HOCO Week

Our girls are old enough for homecoming!!!! That thought kind of freaks me out a bit. A small part of me never thought we'd experience homecoming in Texas. The mums, the games, the tradition. We figured we might as well embrace it, because we're going on our 5th year here in Texas, and we are going to jump in with all the HOCO traditions! 

Megan's school had homecoming the same week as Gretchen, so both girls had dress up days, but I wasn't always able to get pictures of them each day. Megan had "Brono day" and was able to wear her school shirt and dress like a cowboy. 

Gretchen had Bikers vs. Surfers and went as a biker, but I wasn't able to get a picture. 

Megan's homecoming game was on Tuesday, and of course we made her a small mum. Texas homecoming's are famous for their mums. 

She was ready for the day! 

Adalyn didn't have homecoming, but she did have hat day for her school fundraiser!

And she had her fun run on Wednesday! Big thanks to the friend who snapped this picture of these friends! 

She come home Wednesday with a head full of fun run chalk! 

And on Friday, when Gretchen had her homecoming day, we sent Adalyn to school with her very own mum. It was also her pj day ;) 

Megan had "movie character day" and dressed as a pirate from Pirates of the Carribean. 

Friday was school spirit day for Gretchen. She made a school shirt for herself with her Circut Joy, and then wore her mum. 

Nana flew in from Arkansas, so we met her for lunch at school. 

I'm pretty sure I stole this pic from one of Gretchen's friends social media accounts! 

Gretchen had her homecoming game Friday night. I was in Dallas for the game, but she went with her friends and didn't take a single picture. Sigh. 

And on Saturday, she had her homecoming dance. Since I was on my way home from Dallas, she got ready with her friends and their moms! A big huge thank you to them for stepping in when I couldn't be there! 

Friends since the 5th grade! 

I was tired by the end of homecoming week, but I think the girls all had a blast! 

 

Life Lately

Life lately has been crazy busy! We've entered in to this stage where the girls have to be in all these places at once, and I've had to enlist a ton of help so everyone can be where they need to be! It's been crazy! I've told myself that if I can just get through October 8th, things will slow down a bit! So, I've been counting down to this coming Saturday for a while! 

Okay, here's a look at how crazy life has been! 

I picked up Megan from school and we were twinning! We had both put on leggings, white tops, and a yellow flannel around our waist! 

She had gymnastic picture re-takes, and looked adorable heading out the door, so we did a quick photo at home before leaving for gymnastics. 

Last Wednesday, we baked our "treat tuesday" dessert that went out in our weekly email series! 

I'm still getting in my 30 minutes of movement each day and now that the weather is slightly cooler, i've added more walking in to my routine! 

Thursday night, Gretchen had a school event, Megan was at gymnastics, so I crashed "date night" with DJ and Adalyn! Or maybe she crashed ours. 

Friday was so fun! The girls have auditioned for a company here in Austin that shoots Amazon videos. They had to go in and take head shots and record a little video audition. 

They may or may not be cast for jobs, but the process was fun for them and they were all really excited; especially Gretchen who loves acting and has wanted to try something like this out for a while! 

We dropped Megan off at gymnastics, went homecoming dress shopping,  and took Adalyn to meet DJ so they could go to a Texas soccer game! Texas played Baylor, which are both Adalyn's favorite teams, so she was in heaven! 

Saturday was a whirlwind! I was up at 7 to work out and get the oil changed in my car. Back home to shower, and to drive Megan to San Antonio for her gymnastics meet that afternoon. Meanwhile, DJ was at work already, so DJ's aunt took Adalyn to her soccer games. We are so thankful she's moved here and we have some help!

Plus, we got some great pictuers of this cutie in action! 

While Adalyn was at her games, Megan was competing in her next to last meet of the season. She'll finish out this weekend, and then we'll have a break until next August! She scored 8.775 on beam. 

Scored her highest score of this year on floor with an 8.55.

She's worked so hard to improve her floor routine this past week! 

She scored a 7.15 on vault, which is definitely her most difficult event. 

and an 8.6 on bars, another even that she had worked hard on over the last week. 

