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!!

Friday Flower Fix & I'm outta here for the weekend

Happy FRIDAY!!!

Oh my goodness, it's already 20 minutes to 3pm and I'm JUST now getting to my post. Where did the day go? Well, in a nutshell, this is what I've been up to today:

took Jayla to school, took a quick nap until 8:45am :-), checked my email, took my MIL for a 10am Dr. appt., dropped MIL back off at home at 11am (LOVE those quick Dr. visits), stopped at Chick Fil A, made a U-turn/went BACK to CFA (they forgot to give me my fries), went to Archivers for flowers...oh gimme a break, it was a scrapbook emergency!! :-D (ran into Colleen while I was there), went to Target to exchange some sweatpants for the hubby, went to Publix to grab a few items for my MIL, brought the items home, checked/replied to emails, picked Jayla up from school and NOW...I'm home updating my blog. WHEW!!!

I forgot to add that, after I finish with this, I've gotta finish packing. Yep, they finally put me out! :-) Nah, just kidding. We're heading to Fayetteville, Ga for the Kohl's soccer tournament .

ARGH...I'd better hurry...I act like I don't have anything else to do. But before I go, I want to show you something. It seems that nowadays, everyone (blogger) has more than one hobby that they enjoy. Some of you knit, some sew, some make cards/scrapbook, etc. So I thought it was time I share something that I've been working on lately. I've been making/decorating canvas totebags. Here's two of my own that I've done. I'm still kinda new at this craft. But I'm really enjoying it. And I must say, the part that I'm enjoying the best is...I've actually been HAND sewing zippers into these bags, I don't like for my bags/purses to hang open (didn't take a picture of the zippers, so you'll have to trust me). I'm actually thinking about making these as teachers gifts for Christmas too. That's a good idea, right?

Anyhoo, these are the only 2 I've done thus far. I bought a red bag yesterday and I can't wait to decorate that one. I'll be sure to share that with you once I'm done.

Ok, now it's time for your Friday Flower Fix...you guys are so patient :-)...I just love that about you.

You know how I love Tulips. So I thought these were beautiful to end the week with.

I'm not sure if I'm gonna be able to update over the weekend. But if I am, I'll keep you posted on our standings in the tournament. Anyway, hope ya'll have a groovy weekend. I'll be talking to you soon. And don't forget...Be Inspired...I AM!!!

The Three Amigas

Hello again everyone. I know, I just posted last night (make sure you read it, it's pretty funny)...But it was recently brought to my attention that I forgot to share something with ya'll yesterday. (Thank God for 5 year olds!) Jayla just reminded me that I forgot to show "ALL my friends...especially the ones IN my computer", :-D this picture.

Ok, now HOW STINKIN CUTE are they??? I absolutely LOVE this picture. Ashlee (Amiga #1) is Jayla's head coaches daughter. She and Jayla have been buddies since they were 2 years old. Ashlee will be 7 years old in March. Gracie (Amiga #2) is the daughter of our team photographer, Miss Trish. Miss Trish takes some AWESOME photos! Check her out here if you're interested in seeing some of her work. Gracie & her brother are models and have done few commercials and the like. Oh, and both Ashlee and Gracie have brothers that play with the big Stingrays. Now you all know Jayla (Amiga #3)! :-) I love the look on her face, lol.

Check out their cute little soccer necklaces...I made those for the entire team.

Anyway, my job is done. I've shared the Three Amigas photo. Hope ya'll enjoy it. I'm off to get the emissions checked on my van. Good thing the government doesn't have stipulations about the amount of dirt on a single vehicle....LOL. Ya'll have a groovy day!

Out of the mouths of babes....

Hey ya'll!

Before I get into this post, I just have to share something with you. Remember in my last post I made mention of the field trip we went on on Thursday of last week? Does "make shift" pumpkin patch ring a bell? Well, I found one of the pictures I took of it. Check this out...

Can you believe they insulted the kids like this? But I will say this, at least this one, unlike last years, had a sign above it...you know, to give us an idea of what it's SUPPOSED to be, LOL.

Anyhoo....the Lil Stingrays had their EOS party on Friday night. They played really well at their game too...probably because they knew that cake and Chick Fil A was soon to follow. Here's a picture of Coach Daddy presenting Jayla with her trophy.
He always has a cute little speech and his favorite *memory* from the season. He's starting to figure out that he's in this coaching gig for the long haul...we think Jayla's a lifer! :-)LOL

This is a close up of the trophies the Lil Stingrays received. Pretty cool, huh? This makes #7!

From what I'm told...THIS is the proper way to eat a cupcake. Just put your pursed lips directly into the middle of the icing...smear it all over your mouth. Then give the cake part to your daddy, LOL.

Oh, I almost forgot, the big Stingrays ended their season with another win. WOO HOO!!! They won 3 - 1! This season turned out a heck of a lot better than we expected. After the first game and their first win, one of the coaches told the parents not to expect many wins as this was the boys' first season in U14. Well, needless to say, he had to eat his words, lol. But he happily did so. We ended the season in 2nd place with an 8 - 2 record. Not too shabby!! We'll be leaving for a tournament on Friday afternoon and we'll return on Sunday. So I'll keep ya'll posted on how they do. GO STINGRAYS!!!

Well, let's see, what else has been going on? OH...I have 2 little Jayla stories to share with you. One was a super sweet moment and the other was...well I'll let you decide :-).

