SCA Power at NCA 2013

It's finally the end of the season, which means that we are now allowed to post videos.  So proud of these girls! 5th place out of 11 at a HUGE competition.  

Throwback Thursday

Love this picture of my grandmother carrying my Mama down an Amarillo Street.  

 And this picture of my great granddad -- this pump house is still there, although the scenery around it has changed a bit.

This is my great-grandmother -- way before she was a grandma!

Power

It's been a roller coaster for Team Power.  They have struggled for the last few competitions.  

 This past weekend, at Cheer America Nationals, they had a rough first day, and they went into the second day in 9th place.

 After an amazing Day 2 performance where they hit all their stunts and the pyramid, they moved up to finish in 5th.  We were so proud of their comeback!

Now they have two more competitions to go, and hopefully they've hit their stride.  

 This is a talented group of young ladies.  I'm proud to be a crazy cheer mom!

Can't wait to see what the rest of the season holds for them!

Overheard

Me:  "Isn't it time for bed?"

Jake:  "Nope!  N - O - P, nope!"

Sparklin'

Well, I had vowed to blog more regularly, but time and life has gotten away from me.  Normal things have been going on in our world--school, cheer, tumbling, laundry, work, just life in general.  Our world is just normal, but there's a family who is on my mind every day, practically every minute, that is living anything but normal.

We have a precious little girl in 3rd grade at my school who was diagnosed with Stage 4 brain cancer right before Christmas.  Right now, she and her mama are in Tennessee at St. Jude's battling the cancer beast.  Her older brother is still in school, and he is a daily reminder of how fast life can change.  Even though his mom is far away for now, we're doing our best to mama him every day at school!

As soon as people heard about sweet Sadie, they wanted to do something, anything, to help.  We have a group of fierce PTO moms who have done more than just talk about doing something; they jumped right up and got busy.  Now there are "Sparkle on Sadie" shirts and bracelets at MES and all across the district.  What started as a small way to show we are thinking of Sadie has turned into a lesson in community and generosity.  There is a benefit planned for this coming Sunday to help.  Thanks to some help from Santa's Elves (a non-profit group committed to giving back to the local community), our community is hoping to help this family in a tangible way and show a little girl how much she is loved.  The outpouring of prayers, love, support and donations has been amazing.

MES Staff and our children....sending our love to Sadie.  Sparkle on, Sadie! 

 Even though we have more than 700 kids at our school, we are a family!

If you live in the Magnolia area, come out to High Meadow Ranch Golf Club on Sunday (1/27) and have some fun at the "Sparkle on Sadie" benefit.  It will be going on from 3-7, and there will be lots of fun things for kids and adults.

Eye Candy

Sweet Cheer Friends

Love these girls!  They did really well at their last competition.  Their team, Power, came in 3rd.  The girls were a little disappointed until they found out they had only been behind second place by .004 points.  The first place team only beat them by less than 1 point.  

Christmas Card Pictures

Give Thanks, Day 11-20

11.  I'm thankful for yummy chicken fried deer steak and the awesome husband cooking it.  

12.  I'm thankful for school holidays!

13.  I'm thankful for DVR, Wii, iphone, nook, and all the other technology that has me spoiled rotten.

14.  I'm thankful for youtube, because that's how I learned to knit.  

15.  I'm thankful for cookie dough that allows me to be so lazy that my kids don't realize what "from scratch" means.

16.  I'm thankful for Nonnie, who taught me what "from scratch" means and to Granny who is teaching my kids.

17.  I'm thankful for doctors, medicine, breathing machines and all the things that keep us well.

18.  I'm thankful for my job and all the people who show up every day and do their best for our kids.

19.  I'm thankful for good books and the ability to read them.  

20.   I'm thankful to Mrs. Smith whose face pops into my head every time I see a passive verb or the incorrect usage of a word.  She's the reason I can write coherently and the reason I'm cursed with wanting to correct the writing of those who cannot.  

 

A Watched Pot...

Josie was making mashed potatoes and was getting impatient waiting for the water to boil.  Cody told her, "A watched pot never boils."

She thought about it and said, "I bet you could also say, 'A watched pot never burns down the house.'"

TGIF

It's finally Friday, and I'm spending the day home with Jake.  He's been sick since Wednesday, and he's still running fever.  Hopefully he'll feel better soon.  At least we'll have a few days off from school next week for Thanksgiving.  We haven't made any plans, but that makes me happy.  There are a lot of things I need to do around the house, and I guess I'd better get busy Christmas shopping.  How is it possible that it is already time for Christmas??

Flashback, but it's not Friday...

For some reason, I didn't think I needed to sleep tonight, so I have spent the last hour looking at the last 4 years of my blog.  I came across this picture, and thought I would repost along with Josie's current picture.  Has she really grown up that much?  Time really does fly!

2009

2012

Still Thankful, Days 6-10

I love that November inspires people to express their thankfulness.  I am continually amazed by all the blessings in my life.  I pray that I will learn to live a life of gratitude all year--not just during the Thanksgiving season.  No pictures today, just my next 5 days of giving thanks.

6.  I am thankful for having enough--enough job to pay the bills, enough home to keep us warm and safe, enough food to keep us fed (and then some), enough of everything.  We live in an abundance of enough, and I sometimes wonder why we were given this life and others go without.  What makes us special?  Why are we so blessed?

7.  I'm thankful for my circle of friends.  They've laughed and cried with me.  They've taken my side, even when I wasn't right.  They've helped raise my kids on a daily basis.  They've helped me clean my house.  They know that if anything ever happens to me, they'd better hurry and get to my house and clean it before anyone else sees it.  They're my sisters, my family.  They know all my secrets, and they still love me.

