Updates, Updates, and More Updates!

Hello, Friends!  It may appear that I have slipped off the face of the earth, but in truth, it has just been an amazingly awesome and busy time in our family.  I have so many changes and updates to share.  So, let's get started!

Our summer was amazing.  Truly!  We only had one week of "nothing".  The girls did swim team this year.  That was great!  Audrey amazed me with her growth there.  She went from a flailing sea creature to a graceful mermaid in about 5 weeks time.  They promoted her to the competition team mid season and she did fantastic!  Definitely something we will continue to do.  Maddie has also vastly improved.  I'm very proud of her!

We spent 8 days at a resort in Destin, Florida.  It was a super trip!  Ironically, some of Derek's family from Dallas was in a wedding at the same resort the end of our stay.  It was  fun to see them.  The girls absolutely adore their cousins.

 

Later in the summer the girls and I spent 8 days in TN for the Pure American Girl National Pageant.  What an amazing opportunity!  Maddie took home the National Talent Award and Runner Up Model of the Year.  I believe she could have placed higher in the Queen division, but she turned into a little monster.  LOL!  After the first day of competition she basically decided she didn't want to do it and was a handful to deal with the rest of the competition.  I can honestly say, I've never seen her act that poorly before.  I'm praying this is just a short phase of life and she'll be out of it very soon.  (I think she's making up for not going through the Terrible 2's or 3's!)  It is breaking my heart right now.  Anyway, Audrey had a phenomenal week.  For those that don't know her personally, it will be hard to understand just what a huge step and growth she went through this summer and in this pageant.  Many firsts happened that week.  She spoke on stage for the first time in her life.  She did forget some of her words and paused to regain her memory once, but I thought that was amazing.  She could have fallen apart and quit right then, but she didn't.  She pulled herself together and kept going.  She also had her first panel interview.  She felt really good about it, so I take that as another success.  Her modeling progressively improved.  By the final day her poise and confidence were clearly evident on stage.  But, the greatest accomplishment was her singing a solo on stage for the first time in her life.  She LOVED it!  That's what she has talked about the most.  She actually came off the stage and told me she was proud of herself.  Money can't buy that, folks!

 

So, all in all, it was a fabulous experience.  We have learned that Maddie will not be doing any more pageants any time soon.  Audrey has one the end of the month.   And, I am the new State Director for the Pure American Pageant System.  I'm very exited about this opportunity!

We couldn't leave TN without a trip to Dollywood, The Wilderness Water Resort, Hollywood Wax Museum, and Country Tonite musical.  Great trip!

Of course, our summer included a week of VBS and Arts Camp.  There were a few sleep overs and lots of play dates.  Truly a spectacular summer!

The biggest change this year is in our schooling.  Maddie is in Kindergarten and Audrey is in the third grade.  We have decided not to homeschool this year.  It was a huge decision and not one we made lightly.  I struggled with it and will spare you all the details, but in the end I have complete peace about that decision. The girls started last week and are absolutely loving it!  I'm volunteering in both classes and plan to be as involved as I can.

I am coaching cheer again this year.  I'm still with the little ones, which I love.  They are doing fantastic!  Maddie is on the squad, too.  Audrey has decided not to cheer this year.  She is concentrating on singing, dancing, and acting which is turning out to be her love.  I'm totally fine with that and will nurture those gifts as much as I can.  Tonight is her first night of dance - 2 1/2 hours of hip hop, tap, and jazz.  Theater starts Thursday.  Maddie, on the other hand, is all cheer and gymnastics.  She had her first tumbling class on Saturday and loved it!

It is going to be a wonderful year!  I hope you'll join me on this adventure as I recommit to blogging.  :)

Checking In - August

Checking in!  The past couple of weeks have been a whirlwind.  That and my computer's battery charger DIED.  I was without my computer 3 days.  I thought I was going to have a break down.  LOL  Seriously... how does anybody function without technology these days?  I felt so disconnected.

Anyhoo... here's the 411 on our happenings.  First of all, I had a fantastic trip with Chosen to Mississippi.  It was truly awesome!  I tell ya, if you do not have a relationship with Jesus, you are missing out!  There was some praising going on.  We spent a lot of time on the road and I enjoyed every  minute of it.  I know I may annoy you sometimes saying things over and over, but really - I'm so grateful for this group of ladies.  They are the best friends a gal could ask for.  They're fun to be with.  And, I'm just so blessed to sing with them.  It's fun "going on the road" with them.  =) I will never forget these times.