~Last night, we were all about to sit down for dinner, and Jayla asked if she could say the grace. She and Markell used to fight over this every night. How cool is that? Kids fighting over who would say the blessing. Anyway, last night, Jayla asked if she could say it. Normally, she says the basic, "God is great, God is good....." prayer. And we thought that's what she'd do this time. But she caught ALL of us off guard. It went a little something like this: "Dear God, thank you for my mommy and my daddy. Thank you for making them love me so much and for me loving them. Thank you for my family. And I love them. Thank you for this dinner and for making it good for us to eat. Amen!" Oh my goodness, you guys...I was in TEARS! It was SO sweet. It was another minute or so before we started eating, as we were all praising her on how well she did and how sweet she is. I love that little girl.

And now...the "other" side of that sweet little GIRL! :-)

~This past Friday, I was helping Jayla get ready for school. I was in the process of tucking her shirt into her jeans, when out of the blue she says: "HEY...watch the nuts!!" LOL My mouth just dropped opened and she busted out laughing. All I could say was, 'Where in the WORLD did you get that from?" She couldn't remember, (yeah RIGHT!) But she did mention something about the Stingrays. LOL (Note: after each game, Jayla likes to run across the field to go see her daddy. Normally, the boys are horsing around amongst themselves and with Coach Marque. So I'm 99% sure, she "overheard" one of them say that)

Ok, I think that's it for one day. Jayla was home today for a teachers work day and will be tomorrow too. So needless to say, I'm a little tapped out today :-). So I'll leave you with 2 cute/random pix of my girl.

The last picture of her isn't that great. But the outfit is TOO STINKIN CUTE! My dad and his girlfriend, Gwen, bought this for Jayla for her birthday last year. It was WAY too big then and this is the first time she's worn it. I LOVE it!!!

Ya'll enjoy your week and I'll holla atcha later. TOODLES!!!

Birthday shout out, Not a BIT scary!!! Just plain ole CUTE!!! & Friday Flower Fix

Happy Friday everyone!!!

Before I get into this potentially long post, how bout a birthday shout out? Ya'll know Adrienne, right? Well, today is her birthday. Please join me in wishing Adrienne the happiest of birthdays. HAPPY BIRTHDAY Adrienne! Hope you have an AWESOME day!!!

Ok, now it's time to *finally* share some pix of my pretty little gobblin. And for the record, she's not a BIT scary...just plain ole CUTE!!! Check her out...



Below is a little taste of how many kids were at our neighborhoods annual hayride. Can you believe all these kids live in our sub-division? And this wasn't even ALL of them. Thank goodness we have less than 100 homes, huh? :-) The kids absolutely love this. And it keeps them so safe. My neighbor, Mr. Eric, rents a trailer, hitches it to his truck and drives the kids around to collect their tasty treats. The parents just follow behind the trailer and help the kids off and and on...oh, and one lucky parent gets to rake up the hay that falls off :-).

This is just a cute picture of my neighbors dog, Midas. Hmmm, wonder what Trae wants to dress up as next year? :-)

So, now, what's next? Thanksgiving, right? I can't believe it's time to start thinking Turkey :-). And Christmas will quickly follow suit. But in the meantime, I've got a Luau to plan. I've got everything I need for little Missy's party and I'm getting really excited. The stuff I ordered should be here today or tomorrow. YAY!!! And another exciting thing that may be happening the weekend of the party is, your friend AND mine, Lynilu will be in town. I REALLY hope we're able to meet up.

Oh, I forgot to tell you, yesterday, I went on a field trip with Jayla's *K* class. We went to a makeshift pumpkin patch (yes, AGAIN!) Needless to say, the kids were a little disappointed. But fortunately, they had a lot of other fun things planned for them to do. We spent just about all day there.

Oh, and you'll love this...we were up on this deck where the kids go to have hear a story and sing songs. As we were leaving to go to our next stop on the tour, Jayla grabs my hand and says, "Uh, Mom...I have a little problem here." And one of the other kids quickly dimes her out and says, "Ooooo, Jayla's shoe came off!!!" Well, not only did her shoe "come" off...it fell into a hole and fell under the deck! You're kidding, right? "RIGHT!" Jayla says :-). But yes, she did put her foot into a hole and her shoe did fall under the deck. Oh well, nothing I can do about it right now, let's move on. Long story short, as Jayla's hopping down the bunny trail (sorry, couldn't help that one, hee hee), she's complaining about the rocks hurting her foot. Too bad for you, sweetie...let's keep it movin', kid! I caught up to the lady who read us a story and she radio's to the maintenance guy. As we're wandering through the smelly make shift petting zoo, the guy brings me Jayla's shoe. Problem solved.

And to add to our fun filled day, we spent our lunchtime multi-tasking. By that I mean, trying to eat AND fight off yellow jackets! ARGH!!! Little girls sure do scream loud!!!

Alrighty now, you know the next question...what have ya'll got planned for the weekend? Something fun I hope. Jayla has a game and her EOS party tonight. We're having the party here...do these people love me or WHAT??? :-D Then tomorrow is her last game of the season. The boys play tomorrow too, but they're not quite done yet. Tomorrow is the last day of the regular season. But we're headed to tournaments next weekend. More on that later...with some hotel bed jumping photos, just for you Cheryl :-).

And NOW, ladies and gents, here's what you've all been patiently been waiting for. The Friday Flower Fix:So pretty, huh? It's actually a wedding bouquet from a Fall wedding. Hmmm, I don't think I ever would've thought of this. But I really like it. It's perfect for the season and to end this post with.

I hope you guys have a wonderful, fun filled weekend. And I'll holla atcha soon. TOODLES!!