







It was hard waiting for the results of tryouts to be posted tonight…but she made it! She will now have practice after school three days a week and she’ll be cheering for basketball games! We are so proud of her for deciding to do this—we know it was scary!


She seemed to enjoy it. I think we could have tried a little harder to find a more expensive thing—but at least it’s 2 minutes from home!



Sidenote: I’m thoroughly enjoying watching her take direction from someone without her losing her mind and/or giving up when something is hard.
This was in the cheese drawer. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?


Tom was recuperating from a nerve block procedure so I was in my own. All her teachers are great and they all like her!
I was supposed to measure her locker for shelves and I had been worried I wouldn’t be able to find it. Haha. She had given me the number but turns out I really didn’t need it.


FIRST DAY OF SIXTH GRADE! Middle school?! Will someone please stop the clock?!




I see Katie in one of the pics Woodland posted!! It helps that her hair really stands out!

She’s wanted her hair professionally dyed forever but I’m not gonna drop that amount of money on a kid’s hair…so when I saw an opportunity for a student to do it at lower cost, I figured why not do it as a surprise! She was thrilled!



TA DA!

We also had a talk about how much fun I had hanging out with her today—how much fun she was—without all the sass and attitude and talking back. She agreed. Let’s see if this changes anything…
Our friends had a pool party and hired a face painter again!

I begrudgingly let Katie buy electronic Monopoly (we already have two other versions) at a garage sale…but oh man did these three have fun with it! They were laughing and giggling and screaming for over two hours! I guess I got my $6 worth.

It’s not anything crazy viral but for a little video of ours?

Katie’s art teacher picked a painting of hers to appear in the community art show so we went to check it out before the parade (which Owen was in).




We ran into Kohl’s to see if they had any great clearance stuff. Then Katie saw these and was PISSED I would not let her get them.
I had to threaten to leave the cart and walk out of the store with nothing if she didn’t change her attitude.
Good times.

So, I took katie to Old Navy today and it wasn’t AS painful. But it still wasn’t fun. She did okay trying things on, and I’m trying to teach her things like “Even if you take a 14 at Old Navy, that’s just a guideline because every brand is different” — and then she tried a 16 in another brand and it was perfect.
Some things she didn’t need to try on (tee shirts) but toward the end one thing she liked I wanted her to try it on and she was like IT’S AN XS I KNOW IT WILL FIT. Yes. I said, it might, but I want you to make sure it fits how you want it and that you like it. (Because she had picked like three other things that she didn’t like once it was tried on.) But would she do it? Nope, so she had an attitude and was like FINE LET’S JUST GO. I said you could get this if you just go try it on and make sure. And she refused. Oh well.
So I took Katie school shopping and let’s just say it was…challenging.
Surprise! She didn’t like a single thing I picked out.
You’d think tennis shoes would be easy, right? She doesn’t like black. She doesn’t like bright colors. She didn’t like gray, aqua, or mauve. Oh she likes those—but nope, I’m not spending $60. She actually told me everything was mom shoes. What?
These are cute.
No, they’re mom shoes.
How are these mom shoes?
Ugh. You’re a mom—if you like them they’re mom shoes.
She finally accepted a beige pair.
And then HAD TO HAVE a pair of combat-looking boots pretty much exactly like the $60 Doc Martens she had to have last year (that still fit, mind you, but she doesn’t like them). I made her spend her own money on those. And then I had to say ABSOLUTELY NOT to a pair of black platform heels that she claimed were her most favorite shoes ever—when that’s what she said about the pink platform heels she got earlier this year. I had to keep saying “We’re filling holes in your wardrobe with things you can wear to school.”
And clothes? I think she liked one of 32 things I suggested. She just wanted 12 more Stitch t-shirts. No.
I texted Anna and told her this was her job next year.

Katie tried to put the dogs in the wagon to pull them around the house. They weren’t thrilled…but then afterwards we found Ivy in the wagon!

And then a few hours later…


Our annual “Oh crap we forgot to take a group picture all week so let’s do it as we’re getting ready to leave” group photo! Under the porch because it was pouring!

And our ride home…









ESRAY PARK OUTING — The kids love coming here—climbing the rocks, playing in the water, finding creatures…






































It’s now just a gathering with food (lots of food!) and catching up…and euchre!

Plus we get the chance to get the kids together for comparison pics!! (They were all really good sports about it, too!)



Tom took the kids to the army base gym to work out!

Stopping at Tasty Treat in Lake City…


