Just stopping by

Hey ya'll!!!

My goodness, I think I have been up to Jayla's school more these past couple of months than I was ALL of last year. SHEESH!! But it's great though. I love volunteering.  I work with a bunch of great people...so that makes it all worth while.  And Jayla has been blessed with some really wonderful teachers. Again, that makes my "job" a lot more fun and easier to have to do.

I've also been really busy with soccer.  Although there has been a lot of rain lately, which in turn, causes game cancellations, we've still been busy.  In fact, just this weekend alone, we had 4 games in 2 days!  And boy did we put some miles on the ole soccer mobile.  And for those of you who keep up with my statuses on Facebook, you'll see that out of those 4 games, we won 3 of them. YAY!! I love soccer!

ANYWAY...I have a few pictures to share with you.These are some I took at Jayla's game over the weekend.  She played goalie...the position that really "rattles my cage", so to speak. Of all the positions, goalie is the most dangerous.  But she really enjoys it. So I let her do her thing.  And she did great. Check her out...

NOTE: Please excuse the quality of the pictures. I got another new camera...Thanks Daddy! (a Canon this time) and I'm still trying to figure out how it works.

I've been up to a few more things since my last post too. A friend of mine asked me to do a craft show with her and another one of our friends. I recently learned how to make these cute little hair bows.  And being that I have a little girly girl...that was right up my alley.  We didn't do too well at the craft show. Guess people aren't in the market for hair accessories these days, lol. But I do enjoy doing them. In fact, I started another blog (yeah, I've been working on THAT too since my last post).  For those out there with little girls, you may wanna check it out. Click here to see my new "crafting blog".

Let's see, what else have I been up to? Oh, I'll be making a scrapbooking come back in the not so distant future too.  I was "elected" to be the school historian this year.  So I'll have to have that done by the end of the school year.  Gonna be fun!

I'm sure there's a lot more that I wanted to share with you in todays post...but it escapes me at the moment, lol :-).

Ya'll have a great week and I'll talk to you soon. Toodles!

Just cuz she's cute....

WARNING...WARNING...WARNING

Ok, you've been warned...
This post consists of a photo overload of a SUPER cute little girl!! :-)

I'm kinda in a hurry, as tonight is my weekly GNO...but I had to take a few minutes to share some recent pix of my baby girl. I will have a "normal" post in the very near future. So stay tuned.

In the meantime, here she is...

This is just a cute picture I took of Jayla...just because. I also took it to show off her new hairbow that I made. You like?


The 2009 Soccer season has begun. YAY!!! This season, Jayla moved up to the U10 team. And a new team it is. The same girls are on her team, we are just with a new "league". As you notice, no more black, red & white uniforms...again, YAY!!! lol And if I've got my information correct, they are no longer the Lil Stingrays. They are now known as the Brasil Stingrays...I think.

The head coaches daughter, and Jayla picked out the uniforms this season. They could choose from several of the "national" team uniforms. And they chose Brasil. I just LOVE the new look.

Here are a few more pix from this past weekends season opener.


Not sure what's going on with the socks being pulled up so high...I think she was just being funny. As far as her SHORTS being almost around her NECK...I got nothin! :-)


Aren't they a cute little team? The other 4 team members hadn't arrived when this picture was taken.

There's my girl running after that ball...and "Coach Daddy" in the background watching.

This is just a fun shot I took. She was standing in front of me getting ready to do a "throw in". For some reason, I love the lighting in this picture.

That's it for the soccer pictures. But I have a funny soccer story to share.

Saturday morning as we were getting ready for the game, this is the conversation that took place.

J-"Mom, what team are we playing today?"
M-"You're playing England!"
J-"Wow, England? That's cool. I hope we win."
M-"Baby, just do your best."
J-"OH! MOM...do you think we'll be able to understand them?"
M-"Huh? What do you mean?"
J-"I mean, will they have accents?"
LAUGHTER
M-"Uh, I doubt it! You play for "Brasil" and YOU don't have an accent!"
J-"Oh...right! DUH!!!"

