High Five for Friday (1.25.19)

One
Last Thursday Hallie competed in our school district's UIL competition, in the category of Oral Reading. After a devastating experience with UIL last year (she had never missed a day of school for illness but came down with the flu one day prior to her Storytelling event), I am so grateful she was able to compete this year.

Just as Hallie's UIL Oral Reading stint came to an end, Will picked up where she left off and started training for UIL Chess Puzzles. I love that our district - and specifically Will and Hallie's schools - offers such incredible opportunities for its students to try and succeed at something new.

Two
On Friday afternoon I pulled this out of Will's backpack:

7th grade, here we come!

I'm not ready.

But as I recently turned 40 and as we prepare for both Will's move to 7th grade and middle school and Hallie's move to 5th grade and intermediate school, I am trying to celebrate all of us reaching these milestones. "Do not regret growing older. It is a privilege denied to many."

Three
On Saturday afternoon, Hallie and I made the trek to The Woodlands for lunch (she chose Chili's, oddly enough) and to stock up on Trader Joe's goodies. We came home with all of our favorites, plus a few items to taste test. Even on a busy Saturday, shopping at Trader Joe's makes me happy. And spending the day with my girl makes me even happier.

Sometimes I just sit and watch her "be
happy"...when she's happy, of course.

Four
Over the weekend Tom and I took on a relatively big project, for us at least. We cleared out our family room, vacuumed/mopped/dusted/wiped down everything top to bottom, and completely rearranged the entire space to - hopefully - better serve our family. No pics yet, as we have a few more things to organize and put away, but I promise to share a few once everything has and is settled in its place.

When we turned our playroom into more of a family/music room a couple of years ago, I had a vision for how the space would both look and function. Unfortunately, my vision and everyone else's vision didn't mesh, and over time I grew more and more frustrated with that conflict. Long story short, earlier this month Tom took the initiative to map out new arrangements for the room - with color-coded diagrams, none-the-less - and I finally gave up trying to fit three square pegs into one round hole...I finally turned the room over to the other three Ferri, and in some ways, I feel a little lighter.

Five
Happiness Highlights

Hallie LOVES when we have time to put her hair in rags.
Cut a piece of soft fabric into strips ~ 1" wide and 6-8" long. Using 
a comb, divide nearly-dry hair into sections. Wrap a section around 
a strip of fabric, and snuggly tie the fabric so the hair doesn't unroll. 
Repeat. Go to bed. Carefully unroll and gently separate each section.

Hallie's been having a rough time falling asleep at
night. I'm so grateful for Will, who last Friday blew
up our air mattress, gave Hallie his bed, and slept
next to her on the floor so she wouldn't be alone.

Thank goodness I finally found Will's CECPD Membership Card - he
hadn't been able to work for the department for six or seven years. 

Will's run two full marathons as a
member of Runners Club this year!

These four took a daddy daughter dance class last weekend.
Neither daddy was all that excited to go (tho both still went
willingly), but both daddies ended up having a great time! 

It's tough not to have a good time - and learn a
lot - when Dominic is in charge of the class!

My dancers!

Happy Friday, friends!

Linking up with High Five for Friday here: