...Just like that, huh?

...well, Christmas is over...just like that!

~

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas day with your family and/or friends. Ours was very nice - very low key, but very nice & relaxing. I must admit though,Christmas, as an adult/parent, brings a very different experience than when I was a child. Not a bad different...just...different.

~

It was also very different just having one child at home. The entire focus of the moment was all on Jayla. And why shouldn't it be? She's the youngest and the last one at home. So it was so much fun to watch her enjoy the moment.

~

Speaking of "the moment", let's talk about that, shall we?

~

On Monday, Christmas Eve, we all just sat around and anticipated the excitement that the next day would bring. Then at 9:00 that night, Jayla realized that she had forgotten to do something. She found her little ziploc bag of Reindeer food on the kitchen table (dried oatmeal and red glitter). She yells, "OH MOM!!! We forgot to put the reindeer food out! Oh my GOODNESS!!!" lol. So she throws on her coat (over her PJ's), slips on some shoes, grabs the "food" off the table then yells for me to HURRY UP and come out in the front yard with her. As I'm standing on the porch, she looks up in the sky, saying that she's making sure the reindeer aren't waiting for her to leave them something to eat :-). She sprinkles the food all over the yard then breathes a sigh of relief that she got it done - just in time. :-)

~

Now if you'll remember, this is the same little girl who says she doesn't even believe in Santa and his reindeer :-). But she informs me that she doesn't believe in Santa...just the flying reindeer, LOL. Anyway, we finally get Miss Lady to calm down then into bed for the night, around 9:30pm.

We were a little worried that she'd wake up WAY earlier than normal. But she actually slept in for a bit. She didn't knock on our door until 7:35 on Christmas morning. I grabbed the camera and we all headed downstairs...you know, to see what the "Reindeer" delivered :-). Here are some of my favorite pix from the day:

Sorry this picture is so blurry...not sure why my hands might have been shaking so much. But I had to show it anyway because I just love the look on Jayla's face. I'll tell ya, this little girl is THE best person to give gifts too. She is SO excited about anything you give her - and I do mean ANYTHING. Example: last week while grocery shopping, I picked up a new toothbrush for Jayla. Nothing fancy, no fun characters or anything. It was just your basic CREST kids toothbrush with a white and pink handle. No big deal. Well, when Jayla got home from school that day, she was in her bathroom and saw the new toothbrush. All of a sudden, I hear this squealish scream. So, I run in there to see what might have happened to her. And as I reach the door, she says, "OH MOM...I just LOVE this toothbrush!! It's PERFECT!!!" Now I'm standing there looking perplexed thinking it's JUST a toothbrush. Then she jumps up off the toilet (pants still down around her ankles, mind you, and gives me a big ole hug). She was so excited about it and even said to me, "Mom, you're the BESTESS mom I could ever have! I love you for getting me a BRAND NEW toothbrush!" :-) Uh, you're welcome? lol. After such a heartfelt thank you from my loving daughter, I didn't have the heart to tell her that I only got her a new one so that it would fit in the toothbrush holder...the Princess one she had had too big of a handle.

Ok, back to our regularly scheduled programming...

YES, that's a mailbox in the background! We couldn't believe that this is one of gifts she HAD to have. Jayla loves getting mail and it would be icing on her cake to get it out of her very own mailbox. So, that's what she got.

This is what the mailbox looked like before it got all prettied up.

And this is an up close look at it all "Jayla'd" up :-).

And I'm sure ya'll remember me telling you how "Domesticated" my daughter is, right? :-) Well, here are the best of the best as far as her gifts went :-).

The Disney Princess Cash Register.

The "Laptop" :-).

The Coffee Maker.

And THE Vacuum Cleaner. :-)

She also got a beautiful pink bathrobe. My BIL got that for her and some Princess slippers to go with it. Look, she even wears it while doing her chores :-).
Anyway, it was a fun morning. And every since then, Jayla has been wandering around the house with that bathrobe on and offering to make everyone a cup of coffee...then vacuum up after them :-). She's driving Trae crazy, LOL.

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week. I've gotta run...I'm being summoned to play Connect Four :-). Toodles!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

My goodness you guys, tomorrow is CHRISTMAS!!! Wonder if I'm ready? :-)

I know Jayla is....this girl is driving me CRAZY! She cannot WAIT until tomorrow. And I cannot wait to see her face when she opens all her gifts. I will definitely have my camera in hand.

Speaking of gifts, what all are you guys wanting this year? I guess I shoulda asked this before Christmas Eve, huh?...but I never got around to it :-). Personally, I don't want much this year. I remember giving a pretty extensive list last year...and I have YET to get the black Tahoe or that princess cut diamond ring I asked for :-). So I thought I'd better keep it simple this year. (NOTE: it wouldn't hurt my feelings though, to get the two aforementioned items tomorrow, hee hee)

But being that my focus this year is to get my scrapbook/craft room done, all I want is money to do that. Actually, Santa, aka, my hubby, has promised me the funds for the room next week. So hopefully, by the first of the year, the makeover will be underway. But, if the world was a perfect place, I would like to have this book, and this. Other than that, I don't want much out of life.

To be honest, I actually already have EVERYTHING I could possibly want or need. I have my health (despite a little cold that Jayla gave me), I have a loving husband, a beautiful family, wonderful friends and a Saviour who gave His life for ME! My goodness, it just doesn't get any better than THAT!

With that, I wish ALL of you have the BEST Christmas EVER!!! You deserve it! And don't forget, Be Inspired....I AM!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

Christmas "Hoopla" :-)

Happy Saturday!

I told ya'll I'd be back today. I had good nights rest and I've already had a nice little nap today :-). So I'm good to go for now.

NOW, earlier this week, I was over visiting Susie Q, and she had this cute little Christmas list thingy on her blog. And if ya'll know me, you know I enjoy doing silly stuff like this. So, let's see what I can come up with...

Here are the rules: 1. List 12 random things about yourself that have to do with Christmas 2. Please refer to it as a 'HOOPLA' and not the dreaded meme. (What does "meme" mean anyways?) 3. You have to specifically tag people when you're done. None of this "if you're reading this, consider yourself tagged" stuff is allowed...then nobody ends up actually doing it. The number of people who you tag is really up to you -- but the more, the merrier to get this 'hoopla' circulating through the blogosphere. 4. Please try and do it as quickly as possible. The Christmas season will be over before we know it and I'd like to get as many people involved as possible. NOTE: if you've actually read Sue's "hoopla" list...you'll see that she didn't tag anyone as the rules state...she's such a rebel :-). But being that she's such a sweet lady and a dear blogging friend of mine...I'm gonna follow in her footsteps, lol. Enjoy...

