Here I am again...

Hello everyone!!

I know my life has got to be a little crazy (but awesome) when, I remember that I started a post 5 days ago and never actually posted it!

As I always say, I'm not complaining...just pointing out the obvious....I'm BLOG lazy! :-)

But I will say that I have had so much fun this summer...and continue to.   I've been trying to get better about hanging out with friends, hanging out with my family, doing fun things with Jayla and just trying to have fun without spending too much (or any) money.

In those times of "hanging out", I've also been trying to do better about taking pictures. What's the fun in doing all these things if there are no pictures to share the memory?  So having said that, sit back and relax as I share some memories I've made over the past few weeks.

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I very seldom remember to share pix of our sweet doggie, Trae.  So here he is. I love how he seems to always look so disgusted when I make him take pictures :-). But look at that face! How can I resist?

Speaking of looking disgusted...how bout a humiliated look? :-)  He's so tolerable of Jayla. He just sits there like a good boy and lets her do whatever to him. He's so sweet!

Soon after school let out, Jayla had one of her friends and soccer team mates, Ashlee come over for a sleepover. In these photos, you'll see that I gave the girls a Cucumber facial peel :-).  They had so much fun peeling the mask off.

Jayla also got to attend her first VBS this summer. Our good friends that live down the street, attend a church that is just outside of our neighborhood. And they invited Jayla to attend VBS with them. She had a BLAST and is already talking about going back next Summer.

The next 2 pictures are J'bear dressed up for "Rock Star" day at VBS.

This photo is of J'Bear with her hair done up for "Crazy Hair Day" at VBS.

Here's Mr. Trae again. Poor thing, just looks exasperated with all the picture taking. I think he was trying to climb up on the bed to get away from Jayla :-).

For those of you who either know or know OF Jayla, you'll know that she is VERY girly!  Still, at the age of 8, she LOVES pretend play and playing dress up.

These first 2 pix are of J'Bear in a dress I got for her (and altered) from the thrift store, that I paid $2.50 for! Which at first I felt bad about, considering it's a "Misses" dress and was priced at $10.  But after getting to the check out and being asked if I was 55 or older by a cashier in training, I didn't bother to correct the trainer when he told the trainee that all kids clothes were $2.50! :-).

Dontcha just love the GIANT hem on the dress? lol

NOTE: I have since covered the deep drop in the back of this dress :-).

A good friend and I were chatting about our daughters one day.  We were discussing their differences, with respect to how girly J'Bear is. She mentioned that her daughter is girly, but doesn't like to play dress up like Jayla does. Long story short, she told me that she had several formal dresses from different events she's been to or weddings she's been in. She hated to have to throw them away or allow them to continue collecting dust in her closed, so she offered to give them to Jayla.

So where does that leave me? That's leaves ME having to alter 7 womens dresses, sizes 8 - 12 down to a childs size 8! Fun stuff!!! (not so much!)  But if it makes my daughters prissy life happier, I'll endure it.

Here are a couple more that I've altered (or attempted to alter).  The first one is a mint green, former bridesmaid dress. I even made the shawl/wrap into a "veil".

This next one is the skirt of a 2 piece bridesmaid outfit. The skirt was the perfect length to make a dress out of :-).

For the 4th of July, we met up with some friends to see fireworks.  Between the 5 families that were there, these are all the kids!

The moms/wives....

The dads/husbands....

The fireworks....

Ok, now these next few pictures were taken under duress :-). And before I go any further, let the records show that I'm not one who is easily talked into things. Nor am I much of a risk taker.  For YEARS my friends, (one in particular...Stacey, who is next to me with the hat on) has been trying to get me to go hiking with her and our other friends.

Well, being that it was the weekend of the 4th, I OBVIOUSLY lost my mind and said yes! I mean, I don't even know HOW to hike. I had to call Stacey to find out, not only what I was supposed to take on this little excursion, but HOW I was supposed to take it! When she informed me that all I needed to do was take a back pack, I immediately had visions of The Disney Princesses and Dora the Explorer! THOSE are the only backpacks I know about!

