We Are The Cougars

History was made this football season! College Station High School went further in the playoffs than they ever have in their short school history, and Chance made it further in the playoffs than he ever has as a coach! A loooooong football season has its challenges, but by the end, I was cheering harder for the Cougars than I ever thought I would. We are all so proud of the coaches and the team and we had so much fun going to all of the games.

First, we had the regular season. We went to all of the home and local games and were blessed with lots of family with us in the stands. Cade led the Cougar Crew onto the field after halftime at all of the home games, and Annie's highlight was going down on the track with the cheerleaders at one game. Here are LOTS of pictures of the regular season:



Playoffs let us go to some fancy stadiums and when we couldn't travel, we were so technical and watched the game online!

Whoever thought of putting high school football games online is a wealthy genius. Who thought we would ever have commercial breaks when high school boys are getting lectures during time outs?



The first "away" game that we went to was in Conroe. We stopped to see our friends Johanna, Seth, and Mary at their new house in Conroe, then inhaled Chick fil A lunch in the car, and made it to the stadium just in time to see the day that was forecast to be very chilly turn into a hot summer day. No one was dressed appropriately, and some of us even left with sunburns! Annie liked the hat that she borrowed from Mary so much that she wore it anyway.



Since we live in Texas, the next game was freezing and raining. But who cares... we were with terrific friends and family and we won!



The Cougars played in the state semi-final game at the Alamo Dome in San Antonio. Playing indoors was fabulous! We had lots of family join us, and even though the score did not turn out the way we wanted (losing by ONE STUPID POINT), we are so thankful for the chance to make history with the Cougars and are incredibly proud of the team's hard work.



As I write this, I realize that powerlifting season starts in 9 days. We'll be cheering on another team very soon!

So Fast

Everything has been moving so fast that it is only appropriate for me to dive back into the blog with a post about the Kids' Marathon! Cade has run in it for 3 years now and this was Annie's first time. Both of them had a fantastic time, did their best, and had a super supportive cheering section!



Annie's heat was first, and she ended up with 2 running buddies! My co-worker, Catherine, offered to run with Annie since we didn't know if Chance would be at work and I couldn't run with my hurt shoulder and leg. Catherine was so enthusiastic and sweet - she even made a shirt that said "Team Annie"!



As "luck" would have it, Chance was able to come to the marathon, so he ran with Annie while Catherine paired up with Hattie, another co-worker's daughter. Chance was running on less than 4 hours of sleep, but he was encouraged by Annie's competitive spirit and they finished strong! We are so proud of our little sprinter!



Cade was all fired up for his race! He was also running on a lot less sleep than usual, so he wasn't quite as energetic as usual, but coming in 3rd place out of all the 8-12 year olds is still very impressive! We are so proud of his speed and determination.



How we managed to produce 2 runners, we will never know, but we promise to cheer them on in every single race!

Back to School and Football - 2016 edition

Back to school and football just go together in this family! We were lulled into football season with a rainy and somewhat cool (below 100 degrees) scrimmage at Cougar stadium. We were so happy to be watching football with the Goodletts again!



Cade's school held "Meet the Teacher" a few days before the first day. Cade received the best news of his 8 years of life... he is in the same class as Garrett! Thankfully, his teacher seems quite fantastic and if anyone can handle the two of them, she can!



Annie had her last day in the Promises class on same day as Meet the Teacher. How are our kids growing up so fast? She has been very blessed by caring and knowledgeable teachers who have taught her how to write her name and so much more. And it is amazing that her lead teacher was the same one as Cade had in this room. We are so thankful for the dedication and patience of the staff at the Weekday School! The afternoon teachers are college students, and they are pretty wonderful too. Annie loves their playful energy (and their popsicles).



The kids made this precious craft, and this was the cause of me crying all the way out to my car one morning.



August 22 got here so much faster than we thought it would when we started our summer of fun. But the day came, nice and early, and it was time for Chance to start his 15th year of teaching, Cade to start 3rd grade, and Annie to begin the Sunshine (Pre-K3) class!

Chance's days start at 5:00 am, so this is the closest I'll ever get to a first day of school picture of him.





Annie followed Cade down the hall at his school like she belonged there. They don't always walk without hitting each other, or even want to be in the same room as each other, but when he leads her somewhere and she follows with such trust, I'm super glad they have each other.



I totally dropped the ball the rest of our drop off and did not take a single picture in Cade's classroom. I definitely regret it more than he does! But I do remember that his teacher allowed each student to keep the pencil box that they brought to school, so he had a black box filled with supplies at his desk and he was very happy. And, they had a word search to do, which he much prefers over coloring. It was a good morning!

Then we were off to the Sunshine class. Annie was all smiles to greet Mrs. Praful, another one of Cade's former teachers.



Mama can't be left out of all the back to school fun! My first day wasn't until the following week, but I got a "present" at work during our inservice week. I worked so much at my desk this summer that I got really tired of sitting. My boss started a new program that allows employees to request sit-stand desks, and I was the first to get one! I love it!



Here's to a great start to 2016-2017!