Other news!

I don't have any pictures, but Madalyn made the 3D Darlings Dance Team with Dance Unlimited. She's on the competitive dance team with her friends Willow, Taylor and Kayla. It should be an exciting year complete with 3 competitions and Nationals next summer in San Antonio. Here comes the make up!

First Day of School

The first day of school is always a big deal, and this year was no different. Madalyn started 3rd grade in the Dual Language program which switched elementary school to Blanco Vista - a brand new school that is absolutely beautiful. Bristol also left Miss Amy's Daycare and switched to The Kid Ranch with Beck. (see Beck's Harvard shirt?) Beck stayed in the same class with the same teacher, but there were kids that left for school and kids that got moved up into his class.
Madalyn is doing great and is Queen Bee, complete with horse bling, silver shoes, and a matching lunchbox for the first day of school. The picture is a bit misleadin because he's smiling, but we left Bristol on the first day screaming and clinging to Beck. He cried all day, didn't each lunch or snack and was so hungry when I picked him up he ate everything in his lunchbox when he got in the car. Yikes! We're a few days in now and he's doing much better, but still a little rough. The main thing we've seen is that Beck has really turned a corner with his maturity and has chilled out a lot. He's being a great big brother and is trying to help Bristol all he can. The biggest thing is that he isn't so self-focused and is actually aware of others and their feelings. We never thought this day would come! Oh happy day!

Addison's First Birthday!

She is so precious and I can't believe she's already one! Nicole and Jimmy threw a great backyard bar-be-que for her and it was fabulous to hang out with all of the friends and family.

Boston & Harvard

Jeff was recently in Boston for meetings with his company. He got to hang at some of the college bars (since MIT and Harvard are right across from each other) and try to keep up with the Euros talking rugby. Imagine that - a sports conversation that Jeff couldn't rule! He had a few free hours during the last day before his flight and went on a tour of the Harvard campus. This was after he tried to take out a bicyclist on campus- ask him, it's a great story! He's also decided that the kids need to go to Harvard. We all have shirts to support the school including Beck's that has 'Harvard Football' and Bristol's 'Harvard Class of 20??'. I think it's too far, but we'll see.

Moustache Anyone?

We went to CiCi's after a basketball game and found these fake moustaches in the candy/toy machines. The label on it said - have fun and fool your friends! Thanks to Julie who gave me the quarter while Jessie was in the bathroom with Ella. I don't think I fooled her, but it was funny! Maybe you had to be there..... :)

Last Basketball Games

Trophies!

Mystics

Bucks

Madalyn and Taylor

Beck off to the races


It was a bit bittersweet as it usually is for me when basketball season is over. It's so nice to have my weekends and Friday nights back, but sad that I don't get to see the kids any more. We had a really great season too. Madalyn is doing such a great job and is so tough on defense! It makes my heart happy to see her get out there and hustle so hard and really want to win (don't know where that competitive streak comes from). This was my 5th season to coach and I had all returning players because they had requested to be on my and Mike's team. It's nice to know that the parents like us and want us to coach their daughters. Beck totally hit his stride this season scoring 5 baskets in almost all of his games. So different from a few seasons ago when he wouldn't even shoot the ball - the WHOLE season. Seriously.
I learned so much growing up playing this game I just hope that they'll keep playing and love it too.

Mystics on the News

My JrWNBA team was featured on Fox 7's Small Stars of the week. Check it out, you can see both me and Madalyn. These girls are so amazing and I am so lucky to have them all on my team.

http://www.myfoxaustin.com/myfox/pages/Sports/Detail?contentId=7181624&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=6.2.1

It's also funny that this is the second time that Madalyn has been on Fox 7 this summer, maybe it'a a sign.

Birthday Babies

I forgot to mention that for my birthday, I got two birthday buddies which were by far my best presents. My friend from High School, Courtney (Popp) Weynand and her husband Nick had Eisley Paige Weynand and Jeff's friend Casey (Bentley) Barker and her husband Ryan had Audrey Madison Barker - BOTH on July 30th. And if that wasn't exciting enough, my friend Lesley (Hargraves) Hernandez and her husband Robert had Emily Sophia Hernandez on July 31st. All girls, and remember to watch out for those Leos!

Couldn't resist a few more pictures

Beck's big, but not big enough

Tea Cup Fun

Beck eats so many Lunchables that he looks like the cartoon kid!

Can you say BLUE EYES?!