Anyway, I managed to find one that was suitable for hiking. I mean, doesn't EVERYONE wear a pink & purple backpack hiking? :-)

Ok, when these first 3 pictures were taken, I was still pretty much in a good mood and kinda having fun! It was about 90 degrees outside. But being that we were by the water and mostly under trees, it wasn't too terrible.

Ok, NOW...the story  has changed up a bit. As you can see, my facial expression has changed a little. And I am sweating like a wrestler! And poor little Jayla! Her only complaint was that she was HOT!...and seeing her life flash before her eyes, LOL :-). Fortunately, she was with her friends (most of which are pictured in the 4th of July photo).

Did I mention that not too long after this photo was taken, I almost fell off the side of a small cliff?!? ARGH!!! I was  PISSED! Not at my friends...but at myself for thinking that I really wanted to go on this little outing.

But I did it and enjoyed the time with my friends. However, I have informed them to NEVER ask me to do this again. Simply because they said THIS was the easy trail!  My body was TICKED off at me (and my friends) the next day!

Last weekend, we were invited to my sisters house for a get together for Markell. Ya'll remember him, right? Well, this was the first time we've seen him in almost a year. He's still so very handsome...however, not so much in the following picture, LOL.

Here's he's pictured with his cousins/my girls.

And of course I had to get a shot with him too. This young man is 15 years old now and is almost 6 feet tall! I miss him so much!!

Lastly, we got together this past weekend with some friends we haven't seen in AGES!! We met for dinner and just got caught up with eachother.

It's always so great to get together with old friends. And even greater to feel as if you're picking up from where you left off from the last time you saw one another. I love these guys!

That's it for now...I'm sure I'll have more to share in the coming weeks. Our summer break will be over in about 2 weeks. I can't believe how quickly it has gone by. But Jayla is ready to get back to her normal routine of soccer and school. You guys, she'll be in the 3rd grade this year!! My baby is growing up so fast.

Until we speak again, enjoy your week and I'll talk to you soon!

Now let's see...how do you do this again...

I think I'd be doing myself a huge disservice if I didn't mention that I PLANNED on doing this post 2 days ago. However, the actual "disservice" was the fact that I'd spent well over an hour typing and adding photos, ONLY to correct the spelling of ONE SINGLE word...and I deleted the entire post! Pictures and all!!  ARGH!!!

So needless to say, I needed these last 2 days to get over my pissedoffedness! (It's a word now!) :-)

ANYWAY...I'm over it now and am moving on.

Alrighty...let's see.  As some of you may remember from my last post, I've had quite a few irons in the fire lately. But it's my own fault because I STILL have a problem saying, No! Don't get me wrong, I enjoy doing the things that I've said that I'l do.  It's just that I say, "Yes" to too many things at once. But I'm not complaining...I've been blessed with my creativeness and I love that I can share that with people.

Case in point, my nephew got married over the weekend (Sunday) and I was asked back in February to do all the decorations. By decorations I mean...well, tell ya what, how bout I show you in pictures?

The Programs (96)

Me and a couple of my friends painted all of the handles black. I cut to size the pink...skuze me...FUSCHIA (in case the bride is reading this, lol) mats, the solid black and black & white sides of the fan/program, the vellum "special thanks" squares, AND did all the printing of the programs.

The Front of the Programs

The back of the Programs

The Orchid strands (14)

These were for the ceremony arch 

The Card Box

The Boutonnieres

The Rose & Peony arch decorations

The Peony flower balls (14)

The initials of the bride & groom

These were for the escort card table. I hand painted and "blinged" them.

The Votive candles (48)

I printed each wrap and wrapped each votive holder. There were 4 of these per table at the reception.

The Ostrich feather centerpieces for the kids tables (2).

I also did 6 more centerpieces for the adult tables at the reception. They were 20" tall vases with White Orchids submerged in pink tinted water. I forgot to take pictures of those.