Well, before I go, I have one more picture to share with you. Yesterday, Jayla got back her 2nd grade Fall pictures. Check her out...

She's so stinkin cute!

Ok, ya'll have a great night. Talk to you soon!

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!

Another busy weekend on the way...

Hey ya'll!

This is gonna be a quick post as I've gotta go pack.

NO, it's not time for our vacation. It's SOCCER TOURNEY time! We are headed to Columbus, Ga this afternoon for the Georgia State Championship. We've been to this tourney before. But THIS time it's gonna be a little different. As this time we're taking both our U14 and U16 teams. So that's about 30 something teenaged boys. Not to mention the little girls in tow. But honestly, I'm looking forward to it...not the chaos I'm SURE will be caused :-). But just the fun with the kids and watching some good ole soccer.

Anyhoo, I'll have more to post next week. Fun stuff! However, I will leave you with the Friday Flower Fix. Hope you enjoy it.

Ya'll have a great weekend and I'll talk to you soon.

GO STINGRAYS!!!

GO BARCELONA!!

Back (hopefully) in the swing of things

I must say, I have truly missed blogging. Not that I have a bunch to share with you. But because I simply miss my blogland friends.

Honestly, I don't have THAT much to share today. However, I do have a few pictures and some tidbits of info that I'd like to get out there.

FIRST of all...You may remember back on 2/13, I did a post of my dad's surprise visit from NY? Well, we finally got the professional pictures back from that day. My dad and Jayla are so cute together. Check out the smile on this little girls face...Well, soccer season has started back up. Saturday, March 7th was opening day and it's the first time in MANY seasons that we've actually played on opening day. The Spring season seems to always get off to a bad start due to the weather. But, we got game 1 out of the way. Yes, "we" are still coaching 3 teams. And this season is gonna show what we...the Bibbs are really made of. One of our teams will now be considered a traveling team. Which means, we won't only play teams from our club. We'll play teams from different counties. So it's gonna be fun to see how many places we can be at one time...or how fast we can get from one venue to another :-). Wish us luck!
Speaking of soccer...check this out......I have sank to an all time low! Not only did I make a vow several years ago, that I'd NEVER drive a mini-van. But I also said that I would NEVER be a crazed soccer mom with magnets on my vehicle.

Well...I not only drive a mini-van, but I have...not 1...but THREE soccer magnets on my van. One of which has my daughters name on it :-). What has happened to me??? AND...not only do I choose NOT to wash my van...but I find myself wiping off a "special spot" for my personalized soccer magnet! (see above "cleaner spot") (Note: Miss Jacki thought it important enough to tell you this AND take a picture. Thanks, Miss Jacki!)

Oh, and to add to my current crazed state of mind...I sat in the rain (and cold) this past Saturday through TWO soccer games. Neither of which, do I have anyone playing on that is remotely related to me! I like to say that I do things like this because my husband coaches, and I'm being a supportive coaches wife. But, I'm starting to wonder if I really ENJOY it! I must! What do ya'll think? :-)

Before I continue, how bout a word from our sponsor.

...Ok, there weren't really any "words" from our sponsor. Just a couple of cute shots I thought I'd share :-). My grandmother bought Jayla this outfit for Christmas and it was finally warm enough (briefly) for her to wear it.

Oh, GUESS WHAT??? We are finally going to get to go on vacation this summer. We haven't been on vacation in almost 4 years. So needless to say, we're a little bit excited. THIS is where we're headed. I cannot WAIT!!! But I think Jayla is a little more excited that I am...she started packing yesterday, lol. (we're not leaving until May 31st!)

And just in case you think I've forgotten to share my little secret with you, I haven't. I know I've been talking about this secret for almost a year now. But it's just not time to share it yet. I want to make sure everything is 100% a "GO" before I share. So, I promise, I'll be ready to share it REAL soon...next month even :-D.

