From: Me To: All of You!

I know you are all celebrating this wonderful day with your families & friends, and you don't want to waste too much of your time on the computer today. However, I wanted to take a minute to wish you all, from my family to yours a....

I'll be back to chat with you in a day or so. But in the meantime, I'd like to leave you with my favorite Christmas song. I hope you all enjoy it.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmaKSpTIJzI&feature=related


And again,

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!

He REALLY likes me!

Hey ya'll!

As promised, this is my follow up post from Friday. Oh my, where do I begin? You remember...Mister M and I celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary this weekend?

Well, let's see...we went straight to the hotel and after turning down the wrong room (it had twin beds in it. Who can celebrate 20 years of marriage with twin beds? WE can't! LOL) Anyway, they took care of that for us. We got all settled in and planned to just chill out for a bit before leaving for dinner. However, as Mister M. was unloading his pockets before lying across the bed to watch a little TV, he noticed that he didn't have his wallet. Hmm, that won't work at dinner tonight! Well, you guessed it, he had to drive all the way back home to get it. Thank GOODNESS we changed our hotel reservations from the downtown location to one about 20 minutes from home. He was convinced that he'd be back in plenty of time for us to leave for dinner at 6:45 (it was about 5 minutes to 6 when he left the hotel). I watched a little TV after he left and felt myself getting a little sleepy. So I thought it might be best if I went ahead and started getting myself together. I was all dressed an ready to go around 6:30. But my "date" still hadn't made it back yet. (Our reservations were for 7:15, mind you.). Anyway, he makes it back around 10 til 7. I called the restaurant to tell them that we'd be a little late. No worries! We arrived at 7:25...that wasn't too bad, huh?

We walk right in and they've got our table ready. Oh my goodness, they had us all set up in a quaint little dark corner of the restaurant. It was BEAUTIFUL! And on the table was a card and a dozen roses. We had obviously just missed Briyanna's sneaky delivery :-). She's a sweetheart! Thanks Bri!! The card was beautiful and the roses were simply gorgeous.

How bout a photo break?

See the roses? :-)

We totally enjoyed our meal...as always. And at an almost awkward pause between bites, I feel that I can wait no longer. I'd waited almost 2 months already to give my sweetie his gift. I LOVE to surprise people. So I was actually pretty proud of myself that I'd waited as long as I did. See the little Chinese food take out box on the table? That's the box I put his gift in. So cute! And once he showed that he was extremely happy with his surprise, he said, "Well, thanks, I LOVE it, but I didn't get you anything!" :-) Then he smiled and reached into a pocket of his jacket and pulled out a black velvet box. Check out what we gave eachother...

It still just makes me smile to see these. Aren't the beautiful?? For a few years now we've talked about upgrading our wedding rings. So we figured our 20th anniversary was the perfect time to do just that. Back in May, we'd actually gone to look at rings and Mister M. picked this one out for me. I was a blubbering MESS when he surprised me and put a deposit down on it :-). I can't say that I'd totally forgotten about it. But I was STILL very surprised when I saw it on Friday night. YES...I cried...AGAIN!!! I just LOVE it. And thankfully, he loves his too. He had no idea that I'd gotten one for him. As we'd talked about getting one for him some other time. So needless to say, I was happy to be able to get it for him on my own.

Anyway, here are a few more pix from that night.

After dinner, we just drove around downtown for a while. I love this time of year. Everything is all lit up and things are just so pretty and festive. But when you have some good company, all is perfect.

Once we ran out of places to look at, we headed back to the hotel. But not to worry, I won't give details about the rest of our evening, LOL. EXCEPT to say that we had some REALLY LOUD neighbors! Oh my GOSH!! These people were like rabbits! Ok, enough about that, lol.

