Football Fever- Part 1 (bye week..)

So, last weekend was the Eagles bye week. (meaning they didn't have a game) So, I organized some fun outing for us to go on as a team. We have such an awesome staff of coaches, who have been involved throughout this season, and this weekend was no different.

We started the fun off Friday night, by meeting at our practice field for some dinner, thanks to Coach Willy. He made hot dogs for everyone, and some parents provided chips and brownies. After we filled our bellies, we headed to Memorial Stadium to watch West Mesquite High School verse Forney High School. For some of the boys, it was their first time to see a high school game.

On Saturday night, we met over at Coach Wesley and Ms. Lori's house to go through their haunted house. They spend a lot of time and money every year to put this haunted house together, and each year it seems to get bigger and better than the year before. Hunter and Demaris both made up their minds before we got there that they wanted no part of it, as it scared both of them pretty bad last year. Wes had fun being the "Gate Keeper" for the evening, especially when Kiki walked up and then quickly ran away in fear. Here is the scene as we waited in line to get in.

After all of the boys had been through it, I went through it with Kiki, Coach Roger, his wife Kathy and Ms. Pat. I'm usually a really big fraidy cat, but I didn't even get scared at first because I was too busy laughing at how scared Kiki was. I wish I had a camcorder with me as we went through it.

On Sunday morning, we got up bright and early and headed to Texas Stadium for a tour. The boys had a chance to go into the locker room, run down the tunnel, and play some football on the field. It was a lot of fun for the kids and the grown ups.

Vote For Abigail Minks!!!

My friend entered her daughter into the Kissable Baby Contest through 106.1 Kiss FM in Dallas. Abigail has made it into the top 100, for the second round of voting. Please click the link below to vote from her. http://www.1061kissfm.com/pages/cont...aby/index.html She's the 3rd baby, top row with the adorable red head of hair named Abigail Minks. Please don't forget to confirm your vote by clicking on the confirmation in your email. Her family could REALLY use the prize money. Thanks!!

~A Big Congratulations~

In 2005, I joined an online mom's group. It gave me a way to talk to other mom's in the Dallas area who had children the same age as mine, and also helped me to find play dates for Grace and Hunter as well as myself. LOL! Over the last 3 years, I have met some really amazing people through that group, and even made a few lifetime friends.

Jen, is one of the people that I met there. She is a local photographer http://www.sugar-photography.com/ and I admired her work immediately the first time that I saw it. In 2006, I had the rare opportunity for her to photograph my children as they were models at a photography conference that she was attending. I was SOOOOOO excited when I found out she would be one of the people photographing them, as her talents, though WELL worth the cost are something I could never afford. She captured some of my favorite shots to date that I have of my children.


And though Jen, is not a close personal friend of mine, she is really an amazing person. She is involved with several non profit organizations, including NILMDTS http://www.nowilaymedowntosleep.org/start.php and Heroes For Children http://www.heroesforchildren.org/, both of which have helped friends of mine in the past.

Anyways, I have been following the journey her family of four has been on for the last 8 months to add one more child to their lives, along with the rest of the mom's in our group. Well, today that journey was completed as her family welcomed a beautiful baby girl into their home. I just wanted to send a special congratulations out to her and her family tonight. For anyone interested in reading about their journey, she has journaled about it beautifully both in words and in pictures on her blog called Waiting... http://www.weintribe.blogspot.com/

If you're happy and you know it....

clap your hands!!! Well, we are certainly clapping our hands over here after Hunter's team soared to victory yesterday with a 39-14 win over the Buccaneers. I had dropped my zoom lens several weeks ago and it had to be sent off for repairs, but I finally got it back on Friday and was able to get some great pictures this weekend at the game. All age levels of the organization Hunter plays with won on Saturday, making this our second sweep of the season. Good stuff! Uncle Jim and cousin Chloe came to see the game and then hung out at our house for a while afterwards. I can't believe I didn't snap any pictures of them, but Jim said they would be back to see the final game of the season in two weeks, so I'll be sure to get some pics then. Next week is our bye week, and then in two weeks we will have our final regular season game. There is still a chance that Hunter's team could go to the playoffs, so we are crossing our fingers that all of the right cards fall into place. The coaches and kids on this team have worked extremely hard this season and have continued to give 100% in spite of others trying to bring this team down and shatter their morale. They definitely deserve a shot at the playoffs. And honestly, we could not have asked for a better group of parents this year. There are some amazing kids on Hunter's team, and that is mostly in part to their amazing parents. We have truly been blessed to get to know these families and have them not only be a part of our lives, but also our children's lives.

The Moose snapping the ball at center.

A victory dance by Big Lucia

Way to go Coach Roger!

Okay, so let's get back to the "If You're Happy and You Know It..." song. Wes began his new inside position with Verizon a few weeks ago. As we were watching one of our favorite shows, "The Office", he told me that his new office is a lot like Dunder Mifflin. I went into hysterics when he started telling me about the "Friday Song". Apparently the managers walk around to different areas of the office to get everyone to join in with them as they sing, "If you're happy that it's Friday clap your hands...." then, "If you're happy that it's Friday stomp your feet", then, "If you're happy that it's Friday say 'I am!'", finally ending with, "If you're happy that it's Friday, do all three!" I was totally picturing Wes sitting amongst the cast of "The Office", joining in with Michael and Dwight clapping his hands and shouting, "I AM!!!". LOL!

Okay, and now for a few more funnies. I have been writing down quotes from my Microbiology professor during lecture. I must preface this by saying that my professor is brilliant. He has several degrees and is soooo incredibly smart. However, he's kind of socially awkward and goofy and his favorite word is "utterly". My favorite quotes from him all are in regards to sex, and the lack thereof in the world of microbiology. Definitely some points to ponder though.

"This is not true sex. It's like mating redwood trees with elephants." (as we were discussing endospore formation)

"You could have giraffes mating with snails. That's how bizarre bacterial conjugation is."

Someone is going to have a new cousin....

I had the honor of photographing my friend Ashana's baby sister today. She is anxiously awaiting the arrival of her first born--a baby boy. Jasani came along for the shoot and was all too eager to get in a few "Cheese's" with her sweet Aunt Rae-Rae. Talk about a glowing mom to be.

Searching for Fairies..

The weather has been beautiful lately, and Grace and I have been taking advantage of it with walks along the trail by our house. This week she built a house for the fairies that she is sure live in the forrest.

"I think that people who can't believe in fairies aren't worth knowing" ~ Tori Amos

Go Cowboys!!

Well, we have had fun the past few Sunday's cheering on America's team. We met some friends up at Sports City on the 21st to cheer on the Cowboys. Then this past Sunday, we went to the Brown's home for some yummy food, some great company, and a sad ending to a close game.