Midway FFA

Last night was the annual end of year banquet for Midway FFA. This was the first year the girl donned official dress (mainly because I didn't buy it until last summer when she attended convention) and, because she's now in high school, it kind of felt like her first "official" banquet. :)

She was recognized for her CDE participation...

...speaking event success (1st at district and 2nd at area)...

...and LDE team event as well.

It was a fun night, the slide show brought back a ton of memories throughout the year, and also served - in my mind - as the wrap up of the year. Officially. Because Mama is tired and needs a break. Not gonna lie.

But, seriously, these four have my heart. I love all the FFA kiddos but these are the ones who are literally like my other children.

I also watched my girl sob at the thought of bidding her senior buddy farewell. This was also a first. :)

Sweet Hallie...

...and Calvin...

...and Em (with Ms. Antis) will always be Taylor's best buddies, I believe. They're just a tightly knit little group.

And I really can't say enough about how much Ms. Burch has encouraged Taylor this year. (Also, love me some Amorie.)

At the end of the day, Taylor had an amazing year. In addition to the aforementioned, she was also recognized for her SAE (livestock) participation - and we're so thankful for the great success she and Dottie had this year - received her Chapter Degree, and was chosen to attend Texas FFA State Convention in Corpus this July.

I could not be more proud of this girl. And have no doubt the best is yet to come.

Prom 2K15

Last weekend was a big one for my oldest. You see, she got a very special invitation a few weeks ago...

...so she headed to prom with one of her good friends who happens to be quite the gentleman.

I won't say that prom dress shopping was easy but it was definitely memorable. We scoured Waco and ended up in Dallas one Sunday before we found "the one." Of course, we were in a bit of a pickle because we didn't really have time to order anything and she was afraid if she did get something in time, she might not like it. So we bought the one she liked and had it heavily altered. :)

And, in the end, she was STUNNING. If I do say so myself.

Her adorable date picked her up and we met them at Brazos Park East to take group photos. Unfortunately, Dave was sick AGAIN (they actually thought he had meningitis this time but turned out to be a virus that mimics meningitis - for. the. love.) so my parents took the baby for the day while I got ready with Taylor. They were able to come back and see her all gussied up for the big event, which was super fun.

I mean - are they not adorable?

T's sweet friend who is also a HOT Sweetheart.

The girls made all of the flowers on Thursday night before the prom. They did an amazing job. Three cheers for Floral Design, right? :)

Again with the cuteness. And check out those amazing shoes. Let's just say that she HAD TO HAVE THEM. And she will be wearing them to every prom she attends. She also took them off as soon as she got to the venue because her feet hurt. Shocking, huh? (And, yes, he carried her purse and - later - her shoes for her all evening.)

More fun shots...

...and these are the FFA girlies who show together.

Love this fun pic with the old truck one of the girls' dates brought along.

She had a blast and ended up tuckered out and came home much earlier than anticipated. But that's ok because she's a freshman. And there will be many more opportunities for her to keep me up all night making sure she's safe. :-)

So grateful she had this chance and that she's surrounded herself with an amazing group of friends. I marvel every day at how much more mature and level headed she is now than I was at her age. And I'm so very thankful that her priorities are not solely makeup and boys. Like her mother as a teenager. 

Hippity Hoppity

So...it's been a while. But we've also been sick most of that time. Like, basically nine weeks straight, so there hasn't been all that much going on in our life. Except for a few Easter activities. We pushed ourselves to get out a bit for Tiny's sake to celebrate the holiday. :)

The weekend before Easter, one of my friends had a family egg hunt to benefit the March of Dimes. Obviously this organization plays a part both in Tonto's professional life and our personal life with a 28-weeker so it's most definitely a cause very close to our hearts. 

And Tiny absolutely loved the eggs. But she really only wanted two - one for each hand - and the candy didn't interest her at all.

The Easter Bunny? Well, we're just as frightened of him as we were Santa Claus. Sigh.

She also had a sweet egg hunt at daycare and Tonto was able to attend. He said she did a lot better at that one and seemed to have the hang of it more so I was excited to take her to our church egg hunt last Saturday. She looked adorable but was way more interested in playing with and chasing around the other kiddos in the 3 and under category (it was more crowded than the other two) but she did manage to have fun and pluck a few eggs.

And I'm gonna be honest - after bronchitis, sinusitis and strep throat, I thought we were out of the sickly woods. Until poor Taylor woke up with a stomach virus on Saturday morning. Tiny had it on Thursday and Friday but she also has reflux so we weren't sure if she was actually ill or just having a rough day with reflux. Taylor's woes convinced me it was indeed a virus so the teen didn't get to participate much in Easter at all. In fact, she didn't even regain her appetite until Thursday. :(

All that being said, the Easter Bunny did make an appearance and brought all of the candies Taylor had requested (even though she had no desire to eat them) and brought Tiny a few things as well. Her favorites? The baby doll and chocolate bunny. In fact, she threw the bubbles across the room to get to that baby. And, no, she has no idea the bunny is made of chocolate.

After the baby and I went to church, we picked Taylor up and headed to my parents' house for Easter lunch. It was delicious and Tiny was quite entertaining. And poor Taylor was a good sport even though she felt terrible. 

The Easter Bunny had visited Nana and Boppy's house as well. And their sweet neighbors, who had lunch with us, brought the girls goodies as well. Needless to say, we are not short on sweets or stuffed animals. And that's just the way my girls like it.

In other random news, Tiny is quite the climber. And has zero fear. And apparently believes her sister is a great ladder. Good thing Taylor is a good sport!

