February 2024

This month, we finished up basketball season and celebrated Brooklyn’s birthday and Valentine’s Day. Travis also had two work trips this month. Here’s the recap:

Savannah’s basketball team practiced at Midtown Elementary on February 1st. She enjoyed the challenge of playing with some older boys that night.

Travis had a work trip to Austin, TX this week, and Savannah made a welcome home sign for him and hung it on the garage door :)

Caitlyn remembered that Savannah LOVES polar bears, and she bought a bunch of polar bear clothing items from Gymboree on sale for her. She even dropped it off at our house as a surprise. So thoughtful and sweet! Savannah was very excited, and Abigail was happy to be the recipient of her old polar bear slippers that had gotten too small.

I volunteered at Lunch Monitors on February 2nd and had the kids in Abigail’s class sign a big birthday card for Mrs. Curry since her birthday was coming up later in the month.

Mia’s birthday party was that evening at Altitude, and Abigail and Savannah were both invited. They had a great time! Travis got back in town in time to take Brooklyn on a father-daughter date, so they headed to Taco Mama while we were at the party.

February 3rd brought a very intense game between Savannah’s team and the Storm (the team with Felicity, Hannah, Savannah Messner, and Harper Daniels). Storm played very aggressively and basically mauled anyone who has the ball. The refs weren’t calling many fouls in the first half, but they finally started calling more fouls in the 3^rd and 4^th quarter. It was a close game, and the Sky was right there in it the whole time. We ended up losing 10-14, but if we had made more free throws, we easily could have won. Savannah did her best, and we were proud of her!

That night, we hosted the Valentine’s party at the clubhouse with Douglas and Britni. Marilyn and Kevin ended up winning 1^st place in the Not-So-Newlywed Game. Travis was the emcee this year for the first time and did a really good job with it. We had a smaller crowd this year, but it was kind of nice in a way!

We are raising little readers!

Mrs. Borys’ class learned about fractions in a fun way this month :)

Travis took Brooklyn to her game on February 5th at 7:30 pm since it was a late game. They kept it pretty close during the game, and ended up losing by only 3 points (13-16). Travis said it was their best game of the season so far!

Savannah really enjoys making worksheets and teaching Abigail the things that she knows. Maybe she will decide she wants to be a teacher one day?

Savannah’s basketball team played at 6:30 pm on February 6th. They were playing Coach Dusty’s team again. Savannah’s team won in a blowout. She got a rebound or two and remembered to put her hands up on defense!

Abigail earned her “Sight Word Eyes” on February 7th for being able to read all of her kindergarten sight words! She really came a LONG way from the beginning of the school year when she didn’t even know all of her letters.

Mill Creek has a neat tradition where they allow the 5th graders to submit artwork to be considered for that year’s yearbook cover (front and back). This year the artwork was supposed to be “Game On’ themed to match the school’s theme for the year. Spoiler alert: Brooklyn’s artwork wasn’t chosen for the yearbook, but I loved her idea of turning each chess piece into a “Maverick” (the school mascot) representing the 6 houses. She really worked hard on it, and we were super proud of how it turned out!

Visits to the orthodontist always involve slushies and “magical” coloring sheets! :)

The girls created their own fairy garden out of boxes and craft materials. I enjoy seeing their creativity and teamwork on stuff like this.

Brooklyn’s team played at 7:30 pm on February 8th, and I took her by myself this time. Her team was losing 6-13 at one point, but they stayed in it and made it close the whole way. They lost by 1 point…18-19. Brooklyn volunteered to cover the other team’s best player, and she did a great job. She stole the ball once and knocked it away another time or two. She got one shot off also! Her team has improved a lot over the last couple of games, even though they still haven’t won. Brooklyn has been frustrated that her team doesn’t pass her the ball hardly at all, but we are trying to remind her to focus on what she can control.

Savannah’s team played on February 9th at 5:30 pm against the Storm (Felicity/Hannah’s team). This was a rematch from the previous Saturday. Savannah was pretty nervous leading up to it. Brooklyn and I stayed home since her friends were coming for her birthday sleepover. Travis said Savannah’s team led for most of the game, and they ended up winning 26-23! Out of the 3 games against Storm, this was our first win! Savannah was very excited!