12. As a child, every Christmas Eve, I'd have the same, AWFUL, scary dream. I almost hated going to bed. Oh, you wanna know what the dream was about? I'd rather not say. But since *I* brought it up....I'd dream that I was being chased around my house by giant jellybeans! See, that's not so strange, now is it? It is NOT!!! C'mon...I was a KID!!!!
11. Again, when I was a child and was supposed to be in bed on Christmas Eve, I'd sneak down to the living room and dip my fingertips in the melted pools of candle wax, then run back up to my room. You're probably asking yourself why my mom would leave candles lit all night with young children in the house? Oh,that's not what you're asking? Are you asking why I had such a fetish with scolding hot candle wax? Well, I also had a fetish with letting glue dry on my hands. I LOVE peeling stuff, OK??? :-) My mom could never figure out why my fingertips always hurt so badly when I was trying to open my gifts the next morning...and what's with that pile of red wax on the floor next to my bed? Beats me!!! LOL
10. I despise the smell of pine/Evergreen. Therefore, I do not get a live tree. I remember one year my mom asked me how come I don't buy live trees. I told her that I don't like the smell. SO, the brilliant woman that she is, suggested that I buy a can of "Evergreen" scented spray for our artificial tree. Talk about a DUH moment!!
9. One year, I was so adamant about having a wreath hanging outside every window of our house (9 to be exact). That I had my poor nephew, Markell, hanging out the windows...in the cold, putting clear hooks on the glass. He was such a good sport that year. Even when I kept dropping the hooks behind the bushes as I handed them to him. Did I mention it was dark at the time?
8. I'm sure I've mentioned this before. But we don't start our Christmas shopping until the week before Christmas. I would love to be one of those people who shops all year long. But I keep finding myself giving the person what I've purchased for them, right then! I'm not even thinking about Christmas shopping until around Thanksgiving.
7. A cardmaker I am not. However, I LOVE making our annual Christmas card. It seems every year I'm attempting to out do myself. And trust me, I work myself into a frenzy! I'm really nervous about the year I decide that we'll just go visit the 90+ people on our Christmas card list. At least I'll save on stamps :-D.
6. I have never experienced a "White" Christmas. I can't remember one single year that it has snowed here on Christmas day. Now, we've waken up to your basic frost on the grass and maybe a little "black ice". But never SNOW. Don't ya'll feel sorry for me? :-)
5. I'm not a huge fan of Christmas music. By Thanksgiving, I'm already tired of hearing it...hee hee. But as you know, I DO love Blue Christmas by Porky Pig :-). Talk about fun.
4. I think Eggnog has GOT to be the most disgusting beverage ever invented. What is it anyway? And you know, I'm not even sure it's because I don't like milk...it just LOOKS awful. I'm a visionary...and if it don't LOOK good, I ain't eating or drinking it. ACK!!!
3. Right up there with Eggnog, as got to be my lack of love for Fruitcake. Now who's idea was THAT?
2. When I lived at home, I remember my uncle from Texas used to send us a HUMONGOUS peppermint stick. People, I PROMISE you this thing weighed over 5 pounds! It looked like those yummy Bob's Peppermint Sticks - you know, the soft ones? And it had to be about 2.5 inches in diameter. I know the mailman used to HATE to deliver that thing to us :-). It took us ALL YEAR to eat it. That was also my first experience with a sledge hammer, LOL. Peppermint anyone?
1. This had to have been the hardest list I've ever done :-). I was really hard pressed to find TWELVE Christmas related oddities about myself.

NOW, It's time for the tagging part. But as I mentioned above, I'm gonna follow in Susie's footsteps and not tag anyone in particular. I'll just let you ALL know that this WAS really fun and that I'd love to enjoy EVERYONES Christmas Hoopla :-). I don't ask for much at Christmas time...but your joining in WOULD make me happy...kinda like a White Christmas would.

But no pressure though...:-D.

More Christmas goings on & a Fix!

Happy Friday everyone.

Wait, it IS Friday, isn't it? Man, this week has been a HUmongous blur!!! I can't quite figure out when I'm coming or going these days. I'll just blame that on...uh, old age...yeah, that's what it is! :-)

Let's see, what have I been up to this week?

Monday was my 19th anniversary. And I think I did a post on that. So I won't bore you with what else may have happened that day/evening...tee hee.
Tuesday, hmmm, I'm not sure what I did that day. But if I remember, I'll come back an add it. (Update: still, I got nothin! HAHAHA. Oh wait, I went to the grocery store...THAT's what I did.) Wednesday I took my MIL to have her monthly bloodwork done. It's so cool to get to the doctors office that we go to, get moms bloodwork done and be walking back in the house in less than 20 minutes! Talk about convenience. Then I had to go back to the grocery store to grab a few things for mom.
Thursday I helped with the Christmas breakfast in Jayla's class. Several of the kids were dressed up in cute holiday outfits...they looked so sweet. And they all wore some reindeer antlers that they decorated. Here's Jayla in hers.
I think most of the school had their parties that day so parking was KA-razy! But not to worry, I worked it out :-)

(YES, without being towed!)

It was so nice to see so many parents there. I think everyone had a really nice time. And those kids had some good eats too. Along with having syrup, whipped cream, cherries & chocolate chips to go on pancakes that one of the dads was flipping, we also had bacon, fruit, cheese, juice and donnut holes. Talk about yummy!!! The kids had such a great time decorating their pancakes. As a matter of fact, here's what one of them looked like......

Isn't that the cutest little thing?

Oh, and guess what my Jayla had to eat for breakfast? OH NO...she wouldn't have any parts of the wonderful spread we provided! OH NO..."SHE" had to have something special. The girl had Macaroni & Cheese!!! C'mon...you eat that EVERY SINGLE DAY for breakfast at home...can't you try something different for a change? NOPE!!! So I had to take one of those little bowls of Kraft Mac & Cheese that you add water to (insert rolling eyes). Thank goodness there's a microwave in her class. Sheese!!! :-D Well, at least the girl ate, right? Oh and let's not forget...her handful of chocolate chips!

The kids made their parents gifts too. But we can't open them until Christmas Day. So I'll get back with you on that :-). The kids had their cute little tree up and all decorated......
Even the teachers had fun games like Christmas Musical Chairs and SANTA Bingo, planned for the kids after they ate. I think a great time was had by everyone.

Then after I left the school, I had a few more errands to run...in the rain.

Today, I had yet even more running around to do. My BIL asked me if I'd pick up a couple things for Jayla from him for Christmas. So I did that today. Along with driving across the county to meet with my mother and aunt who came in town...literally for an hour. They came to pick up my sister and Markell, as they are spending Christmas with my mom. So I met up with them to exchange gifts. And man, let me tell you...the traffic was HORRENDOUS!!! I left home this morning at 10:30 or so and didn't get back until a little after 4pm! I am tiRED!!!

Ok, ok, enough about my week. How bout a Flower Fix? I tell ya, you guys are so patient! :-) So, without further ado...here's your Friday Flower Fix.
Alright, as pretty as this is...I'm confused. Is a Poinsettia a flower or a plant? I dunno. But today...it's a flower :-).

I actually have more to post...but as I mentioned...I'm tiRED!!! So, I'll do the other part tomorrow. From what I understand, as long as it's done BEFORE Christmas, I'm good, lol. So with that, ya'll have a wonderful evening and I'll holla atcha tomorrow. Toodles!!

Family photo shoot & Fun for Christmas

Happy Wednesday everyone.

As always, I'm about to run out the door to do my morning errands. But before I do that, I wanted to take a minute and share with you some of the other shots from the photo shoot my friends did for our family. Remember me telling you about that? Well, here they are. Enjoy!

Also, a dear friend of mine sent me this link from YouTube. I don't normally go to this site and therefore, don't forward stuff from it. But this was different...very fun. Check out this group of guys. They are very talented. And being that it's Christmastime, I thought this was perfect to share with you today. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Fe11OlMiz8

Welp, that's about it for now. I hope you guys have an awesome day and I'll be talking to you soon. TOODLES!!

Happy Anniversary to me....

Hey ya'll!

Guess what? TODAY is my 19th wedding anniversary. Can you believe someone has been married to ME for 19 years? :-) Sometimes I can't. But I'm so glad he chose me.

Well, we officially celebrated our special day this past Friday night. And we went to our favorite place. Here we are...

Sadly, we didn't get "our" table this year. But we were in the same area. We were actually close enough to reach over and touch it...so I'd say that still counts.

If you notice the beautiful flowers on the table...those were a special delivery from Briyanna. That sneaky daughter of mine, got to the restaurant a little after we did (we didn't see her though), and had the hostess deliver them to our table. Both me and Marque were so shocked. It was a very sweet surprise...I love flowers.