Alrighty, since I neglected to do the Friday Flower Fix (again) last week...here's a few shots for ya....

Okie dokie, that's about it for me today. My "sponsor" wants to read a Clifford the Big Red Dog book to me before she goes to bed. So I'd better pay attention...I may be quizzed later, lol.

Ya'll have a good night and I'll talk to you soon!

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!!

TGIF!!

Hello everyone!

I hope you all have had a nice week. As I mentioned in my last post, this week has been kinda crazy for us. But we're all getting through it. Sad that it takes something like the death or minor tragedy of a friend or family member, to make us look at our day to day lives with more appreciation. I'm totally guilty of that. But thankfully, not in a "for granted" type of way. Every single day, I say a word of thanks for my friends and family and for my health. But sometimes, when things happen that make you remember that tomorrow is promised to NO ONE...it just makes me a little more thankful and appreciative of what my life holds.

Having said all that, I'm so thankful for all of you...my BLOG friends. I would love to be able to meet all of you IRL. But for now, my life is a little more complete because of those of you that I have been blessed with meeting. Hopefully the day will come for the rest of us to meet.

Alrighty, before I get even MORE sappy :-), I want to thank those of you who have checked up on me...because I haven't been to YOUR blogs in a while. Did I mention things have been CRAZY lately? I know, that's no excuse for not checking in on my friends. But right now, that's all I've got :-). I WILL get back to my normal reading routine...in fact, I NEED to. Because I really miss you guys.

And thank you too, Cheryl. I received the package on Wednesday.

OH...I almost forgot. Remember several posts back I told you about a fun 80's night that I had with my scrapping/crafting buddies? Well, I finally got the pictures back from that fun filled event. Wanna see??? Good...here they are: (can you figure out, where's Dawn? LOL)

We had so much fun! You know what's funny about this? I didn't even dress this way in the 80's/high school...LOL. There's talk now about doing a 70's or 50's night next time. But I'll have to see about that one :-).

Anyway, what have you guys got planned for the weekend? Betcha can't guess where I'll be?!?!? Yep...starting tonight, I'll be on the soccer fields. Gotta love it! :-)

Well, that's all I've got for now. But before I go, here's your Flower Fix.

Toodles!!!

The GOOD...The BAD....and the SAD

Hello everyone.

I just happened to notice that I haven't updated in a few days. And believe me, quite a bit has happened. Let's get started, shall we?

The GOOD: The half-time "performance" by Jayla's soccer team at the college went great! The girls had an awesome time. And the few girls that got to the stadium early, even got to walk out, hand in hand, with the players of the college teams...just like in the pros. So needless to say, Jayla really enjoyed that!

Here are a few pictures from the evening. (Jayla has on the red headband)

You can't really see Jayla in the above photo. But this is when the players were walking out on the field before the game.
This shot was taken just before the players were introduced.

Here's a short video of the scrimmage game the Lil Stingrays played during half time. Again, Jayla has on the grey shirt and the red headband. She's the one kinda hanging out on the left side of the video running after the ball when it goes out and jumping around a lot :-). And that's Coach "Daddy" is in the jeans and black shirt :-).


The BAD: As mentioned in my last post our U14 and U16 teams had a tournament this past weekend. Although the boys played REALLY well, they only won a couple of their games. Tied one and lost a couple. But that wasn't what made this my "BAD" selection. The referees for this tournament were AWFUL!!! I mean, they SUCKED!!! One of them in particular. I won't even go into detail as to why I'm making such harsh comments. I'll just say that, even the coaching staff of the opposing teams as well as the parents of the other teams couldn't believe some of the RIDICULOUS calls that this ref made against our boys. It was UNbeliveable! To give you an idea of what I mean...in our last game on Sunday, a kid from the other team made a very dangerous slide for the ball and kicked our goalie square in the chest with his cleats. But the ref didn't call it as a penalty or a foul. He said our guys was "alright" and that's just what happens when you play goalie. Some of that may be so, but NOT when the goalie has a freaking cleat print in the middle of his bare chest! Our goalie even had on 2 or 3 shirts and you could clearly see the red bruising from the other kids cleat on his chest.

