Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day started out with pink heart chocolate chip pancakes before school.  For dinner I made heart shape mini pizzas and for dessert we had oreo poke cake (yum!).  I got roses from Mike (he gave them to me early) and I gave him a card and candy.  We gave Brooke an I tunes card and a reeses heart and Lexy a build a bear small fry koala and russell stover candy.

In the evening, we all went to watch Brooke cheer and dance at the game.

Cheer Festival

Brooke's cheer squad participated in a competition for the first time.  They did great and received the highest score possible...a 1!  They ended up having to perform twice because of technical difficulties but they found out later that even without reperforming they had gotten the highest score.

Brooke's Fun

Brooke has been doing a lot of cheering and dancing lately!

Footloose dance

Run the World dance

Brooke AND Lexy Dance

Lexy decided to attend the Little Girls Dance Camp that Brooke's cheer/dance squad put on this year where they learned a dance routine to a Michael Jackson song.  Last night the girls were invited to perform their dance at the basketball game.  They all got a hat and sparkly glove to complete their outfit.  It was so cute to see both my girls performing at the same time!  Afterwards Lexy said she loved doing the dance but she still doesn't want to be a cheerleader! :)

Thriller

On Friday Brooke's cheer squad performed a dance to "Thriller" at halftime. I think it was one of my favorites...possibly because it reminded me of my middle school days doing that dance at the skating rink with all my friends! :-)

Brooke doesn't care to have her hair messed up or to look not put together so we weren't sure how far she would go with the whole "look like a zombie" thing but we were pleasantly surprised that she really got into it!

Homecoming

On Friday Brooke's school had Homecoming.  Papa & Grammy and Mammaw & Grandpa Tom joined us to watch Brooke (and the rest of the Dazzlers) do a dance.  And watch the football game (that we lost) and the crowning festivities...

Papa & Grammy brought the girls a snack.  It's a faux root beer float (because Brooke can't have real root beer), it has root beer jelly beans, a cupcake and icing (for foam), a root beer candy stick and an empty root beer can.  How cute!

Games

We watched Brooke cheer on her football team on Friday...





Avree & Lexy










Lexy & Ryan

Brooke & Taryn

and watched Lexy play two great soccer games on Saturday morning...

Lexy & Brandon

Camp bound

We got up extra early this morning to get donuts and juice before dropping these two off for the drive to Cheer Camp.  Brooke was super excited to go!  They've been looking forward to it since they didn't get to go last year when the school decided to only go every other year.  They're going to have a week of lots of fun (lots of work too since they're scheduled from 7:30a-10pm each day!).

Brooke and Taryn

She made it!

After two weeks of many hours of practice, Brooke tried out for cheerleading for the the fouth year...and she made the Dazzler squad again!!  She was very nervous before and very relieved after they got the results :)

Cheer

Friday was a hard day for Brooke and everyone at her school, trying to process the death of Nathan Stiles.  He may not have been from our town but his death definately affected us all.  From all that I have read, Nathan was a wonderful young man and will be greatly missed.  Brooke and her classmates will be wearing purple & gold (Bronco colors) today as well as ribbons/hair ties and bracelets that have been made in Nathan's honor. 

I wanted to post a couple of pictures of the cheer squad from our last football game of the season. 

Cheer Photos

Before the game on Friday, we had a few minutes so I told Brooke that I would take some photos of her in her cheer outfit.  I'm no photographer but I think some of them turned out really well!

The Fun Begins

(Brooke cheering with the littles from Little Girls Cheer Camp)

(Lexy's first day of soccer practice)

Fall seems to always be our busiest time of year now since both girls are involved in activities.  Brooke has Dazzler (cheer) practice some mornings at 6AM, she cheers at least one time a week and she has drama rehearsal four evenings a week and last night Lexy started her soccer practices that are twice a week in the evening!  I remember thinking when Brooke was little "why do those parents do that to themselves" when they were running all over the place for their kids' activities.  And while I still don't believe in overbooking activities for kids, I do see why parents sacrifice their time and energy...to see the enjoyment their kids get out of participating.  We are definately not a competitive family and you would never hear one of us yelling at our kid (or the team) for doing something wrong but we do really enjoy seeing the girls get excited to be part of a team and focusing on doing their best!

