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!!

I'm comin, I'm comin!!!

Happy Sunday, everyone.

A dear friend of mine, sweetly reminded me that I was off my game, once again, with regards to updating my BLOG. Well...SKUZE ME!!! :-)

Let's see, what have I been doing since I chatted with you guys last? I had breakfast here with a few friends on Wednesday morning. Nothing like good food and great friends. And then on Friday I had breakfast at IHOP with an old high school friend. I also volunteered at Jayla's school a couple of days. Then on Friday evening, we went to a birthday party for one of Jayla's friends. We had fun watching all these little girls squeal over gifts and just having fun together.

And now, that brings us to soccer. Yesterday, Jayla had a 9am game and what a game it was. Never have I seen kids under the age of 8 talk trash! :-) It was kinda funny...well, at least until the trash talker from the other team got up in my Jayla's face! HEY NOW!!! We'll have NONE of that!! :-)

The Stingrays scored a goal and it obviously didn't sit too well with one of the girls from the other team. She starts yelling at our girl who scored and said we were cheating as well as a few other things. Then I see this same girl get up in Jayla's face and start talking smack. So at the water break, I asked Jayla what the girl had said to her. Are ya'll ready for this? Jayla told me that the girl was yelling at her and saying that she hated here. And THEN...the girl called Jayla a....LADY BUG!!! A Lady Bug! Can you believe it??? Boy, someone needs to wash that girls mouth out with liquid hand sanitizing soap, LOL.

It took everything I had not to laugh. But Jayla was SO out done by being called a "lady bug". So much so that in the next half, while the "name caller" was playing goalie, Jayla took the ball down the side of the field and sent that thing, MACH 5, right through the girls hands and into the net. BOO-YAH!!! :-) And that was just one of the 2 goals that Jayla scored. That's my girl!!!

And to end this game, the "name caller" showed great sportsgirlship, by coming over to Jayla and apologizing to her for calling her such a CRUEL name :-). I thought that was very sweet.

Our 2nd game of the day was played by Barcelona, our U16 team. Sadly, they lost 4 - 2. But played well, nonetheless. Maybe next weekend!

Lastly, was our U14 Stingrays. What a game! Despite the sucky field conditions, our boys pulled off another "W". They won 4 - 1! Woo Hoo!!!

Well, that's about it for our weekend. Not sure what's planned for the upcoming week. But I'm ready for it!!! :-). I hope you all had a great weekend and that you'll have a wonderful week. I'll be talking with ya soon.

But before I go, here's your fix....

Toodles!!

Fun with the family

Hello!

Did you guys have a nice weekend? We did. Remember, I started off my fun weekend by going to the Scrapbook Expo. But then on Saturday, we went to my sister, Kimmy's house. My nephew, Markell, has been with my mom (and her husband, Peter) in Mobile, AL for the past several weeks. On Friday, my mom & Peter brought him back to my sisters. So, we went to visit with everyone, tour my sisters new place, eat yummy food and possibly go swimming.

We got to Kimmy's house and they already had some of the food set out. Peter use to have a catering business and to this day loves to cook. So it was no surprise that he'd made this beautiful fruit tray.
The fruit was SO good. I didn't take any pictures of the other food. As I was just ready to eat :-). My mom made her special chicken salad (I finally got the recipe) and I made baked beans. There was also a bunch of other yummy things there to eat too. We all got good and full.

After dinner, we all went down to the pool. Only to find out that they were having a "neighborhood Luau". So several of the people from my sisters complex were down there. My mom said, "Shoot! We made all that food for nothing!" :-)

Here's a few poolside pix.
This is where Jayla spent most of her time...hanging onto Markell. She just loves him so much and he's so protective of her. I just love it!
Here's my mom, her husband - Peter, and my uncle (my mom's brother), Carmen.
My daughter, Briyanna was also there. We didn't know that she was coming. So it was nice when Kimmy told us she was about to go pick her up from the train station. It was good to see her. She was a little bummed that she didn't bring her swimsuit...she says she didn't know that was part of the visit :-).
And this is my favorite picture. I don't have too many of the 3 of them together. They're all so stinkin cute!

