Athletic Mind Over Matter

Okay, peeps.

This post goes out to my Chica.

My beautiful and dedicated eldest, who's nearing the very end of her middle school athletic endeavors, and--wow--is it sobering to blink and see how fast it's all come and gone!

Now. To rewind a bit...

In the kiddos' middle school, each child has the option of enrolling in general Physical Education or Pre-Athletics, which is basically the difference between doing the basic course versus committing to a more rigorous path that eventually involves organized sports of some kind.

If you sign up for the Pre-Athletics path as a 6th grader, the class period is more physically intense, under the guise of prepping you for the sports that are to come.

Then, the summer between 6th and 7th grade, you're expected to participate in Conditioning Camp, which is one hour, four mornings a week, for about 7-8 weeks of the Summer. It's hot, it's early, but it helps the kiddos maintain some of the stamina they've gained over the course of their 6th grade year so they can hit the ground running when 7th grade starts--along with alllllll the sporting options in the world.

Pre-Athletics was Chica's chosen path, and holy moly, did she manage to make it through the rigor of several years of intense athletics--with a smile on her face (most of the time), no less!

In 7th grade, she participated in Cross Country, Tennis and Track.

In 8th grade, she participated in Cross Country and Track.

And, now, as of yesterday afternoon, she has officially wrapped her Track season and completed all her middle school athletic commitments--beyond the standard class period when she still has Pre-Athletics.

I mean...wow. 

How are we done?!! (And by we I mean she--unless you count the oodles and gobs of driving to and fro, which I totally do!).

If you're interested in taking a trip down memory lane, here are a couple of posts that cover Chica's Cross Country experience--which was, by far, her favorite of all her athletic pursuits:

https://delappenings.blogspot.com/search?q=cross+country

https://delappenings.blogspot.com/2025/10/fall-breakish-family-in-town-style.html

Honestly, if you ever would have asked me if one of my kiddos would find some kind of personal satisfaction in long distance running, I would have told you that you were crazy.

That said, it also makes total and complete sense for my Chica, for many reasons--most notably, because she has a dedicated athletic mentality, but is not the most athletic of all the girls competing in middle school sports, and Cross Country, at its core, is about competition with oneself!

I adore, adore how hard my girl has worked, waking up before the crack of dawn, day after day, month after month, to participate in these pursuits, despite knowing she'll never have the fastest running time and might not be placed in any events in an upcoming meet.

It's the drive and the pride in a tough thing accomplished that is her true victory, and it has been a joy to watch that mentality grow and flourish in my beloved eldest child.

In fact, on the night of her very last Track meet, a couple of weeks ago, I looked at the screen saver on her phone and felt the biggest swell of pride over the words:

In running, victories aren't only medals and records--they're the quiet moments when you realize you didn't quit.

And that, my dear peeps, is the whole point of the whole dang thing. :)

How glorious that my girl is only 13-years-old and already aware of this beautiful nugget of truth?

Yes, Chica has honed her body over the past few years, setting the stage for a lifetime of healthy physical habits, but...more importantly, she honed her mind.

She learned that she can do hard things, no matter how athletically inclined she may or may not be--and that is priceless.

 

Chica's athletic days are still far from over, though.

For High School, she's required to have one year of Physical Education, and she's chosen to knock it out as a Freshman (smart, since she's already in the groove of things).

She's signed up for Cross Country, and I know it will be a whole different thing on a High School level, but I have high hopes she'll be able to handle it with the same grace and realistic attitude--to only best her own personal achievements, and not others'.

I have no doubt, she'll do her level best!

So, here's to a lighter final nine weeks of the school year, and then some heinously-hot conditioning over the Summer as she heads into her final year of academically-centered athletics before she blows this popsicle stand!

Go, Chica, Go!

Over and out.

XC and TT!

Goodness, it’s been a week.

I mean, it’s never a dull day around here—ever—but things have definitely ramped up in an Everest kind of way over the past ten-ish days.

It’s really a trifecta that’s made life quite a bit extra since my last post:

First: Coda.

Coda, Coda, Coda.

Our dear puppy is in such a tough stage of her recovery. She’s feeling more capable, but not yet allowed to do much of anything. I’ll share a whole separate post about this challenge, soon. But trust me when I say that the time and care is intense.

Second: school commitments.