It was so nice to be able to sleep in on Saturday. I think we got up around 10:30 or so. I mean, we needed the sleep...our neighbors kept waking us up throughout the night :-). After we checked out, we went to breakfast and to take my ring back over to the jewelry store for sizing. Fortunately, they do everything in house. So within a few hours, I had my beautiful ring back. After breakfast we headed back downtown to walk around Atlantic Station. I'll tell ya, there's nothing like casually strolling around, hand in hand with the one you love, and with no particular place to go or be. The weather was beautiful and the crowds were minimal. We looked in a few stores and just enjoyed eachothers company.

This is the giant Christmas Tree in the center of Atlantic Station.

Anyway, the weekend was beautiful and I totally enjoyed my anniversary celebration with the man of my dreams. Can't wait to see what the next 20 years holds for us!

Toodles!!

Taking "us" time to celebrate...

I thought I'd better jump on here and do a quick post before another week got by me.
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Well, tomorrow is Mister M's last day at work for 2008. He is FINALLY taking some much needed time off. I'm not going to know how to act with him being home with me for 2+ weeks. But I'm excited though. Next week he'll even get to see how much time I actually spend at Jayla's school :-).
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Shortly after Jayla gets home from school tomorrow, Mister M. and I are heading to a hotel for the night. And then tomorrow evening, we're going out to dinner for our anniversary at our favorite restaurant. Yep, I said our ANNIVERSARY! It seems like I just did a post about that very event not so long ago. Although all of our anniversaries are special, this year is REALLY going to be. Our actual anniversary is on Wednesday the 17th. And this year we're celebrating 20 years of marriage! WHEW!!! Where did the time go?
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Jayla will be spending the evening and Saturday here with her Grandma. And from what Jayla says (thinks), she and Grandma have big plans, lol. Jayla has it in her head that she and mom will be going bowling (mom doesn't drive and doesn't know how to bowl, mind you.) and doing eachothers nails and you know, just "girl bonding" time :-). Mom seemed a little surprised this morning when I asked her about their plans. She wasn't aware of ANY of it :-). But she did say that them doing eachothers nails and the "girl time" will definitely happen. All I have to say about that is...60 second drying time nail polish! :-).
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Back to the anniversary celebration for a moment...when we get back sometime Saturday evening, I HOPE to have something very special to share with you. So check back for that.
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I know it's been a while since I've given you guys a Flower Fix, so how bout I do that now?
And last, but definitely not least, I'd like to end my post today with a special tribute. On Sunday, December 7th, this little girl had a birthday.
Isn't she the cutest little chubby thing? Well look at her now....

Simply gorgeous! My oldest baby, Briyanna turned 24 years old on Sunday. Happy Birthday sweetie, I love you and I'm SOOO proud of you! Keep up the good work.

That's it for now. I'll be talking to you guys soon. Have a great weekend...I know I will!!! :-)

Water, water, everywhere...

Hello everyone!!
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I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I trust you all consumed the proper amounts of turkey, ham, dressing, cranberry sauce and ALL the other fixins. Well, I sure did. But fortunately, I didn't get miserably full...this year :-).
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Thankfully, our drive to Mobile, Alabama was an uneventful one and our visit with family was great fun...at a minimum.
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This year, due to "generational growth spurts", we had Thanksgiving dinner at a local church hall. We had the use of a HUGE kitchen in which to stage the yummy food and plenty of eating space for the fam.
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There was quite a bit of time to kill prior to dinner. So Mister M. and I took our girls for a walk down to the bay. How bout a few pix?

Mister M. & the girls on their way to the bay.

One of many shells Jayla found.

Driftwood is so pretty. Just thought I'd share :-).

Our girls (and baby Anna).

Mister M. & the girls.

Me & the girls.

Big Sis showing Lil Sis a shrimp boat out in the bay.

Me & Mister M. checking out what's left of the bay after years of hurricane damage.

Briyanna SAYS she wasn't posing, lol.

"LOOK Mommy, more shells!"

Mister M, doing his part...making sure all the shells are placed back in the sea :-).

Again, Bri SAYS she wasn't posing. But what a cool picture, huh?

Baby Anna wants to take in some sites too. That, and Jayla was tired of holding her :-).

