USTA League National Championships

The national championships ended up falling on the weekend of the kids' Fall Break.  They chose to split the weekend half the time at Mimi and Tia's and half the time at Nana and Papa's.

Ready for take off!  Front row: Amy Moore, Evi Freeman, and Laura.  Back row: Shelly Tompkins, Carrie Miller, Liz McCrary, and Amy Shepardson.

We opted for an AirBnb over hotel rooms.  One of the rooms was a super hero room. 

They were expecting a tropical storm, so they bumped up the match start times.  Our first match of the day was at 6:30am.  It was still dark!  Ready to play: Shelly, Laura Frazure, Evi, Connie, Glenda, Amy Shep, Liz, and Laura.

We played under lights for the first 45 minutes. 

A team pic in front of the banner. 

They had a professional photographer take pictures of all the teams. 

Evi made us matching texas stickers and name stickers for our water bottles. 

I played all 4 matches with Liz, and we went 4-0. 

We were delirious by the end.  After we finished our match, we decided we wanted a few "action" shots, so we took a few pics on the court. 

Faking an overhead. 

Then we got really silly... 

We didn't end up making the semi-finals, so we had Sunday to do whatever we chose to do.  We ended up going to Universal Studios.  Liz and Laura with 3D glasses ready to ride one of the Harry Potter rides. 

Another 3D ride. 

A partial group pic with the sign. 

Ready to ride another Harry Potter ride. 

Each team had an assigned color; Texas was teal.  Before each match, we exchanged wrist bands with our opponent.  So we each have a wrist band for each match we played. 

Just two pics from their time with grandparents...Annabelle at the zoo in Tyler. 

The day after Fall Break, Caden had to do a presentation on Mercury.  He did a great job!  

A video of his presentation.

Annabelle was cast as an angel in the Nutcracker.  She is so excited!  She has started rehearsing. 

The week of homecoming is always a fun week.  Annabelle's class on "Crazy Sock Day". 

Another favorite is "Crazy Hair Day".  Caden chose not to participate.  Annabelle had a very specific plan for her hair.

Annabelle and Ms Barnett with their crazy hair. 

Annabelle's class with their crazy hair. 

State Fair and Campout Weekend

One of the other moms in Annabelle's class goes up to school and takes a bunch of pictures.  It's so nice.  She took a few pics and sent them to me.  One of Annabelle with her friend Audrey Thomason.

All the girls in her class: Zoey Seale, Audrey, Lily Thompson, Annabelle, and Anais Arcucci. 

A class photo, back row: Cameron Colquitt, Jonah Simmons, Damien Cummings, Carl Morriss, Hutch Giddens, David Roberts, and Hamilton Raindl.  Front row:  Audrey, Zoey, Lily, Anais, and Annabelle. 

The class with Ms. Barnett. 

Annabelle and her friend Hadley Sullivan dressed up their dolls for soccer before their game. 

Annabelle and Brian went to a friend's lakehouse for a daddy-daughter weekend.  A pic in the car on the way there: Annabelle, Bailey Shannon, and Audrey. 

The girls ready to go tubing: Annabelle, Abby Hawk, Ann Holland Crow, and Zoey Seale. 

Bailey, Audrey, and Annabelle ready to get on the boat. 

Caden and Mommy went to the State Fair of Texas for the Annual Hunt Family Picnic, which Brian and Annabelle were away.  Laura and Caden with Big Tex. 

Caden in the petting zoo. 

A ride on the swan paddle boats. 

Demo has begun on the house.  This is Annabelle's room, looking back at what used to be the closet and what will be her bathroom. 

Down to the studs in the removal of her closet. 

The walls coming down in the upstairs playroom to open that room up. 

Working on taking the pillars out to put up the support beam. 

The support beam for the opening from the living room to the dining room is up in the foreground.  In the background, you can see that they have removed the wall in between the living room and kitchen.  There are temporary support 2x4's up until the metal support beam is installed there. 

The master bath has been opened up and new framing has begun. 

They're working on the flooring in what was the storage room and what will be the master bath. 

Their school pictures turned out great! 

More action pics from the photographer mom in Annabelle's class.