I don't think I need to mention that the food was DEElicious! So I won't :-). (but it was)

After a tasty dinner, we ordered dessert. And this is how they brought it out to us:

Aren't those lovely? You can't see my dessert from the side. But it's their Chocolate Mousse Cake. It's about 4 layers of DEElish-ness!!! One layer being white chocolate (I think). And the Mr. got the Key Lime pie. So pretty!!

Anyway, today, our actual anniversary, has been a very laid back/low key day. We had lunch from here today. During the soccer season, Marque was given a restaurant gift card. So we used it today. Very yummy! It seems like all we do is eat, doesn't it? lol

A few posts ago, I said I would share the Christmas card that I designed and mailed out. Before I show it to you, let me admit that I realize this is a very tacky way to "send out" a Christmas card. But there are SOOO many people that I want to share it with and mailing them would just be too much to take on. So for those of you who didn't receive one in the mail, please accept this online version from me and my family. (Sorry to be so tacky)

This is the front of the card.

This is the inside.

Ok, I only have one more thing to share with you all. For those of you who are scrapbookers, you'll appreciate this. I'm not really into the whole "altering" thing. But I've been wanting to make a clock for my craft room that is currently under construction. I didn't want a regular ole clock. So I bought one of the clock faces by Heidi Swapp. At Michaels, I found a 14" round piece of unfinished wood, with a hole already in it. It's actually to be use for making a clock. ANYWAY, I painted the disk black, decorated a round scrapbook layout, added the HS clock face and this is how it turned out:

You guys, I absolutely LOVE it! As you may have noticed, it doesn't have the clock hands on it yet...but it doesn't have the mechanism in the back yet either. I'll be picking those up this week. But, this is pretty much how the clock will look in it's finished state. And I may hang it up with black grossgrain ribbon. Also, the b&w damask print that you see is actually a scan of the fabric that I'll be using in the room. And the purple paper is from the Bazzill Bling line. Pretty cool, huh?

Ok, that's all I've got for today. Hopefully, over the next few days, I'll show you the rest of the pictures from our family photo shoot a few weeks ago. So until then, you guys enjoy the rest of your day. And don't forget...Be Inspired...I AM!!!

We're in FULL swing now!

Happy Friday everyone.

Ok, I've got a few things I'd like to cover with you all today. So I'll wait here for a minute while ya'll go grab a drink and some chips or something........

Alrighty, ya'll ready? Let's get started, shall we?

First things first, how bout the Friday Flower Fix?
Pretty, huh? You know I love me some Tulips...and they're red, for Christmas :-).

Next, I have a cute Jayla story to tell you. Earlier this week, Jayla and I were on our way to school and she asked about Santa. She wanted to know if Santa was "really REAL". Ok, now I'm in a pickle. Do I tell her the truth or do I let her believe that he does exist? Well, for those of you who know Jayla, you know that the latter ain't gonna work, lol. So I decided to take an easy way out and ask her what SHE thinks. She proceeds to tell me that several of her classmates think that he's real, but she doesn't. I asked her why and she says (very matter of fact like), "Mom, I KNOW there's no such person as Santa! No body has THAT much money to buy THAT many plane tickets to fly THAT many places...in ONE night!" It was kind of a "DUH!" moment for me. She IS her daddy's daughter...very analytical and very much a thinker. We get to the school and it's almost her turn to get out. She gives me a kiss and tells me not to worry...that she won't tell her friends that Santa's not real. Then she says,"Besides, people can believe what they wanna believe...they're only KIDS!" lol This little girl is TOO much!

Speaking of Jayla, you may remember a few weeks ago, me, her daddy and her Grandma had lunch with her on her birthday (also Grandparents/Special Friends Day). Well, we got the picture back yesterday. Check it out....
OK....today hubby and I stuck with our tradition and went Christmas shopping. Of course our first stop was to CFA for breakfast. I just love that place. Can you tell? lol Then we headed on over to Toys R Us. I love that store! We had our version of Jayla's Christmas list (see her version below). This is THE most domesticated little girl I've ever known. Gotta love it!

This is page 1. Would you like a translation? What? You don't speak Jayla?? :-) Ok, this page says that she wants: a vacuum cleaner, coffee maker, mailbox and another vacuum cleaner :-). See, I told you she's a very "domesticated" little girl.
On page 2, again, she asks for a vacuum cleaner (ALRIGHT...we get it already, sheesh!), a mailbox (again) and a laptop. (HA...she's more likely to get the multiple vacuum cleaners and mailboxes!) :-D

We found everything on the list and even a few more things. As we browsed the store, we came across this. Oh my GOSH...you guys, this thing is HUGE! She's almost as tall as Jayla and probably weighs about the same. Needless to say, we decided against it. We were a little concerned that we might have to feed her! lol

Tonight, hubby and I are going out to celebrate our 19th wedding anniversary. We're going to our favorite place. We've been going here for our anniversary for the past 6 years. LOVE IT!!! If you're ever in Atlanta and you enjoy yourself some good ole meat, THIS is the place to go. I highly recommend it. It's a little pricey, but VERY worth it. Jayla told her teachers that it was me and her daddy's anniversary today (actually, it's not until Monday, the 17th). And she told them that we've been married 90 years!!! :-) we look great, don't we? LOL

So, what do you guys have planned for the weekend? Something fun and festive, I'm SURE! Whatever you've got planned, I hope you have a great time and that you get some good ole fashioned family time in there.

Well, I think that's all I've got for now. I need to go chill out for a bit before my hot date with my hot husband. Have a great night!

Baaa Humbug (but just for today)

Hey ya'll.

I haven't posted in almost a week. Not because I have nothing to talk about...it's Christmas time for goodness sakes! But because I just haven't had time.

However, today, I had to make time because I kinda have to "vent". I know ya'll hate when I do that...but ya'll are the only ones who will listen to me (everyone else in my house has already heard about this...lol)

Ok, today I had a "Baaa Humbug" moment. Now don't get me wrong, I LOVE this time of year and I LOVE Christmas. But I am really a lot easier to get along with when I'm not ticked off about something. Check this out....

Today started off great, just like any other day. I got up on time this morning, got Jayla off to school on time and then went to get my hair done. Had you seen me BEFORE I went to the salon...you'd probably wonder how my day could turn any worse :-D hee hee (I looked a HOT MESS!) So, I get to the salon, I get my hair done and my curls were still in tact when I got ready to leave. And the even bigger highlight to this part of my day was that, Briyanna, my daughter, paid for this hair appt for me. Now nice was THAT??? Thanks, Bri!!! Mommy loves you (and so does my hair, lol)

Anyway, I leave the salon in plenty of time to stop by Chick Fil A for lunch and to be 1st in the carpool line. All is great so far, right? Right! Jayla and I leave and we head over to Walmart to grab a few things.

Backing up a bit, on Monday, I dropped off a couple pictures that needed to be printed for our Christmas card. I needed a total of 180 pictures. So I decided to go the 2 day route to save some money, time and sanity.

Now, back to today.

We head over to Walmart and in addition to getting a few grocery items I go pick up our pictures. The lady pulls the envelope out for me and I can feel the excitement welling up inside me. THEN...it happens. I open the envelope to find that ALL 180 of my pictures have been STRETCHED from the original 3.5x5 size to 4x6! For those of you who know a little about photography, you know that's NOT a good thing. I'm sure you can only imagine how my pictures looked. And for those of you who don't have a clue...try stretching a wallet sized picture into an 8x10!! Ok, NOW you feel me!!!

I was mortified!!! I had plans on mailing my Christmas cards/pictures out tomorrow! I brought the "mess up" to the girl behind the counter and told her that I wasn't paying for the prints. She then tells me that she wishes that she'd been the one to help me on Monday, as she would've talked me out of using the 2 day service She says they have had more complaints about that service than any other they provide. Fuji is the guilty party and they seem to like to do what they want instead of what the customer requests. (Yes, I made sure I told the lady that I wasn't upset with HER).