The jumping broom.

The Escort Cards (120+-)

I printed each of these, some twice and added Fuschia stones.

The Rose Pomanders (4)

Approximately 7" in diameter w/ hanging crystals. Decorations for the ceremony arch.

The Double Rose Pomander.

Approximately 10" in diameter w/ hanging crystals. Decorations for the ceremony arch.

The ceremony seating.

Peony flower balls were used to decorate the first seat of each row.

The decorated ceremony arch.

 From first mention of this wedding, which was back in February (2010), the ceremony was going to be held outside under a gazebo. From February until the day before the wedding, my design plan was for the gazebo. Due to impending thunderstorms, we had to move the ceremony inside. So I had less than 24 hours to come up with a way to decorate an arch with all the stuff I'd made for a giant gazebo :-|.  But I pulled it off and I LOVE it!!  And the bride & groom loved it too. YAY!!

The Handsome Best Man (Mister M.), me and our daughters.

The Lovely Bride & Groom

Mr. & Mrs. Murphy

SO, that's one thing I've been working on for the past few months. I think I mentioned that I've been working on the scrapbook for Jayla's school. Well, fortunately, I have until July to finish that and turn it in. I'm almost done with that too, so that'll be one more thing off my plate.

Two weeks before school was out, Jayla had "Field Day".  I use that term loosely, simply because, the "Field Day" that we all remember is no more. At least not at our school.  The kids did the "Cha-Cha Slide" and the "Cupid Shuffle" for goodness sakes!   But there was ONE event that Jayla really loved. The "World Cup Kick". That's where they had to kick a soccer ball into a goal. (See her in the picture? She's the cute one in the blue shirt that just kicked the ball with precision form!) LOL But still, it wasn't anything "competitive"...the kids just took turns kicking the ball. That's it!

This next picture shows Jayla at another "Field Day" event. They call it the "art station". WHA???  I call it the "crime scene station" :-).  Check out the picture below Jayla. Doesn't that look like a crime scene?

Yes it does! :-) LOL

Oh and speaking of soccer... some of you may remember some of my posts from back in the fall.  The little Brazilians had a rough season. I think the record at the end of that season was 1w-1t-8l.  Poor little things.

But this past spring season was QUITE a different story. How bout a record of 9w-0t-1l!!  They were AWESOME.  I think the girls even felt a little different about this season. Example, after the regular Fall season they girls went to the playoffs.  They lost both of the games they played that night.  Although the girls were a little upset about losing...again, they were more concerned about who's parents brought refreshments!  LOL  But at in the playoffs after the Spring season, they did wind up losing those games. However, one of the losses was a tighter game. And the girls were all blubbering messes!  They were SOOOO sad that they'd lost and they cried...cried HARD! Even in the midst of their tears they talked about what they "should've" done differently and how the "could've" played better. They get it now and they WANT to be the best. They'll get 'em next season.

Well, I think that's about it for now. I'm SURE there's something else I'm supposed to be doing :-).  So until next time, take care. HUGS!!!

P.S. Yay! Me!! I made it through this time without deleting the entire post :-).

Change is good...

A few weeks ago, Jayla's teacher mentioned that Jayla seemed to be having a little trouble reading the board. She is already sitting at the front of the class. But I later found out that it wasn't JUST because she was sometimes having to squint to read what the teacher had written :-)...needless to say, we have a little social butterfly on our hands. I know...you're shocked! :-)

So I put it off for a couple weeks, just so we could make sure the squinting wasn't just for "show" or for attention. Jayla is quite the people pleaser and is always wanting to impress.  And I've noticed that she squints when she's trying to figure something out.  Not to mention, she has said that she thinks it's "cool" when I squint. Huh?

Do ya'll see where I'm going with this? LOL

ANYWAY..just before Spring Break, they had picture day at school. So I'll use this as the "BEFORE" photo.

