Wild West Classic

This weekend the girls competed in Mountain View High School's Wild West Classic cheer competition. The last few weeks have been tough - drama, injuries, etc. They still have some major work to do before next week's qualifiers, but, given the amount of actual practice they've had, they did pretty well. They placed 2nd in their division and the two all-girl stunt routines went 1 and 2!

Way to go Hawks Cheer!

One of the girls' friends brought flowers for them!

These three have become Summer's "big brothers". They should be honorary cheerleaders because they always show up to support the team.

Hello September

"By all these lovely tokens, September days are here

With summer's best of weather, and autumn's best of cheer,"

--- Helen Hunt Jackson

September has arrived here at Casa de Haggis, bringing with it football, festivals, and fun. We are looking forward to finding fall here in the desert. Friday Night Lights has kicked off and it is definitely a different experience here than it was in Texas! There's something special about small town football, though. (Even though we live in a good-sized city, the Tanque Verde valley kind of exists outside of Tucson itself, and has much more of a small-town feel. It's one of the big reasons we came back here) Summer is happy to be back on the sidelines, doing what she loves.

Last week the TV cheerleaders had a cameo on Friday Football Fever!

New uniforms came in. They are so cute.

Our sideline photographer caught this shot on Friday night at halftime. Thanks ARJ Photography!

Since we're on the subject of football, we attended University of Arizona's season opener against BYU. Our seats were awesome and Paige loved her first game as a member of the Zona Zoo. 

On the renovations front, the backsplash is up and the fireplace is stuccoed. Dennis continues to amaze me with his mad renovation skills. Move over Chip Gaines. Here's a rare sneak peak!

Also, we inherited this potted cactus from the previous owner, and it is growing to be quite obscene. Maybe I'll plant it right by the front door. LOL

I found a headset in my bottom desk drawer at work, so now I can wear all my cute earrings without having to take them out after an hour because they get in the way of the phone.

Paige has had some pretty big firsts in the last couple of weeks. (Other than starting college) She received her first lab coat and VOTED in the Arizona Primaries. I was really impressed with her determination to learn about the candidates and their positions on the issues. It was really important to her that she make informed choices.

 Her classes at U of A are going well. She attended a chemistry club meeting this week and has discovered that the dean's office brings in dogs one day a week for students to love on. I think that's awesome, especially for the kids in the dorms who had to leave their own doggos behind. As a part of her VA benefits, she has access to the VETS center, which offers tutoring, free copying, etc. 

Coolest mural ever in the VETS center!

Dennis is plugging along though his requalifications and is enjoying being a member of a fighter squadron again. Between that and reno projects, he's too busy to take or pose for pictures these days. Hopefully I'll catch him in some soon. That's pretty much what we've been up to the last couple of weeks. Be prepared for picture overload next week because it is Parents Weekend at U of A and Homecoming week at Tanque Verde!

Life Changes

The last 4 months have been filled with some pretty significant life events. Back in January, and after  lengthy consideration, Dennis filed his papers to separate from the active duty Air Force and begin the transition to the Air Force Reserves. He was picked up by the 47th Fighter Squadron at Davis Monthan AFB and was very excited to be going back to his beloved Hawg. I have to say, I was also pretty happy that he was going back to the Hawg as well. She's never failed to bring him home safely, and the entire time he was flying the T-38, there was always that slight bit of uncertainty that liked to pop up in the back of my head.

In May, things began to kick into high gear. Paige officially committed to the University of Arizona, where she was awarded both the Arizona Excellence Scholarship and the William Hupalo Memorial Scholarship. Summer was allowed to try out for her new high school's cheerleading team and made the Varsity squad. Casa de Haggis Burbs Edition went on the market and sold astonishingly quickly and Den's mom took us in for the remainder of our time in San Antonio.

In June, Paige graduated Cum Laude from Byron P. Steele II High School and became an adult! The day after her birthday, we said goodbye to San Antonio and headed west (AGAIN!) back to Tucson. We purchased a home in the same neighborhood that we left in 2015 that needed a little love and began renovations. (Which are still ongoing)

July found us still hard at work on Casa de Haggis Desert 3.0. Dennis started his requal with the 47th and I went to work full time as a Services CSR at Patio Pools and Spas. For me, at least, this has been one of the biggest life changes. After 18 years of pretty much being a stay at home mom, working 40 hours a week was kind of a shock to the system. I'm still trying to figure out how to balance everything. It's definitely a process. But every day something else falls into place, so I am hoping in a few months I can finally settle into a routine that works.