Long story short, I wound up having to leave my groceries, run home...on a TEASPOON of gas mind you, print a copy of both pictures, then take them back to Walmart to have them scanned and printed. All before the girl leaves for the day in 30 minutes!!! Fortunately, I only live 10 minutes away.

NOTE: I would've printed the pictures at home myself. But I would've spent more money on MY paper and MY ink had I tried to make my little printer produce 180 pictures!!!

ANYWAY...we get the pictures scanned and printed...and needless to say, they're a little dark and my husband has a little less of a head/skull than in real life. But at this point, I'm really pressed for time. And I'm too frustrated to care. Not to mention, most of the people that will receive that photo know that Marque, DOES in fact, have an entire head/skull :-D.

SOOOO, for those of you who will soon receive this "masterpiece" of a Christmas card, PLEASE forgive me for the terrible pictures. ( I mean, the picture itself it nice...but the printing of it is what's so terrible). The one that I plan to share on here in a few days will look 100 times better. So I apologize in advance. And I ask that you not talk too badly about me...especially considering I AM a scrapbooker and photos are part of my hobby...ARGH!!!

Ok, I'm done venting. I'll try and do a normal post over the next day or so. As I do have some nicer, more festive stuff to share :-). Have a good night and thanks for your time (and sympathy...hee hee). Toodles!

Happy Birthday!!!

Happy Friday everyone.

Guess what?

Today is my oldest daughter, Briyanna's, 23rd birthday. My goodness, I can't believe MY daughter is 23 YEARS old! Where has the time gone?

This is Briyanna the day she came into my life...23 years ago. It's very hard to believe that as an 18 year old, God was trusting ME to take care of and love this beautiful, sweet, innocent little person. And I thank Him ...everyday for her.

And this is Briyanna now...23 years later. What a gorgeous young woman she has turned into. Don't you think? Sure, we've been through some STUFF! And saying that is merely scratching the surface, lol. But, again, through the strength, only given to me by God Himself, did we make it through those "terrible teen" years. :-).

Briyanna has been on her own now for almost 5 years. And I am BEYOND proud of her. She is making her own way and taking care of own business. It's so funny to talk to her on the phone sometimes and hear how being an adult really....um, shall we say SUX (her words), LOL. I remember when she was little and we'd be out shopping. I'd see something that I'd like and maybe say, "I like that! Wish I could get it today.", Or, "I'd like to have that...". Briyanna would say, "Mom, just GET IT!!" I'd find myself explaining to her that it's just not THAT simple.

NOW she's seeing what I meant by that. And she's making very good and wise choices about what to do with her money...and her time.

Anyway, Briyanna, if you're reading this...ALWAYS know that I love you beyond words and beyond your understanding. Being a mother is very hard work....but there is no one in this world that I'd rather hear call me "MOMMY" than you and your sister. You have been and continue to be a true blessing to me. I'm so proud of you and so proud that you're MY daughter. Have an awesome day, my love!

So you guys ready for your Friday Flower Fix? Okie dokie...here ya go:

Ok, these aren't only for you, my fellow readers, they're for Briyanna too. It seems I remember her telling me that she loves Cala Lillies. And I KNOW she loves things that BLING...so here ya go, babe! :-)

Welp, that's all I've got for now. I've got a few other things to share today...but wishing my daughter a HAPPY BIRTHDAY was the most important. So with that said, ya'll come back by later on today (or tomorrow), I may have more for ya! Have a groovy day!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BRI!!! Mommy loves you :-D

Where did the week go?

WOW...I just looked at the date of my last post and it was on SUNDAY!!!

What's up with that?

I noticed in my last post that I didn't mention how our Saturday went. I think I mentioned that we'd be having a family photo shoot. Well, we did and it was SO MUCH FUN!!! Our friends Trish and Juan can ROCK a camera :-). Oh my goodness, you guys, they did SUCH a good job. They took Jayla by herself first and took about a million pix of her :-). Then we did a wardrobe change and they took a million more. What can I say? The girl is just downright CUTE!

Briyanna made it to the shoot and I was SO excited that she was there. I really didn't want to have to do another family photo without her. (we even had some of the girls by themselves. My girls are such natural beauties!) Again, Trish and Juan did an amazing job and made my family look GREAT. Even my hubby enjoyed himself...and he HATES having his picture taken. But I think since he knows Trish and Juan, he was very comfortable with them.

I can't WAIT until I can share them with you. Now I'm just waiting to get the ones I chose and get them on my Christmas cards.

Also on Saturday, I went to a friends 40th birthday celebration. Debbie and I have been friends since I was in the 3rd grade (she was in 2nd). Unfortunately, we don't get to see eachother much. So it was SO nice to see her as well as a few other people that I haven't seen in forever. Needless to say, with a bunch of 30 something year old women, it was a pretty sappy "reunion". But it was very enjoyable nonetheless. Love ya, Debbie!!

OK...let's see, what else has been going on since my last post?

I've been working on some Christmas gifts for Jayla's teachers. Boy, I sure hope they don't read this blog before the 20th of this month. As that's when they'll be receiving the gifts. But I'm gonna have to take a chance that they won't.

Remember the canvas bags that I've been decorating? Well, this is what they look like before I embellish them.
And this is what they look like when I make them for teachers :-).

Pretty, huh? The room mom...and now my close, personal friend, lol (Janet), did the monogramming for me. At the beginning of the year, the teachers told us what their favorite colors were (in case you were wondering why I chose the colors that I used). I'm real pleased with how they came out. Janet does beautiful work and I'm looking forward to getting more stuff personalized by her.

Ok, now before I go (for today), I just have to share this with you. Look at what I found at the Super Target...
You guys know what a huge Dr. Pepper fan I am, right? Well, I stumbled upon some Dr. Pepper flavored Jelly Belly's, in a cute little "soda" bottle. Is that not the cutest thing? Ok, it may not be THE cutest. But in the land of Dr. Pepper....it is what it is, LOL.

Well, that's all I've got for now. I have to help Jayla decorate a paper Christmas Tree for school tomorrow. Speaking of which, do kindergarteners REALLY have homework? I mean, seriously!!! 95% of the work they bring home, that's classified as "homework"...is actually PARENT/MOMwork. LOL. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining...cuz I'm the self-proclaimed craft queen. And I enjoy all the "homework" WE get to do. But I'm just sayin.....

Christmas list

...Not to worry, this post is not to give you guys my Christmas list. I mean, would you really get me all the things I REALLY want, anyways? :-) Actually, I don't want that much this year. Money would be fine...I still need to get started on my craft room.