8.  I'm thankful for my town and community.  I never dreamed growing up that I would live anywhere but Happy, TX.  If someone had told me 25 years ago that I would someday live within an hour of Houston, surrounded by pine trees, and work in a school with more kids than lived in our whole town, I'm sure I would have laughed.  Luckily God doesn't make mistakes, and we've ended up exactly where we are supposed to be.  Magnolia has been good to our family, and I am grateful to call it home.

9.  I'm thankful for parents who taught me right from wrong, the value of hard work, and that life is meant to be enjoyed.  I only got to keep my Daddy for 14 years, but what a man he was!  God gave me a Mama that continues to inspire me with her strength.  How many stay-at-home-moms could take over a 2,000 acre farm with a rag-tag workforce that consisted of my sister, my two cousins and me?  She definitely earned her retirement, although I'm not sure what everyone in town has to talk about now since we aren't breaking things on a daily basis anymore.

10.  I am thankful for God's plans for me and my family.  I don't know what they are, but I pray that I will learn to slow down and listen.  I am thankful that God hasn't given up on me, even though I keep trying to drive the boat, instead of trusting Him to prosper me.  It's not my timing or my planned path, but thank goodness everything happens the way He intends it.

Thankful

Every day on facebook, I have been reading posts about being thankful.  Here's my list for the first 5 days of November:

1.  I am thankful for God's grace.

I am forgiven, loved, blessed.

2.  I am thankful for Cody, who is more than just my husband.  He is my best friend and my partner.  He is the hardest working man I know, and there's no one I'd rather spend the rest of my life with.   As an added bonus, in the event of a cataclysmic event that takes us to a technology-free world, there is no one I would rather be with than him.  He is the country boy that will survive, because he really can skin a buck and run a trot line.

3.  I am thankful for my two smart, healthy, fun, crazy, active, caring kids.  What joy they bring every day!  I am so glad God gave them to us; I can't imagine life without them.

4.  I am thankful for a childhood, hometown, family, and history that has shaped who I am today.  When you grow up in Happy, TX, have all your grandparents in the same town as you, go to a 1A school, and spend summers on a tractor, your values may not match everyone else's, but I'm okay with that!  Grateful to have been a small town, country girl.  No matter where I live, I'm still that same girl at heart.

5.  I am thankful for the freedom we enjoy in this country.  It wasn't free, and I am so grateful for those people who put their lives on the line to protect our way of life every day.  I am proud to call these two men my grandfathers.  

Do you Pinterest?

I love Pinterest!  

Where else can you find...

 truth, 

inspiration, 

knitting patterns, 

  ways to use the junk I collect, 

and recipes I'll probably never try.

Sounds kind of silly, but I have found so many great ideas on Pinterest. 

Like this bulletin board.  We have one that was inspired by this one in the entrance of our school.  

The view from my chair

My weekend has pretty much been spent in my oh-so-comfy recliner--not because I didn't have anything to do, but because I've been fighting (and losing to) a cold.  Thankfully my better half has finished all the laundry and fed everyone, and that was after he went to the store and bought chicken noodle soup and cough medicine for me.  I'm hoping this week is a little calmer than last week, but I'm not going to hold my breath.  With red ribbon week, Josie's first cheer competition, fall carnival at school, Jake's birthday, and Halloween around the corner, I doubt that this week will be restful.  While it often seems that there is too much to do and too little time, we are blessed in so many ways.  What an amazing life we live!

Lost Tooth and Picture Day

Jake lost another tooth this week.  Now, he's got one of his top, middle teeth left and reminds me of Willie on Swamp people.   If you watch the show, you'll know what I'm talking about!  Jake is counting the days until his birthday.  He is very excited about turning 8.

Yesterday was picture Day for cheer.  In year's past, picture day has also included a parent show to kick off the season, but our gym has grown so much, there are too many teams for all the parents to fit in the gym at the same time.  This is JoJo with her friend Caitlyn.  They've cheered together for 3 years now.  

This year, Josie's team has new uniforms that are very cute on the girls.  I can't wait to see the "real" pictures.  My friend Courtney is a professional photographer and does a phenomenal job.  She took our family picture for our Christmas cards last year.  If you live in the Tomball area and need pictures done, she's amazing.

So now we've practiced the hair and makeup and we're ready for another season of competitive cheerleading.  Their first competition is just 2 weeks away!

our week

I vowed last week that I was going to update this blog more often.  I really enjoy blogging, but have gotten out of the habit.  I prefer to have pictures for every post, so I've been putting off posting since I have not taken any pictures in the past week.

Our week has been filled with tumbling and cheer practice, homework and housework, cough medicine and breathing treatments.  

Josie has already had to have a wire on her braces reattached--not really a surprise, just the way we roll.  Thankfully it happened on a day that the orthodontist is in Magnolia.

We've been contemplating dog training for Dixie.  Apparently we do not know how to train her not to chew on everything--including us!  Any suggestions?

Neglected but not Forgotten

This blog has been seriously neglected in recent months.  So much has happened that I have not blogged about...new job, new puppy, new school year, new braces...and that's just this past month!  My resolution is to update more faithfully.  

For the first time since PreK, Josie is at a different school from me.  She is handling 6th grade like a champion, and I am adjusting to our new arrangement (mostly).  Right now, she's in the thick of preparing for another competitive cheer season and playing intramural volleyball.  

Jake has settled into 2nd grade and continually brings a smile to my face.  He has decided not to play soccer in the fall because it would interfere with hunting season.  A boy has to have priorities!  

Daddy brought this little cutie home about a month ago.  She was abandoned outside the golf course with 3 other puppies.  Wanting to avoid the inevitable kid-chosen names like Snowball or Snowflake, he named her Dixie before he brought her home.