And after nine long weeks (the same amount of time we were sickly), our foundation is finally in. And walls are supposedly going up today. Fingers crossed. After surviving rain/snow/sleet/ice/monsoon, I honestly don't want to hear anyone complain about their creek/crick/pond/tank being dry any time soon. I know that's selfish but we're racking up interest on this construction loan. And it's still raining. And I just really want to be settled in our new home. Not gonna lie. :)

That's about all we've got going on around here. Very exciting things - like prom - on the horizon. The girl got the invite last night so there's shopping on the horizon. And things remain crazy and busy. But that's just the way we roll. Apparently.

Spring Break in Houston

So our entire family spent last week sick. Like, really sick. Gotta love daycare germs that make their way home with tiny little folks, right? But the week before last was Spring Break. And we actually took a little trip to Houston. For the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo for Taylor and Dottie's first major show.

Dottie hitched a ride with some friends and headed down Wednesday while we got Tiny situated with Nana and Boppy. Taylor, Dave, Hallie and I headed down early Thursday morning and - after a long jaunt - we finally found both our friends and our heifer. :)

After getting her officially checked in for the show, we headed back to our hotel for some R&R (which actually means pizza and Red Velvet Oreos) before Taylor had to head back to the venue and take care of her heifer for the evening. It was an early to bed kind of night and we had breakfast early the next morning. With the swans. In the lobby. Name Pa and Grammy.

Friday was a loooooong day, y'all. Lots of sitting. Tons of waiting. Many, many nerves. But the Beefmaster show eventually kicked off and our own little entry was in Class 9.

We were absolutely THRILLED that Taylor and Dottie came out of the ring with a second place ribbon. The judge was very complimentary about ol' Dottie and said he had a really hard time choosing between her and the first place heifer. In the end, he went with the larger cow. And, seeing as Dottie was the youngest in the class, it wasn't her.

Unfortunately, the heifer behind her in line was also in heat, which led to Dottie being assaulted a couple of times. That's never happened before and hopefully it won't again but the only injury was a superficial scratch on her back so it could have been worse.

It was basically impossible to take photos of them in the ring because of the way it was set up but this is a pic I snapped in the holding area where she got her papers validated and waited for Champion Drive.

They lined up a bit differently for the drive so I was able to get a couple of far away photos. I only had my phone and was sitting pretty high in the bleachers so this was the best I could do. At least she was wearing a bright turquoise shirt. ;)

When she finally finished up, she was hot, sweaty and kind of irritated about having to chase her heifer around the ring because someone else couldn't control theirs. So I don't have a photo of the girl with the actual ribbon. But I did snap some photos of Dottie and her post-show bag of hay.

Such a sweet girl. Proud of both of them. And really thankful that we're taking a few months off. It's time for a break. And for Dottie to have the opportunity to roam the pasture, eat hay, graze and act like an animal. :)

All in all, we couldn't have asked for a better first major experience. More to come next year, for sure, but it was a fantastic first year in the heifer world.

'Twas a Big Week

Y'all. Last week was long. And soooo very busy. But it ended up being SUCH a big week for my older girl that it's almost hard to put into words.

For starters - remember when I posted pics of her and this one was included? Well, what I didn't say at the time is that I had taken them because she needed to submit a photo with her Heart o' Texas Fair & Rodeo Sweetheart application. Tryouts were last Wednesday and Taylor is now officially a Sweetheart. In fact, she has her first meeting tonight.

We really could not be more proud and I know she'll have an amazing time representing the fair throughout the year. She'll definitely be busy but seeing her sooooo excited was really amazing.

Thursday was spent preparing for the Midway Livestock Show & Sale that would be held Friday evening and Saturday afternoon. Now, sweet Sprocket didn't fare all that well. The judge actually thought he was a good looking goat but told Taylor he just doesn't like big goats so he was definitely out of luck. He did weigh in at 108 pounds, after all.

Dottie was being shown against all the cattle in our school and, while we may not excel in goats, the heifers our kids have are really impressive. Like, Taylor was nervous showing against them that night. But, y'all, SHE AND DOTTIE WON GRAND CHAMPION.

Does that smile not just say it all?

And she finally won a buckle. In her first heifer season. And speaking of heifers...guess who's having a baby? :)

Yep. Baby calf will be here in late September.

Saturday afternoon was cold. And wet. But the sale must go on, right? Taylor was surrounded by sweet friends all weekend and it was so fun to watch all of them just, you know, hang out. They've built quite the bond this year and that makes me extremely happy.

And, yes, Sprocket ended up being quite a lover. Seems to be a trend with our goats.

And sometimes he behaves. So you have to take a picture to prove it.

A sweet friend of ours came out to buy for his company and bought ol' Sprocket. For which we are very grateful.

And I, of course, stupidly went back into the barn as we were leaving him for the last time to take some last photos. And I ended up bawling while taking said photos.

But at least they turned out cute, right?

So long, sweet Sprocket - we love you so!

Beauty on the Brazos

The photos that I take and post of this beauty are probably decreasing in regularity. And the stories I tell about her life are as well. That's certainly not because she doesn't have a million exciting things going on in her life. It's mostly because she has her own accounts and stories to tell. And I'm trying to respect that...most of the time.

But she recently needed a photo for an application submission and insisted on an up to date photo because her hair color recently changed...

...so we went down to the Suspension Bridge and got a few (breezy and cold) shots on Superbowl Sunday.

She didn't feel well, was diagnosed with an infected throat the next morning, and had two animals to prepare for show...but - as usual - her sweet smile and sparkling eyes made an appearance.

Sometimes it's hard to believe this beauty is mine. And I wouldn't trade her for the world.