Alrighty, this is actually a cute questionnaire I found on Cheryl's blog. She always has the neatest lists. So, here goes:

1. Wrapping paper or gifts bags? I use both. However, I really enjoy wrapping gifts. Even though my husband thinks it takes an act of congress to UNwrap the gifts that I wrap. Something about too much tape, LOL.
2. Real or artificial tree? Artificial. I don't like the smell of real trees. Not to mention, I don't wanna have to go buy a tree every year. AND...it's enough to keep my house plants from dying. So to remember to water a big ole tree is just a bit much for me. And sadly, I really don't have space anymore to put up the 7 1/2 foot tree that I WANT to put up. So this year I just put up the 4 foot tree. Still very pretty.
3. When do you put up the tree? Usually the week after Thanksgiving...if I can find it :-).
4. When do you take the tree down? Just before Valentines Day, LOL. Just kidding. I take it down a couple days after New Years Day.
5. Do you like eggnog? ACK!!!!
6. Favorite gift received as a child? I'd have to say a beautiful purple radio :-). And also my Tiffany Taylor doll. I think she was the first black doll ever created, lol. I remember her being tall and thin. Kinda like those stupid Bratz dolls...but not near as ghetto! She had long hair, down to her hynie (the first weave, I think...hee hee). And the top of her head could be turned...depending on if you wanted her to have black hair or brown hair. TOO COOL!!! (WARNING: Whatever you do, please do not try and look this doll up on the internet. I did, so that I could show you a picture of her. And the links that came up have NOTHING to do with the doll I had...nor Christmas. TRUST me on this one...Consider yourself warned!!!)
7. Do you have a nativity scene? I actually have 2 of them. And I keep them out all year long. I LOVE them.
8. Hardest person to buy for? My husband and my mother. Oh, and...my husband again :-).
9. Easiest person to buy for? Jayla! This girl is SO appreciative of ANYTHING you give her. So it makes shopping for her very easy and fun.
10. Worst Christmas gift you've ever received? Oh, my...I have no idea. But I'm sure it was something from my mother. She loves to give gag gifts.
11. Mail or email Christmas cards? Definitely mail. I love the "personalness" (is that a word?) of sending and receiving cards in the mail.
12. Favorite Christmas movie? National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. And I love, A Christmas Story.
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Funny this question is being asked. My wedding anniversary is on the 17th of December....a week before Christmas. Not sure how this "tradition" got started. But several years ago, when I was working outside the home, my hubby and I would take the 17th off of work (or the day closest to it if it fell on the weekend) and we'd spend the day together. And not just "spend it together", but together Christmas shopping for the kids. SO...I said all that to say, that we'll start shopping NEXT weekend, :-).
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? ABSOLUTELY NOT!!! Ok, there was this one time....Oh, and then last year....next question please :-).
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Uhhhh, is food specific enough?
16. Clear lights or colored on the tree? CLEAR!!! Oh my goodness, I HATE colored lights on the tree. I think it has something to do with the memory of my childhood tree. Back in the 70's and 80's, they didn't have the cute little lights that we have these days. My mom used to put those HUMONGUS incandecent sized lightbulbs on our tree. ARGH! I'm surprised our tree never went up in flames or fell over!
17. Favorite Christmas song? Other than the classic, Blue Christmas by Porky Pig :-). I'd have to say, my all time fav is Celebrate me home by Kenny Loggins.
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? We stay home most of the time. But we have gone to Mobile in the past to be with my family.
19. Can you name all of Santa's reindeers? I think so. (gosh I hope the next question is not to actually name them...)
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? Neither. I like a big fat bow on the top of my tree.
21. Open presents Christmas Eve or Christmas morning? Christmas morning.
22. Most annoying thing about this time of year? The crowds and NO parking. It was crowded in PetSmart this morning...what's up with THAT?
23. Do you decorate your tree in any specific theme or color? Yes. I love dark green and burgundy for Christmas. And I accent with silver. As I look around, I think the theme, is actually music. I have a lot of french horns placed around.
24. What do/did you leave for Santa? All the credit card bills from Christmas shopping! LOL

Well, that's it. Hmmm, wonder why there weren't 25 questions? You know, since Christmas is on the 25th. Oh well! That was fun though. I love doing stuff like this.

If you have time and would like to join in on the fun, please take a minute (or 30) and do this questionnaire yourself. But if you do, be sure to let us know in my comments. Toodles!!

Better late than never....

Well POO-POO....I forgot about the FFF...AGAIN!!!

Ok, I didn't really forget this time. I've just been a crazy woman all day.

Today, I worked at Jayla's school and we made Christmas ornaments for a few hours. Oh my goodness, they came out so cute. As soon as Jayla is able to bring hers home, I'll have to share them with you here. I'm not big on hanging the handmade/childrens ornaments on my tree. But I may "display" them somewhere. They were cute though. I was in charge of 2 of them...those were the cutest, LOL.

After working at the school, I checked Jayla out early (she was gonna get out in less than 30 minutes anyway). And we headed straight to the grocery store.

This trip was destined to take twice as long as my normal shopping trips. Jayla was so excited about taking one of her birthday presents to the store with us. A doll stroller that converts into...you guessed it...a shopping cart! ARGH!!!

Why do I agree to this stuff?

I'm such a sucker. But, you guys, it WAS cute. She got so many comments and so many smiles at the store. Just about anything that she could reach...and that I needed, she wanted to put in HER cart. After a while, I had to cut the girl off. Obviously, that little thing couldn't hold that much...but she tried to pack it out! Again, it was very cute.

2 1/2 hours later, we were done with our shopping and headed home. Once we got home, MY day got started, lol. Oh the joys of SAHMhood! Let's see, I had to put up the groceries, fold up the towels & sheets that were in the drier, wash Jayla's clothes, change the bed sheets, wash my hair, give Jayla a bath, THEN put away Jayla's clean clothes. Hmmm, no dinner plans in that list. Oh yeah, I forgot to mention, ORDER dinner. Gotta love take out Chinese.

ARGH...I forgot that once I'm done with this post, I have to dry my hair. Alrighty, needless to say, I'm a little tired right now. But I always manage to get my "computer work" done. See, I love you guys!!! :-D

SO, what have ya'll got planned for the weekend? Tomorrow morning, we're meeting a friend of ours to have some family photos taken. I can't wait. Hopefully, we'll get some good enough shots to use for our Christmas pictures/cards. My oldest daughter is supposed to be meeting us too. So I really hope she shows. It's been several years since we've had family pictures with her. My friend, will also be doing shots of Jayla by herself. She wants to send some pictures of her to the modeling agency that her kids work for. That should be interesting, huh? Jayla...a MODEL??? (I can't even say that with a straight face)

Anyhoo, that's all I've got for now. But before I go, allow me to thank you for your patience (again) and give you what you've waited for...ALL DAY.
Have a great weekend!!!

What's your favorite?

Hello there.

Ok, Thanksgiving is over and now it's time to get in Christmas mode. Christmas has got to be my favorite holiday. I just love seeing the looks on my kids' faces when they open their gifts. And I think just the spirit of THAT day is just happy and joyous.

I will admit though, by Christmas day, I have had my fill of the music/carols. HOWEVER, I do have my favorites. And that's what this post is all about.

For those of you who know me...I mean REALLY know me...you are well aware that, at times I can be just a couple french fries short of a Happy Meal...if you know what I mean :-). There is a HUGE silly side of Dawn. I absolutely LOVE to laugh and making others laugh also brings me joy :-). As a matter of fact, both my parents hate when I call them during the day. Normally, they're both at work and they get so embarassed laughing out loud at me on the phone. Weird, huh? :-D There have actually been times when they've simply hung up on me :-).

ANYHOO...back to the subject at hand. I do tend to get a little tired of the Christmas music by the time the day arrives. But there are a few that I could listen to over and over again. And this one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPgq_fxaW7U has GOT to be at the top of my list. If you haven't heard this before, you're in for a treat. Again, keep in mind that I LOVE to laugh and this just cracks me up. It's SO fun!!! I think the part I enjoy the most is the guy laughing in the background. ENJOY!!

So, tell me...what are your favorite Christmas/Holiday Songs? Other than the one above, my favs are:

~Celebrate Me Home - By Kenny Loggins (LOVE IT!!)

~Silent Night - By The Temptations (a CLASSIC!)

~I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas - By The Drifters (another classic!)

~This Christmas - By Donny Hathaway (yet another classic!)

11/27 update: I just thought of something else. I LOVE just about all music by Mannheim Steamroller. They are SO cool!!!

I'm sure there are a few others. But they don't come to mind at the moment. I am 41 now you know! I'd love to hear what some of your favorites are. Share those with us, by either putting them here in my comments or listing them on your blog.

Ok, hopefully everyone is in the Christmas spirit now. Have I inspired you? Just a little? :-)

Oooops, I forgot about the flowers!