It was so bad that our coaches almost pulled our team off the field and forfited the game. Needless to say, we will NOT be participating this a tournament at this location again.

The SAD: It is with a heavy heart that I write this next part of my post. This past Monday, the PE teacher at Jayla's school, suddenly passed away. And I do mean SUDDENLY! Coach J worked in the afternoon carpool line, helping the kids get in their vehicles. And on Monday afternoon, just as he has all school year, he helped Jayla in the van and wished us a nice evening. Not 5 hours later, I get a phone call from one of the mothers, saying that Coach J died in the parking lot of his 5 year old twin daughters dance class. Fortunately, his wife, who is also a teacher at Jayla's school, was with him. They are thinking it was from a sudden heart attack.

I decided not to tell Jayla bout this until yesterday morning. As I didn't want her to be so upset Monday night and not get any sleep. So through my own tears, I told her yesterday morning before I took her to school. She was VERY upset! I wound up walking her to class yesterday as I knew the atmosphere at the school would be a bit much for her, as she'd be wondering why everyone was so sad. And sad it was! There were counselors there for the kids and teachers, as it was very somber. Jayla's teacher told me that Jayla had a few "breakdowns" during the day...as did most of the kids.

Coach J touched the lives of EVERY SINGLE child that walked the halls of that school. As they ALL had PE at some point during the week. Markell even had PE with Coach J when he attended that school from K - 6th grade.

I will be representing our family tonight at the visitation. I spent almost as much time with Mrs. J last year as I did with Jayla's teacher. Their Kindergarten classes are right next door to eachother. So I feel like I need to be there to show my support and sympathy.

WELL...sorry to end this post on a sad note. But I will ask for your thoughts and prayers for, not only the "J" family. But for the school and the students.

That's all I have for now. Enjoy the rest of your week and I'll talk to you in a few days. Toodles!!

How bout an update?

Hi Ya'll!!!

Welp, it looks like I've let another week pass me by, huh? I seriously thought I'd have more time to blog once school was back in. Guess I was kinda wrong about that.

But in my own defense, I no longer have a laptop. I gave it to my mom. I use to do a lot of my updating at night from my laptop once I shut my desktop down for the evening. But now, once I shut down and go to my room for the evening....I'm DUN!!! :-)

Anyway, it's nothing personal...Believe me.

Ok, let's see, this week I had a bunch of running around to do...mainly trying to find a gas station that actually had some gas! What's up with THAT? I also found myself working at the school for a few hours this week. Oh, and while we're on the subject of school, Jayla got her Fall pictures back this week. Check out this little cutie. Then on Friday night, our big Stingrays had a game. Oh my goodness, these guys are looking awesome! They won 6-0. We had team pictures taken yesterday morning...THAT was interesting. Jayla's team played first and she scored one goal. Yay Jaylabear!! Our big Stingrays were expecting to have a pretty tough competition yesterday, but managed to pull off another "W". They won 7 - 0. Our other team, Barcelona, had a tough game yesterday as well. But also won. Their score was 5 - 3! I'm so proud of all of our teams. We've got our first tournament coming up the first weekend in October. So we'll see how we do there.

I want to take a minute to give a special Thank you shout out to my friend, Melanie. She sent me a sweet little care package of scrapbooking stuff. I love getting surprises in the mail.

Lastly, I think it's time I do the Friday Flower Fix. But shoot, I may have to change the name of that here pretty soon. Because it's a rare thing for me, these days, to get that posted on Fridays :-). I'll have to think about that some more. But in the meantime, here's your fix.

Oh well, that's all I've got for today. See, there was a good reason I didn't update this past week...I don't have much to post about, lol. I'm even becoming a little boring. Anyway, we all know that that's subject to change without notice. So stay tuned! :-D

Ya'll have a great week and I'll talk to you soon. 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!!

