February Happenings

 It's been another slow month around here.  We've played some games and even got Marc to join us.

The Beta Club made some gift boxes for teachers, and I loved the noes that came with mine.

Brooke and Macy had a room clean-out challenge to see who could get rid of the most stuff. In the process, little gems like this old Cubbies vest were found.

I was super impressed by how much they found to trash or donate in their rooms.

On the rare warm day we try to get outside for a bit.

But the dog is still always looking for ways to stay warm.

We did a fun escape room and some cooking together this month. Always time well spent with my people.

Capital City Clogging Classic

 

We enjoyed experiencing a new organization for competitions.  ACHF competes a little differently. There are no division levels, so you are competing against teams in your same age bracket regardless of how long the team has been competing.  This made for some stiff competition.  Also, the Junior and Senior team were in most divisions together, so they were competing against each other.  That's something that doesn't often happen. The Seniors also put a new routine on stage for the first time: Running Set Precision.  This one wears them out as it is over 4 minutes of constant "running" through their routine.

Seniors

Running Set Precision - 1st

Traditional Line - 1st, Team of the Day

Line Formations - 2nd

Traditional Line Formations - 2nd

Line - 3rd

Hoedown - 1st, Grand Champion

Juniors

Hoedown - 1st

Precision - 1st

Brooke and Neko took 2nd place on their duo!

One of the highlights was taking Grand Champion for Hoedown.  They beat the college team, Bailey Mountain Cloggers.  That was a huge win, especially for their instructors who were on that team in college. 

It was a fun weekend, and we enjoyed competing against some new teams.  Marc was recruited to join Running Set for another team because several of them hate the routine - it wears you out! We look forward to our next competition in a couple of months.

Family Time

January is always a slow month as we get back into the swing of school, activities, and staying warm indoors.

Despite the look on her face, Brooke is enjoying having her sister home. 

So is Macy.

I'm not sure who is enjoying the Blackstone more - Brooke or Marc.

Riley is doing everything she can to stay warm, even if that comes with static hair.

I love a slow month with my family, and I'm grateful daily for the blessing of them.

Happy 14th Birthday, Brooke!

 

Our baby is 14! She always has big plans for her special day, and today it included bacon on the Blackstone with crepes.

She also wanted her sisters to play Minecraft with her.

Brooke is a lover of shoes,

cozy things,

Buc-ee's and everything pink!

Brooke,

You have a zest for life and for fun. Your up for any adventure big or small. You love organizing, baking, and creating things. You've grown in so many ways this year, and I'm proud of the young lady you are becoming.  You love big, feel big emotions, and are always ready to catch us up on what's happened throughout the day. As you finish out your last year of middle school, my prayer is that you seek the Lord, watch out for those that need a friend, and show God's love through you. Happy Birthday BB!

Love, 

Mama

2023 Year End Review by Marc

1.       My wife is so smart.

2.       Sometimes you aren’t supposed to figure out why a patch of grass in your backyard doesn’t grow well. Sometimes you don’t want your elderly neighbor to tell you where they buried their horse years ago.

3.       Having three teenage daughters will bring a ton of joy to your life, improve your ability to read body language, increase your faith through prayer, and keep you humble as you continually fail to learn how what they say doesn’t mean what you think it means or what it used to mean.

4.       A special assignment at work is worth it if you’re surrounded by great people.

5.       Snow skiing trips aren’t for our family.

6.       After comfortably teaching the first daughter to drive during the pandemic when no one was on the road, teaching the second daughter to drive more recently was equal parts terrifying and faith-building.

7.       Even though Amazon drivers tore up our lawn four times previously, my wife still had the most forgiving, compassionate demeanor with the driver while they waited for a tow truck. Thankfully I was in the office and able to learn from her patience via text message updates (and calm down before seeing the lawn).

8.       We shouldn’t have waited five years to build a turnaround spot in our driveway (see #7).

9.       Moving the firstborn to college was physically the easiest move ever (thanks to multiple church volunteers who unloaded/moved everything) and emotionally the toughest move ever. But “the new normal” does get so much better than it felt while driving home that day.

10.   When attempting to adopt a stray cat that wanders in the neighborhood, make sure that the cat food is also not tasty to raccoons, opossums, deer, and coyotes.

11.   Raccoons love bananas!

12.   The waffles in Belgium are entirely different (and better, actually) than Waffle House.

13.   Paris is overrated. Especially when you visit during a long layover and one of your kids is struggling sick the entire time.

14.   Clogging has brought so many experiences to our family, with all three girls enjoying the sport. Seeing all three girls clog in a college football bowl halftime show for 47k people was just incredible.

Liberty Bowl 2023

 Friday the 29th was even colder than the day before, and it was a cloudy, overcast day. We stayed cold all day, and I spent a good amount of time in the restroom area, which was one of the few heated areas in the stadium.  The University of Memphis was playing in Bowl, so while we were facing the visitor side behind the musicians, we were facing the hometown crowd.  Those fans were amazing and we were all glad that it worked out that way. They loved the performance and weren't shy about letting us know.

Marc got a field pass to help take pictures and video, so that was a cool experience too. 

Warm air was pumped into the benches, and the girls took advantage of that while they were waiting to go on the field.

Some hot chocolate waiting for them after the finished.

This was such a fun experience, and I'm glad the girls were able to join America's Clogging All-Stars for this event. It was a jam packed few days, and everyone was exhausted by the time we headed home.

Memphis - Liberty Bowl

After Christmas we packed the car and headed to Memphis for the Liberty Bowl.  We didn't have much time to explore the city, but we did check out the Grotto and the Peabody Hotel.

    

We had practice at the stadium. It was a cold, but beautiful day. They danced to live music from the 70s funk band, The Bar Kays.

 

That afternoon the girls walked in the Liberty Bowl parade down Beale Street. 

It was such a fun day, and everyone was excited for the halftime performance the next day at the game.