One more shot before going back for dinner.
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By the time we made it back to the hall, several family members had arrived. And by the time everyone got there, I'd say there were about 40+ people. We have so many good cooks in our family. And oh my goodness, there was SO much food! All of it was yummy too :-).

Here's my mom taking a break from hosting, to spend some time with Baby Anna. You wouldn't believe what a conversation starter this doll was. Several people thought she was real :-).
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Well, like I said, a great time was had by all. Other than getting to see some family I haven't seen in a while, I'd have to say my favorite part of this trip was how slow paced it was. Usually, we spend so much time running around visiting folks, shopping, etc. That we really don't have time to just BE. We got to do a lot of that this time. Gotta love it.
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SO...we get back home on Saturday evening and all was well on the homefront. Or so we THOUGHT. After we get home, we get settled and head to bed early, as we planned on going to church on Sunday. I think, over the past 4 days, we'd gotten use to sleeping in. So needless to say, we kinda slept right through church, OOPS!!!
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Later on Sunday afternoon, I try to get on my computer and there seems to be a problem with the network. So Mister M. goes to the basement to reset some stuff....ONLY to be greeted by...(drumroll please)...SQUISHY CARPET!
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YEP...you guessed it...our hot water heater decided it would, ahem...relieve itself all over our basement! Although my mother in law has been home the entire time we'd been gone, she had no idea what had happened. Therefore, we have no idea how long we've had this constant leak of water. But it's been a couple days at the least. ARGH!!! I've always wanted a pool...just not in my newly finished basement.
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Oh well, it is what it is. So as of TODAY, and about 900 unexpected $$'s later, we are the proud new owners of a brand new hot water heater!
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Well, that's all I've got for now. I need to get to bed so that I can TRY and get up on time tomorrow. I mean SO WHAT I was supposed to be at the school to help sell Chick Fil A biscuits at 7am! SO WHAT Jayla has to be at school by 7:50am! And SO WHAT we overslept this morning until 7:27am!
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But that's another story.....

Happy Thanksgiving...EARLY!

Hey ya'll!

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Well, here I go again, being such a slacker. Boy, I sure hope those of you who I use to check in on regularly haven't totally disowned me! I just KNEW that once school started back, I'd have more time to update my blog and read everyone elses blog. Well, no such luck!

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I think this year, I've been at Jayla's school more than I was when she was in kindergarten. But I feel like I have just as much work to do. I dunno! Sounds like I'm just fishing for excuses. I'm not...but it just sounds like it. I DO miss you guys and I PROMISE that I'll get back to reading up on everyone.

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HOWEVER, that ain't gonna happen THIS week! On Tuesday, we're heading to my moms house in Mobile, Alabama. And we will return next Saturday. So needless to say, I'll be away from the computer during that time.

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ANYWAY, what have you guys been up to lately? Anything fun and exciting? OH...nevermind, don't tell me...I'll just read your blogs...DUH! lol

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Alrighty, so since I updated last, my baby girl has had a birthday. Jayla turned 7 years old on Thursday, the 20th. Check her out before she went to school that day...

As you know, soccer season is officially over for us until the Spring. However, we still needed to have the end of season party for the big boys. WELL, Barcelona, our U16 team decided that they wanted to have their party here. And since their coaches are "boys" too...they were all for it, lol.

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The only day that everyone had available to get together was Thursday night. Which, as I mentioned, happened to be Jayla's birthday. So, SOMEhow, all of the boys and our waitress got wind of this being Jayla's birthday. And within a few minutes, some waitresses called Jayla up to the front of the restaurant, announces that she's turning SEVEN, had her stand up on a chair and proceeded to sing a birthday song to her. The restaurant erupted with clapping and cheering. But none louder than our fun loving soccer team :-). Jayla had the biggest grin on her face and as they helped her down off the chair she says, (rather loudly, I might add), "Aww MAN! That was AWESOME!!!" Nothing like taking your SEVEN year old DAUGHTER to a good, wholesome, FAMILY restaurant such as Hooters!! What a proud moment....