She's so stinkin cute! But she looks so BIG! :-(

Then yesterday, I took her for her first "for real" eye doctor appointment.  Low and behold, the girl is blind as a bat. Ok, I'm just kidding about the blind as a bat part :-).  But she DOES in fact need glasses. To some extent, this didn't surprise me. I mean, I wear glasses, my mom & dad wear glasses, Mister M's mom & sisters wear glasses...so Jayla was just destined to have 4 eyes too, right? :-).

Well after having the really awesome (her words, not mine) experience of having air quickly blown into her eyes and having them dilated. Jayla had narrowed down her choices of specs to 4...ALL of which were pink of course :-).

And here are the winners. The black & PINK Barbie glasses.

I think she looks absolutely ADORABLE in them.

Normally, when Jayla hears the garage door go up, she squeals with excitement, "Daddy's home! Daddy's home!" and runs down to greet him at the door.  However, yesterday it was a little different. When the door went up, I heard, "My glasses are home! My NEW GLASSES are home!!" LOL (I had daddy pick them up for us so we wouldn't have to wait around for the hour and  1/2 to have them made).  But now that I look back, I'm not sure why we didn't wait. It's not like she could see anyway to even get her homework done. DUH! Dilation...remember? :-)

I haven't taken a photo of her in these yet, but due to her being a soccer player, the doc recommended she get prescription sport goggles too. Again...she looks adorable in those too.

Well, that's about all the news I have for today. Subject to change within the next few hours... Jayla has a follow up appt at the orthodontist today to see if she might need braces. ARGH!!! If she does, that's gonna have to wait...I'm still not use to her having glasses yet. But let me just go on record and say that, Jayla told me that she hopes she does have to get braces..."Mom, they're SO cool! And my friend even got some that are PINK!"

You're kidding me, right???

UPDATE: 9:41pm EST
Our visit to the orthodontist today was quite...um, interesting.  They do an x-ray of Jayla's teeth and call us back to meet with the doctor. He looks in Jayla's mouth...then at his notes...then back in Jayla's mouth. He tells her to put her teeth together...then looks at his notes again. He then asks ME, "When she was here last year, did her top front teeth hit behind or in front of her bottom teeth?" Uhhh, really? I dunno! Then he says to Jayla, "You ARE Jayla Bibbs, aren't you?" Uhhh, REALLY? She answers, "Uhhh, yes I AM!" He goes on to tell me that he sees NO problem with her teeth whatsoever and seems to stop short of asking why we're even there. He then says he thinks her teeth look great and seem to be very healthy for a growing 8 year old. And that IF she does need braces, it won't be for at LEAST another 3 years or so, if at all. And sends us off with an order to come back in Janurary 2012!

SWEET!!!

And now, a word from our sponsor

Hey there!  Well, it's almost time for Spring Break!  And to make it even better, it actually FEELS like Spring now. In fact, it could ALMOST feel like early Summer...but wouldn't that be considered Spring? I dunno...I'm just rambling :-).

Anyway, now that Winter seems to be gone for good now, I thought I'd share this picture that I took of Jayla the last time it "snowed".  Ok, that and I forgot that I took it and just stumbled upon it :-).  

School let out early (again) due to the inclement weather a few weeks ago. So what ELSE would a good mother like myself do when there's about to be a blizzard? I take my daughter to Michaels! DUH!! :-) We come out of the store and as we're walking to the car, I turn around and notice Jayla catching snow(flakes) on her tounge. And again, being the good mother that I am...I had my camera with me :-).

In between snowstorms and blizzards, we had a few pretty but cool days. One Sunday after church we went to Olive Garden for dinner.  Jayla was wearing one of the new dresses that her aunt gave her and just HAD to pose for a picture.  Isn't she the cutest thing? So glad I keep my camera with me most days.

Now some of you may have seen this next photo before. But a few years ago I made this layout for my mom for her birthday. This photo of my mom was actually from the June 4, 1964 issue of Jet Magazine where my mom was featured at the Jet Beauty. How cool is that?