Soccer Season Opener

This promises to be a shorter than normal post. I mean, there's not much you can say when ALL THREE teams win their opening games. Woo Hoo!!!

Game 1 - Lil Stingrays 9am: Jayla's all girls team did AWESOME today! And I must say, we sure have a pretty team :-). They really are! At the U8 level, they don't keep score. But I'm no dummy! I know that when one team scores more goals than the other team, that team wins! So, let's just say the Stingrays got a big ole "W" today!

And just try and guess who scored the very first goal within the first 2 minutes of the game?

No...GUESS!!!

That's right...Jayla, aka "Fancy Feet" :-).

Here's a couple before the game photos. (Please disregard the early morning "fake" smile) lol

Game 2 - Stingrays 12pm: My goodness, what can I say about the Stingrays? They were absolutely AMAZING today! They won their game 11 to 0! And from what I was told, the coaches told the boys to play down a little bit today. Good gracious, if this was playing DOWN...I can only imagine what the score would've been had they played to their full potential! Yay Stingrays!!!

Game 3 - Barcelona 2pm: Once again, what can I say about our new U16 team? I've never actually sat and watched an entire U16 game before. Man, was I impressed. Some of the guys have never even played for an actual organized team before. Well, who woulda thunk it? They play GREAT together. Some of the boys on this team, were actually from the Stingrays. But due to their age, they had to move up. So, in order to keep the guys together, we kinda moved up too and created a new U16 team. That way, when the Stingrays move up in a couple of seasons, they will all be back together again. Anyway, the Barcelona won today too...10 - 0!! Woo Hoo!!!

Alright, needless to say, we're all pretty pumped about how all the kids played today. Hopefully, this is what our season will look like. All I can say is, don't try and reach me on a Saturday :-). We got to the fields today at 8:45am and didn't leave until after 4pm! So, if you need me, check there first :-) lol.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

READY...SET...BLOG!!!

Well hello there! Happy Friday everyone.

What?

It's me...DAWN! Don't you remember?

Sheesh, you take a few weeks off from blogging and no one remembers you, lol.

Ok, that's not entirely true. Which leads me to one of the most important part of this post...the THANK YOU's! Thank you to all of you who have either left me comments, emailed or called to check on me...I thank you! Talk about a crazy last few weeks. WHEW!!!

Let's dive in, shall we?

~I think my last post was an "Ode to Mothers/Women everywhere, right? Well, I had a nice Mother's Day...sitting on the soccer fields. Isn't that what EVERY mother did? :) Really, it was fun though...the weather left a little to be desired. But fun nonetheless. Our U14 Stingrays won that tournament (YAY!!), which sent them to the State Championships last weekend in Columbus, Ga. The boys played great. We won 1 of the 3 games we played. But they played their little hearts out.

~Speaking of the State Championship...Oh my GOODNESS!!! We played this one team on Sunday morning and the parents/fans were some of the most OBnoxious group of people I have EVER seen! Before I go any further, let me just say that I have absolutely NO issues with people cheering for/supporting their team. I can cheer/scream/yell with the best of them! I mean c'mon...think about it...I don't even have anyone ON the team anymore and I still cheer and have fun on the sidelines. HOWEVER, when your cheering/supporting becomes personal, THAT is where the line should be drawn. After seeing how these people acted last weekend, I can understand how someone can get into a fight or even worse, shot/killed at youth sporting events...hence the videos and pictures that make for great TV watching...Most Amazing Videos :). But this group of people started off really nice. They spoke to us that morning and even made small talk before the game. But once that ball was kicked...it was ON!!! These people were yelling AT us, taunting us, calling us and the boys on our team names. They had made up "cheers" talking about how we were losers and that we were gonna get killed. Even at times when one of our boys may have been hurt on the field, they were making fun of them and making "whining" noises. Man, it was crazy. So much so that Jayla was scared to tears because of how these people were acting out. She'd ask me, "Why do some people have to be so mean?" What do you say to a 6 year old when they ask you that? It was pathetic. Unfortunately, we lost that game (3-1). BUT, WE were the only team to score on this team the entire tournament. So that in itself was quite an accomplishment. Once we got home, I wound up emailing the commisioner of that team to let them know how their club was being represented at the tournaments. Surprisingly enough, he responded and said he'd be addressing that issue...as my email was not the first he'd heard about this group of people.

