Friendship Party

In mid-February, Kaitlynn's elementary school hosted Friendship Parties for each of the grade levels. On party day, Kaitlynn woke up extra early and made sure to dress the part. Her Valentines' Day themed shirt was pink with a red, sequined heart that says, "Girls Rule." So cute!

Parents were invited to attend the Friendship Parties, and even though I was swamped with work, I was happy to have some extra one-on-one time with my girl. There were photo booths, various games and activity stations, crafts, hula-hooping, and of course, lots of singing and dancing with all of the 5th graders.

I'm so thankful for opportunities like these to soak in Kaitlynn's final year of elementary school. It's hard to believe those days are quickly coming to an end as she heads off to junior high next year.

Winter Hangouts

Gone are the days when I can use the phrase "play date" when referring to Connor wanting to spend time with his buddies. I think I can safely use "hangout" instead, right? Ha! Over the winter break and in the early weeks of the new year, Connor was really enjoying several opportunities to hang out with his new friend group in 8th grade. It seemed like every weekend there was a new sleepover or activity that these kids were planning. I found it interesting that most of the friends he had become close with during the school year were all brand new to his Junior High school. It was like they had all bonded over being new at the school and navigating 8th grade together.

Connor was also enjoying time reuniting with his elementary school friend, Parker. These boys had a strong bond in their GT program at school through the 5th grade, but since then they have attended different Junior High schools. Despite our temporary move overseas and being zoned to different campuses in Katy, they continue to enjoy each other's company and always have a great time together.

Kaitlynn is never short on hangouts with friends, either. She was really enjoying all of her time with Sophia over the winter break, and most weekends they can be caught scheming to get additional time together.

It has also been birthday party season, it seems, as both kids have been attending several of their friends' parties. One of Kaitlynn's favorite parties was for her friend, Londyn, from school. They went to a fitness facility with aerial silks, and all of the girls were able to learn various techniques to hang and do tricks from the silks. They all shared so many giggles and had such a blast!

Kaitlynn also enjoyed more school lunches with Sweet Daddy and even made a new puppy friend with Katie, her friend Libby's sweet puppy.

The kids weren't the only ones enjoying play dates. Although my work schedule has been super hectic since the beginning of the year, Jeff and I carved out some time to enjoy a day date with each other at Top Golf  earlier this year. We enjoyed a fun lunch together along with many missed shots on my part (has it really been 30+ years since I've swung a golf club??). And even better, Jeff bought me some beautiful flowers for my office and the house to keep me company for days. So sweet!

But the best winter hangout of all was the weekend when Collin was in town from North Dakota. He  and Kevin came to spend some time with the family and had so much fun. Kaitlynn suckered Collin into several games of Dubai Billionaire (the Dubai version of Monopoly), the kids all learned how to play the favorite Thanksmas card game called Euchre, and our driveway had a significant upgrade in the "cool" factor while the older boys were visiting.

Kait's New Room

As part of our ongoing effort to make our house feel like home, we knew that it was only a matter of time before we would need to tackle the kids' bedrooms. Kaitlynn had been voicing her thoughts for a while about how much she missed her former room at our last house and how her new bedroom just wasn't home for her. Jeff and I finally decided that the time was right to begin working on her room, but in true Kaitlynn fashion, she requested a "surprise reveal" for the most dramatic impact. Ha!

During winter break, Kaitlynn moved into the guest room temporarily while Jeff and I began decorating her room. Almost everything was moved out of the space and then Jeff spent a couple of days painting her favorite "Spa" color on the bedroom walls. As we began moving furniture back in, we made sure to get rid of a lot of junk and old toys to free up some space. Once the furniture was in place, we used most of Kaitlynn's existing bedroom decor to find the perfect spot for each piece along with a few new touches here and there. The biggest new addition (and Kaitlynn's favorite, by far) was a new zebra-striped desk and chair set that we managed to find on Facebook Marketplace. My favorite feature was the new string lights we hung across the ceiling. And for the coolest touch of all, the lights are controlled by Kaitlynn's Alexa! (I should add, that likely wouldn't have happened without Connor's technological assistance. Ha!)

Every surface of her room had been redone from the ground up. Jeff and I were quite proud of our efforts and loved that we had created such a unique and personal space for our girl. I couldn't wait for Kaitlynn to see the end result.

After a week of putting it all together, we were ready to conduct the big reveal. Kaitlynn could hardly contain her excitement! When she walked in, her reaction did not disappoint. She went from corner to corner around the room, squealing and taking it all in. She especially loved her new desk area, but she also remarked about how the furniture arrangement helped to make her room feel more spacious with nooks for reading and hanging out with her friends. As the surprise sunk in, we asked Kaitlynn how she was feeling with her new room and whether it helped to feel like home. "Oh yes," she replied excitedly. "Definitely!" I couldn't agree more. :-)

Reunited with Anais

During our winter break, we finally managed a LONG overdue reunion between Kaitlynn and her sweet friend, Anais. Due to summer travels, they weren't able to connect last summer, so it had been well over 1.5 years since they had been together and they had missed each other so much. Theirs is such a sweet friendship that has endured long distances and time apart but has never dimmed their connection.

For their brief stay together, Kaitlynn and Anais packed in a ton of fun at our house including video games, karaoke songs and dancing, and a little bit of backyard softball.

But the best activity of all was planning another weekend together for the following month. They wanted to make sure they had another play date on the calendar after going so long apart.

The Bears

At the end of last year, Kaitlynn joined a Katy Youth Basketball (KYB) team with her friend, Libby, for the winter season. It was her first time playing basketball here in Katy and she was excited to show off some of her skills she learned last year in Dubai. Kaitlynn's team, the Bears, had several practices before the winter break as well as a scrimmage against a boys team, but the official games didn't start until earlier this year.

As the games began in mid-January, our #24 was enjoying the play time and getting to know her teammates. The team was a mix of 5th and 6th graders from various elementary schools in the area, and the girls were having a great time playing together during games and practices.

For her part, Kaitlynn did a great job during the season. She started off a little rusty and there were a few practices that really deflated her spirit, but she persevered and showed great improvement from game to game. After one particularly tough game, I couldn't resist taking her out for a much deserved ice cream treat.

It was overall a tough season for the Bears, who only won 1 game during the regular season. The girls played hard but we didn't seem to hit our stride as a team until late in the season. We also missed several players most weeks as many of the girls had softball tournament conflicts. By the middle of February, the team was ready for the KYB Playoffs.