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In an effort to redeem myself and my family :-), Jayla had her REAL party yesterday. And for the record, we had her party at the same restaurant that wanted to charge us $766 to cater. I think it goes without saying that we came NO where remotely close to that amount. Anyway, here are a few pix from Jayla's Mexican Fiesta.

Happy Birthday, sweet girl!!

I have something funny to show you. The other day, I'd stepped out of my craft room for a few minutes. When I came back, check out what I found...

YEP...she's asleep! She had crawled into my room, strategically placed herself under my chair and fell asleep. That silly goose! ~
Welp, that's about all I have for today. As I mentioned, we'll be leaving for my moms on Tuesday. And you know what that means...tomorrow is laundry and packing day.
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Lastly, I neglected my Flower Fix duties...AGAIN last week. So here ya go...


So, before I go, I want to take a moment to wish you and your families a HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!! I hope you guys have safe travels if you're going somewhere and have a wonderful time with your friends & family. Oh, and don't eat too much :-).
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Toodles!!!

Happy, Happy, HAPPY and a Birthday Too!!

Hey ya'll!

I am HAPPY today!!!

I know, I should be happy EVERY day...and for the most part, I am. But I'm really happy today. More of a "proud" happy, actually.

Let's recap, shall we?

Dawn is happy today because...last weekend (11/8) our U14 Stingrays played AWESOME in the "Turkey" tournament. This tournament wasn't the BIG one for the fall. It was merely a pick up tournament to get them ready for the Kohl's Cup (the BIG tournament). They won 2 of the 3 games they played in the Turkey tournament. But again, played GREAT!!! NOW, they are ready...

Dawn is happy today because...the little Stingrays had their end of season party and received their cute little trophies. I think they're all glad the season is over...for now :-). We're all ready for a break.

Dawn is happy today because...this past weekend was the Kohl's Cup soccer tournament...the BIG one for the Fall. And not only did our U14 Stingrays win EVERY game AND were the CHAMPIONS of the U14 division. Our other team, the U16 Barcelona team also won ALL of their games and were the CHAMPIONS in THEIR division! YAY!!!

How COOL is that? Well, let me answer that for you...it's not NEAR as cool, ahem, as COLD as it was sitting out on those fields watching the games this weekend. Oh my GOSH, it was RIDICULOUS!! I'd never seen so many gloves, scarves, hats, longjohns and hot chocolate cups in one place in my entire SOCCER LIFE!!! :-) But it was so worth it because both of our teams won.

And lastly,

Dawn is happy today because...I have made it through another year. Today is my 42nd birthday!! It was so cool to have Jayla singing to me this morning when I woke her up. Then, when I checked my voicemail, I had another singing message from my dad. Gotta love it!!! And my dear friend, Stacey, gave me a really cute card and a sweet gift. I just love her! My other friend, Lisa F., gave me a big ole bag of Dr. Pepper flavored Jelly Belly's. My friends are GREAT!! :-).
Welp, that's about all I've got for today. But since I neglected my Flower Fix duties on Friday, how bout we end with that?

Toodles!!

Who woulda thunk it???

WARNING...WARNING...Photo dump site! :-)

Oh my goodness...SOO much has been going on since my last posting. And not just with me and my family either.

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Let's break it down a bit, shall we?

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First of all, let's back this train up and talk about last week.

*Last Monday at Jayla's school, we started selling Chick Fil A biscuits to students and to parents as they dropped the kids off in the morning. So that was a fun undertaking. We will do this every Monday during the school year, and that makes me very happy. Now, not only will I get my CFA fix every Monday, but some of the money I'm paying goes towards purchasing better technology for the school. SWEET!

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And on a funny note about the biscuit sales, we decided to donate the few biscuits we had left over to a local police/fire department. So I drive over to the P.D. and tell the officer at the desk that I'm there from my daughters school and I have a cooler 1/2 full with CFA biscuits that I'd like to donate to them. He then tells me that he can't leave the desk to come help me get it out of my car, but he'll send one of the inmates to help me.

