Golf with Greg

Grey had his first mini-golf game or perhaps I should say "Greg" had his first mini-golf game. Apparently, even though Grey has a "y" on the end of his name, people assume it must be a typo and must really be "Greg". They even it wrote it on the tournament board as, "Greg Davis". Though there is nothing fundamentally wrong with the name "Greg"; it is not my son's name. Anyway, his group played 3 holes with a maximum of 10 shots per hole. Grey's final score was 30. You can figure that one out. More importantly, he had a good time and learned a lot like listening to the instructor. In fact, after his golf class the next day, he said," Everytime the coach tells me how to do something, like where to put my feet, I hit it almost perfect." Funny, how that works.
I'm not sure who is more excited to be there......

Coach Susie, who has the patience of Job, gives Grey tips at the first hole of the game.

Holland and The Junior Tar Heels

Oh people, this was not pretty, not at t'all. Whatever strides, small though they were, Holland had made in practice did not translate to this first game. The whining, the tears, the threats, the promises and that was just getting her hair in a secure ponytail. Magnify that by, oh, say, a thousand and you have Holland at her first soccer game. Nothing to scrapbook about, I promise. At several points, I was trying to mentally recall where I put the receipt to the cleats, and a few times I wondered how much I could get for the uniform on ebay. And then I thought, how much could I get for her on ebay. But my friend, Sheri, made a good point; soccer involves grass, bugs, heat, and running for an hour. Any one of those by itself is enough to send Holland over the edge. So to ask her to play soccer is really a big stretch for her. But, I'm gonna give it a couple of more weeks.....or maybe a couple more hours........
Um, Holland, that's your team out there on the field waiting on you........

Um, Holland, don't look now, but the game is being played behind you.

Okay, Holland the game is in play just inches behind you! Hello?

Grey and The Mustangs

On the other extreme, we have Grey and his team, The Mustangs. Due to sickness and travel, his team only had 4 players. So they played The Warriors 4 on 4 for all but the last 15 minutes when the coach gave them each a quick break. The other 3 would continue to play against the 4 Warrior players. That's dedication, folks, because it was hot. And you know what, it made the difference because The Mustangs won 4-2. Guess who scored all 4 goals. You got it, Grey. He couldn't have done it without the defensive plays of his teammates. They all brought their A game! Grey in the blue on the left side of picture.

Tony, Logan, Grey, Coach Mark, & Jordan

The Mustangs at half.

Andrew Bradley Cavender

Happy birthday, Andrew!

My identical cousin, only she looks 100 times better than I did after delivering a baby (can you say panda bear eyes? 'cause I sure had them.) had a handsome baby boy today, September 20 at 6:56 AM. He is 7 lb 8 0z.

I guess we can open the envelope, now.

Memories

When being a concert pianist was still within the realm of possibility.......

Holland: The Musical

It's not unusual for Holland to break into song and dance at the drop of a hat or the putting on of new shoes.

I'm not sure how I feel about her dancing with the pole.

An Important Message From Grey

My school's Annual Fundraiser with Innisbrook has begun! Innisbrook Wraps has great gift wrap, fun gift wrap accessories, delicious gourmet foods, Fine Helen Grace Chocolates, Time Inc. magazine subscriptions, unique gift items and more.

For every item that is purchased, Innisbrook will donate up to 50% of the purchase price to my school. I also earn prize credits for every item sold except school supplies. The more prize credits I earn, the more Prizes I win!

Attached is a link to the Innisbrook website. Please visit the site and consider making a purchase on my behalf. Our sale will be over soon, so hurry and place your order.

Thanks for your help!

Seller: GREY Seller ID# R49278C
School: SHADOW FOREST ELEMENTARY
School Number: 101811

Double click the link below to visit Innisbrook.com and they will recognize me and my school automatically.

http://www.innisbrook.com/index_students.cfm?id1=R49278C&id2=&id3=

If the above link does not work -
1. Click below
2. Enter the Seller ID# R49278C
www.innisbrook.com/id.cfm

Gayla, here:

Okay, that's the official company (school) line. However, I do want to add to it. The wrapping paper he is selling for school is really nice. I sold it way back in high school, and when I say sell, I mean my mom took it to work and asked all her coworkers to buy it. Sales has never been my forte. I still get sweaty palms when I think of the years I had to sell fruit and turkeys door to door. Perhaps that's why I married a salesman to insure I would never have to endure that again.

Anyway, Grey is pretty excited about selling it and earning prizes with the emphasis on earning prizes. He can't go door-to-door selling it for safety reasons and also everyone in this neighborhood is selling it, too. So I am putting the request here, where I can hide behind the blog. The instructions are above. The goods will be sent directly to you, and Grey would greatly appreciate it! And I will, too. Thanks!!

Soccer Practice : Holland Style

5:00 PM

5:05 PM

5:10 PM

5:15 PM

5:20- 6:00 PM

(Permanent Water Break)

First Day In The Pre-K

Holland had her first day of Pre-K. She has a couple of her friends in the class with her which makes for a smooth transition. I have to say I was a tad emotional. This is her last year of preschool. Next year she'll be getting on the bus with Grey and be gone most of the day, 5 days of week..........excuse me, I need a tissue.