Brooklyn had her first ever friend sleepover at our house for her 11^th birthday. She invited 4 friends from school: Paisleigh, Caroline, Addy, and Victoria. We planned for the girls to sleep upstairs in our guest room, and it worked out really nicely for the girls to have their own space in a big room where they could all easily fit. We borrowed Cici’s air mattress and set it up in the room too. It was a really fun time. We had Papa Murphy’s pizza, chips, and fruit for dinner, and waited on Savannah, Abigail, and Daddy to get home from the game. Then, we had cake and Brooklyn opened her gifts. Savannah made Brooklyn something with her 3D pen, and Abigail drew Brooklyn a sweet card. She loved the gifts from her friends too. They had a lot of fun upstairs and played games, had fun with Brooklyn’s disco light, played flashlight tag, and ate tons of candy. They also made friendship bracelets and watched Princess Diaries while eating popcorn :)

Savannah and Abigail had their own sleepover in Abigail’s room, and they enjoyed that. They got to stay up a little later than normal. The big girls stayed up until midnight, and then we did lights out. Brooklyn said it took a little while for them to fall asleep, but they finally did. I heard Brooklyn and her friends up by 6:30 am the next morning…so not a lot of sleep was had.

We picked up Daylight Donuts for breakfast and cooked bacon as well. The girls finished the movie and had fun playing until parents came around 10 am to pick them up. It went really well overall, and the girls all seemed to get along great. It was super easy on our part, and Brooklyn loved it!

It’s a family tradition to rescue worms from the sidewalk and move them back to the grass on the way to school :)

Our next door neighbors saw the girls dribbling basketballs in our driveway and told them they could shoot on their basketball goal anytime they wanted to. So nice! Savannah and Abigail were excited to try it out after school.

I ate lunch at school with Brooklyn on her birthday and brought her a cookie from the Publix bakery. The kids either knew or figured out it was her birthday, and then before we knew it, the whole cafeteria was singing “happy birthday” to her. She wasn’t as embarrassed as I think I would have been!

She opened some gifts that evening and was especially excited about a new comforter for her bed, flair pens, and a new backpack for school.

Valentine’s Day always brings lots of smiles and treats!

Learning vocabulary words in Mrs. Borys’ class

The girls sometimes like to write notes to each other on their school checklists :)

On February 15th, the girls roller skated and also rode bikes/scooters with Travis while he was running.

Due to the zoning in our city, about half of kids who go to the girls’ elementary school end up going to Journey Middle and the other half go to Liberty Middle. All of the 5th graders get to go on a field trip to their future middle school for a tour, and Journey’s tour date was February 16th. They got to see the cafeteria, gym, band and choir rooms, and library, and hear from current middle schoolers about club options and what it’s like at Journey. I thought that was a neat idea to help familiarize the kids with the school before they get there!

Brooklyn’s team had their tournament game on February 17th at 11 am. They were playing the same team they’ve played several times lately. It never was a very close game this time. The final score was around 10-25. Brooklyn got to take 2 free throws this game…I think it was one of her first times to shoot free throws all season. She didn’t make either one, but it was nice to see her a little more involved this game. Her team had to win to advance, so this was their only tournament game. Overall, Brooklyn was glad for the season to end though and doesn’t seem very interested in playing again. We are proud of her for trying a new sport though!

Middle school is so different than when I was a kid! They start the registration process in February, and the kids are supposed to rank their top 14 electives in order of preference. I don’t think I even had that many choices in high school ;) Here is a list Brooklyn made at one point with her top choices in order. I think it changed slightly by the time she submitted the forms, but this is where she started. This isn’t even all of the possible options…just the ones that were her top picks.

We ate dinner at Tim and Bev’s on February 17th with several other families, including some we hadn’t seen a while. There were a lot of kids and a TON of food. We really enjoyed it!

We celebrated Brooklyn’s birthday at Cici’s house on February 18th. Chocolate graham crackers is always a fan favorite for dessert, and that’s what Brooklyn chose this year. She was super excited to get roller blades as a gift from Cici!

The cousins also started a singing group and performed for us after lunch. They nicknamed themselves “Funny Fellas” :)

Travis had a second work trip this month (this time to Virginia), and the girls weren’t ready for him to leave again…

Travis flew out on President’s Day, and since the girls had the day off of school, we spent some time hanging out with MJ and her girls. Brooklyn tried out her new roller blades, and the girls rode bikes and scooters in the cul-de-sac. We also had fun playing basketball in their driveway. Thankful for so many good friends who are also neighbors.

Unfortunately, Travis had to miss Savannah’s first tournament game. Her team played on February 20th against Dream (Coach Dusty’s team), and they won 19-11! They had a bye for the first round because they won the regular season, so this was technically one of the semi-final games. Savannah played good defense and hustled really hard. I was proud of her effort! She was also happy that Gabriella came to watch her play tonight!

I enjoyed eating lunch with Savannah (and Gabriella) on February 21st.

More roller skating and roller blading after school that day!

Savannah finished painting some heart artwork that she started in art class at school, and I loved how colorful and fun it turned out.