This week alone has involved: a 2.5 hour middle school Meet the Teacher night, two early release days for elementary, along with corresponding parent/teacher conferences, a school-wide teacher appreciation gift that’s involved a bit of crafting, and…Book Fair set up (happening tomorrow).

So, even if all other things remained equal, adding half a dozen above-and-beyond school commitments has certainly added to the schedule.

And, lastly: extra-curriculars!! 

Activities and sports kicked in last week, post Labor Day, and schedules are pretty packed.

Is it wrong that I’m kind of grateful that Chicklet had to delay the launch of her swimming due to a sprained ankle (a whole other thing I didn’t have time to post) because it’s allowed us a short reprieve before one more thing layers on??

For now, the two, new-to-us activities for Chica and Little Man are the subject of this post:

XC and TT!!!

Also known as…

Cross Country (for Chica) and Table Tennis (for Little Man)!

Okay. Cross Country.

Seventh grade comes with a lot of extras, and the most impactful is the sporting commitments. Chica chose an athletic path that required her to participate in at least two official school sports, and the first she selected is Cross Country.

It’s totally up her alley, as it’s not a team sport that involves a lot of aggression, and on a normal day, she doesn’t mind running too much, and even—dare I say?—sometimes enjoys the challenge of it.

That said…holy mother, it’s five days a week (insert allllllllll the crying emojis).

Three days a week, practice is after school.

One day a week, it’s before school (at 6:45 a.m.!)

And Saturdays, in October, there will be meets.

On the plus side, the teacher who runs the program is amazing, and the first week, she took some really fun pics (and the kids signed photo waivers).

This first one is my favorite, from last Thursday at dawn. :) Beautiful.

There’s my girl…



The most exciting thing about XC is the changing scenery. The kids routinely run two-plus miles and will eventually work up to a 5K. And there are sooooooo many trails in our area that they head off campus most days and explore some really fun terrain.



That said, this warning sign from one of the trails they utilize is quite hysterical. Only in South Texas.

Let’s just hope we can stay away from feral hogs, bahahaha.

All signs point to this being a really amazing challenge for Chica, and, thank heavens, it only runs (tehe, XC pun time) through early November. I feel like we’ll blink and the season will be wrapping up.



Another silver lining: when my girl has logged nearly five miles of steps and/or running nearly every school day, between XC and her athletics class period, she can be the BIGGEST COUCH POTATO ON EARTH on a Saturday, and I fully support it. :)



And, she gets extra-special desserts. ;)



Okay, next up…Table Tennis!

Because of life, I probably haven’t posted enough about Little Man’s growing love of table tennis. We purchased a table for the play room this past Christmas, and that’s when things kicked into high gear.

The sound of ping-pong balls whacking against the walls, flying off the upstairs balcony to ricochet all over the hardwood downstairs (and drive Coda nuts), or just the mindless bouncing of Little Man tossing one incessantly is pretty much the overstimulating soundtrack of my life.

My boy will play ANY time he can get somebody to compete. And when he can’t, he uses my upstairs wall as a back board to just drill and drill and drill.

Honestly, it’s the cutest, most maddening thing.

I can still hold my own in a match with him, but with the hubby’s constant coaching, Little Man is fast getting way better than me.

And he’s about to get wayyyyyy better, because he adorably asked for me to find him some lessons, and I actually located a Table Tennis club in the area with a youth program, tehe.

He’s now been for two of the Thursday night sessions, and he’s pretty freaking in love with it.

There are a handful of kids near enough his age (maybe 5-7 kids, depending on the week). They do drills, cardio, practice serves and volley, and play matches against one another. For a full, two hours! 

He even managed to con the hubby into buying him a legit racket (there are all sorts of important technicalities to rackets that I know nothing about), to further improve his game.

I love how excited he is for Thursdays to roll around (it’s also his soccer day, right after school; he goes to bed exhausted). Enabling my kiddos to pursue the things that bring them joy is pretty much the point of it all. :)

One added bit of fun: since the hubby has been the one to take Little Man to these lessons, since I know next to nothing about the sport, it’s led to a lot of fun father/son bonding. Tonight, they even went to dinner just the two of them before the lesson and it’s so presh. And it leaves us girls—Chica, Chicklet, Coda and I—to have some female time. :)



Chicklet’s ankle is still sore from her sprain, but she should be solid to launch her swim lessons again next week, after a brief hiatus. But she’s already been full-steam ahead with her participation in Tech Team (they run the morning announcements) every day before school, and is so happy to be involved.