~As most of you know, I don't get out much, lol. But I did get out last weekend to go see a movie. Me and my Girls Night crew went and saw this. It was really cute. You know, your basic chick flick :-). But very cute. As I mentioned, I don't get out much, especially to the movies. So when Stacey and I got to the theatre, our other friends hadn't arrived yet. So, we walked right up to the window to pay for our tickets. (it was a Sunday evening, so there was no line) When the lady told me how much the ticket was ($8.75), I told her, "Oh, I'm sorry...I'm not paying for her too!" (referring to Stacey). The girl just gave me this weird "I don't get it" look. Stacey and I, on the other hand, found it funny, lol. I was like, "$8.75 for ONE person?!?" DAWG!!! Anyway, I got over that "sticker shock" only to be shocked further at the concession stand. (Note to self: IF I ever go to the movies again, stop at the store for snacks first. Right! Got it!). Ok, first of all...why does ONE person need a drink that comes in a cup that's the size of a bathroom trashcan? WHY? Secondly, why do I have to fill out a loan application to pay for said beverage? $4 for a SODA! Are you KIDDING ME??? I can buy 2 cases of Dr. Pepper for $5! Oh...and that's another thing...they didn't even HAVE Dr. Pepper! What is this world coming to? $15 in refreshments and a breathing treatment later, our other friends showed up and we went to enjoy the movie. (another note to self...IF I ever go to the movies again, I should buy a little bit smaller sized drink. 2 1/2 hours is a LONG to have to wait to go pee. I'm just sayin...)

~Last week, Jayla's class had a shopping day at school. It was so cute. Each kindergarten class was set up like some sort of store. There was a jewelry/accessories shop, a book store, a toy store, a sweets shop, an art studio, a place to exercise & get massages and a movie theatre. The kids were given a bag of money (pennies) and were allowed to wander freely through the halls of the "school mall". They had an hour to spend all of their money however they wanted. Jayla LOVES to shop, so this was right up her alley. I wasn't too pleased by all the CRAP she brought home...but they had a good time. :-)

This 2nd picture is of Jayla using some of her money in the "exercise/massage" shop. You know, a lady has to keep physically fit for a day of shopping :).

~Guess what? The scrapbooks are DONE!!! Talk about a long and daunting task. SHEESH!!! I must say though, they came out really cute. I took pictures of Jayla's book (30+ pages), but needless to say, I'm not posting them yet. Being that there's so many of them, I still need to get them onto a slide show. So if you're interested, stay tuned for that one. Also, I've gotta figure out how to "blur" some faces. Don't want any lawsuits over a kindergarten scrapbook, lol. Speaking of the books, I distributed them to the class yesterday at their EOY celebration. Alright, how crazy is THIS...I was SOOOO nervous earlier in the week about these darn books, I didn't know what to do. I was so nervous about how they'd like them. C'mon Dawn...they're 5 and 6 year olds, for goodness sakes! I'm psycho...that's just all their is to it! But the kids, their parents and the teachers LOVED them. They were a huge hit. WHEW...what a load off! For the EOY celebration, the kids made ice cream sundaes and watched a short movie that was made from some of the pictures I took. They're so cute!

~I'm sad to announce that today, Friday, May 23rd, is the last day of school (sniff, sniff). Jayla looked SO STINKIN sweet today...just like a big girl.

She's also a little sad about it being her last day of kindergarten. But still very excited. I'm planning on going up to the school today to do all my farewells (sniff, sniff, sniff).

