I got me a cold!!!

Hello everyone out there in blogland! WARNING: CUTIE PIE ALERT!!! This post is "Jayla picture heavy!" ;-)

Oh my goodness, I don't know where to start this post today. I have a few things to share with you. Well, I'm a list kinda person, so maybe that's what I should do...

1. I forgot to share Jayla's 1st grade Spring picture with you. However, before I show it to you, I have to vent :-). In the Fall when the kids take pictures, you have to pay for the package in advance and PRAY that your childs class is photographed BEFORE the infamous spaghetti & meat sauce lunch, lol. We did alright in the Fall...no worries there. But in the Spring, they just sent you the package of pictures and you pay for what you want and send the rest back. Not a bad deal, huh? Well, for the past couple of years they have sent home the form for you to fill out with your childs information on it and you get to choose one of several background colors or in this years case, one of several poses. COOL!!! I chose the pose I wanted and had THE outfit picked out for Jayla - you know, the one that would show the best in the pose that I picked. Well tell me how come when we get the pictures back, it's NOT the pose I selected?!?!? Sure, it's a cute picture, but it's NOT the pose I chose. I asked Jayla about it and she said that the "picture guy" didn't even look at the form I sent with her. He just told her to go sit down and smile. So anyway, long story short, I called the photography company and lodged my complaint. ONLY to find out that I'm not the only parent to complain (this year), however, there's nothing they can do about it. Isn't it my luck that they don't do picture retakes in the Spring? There's no time! ARGH!!! Anyway, I showed them...I sent the entire package back...after I scanned one of the photos. I HAD to have a Spring picture of my daughter. But I refused to pay for something that wasn't what I wanted. Oh well, here's the picture. Her hair looked a little crazy...but she's still a cutie! ;)

2. While we're on the subject of pictures, we got our soccer pictures back a week or so after the school pictures. Now THESE, I'm happy with.

3. Last Friday the had what's called an "Author's Tea" at Jayla's school. They kids had to write a short story and they had to read it to an audience. The topic for Jayla's class was "Sea Animals". So each child had to pick a sea animal to write about. Jayla chose the Sea Lion. She says they're "really cute and really interesting!" :). For about a week, she had to practice reading her story and she did really well. There were a few words she had trouble with. But come time for the Tea, she was READY. She was so excited to be able to wear her favorite dress to school and read in front of me, grandma and the other parents. Here's her story...

It's so amazing to see how much the kids have learned over this past school year. They ALL did a wonderful job. After all the stories were read, we had cookies and, of course, tea :-). It was so cute watching all the kids running around getting eachothers autographs in their story booklets.

4. If you read my last post, you'll see that this past weekend we were in Columbus, Ga for the Georgia State Soccer Championship. Well, this is about the 5th or 6th time our U14 boys have been to this tournament. However, they've never made it to the finals. WELL...this time, things were different. Not only did they win all 3 of the games they played, but they made it to the finals on Sunday...AND WON!!! The U14 Stingrays are not only the #1 U14 team in our league, but now, the Georgia State Champions!!! WOOO HOOO!!!

As some of you may be aware, Mister M. not only coaches Jayla's U8 girls team and the U14 boys team (both affectionately named the Stingrays). But he also coaches a U16 boys team, called Barcelona. Yes...that's THREE teams! Barcelona also went to the State Championship this past weekend. So you can imagine what a busy weekend we all had keeping up with over 30 teenaged boys! Talk about FUN!!! The hotel we stayed in was also temporary lodging for a few other soccer teams as well as some softball and basketball teams. Again, talk about FUN!!! lol

Anyway, this is first time Barcelona has been to the State Championships, as this is only their 2nd season together. But they played their HYNIES off! They also made it to the finals. However, in the last 2 minutes of the final game, the opposing team scored. Which made us #2. ARGH!!! But still, being #2 in the STATE ain't too shabby! YAY BARCA!!!

5. Now about this cold...it was FREEZING in our hotel room - let's start with that! Then it was forcasted to rain all weekend. It drizzled a little and rained Saturday evening. So that was great to be able to get those games played. Being that our first games on Saturday and Sunday started at 8am, it was a little chilly outside. But the rain held off...UNTIL Barcelona's final game. About 20 minutes into the game, the sky opened up. So needless to say, we got caught in the downpour. Fortunately, we all had our umbrellas (well, except for the additional giant umbrellas that were conveniently located in the back of the van). Anyway, we got SOAKED!!! (because all I had was the little, Jayla sized umbrella.) They will only stop a tournament game if it starts lightning. SO...that's where I (think) I got my cold from.

Alrighty, I think that's all I have for now. I'm still a little tired from the busy weekend and this congestion isn't letting up. In fact, it's worse when I sit down in one spot.

Ya'll have a great rest of the week and I'll talk to you soon.

Oh, one more thing...after spending a little over $500 we FINALLY received our passports for our upcoming trip to Turks & Caicos. YIPPY!!!

See ya!