We're now finishing up our second week of homeschool for 2nd grade.  Audrey is doing really well.  We haven't had a lot of blow ups (yet).  She is catching on very quickly and getting work done (shew!). This child is so smart.  Really.  I know children are like sponges, but her level of comprehension sometimes amazes me.  What a joy it is to be able to share in her education and see all the "ah ha" moments.  Today before we started school, we had breakfast together and then walked a couple of miles on the Greenway.  I love spending one on one time with her and just talking to her.  She really is a great kid!

Maddie started Pre-K yesterday.  No, we do not homeschool Maddie - yet.  We do send her to a private Christian preschool 4 mornings a week because we feel that is the best thing for her right now (she goes from 9-1:00).  We will, more than likely, start her at home for kindergarten next year.  She is enjoying it - though is a little sad that none of her friends from last year are in her class.  :(  But, she said she did get to see some of them on the playground and that helps.  She feels like such a big girl because she's now in the "carpool" lane.  =)

My sweet girl on her first day of PreK!

Cheerleading is going very well.  It is the hardest thing I've ever done, but one of the most rewarding.  I love those little girls!  They are so darn cute.  And, what is being asked of them is huge.  The expectations are very high.  But, I have no doubt they'll come through.  I'm so honored to be part of such a high quality program.  It can be quite intimidating, but God would not have put me in this position if He didn't think we could do it!  On a sidenote, I'm incredibly thankful for the other moms He has put in place to help guide these girls.  They are amazing!  They are so knowledgeable and fantastic with the girls.  They're also becoming great friends of mine.  A gal can't have too many friends! 

The girls at the end of a very hard choreography week with our fantastic choreographer from Florida.  

I went to the doctor this week for a check up.  I accidentally let my prescription run out - which was not cool!  I'm almost back on track now.  (Note to self: Do NOT let that happen again!)  The doctor wants me to do another fasting blood work next month.  My sugar was too high and good cholesterol too low (which I knew).  Apparently my blood pressure was high yesterday, too.  She says I have to have a Sleep Study done.  I'm pretty sure the Apnea is back.  She looked in my throat and said that something (don't remember the term) was too big and the air wasn't getting through properly which is probably why I'm not sleeping well and snoring.  Blah!  Can I just whine and tell you how much I do NOT want to do a sleep study or have to wear a CPAP?!  :(  I know... lose the weight, stop complaining.  Anyway, I also had my foot checked out.  It has bothered me for months (actually since I trained for the 3-Day a couple of years ago).  Every time I walk for extended amounts of time or start working out, my foot bothers me for days.  She's afraid I have some torn tendons.  :(  It is possible there's an old stress fracture so she took an x-ray - but I haven't received results yet.  She gave me an inflammatory, told me to ice twice a day, and giving me physical therapy.  She wants to try this first because she's pretty sure if she sends me to the Orthopedist, they'll put me straight in a boot.  I do not have time for that!  LOL

All of the other activities start back next week.  I'll be teaching 2nd Grade choir again at church.  Both of my girls will be in choir, as well as a Awana.  We also start back our weekly Chosen rehearsals.  The following week we'll start our weekly Bible Studies back up.  It's a busy time of year!

So, that's our update.  I'll keep checking in!  Thanks for sticking around.  

Our Family - 2011 Update

Hi, friends!  Remember me?  =)  Several have asked where I went so I thought I better check in before you give up on me.  Thanks for hanging around!  Here's our update:

Cheerleading - Audrey's group had a fantastic year winning all 3 local competitions, were Georgia state champs, and 2nd place at Nationals.  Pretty impressive if you ask me!  More importantly, Audrey was happy.  She loved it!  She has some new skills.  Her shyness dropped at least one notch.  :)  She even won the "Blossom" award this year.  Both her coaches spoke highly of her and the changes in skill and personality she made through the season.  She wouldn't speak to anyone in the beginning, but by the end she was leading and helping other girls.  So proud!  She couldn't do a cartwheel at the beginning of the season and now she has a beautiful one, a spectacular round off, and working on a back walk over.  Both girls are currently in a gymnastics/tumbling class and love it!