Anyway, I receive a monthly email from an online scrapbooking magazine. Last month they were having a "Layout about Mom" contest. So I figured, what the hay, I'll enter. I submitted my layout about 4 weeks ago and simply forgot about it. I'll be darned if they didn't send me an email last night telling me that I WON!  I couldn't believe it! I immediately thought I'd won simply because I was the only one who entered, LOL. However, I'll probably never find out if that's true, lol. Not sure what the prize is for winning, I'll receive it in the mail in a few weeks. I'll let ya know.

Welp, that's about all I've got for today. Oh shoot, I forgot about the FFF...it is Friday, isn't it? Here ya go...

Not that it would be out of the ordinary for me as of late, but I will probably not be posting anything for about a week or so. Me and my girls are heading to Alabama to visit my mom for Spring Break next week. SO, I hope ya'll have a wonderful Easter weekend and a great week next week. Talk to you soon.

Dawn

Game on...& Birthday wishes

Well, here we are at the end of March and I have yet to hold up my end of the Blogging bargain. Problem is, there's only one of me...contrary to popular belief.

Along with all the other stuff I've gotten myself involved in, it is now soccer season. And I must say, this season is TOTALLY different than the last. You may remember, Jayla's team, Brazil was the newby to the U10 "circuit". And it showed by them losing all but ONE game. Ok, that's not totally accurate...their first game was a tie :-).

This season, however, has been MUCH better. They've only played 4 games thus far (due to a couple of rain outs). And of those 4, they have won 3.  All of which were come backs from being behind by 1 - 3 goals.  I am SO loving this season. Considering the girls haven't had much practice, again due to the rain, they are doing awesome so far.

I've been saying for quite some time that I wish you all could see my Jayla play. Well, I attempted (and I use that term loosely) to video some of a game from this weekend. Check them out...

WAIT...before you look at these videos, PLEASE NOTE #1 I am using a small camera with video "capabilities".  #2  I've never used this feature on the camera before (guess this one should've been #1, huh?) #3 The sun was very bright :-) and #4 I've never used this feature on the camera before, LOL.

------------Ok, here's the thing...I can't figure out how to add a video to Blogger. Wasn't there a little button for that once upon a time? HUH!!!

Anyway, I'll go ahead and post what I've written so far and attempt to find the video adding link and I'll get back with you :-D.

Oh, and before I go, PLEASE join me in wishing my FAVORITE nephew a HAPPY 15th BIRTHDAY today!  I just don't have any other words to say about that...other thank I can't believe he's FIFTEEN!!!

Markell's first Easter in 1995

And most recently (I think this was from last year) Don't have any recent pix of him. But as soon as I get one, I'll post it.

YAY...I made it to Friday (again)

Ok, can a person have WAY TOO MANY irons in the fire?

I say, YES!!!

I am seriously thinking about going to a printing place and see if they can make a few duplicates of me. Let's see, I'll need the "School volunteer Dawn", "Errand running Dawn",  "Soccer mom/Coaches wife Dawn", "Chauffeur Dawn", "Crafty/wedding planner Dawn", "Maid Dawn", "Chef Dawn" "Mom Dawn", "Blogging/Facebooking Dawn" :-).

I'm SURE there are more, but money is kinda tight these days, so this is all I can afford to make dups of for now :-). SHEESH!!!

Anyway, I can't/shouldn't complain. I'm blessed to have the health, energy and willingness to do all of these things simultaneously. So with that in mind, my life STILL rocks!!

Alrighty, speaking of all the things I have going on these days, I'd better get out of here and get my day started (again). But before I go, I want to share a sweet picture of my girls with you.

They look like a pretty slice of watermelon, don't they? :-) This was taken at Jayla's school on Special Family and Friends Day. This year, her sister, Briyanna came as Jayla's "special" guest.  They're so cute (even if Briyanna does look a little tired, lol)

OH...and my goodness, I can't let this Friday get by without the Friday Flower Fix. So here's that for ya too.

Have a GREAT weekend and I'll holla atcha soon.

Toodles!!