Beyond alllllll of the things I’ve already mentioned, Chica still has her violin commitments due to her 7th grade Honors Orchestra participation. Private lessons plus 180 required minutes of practices hours a week, and goodness, there’s a lot of things to tackle.

Like I said, it’s NEVER a dull day—especially with the current care Coda requires—but we have a lovely, low-key Saturday to look forward to, and I’m here for it.

More catch-up posts soon, peeps (I hope!).

Happy Almost Friday!

Over and out. 

Fall Break(ish)--Family In Town Style!

Okay, peeps.

First: double post day! Woohoo! Kind of my trend, these past few months. No posting, no posting, no posting, and, then: double posting! Ha. Oh, well. You do what you gotta do, amiright?

Second: if you just read the previous post about  peace and downtime, you'll sense the drastic shift of this one. All about our busy weekend happenings, With family in town!

I'll just start with the goods I know you really want. Cousin gloriousness:

Okay. Now that you've seen a couple of pics, you can slog through a tiny bit of background context.

I think it's important to launch with the Universal Truth right now, that, I don't really think we're all that fun to come visit.

That might sound disparaging, and maybe our guests would disagree, but...the simple fact is: we're BUSY. There's never a "free" weekend or a handful of days when company won't be dragged along to everything we have going on, and it's most certainly never chill or quiet!

So, when people hunt for a time to come see us, it's kind of like picking the best of some bad dates.

Truly, I've gotten to the point where I strongly encourage peeps NOT to come see us in August or September (for my mental health and theirs), and it's only once we make it to October that I even feel like it's a decent-ish idea to rope people into our insanity. And even then...not so great.

Harsh, perhaps. But there is a definite seasonality to our current life stage which equates to our capability to host. Might be different for other peeps, but I work with my own mental and logistical state--not anybody else's!

Luckily, little bro, his wife and our stinking adorable niece, were fearless and up for a long road trip with a stop and overnight in Dallas before coming down to see us for some cousin time. And I'm so grateful that they were up for all the baggage that comes along with a visit. Same with the hubby's sister and her fam a couple months ago when they stopped here along a longer road trip. Anyone willing to join our chaos for any length of time kinda deserves a medal. And, then, maybe a weekend to recover from their weekend, ha.

This particular weekend, we had Cross Country, Soccer practice, a Soccer game, Confirmation commitments, and the Fall Fest at our church (involving a Chicklet volunteer hour), so...navigating all of that and trying to sprinkle in any visiting was tricky, but, ultimately, worth it.

Little Bro got major uncle points by waking up looooong before the sun on Saturday morning to witness Chica's Cross Country meet. It was NOT fun setting the weekend alarm for something that started with a five, but it's weirdly awesome to go to these sunrise meets and feel the little teen energy and witness the whole gaggle.

It still blows my mind that I birthed a child who loathes and loves running for sport. Wild!

More than anything, I admire her consistently measured approach to this activity. She is, by no means, the fastest among her peer group of very competitive friends. But, she's proud of herself for her effort.

She adores the participation and family vibe of XC. And she very much takes to heart the coach's advice that, with Cross Country, you are competing against yourself, first and foremost. :)

In fact, a couple weeks ago, Chica got a happy call-out from her coach on one of the weekly wrap-ups that goes to all the parents and students. It was basically saying that Chica and just one other student had perfectly paced themselves for both the uphill then downhill portion of their run that day. So many kiddos were just ready to burst and set an insane pace on the uphill part...and then lose their energy and drastically change their pace on the flip side. But Chica kept is slow and steady. Measured. Just like she always does. And it was a joy to see her light up over the rare, athletic praise.

Additionally, at this first meet of the season, Chica completed her 2 miles in 16:18.6, and that was a personal record for a beginning meet! Again...only competing with herself and blocking out all comparison.

That said...she participates in this sport with a handful of really great, close buddies, and it's a joy to see them all excited and ready to do this hard thing, all together.

She was wiped after it was all over, but she always earns the reward of extra, yummy food! Beyond a brunch out together, the girlies (plus cousin June) stuck close to home and the slew of princess dresses at their disposal for the rest of the day. But Little Man powered through a really hot soccer practice and game that afternoon--also, with his uncle as a witness! Sadly, I FAILED to take any pics. Oye. I guess the rose is off the bloom, now that we're halfway through his soccer season, ha.