The Weekend

We got our first glimpse of what our life will be for the next couple of months when on Friday we went to watch Brooke cheer for the first football scrimmage of the year.  The cheer squad did a great job!  After the scrimmage the cheerleaders put on the first dance of the year.

On Saturday, for family fun, we went out to the Drive In once again (this will probably be our last time of the season).  I absolutely love that we live someplace with such simple old-time family fun!  This time Brooke brought her friend Lindsey and we watched Cats & Dogs, Revenge of Kitty Galore and Ramona & Beezus.  Lexy wanted so badly to stay up for the second movie (even though the girls and I had already seen it) but about 15 min. in she was out!

Cheer, more tests and an inquiry

Yesterday and today, Brooke and her high school cheer squad are putting on a Little Girls Cheer Camp.  At first Lexy said she didn't want to go but then she changed her mind so I took her yesterday morning.  About half way into it I noticed things going downhill (look at the looks on Brooke's and Lexy's faces).  Lexy came up to me and said that she DOES NOT want to cheer.  Because I had already paid the $15 I made her sit and watch the rest of the practice yesterday but I couldn't bring myself to make her sit through it again today.  Lexy just isn't going to be the cheerleading type no matter how much Brooke wants her to be :-)

After cheer camp yesterrday I had to take Lexy back to the hospital to have blood drawn to check for anemia.  The drs office had called on Wed. and said that while the other tests (EKG/x-ray) came back normal, they still want to look into the murmur that the dr. heard.  Lexy was scared about getting her blood drawn even though I'm always truthful and had told her that it would be a small pinch but no pain.  She fought us at first but then after it was all done she smiled and said "that wasn't bad", goofy girl!

Strangest thing...yesterday afternoon I found a sibling set of two sisters (4 &2) on another states website.  After having Mike and Brooke look at them I made an inquiry to get more information about them.  When I went back on the site later in the evening they were gone and still are this morning!  They had just been put on the site on Wed. so I don't know if they had just gotten a lot of responses and were overwhelmed, had already found a family or something changed in the case and they are no longer available.  I guess we just wait and see if we are contacted about them.  STILL no new profiles from our state! :(

She did it!

Brooke worked so hard the past two weeks learning all the things needed to try out for the high school cheer/dance squad...and all that hard work paid off! Brooke is now officially an OHS Dazzler!!!!! When she opened the envelope containing the list of girls that made the squad she first screamed and then burst into tears :) Finally the stress is over...and the money spending begins lol! The one thing that kinda scares this mama is the fact that she will now be attending a week long cheer camp this summer...WITHOUT ME!!! Why do they have to grow up??

Cheer Dance

On Tuesday evening we (along with Papa & Grammy) went to watch Brooke cheer at her last game as a middle school cheerleader :-( and they also performed the dance below. Brooke is right in the middle of the screen and then moves up to the front. This is just one more "last" as a middle schooler...I'm not ready to have a high schooler!! Brooke is now working with the rest of the 8th grade cheerleaders to make up the dance and cheer that the 6th/7th graders will tryout with for next years squad and then next month she will begin practicing for tryouts for the high school cheer squad.

The busy life and Focus Friday

This week has been full. I had my first day at work on Tuesday evening...oh my was I sore the next day! I'm just not used to standing on my feel for 5.5 hours! On Wednesday evening Lexy had a soccer game. It's amazing how good these little 4 & 5 year olds have gotten! Lexy had a big cheering section with Mike & I, Robin & Kenzie, Papa & Grammy and Mammaw & Tom. Lexy didn't make a goal at this game but at the last game she did!!!

Also on Wednesday, my brother & sister-in-law found out by ultrasound that instead of being due in March (like they were told by blood test) they were instead due to have their baby TODAY (Friday, Oct. 2). Talk about a HUGE shock! So I spent yesterday going thru all my baby stuff and taking what I have for a boy to them. I can't wait to meet my new little nephew!!

There was a football game last night but because of volleyball conflicts the girls weren't able to cheer but Brooke and a couple of the other girls (that don't play volleyball) went to the game to cheer from the stands. This video is from the last game that the girls did cheer at...

FOCUS FRIDAY

Last weeks goals...