Happy Sunday everyone.

On our way home from church today, it hit me...I FORGOT TO DO THE FRIDAY FLOWER FIX!! My goodness, that was 2 stinkin days ago.

I think the whole Thanksgiving day thing threw me off. Well, that's my story and I'm stickin with it, lol.

Isn't that a pretty flower? I have NO idea what it is...but I LOVE it on the black background.

So, how was ya'lls weekend? I tell ya, when soccer season is over, we're a pretty boring family :-). My mom and the crew came over for a while yesterday for part 2 of Jayla's birthday. I even made cupcakes...yummy. We didn't do anything big...it was just fun to have granny here so close to our birthdays.

Well, today is the last day for Swimmy the fish to be with us. He SURVIVED!!! Yay!!! :-) I have to take him back to the school tomorrow...that should be interesting in and of itself. Brining him home, I just held the box while daddy drove. Taking him back, it'll just be me. So hopefully, I won't kill the ole boy in the 5 minute drive to the school :-).

Alrighty, I've rambled on enough for one evening. It's pretty obvious that I don't have much to write about today. So with that, I bid you a farewell for now. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. Toodles!!

Quick story...for a change

Hey everyone. Happy Thanksgiving Eve.

I hadn't planned to do a post today, as I thought I'd give ya'll a break from me for a couple days :-). Oh well, there goes that plan, lol.

Today, Jayla and I were out running errands. And I can tell when she gets really quite, she's either asleep or she's thinking about something she wants to ask me. This time the latter was taking place. And here's what she came up with:

J- "Hey mom? Guess what?"
M- "What sweetie?"
J- "Do you know that I love you being my momma?"
M- "You do?" "Well, I love being your momma!"
J- "Hey mom, you know what?"
M- "What baby?"
J- "I remember when I was a baby up in heaven, I asked God if He would give me to you. Because I just knew that you would love me and take care of me."
(OK...now I'm trying not to drive off the road because I can't see through my tears.)
M- "REALLY?" "Well how did you know about ME?"
J- "Oh MOM! I could see you , silly!"
M- "You could?" "Wow, that's pretty cool!"
J-"Yep, I saw you driving around fussing about traffic and I thought you were pretty."
:-)

Isn't she the sweetest thing? I love when she and I have times like that together. She asks the most amazing questions and seems to be so much wiser than her 6 years.

I don't doubt that she has some memory in her pretty little head of being in Heaven. She makes comments like this quite often. You know, comments that make you wonder if there's really some truth to her thoughts and memories.

I cried...yet again, when I read B.E.M.'s comment on my last post (see below). How ironic that she make mention of God choosing me to be Jayla's mom? Amazing!

Brown English Muffin said...
This is such a sweet post! I love the two pictures to compare and see how much she's grown.... Jayla has grown into a beautiful little girl and i think god made the right decision when he asked you to care for her!

Now...I'm REALLY inspired! Have a wonderful Thanksgiving.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

My goodness, November is a busy month for birthdays in my family.

And today is a very special one. My baby, Jayla is a half-dozen years old today :-).

WOW...it's so hard to believe that on Tuesday, November 20, 2001, this beautiful child came into our lives.

Just as I've said over my past 2 years of blogging, this day is always so bittersweet for me. I'm thrilled to death, everyday, to see this little lady blossom, grow, and learn. She has the most amazing personality and her character simply oozes with tenderness, gentleness, and love.

For those of you who have had the opportunity to meet her, you've only seen just a small part of who Jayla really is. You don't have to be around her for long before she makes you break into laughter. She has the sweetest spirit. Words can't express how much I love this girl and how thankful I am to God for trusting US with her care. What a blessing she is.

Well, you've seen what a beauty she was when we first brought her home from the hospital...puffy eyes and all, lol. But check her out TODAY, at the age of 6 years old!

Sorry, but pictures of Jayla are just like Lay's potato chips...you can't have just ONE! lol

Happy Birthday, my sweet girl!!!

Today at Jayla's school was Grandparents and Special People day. Jayla wanted her Grandma to come and have lunch with her. But she said she wanted me and her daddy there too. Just so happens, daddy took the past few days off for our birthdays. So we were both able to join Jayla and Grandma for lunch.

When a child has a birthday at her school, they are given a special "crown" to wear. So today was EXTRA special for Jayla. It was so funny, last week, they sent home the form telling us about the upcoming luncheon. On that form, they also had the menu. Well, Jayla isn't much of an eater and I knew she wouldn't eat the basic Thanksgiving dinner that was being served.

Jayla proceeds to tell me that she doesn't like any of that and she wants me to bring her something else to eat :-). My MIL reminded me that she'd gone to G'Parents day with Markell a few years back and she wasn't too fond of the menu either :-). So it didn't hurt her feelings at all that Jayla wanted something else to eat. Long story short, we stopped at Chick Fil A and got lunch for the 4 of us :-).

The school has a rule that no outside (fast food) restaurant food can be brought in. However, as long as we don't bring it in the "original packaging", it would be fine. So on the way to the school, I was stuffing CFA sandwiches, nuggets and fries in foil and sandwich bags. The teachers said it was alright if we brought softdrinks in. It was fun.

Jayla even got to have a professional picture taken with Grandma.

Well, Jayla wanted me to share one more of her birthday surprises with you. Today is the last day of school for the Thanksgiving holiday. Last week, the teacher sent home a note saying that Jayla was chosen to be the caretaker of the class "pet", over the Thanksgiving break. Ok, if you're keeping up...that's a total of 5 days!!! :-) Needless to say, Jayla is VERY excited about being given this responsibility. Also, she's the very first one of this school year to be chosen. And how cool for it to happen ON her birthday.

Well, without further ado, allow me to introduce to you...SWIMMY the Beta Fish.

For the next 5 days, Swimmy will reside in Jayla's room. I ask that all of you take a good look at him for me. You know, just in case "something" happens to Mr. Swimmy the fish and he needs to be replaced, LOL! By the way, do dogs eat fish? I hope not.

Ya'll have a wonderful Thanksgiving. I hope you all have a great time with your friends and family. Save me a wing!! :-)

Happy Birthday to me...ALOHA to you!!

Hey ya'll!!!

Well, I told you I'd be another year older by the time I posted again. Yesterday was my 41st Birthday.

Awww, ya'll are so sweet...I can almost hear you singing the birthday song! lol

Let's see, where should I begin? Well, on Friday night, the 16th, my sweet hubby took me to dinner. Oh you guys, it was WONDERFUL!!! Here are a few pix:
I had the Petit Filet & Shrimp (Two 4 oz. medallions of filet topped with jumbo gulf shrimp) cooked to PERfection, a baked potato with butter & cheese and the fresh broccoli. YUMMO!!!

And for dessert, we shared the Warm Apple Crumb Tart with Vanilla ice cream. It was so sweet, our waiter presented this to me with a candle in it and said it was on the house. It was DEE-LISH!!
Here's me and hubby after our dinner. We had a beautiful booth in a nice, secluded corner of the restaurant. Oh it was devine. Thank you again, sweetie!

THEN...on Saturday, my actual birthday, we celebrated Jayla's birthday. Oh you guys, it was BEAUTIFUL!!! I just don't have the words to describe how everything turned out. I'm not one to toot my own horn....but this time, I've just gotta call a spade a spade, LOL. My basement was decorated like a tropical "kids" paradise. My friend, Stacey...Oh STACEY...I could NOT have pulled this off without her. She really helped me out a lot...by having so many of the things that made this party a success for Jayla. Even down to the candle for the cake. OK..., c'mon now...what kind of mother doesn't have CANDLES for their childs birthday cake? That would be ME! I mean, I HAVE some, I just didn't know where they were, ARGH!!! (I found them this morning...DUH!!) But being that Stacey was at the party and only lives 3 doors down from me, she came to my rescue in a crisis :-). (thank goodness her husband was at home) Thanks Stacey...I owe you!

