Christmas 2018

As I mentioned on our Thanksgiving post, our time in Texas is coming to close much quicker than we expected.  Thanksgiving and Christmas proved to be challenging as our normal holidays routines competed with other immediate priorities.  We discovered that despite our short time in Texas, we were moving...again.  This is an unplanned change for us.  We had hoped to have a longer stay in Houston (or even just the USA) since it feels like we’ve barely just returned from Canada.  But God had other plans for us.

This time we're preparing for a move to Britain.  Jacob has been transferred to the United Kingdom.  Our new home will be Edinburgh, Scotland.  If fact, Jacob is already there, which is what caused the disruption to my usual holiday routines.  He moved across the pond in early December.  We’ve spent the better part of the holidays managing the mountains of paperwork that goes along with international moves, arranging temporary living for Jacob, applying to British preparatory schools for Brenna, and searching for a new place to call home.

Because of all this, we were just excited to have Jacob back home for Christmas.  We mostly spent our time close to home, enjoying the downtime.  We finished up school with some fun Christmas themed activities and hung out with friends in the neighborhood.  Brenna was excited to be pick for a solo in the schools Christmas Choir Concert and we were also proud to find out that she was selected by the WLMS staff as Student of the Month.

San Antonio Thanksgiving

We decided to take a little trip during our Thanksgiving break.  We knew our time in Texas would be drawing to a close very soon and we hadn't had the opportunity to get over to San Antonio yet.  We visited there when Brenna was just a baby and she doesn't remember it now.  So we packed up and headed to the JW Marriott San Antonio Hill Country Resort for a few days of taking in the tourist sights.  The resort was all decorated and ready for Christmas.  The front entrance had large ornaments hanging from the pavilion, the lobby was decked with Christmas trees, and the back outdoor patio was covered in the Christmas light displayed called Light Up the Night.

Halloween

We kicked off Halloween on the soccer field with the annual Challenge Spooktacular soccer practice.  Yes, even when we celebrate we still have to work.  The girls wear costumes to practice and play fun 3v3 mini games, play "catch the coach", and raid the coaches candy stash.

Moody Gardens Galveston Day Trip

One pretty clear day in October we headed down to Galveston to spend the day at Moody Gardens.  We got there early and enjoyed a leisurely walk along the patio to take in the views of the bay and the Colonel paddlewheel boat.  We headed to the Rainforest Pyramid first to catch all the animals stirring during the morning hours.  The rainforest was Brenna's favorite because all the animals are out in the open with you.  We had fun with some very friendly ducks and birds that didn't mind if you got close.  Next we headed to the Aquarium Pyramid to watch the penguins and seals and pet the stingrays.  Finally, we quickly walked through the Discovery Pyramid.  Even though the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle exhibit wasn't our favorite, Brenna enjoyed seeing all the different types of real live turtles that were part of it.  We were able to catch the Backyard Wilderness in the 3D IMAX which was interesting and we experienced an earthquake through the 4D FX theater production of San Andreas.  We had a great day!

6th Grade School Pictures

The Run Down

I capture all these random photos because at the time it was something that I wanted to remember for one reason or another.  Usually, it's just moments from our daily goings that never warrant my big camera being on hand.  I dumped my phone photos onto the computer recently and realized that the last Run Down I posted was just before we left Canada.  I'm alittle behind.  These cover an entire year stretching from last summer through this summer.  So, here's a few little pieces of our days.

Brenna's 11th Birthday

We celebrated Brenna's 11th birthday with a star-themed party.  Like every year before, she picked her theme, created her invitations, and we carried that through to the decorations.  Her friends all came over for donuts, pizza, and cupcakes.  The girls started things off with a 30-clue scavenger hunt that carried them throughout the house in search of their treasure.  The treasure was a unique origami one-dollar bill.  Jacob folded each dollar in a different pattern for each girl.  After the scavenger hunt, the girls gathered in the kitchen to create their own star-shaped bath bomb.  Crafts are always crazy when you get that many girls together!  Next, they all changed into bathing suits and hit the backyard for a massive water balloon fight.  Finally, it was back inside to cool down with star-shaped ice pops. We had a couple of kids hang around for the "after-party" which turned into a sleep over.  Brenna certainly had a fun filled day! 