Well, that's about it for Saturday. Not much better than spending time with family and having good food to eat, is it?

On Sunday, we went to church. Then Mister M. surprised us by taking us to dinner. This place (The Atlanta Fish Market) is DEElicious!! We love seafood. So this was right up or alley :-). And the dessert...OH MY!!! Jayla and I shared the Chocolate Mousse Cake (Note to self: next time, get my own!).

Alrighty, my friends, that's all for me today. While the weather is nice, I'm gonna go take Jayla to the park. She's dying to go swing somewhere :-). Ya'll enjoy your day and I'll be talking to ya soon!!

Bring it on!!!

I am so excited, you guys. Soccer season is now in full swing. YAY!!! Now if the rain can hold off...

Saturday: The Lil Stingrays finally had their first practice. And Jayla could not have been happier. It was so sweet to see her run up to her friends, give them big hugs and ask if they were ready for some soccer :-). So what they all said, "NO!" LOL. They also got new uniforms...again. But tell me, who picks out the uniforms? The league colors are red, black and white. That's not bad, I like those colors together. But a few seasons ago, they decided to throw navy blue in the mix for all the teams under U10. Last season, wasn't so bad. They had navy shirts with red writing/logo, red shorts and red socks. And also a heather grey shirt with red writing/logo for when they were the "away" team. Still, not bad. But THIS season...they have the standard white shirt with red and black writing/logo. And the new shorts they got are really cool. They're red with white and black on the sides. So tell me WHY on EARF did they get another navy shirt? That doesn't match!!! ARGH!!! Oh well, like Mister M. said..."I guess they'll all just look tacky together." LOL

Anyway, the big Stingrays had their regular season opener on Saturday. And they won 2 - 1. YAY!!! I wasn't there, but I heard it was a great game.

Speaking of me not being there, remember I told you I was going to a show with my mom, my sister, my aunt, my SIL and several other people? Well, we went and we had such a nice time. The weather was beautiful that evening so we walked the 4 blocks to the theatre. I have another question for you though. What's the point in having reservations at a restaurant? I mean, my sister made reservations for 6:15pm. Do you know we didn't get seated until 10 minutes to 7? The show was at 8pm. So we didn't have much time to chat...for that matter, by the time the food came, we almost didn't have time to chew! But we made it on time and it was really nice.

Sunday: Sunday was a lazy day and we didn't get out. Jayla was starting to show signs of a little cold & fever. My MIL had plans with friends. So we just hung around the house. I made a nice dinner and that was about it.

Today: I got Jayla up at our regular time, 6:20am and she felt very warm to the touch. So I took her temp and it was 102.2. She didn't LOOK like she didn't feel well and really wanted to go to school. I told her I didn't think that would be a good idea. Needless to say, she was a little upset. But later said to me, "Ok, mom? I think I do wanna stay home. I'll feel gooder here if you take care of me." Ok, she's just too sweet. So I gave her some Motrin and she went back to sleep until 9:30! We were able to keep the fever down under 100 all day today. However, we did have a little upchuck once today...but she felt GREAT after that :-). It was so funny...after her little, ahem, spit up...she comes to me with this sad look on her face. And says, "Mom, I'm so sorry! I threw up in the toilet, I flushed it and now the water isn't blue anymore!" LOL She's so funny. But she did have a good mail day which made her feel "gooder". Look at these cute little shirts my mom sent Jayla today. Ever since Christmas, when Jayla got her mailbox, my mom has been mailing her stuff. But Jayla gets so excited about getting mail, it never makes it to her box, lol.

