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!