One
Last Thursday Will competed in his and I attended my first middle school track meet. Here's what I learned:
- Track meets last FOREVER. I'm not kidding, folks - the meet started at 4pm and ended at 10pm. And because the meet took place in Huntsville, an hour away from College Station, Will and I pulled into our driveway at 11pm. On a school night. 😫
- Track meets are both incredibly exciting and tremendously boring. Moments - even minutes - of intense competition are followed by lengthy periods of waiting.
- Track meets take place in both sweltering and frigid weather...on the same day. When the meet started, I had on a short-sleeved t-shirt and sunglasses. By the time the meet ended, I had added a sweatshirt, a coat, a hat, and gloves and wrapped myself in three blankets.
- Watching Will compete - in just about anything - makes my heart feel like it's going to burst. He always gives 100%, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. He is there to win, yes, but when he doesn't he can always walk away knowing he left absolutely everything on the field/court/course/track. And when he does win? That's just the icing on the cake.
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| Pizza for dinner at 11:10pm! |
In case anyone is wondering, Will is a distance runner, not a sprinter, and he doesn't participate in any field events. He runs the 3,200m, 1,600m, and 800m, and in this meet ran the 1,600m and 800m.
Two
I say it every year, and I'll say it again: I despise Daylight Saving Time. I don't want to lose an hour of sleep on Saturday night. I don't want to spend Sunday searching for all of my clocks' manuals in order to figure out how to change their times. I don't want to feel like I'm "behind" as we move through our Sunday activities and chores. I don't want to wake up under the cover of darkness on Monday morning. I don't want to take Will to school before the sun comes up and for Hallie to walk to school in only the beginnings of daylight. And I know I fall into the minority here, but I prefer my daylight in the morning hours, rather than the evening hours. I just don't need sun - and the oppressive heat it brings - until 9:30pm.
~ RANT OVER ~
The high five here, at least for me, is that the change has come and gone for this year and we don't have to make it again for another 12 months. Hallelujah!
Did you know there is a 10% increase in heart attacks on the Monday and Tuesday following our shift to Daylight Saving Time? (source) Maybe we'll all eventually come to our senses and decide to listen to our bodies - following the lead of states like Arizona and Hawaii that don't observe Daylight Saving Time - and stop setting ourselves up for sleep deprivation, decreased immune function, and out-of-whack circadian rhythms...
Three
Will comes home today! He spent the week in Washington D.C. with my parents, and while I know he had a great time and was in excellent hands, I'm excited to have him back under my roof again. And I promise to share more about his adventures next week.
Four
Tom also traveled during spring break, so Hallie and I spent Monday through Thursday holding down the fort on our own. We had a lovely time getting together with friends, celebrating birthdays, painting pottery, going to the movie theater, going for walks, and watching Netflix, reading books, eating take out, and relaxing at home.
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| Tough girls getting ready to fly! |
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| Preparing to indulge in their gigantic vanilla milkshakes topped with full slices of rainbow cake and heart-shaped raspberry macarons. |
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| Trying out Sweet Paris' crepes. It seems she inherited my inability to open my eyes for pictures when it's bright outside. |
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| Working on her hedgehog at U Paint It. |
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| Almost 11 is not the age at which kids - at least this one - outgrow their love for jumping in puddles. |
We had plans to celebrate Kara and Hallie's 10th birthdays at IFLY and Houston's Magical Unicorn Dessert Bar, but when Hallie broke her wrist two days prior to our scheduled trip, we had to postpone. We finally went on Monday, which happened to be Kara's 11th - yes, 11th - birthday, because that was the first day in a full calendar year on which all three moms and all three girls were free. 😂
Five
Happiness Highlights
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| This picture makes me smile every time it comes across my social media feeds. I hope it makes you smile too. |
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| Hallie had to write and perform a puppet show - and make the stick puppets - for her theatre class. She LOVED every part of the project, including performing it for me multiple times. |
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| The little girl in front of me at the track meet whiled away the hours by drawing and coloring. When she finally got to go home (about 30 minutes before me) she gave me these two pictures - it was so sweet! |
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| I forgot to include in last week's post that I had a chance to watch both local high schools' color guards perform their winter shows. Their competitions are always out of town, so when they did a local showcase for parents and friends, I had to fit it into my schedule. |
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| He may not share the couch with me, but he's still a buddy. |
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| Thank goodness for live streams, which allow us to watch Lily's dance competitions from hundreds of miles away! |
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| Operation "learn how to do a bun" is underway, and going reasonably well! |
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| Will and Hallie spent their last night before his trip in this epic fort. Sometimes they still like to spend time together. 😍 |
Happy weekend, friends!
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