Spring Things

Soccer

Jade's soccer had us traveling to Detroit the last weekend in April and the second weekend in May! All 4 of us went the first weekend for two nights (2 games) and just Jade and I went the second weekend for 1 night (1 game). I personally loved getting bonus time with just Jade. 

Next season the age cutoff is changing for youth soccer which means a few friends will be leaving the team. Jade will continue to play with the ECNL-RL team next season and although the team will look a little different, she's hoping it will be for the best!

Jade's club competed in a tournament over Memorial Day weekend! They had a few girls from 3 different teams come together to make one team for the tournament. After a slow start to their first two games, they were able to pull out a victory in the Championship game!

Jade also played a few games with her club's lower level team as they were short players this season! She loved the opportunity and was especially thrilled to play on offense! She even got a hat trick, twice! 

Spring Band Concert

The spring concert, which takes place outside at the Naperville Municipal Band Shell, was not very spring like this year. We were all bundled up in jackets and blankets! The 8th graders got to dress up for the concert outside of their typical concert black, and as you can tell some (Jade) were very committed to their spring dresses! :)

Mother's Day

We celebrated Mother's Day with my Mom, Dad and GeeGee with lunch at Nick's Pizza! Nate was able to spend time with his Mom as well!

Track

Jade enjoyed participating in her school's track program this spring. She ended up being the top 8th grade girl in triple and long jump at her school and got to compete them at the Conference meet! She enjoyed competing in the 100M, 200M and 4x100 relay in various meets as well!

Jemma

Spring was on the quieter side for Jemma, which was nice because she was pretty busy being her big sister's super fan! She continued with her weekly volleyball and tumbling sessions and we made the switch over to a cheer gym for tumbling in anticipation of the upcoming cheer season! She's also become quite the shopper and has been having fun shopping with friends! She was also selected as one of the Warhawk's of the Week at school for the second time this year! :)

8th Grade Events

Jade and I had fun shopping for dresses for her end of the year festivities! First up was the 8th Grade Gala, a semi-formal dance on a Friday night at the school! She enjoyed dressing up, and her first time in heels! :)

Second was their 8th Grade boat trip at Navy Pier! According to Jade, it was so much fun and the best time ever! :)

Morgan Wallen Concert - Minnesota

 One of the girls' Christmas gifts was tickets to see Morgan Wallen in concert in Minneapolis! We drove most of the way there after Jade's track meet on a Friday and spent the evening in Eau Clare, WI. We drove the rest of the way the next morning and headed straight to the Mall of America! We were so excited to have my cousin Kelly, her husband and their girls come and join us at the mall for rides and shopping!

After the mall we headed to our hotel in downtown Minneapolis, just a few blocks from U.S. Bank Stadium! It turned out that our hotel was connected to the stadium via the skyway, which came in super handy since it was raining pretty much the whole afternoon leading up to the concert! After getting rained on waiting for merch outside the stadium, we went back to our hotel to eat dinner and get ready! The concert was extremely crowded and there was quite a bit of waiting between acts, but that didn't stop us from having the best time. It was SO much fun and a memory we'll never forget!

A little bonus was seeing more of our extended MN family and attending my cousin's son Colton's birthday lunch before heading home!

Jade is FOURTEEN

 Jade's birthday started with donuts from Dunkin and a dragonfruit refresher from Starbucks!

Her birthday fell on a Wednesday this year, which happens to be one of our busiest weekday evenings! We took Jemma to her tumbling class and then ate Chic-Fil-A in the car on the way to Jade's soccer practice!

Nate got hung up at work, so after practice Jade opened her present from Jemma and we sang Happy Birthday to her with Nate on Facetime! When he got home around 9:30, she opened the rest of her presents! Her big ask this year was AirPods!

We had the best time celebrating the birthday girl a few weekends later at her family birthday party. Having Uncle Mark in from Atlanta and Nana feeling well enough to come was an added bonus!