~Well, I think I've covered everything. Considering how long this post is, I'm sure you're all hoping I'm done ;). Sue me...it's been a long time and I had a lot to share, lol. Last but not least, how bout we end this post with a flower fix? It IS Friday after all.I hope you guys have had a wonderful week. I'm glad to be back blogging again. However, due to the fact that school is now out, I'm sure I'll be spending a bunch of time entertaining Jayla. But I won't let that keep me from my blogging duties. So with that, I'll be seeing ya! Have an awesome weekend and BE INSPIRED!!!

How bout a quickie??? :-) (3:41pm update below)

Happy Friday, everyone!

Ya know, I had NO idea how popular I am :). Seriously, I am so flattered by those of you who have commented on my blog or sent me emails, telling me how much you're missing me. Thank you all, so much. Believe me, I have missed ya'll too.

I'm actually about to walk out the door and run to the grocery store. But I wanted to jump on here and say hello and let you know that I'm still alive and kicking.

I also wanted to give you a quick flower fix...because it has been politely brought to my attention that I haven't posted a flower in FOREVER. So, here ya go!!!

Well, how bout THAT for a flower fix??? :-) Well, I've gotta run. But I will TRY and update again later on today, as I have a few pictures I wanna share with you. Until then, have a great day and I'll talk to you soon.

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

*~*~*~*~

Added: 3:41pm EST

Alrighty, I'm back, like I said I'd be. Sometimes, I'm real dependable :-).

A few posts ago, I told you that I wanted to share another picture with you when it arrived. Well, it's here and I can't wait to share it with you. Take a look at this.

This is a wooden statuette that we ordered when we had Jayla's soccer pictures made. We did one of her last season too. And I found out after the fact, that I could've had one made with her and "Coach Daddy". I simply LOVE how it turned out. You can REALLY see how much they look alike, can't you?

Ok, let's see, what else did I want to share with you today? Oh, I remember. I've taken on a new hobby. Well, I'm trying to anyways. Along with my scrapbooking which I totally love, I've started beading jewelry. I've only made one piece so far. But I'm really proud of how it turned out.

I have been SO involved in the kindergarten scrapbooks...almost to the point of nauseum, lol. So, in between pages, I've been dabbling with making bracelets. This hobby, long with my scrapping is gonna get me in big financial trouble :-). The bead choices are ENDLESS and the ideas, even moreso.

Anyway, here's my first creation:

Not too bad, huh? I really like it.

Anyway, the last thing I want to share with you, unfortunately, has no pictures (yet). Last night at Jayla's school, along with the PTSA meeting, the kindergarten classes performed. Oh my goodness you guys. My daughter...what can I say? The classes came into the cafeteria singing and Jayla was the loudest one, LOL. She took her spot up on the stage...in the FRONT row, I might add. And let me just tell you, she stole the show. She was SO loud, hee hee. She spotted me, her dad and her grandma in the audience, stopping singing and shouted "HEY!" to all of us (individually!) It was SO cute. And get this, after the first song was over, Jayla had the opening lines for the rest of the program. I was SO proud of her! She got up there, waited until the audience was quiet and spoke so beautifully into the microphone. Didn't miss a beat! And of course, she ended her lines with a big wave to all of us...again.

The songs they sang were SOOO cute and she knew every word and everyones part. And once she REALLY got going, (as if she wasn't already), she started dancing. I wish you all could've seen her.

Anyway, I did take some pictures, but they didn't come out too good. Once I play around with them a little bit and block out all the other kids faces, lol, I'll share some with you.

Welp, I've gotta run again. Jayla has a soccer game tonight (and tomorrow morning AND Sunday afternoon). So I've gotta pull together a quick dinner.

I thank you all for your patience and understanding, with regards to my blogging. Trust me, I'd much rather have a good balance of both scrapbooking and blogging. But being that I have so many to do, that's not gonna happen. However, we only have 3 more weeks of school and I'm giving the books to the kids the day before the last day of school. So, I'll be back to my regular routine after that.

I hope you guys have a wonderful weekend and I look forward to posting more real soon. SMOOCHES!!