Corpus Christi Tag Along

Over the last year, Jacob has traveled often.  There's been several international trips, but much more often it's been quick trips back and forth to Corpus Christi, usually weekly.  Sometimes, he'd fly down for a day or two; sometimes there and back in the same day.  Once Brenna got out of school for the summer, we tagged along for one of his business trips.  As an indicator of how often he travels there, when we pulled up at the hotel, the valet knew him by name.  

Brenna and I slept in each morning, while Jacob went to meetings.  We hit the breakfast buffet in the hotel restaurant and then spent our days at the pool.  Surprisingly and despite it being summer, we had it mostly to ourselves.  I guess Corpus isn't really known for it's tourism!  One evening we had dinner on the top floor of the hotel at The Republic of Texas and took in the view of the bay from the observation deck.  On our final afternoon, we visited the Texas State Aquarium and got a look at the USS Lexington.  It was a fun and easy getaway, even if Jacob had to work alittle!

Pawpaw's New Boat

After Pawpaw retired, he invested in a bass boat and Brenna was very excited to break it in!

Maui Vacation

Hawaii has been on our bucket list since we got married.  After years of "not right now", things seemed to fall into place and we finally decided it was time.  We were back in the USA, which made the trip a little shorter.  Brenna was old enough to appreciate the trip and remember it, and Jacob had racked up lots of air miles thanks to all his international travel with the new job.  So, I jumped into action and started planning.  It was fun, since it was something completely new and different that I'd never tackled before.  After raking through which island to visit, which region of the island to stay on, and what resorts we liked, we settled on Maui!  It turned out to be an adventure of a lifetime!

We started our trip with an easy 3.5 hour mid-morning flight out of Houston to Los Angeles.  It was my first time in California and the views of the mountains were really lovely as we made our approach.  We had a quick 1.5 hour layover in Los Angeles, which gave us just enough time to grab a bite to eat and restock our snack supply for the next flight.  Then it was off to Maui!  

Coming into Los Angeles

5th Grade Highlights

Wow!  5th grade was awesome!  As we were preparing to move back to the USA, I was really concerned about returning to Texas public schools after spending 1st-4th grade in Canada.  The curriculums differed dramatically and school days were managed in completely different ways.  I worried about her grades, whether she would be behind, and how she would adjust to time management.  Turns out it was all unwarranted.  She jumped right in with both feet and really flourished this year!

Of course, I've already covered that she joined the choir, but she was also admitted into the Groves Rangers.  Rangers is a leadership development program that students were selected to based on their responses to written essay questions describing their views on leadership, responsibility, and community involvement.  While school hours were from 8 am until 3:30 pm, Rangers were required to be on duty at 7:20 am and stay until 4:15 pm.  The kids were responsible for an array of different duties.  They would help with set up and take down at all school functions, they assisted in car rider drop-off and pick-up, they helped the younger kids in the cafeteria during breakfast, they managed the school's recycle program, they raised and lowered the flags each day, and they assisted teachers with special requests.  She loved the program and it really helped instill a stronger understanding of responsibility and community service.

One of the reasons we had such an awesome year is because we had such an awesome teacher!  Mrs. Amanda Kopp and our team of 5th grade teachers worked so hard to make sure these kids had a year to remember.  There were so many special events throughout the year.  We had Colonial Day, where the kids dressed in pioneer clothes, made wax candles, sewed satchels, and churned butter.  We had Spy Day where the kids all dressed in black like secret agents, Groves Olympics where Brenna was chosen to carry the flag for 5th grade, CSI Day where kids solved science mysteries, Star Wars Day where they made there own light sabers, Karaoke Fridays where the whole school would break out into song and dance during lunch in the cafeteria, Career Day where Brenna chose to be a chemical engineer, Field Day, Book Tastings, a Snow Day, Kickball Tournaments, Manner's Banquet, and so many others.  It was a jammed packed year.

The kids also got a very personal lesson on how hard work pays off.  Our teach was nominated as Groves Elementary Teacher of the Year.  She continued on through written essay submissions and interviews to be selected as Humble ISD Teacher of the Year and she won a new car!  I had the opportunity to get to know Mrs. Kopp well throughout the school year and saw first hand the work and effort she poured into these kids.  The honor was very well deserved and we were so blessed to have Mrs. Kopp as our teacher!