Six Flags Fiesta Texas

We stayed in San Antonio the night of our anniversary and then hit Fiesta Texas the next day. It has a totally different feel to it than Sea World did and we really liked all of the roller coasters. The picture on the top is my favorite- it's just pretty cool with the other rides in the back ground. At Fiesta Texas we learned that Bristol can actually scream so loud that everyone in the park will look, which mainly happened if I ever tried to put him down. I figured out about halfway through the day that I could lean against the rail with my hands under his bottom and he still thought I was holding him. :) Two years old is SO much fun. He did finally take a nap at which point Jeff and I took turns holing up in the corner of an air conditioned restaurant while the other one rode with Madalyn and Becl.
Madalyn and Beck had a GREAT time, and after Bristol woke up from his nap he was great. We met some of the characters and got to ride almost everything. Beck's favorite was Tony Hawk's Big Spin, mine was Goliath, and Jeff and Madalyn like the Superman. I don't thing that either one of them will never ride the Rattler again. That one is just so rough, I wouldn't ride it. One of my favorite moments was riding the tea cups with Bristol and teaching him to put his hands up on the rides. :)

Our Anniversary - August 3rd

We spent our anniversary with the kids in San Antonio at Sea World. We saw Shamu, the dolphins, the ski show, and spent several hours at the water park.
Bristol really liked it, but did NOT like Shamu and will quickly tell you that he did not like him at all. Mostly because Madalyn insisted that we sit in the 'splash zone' which meant Bristol got splashed with salt water and apparently that wasn't on his list of things to do. Salt water in the face was enough to turn him on most of the animals for the rest of the day. :) Jeff, Madalyn and Beck were able to ride Journey to Atlantis, one of their water rides, which they really liked.
We even hit the Busch Hospitality Center where they serve free beer. Let me emphasize the brilliance of having a beer company run a theme park that give out free beer to parents that bring their kids there. I was so impressed. Beck was also super thrilled that 'his beer' was on display. What more could a little boy want? They didn't have a key chain or mug with his name on it, but they sure had Beck's beer.
It was a good day of family fun and I was glad that we were able to spend it together.

30 Looks Like This

So after one surprise party on Friday night, a night out with the girls on Saturday to see Mamma Mia, and a second surprise party thrown by my audit group I rested on Monday. Then had a pool party at Jessie's on Tuesday night where I eased into my thirties with a bottle of wine. So my headache on Wednesday morning didn't ease my outlook on the 3-0 to say the least! I skipped out of work early and took myself to the movies to see Step Brothers (hilarious!) and then went to dinner with my parents and three closest friends - Brandy, Jessie, and Julie- and the respective children. We took these pics at Canoli Joe's which is an all-you-can-eat Italian place in South Austin. It was amazingly good, but you can see an eating theme for my birthday-good times!
I even got balloons from the Heathers (Merz and Bendes) which made me even less conspicuous. That's a pic I took of my work space at my client site when they were delivered. Someone actually stopped by and asked if I'd hung the Fruit of Loom grape man. :) Love it!
Regardless, I was sufficiently celebrated for my 30th birthday and I'm starting to get used to the idea of being more mature. We'll see how that goes for me. But the one thing that I can say is that I have the best friends, family members, and co-workers that I could ever hope for and I have so many blessings in my life - that alone is definitely something to celebrate. Thanks to all of you that celebrated with me, and for those who missed it - catch me at 40.

Shea's Suprise 30th Birthday

Shea (Seale) Jones turned 30 the week before me, but I'd like for everyone to note the cute gold dress and great shoes that she's wearing for the party. I'm just saying...
We both have great husbands though, to actually pull off surprise parties!

Yeah, so I turned 30

And partied for a week straight. Starting with a surprise party that Jeff actually pulled off without me knowing. You can tell from the pictures that I didn't know because I came straight from 2 hours of basketball practice with the kids. I'm wearing a Rebel basketball shirt, but the highlight was my blue gym shorts that said 'DEFENSE' on the butt. Quite the classy attire. The best thing was that the shorts were stolen from Kels, who was there to bust me for wearing his stolen shorts. D'oh!
There were about 50 people that came to the Manchaca Fire Hall for all-you-can-eat catfish and purple Barbie birthday cake. It was a great mix of friends and family and I got some great presents which the kids couldn't wait to help me open. They included things from Wicked, Gone With the Wind, Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly in Breakfast at Tiffany's (see the lovely clown pics that Brandy also included), Longhorn stuff, Barbie, Hot Damn!, so what else could a girl need? Jeff totally out did himself not only with the surprise party, but also made a cool decoupage box with tickets to things we've gone to, tickets to the Batman Dark Knight at the IMAX, and a signed picture from Clint Black. Our song is 'Like the Rain' and Jeff went through all kinds of hoops and actually talked to Clint on the phone. So now we also have a date to his show in Dallas in September. :)
The party was great and it was so nice to see everyone, I just hope that if he ever throws me another surprise party that he can somehow figure out a way for me not to look like a total bum!