Happy 13th Birthday, Drew Kathleen!

 Happiest of birthdays to my precious angel, who is now officially a TEENAGER!

Other September Fun!

Lots of randomness {but lots of good stuff} to round out September! This isn't in order, but I'm too lazy to reorder it all. Ha!

Paige was named 'Gator of the Month' for her class!

Brent was able to go to the ceremony, look how proud she was!

And dressed so cute from Picture Day!

Brent's mom and I had our spa day and I came home to gorgeous flowers!

Drew cheered at her first volleyball game - 

if you want to see any of the 700 videos, text me, ha.

Drew was one of the August Gators of the Month!

They don't do this for high school, but no one would hold their breath for Trent.

We got to see a Banana-Ball League game! So fun!

CUTIE!

January Flashback

January is always a bit of fun but also a bit of a bummer as we return to reality after a long break from work and school.

We celebrated Drew turning 12! She and I did some shopping, and both sets of grandparents came over for taco bowls and s'mores {her picks!}. Her friend party happened later.

We had our last Christmas celebration with my mom's extended side of the family.

Only picture I took - Nap Auntie time!

I took Drew and my mom to see Come From Away with my friend, Tricia, and her daughter, Charlotte. Paige was a bit put-out by not being included, but I thought the subject matter might be a little tough {or over her head}. This was my 2nd time to see it, but it was everyone else's first time. Everyone loved it!

The rest of the month consisted of:

Cookie Season

Awards at school

Cuteness from Gus

A Celebration of Life for one of Brent's oldest friends

Book club happy hour

Happy 12th Birthday, Drew Kathleen!

I love this girl beyond measure.

So glad she is mine!

She has the biggest and kindest heart,

and Brent and I always say she is the best of us.

She is maturing into a wonderful lady,

and I hope this year leading up to THIRTEEN is as amazing as she is!

NYC Trip 2024

Brent's mom and I took the kids to New York City last week for a pre-Christmas trip and had a blast! I promised myself I wouldn't write an overly long post...and then I started adding pictures and adding pictures and adding pictures. {grin} So we shall see how I do recapping this without going overboard!

We got into NYC late Wednesday night after a multi-hour delay. We had a reservation at Serendipity that we missed, but we made a new one for 11:30PM and hustled straight there once we got to our hotel. Our trip got off to a little bit of a rocky start with a rat sighting and an unconscious woman lying in a pool of blood sighting, but we pressed on and made it to Serendipity. We walked through Time Square and enjoyed frozen hot chocolate and a midnight snack.

Thursday morning we had a full day of adventures planned with my dad's cousin, Kyle, who lived in Brooklyn for over 30 years. We started our day with Liberty Bagels and eagerly waited for Kyle's arrival.

She made it! Kyle is technically my dad's cousin's daughter {so she's my generation}, but she's closer in age to my dad. And she and my mom are actually super close, so we see them fairly often for people who live in New York. She and Janet made fast friends, and we had a great day.

We took the subway over to the start of the Brooklyn Bridge {with a stop in The Beekman Hotel to look at their gorgeous restaurant} and then walked into Brooklyn. Gorgeous views but the wind picked up and it because SO cold and windy!

Taking a ride on Jane's Carousel

Delicious lunch at Ignazio's - everyone's favorite meal of the trip

Then we headed over to Bryant Park for some ice skating!

One of the things I love about visiting NYC {this was my 4th trip} is there are always new things to visit - I had never been to Bryant Park before so this was a fun experience for me too - even if I didn't truly WANT to ice skate, ha.

I traveled from Texas with pecans from my parents' trees to give to Kyle.

Had to send a picture to my parents to show I had delivered the goods!

Next up was getting to Rockefeller Center to see the tree and the neighboring sights.

Cold and weary but so happy!

The Angel Promenade leading up to the tree!

Friday's plan included brunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner and the girls going with Nana to see the Rockette's.

Below freezing but we had to have a mudslide!

Trent and I had no plans while the girls were at the Rockettes, so we went into the Nintendo store, a book shop, got a drink at Starbucks, and then randomly got him an appointment for a haircut. Funnily enough, it ended up being his favorite haircut, so I guess I need to fly us to NYC every 6 weeks to go to this barber. {grin} After the Rockettes part of our group {Nana, Trent, and Paige} wanted to head back to the hotel, but Drew and I decided to do some more exploring.

Look what I found!

I also randomly had a co-worker in NYC at the same time, and we met up while both walking around. In serendipitous fashion, we parted ways at the New York Public Library, so that's where we took our picture. We both enjoy a love of books and talk often about Sarah J. Maas.

And a great picture with one of my little loves with the famous lion!

Our next step was the Girl Scout headquarters!

We also walked to Macy's and rode up all the escalators to see all 9 floors. Drew randomly loves escalators, so she was in heaven, ha. After that we went back to the hotel and got pizza from a shop around the corner, Vito's, which was delicious!

Saturday was our last full day, and we had tickets for the Hop-on/Hop-off bus. We got a bit of a late start this day so didn't get to see and do as much as we planned, and it was beyond cold so we largely sat inside the buses and didn't see as much. We still walked around Central Park a little, had a snack in the zoo cafe, went into the Harry Potter store and had some butterbeer and butterbeer ice cream, and saw lots of landmarks. A highlight for everyone was our stop in Battery Park {another first for me} to ride the seaglass carousel.

Look at this view, love it!

Our flight home on Sunday got delayed, so we had almost a full day for a little bit more adventure and ended our trip with a stop at a Starbucks Reserve, a tour through the Empire State Building, and a quick peek inside St. Patrick's Cathedral.

We got home after 11:00PM very tired but very happy!