First Soccer Practice

Holland also had her first soccer practice today. She is on the Junior Tarheels. (I'm still scratching my head on that name.) The field was wet and muddy, and the coach had to end it early because of the impending rain. (surprise, surprise) However, Holland really enjoyed it and totally participated and never showed any concern over the mud. If you know Holland. you recognize that fact as the rare gem that it is.

Notice that even though she is wearing her soccer gear, her foot is still in a ballet pose. You can't take the ballet out of this girl.

More Ballet

Let me just say we are lovin' us some ballet!! Today Holland had a routine where the girls dance with a hand-held mirror and a tiara. A hand-held mirror and a tiara. Holland looked at them like they were manna from heaven. She completely lost focus on the teacher as she admired herself. And wait until tap starts. She may faint from pure joy. I had to hide the tap shoes after we bought them, otherwise I would have to have them surgically removed from her feet or have my ears surgically removed.

"Jazz Hands"

First Game of the Season

Mac and one of his fellow MSU friends and one of his LSU friends flew to Starkville to the State vs LSU game tonight. I'm posting this before the game while I'm still in an optimistic frame of mind. Who knows? Maybe MSU will pull off a win........okay, stop laughing and pick yourself up off the floor.

A Sign We Eat Out Too Much

I made spaghetti for dinner. (I'll let you absorb that phenomenon, first.) So, anyway I served Holland up a portion and put the plate in front of her. She looked at it, and then at me and said, "This is not what I ordered."

First Day in the Second Grade

Well, we have come full circle with the blog. I started the blog a year ago posting about Grey's first day of the first grade. Here we are now with the first day of second grade for Master Grey. This summer he actually got 2 extra weeks off. Texas State Law had pushed back the start of public schools until the 4th Monday of August. Why, you ask? Even if you aren't asking, I'm telling you what I heard, because I like to be informative like that. Apparently, it is cheaper to pay the Air Conditioning bill for May/June than in August. And judging by the school tax portion of my personal property taxes, it's a substantial chunk of change to pay the AC for schools. So, if this helps, I'm on board.
Anyway, I think Grey is glad to be back with his friends. They really split up the boys from his first grade class among the six 2nd grade classes. However, he got the one friend he really wanted in his class, (thank goodness) so he's quite happy. And he gets to see the rest of his old posse at recess.
And we are still loving the bus stop at the end of the driveway. Except for the fact that the bus HAS NOT shown up the last TWO mornings. Hello?! If you show up at the school with an empty bus, something is WRONG. Anyway, we are working on getting that fixed. I've had to make some phone calls. I know, I know, if I'M making phone calls, it must be a problem.

Grey has also started Golf Lessons. He goes once a week for an hour. He's in a beginner's group and really learning from some great professional players. Mac is loving it, too. I can see him taking mental notes for himself. And after class they can BOTH hang out and practice hitting balls on the driving range for free. You know we are all over free.

Joshua Edward McKnight

Congratulations to my friend Emily and her husband, John on their handsome baby boy!

Joshua Edward McKnight

August 23,2007

8lbs 3 oz .....18 1/2 inches

I met Emily my first week of my freshman year at Mississippi State University. She was transferring as a junior and she took me under her wing. She is truly one of my favorite people!

Ballet Baby

Holland had her first dance class this week. If you have spent any time around Holland you know that she is prone to spontaneous dancing. If there is actual music playing at the moment she breaks into her freelance dance, well, that's just bonus. So, I thought it was time we enrolled her in an actual dance studio class where she could learn choreographed ballet, tap, and tumbling. Sort of a method to the madness, if you will. Now we actually attempted a ballet class about a year and a half ago. It was a 4 week session of ballet at the YMCA. That was really for me to see if she would actually participate before I spent time and money on real dance lessons. She liked it, but she spent most of the time admiring herself in the mirror. So we waited until now for these lessons. She really likes it. Of course a big chunk of what she likes is getting to wear all the girly ballet clothes. She wore that leotard all day. I had to take her swimming in order to get her to change out of it.

Oh, how sweet, the big brothers came to watch their little sisters dance. They look like they are really enjoying watching them.

The Alabama Trip

Well, you knew it was coming. Any trip that lasts a week or so generally gets its own video. However, this one almost didn't happen. The DVD/CD player/burner whatknot on my laptop is having some problems. The Geek Squad said it would be about $250 to send off and fix. Instead, I called on all my computer prowess and came up with a temporary solution. Basically, I superglued the plastic piece back on. So we are in business, for now.

Here it is:
The One Where We Went To Alabama

True Story

As we were driving to Alabama and the kids were enjoying snacks, I overheard Grey say this:

"Holland, you have a chip on your shoulder."

I had to wonder where he came up with such an adult expression and what would make him say it to Holland who was just enjoying her snack. Then I heard him say,

"Holland, Get that chip off your shoulder!"

