February Forever

To be the shortest month, I always feel like February takes forever to get through. But we did get through it! Here are the highlights:

Weston developed a case of cellulitis (on top of poison ivy)
and had to spend some quality time at the clinic.  

Super Bowl Party

Clay's Scout den visited the police station,
and he got to sit in a squad car and get a mugshot.

Brothers and friends!

Ruth, Weston, Jeff, and I got to go bowling at Main Event

Meanwhile, these guys were building bonfires at Mimi and Grandpa's house.

Jeff and I had a day of dates which included a visit to the Haltom City farmer's market,
brunch at the Omni Ft. Worth, a quick stroll through the Ft. Worth water garden,
and a wonderful cultural experience at Mercado 369, where we heard an artist,
whose preferred medium is coffee, give a speech and demonstrate his craft, enjoyed
coffee samples from a craft roaster, and viewed many forms of Latin American art.

Jeff and Weston tried out VR gaming at Source Gaming Lounge.

We played lots and lots of games!

We helped pack and deliver boxes for Lovepacs of Lewisville.

We celebrated my half-birthday with singing, sushi, and tulips.

Weston was chosen to be the MC for the Scouts' Court of Honor at the last minute,
and he was completely nonplussed, even though he had had no time to prepare.
He was also recognized for his most recent merit badges and his latest rank of Life Scout.

Valentine's Day Celebration:
Movie and a Chik-fil-A bouquet for the kids,
fancy dinner at J2 steakhouse for the grown-ups

The younger boys and I traveled to Seguin to celebrate my nephew's birthday.

First track meet of the season, where Ruth ran in the 100M, 200M, the 4x200.
Her relay team captured third place!

Ruth's CyberPatriot team had their end-of-season party.

Sometimes it was hard to get through the school day. 😴

Weston and Clay had a brother rodeo.

Spring tried half-heartedly to make an appearance

Clay helped me work through some of the projects that will be included
in my soon-to-be-published Explore Australia book.

Clay got to be part of the Color Guard at his Scout pack meeting

The Cub Scout Blue and Gold banquet was fun for everyone!
Max helped pass out tickets, and Weston helped
welcome the boys bridging over to Boy Scouts.

We took advantage of one of the really lovely days to have a cookout and picnic.

Max officially joined the Boy Scouts.

We had a field trip to Medieval Times with the boys' Arrow history classes.

January

This space has been quite neglected this month as I just haven't had the bandwidth to keep up with it. But since it's the main chronicle of our family life, I want to do a broad overview so we don't look back someday and wonder, "What the heck happened to January 2018?" Here are the highlights (not including regular activities and things that were already going on before this month):

• Jan. 1--Polar Bear Dip, South Padre Island

• Jan. 2-3--San Antonio with Mimi and Grandpa

• Jan. 4--I received a life-changing tiara in the mail

• Jan. 5--I started running again; Jeff found out he passed his personal narrative essays, which is the 2nd test he had to pass in his quest to become a Foreign Service Officer (Diplomat)
• Jan. 7--Weston joined a ping-pong club
• Jan. 8--Max started his Ninja Warrior class; Clay started his martial arts class

• Jan. 9--Max and Clay built a cotton gin during History class

• Jan. 10--I started my regular Meals on Wheels route; I took my first writing day out of the house; Clay started swim lessons; I started back to yoga

• Jan. 12--Max turned 10, and we celebrated at the Lego Discovery Center and Olive Garden

• Jan. 13-15--Weston went on a surprise campout with the Boy Scouts, and they got to spend the night on board a battleship
• Jan. 14--Ruth's last IEA horse show of the season

• Jan. 15--Ruth officially became a Civil Air Patrol cadet
• Jan. 18--Ruth started track
• Jan. 19-21--Max got to spend the weekend with Nana and Papa and got to attend a monster truck show

• Jan. 20--Weston attended the Boy Scout Merit Badge College where he got to work on badge requirements with other members of his troop
• Jan. 21--I got to dance with Weston at his last Cotillion class

• Jan. 22--Clay and I got to build castles and shields with the rest of his Cub Scout den
• Jan. 27--Clay got to participate in the Cub Scouts' Pinewood Derby; Ruth completed her first CAP PT test

• Jan. 28--Brunch at Blue Mesa Grill; Hiking at Ft. Worth Nature Center and Refuge

The Weekend of All the Sports (plus a few other things)

Yesterday morning, Weston had his try-out for spring football. He felt good about his performance and had a good time, and he got selected by the same team he played for in the fall, which was exactly what he was hoping would happen. To me the most astonishing part of this try-out was the weigh-in, where he found out that he weighs almost exactly what I weigh! Wow! My little boy is definitely not so little anymore!

Shortly after the try-out, Ruth had a make-up riding lesson. And, as soon as she was done, we headed to Ft. Worth for a brief break in the sporting fun. We had a late lunch at The Cheesecake Factory and then stopped by the Ft. Worth Water Gardens to have a look around. What a unique park and a fun place to spend a nice afternoon!

Eventually, we left Ft. Worth and made our way over to the Big D, so we could catch a Mavericks basketball game. We had a blast cheering for the Mavs and watching them beat the Pelicans, while checking yet another item off our DFW bucket list.

Since we also planned to attend the Dallas Stars hockey game this morning in the same arena, and since we had quite a few hotel points saved up (and since the American Airlines Center frowns on overnight guests), we booked a room at a nearby Element hotel, which made the whole experience seem a little more vacationy and exciting.

After enjoying the hotel's fantastic free breakfast, we ran to Academy to outfit our little baseball players for the season, before heading back to the miraculously transformed American Airlines Center for the hockey game. Clay repeated several times, "But wasn't this a basketball court?!" The Stars didn't fair as well as the Mavs, but we had so much fun learning more about the game, being part of the excitement, and adding another check mark to our list.

When the hockey game was over, we stopped by Checkered Past Winery for a wine tasting and mid-afternoon meal, which the kids enjoyed calling "linner." After much eating and drinking and merry-making, we headed back to Flower Mound, just in time for Max's first baseball practice of the season--the perfect end to our (mostly) sports themed weekend.

Special treats at The Cheesecake Factory

The Ft. Worth Water Gardens

Dallas Mavericks Game
(If you look closely, you might be able to tell that we are on the second row from the very tip top!)

Dallas Stars Game
(Our seats were at about the same level, just a few sections over.)

Checkered Past Winery

P.S. In case you missed my Facebook announcement on Friday, I finally got the fourth Geography Explorer book, Explore Mongolia, published. All of my books wanted to get in on the party and put themselves on sale. If this interests you, you can check them out here or over on the right sidebar.