FEBRUARY 2023

 Welcome back!  February was quiet, but filled with cheer and dance for me and Presley, supporting Mt View HS’s journey toward the basketball state tournament for me, Teague and Dylan, and a pretty hefty snowstorm for Teague….with a couple of snow days for me and the kids.  There aren’t very many stories from this month, but here’s a few pics that capture some of those moments.

While the mighty Thunder Varsity Basketball team muddled through state playoffs, we met the Beardmores for 4 home games in a 7-day span to get our hometown spirit on.  Dylan ditched us for the student section and the cheerleaders were definitely not up to my standards, but we watched some fun games.  The team ended up making it to the state tournament only to be knocked out first round.

Maddox’s work shift has settled into a 3-hour shift on Wednesdays and 8-hour shifts on Saturdays and Sundays.  He doesn’t seem to mind it too much.  One shift he was on picking duty (shopping customer orders) and earned the Top Performer of the Day.  His prize: a Walmart vest. He prefers that over his typical employer issued Walmart polo.  Way to go Maddox!

Our middle school had much success this season and went undefeated in the district.  It’s way more fun to cheer at games we are winning and these games were so fun to watch.

While our school celebrated Kindness Week, one opportunity was to purchase flowers and have them delivered to students and staff along with a personalized note.  I purchased flowers for everyone on my Cheer Squad and also received a couple of flowers myself from my Cheer Captains.  They are so adorable.

Kindness Week also had some dress up days.  Thursday was Student/Teacher Swap and most of the staff wore flannel jammie pants and hoodies with messy hair.  I had a more personal idea.

The next week, we were hit with a very pretty snowstorm. It was just starting to stick when I arrived at work at 7am and snowed steadily all day. This is what it looked like when I came out to my car at 3pm.

And this was the footwear I had chosen with my dress that day.  Yes, those are fabric high heeled boots. Suffice it to say it took me 15 full minutes to sweep enough snow off my car to see my way home.

A few hours later we received this awesome news

To continue Rakoz tradition, Dylan and I trudged up to Starbucks. It looked to be about 9 inches

The snow only melted enough to form a 2 inch ice layer when the snow started up again and buried the ice.  We got a 2nd snow day.

This time Presley joined us on our morning walk.  I forgot to check if Starbucks was open and we found out the hard way that it wasn’t. We consoled ourselves with breakfast at Seize the Bagel instead. 

Despite the fact that the snow did not melt this day either, our last Dance Competition of the season went on as scheduled.

I’m stepping down from coaching Dance Team next year (I’m trying to at least) so this may be the last time Presley and I have this Dancer/Coach relationship.  I’ve enjoyed this time with her and am so proud of how much she has grown.

She even bought me a sweet gift and had it delivered to me at one of our competitions.  Isn’t she a doll!!??

And last, but not least, here’s just some precious pics of Sweet Diesel. Yes, we still have Coco, but she doesn’t like me enough to let me get close to her for a photo. She’s every bit as gorgeous, tho.

He’s totally holding my hand!

That’s all I have for February. Dylan spent a lot of time this month at early morning baseball practices and had tryouts the last days of this month. Stay tuned for March’s blog post to see the results of all his hard work.  I will also share some photos from Teague’s birthday and the last couple of basketball games of the season for Presley and me while our school hosted the Semi-Finals and District Championship game. See you next time!