Life Lately At Home

After hoping to return to work for quite some time, I was quite surprised and very blessed when the right opportunity fell into my lap. In early October, I joined Blankenship Change Consulting based out of Dallas as a consultant and project lead. Our organization supports clients with people/process change management, and the best thing is that I am able to work remotely from my home office. Occasionally I will travel to Dallas or elsewhere based on client needs, but primarily I can be found at home and quite possibly in my pajamas. ;) I recently had to provide a head shot for some client materials and Jeff snapped this quick one at home, ha!

As I was getting up to speed on my new job, Jeff was fully enjoying his new role as "Retiree" and taking on various projects around the house. One of his first big projects was to architect and build overheard storage shelves in the garage. He worked on and off for several days and sweated through multiple shirts but managed to build a solution for all of our extra garage junk!

As school started back for both kids, we were all a little shell-shocked at the immediate increase in difficulty of the curriculum. We knew that the academic standards in Katy were far different from our former school in Dubai, but it was still surprising to see the kids struggle with the pace of their subject curriculum, particularly in math. Connor volunteered to help Kaitlynn with her word problems on several occasions, while Connor and I began having many one-on-one tutoring sessions for his high school level Algebra course. He didn't really mind the breakfast study breaks at Chick-fil-a!

Speaking of Connor, at age 13 he is quickly surpassing his mother in height. I noticed the other day that I had to look UP to him and Kaitlynn took this photo as evidence of his taller stature. He is also now wearing a Mens size 12 shoe and his voice is sounding deeper everyday. :-( This age is proving to be our most challenging yet. I have said so many times that I would NOT want to be a teenager in this day and age. So tough!

Lately at home, Jeff and Kaitlynn have been thankful for our next door neighbors and their precious backyard pups, Sadie and Sassy. Most mornings before school and afternoons after school, Kaitlynn can be found outside getting and giving love to these girls. So cute!

Finally, I couldn't resist sharing this photo posted by our realtor and friend, Mary Ann. Jeff is considering a rental home investment and we recently went to tour a boarded-up foreclosure home. Before we could get inside, we had to sign a strict waiver that signed away our rights should we sustain an injury up to and including death! We had no idea what to expect but we all came prepared, ha!

Kaitlynn and Sophia

It's always the highlight of Kaitlynn's week anytime she is able to get together with one of her besties, Sophia. These two have been friends since 2nd grade and no time or distance has ever dampened their sweet friendship. Play dates with ice cream, tumbling, and pool time are always some favorite activities they share together.

Church Lock-in

Our church hosted a super fun overnight event for the 4th and 5th graders at the beginning of the school year. Kaitlynn was beyond excited to attend with her friend, Lauren. These two cuties have the sweetest friendship. Nonstop giggles and fun. I love that they enjoy the church activities and I'm so thankful for our church that uplifts and builds the faith in our youth. The girls had such a fun time together and weren't quite ready to be picked up, despite how sleepy their eyes looked!

First Junior High Football Game

As Connor began his 8th grade year, he was adamant that he did NOT want to participate in junior high football. His final year of Katy Youth Football with his 6th grade Falcons team really did a number on him, and unfortunately he had truly lost his love of playing the game. I knew, however, that the football program through his school would be run very differently and would not have the negative impact on him the way that the KYF recreational league had. Despite his many protests, I told Connor that I wanted him to play school football this year to try it out, and then he could decide whether he wanted to participate in future years. He was NOT happy with me, but he begrudgingly went along with it.

The only benefit of being on the football team for Connor was that many of his friends were also playing. A select group of these friends had started a great tradition the previous year where they would meet up in their game day dress clothes (collared shirts with ties and dress pants, yay!) for a group breakfast prior to school on the day of their first game. The boys had fun but the Moms may have enjoyed it more. What a rare opportunity to see our handsome young men all dressed up! Love these boys and their Mamas!

Later that evening, we were so excited to see Connor and his teammates play their first game at none other than Katy High School. Connor was on the B team playing quick guard and some other position that I still don't understand. What we noticed right away is that besides the special teams plays, Connor wasn't subbed out for the entire game. It was hard to spot him at times but his red cleats helped us see him, especially when he was positioned at the end of the defensive line.

Connor played tough, but admittedly he just didn't enjoy playing. Despite his height, Connor still managed to get pushed and thrown around on many plays. That's just not his idea of fun! Throughout the season he definitely improved and made some great plays, but he never managed to say any positive things about his participation in junior high football.

Kaitlynn Kate Kait

As Kaitlynn began the school year at yet another brand new school, she was contemplating a bit of a name change that she had considered for a while.

When she discovered that there was another Katelyn (spelled differently) in her 5th grade class, she quickly volunteered to go by "Kate" instead. From that point forward, she began writing her name on all her school work as "Kate" and all of her teachers and new friends only knew her as such.

She even decided to run for her 5th grade student council, and to our surprise, she came incredibly close to winning the vote according to her teacher. She was very disappointed but we were so proud of her bravery and self-confidence to put herself out there. How amazing of our "Kate the Great" to have the courage to deliver a speech to her entire 5th grade student body, not knowing most of them because she was a brand new student!

As "Kate" settled into her new school year, we had a few conversations about how it was odd that she wanted to spell her nickname so differently from her given name. Not long afterwards, I started noticing that she had begun writing her name as "Kait" on her school work. I asked her about it and she confirmed that she would be going by "Kait" from now on. Her poor teachers and classmates... this has been tough to keep up with, HA! So for now, enjoy these precious photos of our sweet Kait with her favorite fur baby, Duke. :-)

Most Important Decision

Not long after school started, we were thrilled to be able to come together as a family to celebrate the most important decision that Kaitlynn has ever made: to pronounce her belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God! After more than a year of discussing her faith with her family and church leaders, she made the decision to be baptized by immersion one Sunday after church. It was a private moment she shared with her family and youth leaders, and Jeff was able to do the baptism himself. What a special memory and one we will always cherish with our new Sister in Christ!

Night out with Special Friends from Dubai

On the night before the kids' first day of school, we made some last minute special plans with some of our best friends from Dubai: Taryn, Devon, and Sophia. The timing wasn't perfect because the kids ended up getting to bed fairly late, but it was so worth it to be able to hang out and say goodbye before the Meyers made their way back to Dubai for the school year.

The Meyer family lived in The Woodlands for many years before transferring to Dubai, and we were fast friends from the start. Not only were the kids the same ages and attending the same school, but we all had so many of the same interests that it became the perfect family friendship. We had many nights of sleepovers with all 4 kiddos, and Taryn and I never tired of spending time together at Bible study, softball practice, and school activities. We only had a few hours together on this one evening in late summer, but it was just what we all needed to say goodbye and reconnect before the long school year ahead.

The craziest thing of all, however, was finding out a couple of months later that the Meyers moved into a Dubai villa that was literally RIGHT NEXT DOOR to our former Jumeriah Park villa in District 9. MAN, how cool that would've been if we were still there!