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SCREEECH.....WHAT? One of the INMATES? Uh, no worries there officer, I've got it!!! LOL. By now, he has gotten back on the phone. So I take this opportunity to go get the cooler myself; you know, before he has time to get my "helper". I struggle and groan and fight my way back to the lobby with this big heavy cooler all before he gets off the phone :-). Anyway, another officer has now come up and the first officer tells him that I've got biscuits for them. So he lets me in and leads me to their break room. And before I leave, I tell him to make sure he lets the firefighters know about the drop off too. (I've heard police officers can be greedy, lol). Anyway, I went on my way with them telling me that they'd see me tomorrow...I don't think so!!! :-)

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*On Wednesday, me and my friends had our weekly Girls Night Out. And for some strange reason, I let these women talk me into dressing up in honor of the upcoming "night of fright" on the 31st. Before I go any further, let the records show that I do NOT dress up for Halloween. It's only been over the past couple of years that I even allow the kids to dress up. Anyway, as long as it's nothing scary or "demonic", it's all in fun.

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So, I'm sure you're wondering what my costume looked like, aren't you? Check THIS out :-D.

Ok, see if you can find me in this crowd of lovely women....

For those of you who are having a hard time picking me out, how bout a close up...

Too close? Sorry bout that! LOL

Ok, let me explain...like I said, I don't do the "dress up" thing. I have embarrassment issues. But I was starting to feel the pressure. Soooo, I kinda took the easy way out. I put on my jammies, my warm cozy spa robe, rolled up the ole hair and threw on a beauty mask for my close up! THIS WAY...when I get home, all I have to do is jump in the bed, right? Well that was the plan. But this little "get up" got a little warm. Not to mention, I cannot sleep in hair rollers, so I took those out. The beauty mask was simply Oil of Olay, so I just rubbed that in. Boy, was my face soft that night, lol. Anyway, we had fun.

*Mister M. and I went to a get together with some of his/our high school friends. We met up here for dinner. YUMMY!! We always love getting together with these guys. Here's a couple pix from that evening.

*Last week was kinda uneventful. Well, all except for my dress coming in. Remember the dress I showed you guys a few posts back? Well it's here. And I must say, I was a little nervous about it. The closer I got to the dress shop, the "nervouser" I got, lol. I started to 2nd guess myself, wondering if I'd made the right design and color choice. I quickly arrived at the conclusion that I was more excited about seeing the dress than I was about seeing it ON ME. But all is well. It's beautiful. More on that later.

*As I mentioned, we allowed Jayla to dress up for Halloween this year. And just like the past few years, our neighborhood had the annual hayride for the kids. I think it goes without saying that Jayla was adorable. But how bout some pix, so you can judge for yourself...

Ladies & Gentleman, it is my pleasure to introduce you to....
I know, I know...she looks a little different than most of you may remember. But she's cute, ain't she? LOL
And yes people, Wonder Woman does have to stop and "fuel up" sometimes. And what is her delicacy of choice?
PIZZA!! :-)

*On Saturday, Jayla was invited to a birthday party for her good friend (teammate), Gracie. Gracie had a Rock Star party. Talk about cute. They asked that all the girls dress up like a rock stars and there would be tons of fun "rock starish" things to do. Such as making your own lotion, making your own lip gloss, making flavored pixie sticks, Karaoke, photo ops and make-overs. The girls had a BLAST!!
The VIP's.... All made up....

Jayla and the birthday star...
"The small print"...I had a little bit of an issue with the whole make-up thing. Honestly, I don't like make-up on little girls. They are only this young and innocent for a short while. But this time, I allowed Jayla to join in the fun...you know, kind of a "when in Rome" moment :-). She looked really cute though...especially after I hosed her down when we got home, LOL.

*And now for my "Who woulda thunk it" portion of this post.....

"NUFF SAID!!!!!"

Wooo Hoo!!!

Have an awesome weekend!