barrett: 145 months old

Barrett has been a super helper when it comes to the new puppy Poppy!  He gets on the floor with her, lets her chew on him and climb all over him, and will rub her belly as much as she wants (which is a lot).  He's getting her used to walks and her harness too.  He really was made to have a dog in his life, and he's taken to Poppy so easily.

Barrett is also doing conditioning camp this summer for football!  He goes 4 days per week for weight training and football drills, and will be ready once the new school year starts up and football tryouts are scheduled.  He's enjoying the weight training more than he thought he would.  He'll miss next week because he's headed to Sea Camp!

Likes:  Poppy, conditioning camp

Dislikes:  grape-flavored things 

190 months old

Despite Britton's need to wear hoodies every day, we are officially in summer! School is out, but not completely - she's taking a health class online, so she doesn't have to waste a semester in the next school year taking the class.  And it seems like her Italy trip with school was so far away when we signed her up - she's now about a month out from leaving!  It'll be a fantastic time for her to go, though very crowded with Jubilee, but they've got tickets to all the amazing sights.  I've never been to Italy, so I want a very thorough review when she gets home!

We are also taking advantage of the slower summer schedules with campus visits!  We are checking out University of Texas and Texas State University this week, and then at the end of June it's Arkansas and University of Oklahoma.  I'm a firm believer in the campus tour - you'll know what feels right when you step on campus (and which schools you want to take off of the list!).  And, at some point but probably not this summer, we'll go to Virginia Tech too!

Likes:  dyeing her hair (she's currently doing purple)

Dislikes:  that OU lost in softball and is out of the college world series

 

barrett: 12 years old!

Barrett turned 12!  He's now officially in his last year of the "pre-teens" and growing like a weed. Barrett had a video game truck birthday party last year, so this year I asked him if he wanted to do Popstrokes, or bowling, or a pool party, or something new and totally different.  His answer - nope, he wanted the video game truck again!  So we made that happen, and he and his friends had a blast.  

                                          

On his actual birthday, which fell in the middle of the week, Memaw and PawPaw joined us for a birthday dinner at Barrett's choice, our favorite Italian restaurant.  Then we came home for some cake - Barrett picked a Nothing Bundt Cakes lemon cake for his real birthday cake!  For his party, we went with our family favorite HEB vanilla.

Likes:  playing football (in real life and in Madden), playing basketball with me at the playground, science class and art class, plane spotting with the hubs

Dislikes:  having to wait out the next two weeks to get to summer vacation

189 months old

It's May!  Britton is ecstatic because May means the end of school, but also is dreading final exams, including her first ever AP exam for World History.  Soon enough, in a few short weeks, she will be halfway through high school, and while I plan out her college visits this summer, I'll cry into her baby blankets and refuse to believe that my firstborn will soon be driving.  It's all too fast!  But enough about my mental breakdown.  

Britton had her softball banquet, marking the official end of this softball season!  The head coach is retiring (he's the best, we will miss him!) so Britton is gearing up for a new coaching staff in the fall.  Her team also has the option to play summer ball with the local rec league, but so far she's been unable to drum up enough interest to get a full team.  We're celebrating her team's hard work with an end-of-season pool party at Chez Britton!

Likes:  coming up with designs for her fake nails - very artistic!

Dislikes:  studying for finals

barrett: 143 months old

Barrett came home very excited about a new English project - researching a country!  He picked Bosnia, then proceeded to tell me about a ton of other countries. He's always loved geography and flags, and any interesting tidbits he picks up about other countries.  We think he has a future as a cartographer - if that's even a profession when he grows up!  He's doing so well in school, and I attribute that not only to his driving work ethic, but also his natural curiosity about the world around him.

We went to the opening game of the Space Cowboys!  The Space Cowboys are our minor league team, and the games are a blast (plus, the soft pretzels and brisket nachos are not to be missed!).  In other sports news, Barrett and I have recently started taking walks together in the neighborhood, and bringing his basketball so we can play on the neighborhood court.  We're usually the only people there, so we can be silly and try some fun shots!

Likes:  the new Minecraft movie

Dislikes:  waking up early during the school week (even though he's up voluntarily even earlier on the weekends!)

188 months old

Softball season is coming to an end!  It feels like they just played their first game - every season feels faster than the one before.  Britton has been playing first base this season, and really enjoys it.  She's got a great core group of friends on the team, and I think the hubs and I, along with their parents, may be enjoying the games more than them!  Ha!

Exams will be creeping up next month, and then summer vacation - already?!  Britton isn't going to camp this year, but is going on a school trip to Italy in July.  I've never been to Italy, so I want her to report back on the must-dos and best activities and sites to visit!  But the summer won't be all play and no work - Britton was recently elected president of her NCL class, so she'll hit the ground running this summer getting her new board squared away and ready to work the Seniors' fashion show in September.

Likes:  her new headphones, gigantic soft hoodies

Dislikes:  Algebra 2 - she's ready for it to be over!

 

barrett: 142 months old

                                         

Barrett is enjoying March no doubt, as we jumped into Spring Break and went on a cruise on the Disney Dream!  Barrett absolutely loves ships, especially historic shipwrecks and marine tragedies, and was finally old enough on this trip to get to explore the ship on his own.  We walked around the 4th deck, and explored the engine room.  Barrett loved the broadway-type shows every night, and never left the water willingly while we were on the beaches.  

It's hard being back in "the real world" but Barrett jumped right back into school.  He's been reading a new book in English - "City of Ember" - which he's really enjoying, and doing well in all of his classes.  He went to the "March Madness" school party, and luckily we have a nearby school - University of Houston - in the mix, so when he said he needed a shirt the day before the party I was able to track one down!

Likes:  drawing Super Bowl logos and starting Lego projects and not finishing them

Dislikes: that the hubs will gladly finish those Lego projects ;)