Anyway, that's all I've got for today (that's enough, huh?) Now that soccer season is underway, I'm sure my days, and nights for that matter, are gonna be a little crazy. But it's so much fun and I just LOVE it.

I'll try not to bore ya'll too much with all the Stingrays stuff. But I AM a soccer mom, you know!! LOL

Enjoy your evening and I'll be talkin to ya soon!! Toodles!

And NOW...The STUDIO

Hello everyone. Did you all have a nice weekend? Ours was pretty quiet. However, that's about to change in another week or so. Soccer will be starting back up...YAY!!!

On Saturday, Jayla and I ran a few errands while daddy went to have some work done on his car. As if I NEEDED to go there on a Saturday, Jayla and I went to JoAnns. You guys, I think I got the best shopping deal I've ever gotten. Well, the best that I can remember. For those of you who scrapbook or do other crafts where you have to cut...there's a need for a self-healing mat, right? Well, I needed one for my new studio, as my old one was all yucky and too small. SO...I've just been putting off getting one because I'm so stinkin cheap. I look at them everytime I go to the store, but I refuse to pay for them, lol. As always, I went to look at them yesterday at JoAnn's. Guys, they had a 24"x36" Fiskars folding/portable cutting mat on clearance. The regular price for it was $45! Ok, I would NEVER have paid that, regardless of how badly I needed it. But this sucker was on clearance for....$9.97!!! I about passed out. Oh, and get this, it was the LAST one. Doesn't that just tell you that I was meant to have it? I'm REAL excited about that find. It pays to be patient :-D.

Later, Jayla and I went to Sally's Beauty Supply. It's time again to do the ole girls hair. And it is such a chore that neither of us look forward to. Actually, it touch up time...ARGH!!! My challenge was to find something that I can use on that childs head to make the washing process easier. She's too little to go "old skool" and hold her head over in the kitchen sink. She's too big to lay up on the counter with her head back in the sink. And my back can't handle the fully emersed bathtub washing. Anyway, I think we found something. I sure hope it works.

After our errands, we called daddy to see what was going on with his car. They were still working on it. So we drove over there to go meet him for lunch. But isn't it always this way...we get there and they were just finishing up (insert rolling eyes). Anyway, we still went and had a nice Mexican lunch together. I love Fajitas! (now!)

Today, we had a great Sunday School lesson and a wonderful church service. Later in the day, I took Jayla to a birthday party for my friend, Stacey's daughter. She turned 3 today. The party was so cute. Then in the middle of the fun, the tornado sirens started blaring and we had to cram all the kids in some hall closets. They were all screaming and crying and the rain was coming down in SHEETS! Once it finally let up, Jayla told me, through her tears and snotty nose, "Mom, that storm scared me out of the creeps!" I love the way she phrases things, lol. Fortunately, the tornadoes the news talked about weren't in our area. We just had some severe t-storms. But all is well now.

Well, boys and girls, guess what time it is? It's FINALLY time for the STUDIO GRAND OPENING :-). You guys have been so patient. I think I've already told you guys that I ABSOLUTELY love my new room. I am SO proud of how it turned out. I don't think there's much more I can say about it. How bout a sneak peak...

I'm such a tease, huh? Well, that's all you're gonna get for now....Ok, ok...I'm just kidding. I had SO many pix that I wanted to share. And it would've been a MAJOR overload had I put them here. So, if your interest has been peeked and you wanna see more, just click on this link. http://twopeasinabucket.kaboose.com/pg.asp?set=recent&gallery=1&cmd=display&layout_id=1302777

Oh, and I wanted to let those of you who inquired know, Mister M really liked my Valentines pictures. He asked me exactly what I thought he would. "When did you do THESE?" I was just glad to get one of those "smiles" from him. He was very impressed. And even inquired about the rest of the.

Alrighty, I think that's it for tonight. I can't wait to hear what ya'll think about the room. Enjoy the rest of your weekend and I'll talk to you soon. Toodles!!

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!!!