January according to my iPhone

The girls spent New Year's Eve at Gigi and Papa's - Papa helped them make wooden boats during their stay

Jillian on Crazy Hat Day

Can't get too many pictures with Jillian and the elephant statue

Birthday sopapillas with my girls

Enjoying a post BSF lunch!

Meerkat poses on a AISD holiday zoo visit 

A super cold day didn't stop us from trying to see the Hippos.  But it was too cold for Hippos -  the real ones and this cute little one. 

But not too cold for another pic with the elephant

Meredith volunteered with Student Council at Mission Arlington - it was a fun and very productive day!

A trip through a very loud carwash!

And tooth number 2 is gone!

Mother Daughter PJ Party

We closed out January with one of our favorite nights - The FBCA mother daughter PJ party! This year, Meredith wanted us to match but we could not find matching PJs, we went for matching characters, instead - and you can't go wrong with Frozen!

This year we had dinner, made crafts, sang karaoke (all Frozen songs - I can't tell you how many times I heard "Let it Go!"), and then watched Lady and the Tramp with an obscene amount of yummy snacks! 

We even had Anna and Elsa hair!

 Meredith's bestie Hannah was on the same Frozen wavelength!

Our movie watching group

Houston Half Marathon

Months and months and months ago, Neal and I decided to join our friend Mike in Houston for a Half Marathon.  As I started training, I joined with a new running partner, Khrystal. We met last year while training for the Cowtown Half and saw each other here and there since, but we knew that our desire to run and our need for early morning runs, made us a running partnership made in heaven!  Over the months of training, we spent hours together out on the streets talking about everything.  I am so lucky to say that my running partner became one of my closest friends!  As the Houston Half approached, I was a little anxious - how was I going to run 13.1 miles without Khrystal?!?! But then just a few weeks before, Neal was doing his 10 mile run and hurt his knee.  He decided he needed to sit the race out.  So, I turned some lemons into lemonade and talked Khrystal into coming with us and using Neal's already-paid-for-bib.  

Pre-race!  If you look closely, her bib very clearly says she is Neal Hanks.  We wondered what people thought of these two Hanks girls (especially the one with the boy's name!)

We were so glad when the race was over - we had trained well, but knew we could have trained harder and that was evident on race day, but in the end, we both beat our previous times!

Daddy Daughter Dance

Meredith has been looking forward to her first Daddy Daughter Dance at Hill - we missed last year because it overlapped with the weekend we went to go pick up Piper, so this year was extra special!

She wanted curls for the big night!

Pretty girl

And now with her date - ready for the dance

Such a cute pic of them on their carriage ride! What a fun night!

Future Zookeeper, Jillian

One of the fun Fielder Road ECC traditions for the Pre-K classes is an occupation parade - the kiddos can dress up like anything they want to be when they grow up.  With Jillian's love of animals and the zoo, she easily picked a zookeeper!  I was so excited that the teachers at Jillian's zoo school let us borrow a Ft. Worth Zoo Jr. Zookeeper shirt and a safari hat!  She looked so official! Throw in some binoculars and a bag from her friend, Caleb - and of course, she carried around a hippo and a meerkat, and she was the cutest zookeeper ever!

Parading through the halls with her friends! They were all so cute!

Meredith's First Lost Tooth

Meredith at almost 7 1/2 was starting to feel like she might NEVER lose a tooth, but it finally happened!  And even better yet - it happened at school (for me, the mama who is oooged out by teeth and for her because she got the coveted treasure chest to bring her tooth home in!

Meredith left a note for the tooth fairy and the tooth fairy left some money with sparkles on it! She was so excited!

Fossil Rim Family Day

Daddy tacked an extra day onto his Christmas break so we planned a fun road trip to Fossil Rim!

Car selfie!

The Zebras were definitely a favorite! We were hoping to see some giraffes up close, but they didn't cooperate. 

No live Hippos, but Jillian did pose with the Hippo statue

Such a fun day!