. Their first big gig was catering lunch for all the teachers on Valentine’s Day, and they knocked it out of the park! They put together these individual boxes for each staff member that included homemade meatballs, salad, and bread! I helped build the boxes and put stickers on them beforehand and then helped assemble them the day of! Adam also helped in the kitchen the morning of! So proud of them and hope they have lots and lots of success!

Thankfully I had great friends take some pics of Shep for me!

Mrs. Stetson’s Third grade class!

Valentine’s evening we got to go watch Levi perform at his gymnastics meet in Fort Worth! He’s the third from the right…

I’ve never watched a boys gymnastics meet and I was blown away!

Ellis made this awesome sign for Levi!

Beginner version of the pommel horse…

Lesley had some fun Valentine’s swag!

Levi on the rings! So impressed with his strength!

Flying through the air for his vault routine!

Levi’s cheering squad!

Parallel Bars…

These two cousins have such a special bond!

Horizontal Bar for his last event! This was a huge meet and Levi did awesome. He got 4th on pommel horse, 3rd on vault, 3rd on high bar, and 6th overall! Im so glad we got to see him!

Christian’s Mom was there too, all the way from Sweden!

We love you, Levi, and are so proud of you!

Super Bowl was on the Sunday after Valentine’s and we watched it over at the Plum’s house!

This year Ellis’ two BFF’s are Camryn and Meredith and they wanted to come watch her at her horse riding lesson!

Ellis is learning how to lope. The speeds are walk, trot, lope, and gallop. She can’t wait to start galloping very soon!

Here she is going through the cones, learning how to “drive” the horse…

We had off school for President’s Day and Teacher in service day, so they boys headed to the lake while the girls had a double sleepover! They asked me to take them to “Walls of Clay”

I got to paint something too!

Girls night!

Silly girls dressed up like boys and made a hilarious video! Unfortunately, it has music and YouTube won’t let me share it. These girls were giggling for two days straight and it was music to my ears!

We even had a girls only church day!

The following weekend Ellis went to the Preteen Weekend at our church with Meredith! Ellis went from not wanting to leave the house for fear of bad things happening a month prior, to spending an entire day at church with her BFF. God is so good!

Celebrating these beauties birthdays at this super fun restaurant in downtown McKinney!

Baseball brought us together and I’m so grateful for these ladies!

Shep’s basketball team made it to the Championship game….

And they won!!!!

Shep was the rebound king!!

Ice cream treat after working hard!

Brooks’ basketball team also made it to the championship game and WON!!!!!

Man it feels good to be a champion!

Mommy is an “athlete” too! First tournament of the season, we didn’t win, but we sure had fun!

I might be in it for the fun but my teammates are ballers!!!

Rambling Red Head was there again! She’s front row on her knee with the tan hat and black outfit! Tennis is kind of a big deal, lol! February was a great month and sure was fun!