So I turned around to see what was going on, and this is what I saw.

Yep, that's a potato chip on her shoulder.

Nothin but blue skies.....

The kids and I just got back from a week on the Gulf Coast of Alabama. And I unintentionally timed it where it was actually hotter there than here in Tx. But, honestly, when you reach a heat index of 105, a heat index of 110 doesn't feel that much different. We had a great time! (Naturally, I will post more about that later). The ride back, however, was a bit nerveracking. We were hoping to miss some of Tropical Depression Erin and for a while we did. About 5 minutes after I finished singing the last verse of "blue skies, nothing but blue skies, that I see," the rains came down, really came down. I believe I may have mild carpal tunnel from the death grip I had on the steering wheel. I had the backseat praying with me, although I don't know how Holland's prayer about the Dumbo ride at Disney World pertained to our safety. But we made it without incident and my heartrate has returned to normal. I don't know if it was the tension of the drive or the 40 oz of Diet Mountain Dew I consumed, but I was a little shaky when we rolled into the garage. But we are back, at least until we have to evacuate for Hurricane Dean.... I better go make sure my tube top and towel (to wave) are clean. I don't want to be caught on national news on my roof after a hurricane without them.











Alabama Vacation Pics Coming Soon.......

Who Says You Can't Wear It Again?

I pulled out a former bridesmaid dress, today. I have been working on getting the measurements together so my dress for Hank's wedding could be ordered. And out of morbid curiosity, I wanted to see if this dress still fit. Am I saying it fit like the first time I wore it? Am I suggesting that the zipper zipped up with ease? No...which is a bit discouraging because I was 2 months pregnant the first time I wore this. But it did fit, sort of. And then I showed Holland and told her that Cinderella loaned me this dress to wear. And she said, "Oh, Mama, you look sooo beautiful!! You are a princess!!" Even Grey said, "Blue's a good color on you." And that, people, made my day. I hated to take the dress off, but I had lost circulation in the upper half of my body and was close to passing out. But for a little while, I was a Princess and a close personal friend of Cinderella. Next week I'm bringing out the purple bridesmaid dress and telling her that Princess Jasmine loaned it to me........

Welcome to Texas

My brother, Hank, and his fiancee, Christie have made the trek to see us out here in the great state of Texas and we are glad to have 'em.

Holland immediately latched onto Uncle Hank and has yet to let him get out of her sight. Here the 3 are at our favorite Japanese Steakhouse. We had a new "chef" at our table. We felt bad for him because he dropped every egg, dropped the rice bowls he was trying to flip, and tried to make the rice heart which was really more kidney-shaped, almost forgot Mac's steak order, and gave Hank about 4 shrimp total for his meal. But we gave him an enthusiastic clap at the end anyway. Honestly, I was just glad it was over and nobody got hurt.

Hank's birthday is in a couple of weeks so we had a mini-celebration. We try to never pass up an opportunity for a family member to wear a ridiculous hat and hear a mumbled version of "Happy Birthday."

We played a round of Putt-Putt. As always everyone's competitive nature came out. Mac got 3 holes in one.....yet still came in third place.

We had dinner one night at the Hard Rock Cafe, downtown. Like typical tourists, T-shirts were bought, not by Hank and Chrisite, but Mac and myself. Just supporting our city and getting a great looking T-shirt in the process. Win-win.

Stopped by the Downtown Aquarium. We took this picture to see what Hank and Chrisite would look like with children. I think it works.

Here, Holland is about to learn a valuable lesson about sticking your head over a jumping water fountain.

Swimsuit or not, Grey doesn't hestitate to run right into the water.

After circling the perimeter 100 times, Holland gives in to the call of the water.

That's Not How Rosie Does It...

This weekend my brother, Hank and his fiancee, Christie are coming this Saturday to visit us for several days or at least until the Raisin Bran runs out. Fortunately, for me, this is the week Rosie comes to clean our house. She comes once a month and does a superb job. It's so good I don't want to walk in when she's done and taint the sparkling clean. I'd rather stand outside with the front door open and let the aroma of Mr. Clean, Pledge, and Soft Scrub waft out and soothe me. People, she uses all the cleaning supplies in one day. I'm more of a spread-it-out-over several-days kind of cleaner. Bathrooms one morning, vacuuming another afternoon, and so on. I can think of so many more interesting ways to spend a day than cleaning the whole house at once like swimming, reading a good book, playing with the kids, root canal. And it doesn't help that Rosie has set the bar so high. When Mac or I do vacuum, or dust, we look at each other and say," that's not how Rosie vacuums, or that's not how Rosie arranges the pillows on the sofa." I mean I get a little teary-eyed when I see how clean my shower door looks. And if she rearranges my photos or knick-knacks, I leave it 'cause I figure she's got a gift and knows what looks best. And if she spoke a lick of English or I spoke a lick of Spanish, I would let her know just how much we love her. But I like to think some things are just understood.