Also, Brenna really shined in her studies.  Not only did she pass all of her STARR tests, but she mastered Reading and Science scoring in the 99th percentile.  She made all A's for the year and received the "All A Honor Roll" award during the year end awards ceremony.  She also received the awards for "Out of the Box" thinker and "Author's Eye" insightful reader as voted on by her peers.  Finally, our school focused on five primary mindsets to instill during the year.  The kids began every day with the phrase "We are Reflective.  We are Innovative.  We are Connected.  We are Intentional.  We are Global.  We are Groves!"  The staff and principal selected one boy and one girl that most represented each of these characteristics and Brenna was presented the award for "Innovative Mindset"  We are so very proud of all her hard work and her accomplishments this year!

Our school functions on a strong social media platform, with the idea to teach kids the impacts and responsibility of using social media correctly.  Thanks to this, the parents got glimpses into the classroom daily.  I didn't take a lot of school photos this years, but it didn't matter because nearly all the pictures below were curtesy of our teacher!

5th Grade Manners Banquet

In May, with just one week of school left, the 5th grade held it's 1st annual Manners Banquet, which was basically the equivalent to a 5th grade prom minus the "boy asks girl" part.  Everyone dressed up in pretty dresses and suits and ties.  Each girl was "assigned" a boy as her escort.  The boys were responsible for escorting her in (without touching!) and pulling her chair in and out.  It was held at the beautiful banquet room of the Walden on the Lake Country Club and the Atascocita High School Orchestra was in attendance to provide musical ambiance.  The purpose of the banquet was to demonstrate table manners and etiquette while carrying on appropriate dinner conversation topics.  A teacher or school district representative was assigned to each table to monitor and grade the students.  A few of us volunteers dressed in white tops and black pants to serve the kids a 3-course meal that was followed by a presentation of photos showing each of the kids at birth, Kindergarten, and 5th grade.  It was very graduation-ish and alittle unnerving for parents since this was the first time I'd ever heard the words Class of 2025 spoken out loud.  The girls had a great time.  The boys did too, but there was a bathroom incident that resulted in a follow-up that called for adult supervision in the restrooms for next year.  

It was a really special event and felt like an beautiful finish to Brenna's elementary school years!

Grove Elementary Choir

Boy was it a year for choir!  At the beginning of school we joined the Groves Elementary Choir, which was an after school extracurricular activity sponsored by our school's music teacher Mr. Huertas.  Since Brenna loved choir at Sarnia Christian and always participated in the children's choir at church, she jumped on the opportunity to join the Choir Club.  This became one of her most beloved activities and she practiced constantly, singing all around the house.  

The choir practiced twice a week after school and had a number of weekend performances.  Mr. Huertas worked hard with kids and they were the best sounding choir we've ever been a part of.  Their first performance was the Christmas Program where the kids had an opportunity to audition for one of six short solos.  About 15 kids tried out and Brenna was thrilled to get chosen.  The next performance was at a fundraiser at our local Barnes and Nobel inside the Deerbrook Mall.  The choir picked up a new song, Best Day of My Life, and again the kids were allowed to audition for four solos that were much bigger parts.  And again, Brenna was chosen!  She loved performing this song and it is by far her favorite of all the choir pieces.  

The next performance was the Humble ISD Fine Arts Festival at Kingwood Park High School.  This was their first real-deal stage performance.  Mr. Huertas decided to add a new performance piece and rather than holding try-outs, he selected two students, one boy and one girl, to do a duet to A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman.  Brenna was so excited when she found out she was chosen, however, she was also alittle heart broken because she had to give up her Best Day of My Life solo.  

The choir held what we thought would be their final performance the last week of May with an End of Year Concert.  However, the owner of a local performing arts studio was in attendance that night and was so impressed with our sound that she invited us to perform as the opening act of her studio's summer recital.  The kids had one final opportunity to shine on stage in a beautiful performance hall.  I was so proud to see her up there singing her heart out! 

Over the past three years, Brenna has sung songs with the choir in English, French, Spanish, and German.  Some of the other choir pieces from this year included a fun Disney melody, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, a Spanish Lullaby, and Remember Me from Coco.

Looking ahead, there was no question what electives she would pick for her first year of middle of school.  While other friends chose dance, orchestra, or band, it's choir all the way for this little song bird!

5th Grade Field Trip

Despite the fact that I was at school a lot and help helped out with all the class activities, I did not bring my camera along until the last two weeks of school.  I helped chaperone the 5th Grade Field Trip to Sheldon Lakes.  We could not have asked for a more beautiful May day.  The kids had a great day watching the wildlife, alligator hunting, and fishing.

5th Grade Spring Pictures