Julie's Milestone Birthday

In mid-November, Michelle and I were so excited to plan a fun outing in honor of Julie's milestone 50th birthday. We bought early bird tickets for Nutcracker Market, and it was so fun to enjoy the festive atmosphere with holiday shopping. We snapped some photos and enjoyed the shopping with all the unique vendors, and we even ran into several friends as the shoppers started to arrive in droves. Thank goodness for the early bird tickets so that we could enjoy our shopping before the crowds made it difficult to even move down the aisles. It was SO fun while it lasted, but that was our cue to head out to our next stop.

We made our way to the Galleria area and stopped at one of Julie's favorite spots, North Italia, for some drinks and bites. The three of us have always been perfect restaurant buddies because we love to order multiple plates and share - our favorite way to eat! It was a pretty day to enjoy the area, and we stopped for some more shopping before heading to Michelle's house for the big birthday surprise for Julie. 

Michelle had done some birthday decorating and we surprised Julie with some yummy food and a very special version of her favorite snack - charcuterie! We had the house to ourselves with Michelle's precious pup, Missy, and we were looking forward to a fun evening ahead.

As we sat around the kitchen island enjoying the yummy snacks and drinks, the doorbell rang and the "main event" of the day arrived. It was Lauren, our private makeup artist from Jentry Kelley Cosmetics, a popular makeup and skincare line based in the Houston area. Michelle had arranged for Lauren to come for the day to conduct a personalized makeup lesson for the birthday girl (and for Michelle and I as well). It was such a special treat to have our colors matched and to get step by step instructions for how to apply our makeup. Let's be honest, at our age, we need all the tips we can get, ha! We had a great time exploring the makeup options and seeing how Lauren brought out our natural beauty and glow. The birthday girl was beaming and beautiful, and we each took our turn in the chair.

It was such a fun and unique milestone birthday experience for Julie, and we were so happy to celebrate with some much-needed girl time together. We originally planned to take our fancy faces out for a birthday nightcap, but a sudden torrential downpour made us stay put (which we really didn't mind). We made sure to take lots of photos to capture our new look. As for me, it's likely my face will never look this good again but I sure enjoyed it while it lasted, HA!

Nighthawks Parent Showcase

After many months and countless hours of team practices, it was finally time for the Woodlands Elite parent showcase in mid-November, which is the unofficial kickoff to the competition cheer season ahead. Kaitlynn was excited for the long day ahead, which was a full dress rehearsal for the Nighthawks to show off their performance for family and friends. First up - pulling out her brand new junior competition uniform and dusting off her makeup kit for the complete competition look!

The parent showcase is held outdoors at the Woodlands Elite facility, and we always seem to have such gorgeous weather for the fun event. The Nighthawks tent was ready to go when the girls arrived for warm-ups. But first, the coaches handed out their competition hairbows, custom designed to match the theme of their routine for the season, which was all around Aladdin, a magic carpet ride, the genie in a bottle, and granting wishes. Let's just say that NONE of the girls (or Moms) understood the look of this brassy, feathery, gold bow and we had lots of smirks and laughs about it!

When it was time to perform, the Nighthawks did great but fell short of their goal to "hit zero" mistakes on the routine. They were still putting the final touches on their performance, but regardless, they enjoyed such a fun day with each other and had a great time watching all the teams show off their skills for the new season ahead. Now that Kaitlynn and I were in our 3rd year of all star cheer, we were really getting the hang of everything and really enjoying the cheer community in these fun team events with old and new teammates alike. We were both excited and optimistic for the season ahead and couldn't wait to see what our Nighthawks would achieve!

Roll Tide

Less than a week after our successful visit to UT Austin, Connor and I were off to our next (and likely final) college tour - the University of Alabama! The story of why Connor was interested in Alabama starts, of course, with his interest in college sports and Alabama's top ranking football program. But we later learned that Connor was eligible for a significant scholarship at Alabama due to a recognition award he earned earlier in his Junior year. Because of that, Connor decided that it was worth a visit to check out the campus and learn more about their student life and computer science curriculum. We got in touch with an area recruiter who arranged a VIP visit for Connor with multiple tours and meetings, so we booked our trip and couldn't wait to see what Alabama had to offer. Instead of making the 10-hour drive into Tuscaloosa, we opted to take a flight into Birmingham and rented a car for the 45 minute drive to our hotel near campus. Upon arrival, we settled in and turned on the World Series (Go Astros!) while Connor caught up on some homework. 

We were up early the following day, which was a typical Friday morning with school in session. It was the perfect weather for our day of exploring Alabama - a chilly, gorgeous morning with beautiful blue skies overhead. As we pulled into the university entrance, we immediately noticed the charming and stately architecture of the buildings on campus. The grounds were so beautiful and expansive! We arrived early enough to scope out the area and grab some breakfast at the Chick-fil-A located inside the student center. We were excited for the full day ahead! 

The UofA area recruiter had arranged a full day of meetings and tours for us, beginning with a personalized visit with an admissions counselor. She walked us through our customized itinerary, which included a tour of the Engineering facility, chat with an Engineering professor, admissions and financial aid sessions, Honors program session, lunch with a student recruiter, and finally, a campus tour. It was a long and exhausting day, but we learned so much about Alabama and truly enjoyed the university culture and experience. 

When our tours were finished, we were able to do some shopping at the campus store and then we drove into Tuscaloosa to check out the town before calling it a day. We made sure to stop at some recommended restaurants, and of course, we wanted to maximize the college experience by picking up some Insomnia cookies to enjoy back at the hotel. Overall, it was a wonderful college visit and Connor was really impressed with what Alabama had to offer for future students. We both felt so lucky to spend the weekend together at the University of Alabama, the final stop on Connor's list of prospective colleges.

As we sat in the airport awaiting our flight home the following day, Connor and I talked about all of his previous college visits, the pros/cons of each, and all the fun we'd had on this journey along the way. The picture was starting to become more clear for his college and career path in the future, and we were all feeling so excited at his opportunities ahead!

Halloween 2022

Both kiddos enjoyed some Halloween fun this year with great friends and gorgeous fall weather. First up was Kaitlynn, who was able to reimagine her long-standing and all-time favorite zebra costume with a cropped tee and her beloved zebra socks and crocks. Will we EVER retire the zebra theme?? We participated in a trunk-or-treat celebration with her Nighthawks cheer squad after practice one afternoon, and I was proud of myself for throwing together a trunk without any forethought or preparation. The kids don't care about anything except the candy anyway, ha!

On Halloween night, Kaitlynn joined some of her friends from the school cheer squad for trick-or-treating. One of the girls had planned a lifeguard theme and purchased costumes for everyone, which turned out so cute for the group.

As for Connor, he and Marie opted to go for panda bear themed couples costumes (at least I think that's what they were??) and they even added some face makeup to complete the look. Connor also used the bear costume for his baseball team's annual Halloween game, and thankfully the weather this year wasn't too warm to pull off the thick onesie for the game and for trick-or-treating on Halloween night.