All of Jayla's friends were there, we had the tropical/hawaiian music in the background, there was an abundance of food (including 6 LARGE pizzas), real coconut cups with umbrella straws, Hawaiian leis, a sunshine pinata and wonderful gifts. Ok, ok...I've talked it up long enough...HERE are the pictures:

And guess what? To add the icing to my birthday cake, so to speak, I finally got to meet Lynilu. During her travels, she happened to stop over in Georgia. Oh my goodness, she is even more beautiful IRL! As soon as I saw her, I felt that I've known her for YEARS. Such a sweet, sweet spirit. I didn't make too great of a first-first impression, because I was running late getting to our meeting place. And I HATE for people to have to wait for me. But she was very forgiving and understanding. My second-first impression was a little better :-). I had both of my daughters with me too. I was so glad they got to meet her. Briyanna found out that there was a Starbucks in the shopping plaza that Lynilu and I met in. And the good news was that it was in a Barnes & Noble bookstore. My new friend found it pretty humorous that I'd NEVER been to Starbucks before. I mean, I've been IN one, but I've never had their coffee before. So Briyanna had to help her mother out and actually order for me :-). I know, I'm a mess. She also got a not-so hot chocolate for Jayla...it was PERFECT.

After we made our beverage purchases, we strolled back to the kids book section. Jayla LOVES books. So this was perfect for her. Not to mention, Briyanna had given her some money for her birthday. So she found quite a few books that she wanted to buy. ANYWAY, Lynilu got to see me in "mother" mode :-). Jayla was...um, shall we say, herself. Which meant Lyn got to see exactly what I talk about in my blog :-). But thankfully, she wasn't too over the top...therefore, I wasn't embarassed by any of her "Jaylaisms". And Briyanna was simply a sweetie. She and Lyn talked about their doggies, as they have the same breed.

Anyway, you guys, as I said, this lady is simply beautiful. I was a little sad when our visit was over. I could've chatted with her all night. She was SOOO easy to talk to and very interesting. Meeting Lynilu yesterday was the perfect ending to my 41st birthday as well as to a crazy, busy day. Had I not been so excited to get to meet her, I may have cancelled. I was almost beat from the party. But she made it so worth it and she gave me a new burst of energy to get through the rest of the evening. Hopefully, Lyn, you feel the same as me...in that we may have a new, long lasting friendship brewing. And I hope that the next time you're on this side of the country, you'll want to visit with me/us again. Thank you again for your time and your friendship.

Ok you guys...here's proof that I'm not making this whole visit up, lol.

Isn't she gorgeous?? By the way, I'm not sure if Lyn just remembered that purple is my favorite color or what. But she had on the most beautiful purple top. I'm just gonna step out on a limb and say that she wore it for me...for my birthday :-). Thanks! lol

WELP...that's it for now. Tuesday is Jayla's actual birthday. And I'm sure I'll have more pix to share with you. Until then, enjoy the rest of your weekend.

Oh, don't forget...BE INSPIRED...I AM!!! (Seriously, how could I NOT be? I mean, I've got the bestest friends!) ;-)

Amendment: OH MY GOODNESS...where are my manners??? I totally forgot to thank those special people who gave me gifts for my birthday. I am SUCH a slacker. Special thanks to Miss Marie "Rie" (Ashlee's mom) for the sweet card, the beautiful bracelet and the salsa. I love you! To Jennifer C. for the beautiful flowers and the hilarious card. You are a special friend, and I love you. To my MIL, Mattie, for the beautiful purple flowers. Mom, you are an awesome woman and I love you to pieces. To Stacey for the hilarious card and the Dr. Pepper lounging pants :-). You're an AWESOME friend and I love you to death. Thanks for all you do for me. To my daughter, Briyanna, for the BEAUTIFUL & thoughtful letter that you wrote me. I love you bunches and bunches. To Markell for the beautiful wall hanging and for your framed, SUPER HANDSOME school picture. I love it and I love YOU. And to all of you who sent cards and the wonderful birthday wishes. You ALL mean the world to me.

Friday Flower Fix & CELEBRATIONS

Hey ya'll...Happy Friday.

Once again, I'm in a time crunch. I've gotta take advantage of the alone time I have right now to start decorating for Jayla's Luau tomorrow.

First of all, I just came from the cutest Native American celebration at Jayla's school. I'll share the pictures and more details on that later on this weekend.

Second, here's your Friday Flower Fix. Let's just say I'm giving these to myself as a birthday present :-).

And speaking of which, I will be another year older by the time I speak with you again. How exciting. Tonight, my hubby and I are going on a nice evening out to dinner to celebrate my 41st birthday.

Then tomorrow, at 2pm the party will begin!!! Jayla's Hawaiian Luau is tomorrow and I think I'm just as excited at she is.

SOOOO, with that, I leave you for now so I can go get some decorating done. Lord knows I don't wanna be running around (even more than normal) like a crazy woman tomorrow :-).

I hope ya'll have a WONDERFUL weekend. Love you all! Toodles!!!

C'mon...it's PARTY TIME!!!

Mornin everyone!

I don't have much time this morning, so I'll try and be brief. (Oh, stop CHEERING!!)

How bout a little breakdown of what's going on these days:

~Monday, I worked at Jayla's school. And I now have a new child to work with. Remember the one who liked to sneeze and cough all over me? Well, she has been moved to another group. Honestly, I can't say that I'm sad about that. :-) I got a new kid in my group so now I've got 3 boys. They're great kids. The new one, however, is a little class clown. I asked him what his name was (even though I already know it) and he says, "Just call me Turkey!" :-) Ok, Turkey it is. Then he decides that he likes the name "Mailbox" better. ANYWAY, I could see, rather quickly, that I was gonna have my work cut out for me with him. But I can handle it. Little does Mr. Turkey Mailbox know, that he'll be sitting next to me next week. Kids this age are so silly...and so CORNY!! :-)
~Tuesday...what did I do on Tuesday? Huh...I dunno! I THINK I went to the grocery store, but I can't remember.
~Yesterday, I met with my friend, Laura for lunch. Laura is taking a class on Multicultruralism. She's take classes to be a counselor. ANYWAY, she needed to "interview" friends of hers that were in a different ethnic group than her. I was her first "subject". It was REALLY interesting. And I think we actually opened eachothers eyes to some things. It's amazing what we take to be the "norm" in our own cultures. I'll have to get more info from her on our interview and I'll give you more insight. But until then, trust me, it was interesting. AND...she bought me lunch! :-). And last night was my weekly Girls Night. We had a BALL!!! No one was really interested in scrapbooking, so we just sat around and talked, laughed and ate (DUH!). Then we played a board game. SO much fun!!! I think we're gonna do that more often.
~Today, I'm going to get my hair done (finally). My daughter is giving me this hair appt as a birthday gift. How sweet, huh? I like to look pretty when I can. :-)
~Tomorrow, I will be working at Jayla's school again. They are having a Native American Day. Not sure what all they'll be doing, but I'm gonna help out. Hmmm, wonder what Mr. Turkey Mailbox will be up to for this event? :-) Then, tomorrow after I pick Jayla up from school, a friend of hers is picking her up to go to a birthday party/movie. THEN, tomorrow evening, my hubby and I are going to dinner for my birthday. We'll be going to the same place we went to last year. Talk about YUMMY!!! Can't wait for that!!
~THEN on Saturday, ALL of my birthday party planning will come to a head. I've been crazily working on making Jayla's Hawaiian Luau just perfect for her. I can't WAIT for it to all come together and to celebrate her turning 6 years old. I'll be sure to take pictures and share them with you. Saturday is also MY 41st birthday!!! I can't believe how quickly my 40th year went by. And last, but not least, I will hopefully be meeting up with Lynilu on Saturday evening. She called me last night and she sounds SO sweet! Just like I thought she would. I'll keep ya'll posted on that front too.