August rolled around and brought the first day of school - Summer as a sophomore at Tanque Verde High School and Paige as a freshman at the University of Arizona. Both girls have jumped in with both feet. Besides cheerleading, Summer has also become involved in DECA and HOSA. She is also volunteering as a coach with the youth football and cheerleading program that she participated in before we moved to Texas. Paige was invited into both the ASEMS and Blue Chip programs at the U of A and last weekend, attended her first college football game as a member of the Zona Zoo.

On the fur baby front, we were sad to lose Professor Nibbleton shortly after we moved into the house. Gidget has settled herself in and alternates between sleeping all day on Paige's bed and sleeping all day under Summer's bed. At 13, I think she is enjoying being old and lazy. Shelby made the transition to AZ like a champ and, after a week or so to acclimate to the heat, is loving life. Paige's best friend Kassidy has a yellow lab named Cayto, who is now Shelby's best bud.

That brings us to now. We are coming closer to the end of our initial renovations to the inside of Casa de Haggis. I know Den is looking forward to some cooler weather so he can start on some much needed TLC outside. I've been waiting to share pics until we're finished, so watch for those soon. My hope is to resurrect this blog so that our family members who are not so social media savvy can still share in our everyday lives. Fingers crossed, I'll post weekly at least.

January 21st

It has been a cold, nasty week here in San Antonio. We didn't really do much of anything. I read a book that I got from the 50 cent box at work called Etiquette and Espionage. Turns out it was a teen fiction book about a finishing school that trains assassins and intelligencers in a steam punk version of the early 1900's. It wasn't bad for a kid's book. If the library has the sequel, I will probable read it, but I wouldn't run out and buy a copy. This one will be re-donated back to the 50 cent box.

Friday I finally got in to see the oral surgeon about the lump in my face. They informed me that it appears to correlate to the tooth where the root canal was done and bumped me back to the endodontist that did the root canal. Take good care of your teeth kiddies. They also notice something odd in my sinus cavity that is unrelated to the other problem, so I will be visiting my PCM for a referral to an ENT. Did you know that an ENT's official title is an Otorhinolaryngologist? I actually learned that in ROTC during my freshman year at SWT. It came up on a list of potential careers in the military and I had to look it up. For some reason that little nugget of information seems to have stuck with me.

We woke up on Saturday morning to a much milder day and the government shut down. Since Dennis and I both work for the government, that was a bit of bad news to start the day, as now neither of us are being paid. I have every faith that Congress will get their heads out of their rears and pass something before payday rolls around, so I am trying not to jump on the freaking out bandwagon just yet. FYI to members of Congress... I will be voting for whomever runs against you in the next election.

Summer had a friend over to spend the night and they decided to take advantage of the warmer day and take some pictures at the Pavilion next door. They are quite literally the only pictures we took this week.

Next week should be infinitely more exciting. What will most likely be Paige's last ever high school swim meet will take place on Saturday, Summer starts cheering for basketball, and there are several other fun and exciting things on the calendar. Until then....

Texas UIL State Cheerleading Championships

As a freshman, Summer was selected to be an alternate for Steele's competition cheer team. She was a little bummed to find out that the budget would not allow the team to take any alternates with them to the competition. She learned several girls' positions, though,  just in case. At the first practice back after the Christmas break, the coaches called her into their office and asked her if she would be willing to fill in as Knightro, the Steele mascot. She was unsure, but ultimately, it provided her an opportunity to go to the competition with the team, so she decided to take it on. 

It was definitely more of a challenge than she realized, as there was no choreography written for Knightro and the costume was DEFINITELY not made for a 5'3" girl. She overcame the costume issue by leaving off the boots that she couldn't walk in and added some clandestine lifting of the helmet into the routine so that she could see where she was going. Since she had already learned the cheer routine, she incorporated some of it and came up with a routine for Knightro. Oh, and she had it competition-ready in 3 days. 

Sadly, this is the ONLY pic I got of her as Knightro. She was hot and sweaty and NOT having it.

***UPDATE***

She found another pic of herself in the Knightro suit!

The team left for Ft. Worth on Thursday morning. They had a nice team dinner and some quality team bonding time on Thursday night and then got up Friday morning ready to hit the mat. The team had never cracked the Top 20 at competition, so they were really motivated to hit their routines. Their motivation and hard work paid off! For the first time in school history, the Knights placed in the Top 20 at Prelims and moved on to finals. They ended up placing 18th overall, an improvement of 16 places from last year! We are so proud of these kiddos!

Ready for a night on the town!

Summer and Abel at PF Changs

And of course... she had to buy herself a shirt!

Here is their performance at finals. Summer is in the Knight suit in the back

Cedar Fever Has Arrived in the Hill Country

Fresh from a bout with the flu, I give you....

CEDAR FEVER!!!

Chessie Smile

Our Shelby has recently discovered her "smile". This is in no way a face of aggression. She is simply trying to convince Paige to share her sandwich with her. It is so funny.