updates & a reminder

 saturday morning was the girls last competition.

wild horses couldn't have kept madison away.

i felt certain that less than 24 hours after surgery

the last place her loratab jacked up self would want to be

was a loud gymnasium for hours watching cheerleading.

puffy face, no make up, splint on her nose

& still on meds around the clock

she was there bright eyed & cheering on her squad.

they came in 2nd place

&

received the sportsmanship award! which is a big deal...

at least a couple dozen squads there most of which were varsity

& two of the recent state champs were also there.

yay!!

 

the girls have all been coached by our favorite tumbling coach, tjuan.

caroline told me that if she'd had known she would be in a picture she would have dressed a little cuter.

what a riot!

 

yesterday madison really had a great day when this arrived in the mail!

in fact, i'm not even sure when she went to bed last night as she was 

in heaven playing with it.

have you seen the opi app? too fun

she'll be feeling a lot better today after she sees the doctor.

she's had a perpetual headache since the injury & maybe even more so since the surgery.

the nurse assured me she would get some relief today

after they remove the packing.

you just cringed didn't you?

 

when i was 35 & in for my annual, the doctor thought she felt something

& sent me in for my first mammogram.

as if that wasn't stressful enough,

i ended up being called back for another one

(which incidentally landed in the breast cancer month of october).

everything ended up ok

but now each year i have it scheduled in october. 

with pink ribbons everywhere it makes it easy to remember to schedule.

please tell me you've done the same!

if you're late, please call & schedule yours.

some recent shots during this glorious weather~

 

(ps. brinkley is all good now too.

after two weeks off from running

while his laceration healed

& he took ginormous antibiotic capsules

we finally had a run together over the weekend. love that boy)

one more thing~

minted is running a current special for blog readers

( not posted on the minted site)
promotion lasts until 0ctober 31.
15% off all Minted Christmas and holiday cards with code MERRYAFF.
This promotion lasts through October 31, 2011 
click on the little button & that will take you right over.

the cheerleaders

 these two sisters are about as different as night & day.

for those of you who have been lead to believe our home, with 4 girls, is always smooth sailing,

let me set the story straight.

these 2, born 17 months apart,

are almost always snapping at each other.

i don't have a sister, but rumor has it, 

they'll be best of friends.

one day.

for the first time in all our years of cheering,

two girls finally cheered on the same squad

with the same schedule.

& while i am certain they snapped and argued and rolled eyes at each other

i'm hoping they learned a little about each other

& maybe grew to love each other a tiny bit more.

maybe.

saturday will be their last competition together.

& then, besides a few obligations for varsity, they're basically done.

while being in season makes life really hectic,

i'm always sad when it's over.

i still miss watching savannah cheer & perform at her competitions.

madison came home from practice yesterday with what looks like a broken nose.

she's got a little shiner to go with it too.

i will call the doctor in a little while & find out what we should do.

not that there is really anything to do as far as the broken aspect,

but safety issues for the rest of the week & their competition & decisions need to be made.

ugh.

she has a very heavy academic load

& was already loaded down this week.

i think she told me she has 9 tests or quizzes.

madi takes her academics very seriously & i can tell she's got a lot on her mind.

if any of you have a moment, while it's not life or death,

i would love for you to pray for her.

i humbly thank you in advance.

& for posterity, 583 photos....

 

grateful

we had one of those great weekends that left me grateful for many things. primarily that UGA is so close.

dan had planned on heading over to athens late friday night to bring savannah home.

she was needing to pick up her car, which was here for repairs and wanting to cheer on madison & emi in their debut cheer competition.

well, precious bailey worked out the logistics & drove from ole miss over to uga to surprise her & bring her home.

& surprise her she did!!!

they pulled in during the wee hours of the night while the rest of us slept.

saturday morning i woke up with all four of my girls under the same roof. i was able to walk into her usually empty room & wake her.

the little things.

while she's been home twice since move in day & writing wonderful things on her facebook wall including "is home.weird" and "thanks for the best boring lilburn weekend ever" ( to bailey).

i can't help but think she loves a little family time. 

especially since she was able to trade out one pair of my lucchese's for another.

truth be told, she loved being home. she said so.

it does my heart good to hear her over the moon happy & loving her college life.

it does my heart good to hear her live & in person, sitting across from the table from me too.

 (the name tag was just one of their silly shenanigans)

we headed out & cheered on madison & emily for their competition. they did great!

this is year #5 for us having at least one competing. madison spent 11 years in dance/ballet & loves the competition dance part of cheerleading. & freshman emi did fantastic too & never stopped smiling!

so proud of them!

 

we shopped & talked & ate out & hung with bailey & went to church together & ate some more.

one of the treats i was thrilled about was while bailey & savannah were home, it was abby's homecoming.

the four of us plus another close friend of mine spent our wednesday evenings for a couple years, leading a group of 18-20something middle schoolers.

i love abby. she holds a huge special place in my heart. & bailey's & savannah's too!

we headed over like weirdo creeper stalker people & made her laugh during her homecoming photos.

we yelled things like "make good choices" and "be a good girl" as she & 40+ other friends/adults all headed out. the great thing about abby is she's so awesome that i don't even think we embarrassed her. we embarrassed our selves, but not her.

abby's in a different school district so we really looked like weirdo creepy stalker people

i mean, who does that?

but

i haven't laughed that much in ages.

& yes her mama has a great camera

but i brought mine along too. of course.

abby looked drop dead gorgeous & those photos will deserve a post of their own.

caroline spent a considerable amount of her free time searching the perfect halloween costume online. & don't judge me, i haven't purchased it yet, but the leader in her book is the lady gaga costume.

for kids. of course. & no, it doesn't consist of red meat.

sunday afternoon rolled around entirely too quickly.

i hugged goodbye to bailey. wished her luck as rush at ole miss starts up next week.

saw she & smk hugging outside before she drove off. 

gets me every time.

trevor came by and said hello quickly.

between bailey & trevor, i could not ask for smk to be surrounded by two better life long friends.

i love those kids & love how they bring out the best in each other.

went outside to send them off & wondered at what point i'd be able to do this "see you soon. i sure love you" thing without being teary.  gosh i'm teary now.

& just to think...i get to do this again next year with my sweet abby.

may i never take wonderful great simple 

 "boring" weekends for granted.

~~~

my gratitude journal includes:

summer days slipping into breezy autumn afternoons

college kids home for visits

colleges that aren't too far away

life long friends

highschool senior girls who make good choices

& 6 people all under the same roof

xo