Madalyn in 2nd Grade

And to cap off the weekend and get our week started right Madalyn began 2nd grade this morning. She's growing up so fast, its hard to believe. She's in Mrs. Ortega's class and very glad to be back with all of her friends. She had picked out her very special first day of school outfit, backpack and lunchbox. We're looking forward to a great year and are hopeful for another year of perfect attendance!

Busy Weekend 2

Right after basketball practice on Friday we got the call from my best friend since 7th grade, Nicole, that she was in labor and headed to the hospital. She had a beautiful baby girl, Addison Claire Reeves at 2:21 a.m. on August 25th. She was 20 inches long and 7 lbs. and 9 oz. It was so wonderful, and Nicole and Jimmy are doing well back at home. Addison is absolutely perfect and we're so excited to get to watch her grow up!

Busy Weekend

In true Raymond fashion it was craziness with the basketball games, Jeff's fantasy football draft, Cody's annual skeet shoot, the Bristol night race, we had a couple of other things going on- including Dad renting a bobcat and doing some serious work over at our house. It looks so much better, and after a day of hard work Mom, Dad, and Jeff made a ton of progress. This is Bristol and Dad playing on the bocat.

Last Basketball Games

After 6 funfilled weeks last Saturday, the 25th was the last week of games for basketball. The Mercury ended up with a 2-4 record and they don't keep score at the little kid's games. I recently heard the ex-UT Head Coach, Jody Conradt, speak at an event and it made me realize how much I love doing this and that it's the easiest and best community service I can do. It really was a lot of fun and I can't wait for the spring. The kids got really cool bobble head trophies (which Beck ripped off in about 30 seconds) it was very entertaining. You can tell how pleased he is by the huge smile on his face. And our favorite fan was there - Ella made it to the game to cheer Maddy on.
The guy in the pictures is Mike Blackwell and this is the second time we've teamed up to coach. His daughter, Abbie, and son, Miles, are the same age as Madalyn and Beck. Abbie and Maddy are in the Dual Language program together so we've paired up to coach the kiddoes and help each other out. The Blackwells are an awesome family and we're lucky to have them in our village.

Bristol's First Haircut

August 18th - If you have been around me at all, you know I've been dreading this day. But I finally gave in to Cody and Jeff's nagging and plaintive pleas as Bristol's hair was getting out of control. He had a serious comb over and the fun habit of rubbing his head on the car seat to that it became a fro in the back. So, at 18 months they went on a boy outing and took him to Mike's Barber shop on Main Street in Buda. It's old school and the only place we've taken Beck. There were no tears, he took no time at all and was obvisouly more ready than I was!
Here are the before, during and afters. Not to mention the best thing about a haircut at Mike's - a sucker when you're done.

Bastketball Win at the AT&T Center in San Antonio

One of the things that we like best about the Jr.WNBA League that Madalyn plays in is that we get to go to the AT&T Center and play on the same court as the Spurs. Then after the girls played we got to watch the Silver Stars play the Comets, Houston's WNBA team. It was really fun, especially since my cousins Lori and Sarah came with us.
The first one is a great court shot, then of me in action in the huddle, then the girls after our win - Madalyn, Reid, Devin, Abbie, Nicole, and Celie. And last but not least, on the Spurs bench. Those are some really nice chairs!

High School Musical Fever

For my birthday, Jeff bought me two tickets to the Zachary Scott Theater production of High School Musical. It was FABULOUS. Madalyn, my hot date, and I had a great time. She got autographs on her shirt from the whole cast and we took pictures here with Gabriela and Sharpay. So much fun!

I just can't stop.....

Madalyn with friends Jacqueline and then Lily, Bristol going down the slide with his godmother Gay Lynn (sucking his thumb no less!!), Jeff's nephew Zach with his Aunt Pat and Bristol, and Jeff's other nephew Jake with Bristol

More pictures from the party - friends and more friends!

The Hernandez Crew (Adrian, Melissa, AJ, Shayna, Alyssa and Adam), Kels and Sam, Shilo with Jaxson, Jessie with Mike and my goddaughter Ella, and Aimee and Gerardo

1st Annual Halfway BirthRAY Partay

Well, on Saturday, July 21st we had the first annual Halfway BirthRAY Partay. It was at the City of Kyle Pool and it was awesome! We really had a great time, especially on the slides. We actually managed to stay out of the rain and enjoyed swimming, playing Lucky Duck, flamingo ring toss, and getting all of the candy out of the pinata. We had a cake for each of the kids, and really just enjoyed getting to see all of our friends and family. Thanks for everyone who made it, and if you didn't hopefully we'll see you next year!
The Raymond Crew during cake time, Bristol sporting Maddy's new hat from Lily, Beck with his pinata grub, Madalyn with one of her favorite presents- a Webkinz from Jacqueline, and Madalyn with Ried and Lily in the pool.

Basketball starts again!

The San Marcos Rec League has started the summer season for the Jr.NBA and Jr.WNBA teams. Madalyn is on the Mercury and Beck is on the Sixers. We have four sets of brothers and sisters on the teams, so some parents are getting a lot of my coaching abilities. The boys are still like herding cats and the girls are doing great. It should be another fabulous season.

Madalyn and the Princesses

I think I mentioned somewhere in here that Madalyn got an autograph book and loved going around to all of the characters to get her picture taken and their signatures. She was only too happy to wear her Belle dress to meet the Princesses including: Princess Aurora, Cinderella, Belle, Snow White, and Ariel. They all loved her dress, and Belle liked how they looked like twins. She just beamed, it was so neat to watch her with them.

Magic Kindom at night

Magic Kingdom was so cool, but it was totally different at night so I wanted to be sure to include some of those pictures in here too. I love the picture of me and Bristol and he loved that Mickey Mouse sword- we were tired and sweaty, but still having a great time. Disney really is the most magical place on Earth, I can't wait to go back!