1.) Continue to walk and organize the house. Sell as many things that are listed on Craigslist as I possibly can to get them out of here!! We only got to walk on Monday but hopefully we'll be back to it next week. I have sold several of my items on Craigslist, starting to see some progress on getting the basement cleaned out!

2.) Try to get a rountine down for working without feeling guilty. On the evenings I work I won't have much time at all with the girls and none with Mike and I won't be here to fix dinner. Tuesday was the only night I worked this week so it wasn't too bad. I made pasta salad for dinner before I left and all went well while I was gone. This week will be a little more crazy as I work Sat. morning and Lexy has her last soccer game and then I work Monday, Tues. (Brooke has a football game to cheer at) and Friday evenings...and Mike is on call for his job this week!

3.) Buy my mom's b-day present. The girls did this. Happy Birthday Mom, sorry you have to work today!

4.) idk...I knew something would come up and it happened to be going thru all my baby stuff for my brother and sister-in-law!

This weeks goals...

1.) Continue to walk, organize and clear out the Craigslist stuff from the basement.

2.) Make some quick freezer breakfasts for weekday mornings.

3.) Not get stressed out over working and missing so much this week. Enjoy the time I do have with my family.

4.) Plan to go to the BIG craft fair next weekend.

Soccer, Cheer and Good News

Life has been full this week! We have had Lexy's soccer practice and a game, our Anniversary, a football game that Brooke cheered at and we have another soccer game on Saturday morning!! Next week looks just as packed and Brooke starts drama practice for the school play that she not only will be helping to direct but that she has a part in as well! Wow the mom of TWO kids doing activities is VERY busy but I love it!!

More good news...

Life will be getting even more busy in the next week or so when I start my new part time job at Target. I will only be working 15-20 hours a week so hopefully I can work around all the girls' activities. I don't like the fact that I'll be away from the girls and Mike to work but I am excited that getting this job makes it possible for us to afford all the little extras for the girls, Christmas and best of all...we can start working towards getting our adoption homestudy done!!

The weekend

This weekend was quite eventful.

Friday night Robin and I hosted the 2009-2010 Cheerleader Slumber Party. All of the girls were able to attend so we had fourteen girls present (ages 11-13). It was fun seeing all the girls together but OH THE DRAMA!! I don't remember having that much drama in middle school! It seemed like if one girl wasn't mad or upset about something another was! Then the cell phone thing...we finally had to tell the girls to either put their cell phones away or go home.

Brooke wasn't feeling well on Friday and then on Sat. got worse. She's still not better today so we'll be visiting the doctor this afternoon.

Yesterday Mike & I attended our 19 year old nephew, Shawn's funeral while Grammy & Papa watched the girls. What a sad event, the funeral home was packed to standing room only. I did ok until the end and then just lost it, I know Mike was hurting even more but he was my rock and held me while I cried.

Not really any family fun this weekend so we'll have to make up for it next weekend!

Cheerleading Tryouts

After a long week of practicing the tryout cheer and dance for 4 to 5 hours a night, Brooke had her tryouts today after school. As per tradition of last year, Robin & Kenzie and Brooke & I went to Pizza Hut for dinner and to wait for the results to be posted at the school. Cassie and her mom and some of Robin's friends joined us at Pizza Hut this year. I took this before picture because we weren't sure if there would be much smiling after seeing who did and didn't make the squad...


At about 6:45pm we headed up to the school to find out the results...


This was the reaction...
Yep, All 3 of the girls made the squad again!!!!! Brooke was #11, Kenzie #3, Cassie #17. I let them out at the sidewalk, I could hear their screams of joy before I ever got out of the van! We are SO proud of your hard work girls!

There was a little drama as one of this years cheerleaders didn't make it and someone else made it in her place...I felt SO bad for her that I was in tears trying to console her. The girls stayed for over an hour congratulating the girls that made the squad and hugging and consoling those that didn't. It was a very emotional evening but for us it ended well, I feel for those moms that are sitting at home right now holding their crying daughters :-(

Way to go baby girl!!

2009-2010 Cheerleaders - Brooke, Kenzie, Cassie, Taryn, Lindsay, Ashley, Christy and Emmaline, Hannah, Saige, Lydia, Jayla, Keonna, Megan