We were all smiles and ready to head back to Austin! (The competition was safari theme, so everyone had costumes after the meet was over. Megan chose to be an elephant.)

We made it home around 6:30 which just so happened to be kick off. We quickly changed, the other girls were ready, and after stopping for gas we made it to the stadium in the middle of the 2nd quarter! 

Gretchen claimed her spot in DJ's office with her book. 

We took a quick family picture- it had been a few weeks since we were all at a game together, so I try to grab a family pic when I can! The girls went to the meeting room to play with other staff kids

and I found my seats with our Uncle and his grandsons, 

and with my sweet friend from work!

The girls came out toward the end of the game to see their cousins, and head to the field post game. 

Adalyn high-fived as many players as she could for their win. 

And then chased a cheerleader down the field for a picture! 

We saw Bevo. 

And said goodbye to Uncle Ron, and thanked him for coming to the game!

We made it home around midnight, went straight to bed, slept in Sunday morning, cleaned the house some, and then settled in to watch Hocus Pocus 2 since we were finally all together without plans. 

Sunday night ended with our family dinner at the football office. 

It was a crazy busy week, but I am seeing a light at the end of the tunnel; I can't believe we are halfway through the season! 

 

Costco Haul

I had to make a quick Costco run for lunch food for the girls! I'm pretty sure they were getting tired of some of the "same old things" so we made a quick trip to Costco!

My girls love celery! I hate it! But, they'll eat these with peanut butter and take it in their lunch. I washed and chopped them all in half, so they'd be ready to add to their lunch box! 

They also love bell peppers! I wash and chop all of these too so they're another quick add. I'll also use these in some quick sheet pan for dinners over the next week! 

Pst- wash and chop all of your fruits & veggies. I go ahead and add veggies in to several small containers, so the girls just have to grab the containers out of the drawer when they're fixing their lunch! 

Costco was all out of strawberries (our favorite), so we opted for grapes because we love these too! 

Adalyn loves apples! She's been taking these in her lunch with a little caramel dip and it's been one of her favorites for lunch!

I love this brand of chicken nuggets; Megan will often take these for her dinner on gymnastic nights since she doesn't eat at home with us.

These gummy bears last forever, and since Adalyn was with me, she asked for them. Another easy snack or lunch option, and I'm pretty sure we'll be in charge of soccer snacks soon, and I thought these would be great to throw in the treat bags. 

Spaghetti noodles can get boring, but for some reason, my kids will eat spaghetti if I bake it or add fun noodles, so I picked up this variety pack of noodles. 

I've been buying coconut sugar from Thrive market, but realized it's a better brown sugar replacement, so I picked up more of this sugar alternative. I wish I could find the monk fruit without the erythritol in it, but so far I've not been able to find it anywhere. Regardless, this is a great sugar substitute! 

Adalyn also asked for Costco's bags of pre-made smoothie mixes. I thought I was grabbing, it but I accidentally grabbed this three berry blend instead Oh well, it still makes for a great smoothie! 

Turkey breast for lunches. I love that this pack comes in a set of 3. I usually keep 1 pack in the fridge and then freeze the others until we need them. 

We love Costco's Fried Rice with their Orange Chicken, or sometimes we just eat this alone as a meal. 

I usually buy babybell cheese, but Adalyn asked for this cheese and she's really liked it! Plus, it was another find that I thought would be great for soccer snacks. 

Gretchen and Megan both take the Acai' bowls in their school lunches. 

We love the individual Trail Mix bags; but i'm pretty sure Adalyn just picks out the raisins and the M&M's. 

Go Gurt- definitely not a huge fan of the ingredients, but the kids all like it and eat it better than other yogurts we've tried. 

I love these Chicken Skewers for my lunches. 

Gretchen needed full size candy bars for a school fundraiser, so I picked up this huge box! 

And brownie mix, because sometimes we just want something yummy and it's an easy treat for DJ's students and staff! 

Chocolate chips of course! 

We love Rao's pasta sauce! 

And Costco's strawberry jelly.