WELL...that's about it for me. I've gotta go get ready for my "prettin up" appointment :-). I hope you guys enjoy the rest of your week and have a GREAT weekend. And remember...

BE INSPIRED...I AM!!!

WHEW!!! What a weekend!

Hey ya'll! Happy VETERANS DAY!!

SOOOO, how was ya'lls weekends? I'm sure some of you have already updated your blogs with the answer to this question. But obviously, I haven't read them yet :-). But I'm gettin to it.

Anyhoo, I've got quite a bit to share with ya'll. So grab a snack, a Dr. Pepper (get one for me too, wouldja?) and get comfy. Cuz this could be a long one.

Ok, you comfy?

Good! Let's get started, shall we?

Well, we left for Fayetteville on Friday evening around 5:30 or so....along with half the people on the NW side of Georgia. So needless to say, we got into a little traffic. We finally made it to the hotel...which was brand spankin new. VERY nice and clean. Gotta love that. I checked us in then we headed right back out to meet up with everyone else for dinner. Of course we get there and they're all just about done. So we got ours to go...nuthin like eating buffalo wings in a nice clean hotel room :-). And before we go any further, here's the first of many photo's I'll be sharing. These are for you, Cheryl!

This little girl could not get to the hotel fast enough. She had a HORRIBLE case of the AWTY's (Are We There YET's!) And this hotel being only 1 month old made for SUPERB jumping beds. She's seriously enjoying this new "tradition".

Everyone is all settled in their rooms and the head coach advises us that one of the rooms of boys doesn't have adult supervision. So who do they call on? The assistant coach, of course. ARGH!!! So it wasn't bad enough that I had to sleep alone the first night in a nice big comfy bed. But my poor husband had to sleep with 4 teenaged boys. Not sure who got the worst of that deal...me or Marque :-). Me and Jayla spent some nice mother/daughter time though. She watched a movie on one of the flat panel TV's that were in the room (SWEET!!) and I read my new scrapbook magazine. Life is good!!!

The next day, we had to get up around 7:15 and get all the boys together so they could eat a light breakfast before their 1st game. It is SO much fun to round up and keep quiet, 16 soccer players...SO MUCH FUN!!! Anyhoo...we made our 13 mile trek to the fields so now, LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!

The boys played really well in their first game. However, we didn't take away the "W". BUT...we didn't take the "L" either. We tied our first game 2 - 2. Not bad. So at this point, we are in first place in our division with the team we just played, hmmm. The next game wasn't until 2:30pm so after eating a light lunch, this is how the boys spent their time:

Playing keep away with the soccer ball. And this is how Coach Juan and Coach Marque spent THEIR time between games...

Running their mouths...errr, I mean discussing how the boys played in the first game and how they NEED to play in the next one.

And this is how Coach Juan's daughter, Ashlee spent some of her time between games...

Now SHE's got the right idea. :-)


Ok, let's take a break for a minute...must be picture of Ashlee that's got me thinking about a nap :-). But check this picture out...

This is the kind of day we were blessed with for the tournaments. Actually, it was like this both days. The sky was a BEAUTIFUL shade of blue with gorgeous, wispy, feather like clouds. AND...not one, but TWO rainbows! Not sure if you can see them here...but they're there....


See, our good friend Mr. Rick and the girls see it... lol!


Ok, back to our regularly schedule soccer games :-). You guys, the 2nd game was SO exciting!!! I can't even explain it to you! I have to say, this has got to be the most exciting game I've ever seen the boys play.

Just look at that...doesn't that game look exciting??? LOL I know, this is a terrible shot. But I was trying to show what a great view of the field we had. We sat up on this hill and the view was perfect. Anyway. we won this game 2 - 0! YAY, Stingrays!!! BUT...isn't there always a "BUT!"? Remember, the team we were tied with for first place? Well, they won their 2nd game too! Guess what the score was? NO...GUESS!!! That's right, 2 -0! ARGH!!!


Oh, I forgot to mention, just before the 2nd game, the man who the soccer complex was named after came to watch us play. Not only is he the owner of the land, but he's the great uncle of one of our players. So the boys took a picture with him and gave him their winning game ball.


Ok, now where was I?


Oh yeah, we are still neck 'n neck with this other team. So, that's not a terrible thing, is it? Tell ya what, let's go celebrate!!! You want Mexican? SWEET...me too! So off we go to LaFrontera. Table for 40 please!!! Oh and we need the bill to be split up too. Thanks a bunch!!! :-)


Don'tcha just love live (Mexican) entertainment? I don't! But who am I? There was a guy there that sang and played the guitar for us and I must say, he was really good. So much so that the boys decided they wanted to dance...
:-)...like I said, we had a small party of only FORTY people. We had such a good time and the food was so yummy. I guess it's safe to say now that I DO like Mexican food. I have yet to meet a Jajita that I don't like :-).

It took us FOREVER to get out this restaurant. For some ODD reason, they had a hard time "cipherin" the bill. But we got it worked out. Fortunately, the hotel we stayed in was walking distance from the restaurant. So some of the parents walked the boys back so they could partake in the indoor pool.

We get back to the hotel after dinner and our room key doesn't work. Marque takes the keys down to the desk to see if they can reprogram them. Still, not working. After about 6 - 8 trips back and forth to re-key the keys, the desk person decides to just give us the master key so we can get in our room. You should've seen me and Jayla sitting in the hallway outside our room. NOPE, didn't get a picture of that...my camera was in the ROOM!!! I know we sat out there for about 20 minutes. Anyway, to make this part of the story short...we constantly had issues with our room key...to the tune of having them re-key it (to no avail) about 10 - 12 times.

Ok, back to the story. We finally get into our room and I'm about to give Jayla a bath. I run her water then I sit at the desk to check my email while she splashes around for a bit. When she got in the tub, the water was about waist high to her sitting down. A few minutes later, I go in to wash her and ALL but about 1.5 inches of the water is GONE!!! LOL That chick didn't even tell me that the water was draining...she said she didn't notice (insert rolling eyes here). After her bath, this is how Jayla and her daddy spent the evening...
Reading her Backyardigans book. I think we were both glad to have daddy back in our room with us.

Ok, ok...I'm almost done. NOW, going into Sunday's game, we were still neck and neck with the team we played first on Saturday. We both played at the same time on Sunday, so it was hard to keep up with how they were doing. Anyway, attempting to make a long story even shorter...we lost :-(. It was SO sad. But again, those boys played their BUTTS off! Our tournament is now over. But check out what the coaches presented the boys with for having such a great season:

However, our league, Cobb FC was very well represented at these games. There were 7 Cobb FC teams playing and of those 7, 5 of them won in their bracket. So all in all...we did very well. We even hung around the fields to watch 2 of our other teams play and in turn, receive their trophies.

Ok, I think that's all I've got for now. Oh, look at how Jayla and the other girls spent their time after the 2nd game:

These girls know how to have fun :-). And speaking of fun, how bout we end this post with one more fun photo? This is a "special edition" for you, Cheryl. :-)
I think Jayla and I have started a REAL tradition. Gracie and Ashlee couldn't believe, that not only did I let them jump on our bed...I took a picture of them doing it :-).

Well, there you have it. What a weekend, huh? And I didn't even mention us going to dinner last night on the way home and having totally CRAPPY service, did I? And I'm not gonna either....

Ya'll have a great day and I'm sure I'll be talkin to ya later this week. Thanks for all your support of the Stingrays! TOODLES!!