Disney - Cheerleading Nationals were in Orlando this year, so we made it a full blown family vacation.  We were there seven nights.  We stayed in a beautiful resort.  When the team commitments and competition was over, it was time to play!  This was, after all, the girls' first visit to Disney!  We had a 4 day hopper pass and we wore it out!  Day #1 was Magic Kingdom.  The girls really enjoyed meeting the characters (starting with Rapunzel) and all the cool rides.  Love some animatronics (is that a word?)!!  Day #2 was Animal Kingdom which I like to refer to as a zoo on steroids.  This was my first time there and although we didn't get to do everything we wanted, we were exhausted by the end of the day.  (Maddie fell asleep at 6:30 on the shuttle ride back to the resort and didn't wake up until 7:30 the next morning!)  I LOVED the Lion King show.  And, Maddie got chosen to be in the show, which was adorable!   Derek got me on a crazy roller coaster, but I survived.  lol  Day #3 was to Epcot.  First time I've ever been there, too.    Loved all the countries.  Again, lots of characters to meet (aka lots of standing in line).  Great shows!  We all loved the Spaceship Earth (?) ride.  I was totally impressed with how intrigued Audrey was and how as we went through the different time periods, she remembered (and was excited) at all she knew that we had studied.  She asked questions through the whole ride.  Day #4 was Hollywood Studios.  I really enjoyed this one (Hello, Tower of Terror is there!).  We had some rain that day, but nothing terrible.  All in all, we had a fantastic time.  The 8 hour trip was not bad at all.  The kids did really well.  But, I seriously needed a vacation to rest from my vacation of fun when we got home.  LOL

Derek is sooo loving his job!  He is traveling a lot more than he was, but he is so happy.  And, they are really pleased with his work.  He's a smart dude!  =)  Silly boy has put himself in the running to go to Singapore for a year, so stay tuned!  He's still active in his culinary group, as well.  We've found a new Bible Fellowship at church that we both like and he's had some activities with the guys there.  Other than that, he works a lot.  And, he's trying to re-enroll at UT to finish his PhD.

I am still very active in singing at church with the WOW group.  LOVE, love, love it!  The ladies are amazing and the ministry opportunities are fantastic.  I'm also getting to do some more choreography through the church.  Our Children's spring musical is coming up soon and I'll be doing a flag number, ballet number, and cheer routine.  Fun!!  I'm doing a couple of songs with the Conservatory of Music for their spring production.  I'll also be helping with some other programs in the coming months, but will wait to elaborate on that later.  =)

I will do a separate post for homeschool for all those interested in how that's going.

Cheerleading, Birthdays, Halloween, and More!

Checking in, friends.  Didn't mean to keep you hanging on that last downer of a post.  I'm feeling a wee bit better today.  I actually went to the doctor this morning with what I thought was my 4th bout of pink eye!  Yes, I said 4th... in only 2 months.  Turns out I have SHINGLES in my eye.  How crazy is that?!  Needless to say, they are being more aggressive with treatment and I will be seeing an Ophthalmologist tomorrow.  Prayers are much appreciated as they said it is pretty dangerous stuff to have in your eye.  Leave it to me to be the weirdo.  LOL!

So, we've celebrated a couple of birthdays in the past few weeks.  Derek turned 37 and I turned 36.  Shew.  There, I said it.  I'm grateful for another year, but I'm not gonna lie... I'm a little freaked out that I'm crawling ever so closer to the big 40.  I do believe I will freak out when that time comes.  Ahhhh!!  Anyhoo... moving on.

My sweet little Audrey competed in her very first cheerleading competition on Saturday.  She did fantastic!!  I could not have been more proud of her!!  And, to top it off... they placed first!  It just does my heart good to see her so happy.  She truly loves it!

Yesterday was Halloween.  We started with a Fall Festival at church.  It rocked... as usual!  Then we met up with some neighborhood friends for some T&T fun.  Had a great time!  The girls looked adorable - if I do say so myself.  Granted, I don't think most people knew what they were, but hey - they were cute nonetheless.  :)  FYI, they were Lalaloopsy Dolls.  You can check 'em out here.  My girls love them!  Derek & Audrey picked up the wigs on a whim a few weeks ago when Maddie was sick.  We just found some cute outfits here and there to put together - and wha-la!  We have our own Lalaoopsy Dolls.

Since today is the first day of November and we're counting down to Thanksgiving, I wanted to say how grateful I am for my family.  They are incredible and I love them so very much!  My husband is fantastic.  He "gets" me.  He loves me.  He's an amazing husband and spectacular dad.  So thankful for that!  My kids truly light up my life.  They make me laugh.  They make me smile. They make me want to be a better person.  I love, love, love 'em!

That's it for now.  I thought I'd post some pictures of our recent activities... as well as catch up on some previous promised photos.  Enjoy!

These are the behavior lights I talked about here.

Little sister ready to cheer on big sister!

My cheerleader before the competition.

My cheerleader after the competition with her first place medal!

Our LaLaLoopsy Dolls

Our pirate ship in the front yard.  Ahoy, Mates!