Brooklyn did a project for her social studies class in honor of Black History Month and chose to make it about Jackie Robinson. She made a baseball field inside of a shoebox and added some facts about his life.

Mrs. Curry’s birthday was on February 23rd, and Savannah helped Abigail deliver a gift to her from the class. The other room mom and I collected money and used it to create a gift basket with some of her favorite things. The parents were so generous that we were able to buy several gift cards in addition to the other items in the basket. She was blown away by the gift and very appreciative!

Abigail was invited to Ella’s birthday party that night and loved the princess theme :)

Travis made it back in town in time to see Savannah’s team play the Storm in the tournament championship game that night at 7:30 pm. Savannah was nervous all week because it was the same team they’d lost to twice during the regular season (they beat them once), so she knew it was going to be a hard game. She grabbed several rebounds on defense and even had a steal this game! Her team played so hard, but they never could take the lead. Storm jumped out to an early lead and was always at least 2 points ahead. The final score ended up being 13-15. Lillie had an off night shooting, and she scores the majority of our points, so the team wins or loses based on her shooting. Storm was definitely the more balanced team. Savannah was really excited to get a t-shirt for her team being the regular season champ as well as a runner up medal for the tournament. She had the opposite experience of Brooklyn in her first basketball season and thinks she’d like to play again. She still likes soccer more, but really enjoyed basketball too!

We celebrated Brooklyn and Jenn’s birthdays together on February 24th. This was the first joint birthday celebration we’ve had for them in several years since Jenn and Chandler recently moved back to Birmingham. We enjoyed the baby snuggles and roller skating in Paw and Rae Rae’s neighborhood too.

Abigail read a book to Travis that evening before bed :)

Brooklyn got a flying orb ball for her birthday, and it only lasted one day before it got broken…whoops. We learned the hard way that the girls needed to put their hair in ponytails before playing with it. Abigail got her hair caught in the thing while it was spinning, and we couldn’t get her hair untangled from it. It broke the toy, and we ended up having to cut her hair. Thankfully it wasn’t too much of her hair, so it wasn’t very noticeable. Lesson learned the hard way!

Shorts weather in February – it sometimes happens! :)

The girls enjoyed playing with Elaina, Bristol, and Addie after school on February 27th.

Buns are the bane of my existence (I’m just not very good at them!), but this one in Brooklyn’s hair turned out pretty good at least.

Read Across America week was the last week in February, and the dress up theme on February 28th was “book character or movie character.” Thankfully, Abigail was willing and excited to wear the Pete the Cat costume I’d made for her big sisters and saved several years ago. Brooklyn and Savannah decided to wear Star Wars t-shirts and call it good :)

One day we’re wearing shorts, and a few days later it’s back to heavy coats. That’s Alabama for you! Abigail stayed home from school on February 29th because she threw up at church the night before (in bible class, naturally…all over the table). She never threw up again, so I don’t know if she just ate something that didn’t agree with her or what. But we enjoyed some extra time together the next day. She even rode her bike over to the neighborhood lending library and picked out a new book :)

February 2024 Notes and Quotes

• 2/6/24 – The girls were playing basketball in the driveway, and Abigail came back inside for a minute. She asked me, “Is it okay that you’re alone inside with Daddy?” I replied, “Yes, why are you worried about that?” She said, “Because you might be lonely since we are outside.” She then ran to her room and brought out her tiger Squishmallow and set it on the kitchen counter near where I was standing and told me I could give it a hug if I felt lonely ;)
• 2/7/24 – Abigail was telling Travis about what she had learned tonight in bible class about Samson: “…and he wasn’t allowed to drink…Sprite??” :)
• 2/8/24 – Brooklyn surprised us when Scholars Bowl Club was announced a couple of weeks ago for 5^th graders, and she said she wanted to apply because it sounded fun. She was so excited when she was chosen to be part of the club. They are going to meet every Thursday after school, and today was the first meeting. When we picked her up, she was excited to tell me that there was a bible question and she buzzed in to answer before Mrs. Harris even finished reading the question. It was “What garden was Jesus betrayed in?” and she knew it was the Garden of Gethsemane. She also answered two bonus questions about who betrayed Jesus and how Judas betrayed him. She was very excited! Mrs. Harris apparently said something like, “It looks like we have a little Christian scholar on our hands.” Travis said it’s good to be known for knowing your bible! 😉
• 2/23/24 – Abigail was talking to Travis after he got back from his work trip, and he was showing her a picture of the clouds that he took from the airplane. She asked him, “Did you open up the window and grab some of the puff and throw it at someone?” Haha!

Thanks for reading!!