Meanwhile...the cousin love and princess dress-wearing was in full force back home!

It's fun to see the playroom used for real PLAY like this, since it's mostly a lounge space for my aging kiddos, these days.

Everybody seemed to go to bed tuckered out--and ready for another early(ish) morning of church and Fall Fest.

It was such a joy to have some happy time, together, even amidst the busyness. I'm not gonna lie: I had a major regroup day, yesterday, dealing with a lot of to-dos and errands and cleaning and laundry to prep for the week ahead, but...isn't that what we're all doing when the weekends wrap up?

I wish I had a better handle on leveling out the insane swings of our life and calendar, these days. But the truth of it is: it's often one foot in front of the other, one day at a time, with the hopes that the things you're packing in to life will be so positive they'll far outweigh any negative of the associated overwhelm!

We've got about 3-4 weeks before we offload both Cross Country and Soccer, and it's kind of insane how quickly it's flying by! But, we're going to do our best to enjoy the thick of things and the height of this Halloween season!

We're deep in the weeds of finalizing costumes and everything for our Halloween away, and I know our whole crew is very much looking forward to the adventure!

Okay...more soon, peeps!

Until then, over and out!

Chica’s Summer Teen Baking Camp!

Okay, peeps.

This week is the pinnacle of our kiddos’ summer camp activities, and holy MOLY have I been in the car a whole lot more in the past two weeks that I would prefer!

That said. We’ve had some real winners, in terms of activities, so at least the uber hours are for a good cause, right??

Last week, Little Man and his Spurs basketball camp with buddies really dominated our schedule, and, this week, we shifted the attention to the girlies.

At the start of the Summer, we knew Chica would have 6-7 weeks of early mornings for her athletics conditioning camp and cross country. Not the most exciting of things, but at least she’s been in regular contact with her friends through all of that.

For fun and entertainment, she only requested one camp/class activity…

Sur La Table’s Advanced Baking Class for teens!

Chica has always loved to be a sous chef in the kitchen, and a handful of her little friends enjoy baking when they get together. Nothing major; just fun experimentation with cookies and things.

https://delappenings.blogspot.com/2025/06/test-kitchen-tuesday-scotchmallow.html?m=0

So, when I found this class with an insane (and impressive!) itinerary of recipes each day (with no requirement for any existing skills), I knew it would be a winner!



Luckily, one of her friends was also in town, this week, and excited to participate, and, honestly, that’s been a life saver! Because, much like the Spurs camp last week, our Sur La Table location isn’t exactly close—especially when you factor in rush hour, since the class is from 4-6. Oye.

So, the other mother and I have been splitting up the driving, which helps in a major way!

I think there have been about 10-12 kids in the camp, which seems like a pretty perfectly-sized group.



Look at the official aprons and everything. :)



I love! (Yaaaaas, chef!)



Do you know what else I love??? 

The fact that Chica shares a significant portion of my DNA and staged her finished pastries at the end of the first day, to send me a pic. :) I die.



And then she kindly waited until she was home to taste test! The pics—and Little Man’s facial reactions—are priceless:







So impressive!

Apparently, on Friday, she’ll come home with all the recipes, so here’s hoping we can recreate these cream puffs!

Yesterday (Wednesday) was the girls’ favorite day, so far, because of the impressive tart and quiche creations. They spent most of Tuesday making breads, as well.



I mean…how awesome!





The mother of this little friend of Chica’s is a lovely friend of mine, and we haven’t been able to connect for months. So, yesterday, we drove the girlies to class together, then camped out for a coffee catch-up while they were in session, and it was so great to download with one another.

Then, after their class, as an extra-special treat, we did an hour or so of early back-to-school shopping and a fun crepe dinner, all together. Nothing but happy vibes for the girls.



It’s been so incredibly busy this Summer that I feel I’m dividing my attention with my three crazies more than ever, so I really hope these special events that focus on just one child can help with the quality over quantity situation! It’s all a juggling act, and we do our best, right??

In other wonderful news…Chica completed the final day of her morning conditioning/cross country camps, today (woohoo!), so we finally get to relax our morning wake-ups just a tad in these waning final weeks of Summer.



More, later, on the also-busy happenings of the other two kiddos!

Happy Baby Friday, peeps!

Over and out.