State qualifier

Turns out my high-score performances this year

Are pretty darn consistent

With my 236 bullseye

And 230 3D,

You are looking at the #19 bullseye

And #6 3D archer on my team.

Stay tuned…

I may be state championship bound… 

The library book homework

My friends had checked out this dessert cookbook

And were really excited about it

So I grabbed it when they returned it.

I figured Dad loves to cook,

So maybe he’d like to bake too.

I’ve been pouring over this book for a week

And finally decided on a recipe:

Red velvet crackle cookies

They baked a bit flatter than we expected

But they were still pretty tasty!

 

(Nearly) everybody back in the water

I’m not the only one in the water this week!

Tucker had a great first meet

(It’s been a year or two since he did winter swim—

He was afraid the water would be cold like his first year!).

See him?  Mid-picture?

His free relay took 2nd,

Breast took 1st (28.80s),

Free took 3rd (22.30s).

Nice times!

As for my second meet

My free relay took 1st, 

Breaststroke 2nd at 46.97s 

(a new PR by 1.5s)—just nudged out of 1st by my BFF.

I took 6th in backstroke at 48.64s (a new PR by 1s)

Similar to Tuck,

Wes had a great first winter meet:

Free relay took 2nd,

Backstroke 8th at 42.42s (a 6s PR),

Breaststroke 11th at 47.01s (a 5s PR),

And freestyle 11th at 37.55s (a 2s PR).

Times like these called for Mexican fiesta with our teammates!

(It’s kind of our tradition).

Let’s see what the next few weeks earns us!

 

Boys’ night out

Uncle Adam came through with suite tickets again—

This time to Disturbed.

As the only 2 Reeds without obligations tonight,

Heck, yeah, we’re in!

I may not have heard of Disturbed

But glad to have a night out with Dad!

 

King, yet again

I was named King of the Court

By my basketball coaches again tonight.

It’s my 4th reign!

They called me out for rolling with the punches,

Getting back up when I was knocked down,

And always giving my all.

My fans clearly adore me…

In his element…

Tonight was Freshman Parent Orientation night

So it was technically about Weston…

But Mom was very distracted with everything about Jack.

The principal talked about how great the Broncobots are,

How cool YIG is,

How well the boys swim team did at State…

And then, Mom noticed this:

Jack was running the camera for the rebroadcast!

Sheesh.  Guess Wes has got some big shoes to fill.

 

Jack’s first car

Mom was in San Diego last week

Presenting medical escape rooms at a conference

with her friend Alyssa, a PICU doc at Children’s.

That night, while they were sitting around chatting

At a speakeasy

(Pretty cool place, right?)

Alyssa mentioned that her husband was looking to sell one of their cars.

He works in a body shop

And often has cars that need a little work

But drive great.

He’d been driving it for a few months

While he fixed his own truck

And now didn’t need it anymore.

A few texts later

And I was off to my first test drive.

How about this?!?!?!

A 2010 Jeep Liberty.

Good looking inside and out.

Drives great.

It cost me all my saved birthday money since I was 2

And a little bit more

But soooo worth it!

A bet’s a bet

Dad challenged me last week that if I could get a 250

He’d take us out to Jack Stack.

Well…as you know, I got another 230.

It’s apparently my number.

This week, 

A similar challenge was made—

if I could break my PR by 4 or more,

He would splurge for Jack Stack.

Well, here goes nothing

Drumroll…

I GOT IT!

New PR—236!

Jack Stack, here we come!

 

All the activities

Ok, try to keep up...

Friday night, 

Beckett had his first swim meet of the winter season.

His flip turns ROCKED

but he struggled with his start on backstroke

and goggles on freestyle.

No PRs

but a 1st in his relay, 6th in back and 4th in free 

isn't a bad way to start the season.

Can't wait to see what he looks like when things go right!

Aaaaand, it looked so fun,

I decided to jump into the league and swim again too!

Saturday, my team had another win

(we're undefeated!)

and our teachers can to watch--

check out Mr. Ruble, Mrs. Fortney and Mrs. Strickland!

I had to get my own picture with Mrs. Strickland

Then it was off to archery

where Weston somehow got the exact same score (230)

for the third flight in a row. 

We didn't even see Jackson--

he was at First Lego League event

volunteering for robotics.

Whew.

We need to go back to school to get a break!

Date night, anyone?

Restaurant Week always inspires Mom and Dad 

to go out every year

and try a new restaurant.

This year, Welchs asked if they wanted to try out Puttery,

an indoor, adults-only mini golf course.

Uh, heck yeah!

Well...the place was really cool inside,

with several bars, some cool seating areas,

and 3 different courses.

But the service...was soooooo slow.

Apparently they had lots of call-ins and

the poor remaining staff were just trying their best.

Once they weren't hangry anymore...

They headed for the course

There were plenty of shenanigans

and a good team seems to have been had by all

 

Twinsies

Um, look at this completely unposed picture...

Definitely related.

 

Escaping the cold...sort of

It's going to be HIGHS in the negatives this weekend in LS

so we decided to head to the cabin for some warmer weather...

Because it's highs in the single digits here!

We actually did a lot outside--

some hiking,

some 4 wheeling,

a lot of time at the pond across the road.

But we also did a lot inside--

Learned some new games

(ignore the poop cigar in my mouth)

Had some nice family time

Celebrated Mema and Cooper's birthday

And played some poker

Throw in a trip to DG and the VFW,

lots of good food,

and a Chiefs win

and it was a heck of a weekend!

 

The long awaited, long anticipated, AMAZING bathroom remodel

Mom has been asking for a master bathroom remodel for years.

They didn’t really know what they wanted, 

Hemmed and hawed for a long time,

Met with a designer that charged waaaay more then they were prepared for,

And finally Dad got the time to jump into it.

Here’s the old bathroom in August when Dad started

(Minus the large set of drawers and a few tiles—

We always forget to take “before” pictures)

Here are the progress pictures

They were a bit nervous but decided to be bold

And get rid of the tub

Still ripping stuff out

Including the wall and the shower

There was a bit of leakage in the old shower—

Nothing that we can’t fix!

Installing the new shower

New vanity under construction

New cabinets

Shower is taking shape!

Ready for tile

Add some decor and TA-DA!

It’s AWESOME!!!!

Using up ALL the AMI days

The day after we came back from break,

we got some snow...

a LOT of snow!

It ended up measuring about 8 inches--

it's the most snow we've had in, like, forever!

More than they had in Jackson!

Definitely worth getting the snow pants on for!

 

Long time, no see!

The Lee’s Summit friends got together tonight

For the first time in a long time.

Some drinks, some games, some catching up

Good to be together again!